Mother's Day

We heard from Paul 3 times today!! Guess the Drill Sergeant must have been talking on the phone to his own mom and lightened up on the soldiers for a day... in fact, he told them he didn't want to see their faces until 7 a.m.!!! That is unheard of, because usually they rise and shine at 4 a.m.!!! I guess drill sergeants get tired too!
Paul sounded great and counting the days until graduation (19 more!). They did a 3-day campout last week and operated out of a FOB (fixed operational base?) while doing all types of military scenarios. One of the funny stories he told us was one about marching down the road. Paul was near the back of the line and saw the drill sergeant drop something. Just as he was wondering what he dropped, BOOM! I guess they all wanted to have the right response, but weren't sure what to do, so they turned and asked the drill sergeant, "What should we do?". He screamed, THAT WAS A GRENADE!!! WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU DO??? RUN! (so much to learn!)
This week is more practice with firing, climbing, and crawling on your stomach under enemy fire, and then they'll do a 7-day campout the last week of Boot Camp, and then graduation! Hard to believe 9 1/2 weeks are almost up.
We're looking forward to seeing the new "buff" Paul... he said he's lost about 15 pounds, but gained lots of muscle and strength. He'll do his training in computers at the same base, but will be moving to another barracks on the base for that, so remember to stop sending letters after the 15th until we get a new address for him.
Aaron and Masayo called this afternoon.... seems Paul called and woke them up this morning. I think it took Aaron a moment to realize who was calling! "Paul who??" Aaron said they were finally getting some nice "bike riding" weather in San Fran. and trying to decide what to do for the day. My neice (Aaron's cousin) Jennifer and her boyfriend are out in San Fran. and hopefully the 4 of them will get together this week for fun, food and sight seeing. They get the prize for being the first family member to visit! One funny thing... when A & M called, my caller-i.d. said "Wheeler, Aaron", so I answered the phone saying, "Hey, hey, hey, boo boo" (like the cartoon Yogi Bear... if you're as old as me, you'll know what I'm talking about). Anyway, this sweet voice on the other end of the phone says, "How did you know your boo boo was calling?" Turns out they were using Masayo's cell phone, (but the caller id says "Aaron Wheeler")... and it was Masayo on the other end.
It was great hearing from my boys and sweet daughter-in-law. I'm truly blessed!!
P.S. Harris gets special kudos (sp??) for letting me sleep in a little later this morning, cleaning up the dishes after brunch (he cooked the bacon!), letting me and my mom watch a "chick flick" and baking up a "mean" pizza for me for supper!! What more could a girl want??