Promotion

We've had a busy past couple weeks full of major events. Amazingly, I have been in the Air Force for 15 years (19 if you count my time at USAFA) and have been lucky enough to have attained the rank of lieutenant colonel (or as Ashley likes to call it, "Light colonel"). On 27 May we had a little promotion ceremony at work. A lot of folks from AFIT were able to attend, as were some old AFOTEC alums. It was great to see everyone. Bode really enjoyed himself, and was somewhat well-behaved. Here are some pictures. First, we have Bode fueling up before things started. Nothing like a bottle of water to make two year old happy (and wet).

Col Dave Cribb, the associate deans at AFIT, was kind enough to officiate the ceremony. Following the standard "Posting of the Order," Ashley and Bode came up and "pinned" on my new rank.

After my official introduction as "LtCol McGuirk," I proceeded to give Ashley and Bode some gifts. Ashley received a dozen red roses, while Bode got a little Teddy Bear.

The day after Memorial Day was my birthday. I'm now a whopping 37 years old, and that doesn't do me any good because I'm still in the same 35-39 age group for most running races. To celebrate my birthday, we took Bode to his first swimming lesson of the summer. He took a class last summer and he loved it. We expected more of the same this year. Sadly, Bode wouldn't even get in the water. He kept saying, "I don't want to go in the water. I want to go home," and when I picked him up and carried him in, he really started screaming. Rather than torture the rest of the parents and children, we decided to leave. We tried again on Thursday, but got the same response. We asked him what was wrong, and he told us, "The pool is scary." Evidently something is scaring him...anyone have the ability to read a two-year old's mind???

Ashley was lucky enough to catch the flu this week (on my birthday no less!) She went to work one morning and got there around 0730...and left around 0830 after spending some time worshipping at the porcelain temple. Poor kid. She's better now, but she should weigh herself because she didn't eat much this week. She did get some good news. A month ago she tested to become a certified aerobics instructor. I'm happy to report she has passed. I think it's neat I can now say I'm married to an aerobics queen :-)

On Wednesday, I took Auburn down to Cincinnati for her second round of chemo. It's about a 40-minute drive, so I left early and got her there by 0700. The vet called me at work a couple hours later saying Auburn's white blood cell count was too low, so chemo could not be done. She prescribed some antibiotics and said we could try again on Monday. Here's hoping things work out in a couple days. In the meantime, the big girl is doing great. Here's a shot of the three-legged rottie and the new lieutenant colonel. What a pair indeed!

Tomorrow is Sunday. There is a 10K race I'll do in the morning, and then if the weather cooperates, we'll take (drag) Bode to the pool and see if we can convince him the pool is fun. Pleasant week to all.