Finally...

[Fort Leonard Wood, MO] The drive down was uneventful. We left at 6:30am Tuesday morning and got to Fort Leonard Wood at 6:15pm. We spent the evening driving around (mostly at Walmart getting Lindsay some snacks).

Yesterday was the day though. We attended the family briefing given by Captain Flores. He gave us all the information we needed for the next few days. Also, we saw a slide show of photos of Lindsay's company. After the briefing, we all walked across the street to the A company barracks where our troops were waiting in formation for us. Lindsay was in the front row and was having trouble keeping from smiling when she saw us.

After lots of hugging and tears, we toured her barracks. We saw her bunk, her locker and the room she has spent the last 10 weeks in. Not many creature comforts there.

We got to take her off post, so (naturally) we ended up at Cracker Barrel where we all had a great meal with Lindsay. She had lots of amazing stories to tell us. After lunch, we headed back to the hotel and we all just relaxed for a few hours. Lindsay made a couple of phone calls to friends and spent the rest of the time visiting with us.

Later that evening, we went to the Warriors Banquet. This was a very nice event. The food was great and the speech by the commander was really good. I guess the females in Lindsay's company did so well in grenade tossing that they are considering raising the standard. The commanders made the night a "no make way/at ease" night, but the new soldiers could not bring themselves to be that relaxed around the drill sgts. Every time one would walk by Lindsay would immediately go against the wall and put her hands behind her back. This was quite entertaining to watch the whole night. We got to meet one of her drill sgts. who called her his "lean, mean, killing machine." He also said that he knows that Lindsay will be an excellent addition to her group, but "if the going gets rough, you know you can do what you gotta do, right?" Lindsay said "yes, drill sgt."

We dropped her off at her barracks shortly before 8pm. She was sad to be going back, but she knew she had one more day left. Her company was doing a company graduation run this morning (at 4:30am) and it snowed about 3" overnight.

It's about 9:15am (MO time) and we all just finished breakfast. We get to pick Lindsay up at 12pm. We have her until 8pm again today. Graduation is Friday morning.

That's about it for now. More details and photos to follow. Thanks for keeping us in your thoughts and prayers.