James' Visit

Wow, I am totally slacking on the blog lately! Just been a tad busy around here playing Mom and Dad, among other roles. :) But, James was able to come home for the first time late Saturday afternoon (on Savanna's Birthday) until about 5pm on Sunday. It was so wonderful to have him back home! The time was short, but we were able to spend a lot of quality time together alone and as a family.

Can I just tell you that his academy is CRAZY? The officers are mean and nasty, yelling at the cadets all day, making them do an insane amount of physical training, and surprising them with new rules all the time. They also assign a huge amount of homework. James has been averaging about 4 hours a sleep per night for the past 3 1/2 weeks! And they still expect him to be sharp and alert the next day and ready for whatever they throw at him!

The biggest thorn in his side: Memos. Some times the officers assign memos as punishment (if you screw up or don't perform well you will be assigned a memo to write, due the next day), and some times everyone gets assigned a memo just because or to solidify a principle the officers want them to understand better. A memo, short for memorandum, is basically an essay. They are usually 300 to 500 words in length. No biggie, right? Especially for someone like James who is a great writer. NOT. These memos have such strict criteria that it literally takes him hours to write them. For instance, he has to hand write each memo in pen. There can be NO mistakes whatsoever, grammar or otherwise. All letters must be the same size. The lines must maintain a 1 inch margin and must be evenly spaced...it basically has to look like it was typed. He uses a bunch of special tools to make this work. And if there is anything wrong, anything at all, it will be returned for him to completely redo along with any other homework the next night!

Here is the finished product (click the picture to make it bigger). He hand wrote this!! It was returned to him the next day simply because he forgot 2 commas...and he did it all over again!!

You're amazing, Babe. Really amazing. And you are holding up so well. We miss you, and are so glad you have been able to come home a little!!

October 15 - 16, 2011