When we last left them, Ashley, Ace, Justin, and Nutty were having their first Christmas in the new house in Stafford. Now, as mentioned previously, Justin left Wisconsin due to his desire to avoid the midwestern winters. Little did he know, his desires were trumped by one Mrs. Ashley Eckert, who had apparently put in a request for a white winter. It is believed the exchange went something like this: “Dear person in charge of the weather, I want all the snow that Wisconsin normally gets dropped on my house instead. Ashley P.S. I want to miss a full month of work too.” “Dear Ashley, you got it!”And so snowmagedon, snowpocalypse, or snowcation (as Ashley called it) descended upon the state of Virginia (much to Justin’s chagrin).
So after the world thawed out, Ace and Ash got ready to head to the Caribbean with the Kennedys on their very first cruise(although Ash seems to think Ace's first deployment counted as his). Now contrary to popular belief, if you are sitting in the airport within eye-shot of the gate, it is possible for an entire plane to board and taxi away without you realizing it. And so our panic stricken couple had to work diligently with the airline, cruise ship, and Ash's Uncle Ernie to get them to Turks and Cacos to meet up with the ship. The bad news: they ended up missing the first day at sea. The good news: They got to seethe one and only Ms KP during their overnight layover in Charlotte, NC. After some interesting flights including a small prop plane (Ashley describe it as “terrifying”) and a car ride with a random stranger from the airport in the back of a rickety jeep,they were able to breath a great sigh of relief and caught up with the Kennedy’s on the cruise ship. The rest of the cruise went amazingly (minus Ace's poor luck at the poker table.... Shocking!) with beaches, four star dinners, and exceptional entertainment. As promised, they are hooked and have already put a down payment on their next cruise!
So if the question is, ”What would it take to convert Ace into an avid country music fan in one summer,” the answer is, ”A country music summer concert series!” Really all it took was the Brad Paisley concert and they were both hooked. During the first concert, they brought chairs (that they weren’t allowed to use) and rain coats. By the end of the season, with their tailgating gear, back pack lawn chairs, and pre-packed snack bags, they were definitely country concert professionals. It has been said in certain circles (mostly by a proud Ashley) that three out of four of Ace’s preprogrammed radio station are now country.
At the end of the summer, Ashley returned to work at Springwoods Elementary and Ace started working at the Infantry Officer Course. It took some while getting adjusted to the new schedules, but Ace is now training the future platoon commanders of the Marine Corps, Ash continues to shape the minds of the country’s youth, and Nutty is wondering where all his people go during the day.
What do you get when you take a shotgun, a hunting license purchased last minute, an old pair of paint ball cammies, and 45minutes in the Quantico woods? The answer is a freezer full of venison that neither Ashley nor Ace expected (Ace can’t seem to figure out why people say this hunting thing is so hard. Ashley can’t seem to figure out what to do with 40 lbs of venison.Chestnut can’t seem to figure out where the antlers in the garage came from as he doesn’t recall finding them).
The fall season found the East Coast Eckerts able to travel to the frozen tundra for Thanksgiving with the Wisconsin Eckerts. It is the first time all the Eckerts have been together for Thanksgiving in….. a long time, so needless to say Mamma Eckert was happy (and the family was stuffed). Now, as they get ready for another Christmas, Ashley can be found doing snow dances in hopes of another white winter, and Ace can be found shoveling the results. So have a very Merry Christmas from Ashley, Ace,and Chestnut too!
I hope everyone enjoyed this update. Future ones will include pictures from last year once I get through all of them. Happy New Year!
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