Fryin' Up The Bacon: More pictures from our trip to Fort Benning

So when the blues ceremony was done, we were able to take David for the afternoon. The original schedule had been that we were to have him back by 9 pm. However, the married

couples had an orientation that lasted an hour so they decided that we should have the boys back by 8 pm. I guess since the married soldiers were losing an hour of free time they decided that the single soldiers should miss out on an hour too. Although we later found out that their Sgt. had told the boys they had to be back by 9 pm.

David was just thrilled to be riding in a car where he wasn't bouncing around in the back of a vehicle with a bunch of other boys. We left the base and went to eat lunch at a Golden Corral. We had the best waitress there, she was so friendly and really fun.

After that we headed back to the hotel. We wanted to give David and Jill a chance to talk and catch up...some alone time. The night before we had seen this huge house from the balcony of our hotel room, so Ray, Rylie and I decided to take a walk over there and check it out. The picture is the front of the house, which has been turned into an antique shop. It was absolutely beautiful, both inside and out. It was built in 1884 for a family and at one point was a home for wayward girls and was also a funeral home at some point in time.

This place was huge and just filled with antiques and some newer items too.

This is a picture of the intricate carvings just inside the front door of the house.

This is the ceiling of the dining room. Yeah, I can't see my brood eating in a room like that. LOL I can see it now, we'd have grand kids trying to climb those beautiful cases that line the back wall.

This is a close up of one of the doors on the shelves in the dining room. They are all lead glass. Are they just beautiful? Just imagine...those have been there for over a hundred years and they are still absolutely gorgeous.

Rylie standing next to a fireplace that was in one of the bathrooms.

This is a view of the house from the side. I believe the women at the store said that little sun room was added later. "Little" sun room, lol. There was nothing little about this house.

After we toured the home/antique shop and Jill & David had a wee bit of alone time, we went driving around. We checked out a big Army supply store called Ranger Joe's, the new museum just outside the gates of the base and the big PX which is inside a little mall.

At Ranger Joe's, Rylie decided that she just had to have an Army outfit like her big brother. Well, the fatigue jacket and pants were $35 and the hat was $10. So we got her this little outfit (tee shirt, fatigue shorts and hat) all for $30. She really liked it until she looked in the mirror and said "I look dumb", then she wanted to change back to her other clothes. So that look on her face is not her "soldier girl" face. No it's more like "I hate this outfit and my mom won't let me change clothes". LOL She kept throwing the hat on the ground until a few people mentioned the cute little soldier. Then she put the hat on every time we got out of the car, just like her big brother did.