You are growing up so fast!

Hi Jack & Charlie!  One of my friends sent me this picture that your mother posted on Instagram.  As you know this is the only way I've been able to half-way keep up with you guys.  I can't believe how much you've grown up since I saw you two whole years ago.  Especially you, Jack.  You look way too grown up in this picture!  I just want to scoop up both of you and hug you and hold you forever.  I miss you both so very much.

Nana & I are in Nebraska this morning in Papa's trailer.  We'll be in Missouri tonight and then on to Alabama to visit with my cousins.  There's Rhonda & Ronnie, Rod & Amy and Darryl & Twanya.  Jack, you met all of them when I brought you to Mississippi when your dad was in flight training for the Air Force.  Charlie, you met them all as well, but you were a newborn baby then!

Our road trip is going well, but it would be perfect if you two boys were traveling cross country with us.  There is nothing in the world that would make me happier.  I miss you both, I love both of you with all of my heart and my heart aches to see you again.

I love you,

Papa

Everything reminds me of you!

 Hi Boys!

Nana and I are on a trip in our trailer.  We've spent the last month in a different state, South Dakota.  We like it here very much and actually bought a piece of land in the town of Hot Springs about 3-1/2 years ago.  Our plan was to build a little house on it and rent it out for income.  We were also going to put a cement pad on the back of the lot so that we could park our trailer there when we visited.  That all got put on hold, so I don't know what we're going to do with it.  For the time being we'll just keep it and see what happens.  We are staying at a KOA RV park near Hot Springs for this trip.

We find that everywhere we go and everything we see and do reminds us of you!  We either see something that we know you would like or do something we know you would like.  Yesterday morning I got up early and drove to a town called Custer.  There were hot air balloonists flying up above Hot Springs.  That made me think of your Uncle Scott because when he was about your age he would go with me early on the weekends for one of my jobs and we would often see hot air balloons.  Pretty much anything that reminds me of Scott reminds me of you guys.  He was fun and wonderful and loving and sweet...just like my two little buddies Jack & Charlie!

Last week Nana & I went bowling.  Bowling always makes me think of you because you used to love to bowl with me and also because that was one of the last things I got to do with you boys.  There's a national monument here called Mount Rushmore.  I think of you because I wish I could bring you there to see it just like I took your mom, Aunt Brandi & Uncle Scott to see it when they were little.

There's a dinosaur park near here and right in Hot Springs there is a Mammoth site that is an ongoing "dig" but you can tour the site and even see people working on it.  The Mammoth skeletons are awesome and I would love to have the chance to bring you to see it.

Real close to here is an Air Force base called Ellsworth AFB in the town of Box Elder.  Anything to do with the Air Force reminds me of your dad which of course reminds me of you.  They have a nice little air museum there that I wish I could take you to see.

Of course, since we now live in our trailer every day makes me think of you.  I still have pictures up all over the place of you guys.  I'll never forget how much you loved to come to "Papa's Trayuh" when you were very little.  You loved to eat lunch here, watch Donald Duck, take naps and chase me around the kitchen island!  Those times are so precious to me and I try to focus on my wonderful memories of my two best buddies, Jack & Charlie!

As always, I miss you terribly and my heart & soul aches to be with you.  I still dream of you nearly every night and I continue to hang on a thin strand of hope that I'll get to see you again one day.  I love you, Jack & Charlie!