Chapter 447

"What's for dinner?"

Happy National Escargot Day!

Bob has persevered and turned our patio from this:

to this. Keep in mind that Bob was the one that turned it into the first picture in the first place, but that's a story for another time.

The garden is coming along and definitely benefited from having the greenhouse for a few weeks to give the tiny seeds a solid start. The bald patches are where I got confused and pulled the new sprouts along with the weeds.

Today I harvested my first salad. I have to hurry to harvest my salad since there seems to be "somebunny" trying to eat my salad before I do.

And to continue my tour of the yard, here's Nitro on the stump he likes to sit on eat time we go out for an afternoon walk.

Someone was really excited to go to Ft. Lewis and see the Budweiser Clydesdales. We got there in time to watch the Clydesdales come out and get put under harness. Everything about those horses and their harnesses are huge!

We, literally, sat in the parking lot while we watched the horses get "tacked up" and Reagan took this opportunity to show me her Band-Aid. The Band-Aid she called Carissa out of bed for while sounding like she was bleeding to death over a little-teeny spot that Carissa could barely see. To allow everyone to go back to sleep, a Band-Aid was prescribed and dispensed.

You can see the horses patiently waiting to get on their tour around the parking lot to show off their finery.

 Afterwards a trip to a Ft. Lewis park, complete with tank, was in order. She loved this park and it allowed her to blow off a bit of steam, or in the case of a tank, belching black smoke.

Since Carissa and I met at Tacoma Mall to carpool to Ft. Lewis, we ended back at the mall. I suggesting taking Reagan home with me so Carissa could get her chores done for the evening before Chris came home the next day. We went into the mall and there is the inevitable trip to Build-a-Bear for some accessories and a new outfit for the next day to greet Daddy. She looked like Pretty Woman carrying her bags through the mall. She is her Auntie Kyanne's reincarnation as this was Kyanne's favorite thing to do as well. 

Carissa and I traded cars and we headed home. Reagan has a million things she wants to do when she gets here and we spent most of the evening doing them. Then she settled in to make her sign for Daddy. She takes art very seriously and concentrated heavily as she drew each line.

I busted out the sequins and eyeballs for a little added personalizing.  She placed each sequin into place using tweezers then gently pressed it into the (glitter) glue to be sure it stayed. I wanted to get all the gluing done before bed so it was good and dry by morning but she was sure taking her sweet time getting it perfect. The next morning she discovered my stash of bingo daubers from Carissa's 18th birthday trip to Muckleshoot bingo and filled in every available white area on the sign. 

Because it was an unplanned visit, Grampa's t-shirt became jammies for the night and Reagan was loving it. We can pull together an unplanned visit like no one else!

We knew she was tired because she is NOT a snuggler but buried right in for story time and barely staying awake. 

She was literally asleep in her bed before I could even call up the Adele 25 album, her ritual bedtime music, on my phone. Anyone that knows Reagan very well knows this is NOT her style at all!

She was so excited to go get Daddy that Bob "read her down" with stories. Reading is about the only thing that Reagan ever stops for.

Chris was in Arkansas in Air Force First Sergeant Academy for two weeks. Although Reagan missed him terribly, it was a great opportunity for Chris to move up the Air Force ladder.

And the goal is met! This is Chris' "warrior" group which earned them the little diamond inside of their strip-y thingies they wear on their sleeves. Congratulations Chris for all your hard work to distinguish yourself! 

Once Daddy got home, Reagan got the chance to hold her sign at the airport. Carissa says nothing gets attention at an airport like a cute kid with a "Welcome Home Daddy" sign. That girl can sure wield a bingo dauber!

Then, Walker family intact, they stopped at McChord to check the airplanes in Chris' Air Force group/command/platoon/?. happy, Happy, HAPPY family!

After Carissa picked Reagan up to take her to the airport to see Daddy, we found testament of the marathon trip through "her" territory.

Have a good week, Everyone!