Thank You Msgt. King for 26 years! Semper Fi

What a wonderful weekend we had in Jacksonville, North Carolina! A dear friend of ours, Joe King, retired from the United States Marine Corps after serving our great country for over 26 years! There was no way we were going to miss his retirement! We met Joe back in 1993 when we moved into base housing on Camp Lejeune. Our day started Friday with Joe's retirement ceremony and then a barbeque at Onslow Beach.

Military retirement ceremonies always touch me. Between the reading of "Old Glory" and "The Watch" it will definetly bring a tear to one's eye. Joe's retirement was touching since his son Jared, who is also a United States Marine, took over the watch. How can you ever thank a person for serving our great nation for over 26 years? A simple "Thanks" doesn't really seem enough!

I absolutely love the beach down in North Carolina. There is limited traffic since this particular beach is for military personnel and their guests, and it is natural sand and landscaping. They have cabanas to rent right along the beach. Years ago we had rented one and left the windows open at night and it was so relaxing listening the the sound of the waves crashing onto the shore as you fell asleep. The beach is an absolute beautiful creation from God! We live near Virginia Beach but it is very commercialized and extremely crowded in the summer months so I don't find it too enjoyable. Oh my goodness you should have seen the look on Kaiden's face when he got his first glimpse of the beach. He was so overwhelmed with excitement and there was a smile on his face from ear to ear. Now those are the special moments that we as parents cherish forever! I love seeing all of his firsts!

At first Kaiden was a little nervous about the waves coming in and it frightened him a little but after an hour he was running around in the water and letting the waves chase him on the beach. The girls and I got sunburnt to a crisp but Kaiden is sporting a nice little tan! It was hard to leave the beach that evening. Since I have gotten a little older enjoying the beauty of nature really captures my heart! We headed back to Joe's house for awhile but we were exhausted from the day so we headed back to our hotel room early. What is it about the beach and water that exhausts a person? Maybe it's the relaxing sound of the waves. Ahhhhhhhhhh

We spent Saturday in Jacksonville and we had brunch at Joe's house. We chatted with everybody for part of the afternoon and decided to head back home. Kaiden constantly wears his John Deere hat my parents sent to him last year. We receive so many comments on that hat all of the time and Joe decided he wanted to give Kaiden a ride on his John Deere tractor (well more like lawn mower ha ha ha!) Don't tell Kaiden its a lawn mower because he will tell you it's a tractor. The both of them hopped on the uhhhhmmmm tractor and took a spin around the court several times. Again Kaiden was grinning from ear to ear!

We had such a wonderful, fun and relaxing time this weekend. I wish every weekend could be like that! Okay time to snap back into reality! Well maybe we can take a long weekend once a year and head on down to Onslow Beach and rent a cabana just to get away from it all. We all need that sometimes!

Thank you (Retired)Msgt. King for over 26 years of dedication to our country!