Well, there is quite a bit to share about the last few months, complete with a forecast for days to come in the near future.
Since the last time Lisa wrote, we have been traveling quite a bit. We traveled down to Florida for Thanksgiving for a few days. It was a nice little visit. We made a trip to the beach and went to a park with some of the nieces and nephews. Other than that, we mostly just stayed around Mom and Dad Hellum's place. It was a nice, relaxing few days off. That was until we made the drive that should have been five or six hours but ended up being eight. Cursed Thanksgiving traffic!
My BOLC (Basic Officer Leader's Course-please forgive the Army acronyms) class has been on the wind down since. We had our field time, which was a good experience (minus not getting to sleep at home in my nice, warm, comfy bed with Lisa.) Of course, we did have the great fortune to have our field days during a cold snap where the morning temperatures were in the teens. What can I say? My blood has thinned with spending so much time in the south. I had the privilege of giving my brief to a one-star general. I didn't trip on my tongue too much during that brief, but the general did tell me that I need to learn to talk a little less. The captain that was there for my brief confirmed that by telling me that she could tell that I knew my stuff, but that I just talked myself into a corner. She said I would have been better off to just say what I had to and leave it, rather than continuing to explain the same thing over an over. Still struggling with that one, I guess.
Not too terribly long after our field week, we wrapped up class for a few weeks while everyone went on Holiday Exodus. "Holiday Exodus" is the Army's equivalent of "Christmas Break" from back when we were in elementary school. This was, by far, the best break I had during my time at Fort Jackson. We had quite a number of four day weekends during the course and a fair number of them didn't feel like long weekends at all...especially when the work days before and after felt like they were extra long. This break, however, felt very sufficient! It was a whirlwind of travel during the first few days. Lisa and I traveled down to Burmingham, Alabama to attend my old college buddy/roommate, Sean's wedding. It was very lovely! Sean was very happy to see me and Lisa there. From there, we drove down to Daytona to spend the night at Mom and Dad Hellums' place. The next morning we were up at 5:00 and off to the Orlando airport, where we caught our flight with the ultimate destination of Milwaukee. That afternoon, we were in Mom and Dad Nigh's new minivan headed for Sun Prairie. I will admit that while I knew that the frozen tundra would be blanketed in snow, it was still a little surprising having come from an area of the country where it would be amazing to see so much as a snowflake!
Our time in Wisconsin was very enjoyable! We went shooting at the indoor range where Mom and Dad are members. That was fun. I was able to pass on a few pointers to help Dad tighten up his shot group a little. I was able to display a little bit of marksmanship as well, accumulating a decent 5" diameter grouping at 10, 20, 30 and 40 yards. On Christmas eve, we went down to Fon du Lac to attend mass and partake in the year's white elephant gift exchange with the Kath family. It was a good time! Good food and plenty of laughs with the maternal side of the family. The coveted item of the year was Inception on DVD. I wish I could say that Lisa and I were able to snatch it up, but we did not. Oh well, the gifts were only a footnote for the visit. It was good to be with family. The following day, we were over in Campbellsport to spend Christmas day with Dad's side of the family. I had a lot of fun talking with my cousins, Chris and Doug, about my adventures in the Army. The white elephant gifts were, of course, entertaining and everyone seemed very happy just to be together, which is, of course, one of the best things about Christmas!
One of the highlights of our visit was being able to get up and do some exercise with Mom! I'm not entirely sure Mom would agree...but, I had fun and I felt great after our workouts! Dad had given Mom a Wii for Christmas, along with Wii Fit Plus. Even Dad got into some of the exercises on the Wii. We went to Best Buy and got Wii Active for Mom. The workouts on that are a little more intense than those available on Wii Fit Plus. After Lisa and I had left for Florida, Mom told me that Dad agreed to get up and do Wii Active with her. That was great news for me to hear! I'm excited that Mom and Dad are getting themselves in shape!
After our time in Wisconsin drew to a close, we flew back down to Orlando. Mom and Dad Hellums had rented a vacation house that was able to comfortably accommodate all of the Hellums clan. It was really nice and it didn't feel crowded at all. It was a very relaxing few days. We had Christmas number two. Dad Hellums got me an Aaron Rogers jersey. It is very nice and I wore it on Sunday during our drive back. We took a trip to Sea World, which was a lot of fun. We went to quite a few shows and I was able to go on one of the park's roller coasters (Lisa couldn't go...well, I guess I should say Eliana couldn't go.) Aside from the trip to Sea World, we mostly stayed around the house. We had a miniature pool table, bean bag toss and a number of other activities that made even just staying at the house very entertaining. Saturday the grandkids (and most of the adults) swam all day. We left for Daytona that evening. The following morning, Lisa and I left to head back to Columbia.
The following days at class went quickly. We did our FM 1-0 briefing for the commandant and we took our final exams. The weekend that followed ended up being a four day weekend thanks to a freak snowstorm that rocked the south. It was only 3" of snow, but...when the state you live in lacks a sizeable plow system and mother nature then coats that snow with a layer of ice, everything shuts down. Of course, this meant that our movers were unable to come on Monday. So, they came early in the afternoon on Tuesday. They were there at about 1430 and gone by about 1730. It was amazingly fast!
The following day, we had our graduation. I was fortunate enough to have made the commandant's list (the graduates in the top 20%.) I was fourth in my class of thirty-five. The graduation ceremony went pretty well for only having rehearsed it that day. It was mostly nice to just finally be finished with class.
So, after graduating and cleaning up our apartment, we turned our backs to Columbia and drove two days to Leesville, Louisana. In the not too distant future, I will begin my new assignment at Fort Polk. I'm ready to start my new adventure!
