Where Have The Martins Been..?

Well, it is me!  I was just thinking last week that I haven't blogged in a while.  I don't know why besides everyday life gets in the way. :)  So, I thought I would catch you up with the Martin Family.

We will start with Rich...Rich officially graduated from SAMS (School of Advanced Military Studies) last week on May 17th.  He was thrilled to finally have completed his third school while in Kansas and obtained his second Master's Degree.  He will use his knowledge well for his follow on assignment.   As most of you know, he made the Battalion Command list and we are off to Fort Riley, Kansas this summer.  We have been stationed there before, so we will be going back to familiar territory.  Rich will be traveling a lot between now and December and expected to take command the following year.  He couldn't be happier and we are so proud of his accomplishments!

Lillian is a graduate of First Grade (okay, not until Friday) at Bradley Elementary.  She has enjoyed her two years at Bradley and will greatly miss this school.  So will I!  We have had many great times at this school and hope she continues to love her education at Fort Riley Elementary where she will start Second Grade.  We are believing she will continue at this school until the end of 4th Grade, but as you Army families know, nothing is ever guaranteed!

Lillian also completed her first year on Dance Team at Katie's Dance Studio.  She put in a lot of effort and work this year for dance and managed to take ballet/tap, jazz and perform on dance team.  She completed her recital on Mother's Day and did wonderful!  She had four routines in the first show and five routines in the second show.  The shows were only an hour apart and she pushed right through until the end.  I was proud of her for memorizing all those routines and still smiling until the end.  I think I was more tired than her with costumes flying, feathers flying and make up flying all in the back room and on the side stage.  Rich even participated in the recital this year.  There was a daddy daughter dance in the show and all the dads did an amazing job!  The highlight of the show!  By the way, the song playing on my blog currently was the song they danced too...melt your heart. :)

We also drove Lillian to Bates Dance Studio at Fort Riley, Kansas a few weeks ago in April.  The studio held dance team try outs for the following year and we were lucky enough to only be two hours away.  We made the drive and Lillian is now a Sparkler!  She continues to take jazz, ballet and tap and declares dance her passion.  And that brings me to Lydia...

Lydia is ready to get back into dance too.  She will be taking predance at Bates Dance Studio too.  She dropped out last year from ballet/tap, Sunday School and preschool.  Yeah, we only made it two days!  But, she said she is ready for preschool and dance this year.  She continues to take mommy and me gymnastics and loves it!  She will continue at Fort Riley too.  She is my crazy one in gymnastics and tumbles all over the place.  That would explain her busted lip last night while rough housing in the basement! :)

Lydia will be attending St. Luke's Preschool starting in September.  She will only go on Tuesday and Thursdays from 9:00am to 11:30am.  I really hope she enjoys preschool.  My heart is not ready to see her so upset like last year.  That was too much for my heart and soul.  Both Lydia and I will have to be strong!

I thought I would attach a video of Lydia learning to ride her bike without training wheels too.  This was Lydia's idea and we have been working a little at a time for a couple of weeks.  Lydia has her own mind set and tries for five minutes and then moves onto something bigger and better.  But, she doesn't want the training wheels back on and is starting to really get it.  Not bad for a 3 year old! :)  So proud of her!  She has really grown up lately and just too stinking cute!

I also attached a video of Lillian performing the Hula Dance at her school Talent Show.  She performed in the Talent Show last year and made it again this year.  This dance was originally done in her recital with her dance team members (17 total members).  She looked adorable in the recital and talent show.  I was not like her as a child...way too shy to try something like this in front of the whole school.  I am so happy both my children seem to be just as outgoing as their dad!

Well, we will be off to TX next week to visit our wonderful friends.  Then, once we return, we will pack up and head to Fort Riley.  Wish us luck!  Good bye Fort Leavenworth and all our wonderful friends we have made here.  We will miss each and every one of you and will look for you at future duty stations.  We also wish you all nothing but continued success.  Love you all!  See you down the road....

Julie

Hip Hop Easter!

Easter always brings me back to some fun memories in Texas. Our first Easter traditions were established there as a family- be with amazing family and friends, have a delicious Easter lunch/dinner, do multiple egg hunts and slam confetti (cascarone) eggs! I really missed my Texas family this year and thank them for those memories..it is hard how to explain how to do confetti eggs when the element of surprise is what is best! :) I remember our last Easter with the King and Chapa family vividly...I finally cracked Nina with a confetti egg and she was shocked! Her family told me her plan and I had to get her first- those are the rules. Now, Nina will tell you a different story, but that is the true version! :) Nothing is better than watching adults slam each other with confetti eggs and endlessly laugh at one another! :)

However, Easter was wonderful in KS too! We ended up with a beautiful Easter Sunday. We were lucky to have Mickie's son in town for Easter weekend. Nick is 17 now! He got a dose of dealing with two wild children over the weekend and I am sure was ready to go back to NC on the first plane heading home. He even asked Rich, "What time is it? I don't want to miss my plane!" It was four hours until flight time! HA!

The girls enjoyed all the usual events for Easter- dying Easter eggs and egg hunts. We spent the whole day outside with friends. It was fun eating yummy foods, playing egg toss and relay games, egg hunts and showing KS about confetti eggs. The day ended with a water balloon fight with both my girls almost in tears- we just over did it a little too much in the sun! :) We even got sun burned! :( By 4:30pm, it was time for a nice television show and relaxation time! The girls were beyond exhausted!

Happy Easter 2012! Love you all and hope you had a glorious Easter too!

Julie

Spring Break St. Louis!

What a great city to visit for all you local peeps! My family agrees it is a must see before you leave the Fort Leavenworth area for your next duty station. It is full of great places to visit, inexpensive and would totally recommend staying at Scott Air Force Base. Who gets a three bedroom/three bathroom townhome fully stocked to include- pots, pans, utensils, dishes, coffee pot, washer/dryer, etc for only $50.00 a night? Isn't that awesome? They even have kennels available in the rooms for a pet friendly stay!

We arrived Friday night and went straight to bed! We knew the adventures would begin bright and early the next day. We woke up and had breakfast in our room and then the girls were ready for The Magic House. It is an amazing children's museum and more that we could have imagined! It was developed from the base of an old house. The developers were two St. Louis women who created this wonderful and interactive way of learning. They added more rooms onto the house and it now has a Purple Wing and Red Wing that included three stories in each wing. It was more than enough for one day as we spent 7 1/2 hours there exploring each area! It even had a secret room once you found the passage way! :) The girls enjoyed running from one area to the next and quickly found their favorite room. Can you believe Lillian's was the construction room? I was floored! HA! Lydia's favorite room was the Magic School House (based on the book series). She loved picking the vegetables and playing dress up.

Saturday was another fun fulled day! The St. Louis Zoo was amazing and FREE! Can you believe it? We enjoyed carousel rides, a 3D movie and a 4D motion simulator that played Happy Feet. Lydia was not thrilled once the ride begun and the seal chasing after the penguin scared her beyond her years. We haven't seen violence in any way in their lives....trying to protect them as long as I can. Funny, even Disney movies still scare Lillian! :) However, they thoroughly enjoyed the zoo and all the animals! Even the Zebra exhibition! That was a show we didn't need to see, but what can you do with wild animals? :) Poor Lydia was so tired of day two of no napping and fell asleep in the car ride home. She even was upset when leaving the zoo because she didn't realize she missed her nap and wanted to nap in Lillian's bed! HA!

Of course, Monday turned into another adventure! I turned 37 years old and the girls really tried to make it my day. We ended up at City Museum and this really turned into my day scaring me beyond MY years! Once you see the pictures you will understand! It is a museum made of obstacles, climbing, slides and more. We managed to climb all the way up to enjoy a 10 Story Slide down, down and down! Yep, my brave Lydia did it too!~ This is a must see place to truly understand and appreciate all it has to offer.

After the museum, we made it to our last destination. The St. Louis Arch! It was amazing to ride to the top- 629 feet in the air! I got some great pictures from the top looking out over the city and Mississippi River. We didn't visit too much else at the base because Lydia was completely worn out after day three of no nap. She fell asleep on the way back to the base with snack bag on her lap and apple in hand! Pitiful!

We had a wonderful visit to this city and would love to go back to visit Science City! It was a great way to start Spring Break and we still have puppet show and Disney on Ice for this week. Now, can the rain end? I already miss the sunshine and warmth of St. Louis! Love you all!

Julie

LTC???

Rich officially is now officially a LTC in the US Army! YEAH! Rich has waited so long for this moment and it is one he deserves. He has put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into the Army and deserves this promotion. The ceremony was short and sweet, but COL Graves had a lot of important insights into Rich's career. Rich has always asked for the "hard" job and has never backed down from the fight. Rich and all of his fellow soldiers have seen a lot in this modern Armed Forces. There have been many moments of peace, happiness and joy, but those moments are also accompanied by moments of hardship, many goodbyes, deployments and friends lost forever. It is not an easy life to choose, but he chose it and honors the life everyday. So proud of you today honey and enjoy this moment!! We love you!!!

Love,

Julie, Lillian and Lydia (Dutchess too!)(OH and the Hermit Crab left alive)

Happy New Year- Snow Creek!

Of course, 2012 rang in with bells and is now upon us! We celebrated by heading to T-Rex Cafe for their New Year celebration. We went last year and had so much fun we decided to go back again this year. It is always wonderful to see the girls counting down to the New Year and waiting for the balloons to drop. They each grabbed a pink balloon this year. Surprise! :)

We took our final day of leave to go to Snow Creek. We went tubing for two hours and I think everyone was wiped out after that many trips down the hill. Lydia lasted much longer this year and I was proud of her. We had lots of friends join us today and I think all had a good time. Thanks AJ, Joe and Nathan for coming today! It wasn't that bad weather wise either with lots of sunshine to keep us warm at 32 degrees.

It was a wonderful way to end our Christmas break, but back to normal schedule tomorrow! Happy New Year!

Love,

Us