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Epic Thanksgiving Adventure - Part 2

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After a good night's sleep - it was pouring rain, but warm and cozy in the tent - we awoke to a drizzling, overcast day. The girls popped outside while they waited for us to get dressed and saw a bear running away from the camp! (so disappointed I wasn't with them!) We decided to drive to a local picnic spot to cook breakfast. We enjoyed scrambled eggs with sliced turkey that the girls prepared on our new camping stove. Then, we returned all our food items to the bear locker - you can't even keep stuff in your car because they had incidents of bears ripping off car doors to get to the food!  Jason selected a short hike for us and we set out. By this time, the rain had stopped and it was actually nice out.  The size of the trees is insane! This wasn't even one of the giant sequoia trees, but check out the second picture and you'll get an idea of how huge they are!  We took the somewhat steep, paved Mist Trail up to see V
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Thanksgiving Epic Adventure - Part 1

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This year, we opted out of the traditions of Thanksgiving. We headed north to Yosemite National Park to take in a part of America we have long been wanting to explore. It was an eventful trip, complete with car sickness and a marathon clean-up stop (where we also got every last dose of Dramamine the gas station had in stock), but eventually we made it. The only word to accurately describe it is breathtaking! The photos don't do it justice, but I will share anyway.  Our first stop was at "Tunnel View," which provided an incredible look at El Capitan (one the left), Half Dome (which was masked by the clouds) and Bridalveil Fall (on the right). Below is a closer view of El Capitan - it's amazing to think of people free climbing and easy to see how there have been so many deaths during attempts! The girls were just thrilled we were almost done being in the car! Yosemite starts getting cold in September, so we decided in advance to "glamp" (that'
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Halloween 2018

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Halloween! What a fun time of year! Reagan and Savannah are growing up and in no time at all, I'm sure they will be carving their own pumpkins without any help from mom and dad:) We got a late start, carving our designs the night prior, but had a great time.  Our neighborhood is awful for trick-or-treating...luckily, we are just a hop, skip and a jump from base housing and they know how to celebrate Halloween over there! Jason helped Reagan put the final touches on her costume with cammie paint! Of course, Savannah couldn't miss out, even though Super Girl doesn't normally rock the camo... We hopped in the car and headed to our friends' hood to fill our bags with candy (and for the parents, there are a variety of adult beverages and treats - Jello shots anyone?! - to choose from) After just an hour and a half, we were all ready to call it quits. Home and cleaned up by 8! 
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Jason's Promotion

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On November 2nd, Jason was promoted to lieutenant colonel! His former boss, Colonel Seth Folsom was the promoting officer and did an incredible job recapping Jason's various jobs and schools throughout his time in the Marine Corps. It was a beautiful SoCal day and we couldn't be more proud of him! Aunt Helen and Uncle Dan came down to celebrate with us and represent the family! As always, it was wonderful to see them and spend time together! 
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Visiting PeePaw

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I struggled with the decision to share this part of our journey back to Virginia. The photos don't show our beloved PeePaw as we knew him. At this point, he had been in the hospital for countless weeks. But I want the girls to have this recorded memory because no one loved them quite like their great grandfather did. I'm so grateful that we had 3+ years for them to visit and get to know him. Seeing him in the hospital was difficult for them...for all of us. But he still had that sparkle in his eye and a smile to share. He played "volleyball" with Reagan thanks to a blown up glove Papa made. Savannah sat on his bed and told him stories. They talked about all the ice cream cups shared at Greensprings and got to kiss and hug him one last time.  What a wonderful man!
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