Boot Camp Moms (and loved ones)

Shanny, you might check in the FB groups that are around. 

Also, you might see if you can contact the counselor at the High School. They probably can not give you an address but they might be able to get a message to her family. I know you said she doesn't have any support, but it is a long shot. 

Shanny- Hey, it's a shame you couldn't find out more infromation at the recruiter's office. Nowadays thou they are so picky about giving out any information. 

Hopefully he will run into her again after his A school. You just never know.  :)

Got a letter yesterday and today. They are both from the last 10 days so the 5 or 6 he sent in the first few weeks are really lost. Oh well. I am just happy to have letters. He said that he had a stack of mine too, and that was my biggest sadness .... that he might feel neglected because he didn't get anything the first 6 weeks. One week to go (crossing fingers, toes, knees, and anything else I can cross).

I am wearing my red (now that I had the hair dye accident, it doesn't look as bad on me :) and heading out for groceries. TGIF!!! I get to sleep in tomorrow!!

Shanny - That is so sweet of your son to be worried about his former classmate. He sounds like a wonderful young man. We took advice from a post we saw here and asked our SR to watch for others not receiving mail so we could write them letters of thanks and encouragement. Best case scenario is everyone in his division has support from home but if not we plan to jump in. If this young lady doesn't have any support maybe the others in her division will reach out to their families and she will get support from them. We can at least pray for her!

Shanny that is very thoughtful of you and your Son. I hope he finds her. It is so important to have someone by your side. My Son and I have helped out a few guys stationed on Coronado with no family. I sent packages to them and my Son also helped out in what he could do. So very important as some get very depressed. Praying that you both find her and reach out.

Katherine Great News!

Shanny:  What an adorable face!  We have a Yorkie!  I understand about not being able to stay mad at them!  And your day yesterday brought back memories.  We have 4 kids who were involved in band, tennis, golf, cross country, and track, among other extra-curricular things.  I think for a while that was my main job--chauffer!  

Chipmunk:  Yes, we got one letter and he returned one of my questionnaires.  He is doing really well.  It sounds like about 3 SRs in his division are having trouble following directions and have gotten beat individually.  He said their first inspection he had rack makeup (which to me sounds like fold and stow because he said he had to turn everything inside out and unbutton it, then had 10 minutes to put everything back?).  The inspector commented  on how nice and perfect his and his bunk mate's rack looked. In my next letter, I'm going to tell him he just raised the bar on my expectations when he comes back home.  He said on their first inspection, his division got 12 hits, 0 failures, and he personally had gotten no hits.  What is the difference between hits and failures?  Is it so may hits makes a failure?  He said boot camp is really going fast.  It is such a relief to hear him so positive!  

VintageGal I like your way of thinking!

C'sMom2020 this is what it means,

Hit: infraction found during an inspection; a failure to meet standards. Don’t worry; these are not physical hits.

If ever you don't know what something means here is the site to look it up it is very helpful and it will also let you learn some lingo.

What does ??? mean? (A Guide to Navy Abbreviations and Terminology)

Pheonixmom and Shanny - The Navy Mom Posse can do great things when we put our heads together!! :)

Right! VintageGal we sure can!

Yay for the Nany Mom Posse!!!

VintageGal- That was a great idea. I like that to. 

Katharine- Yay for letters that is great. At least now he knows that you've been writing. 

LadyBlueFire: I found Navy Gumby on eBay. :-) 

jacksmom17,

Here are some links to get you started.

Here is one link: this is before he leaves but it is still good to read.

OPSEC/PERSEC

 http://www.bootcamp.navy.mil/faq.html#contacting_recruits or Ship/Division--How it Works. 

Informed Delivery®   This one is where you sign up for informed delivery so that you can see the mail that you get every day.

What does ??? mean? (A Guide to Navy Abbreviations and Terminology)

Boot Camp First Weeks Timeline

---

Kristel2400-- I stopped getting the emails because I accidently clicked on the “stop sending me notifications” instead of the open on one of the scripture posts. You can go into settings and adjust the settings to get them back.

VintageGal & Kristel2400--- Yea!!! Now you can write to your SR’s and let them know and compare notes too!!!

LadyBluefire-- The Gumby Sailor’s are available on Etsy for about $12.

MyKidsMom-- It’s disappointing for them too!! It’s a small hickup in the grand scheme but it feels Huge right now!!

Good evening everyone!! I was doing my mom duties on the home front here and supporting my youngest with his school activities. But it is way past my bedtime.

I will have to reply in the morning - but I wanted to let Jacksmom17 know that I replied to the PM you sent me earlier. 

Also Jen(OS Mom) were you able to get your phone to post your messages? 

Good Morning Ladies and welcome to all of our new moms,

Congratulations to all of our brand new Sailors. May God be with you today and every day as you begin this new journey!!!

jacksmom17- Good Morning and I hope you saw my post with the different links for you.

Good Morning everyone!! I slept in on this foggy morning here, and then I was checking some other emails! Good Morning Partyofseven. I think we all have various projects we are working on today.

MyKidsMom - sending my prayers you SRs way today as he presses forward to that end goal!!!

VintageGal - Great idea for Shanny!  Let the Navy Mom Posse ride! :0  - I forgot about that one! :-)  and this one! :>

Katharine - Glad to hear you are on the countdown!!! I hope you were able to sleep in today and get extra rest.

C'sMom2020 - I am so glad you received a letter as well as the questionnaire! It can be very frustrating for a division when they have some who are not able to "shape up" so to speak. My son said they had issues with talking, and all I could think of was - "I hope you aren't one of them!" He likes to talk just like I do - I think he learned it from me versus his father. :-)

I am glad Phoenixmom posted the definition for Hits. I do think it is so many hits  = a failure. It will be important when they get to A school, to make sure they can pass both their room inspection and uniform inspections without any hits. As I recall my son had uniform inspections on Fridays when they were in their dress uniforms and it was always an added stress factor. He enjoys being on the ship in his working uniform. 

Good Morning to all of our newest members. If I include your name, I will surely leave someone out. I refer back to my email feeds when replying and so if you haven't posted a hello for awhile, I have not kept up with everyone. 

If you posted and asked if someone is in your PIR or Div, feel free to post again, as comments get buried here. 

Enjoy your day!! Stay productive and busy, it helps the time go faster - at least it is always too fast for me! 

Geez, it's been a long time since I've posted anything here. Been reading and following all of you. It's very helpful reading what everyone has to say. Since I've last posted my SR has written several times (Ship 13 Div 408) and we got our 35 minute call. He sounds amazing which makes me happy. Ranked up already to E-2. Has some kind of head of laundry job and if he keeps that till the end of BC he could possible rank up again, but they say it's really hard to hold a job for the entire time, but fingers crossed. He has less than 2 weeks till graduation. I did have a question, when they call to say "I'm a sailor" is it their own phone or is it the Waukegan, IL number? Well congratulations to all new Sailors since I last posted. Everyone have a great weekend.  Thanks for listening.

Shanny - aww I hope you find out how to reach out to this girl at RTC. Ooooh Vintagegal’s idea sounds good!

Katharine - at least your SR knows you wrote to him and weren’t neglecting him. Darn post office!

Csmom - so awesome your SR is doing so well! Both in performance and attitude - attitude is everything!

MaterNauta and BBH - thanks for the info on Gumby! 

6kidsncrzy - you are the first person to share a PIR with me!!! 10/22! Congrats on E2 and the Im a Sailor call is payphones still. No cell phones back til on the way to A school...or if they stay at GL in THU for a bit they MIGHT get their phones back.

Good Morning (and I am going off memory and no coffee so apologies if I forget anyone else) Chipmunk, Party, Phoenix, Northwoodsmom, Anti M, Dsmom, Toby, Kristel and mykidsmom.

Sorry for the double post.  Today Feels like Sunday after we rode around all day yesterday playing Pokemon, lol. My husband hasn't wanted to do that in a while and the bad thing is we end up eating out and we have been doing it a lot this past week in the evenings which makes it hard to eat at home. I can feel a difference when eating out.

My son's letter yesterday was a recap of one of his phone calls. Except he told us "Chief likes us and PO does NOT - I'll tell you why on the phone" and he did not so I will have to talk to him about that, lol.

12 days til he PIRs - it seemed like this kid's time at RTC flew by! He turns 18 in 10 days so I am thinking today I should mail out his birthday card. I am also going to photocopy it and send that in a separate letter as birthday cards at RTC are like socks to the laundry. Some just seem to go missing.

6kidsncrzy - So good to hear from you!! I can relate to what life is like at your house. #5 is my last one at home now. It is funny, I still do just as much running around with him as I did with all of them.

LadyBluefire - that is so great you two have the same PIR!! Looking forward to hearing more of your SRs tale. Glad you had an enjoyable day yesterday. 

6kidsncrzy- Good Morning, It is good to see you on here. Yay for letters we love to hear when you guys get letters and kudos to your SR for ranking up. That's awesome!!! 

LadyBluefire_ whoo hoo Good Morning. Awe I bet you guys had fun. It's good to get out there and do that. I am glad that boot camp seems to have flown by for you. :) It won't be long now. You are on the countdown now.  :) 

I can't wait to hear the stories either. I would do that to, for his birthday card just in case it gets lost and you have one at home to give to him when you can. 

Good Morning Chipmunk, We were all trying to help jacksmom17 last night. Lol So hopefully she will see our posts when she can. :)

Enjoy the day ladies.

Good Morning Everyone! Enjoyed following your posts this week!

I didn’t post much... it was a busy week! Received surprise letters yesterday. Did not show on ID! There were two of the multiple choice letters I sent to my SR. I had told him to just answer some of the questions if he did not have time for all. He took me up on it - answered about 5%! And for some of the questions which requested one circled answer, he circled 3 answers! I guess it just means every day varies. He included a few extra sentences to let me know he is still SWS (Working extra hard and proud of it), but my curiosity about his day to day experiences will have to wait until he gets his phone back! PIR 10/15 so I look forward to the “I’m a Sailor” call and pray the next call isn’t a failed PFA or ROM! It would stink to get set back after holding a leadership position for the entire time!! Really praying!!

Ordered some Proud Navy.... mom, dad, aunt, uncle & cousin shirts last night. Want to watch PIR as a family on 10/18 - was afraid to jinx it by ordering too early. Also found a RED bracelet since I wear a uniform and no one can see my red tank that I’ve been wearing underneath. 

Am I correct in assuming there are no I’m a Sailor calls on the weekend? 

Anyone else in Division 391? 

PhoenixMom - just checking to see if you got the info I sent to you on the radiation cream? Posted it on your page. It is what our patients use at my office. Available over the counter. 

Welcome to all the new members. You will find this to be a tremendously supportive group of women that will help get you through bootcamp as you become a Navy Mom! 

Oops. Why is it that the typos are not obvious to me until AFTER I post it. 
Not “SWS”, meant “SWSL”. Starboard Watch Section Leader. 

Good Morning DsMom2020,

We were posting at the same time or I would have answered you. :) Yay for letters that is awesome!!! Mine love those questionnaires he did the same thing.  Lol

PIR is close now. Prayers for him to finish strong and healthy. 

I love my ProudNavy Mom stuff.  :)

As for the phone calls it is hard to tell, we had a lot of calls received last Sunday regular calls home. One mom didn't get her call until after hers graduated. It is just hard to say. I would still keep your phone on you at all times and answer every call that comes in.

You can always hang up if you need to. 

It is good to hear from you. Have a great day!!!

LadyBluefire - what ship and division is your SR? Where is he going for A school? Rate? Mine is staying at GL for a school and is going for GM.

what about others that are PIR on 10/22? What is your SR's plans after BC?

6kidsncrazy, the phone call comes from a Waukegan number, they won't get their phones back until they leave the training  center for A School. Prayers for that phone call coming soon.

Good Evening everyone!! 

Hi Jen (OS Mom) - I know you have had difficulties posting in the group but I saw your comment in the Main Chat!!! WooHoo for a phone call !!! 

Quiet days here, hopefully means you all are staying busy and working on projects to pass the time away.

We enjoyed a nice band concert this afternoon - socially distant but it worked. I don't recall if it was this group or one of my others that commented about marching band and trying to wear masks. If it was here, please send me a PM or comment on my page, I have some ideas to share. 

Chipmunk:  Good evening!!!  Sorry I am quiet and probably will be all week. Finally got an appointment with my Ophthalmologist for Friday. The headaches have not let up and my vision is foggy in my right eye. Hoping I just need an adjustment with my glasses. No desire to deal with an MS flare up again...  

Glad you had a great time at the band concert. My niece plays flute (she is an 8th grader but plays for the high school concert and marching bands). Well, marching band isn’t marching but they play in the stands for football games. 

My sailor texted me this morning when he was woken up around 3:00am by a tornado warning. They had 3 today that he notified me of. Nothing that touched down near base. So he did finally get to see some of the fun aftermath of a hurricane. 

Welcome to all our new members!  Congrats to all our new sailors!  And BNMHs to everyone!  I promise to try to check in as these headaches allow. 

Hey all! Well I have the message that I should under the group members. I think I’m only getting notified via email when “friends” post. I was just reading about navy mom shirts....lol  I have a NAVY shirt that I stole from my SR but I’m so paranoid about jinxing him/it I won’t wear it until he graduates. I know...I may sound cra-cra but I JUST CANT do it. Now that I’m not going to pick up the grocery order in the morning, I’m sure my SR won’t call. LOL In other news, my dad JUST figured out that his letter wouldn’t send bc he didn’t pay to send it on Sandboxx. SMH I said DAD?! The letter you were supposed to send 2 weeks ago?!! He’s like Yeah, the same one. EYYYYY! Well at least he’s got mail coming. Lol I hope everyone had a great Saturday. I am LOVING this fall weather!!! I just replaced the rope and restrung our flag along with adding a solar light. I love it. 

(Navy flag is below American but it’s hard to see) 

Hi Shanny - I think you were signing in as I was signing off earlier. May you have good news from your ophthalmologist!! Hoping those headaches go away. We all have to take our breaks from here. 

Three tornado sirens, that is a lot in one day. We had our normal - tornado test siren today and that is enough!

One of my children played the flute!! 

Kristel2400 - We haven't had as much activity on the group today. But you can stop each group from sending messages, even if you have them turned on in your settings. The group messages get turned off and on by clicking on the follow or stop following right below this comment window.

I really like your flag pole. That is a nice light as well.  

Good Evening Ladies,

Shanny, Hey, Hopefully your headaches will go away. I hate it when that happens to me. Take it easy and get on when you can. It's ok.

My middle son was in the band and he marched and they went to competitions and everything. It was an exciting time and the kids did really well.

3 tornado warnings wow. Glad they were all ok thou. 

Kristel2400- Lol about your dad. I bet we've all been there. And your right, he is getting mail so that is good. 

I cleaned all day and now my house is ready for Halloween. I change my décor every month. I love it. It was a great day. I'm glad your day was good to Kristel2400. 

I love the fall to. I love your flag and the light is pretty. 

Shanny - Hoping for no MS news for you. Eyes are just so perfinicky!

Kristel - I love your flagpole. My next door neighbor has a beautiful one, and when we move next year I want to make sure we have one too. 

My SR wrote that they might get a phone call before Battlestations if they did everything right. Hoping for a call in the next few days. I tried making a question list but only came up with 3 questions:

1. Did you really have lobster bisque? (I read about it on the Facebook PIR page). 

2. Star flag .... does that mean you finally learned to keep a tidy space?

3. Where should I watch for you at PIR?

I cannot think of anything else to ask. Any ideas? He is just walking across the street for A-school, so I really do not have any questions about that yet. I guess I know he will WhatsApp when he gets across the street so we can talk about what he wants shipped when he can give me a new address. I feel unprepared with only 3 questions.

I still have too many apples on my trees. I am going to get the rest tomorrow and make the cider. I have a 5-gal fermentation pail and I will start the hard cider tomorrow. My neighbor across the street runs a winery and tasting room from his house. I hope I can trade him some cider for his amazing wines (so far we have just been giving them eggs once in a while .... they are not good at accepting money from neighbors for wine .... what a shame!).

Good Morning ladies and welcome to all of our new moms,

It's another day closer for some of you ladies to PIR. Keep those phones on you at all times and those ringers on loud. You don't want to miss a call.  :)

It's a beautiful Sonday morning here with a cool temperature of 65 degrees. The high should be 94. We will see what happens for the week. 

Katharine- Good Morning, apple cider is one of my favorites. That is awesome that you have so many apples. 

That's pretty neat about your neighbor making wine. I bet it's really good to. They say we should drink a glass of wine a day but I never seem to make that. Lol

Don't feel unprepared with the questions it is ok. I always write mine down to even now and after we hang up I always have more. Lol 

At first you'll be so happy to talk to him it won't matter until later. It's good to see you on here. 

LBF- Hope you are enjoying the week with your hubby. I told mine about the pokemon go and I said see people still play it. :) 

Chipmunk, Shanny, Kristel2400, VintageGal, Anti M and Northwoodsmom if I missed you I'm sorry. Good Morning Ladies. 

God Bless and Have a great Sonday!!!

Good morning everyone!!

6kids - same ship as yours, but Div 414. He is going to Groton for subs and his rate is CSS. Culinary Specialist Subs. He wants to be a famous chef one day, ;)

Dsmom - that is how I am with typos - I notice after, then I fix one and then 5 more pop out at me. OOOhhhh SWSL - a good position for advancement without being too much in the limelight like RPOC. You are in the final stretch!!!!

Shanny - praying all goes well with you and it is just a simple glasses fix.

Kristel - I hear ya on jinxing. When I wear or use anything Navy related I tell myself it is for my other 3 and not my #4, lol. You should have picked up your grocery store order so he would call, lol. My kids are trained well, if food at a restaurant is taking too long to get to our table one of them will go to the bathroom and voila! Food! GImme some of your fall weather - we are in the 80's right now and at 94% humidity!!!!!

Katharine - ask him if he earned a ribbon at livefire. LOL that is the one question on my lips for mine right now.. Ask him if any of his bunkmates are going to A school with him. Any of his bunkmates in the same rate as him? How does he feel in his uniforms? What was his favorite part about boot camp? Worst? How he thinks this experience changed him?

Party - we took a hiatus off of PG for a few months - still playing it but not going out and playing it. We liked when Community day would spawn at our house, lol. Now with megaraids we are out and about more. We have 3 people and 5 devices so we can handle a megaraid by ourselves. I am always on the hunt for shinies! (Hubby got a shiny oddish yesterday and I am jealous, lol) Hubby and I cooked together last night and it has been a while! Normally I have dinner ready as soon as he logs out of work so we have more evening time together as a family and eating together is a big requirement in my home.

Well, laundry is calling and then my Little House Books are asking me to read them with my coffee!

LadyBluefire, that's awesome your son loves to cook, maybe he will be making meals for my son, he put in for subs also. He really wanted to be a chef also but his recruiter talked him into Nuclear because of his test scores.

Our weather is so unpredictable, enjoyed 70's Friday but Wednesday we couldn't get above 40. Wisconsin weather.

NWM - the recruiters kept trying to get him to change his mind. Dangled several different rates (rescue diver was one I can recall) as the ship out dates came - mine just dug his heels in and said nothing else interests me. Even so he couldn't have shipped out any earlier - he turns 18 2 days before his PIR.

74 is too cold for me, lol. 

Nice lighted flagpole!  Unlighted flags at night, or out in the rain or snow make me sad. My flag holder was attached to my house, a freak windstorm ripped the anchors right out of the bricks.  I was always very choosy about when the flag went out, if I knew I couldn't bring it in at sunset, I wouldn't put it out. When we first moved in, there were two retirees across the street from us, they had a nice flagpole and did colors twice a day.  They, and the flagpole, are long gone.

Alas, Navy cooks rarely get the opportunity to use chef skills.  Cooking en masse means they have to follow strict recipe cards, and deal with food shortages when the resupply is running late.  Takes a few sea rotations to get to a good shore command where they can be skillful instead of line cooks.  

LBF - well shoot. I got another letter yesterday. I was so excited. 3 in two days! Then he told me that the reason he had time to write is he got fired from SWSL! Said he was fired for showing empathy for an SR that was complaining about the watch schedule. Also said it was great to finally get some free time and was proud of himself that he never “quit” putting 100% into it. At least he kept positive and my mama heart doesn’t have to deal with him being devastated. He went on to say that within a couple hours, he was re-appointed as a the “assistant SWSL” since the new SR was struggling with the job. Luckily, it does not affect his rating as he went in as an E-3 (either due to previous college credits or Nuke program rating). Unfortunately, he said now we probably won’t be able to find him in the PIR video. Dang it! I can’t help but feel A little disappointed. 

kristel- I’m definitely not going to wear the Navy mom shirt or give the aunt, uncle, cousin & dad their shirts until he passes BS-21!!! Planned to give the shirts at a small family PIR watch party. Funny, a day after placing the order, I find out that he lost his leadership position and we probably won’t be able to find him in the crowd. No point in a “watch party” if we can’t see him. 

Katherine & Partyofseven - thanks for the reminder about preparing a few questions for the next call. I will save them to “Notes” in my iPhone so I am sure to have them with me. Katherine - I’ve always loved apple cider. Spiced with cinnamon and oranges. 

Shanny - I hope you get good news on the cause of your headaches! 

Melinda - welcome. I cried almost everyday for two weeks. Keeping very busy helped me. And cleaning up all my sons stuff that was scattered about the house - every time I saw it, I was reminded he is gone for a long time. Little things reminded me of our camping trips, family BBQs, pool parties, etc etc. Putting everything away helped.  Then oddly, making a “shrine” In the family room helped. My neice had made a poster board with a bunch of his photos and Navy stuff, plus I added his Navy hat the recruiter gave him, and several blue candles, etc.  I keep a tall navy blue flameless candle I bought off amazon ‘lit’ at all times. I also have a small flame less candle on my desk at work. Some of the ladies on here have posted photos of really creative candles centerpieces they have made. Apparently, superstition has it that you keep the candle lit while your sailor is facing a challenge, like boot camp! And just keep telling yourself, no news is good news!! Your first contact should be the form letter he will send to you after he is assigned to a division. You will receive it about week 4, depending on mail time from GL.  14 days quarantine ROM, then 5 “P- days” (Processing in, not counting weekends). At end of P Days, upon passing the physical fitness qualifications, they are assigned a division and receive their graduation dates then send it to you as a form letter. So, just pray you don’t hear from him until then! In the mean time, you may find that sharing your feelings here helps. It helped me anyway. 

Everyone else - hope your weekend has been productive and restful. 

Kristel - meant to compliment your beautiful flag pole. I like that you have a navy flag too. I had to go back to notice if after you mentioned it. I’ve been meaning to get a light to shine on our flag pole too so I can leave the flag out. I’ve always enjoyed putting it out on holidays etc, and love the idea of keeping it out.  My niece bought me a small Navy yard flag. We live in a track home and don’t have room for a nice flag pole in our yard (like yours). Our flag poke holder is bolted to waves of house. Here is a picture of the flag my neice bought for us.flag. 

DsMom2020: In the greatest Book ever written Empathy for others is a gift. In my book that makes him a Blessing to all of us. I know in reality to be in a leadership position you need to be tough. My husband and I would go round and round over this raising our children. He was really tough on his sons and loving to his daughters. His daughters grew up confident knowing what they wanted out of life, his sons seem to still be searching. I have great respect for people who see others through God's eyes, your son seems to be one of these. Good for you for raising him up right.

Welcome Melinda, glad to have you here. A mother's heart is very tender, we ache when we don't know what is happening to them. We worry about are they happy, are they regretting their decision. The Ladies on here will help you to know what's going on with them and to encourage you. We all handle this differently and you are uniquely you. Cry when you need to, write alot of positive letters. Know the Navy will do everything they can to make sure they don't fail as long as the desire to be a Sailor is strong and they don't give up.

NWM - thank you for your kind words. That’s what my son said too, that he was okay with it as he is proud of his kind heart and if he had to get fired over it he was okay. Really funny is that when we watched the boot camp videos, he said he might like to be a RDC. Ha ha. Maybe not. 

Happy Sunday Ladies!! 

WELCOME NEW NAVY MOMS and/or NEW NAVY SUPPORTERS! We’re here for anything you may find your struggling with. There is no reason you need to suffer in silence... please share & reach out anytime with any questions. Someone may not get back to you right away but you will get a reply. I’ve found these ladies & this group to be nothing short of a godsend. Without them....I may have been locked in a white padded room. LOLLLL

No call today but that’s ok with me...hopefully a few letters this week. I’ve asked so many questions and have gotten not a lot of answers that I’m just waiting on him at this point! LOL idk if it’s that he didn’t get the letters or he hasn’t looked at my letters when writing his. I mean the whole letter thing is new for all of them I guess - so it’s alright. Thanks on the lighted flag!

@Ds I like your garden flag, it’s very cute! Friends of ours who have a son in the navy gifted the Navy flag to my son and it sat in the package for awhile until I got extra clips, new American flag (bc it needed to be bigger than the Navy) and educated a little in how to connect two flags. We’ve always had an American flag up but I didn’t know certain specifics like it should be lit up at night. You’ve raised a leveled headed, empathetic young man....good job mom! He sounds ok that it worked out the way it did - that’s great! 

Anywho... today here in PA it’s 60 degrees...46 tonight. I LOVVVVE the fall. I haven’t decorated yet...I prob should but my holiday decor is not organized and some pieces are in the attic. Ugh. Maybe this week. I’ve been focused on getting on my elliptical every day. But let’s circle back to the hard cider for a second ... can I buy a bottle or 2?! It sounds delish. I’m glad you found a way to use up some of your apples! Yummy! Stella Artois makes a Cider called Cidre ... that’s my fave. 

LBF, Chipmunk, Shanny, Party, VintageGal, Anti M and Northwoodsmom .... Hope you have a great day! ;) ❤️