A Short and Sweet Visit with Our Fort Riley Fam

When we said our excruciating “see ya laters” back in May to our Kansas “framily”, we totally didn’t expect that we’d see each other less than six months later. Sure enough, we were able to spontaneously reunite for a couple quick days last week while the girls and I are here in Alabama visiting.

The Landers are stationed down in Fort Rucker, about 4ish hours from my hometown, and we’d been throwing around the idea for about a month of them driving up to see us. We both had pretty tight schedules and weren’t sure if it would work, but sure enough, at the last minute, Meg packed up her crew and headed north to hang with us. To say that Hadley and I were thrilled would be a extreme understatement!

Jack and Hadley have been best friends since they were a year old (Hadley was actually just shy of 1 when we met!), and though they were shy when they first saw each other, they warmed up to each other in about five minutes and were inseparable for the next 40 hours or so. 🙂

On Wednesday night we ate homemade pizza, drank wine, and smiled our faces off watches the kids pick right back up together. On Thursday morning we lounged around and then headed to Monte Sano mountain for some hiking and playing. The weather was perfectly fall-like and couldn’t have been more beautiful.

 

The one year olds were comfy on our backs for the majority of our short 45 minute hike while the big kids checked out every stream, acorn, and other miscellaneous things they could find.

After our hike we grabbed the lunches we’d packed and hung around the picnic/playground area for another hour eating, talking, and watching the kids play their hearts out. Neither Sadie nor Brynn could walk the last time we were together, so seeing them now sprinting around was fun.

We left Monte Sano early afternoon and headed home to let all of the kids snooze. Though we were tempted to hang at home that night, we mustered up the energy to head back out and make the most of our time. We headed to Let’s Play, much to all of the kids’ excitement. My sister and niece thankfully joined us as well!

They can’t keep their hands off of each other. Never have! Some things never change. 🙂

I had plans to cook dinner that night because going out to eat with all of the kids sounded more like a headache than enjoyable, but we made the quick decision to grab some drive thru burgers and tacos at Shaggy’s and head home to eat and chill!

The kids passed out by 7:30, which gave us a good few hours to enjoy a bit more wine and tons of chat time. Girlfriend time is so so so good for the soul.

On Friday morning, we lounged in pajamas, watched the kids argue over taking each others’ snacks constantly (which honestly just made us laugh more than anything), and eventually got our acts together and headed to a local playground – Kids Kingdom – to let everybody get out some energy.

Meg wrote on Facebook about how someday we’ll get our unicorn picture, but this was not the trip. 😉 Gosh, I am so grateful for these people!

I’ve said 1000 times that out of everything we’ve experience with the military, the friendships have been the most special. I have friendship from both Fort Campbell and Fort Riley that I want to try to foster and grow for decades to come; They’re just that special.

Landers fam, we treasure you guys!

PS: More on adult friendships, including thoughts on PCS season, how to build community at your new duty station, and why we still need friendships that have faded