Surviving Ben's Survival Course

Apollo lingering on Ben's bags before he had to say goodbye.
Ben recently attended a three week course in wilderness survival and enemy capture and evasion. Basically, he was dropped in the woods and lived off of the land before being captured and turned into a prisoner of war. I'll never share experiences like that with him, but I know that are a necessary element in his career, no matter how much I wish I could be with him every day. Unlike his deployment and other training courses, we had zero communication for the duration of the course. Perhaps it's because I'm pregnant (I'll admit I've been a little needy of his attention), but it was super hard this time! Thankfully, he has completed the course and is now back home (asleep on the couch to be exact).

While he was gone I decided to have an extended visit home to Tennessee for Thanksgiving. All of the pets came along and enjoyed Tennessee as much as I did. Being around family made the time pass faster. I purposely waited until he was back home before posting about this. I knew if I posted during the course I would be a big whine bag and I try to avoid that! Here are some photos from my stay in Tennessee!

Getting some firewood from the local Amish community.
Percy catching some beauty rest in Ramah.
Apollo joining my mom's dog Benny for some afternoon window gazing.
Pecans that we picked up from my parent's yard and used in yummy cake.

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