UPDATED this morning

I talked to Kent again tonight. He says it's super hot. They have to stand at attention out in the hot sun and sweat pours down his face and over his glasses. They aren't allowed to wipe the sweat off. Today he was in class all day and said most of the it is pretty interesting. One of the first things they went over was POWs (prisoners of war). They were taught what to do if taken captive (I'm hoping they aren't teaching the information in order of relevance). They are to try everything in their ability to escape and help others escape. The only information they can ever give an enemy is name, SS #, and rank (or something like that). Pretty intense stuff it sounds like. Here's another excerpt of an e-mail.

We just got back from our first morning workout. We just did stretches together and then ran around a track for thirty minutes. It really wasn't bad ~ they spent more time marching us out. Marching is serious business - it's all about uniformity with everything here. I met a really nice Mormon - we laughed about the short shorts. I'm excited to go to church on Sunday and see all the members. I'm assuming there is quite a good number. Waking up at 4:30 and going to bed at 11:00 every night is going to kick my TRASH!! I am going to fall asleep in class today and get reprimanded I'm sure. There is another guy in my flight with a little girl turning one on June 13 - and there is a single mom with two kids in my flight ~ her kids are with her parents. It's hard to be away.

And here's his address so that you can all send him letters and packages :) They aren't allowed any treats yet. He says they will earn the privilege if his flight can average 95% on their test tomorrow. I know he'd love any form of mail.

Lt. Charles K. Miller
COT class 08/04
550 East Maxwell Blvd #9000
Maxwell AFB, Al 36112-5000

HERE's updated info from this morning!










Here are some pictures that Kent sent last night after I talked to him. Nobody smiles in pictures. It's all about looking tough apparently. The bottom picture shows his room. He has the bunkbed all to himself but still has a roommate on a single bed. We talked for awhile last night until there was an overhead page calling all "logistics officers to report immediately" somewhere. He's a logistics officer. I'm not exactly sure what that means. He says he's having more and more fun. This morning they have a big test so he's studying like crazy. I feel bad that he just has more test to take! I'm hoping that these won't be as hard as med school tests! Oh, and here's the cheer that his flight squadron has to yell when they are marching. They are the falcons. It's kinda creepy.

"Falcons hunt from on high, diving down from the sky, ripping flesh with our talons, drawing blood by the gallons! DEATH FROM ABOVE! MORS AB ALTO!"

I was reading a book in the front room when I heard these little guys squealing from the back room. This is what I found. Zeb loves playing with other kids!! He is so much more content when he's got a friend around.

Lt. Miller

This is an e-mail that I got from kent today! He is super busy and sends me snippets of info whenever he can. The e-mail may seem a little disjointed - but I've sent him three e-mails and innumerable texts asking buckets of questions and demanding a photo. I've talked to him a few times- but everytime he calls he ends up having to go somewhere within a few minutes. I'll keep everybody posted as I hear things. He sounds really positive and I think he's having a good time so far. I'm jealous of the great opportunities- but so happy that I'm not in the heat and waking up at 4:00 AM!!

This lovely getup is what I will be wearing everyday. It is toasty hot here and outside is a steam room. The sleeves are closed tight and the uniform doesn't breath much. Today at lunch I got yelled at for saying "PLEASE be seated" instead of just 'be seated'. I was told there was no excuse for not knowing the proper procedures - today was my first 'normal' meal because I have been late for everything. The captain didn't like that answer and told me to read chapter four AGAIN!!! The boots are boots - we have to do this weird thing with our pants so the entire boot shows. It feels really funny. We got a little breather since we finished lunch before everyone else. They don't give you much time to eat. I have never had to eat faster in my entire life!! And drink three glasses of water while doing it. The camera hasn't been permitted outside of the room as of yet. I hope to get some pictures over the weekend. I hope they let me bring my camera to some of the cool activites but they are super anal about everything. Sorry about the crabby rabby - tell him I still love him. I can't look at the blog :( hopefully soon. Love you. There are plenty of really cool people. Everyone in the HPSP program seems really friendly and normal. a few odd ones but that is to be expected. Love you tons - going to class. This feels like the MTC to be honest.

-Kent

Happy early Birthday.

Here's the Z man eating his birthday cake. We celebrated a tad bit early so that Kent could join in some of the festivities. Sorry about the battle wound on Zeb's nose. Kent was playing with him and he crawled right off the bed and got rug burn.
Zeb does not do sweets. He took this initial taste and then got upset. He must take after his dad because I have a SERIOUS sweet tooth. He tasted the cake- and at one point totally gagged on it. He never dove in to it or got a good bite and after thirty minutes we gave up and put him in the tub. Maybe we'll have to try a veggie cake or something. He loves mixed veggies covered in ketchup.

до свидания

He's gone. It was an INSANE day and he actually almost didn't leave!
Kent got a confirmation e-mail about his flight a bit ago (I don't know exactly when) and I got online to check his flight status this morning. The Toledo Airport showed no flight with that number or destination! I checked Delta's website and the flight number corresponded with a flight headed to Florida from NYC. Kent quickly called the Toledo airport and was told that the flight did not, in fact, exist. He called Delta and the agent told him the flight had been cancelled TWO WEEKS AGO!! they also told him that they had informed his travel agency. He called the travel agency (the air force has this agency do all of their flights) and they told him they had no idea about the cancellation. It was a MESS. His only options were a flight out of Detroit in sixty minutes (impossible because it takes at least sixty minutes to get there) or a flight to Cincinnati to Atlanta then to Montgomery late this afternoon from toledo. He was supposed to be IN Alabama at four. He called Maxwell AFB and informed them that he'd be at least four hours late. They were not happy- and I'm sure he is going to get REAMED tonight. Right now he's boarding the plane to Montgomery (luckily he gains an hour to Alabama) and should get there by 8:20. The Delta agent printed out an "excuse note" for him. I'm sure the Air Force people will be very understanding and accept his tardy note (can you sense my sarcasm?!!?). Poor Kent! Good thing he's really excited and very humble :) Apparently the worst thing to say to screaming Air Force personnel is "sorry". I'm sure he'll have quite the story to tell.

The fiasco was stressful but it was really nice to get a few more hours with Kent today. Since he was leaving for military purposes the airport gave me a temporary "boarding pass" and I got to walk him to the gate and watch his plane leave. There was even a playplace for Zeb while we waited. I only had a few tears and so far it all seems surreal. From the airport I went straight to the park for a run- and then to the library to get some good DVDs and books to keep me busy. Tonight when I started the bathwater for Zeb, I asked him where dad was (Kent always bathes him) and he crawled around the house looking in each room saying "dad. dad. dad. dad.". We got some videos of Kent reading zeb's favorite books and singing his favorite songs. Hopefully that will appease the rugrat for awhile.









I miss Kent already.

I just keep telling myself that the Air Force has given us over 50,000 dollars already. I can give him away for four weeks for fifty thousand dollars.

I really should have taken a picture of Kent's haircut. He looked super official.

Happy M day

Here is how we spent our memorial day morning. Don't you think that this picture looks an awful lot like the first picture at the battle reenactment as well? This child has been such a whiner this weekend! The sirens terrified little Z. Good thing he's cute.

The Parade was buckets of fun. We sat with some friends and reveled in all of the free stuff. These small town parades (Maumee) are jackpots for freebies! We got balloons, American flags, and unrealistic amounts of candy. Kent was in charge of gathering our spoils while my job was ear plugging the Zebbster.

One of my little primary girls, Kaitlyn, was in the parade marching with her girl scout troop! She saved lots of candy just for us.

As a side note, has anyone noticed Zeb's left (your left) eye? It's always much squintier than the right one. I'm kinda paranoid about it- but kent says it's fine. He has no eyesight problems and has normal eye movement- it's just always closed more. Has anybody had this problem with their kids' eyes? or your own eyes?
I'll try to post some more pictures that exhibit the problem. Usually I don't post those ones.

check out the cutest baby in the world

Saturday

We were busy all day on saturday! It was wonderful. We had a ward farewell party in the morning with breakfast. Zeb ate lots of sausage links and muffins. He loves to eat.

After the party we went to the Battle Reenactment of the "Fort Meigs battle of 1812". It was pretty fun- minus the fact that zeb freaked. He has been so sensitive to loud sounds lately. The cannon and musket firings about did him in. He enjoyed watching- until the action started. We found some ward friends there and watched with all of them.

I'm a little nervous about the Fourth of July. The fireworks may just send him over the edge. Last year at 4 weeks old he slept through all of them- I don't think we'll be so lucky this time around.









Ohio is so amazing right now. I LOVE the green. The weather has been wonderfully cool these past few weeks and we've had a delightful spring. It was perfect weather to be outside.

We got some great pictures with some of the American and British soldiers.
We later attended a birthday bbq. Zeb hated the noisemakers that all of the the little kids had. Kent and I have tried so hard to make sure he was accustomed to strange sounds and scary things- and now, out of nowhere, he's turned into a little wimplet!

day one of fun- ZOO

Yesterday after classes we went to the zoo. We love the zoo! The hippo kept circling his pond and swimming right past us over and over. At one point he even pooed right in front of us. Hippos do strange stuff with their poo- they swirl it around with their tails and play with it.


Most of the other animals were out and about yesterday too and we finally made it to the primates. There is something so fascinating about watching hominids. We had a pretty strange experience with the chimps and their pee. The one chimp peed and the baby chimp drank it as it came out. I tried to get a good picture. Kent and I were laughing pretty hard.

We also got to hear a little "3 Doors Down" while we were wandering about. They had a concert at the amphitheater there at the zoo that night and were rehearsing.

Zeb went to bed early and Kent and I ordered pizza with a gift card I'd gotten for my birthday. It came from a new pizza place here called "Donatos". Five out of five stars for taste! Definitely the best place for takeout pizza here in Toledo. I absolutely LOVE pizza. I can't wait to get to Utah and try that new pizza place in orem- Pizzeria 712! I hear it's amazing. Only two more weeks!!!!

Congrats to the best husband EVER.

He did it!!! He finished his first year of medical school! I am insanely proud of Kent and so happy that the year has come to end. It really wasn't that hard, much easier than I had anticipated :) - especially considering I got to be home all day with the best baby ever and have lots of fun! Our opinions of first year may vary slightly. Kent was a bit more pre-occupied and under a tad more pressure than I was. I am so happy that he can finally relax for a little while.

We have the weekend to party like crazy before he heads out to Alabama! I may not have time to post because I intend on spending every waking moment having fun.

If you couldn't tell, it's been one of those days. So boring in fact that I google imaged myself and came up with this beauty.

If only I could get this on a t-shirt. Too bad I've never heard of a growler because apparently I have one. I also didn't know what the word quaff meant- so I looked it up. "To drink a beverage heartily". I'm pretty sure that they are referring to alcoholic beverages and unfortunately the only beverages I drink heartily are good old H20 and crystal light.

I did some research and actually found out that Leisy Brewing Company was the oldest brewery in Cleveland and one of the longest surviving family-operated breweries in America when it closed. Their advertising slogan was "Go Leisy, Go Leisy,Go Leisy Light!" All rather fitting since I now live in Ohio and I'm a Miller. The fates really want me to be a beer drinker- too bad the smell of it makes me get the dry heaves.
Here's a really cool picture of the brewery in Cleveland. We'll definitely have to go one of these days and see if anything is still standing.

all grown up

Check out Zeb's bewilderment. He was completely intrigued by his new world view. Welcome to the front facing car seat, little guy.