Will returned home on July 10th. It was a HOT and HUMID afternoon! Unfortunately, due to a bus breaking down on their way from the airfield, it delayed the ceremony time by another 45 min. Let's just say the boys were a puddle of sweat, along with mommy by the time he arrived at the parade field! Of course none of that seemed to matter once we got our arms around him!
For those that may not know, when Will arrived home it was a process of waiting and then a short ceremony before we actually got to hug him. Here at Ft. Stewart it takes place out on the big parade field. The soldiers come in on buses and park behind a tree line. Once in formation, they march out onto the field. Someone then gives a short speech, the Army songs are sung, and then soldier are released to their families. Grayson and Ryley had attended another ceremony with me when the first group arrived home so Grayson knew that he would need to wait for the buses. Ryley wasn't too thrilled this time around due to the heat and it being nap time, but he hung in there and then passed out in the car once we headed home. :) Grayson was beyond thrilled to see Daddy! He wouldn't let him put him down till we got to the car. He had a smile plastered on his face as well the entire time he was in Daddy's arms.
This group Will came home with was a lot smaller than some of the other groups. In this group it was just his units trail team which had about 5 people from each company. He said there were around 140 soldiers at this ceremony I believe. Some of the other ceremonies I attended had over 300 soldiers returning! If this seemed like chaos.... it was a piece of cake to find him compared to those ceremonies! Will then had a few days off before he had to return to work. He's not doing reintegration training and usually home around nap time which has been great. I'll soak up all these early days home and days off before he gets back into a full work day! I know with him in command we probably won't be seeing many early days home.
The transition for the boys has been pretty smooth. Ryley is very much a momma's boy, but is getting better every day letting Daddy do things for him. He loves to wrestle Daddy and play with him, but when he's upset he comes to me. Grayson acts almost like nothing had changed! He's excited to have Daddy home and will go to him at the drop of a hat for help or to play. He has a couple times started saying "Mommy, but I miss Daddy" when Will is at work in the mornings, but I remind him that he will be home after nap time and Grayson goes on with what he's doing.
A friend came to the ceremony with me and took pictures for me. Another soldier held onto my phone to get video. Both pictures and video can be seen below. I had a lot more pictures posted to Facebook, but I wasn't going to try and upload 80+ pictures to this blog. Enjoy the pictures and video! I'm glad we were able to capture the moment to share with family and friends!!!
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| "Here they come!" |
