Halloween, Ironman, and Promotion!

Whew! As always, we've had a busy few weeks! We headed south last week for Halloween, the Wilmington Ironman Triathlon, and Shawn's promotion. It was a busy 24 hours but so wonderful. We first got to trick or treat with our cousins and friends in Wilmington. Emily was a medieval princess, Sarah was Supergirl, and Lauren, well of course, she was Dora!! The big girls loved running from house to house. Lauren liked it for 2 houses, we made her do a 3rd and then she got to go home. Why make her do something that is "supposed" to be fun?! Saturday started EARLY with Shawn jumping into Bank's Channel at 7AM and swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles, and then running 26! He completed in a mere 13 hours and 37 minutes. At the conclusion of the race he put on his uniform and was promoted to LtCol with the USS North Carolina in the background. It was a very, very special ceremony with Dave Eskelund promoting him and our family and friends present. Emily and Sarah got to pin his new rank on his uniform, something they have never done before. Lauren slept, as it was 9:15PM by this point. I am so glad Shawn thought of doing this. It was a wonderful way to end a special day. I do have lots of pictures...I just haven't gotten them on the computer yet. I will try to get that done later today!
Lauren's Tango came in the mail yesterday. This is her very own commnication device. We can't wait to get it programmed for her and start using it. We have been using one from the school system but this one has some nice updates on it and it will be ours. We are thankful for how well our "Little Bit" is doing. She amazes us all the time. Thank you for your prayers. They are felt and appreciated. Pictures coming soon....