Milestones

This week has been busy with a constant flow of homework coming from school, shuttling back and forth to football practice, and a series of appointments to get the passport process started.  On a side note: the passport process provided a moment of hilarity as we looked at the stack of passports dating back all the way to my first passport issued when we moved to England in 1990! As you can imagine, we oohed and ahhed over the pictures of the kids when they were little, and they rolled on the floor guffawing when they saw my picture as a 10 year old.  As a parent, you sacrifice dignity on a daily basis.
In amongst all of the very "daily-ness" of this week, our family celebrated a couple of major milestones worth recording.  The most notable....drum roll, please... was that Raylie, a newly minted 10 year old, received her FIRST identification (id) card!

For those of you who are not military, the id card is an all-access pass to everything desirable on a military base: you can make a purchase at the commissary with out your parents, you can go to the BX without your parents, you can get on base without your parents.... hey wait a minute.....this is an all access pass to do things without your parents! Maybe that's why every military brat so looks forward to their tenth birthday! Lucky for me, she still needs her parents for a pretty crucial part of the equation; getting to those locations! Overseas, the id card will be featured more prominently than it is stateside.  For instance, they check id cards on school busses and and at school functions.  So, Raylie has come of age as a military brat, and she was tickled pink to be escorted by Joe to the personnel office to get her id card hot off the press.

As Raylie joins the "big-girl" club in our military world, Seth is coming of age as a first-time football player.  We had to make a trip to the store yesterday in search of dress-shirts and ties for this starting-line up tight-end, so he would be properly attired on game day.  (The coach at Heritage is a real class act, making sure the guys wear their jerseys the day before a game, and they are required to wear their best duds on game day-- even during travel! What a way to teach self-respect and pride in your school!). 

 So, I took our teenager shopping yesterday-- for nearly an hour....amazing, but this boy is just as fashion conscious (I think he would prefer savvy...) as his sister-- to finish getting this part of his football "uniform" purchased.  And, woe to the parent who thinks that school sports are somehow less expensive than city leagues! Between compression shorts, athletic cups, new footballs, cleats, dress clothes, and integrated (that means the pads are built in) practice pants, we have spent a pretty penny on this sports endeavor.  (And, I am reminded why I liked the swim team so much! :0)) Joe, summed up the whole experience last night when he said, " we are throwing a lot of money at this, but Seth is loving it, and that's all that matters." So. true.

Of course, getting the clothes is one thing.....figuring out how to put them on is quite another! But, he's a quick learner, and it only took a few minutes (and little assistance from Dad) to get the tie on, and the outfit assembled!

So, the Heritage Falcons (fitting, don't you think? the AF mascot is a falcon too!) face off today in their first game of the season against their sister school in Tucson.  We are making the 2 hour drive down with his full squad of cheer leaders (aka his siblings) so we can witness this major event as a family.  I'm pretty certain he dreamt about his play book (the triple threat, Malcom X, and Hot shot)....I dreamt about all of my first aid certifications so that information would be fresh in my mind! More on how the game goes later....

We also had a major milestone for Phoenix heat-- in a good way-- this week.  Thanks to a storm that has been rolling around the last couple of days, the thermometer has not gotten above 95 degrees! I know it sounds odd to be celebrating a high of 95, but after our "hotter-than-blazes" summer months in Oklahoma, and a continued heat wave here, 95 feels divine.  We took advantage last night, grabbed scooters and roller blades and took a tour of our new (temporary) base.  It was great to get outside of our four walls and get some fresh air.