Five of My Own: HOO-HAAH!!!

This is Dart and I’m finishing today’s post for Lori. It has been a long two days for Lori with Nina attached to her at the hip for every flight, meal, and walk around town. I only get to take her to the potty and hang her upside down (Nina, not Lori). Lori picked these pictures and asked me to post them - and then fell into a deep coma.

Today we were introduced to the Air Force way. We had to be at the base by 8:30 am for the trainee airmen fitness run. Fortunately, Courtney was a flight leader, which meant that she ran at the front of her squadron, or we never would have found her. She looks very different, as she has put on 14 lbs of muscle on her 5’1” frame in the past 8 weeks. I was not expecting the intensity of the emotions that came with seeing her again. Courtney is more than a niece; she is almost like a daughter to us. Besides taking her with us on many of our family vacations, she has lived with us for extended periods since she was seven, including most of the past year and when we brought Nina home. After everything she has been through in her life, it is awesome to see her excelling here. We are very proud aunt and uncle. Aidan, and Nolan were also very excited to see their cousin/almost sister and were dying to give her big hugs.

However, we could not do that yet. We would not be able to visit with her until after the coin ceremony at 2:00, so we headed back to downtown San Antonio to act like tourists and visit the Alamo.

Of course we spent more time following (and photographing) Nina as she ran around the grounds of the Alamo than we did actually seeing the Alamo.

After lunch, it was back to the base for the coin ceremony. This was as quick as it was impressive. After the ceremony, we were able to visit with Courtney as she enjoyed base liberty. After satisfying her craving for Reese’s Pieces, we drove around the base, went bowling, and did our best to catch up while getting Nina a short nap.