Mike's Recent Accomplishments

I'm really late at posting about this, but back in September and October, Mike attended a leadership school for his upcoming promotion to Staff Sergeant! It was a grueling 6 weeks of classes, really. I didn't believe my neighbor when she said her daughter did homework ALL THE TIME. Mike would leave early in the morning and get home right in time for dinner (usually around 6) and then would be up doing homework until 11-12 every single night and even had a lot to do on the weekends! We seriously didn't go to the beach for a couple of months, because of his workload. However, it all paid off in the end! Mike worked so hard he was able to earn 1 of 6 Distinguished Graduate awards out of over 50 students (the pic above is just of his class). He also was nominated for and received "The Commandant Award" for outstanding leadership abilities. I was so proud to attend his graduation and cheer him on for all the outstanding work that he was being recognized for. Not only did he achieve good grades himself, but he also spent many hours outside of class with a fellow classmate who was struggling and together they were able to graduate! Congratulations Mike! We love you!  One more point I have to brag about: Mike recently passed the Military Japanese Proficiency test which means he now is proficient in Chinese and Japanese (amazing) and we get paid more for each language he knows! Go Mike!!!!

 

Pictures to go along with post below...

 Kissing at the campground (Bellows Air Force Station)

A beautiful Hawaiian Sunrise at Bellows (my favorite place:P)

Barnacles? We found at Electric Beach on Christmas Eve (where we went kayaking) Funny story about these is that after I showed them to the kids, we found Chase trying to snack on several of them. I really had to convince him to spit them out after hearing him crunching on the shells- they must have tasted pretty good!

Our little musician's favorite present from Santa

Showing a crab to the kids at Electric Beach

Sweet Joshua