Jacksonville Triathlon Sprint

This was my second Triathalon.  It was only a sprint triathlon but I still found the swim of 400 yards in open water interesting.  The entrance and exit was extremely slippery.  I was able to ride my bike from our house to the event and back so I did not have to worry about transporting the bike or parking.  The bike event was exciting as the roads were not shut down.   This was the events first year and it is impressive all they have to do to create one of these.  The total distances are: Swim 400 Yards, Bike 13 Miles, Run 3.1 Miles

Hubb's Farm, North Carolina

In our pumpkin quest we found this farm that is just 1.5 hours from our house.  The farm that was closer didn't have the pumpkins out as of yet.  In typical North Carolina "fall" it was about 90 degrees while we were at the farm.  The kids had so much fun with all the festival rides.  Milton was very particular about his pumpkin and when he selected it he wanted to roll it back to the tractor.  Once home I have to leave Miltons pumpkin on the sidewalk because he likes to roll it around the yard.

Half Marathon at Camp Lejeune

Half Marathon at Camp Lejeune.  Damon got 1st place in his division!

Moores Creek Battlefield, North Carolina

Damon had a race in the morning around base and then in the afternoon we drove out to the Revolutionary War battlefield about one hour away.  The battle was fought on February 27, 1776 with the loyalists supporting the British Crown and the Patriots of North Carolina. There are several monuments along the walking trail.  The Patriot (Grady) Monument was erected in 1857 that commemorates John Grady who was the only patriot killed in the battle.  The Loyalist Monument was dedicated in 1909 to honor the supporters of the British cause who "did their duty as they saw it".  The James Moore Monument honors a Moore's Creek Battleground Association president.  Lastly, a monument honoring the women of the Cape Fear region and role of women in the American Revolution.  The earthworks are a reconstruction on the same location to illustrate how the encampment was partially bounded by Moores Creek and surrounding swamp.  That swamp I would not want to ever have to walk through.  The bridge was the key feature of the battlefield as it was the only crossing location for the soldiers to get to the opposing side's forces.  The bridge was pretty cool for the kids to run over as well. The victory of the patriots at this battlefield had strong implications to the British because it showed the surprising strength of the patriots and surrounding countryside.

Cukela Court, Camp Lejeune

Our new home.  The address is 3072 Cukela Ct. Camp Lejeune, NC 28547. We got to Lejeune on August 28, and then were able to get our housing contract signed on September 5th and then moved in on September 6th. It would have been sooner, but it was a holiday weekend.  The movers drove our stuff directly from Bethesda to North Carolina the same day as our packout so our stuff was in storage for the summer.  We are loving our new home on base.  Owen's school is only 0.6 mile away and he was able to get on his pedal bike without training wheels shortly after arriving.  Milton rides in the trailer with me and it only takes 7 minutes to get to school.  Owen's new best friend is Around the corner from us and our back yards connect.  William comes over to play at our house after school pretty much every day after snack and homework gets done.  Damon loves riding his bike into work just 10 minutes away.  Milton and I enjoy hanging out during the day. The second aerial imagery shows the outline of Camp Lejeune.  Across the New River is another base so the military presence here is huge. Outside of base is your stereotypical pawn shops, tattoo shops, and gentlemen's clubs. We have everything we need on base; grocery store, work, school, bowling alley, restaurants, movie theater, beach, marina, pools, and there's even a horse stable and a place you can take your car with all car-related tools where you can change your oil or whatever else you would like to. It's a very well equipped base.

September 2019

Owen's accomplishment for September is riding his pedal bike without any training wheels.  He is a very good biker and goes pretty fast.  It is still hot here so on Owen's early release Wednesdays we have gone with some friends to a splash pad on base.  The pools closed after Memorial Day weekend.  Damon did a triathlon sprint in Jacksonville and we went into town later in the day to see the festival.  The boys liked running through the obstacle course put together by the Zing Zumm children's museum in Jacksonville.  The Raleigh temple has been under renovations for several years and just had their open house.  We went with the boys.  It was hot and the line was long, but we stayed with it and got to take the boys inside.  They wanted to go for a swim in the baptismal font! I love how any temple decoration has local details throughout the temple.  There were dogwood flowers in the stained glass windows and the murals on the walls were all North Carolina scenery.  My biggest excitement was the Hurricane Dorian that came through Camp Lejeune.  Owen's school closed for Thursday and Friday so we drove up to MD on Thursday for the weekend.  Damon was able to join us as all of base was given liberty to evacuate.  With it just being one year from when Florence hit, people were taking the warnings very seriously and lots of families evacuated.  The weekend before we evacuated we spent the weekend in Charleston.  Driving back we got stuck in hurricane traffic because they were doing mandatory evacuations on the barrier islands along the coast of South Carolina.  The hurricane didn't end up being much, but exciting none-the-less.