ROTC Awards Banquet

Last night was the end of year banquet for Marcus' ROTC unit.

The booster club hosted a wonderful dinner for parents and distinguished guests of the cadets.

Marcus earned numerous awards:

Exemplary Cadet Conduct

Exemplary Cadet Appearance

Academic Achievement

Outstanding Cadet

Military Aptitude

and the rank of Petty Officer Second Class

Bill and I were EXTREMELY proud when Marcus won the award from the Reserve Officer Association.

One cadet from each grade level received this award and Marcus won it out of all the cadets in the Freshman class.

Marcus has worked very hard this year in ROTC putting in a lot of service hours for his unit in addition to the community.

He lives, eats, and breathes anything that has to do with the Military.

I fully expect that some day he will serve his country as has every generation of McGann dating back to the Revolutionary war.

Speaking of which, there was a representative at the banquet that gave out an award from the Sons of the American Revolution.

Bill and I think we have almost enough information for Bill and Marcus to qualify.

(and Bobby too if he wants)

They give out scholarship money for college which would be AWESOME!

Congrats Marcus!

Mom and Dad are so proud of you!

Memorial Day Weekend: Eva and Sammi

Sammi's roommate Carmen and her mother Brenda came to visit us over Memorial Day Weekend.

They arrived late Wednesday night and Sammi took them downtown DC to see the monuments on Thursday.

When they returned home we had a nice dinner with the family.

On Friday I decided to go to work in McLean and dropped them off at the West Falls Church Metro station and they went to visit the Smithsonian Museums.

When I picked them up, we went to dinner at Maggianos of course!

Maggianos is right near the Booz Allen office in McLean and any excuse to go there is a good one!

On Saturday morning we went to the Temple in DC.

Carmen is leaving for her mission to the Salt Lake City Temple Square mission on June 20th and wanted to have another opportunity to go through the Temple before she leaves.

It was a long day in DC and traffic was not the best.

When we were done visiting the Temple, we decided to go back home rather than do more sightseeing downtown.

Sammi and Carmen later went to a movie and Brenda and I had a great time having some good conversation and going to bed early!

On Sunday we went to church and then came home for a Sunday afternoon nap!

Later in the evening we went out to take some pictures of Carmen for her mission.

On Monday we decided to go take more Missionary pictures!

It was so nice to have them visit.

We will look forward to seeing them again when Carmen gets back from her mission!

Memorial Day Weekend: Bill and Marcus

Bill and Marcus went to visit Grandma Bonnie in Ohio for Memorial Day Weekend.

A favorite place to eat is a little tiny restaurant (hole in the wall) near Bill's mom's house, called Countryside.

They make all kinds of good food that will harden your arteries.

After eating at Countryside, a visit to Uncle Bob's house was in order.

Marcus likes to show off his muscles to everyone!

He has a little way to go before he catches Uncle Bob's muscles.

While breakfast at Countryside is good....breakfast made in Grandma Bonnie's iron skillet is even better!

All of the kids LIVE for her pancakes!

Life is good for Marcus.

Bill gets homemade oatmeal with raisins and cinnamon.

He is in Heaven. 

Bill texted me this picture of Marc and said,

"All is right with the workd; pancakes, Jimmy Neutron cartoons, recliner, and Grandma Bonnie babying him". 

Food is a big deal at Grandma Bonnie's house.

Bill was so excited that she made him sauerkraut.

I hate sauerkrat and therefore never make it.

He got to be babied a little bit too!

Uncle Bob in a green hat.

Bill with his Uncle Ronnie.

The funniest guy you will ever meet!

As much as my kids love their Uncle Bryan and Uncle Bob, they find it a real treat to be with Uncle Ronnie who is hilarious!

Grandma Bonnie with the McGann boys.

Marcus kneeling.

Bryan, Bob, Uncle Ron, and Bill. 

Bill went running with Marc while he was in Ohio.

Marc is very well conditioned from being in ROTC and kept Bill motivated...

...and also worried about a heart attack.

He sent me this picture and told me that if he died, at least he would die doing something he loved.

Bill went by our old house in Ohio.

I was so happy to see it looking so nice.

The people we sold our home to were forclosed upon.

In their anger over foreclosure, they destroyed the house.

It sat empty for a few years and looked terrible.

It made me so sad every time we drove past it to see it looking in such dis-repair.

I am happy to say that it has a new owner who is taken excellent care of it.

As a final treat, Bill videoed his mom groovin' to some of Marc's music on his iPod with his "Beats" headphones.

Check her out!

I love her so much!

Stay tuned tomorrow for the events of Memorial Day Weekend for me and Sammi!

**Bobby did not go to Ohio for the weekend as he had to work.

Train to NIH

Last week on Wednesday and Thursday I had to go to a conference at NIH which afforded me the opportunity to ride the train to work with Bill.

The mountains were so beautiful as we were watching the train arrive...all foggy and misty...so pretty.

I have a lot of new found sympathy for Bill's commute.

It is a looong ride.

Fortunately on the way to NIH, we are one of the first people on the train, so we wree able to sit together.

Bill was not as thrilled as I was on the train.

The misty morning and subsequent humid day did nothing for my hair.

It was a short walk from the main entrance to the Natcher Building where the Fathood Conference was being held.

I was there to scope out the latest research on incarcerated fathers, in addition to scoping out potential researchers that the Department of Justice might be interested in working with.

On Wednesday after the conference, the sky in Bethesda opened up and started to downpour.

It was a little bit scary waiting for the train near all kinds of metal while it was thundering and lightening.

We huddled under an awning so that we wouldn't get totally soaked.

Getting a seat on the way home is not nearly as easy as on the way to NIH.

We waited near the edge of the tracks for the train to arrive in the hope that we could at least get seats, let alone sit together.

When the train pulled in to the station, we were standing so close that I thought it was going to suck me in!

We were not successful at finding seats together for the first several stops, but we did get seats.

Eventually we found seats, but they were facing backward...not my favorite way to travel.

The next day was much of the same, but with no rain.

We left at 5:30am and arrived at NIH at 7:15am.

 By the time we both walked in to our respective locations, it was 7:30am.

We left NIH at 4:00pm, and arrive in our kitchen at 6:06pm.

I can't even imagine having to do this EVERY day as does Bill.

It makes me appreciate all that he does and sacrifices for our family even more.