Post Deployment Retreat

On Friday we headed downtown for a command post deployment retreat. Markus started out the weekend right...

 Once we got up into our room we realized we had a gorgeous view!

 We hung out in the room for a little while before we had to get ready for the Christmas party.

 I got Joli ready and she was thrilled to not only be wearing the dress Joe bought her, but also the new shoes I bought her!

 She looked adorable!

 The boys just hung out and waited.

 Then they quickly changed and looked quite handsome!

 I didn't clean up to bad either.

 This was the view from the window outside our door. Also beautiful!

 Originally we had thought the kids were going to come into the party with us, but then we found out that they were have their own party in the child care, and they were more than happy to eat from the kid's buffet and then go to that!

 Joe and I were pretty happy with the arrangement too!

 Before we headed into the party we got to talk with Gary Sinise for awhile, which I was super excited about! Joe had actually met him before, so they were like old friends, and he was a super nice guy!

 We also got to hear his band that he put together, which was really amazing!!

 It was such a blast!!

 After the band finished we went to pick up the kids, and they had had just as much fun as we had!

 I ended up sitting in bed with the kids for a little while and soothing Markus. He was completely exhausted and heartbroken that we had to wash off his face paint before he got in bed. He was so sad that Joe and I just couldn't help but feel sorry for him!

 The next day there were several seminars, and the kids were back in the child care. Joli's age group actually had a chance to meet with someone that specialized in helping kids set goals and focus during deployments, so that was really neat! We had a few seminars that ended up being really interesting as well. Mid-afternoon we were released for the day and took the kids swimming at the pool for awhile. Then headed back to the room to shower and change before going down to Seaport Village for dinner. We had a great time as always! 

 We went into the Christmas Store and I must have held Markus and looked at the miniature Christmas town for over thirty minutes! He loved the little Santa train!

 When we went outside Joli said "Oh Mom! I love this tree! This is what I want when I'm grown up!".

 Next we went to the wooden toy store, where the kids had a great time playing for awhile!

 At 7:00p.m. the child care opened up again so that the adults could have a date night and the kids could watch movies and have snacks. Joe and were very excited to have some time just the two of us! After having a nice dinner in Seaport Village, we went to a piano bar for awhile and listened to dueling pianos, then went to the top of the hotel and enjoyed the view from their bar!

 It was a very lovely evening and we were exhausted! When Joe picked up the kids Markus was asleep on a blanket. Joe carried him up to the room and he didn't wake once, put him in bed and he still didn't wake, and then he slept until after 8:30 this morning! He was a tired boy! The last part of the retreat was a family scavenger hunt through the hotel and our prize was a new Christmas movie! We had a pretty good time!

 In the closing ceremony the kids were asked to come up on stage, and after thanking them for staying so strong during the deployment, they were asked to see if they could be louder than the parents. They were!

 It was a lovely weekend and we are all so tired and looking forward to sleeping tonight! When we got home I was excited to put out my newest decoration that Joe bought me! It's part of the Willow collection that I've had for seven years now, and we can't wait to collect the entire manger scene!