Ft. Knox Family Weekend part 2

Once we left the base we went to the hotel to drop off their bags and let Mike meet his new laptop. They played around a bit and then we went to dinner at the Cracker Barrel next door. While there we saw the Chaplain that had spoken at the ceremony and a Drill Sergeant. This is like 20 miles from the base so it seemed like we were surrounded all the way to their cutoff (they could only go 25 miles away from base).

Then we went to Walmart for Nyquil and cough drops (oh yeah, Fort Knox cooties are BAD!) then back to the hotel and hung out til we passed out. Mike and Mark played video games, slept off and on, talked and watched YouTube videos of muscle cars. Mike also dug up some music that I used to listen to when he was born (Queensryche was the biggest topic and source of motivation that night, but we also watched some guy playing two guitars at once and Yngwie Malmsteen only because Mark had never heard of him).

Saturday morning we slowly got our butts in gear, went to eat and then to U.S. Cavalry. Did I mention that the U.S. Cavalry store is there?? OH MY GOD!! It's amazing!! I thought Anastasia was going to have a stroke when she walked in and saw all that camouflage. She's been a camo junkie for the last few years. Having a big brother in the Army to buy her really cool camo stuff is like being related to Santa Clause as far as she's concerned. We spent quite a bit of time there. **If you plan on buying something like decals or shirts...get it when you see it. I wanted to go back after we dropped Mike off so I wouldn't embarrass him by buying up every Army Mom thing I could find...and all the things I wanted were gone when we went back on Monday.

After US Cavalry we went to Best Buy so Mike could find some game he wanted. We played with the iPhone for a while and then went to the hotel so they could play with their game. We left the two of them for three hours so they could have some peace and then go to the hot tub. We found a cool cemetery in Elizabethtown with some history to it. Actually, everything in that area has history. It's very cool. We went back to the hotel and found two Soldiers sleeping in exactly the same spot we left them in. It seems the Nyquil kicked their butts. Then we went to dinner and came back to hang out and did the same as the night before. I also read the book Mark is in the process of writing. He's a good writer, now I gotta pester him until he finishes it because I want to know how it ends!!!!

Sunday we got going pretty slow, I guess no one wanted to go back later so they were dragging big time. We did breakfast and went back to the hotel for a while. When it was time to go, Mike looked all dazed and not at all ready to go. We stopped for lunch but Mike had drank so many Monster energy drinks (did I mention he bought $30 worth of them for the weekend???) that he was sick to his stomach and all jumpy. He couldn't eat and I wasn't exactly hungry either but I ordered something that ended up in the garbage.

We got to the base and dropped them off. I tried really really hard not to cry. I bit my lip a few times trying to stop it but...I lost it. I let him know I was really really proud of the person he had become and I loved him more than anything. Then he and Mark took off really quick before they lost it too. The girls were really good and didn't run after him screaming for him. I wasn't sure they'd be able to control themselves for a while there. But they did good.

I wanted to keep circling the barracks in case he could come back or wanted to come back or whatever. I left anyway. And the entire weekend of not being an emotional wreck was over, it all came crashing back in and I totally lost it. I had to pull over in the US Cavalry parking lot because I couldn't see anymore. I told the girls I was looking to see when they opened on Monday morning so we could go back. They bought it. :)

more after I go check on dinner...brb