Jonas' Army Basic Training Graduation

Well the four of us, plus friend Abby (one of Emmy's best-friends and a sort of girlfriend of Jonas' - although only thru this weekend's homecoming dance....), went to South Carolina to celebrate Jonas' graduation from Basic Training, i.e., boot camp.

Since we were sort of in their neck of the woods, Erin and Everett and Oliver joined us! It was awesome having them all there - even if our kids our awkward teens.... It was super great to see them and have a few days together.

We Coloradans arrived Tuesday night/Wednesday morning - like 1am or something. We got our rental car, dropped off Kolter's mom (Kandace) at her hotel, and then checked in to our hotel in Columbia, SC. We didn't get much sleep as we had to get up and out by like 6am Wednesday morning (4am our time!).

We met my sister and kids at the breakfast at the hotel and it was fun to see them! We then drove to the Fort Jackson base and really had no trouble or lines getting in - which meant we were quite early and had a lot of time to wait. . . 

Wednesday was Family Day. That meant we got to see Jonas and hang out with him for the day - all on base. It was actually a really cool presentation when the soldiers came out. They were hiding behind the field in the trees (for 2 hours we later found out from Jonas). At 9am they had these green and yellow smoke bombs and the soldiers all came out of the trees, through the smoke, and lined up. It was awesome and kind of emotional. Emmy was in tears. :) Then words were spoken, etc. It was a total Where's Waldo scenario, but Lucy found Jonas among the 600+ graduates! I wasn't sure at first when she pointed him out, but when he started smirking/smiling (he can't hold a serious face for long!), I totally knew it was Jonas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iedBJqpges&ab_channel=EmilyMaxwell (link to video of the new soldiers coming out of the trees)

We finally got to go down to the field and "tap him out," meaning we got to release him or something. It was good to finally see him and he looked really good and happy - even though he quickly told us he was "dying to get out of there." Haha.

We didn't know exactly what to do on base, but we did go to the mini golf course there and it was super fun. We grabbed lunch from some food trucks, drove around the base and Jonas showed us some things, met up with Kandace and Kolter at a park and had a good chat, etc. It was a good day and fun seeing Jonas and his home for those 10+ weeks of his summer.

That night, we had to return Jonas by about 5:30, we met back up with my sister and her boys (they spent most of the day with us, but left after lunch to chill at the hotel) for a tasty dinner at Tacos Nayarit and then went to the movie, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Weirdly (or not, ha) we were the only ones in the theater.

Thursday was the official graduation day. The soldiers all marched out and chants, songs, and honors were all done. Then it was over! Jonas was finally done! He was thrilled. We parked while Jonas and Ben grabbed all of Jonas' stuff and then we left Fort Jackson - freedom for Jonas!

 

Cute group of new Army Soldiers! On Jonas' right is Kolter and on his left is one of the boys Jonas baptized. Cool.

We drove to Charleston - about a two-hour drive. Erin and her boys were a bit behind us (they stopped at a state park/national park on their way). Charleston was such an adorable town! I loved it. The homes were gorgeous and I always adore me a cute cobblestone street. :) We split up from the kids and let them walk around by themselves. Ben and I walked to the ocean and then up the famous "Rainbow Row" street. We came to some museum and they had a tour, of course. As it would have been torture for me, I let Ben go alone and I just walked up and down the pretty town. Besides the heat and humidity, it was lovely. I caught up with Erin and crew and we walked around for a bit together. 

After everyone was done, we went and checked in to our AirBnB. We enjoyed some downtime and then met up with my sister for dinner later that evening. We had a good and fun dinner, enjoyed a walk on the beach (Folly Beach) at sunset, and then back to our places for the night. 

On Friday morning Ben and I got up early and went for a run. We decided to do a unique but must-do run for the area: up and over and then back again on the Arthur Ravenel Bridge. It was awesome and awful all at the same time! The bridge is 2.5 miles long - so it made for a good 5-mile run. But it was just so hard! It started off with some good incline, but really it was just the humidity, I think, that made it so difficult. I was ready to get that amazing feeling of running at zero altitude, but the humidity crushed that feeling for me, ha. But it was still fun to do and to do with Ben.

Afterwards, we got ready for our beach day at Folly Beach. I had signed up Ben and Jonas for surf lessons . . . because I thought Jonas would like it. He totally did not want to do it! Mostly (solely?) because he was afraid of us (but probably just Abby) watching him and him doing poorly. I told him we wouldn't watch him and that the girls would just be enjoying boogie-boarding, etc. He ended up having a good time and both he and Ben did great - the instructor was super-impressed with how many rides they each got up on. She said she usually has to spend the full 2-hour lesson just helping the rider get up once. Both Jonas and Ben got up, I would say, about 8 times . . . Not that I was watching or anything. . .

Erin and her boys seemed to have a lot of fun in the water - mostly wave-jumping. We got to use their boogie-boards and the AirBnB's boards and my girls had a blast in the water as well. Abby was super awesome at boggie-boarding! It was a hot day and so that made it perfect for the beach, I guess! We took a lunch break and walked into the town of Folly Beach and enjoyed some lunch. Erin and her boys headed out at that point. Our kids plus Abby walked around and went in to a few shops. Then we met them back up at the beach and Emmy and Lucy and Ben enjoyed some more water-time in the warm beach, plus some sand football tossing. It was a really great day.

That night we just ordered pizza and had everyone over at our place for dinner. We talked and had a good time and then were pretty tired and had to get up at like 4am (2am our time!) to get to the airport the next day. . . So we said goodbye to our Huband family (Chuck started work that week and so he was unable to come - we missed him!) and went to bed. We got up not-bright (still super-dark) & early and headed to the airport. We got out of Charleston just fine, but man was it a mess at the Dallas airport. Four airplanes and four terminals later and 6-hours later than planned, we made it back home to Montrose. 

Home Sweet Home for Jonas for sure!