Gymnastics and A Week Down

We've made it a week!

I must say that this week has dragged a little, even though we stayed pretty busy.

Tomorrow, Dannika and I will be heading to my favorite store, "Tarjay" so that she can pick out a kiddie pool for our back yard.

On our countdown chalkboard, every time she crosses off an entire week, she gets a special treat at the end, and she chose a kiddie pool for her first week.

We have things like Build-A-Bear, manicures, cupcakes at the bakery, etc. etc. etc. at the end of every week.

It gives her something to look forward to, and her mind off the fact that there's still a gazillion days (according to her) until daddy is home. 

Yesterday was Dannika's end of year gymnastics show.

She was SUPER bummed that Nick would not be there to cheer her on.

She actually asked me if he could stop being a Marine so that he could come to her gym show.

(insert my breaking heart here)

Then randomly, out of the blue, 2ndLt Brown (one of the Lts out of the Boston NROTC program) said she would come watch and cheer her on as an extra fan!

What made it even more special was that she was visiting Boston from Connecticut, and she extended her trip an extra two days just to watch Dannika.

If you look up #adventureswiththedaddydoll on Instagram, you'll see all of our adventures with "Nick".

Yeah...Mattis was not cooperating.

I wrote this on my Facebook last night:

"Today, I watched my daughter perform in her first gym show. She was so upset that Nick wouldn't be able to watch her perform, and out of the blue, 2ndLt Brown said she'd come. As I sit here and reflect on all the times that Nick has been gone, there has always been a Marine who has been there for my family.

So the answer to your question, civilian friends..."How do you do it?"

The answer is simple. I don't know how I do it, but I know for sure that it would be ten times harder if it weren't for my Marine Corps family."

None of my civilian friends offered to come watch Dannika at her gym show, or offer to help with Mattis so that I could actually enjoy the gym show and take some photos.

I didn't even have to ask the Marine.

She voluntarily came without an invitation, and that's how my entire life has been in the Marine Corps.

Marines always show up out of the blue to help out, lend a hand, give a shoulder to cry on....

They're always there....even when it's inconvenient to them.

You won't find that in the civilian world....at least I haven't. 

So photos from her gym show (if you care)...

Dismount from the beam

She got a medal, and she was SOOOOO excited about it!! 

She kept looking at it, and wouldn't take it off.

Y'all know I'm not a fan of the "participation award" generation, but this wasn't a competition.

The medal was given to all the kids for working so hard all year.

I can live with that.

"One more photo, Dannika!!"

"But mooooommmmmmm..."

Here we go to week #2!

I wonder what adventures we'll run into this week?!