it's a beautiful day in the neigh-bor-hood

We were supposed to make the church service on post this morning, to see Jason. I got up a couple of snoozes after seven, showered, put on a my white eyelet skirt and dragged the boys out of bed. We rushed out the door to leave early, since I wasn't exactly sure where the chapel was (Jason didn't really know, himself, when I'd talked to him the night before). We narrowly missed the long line of traffic at the gate, thanks to the lovely gate guard who waved me over to his line as he opened it. We made it to main post, taking a different, shorter route than usual and our timing was looking promising. The chapel I thought we were supposed to be going to ended up being the wrong one and I couldn't even find the building where Jason was staying at. We drove in circles for almost an hour, frustrated and anxious. Eventually I found the chapel, which was set off in the middle of a bunch of buildings and construction. There was no where to park, so I found a barracks lot to park in and tried to call and text my husband about a thousand times. We were over half an hour late for the service by then and I couldn't get in touch with Jason to find out how to get over there, so instead of dragging my two kids down two or three blocks or waiting another half hour in the hot car, we headed back home, disappointed. James insisted that I needed to put Daddy in the corner.
It was so frustrating that we didn't get to even see him for all our efforts. The boys were a really good sport about the whole thing, especially since I promised we'd be seeing friends later.
When we got home, we changed clothes and headed over to our neighbors' house. Jenna had set up a kiddie pool for the boys (she has a little boy, Andrew) and they splashed and played and rode the 4-wheelers around the yard. James has always been hesitant to play on toys that move or have any remote element of danger. He was eager to climb up on the 4-wheeler (it was made for children, but pretty big sized) but anytime Andrew pressed the gas, he wanted nothing to do with it. Within an hour he was zipping it around the yard, changing gears, steering it in circles, narrowly missing the house, pool and play equipment. They had much smaller, baby-sized 4-wheelers too, and Riley hopped on one of them, driving around in circles like a little old man on a lawn mower. We had water gun fights, ran around the yard, played with toys, chatted, grilled out burgers for lunch and just had the best time! I'm sad that I didn't get any pictures, but we were so busy the camera lay forgotten in the diaper bag.
By the afternoon, while they protested leaving their new friend's house, the boys didn't put up a fight for naptime at all. James only demanded that he not wear pants.
I snagged a half hour myself. The 100 degree heat was exhausting.
This evening when we got up, a couple of my neighbors dropped by the house with a flyer. They want to plan a summer cookout/meet and greet so everyone in the neighborhood can get to know each other and get a sense of community. Luckily it will be when we are back home after our upcoming trip to Tennessee for a friend's wedding, so I'll be able to go. I cannot stress enough how grateful I am for our neighbors, here! We've had so many less-than-pleasant experiences in the places we've lived before. In the month of living here, I've felt more welcomed than I have anywhere else. Especially with Jason being gone, it's comforting to know there is such a great group of people around us to look out for and support us.
As I write this, my dear friend Emmy is driving our way. If there was an award to hand out to the friend who has gone the most (literal) miles for me, it would be her. She's definitely a girl made for travelling and has visited me when I've lived near Fort Campbell, Kentucky, Fort Drum, New York, and now Fort Benning, Georgia. Whenever we get together we laugh hysterically, gossip mercilessly, whine like girls, and reminisce. She has seen me at my best, my worst, and my most pregnant (which is a little of both). I love this girl and am so glad she (and her beautiful baby boy, Brody) are coming to visit me!