on a steel horse i ride.

well we made it through a georgia summer, and austin made it through his armor-basic officer leadership course. with long in the heat and woods, i am so proud he made it through with high achievements and was recognized on the commadant's list. he never ceases to amaze me. however, austin was most proud of his stetson hat. yes, this beloved hat, which lives in a precious box and only comes out for special occasions, is his pride and joy. the stetson hat is a traditional symbol for cavalry units, who historically rode on horseback but now ride the steel horse of tanks, strikers, hum-vs. the graduation was short, the celebration sweet, and we enjoyed our time with great friends we have met here along the way.

found myself a real cowboy

inspiring story: a group of us went out to dinner later in the day to celebrate. all still dressed in our celebratory outfits, we enjoyed our time together reminiscing about the past and looking forward to the future. in the end, when we went to pay our individual checks, we were informed by our server that our entire party's bill had been paid in full, which had to amount to at least a couple hundred dollars. feeling greatly indebted, we asked for his table number or name, but the server said he had already gone and she pointed to his empty seat at the bar. we were tremendously disappointed that we could not thank this man for his overwhelming kindness, but i later found him in the left side of a random picture austin and i snapped during dinner. we were all greatly touched by this man's generosity, and someday i hope we can follow his example and pay his goodness forward .

labor day play.

labor day weekend my family came to visit georgia and we squeezed in as much fun and goodness columbus has to offer during their stay. 

first off, we explored fort benning, which included spotting some gators in the pond 

and getting up close and personal with the tanks. austin was able to get dill inside a tank! anyone that knows dill, knows that this was a dream come true for him. it was awesome to see his excitement! 

annnd we had to take my family to our favorite place in columbus, the animal safari! it was hilarious to watch each person's reaction to feeding the various animals...lots of screams and laughs..we had a blast!

we also spent an afternoon at flat rock park and explored rock waterfall slides. and it wouldn't be a sarmiento trip without some kind of clumsy event which took place as dill slipped, while climbing around the falls, and then slid several feet into kayla, who then also slipped, and the two continued sliding down the falls together. it was a comedy in the making. apart from a few wet bums, everyone was okay and we laughed about it the rest of the day.

we also got to celebrate dad's 50th birthday. the big five zero! with a cake for the diabetic man...

such a fun weekend! we loved having them visit and can't wait for their next trip!