McCaffery Mayhem!: Military Ball

Sean and I went to the Military Ball Friday night. We hadn't been to one in four years (I was newly pregnant with Cullen at the last one.) I was somewhat dreading it... we had to find a sitter, I had to find a formal dress, Sean had to put his uniform together, I had to figure out what I was going to do with my hair, we had just got back to CO, etc, etc... But once we were there, I remembered how proud it makes me to be part of this little piece of Americana. The Ball has so much history and tradition and it's something most people never get to experience. This is our 6th ball (we went to at least 3 when Sean was still in ROTC at K-State). I was surprised how many people were there (about 900-1,000 people)- it was significantly larger than any one I've been to before.

The Grog Bowl Ceremony brought me back to K-State. Sean was asked to run (MC) the Grog Bowl his senior year at K-State. He and the team were asked to run the Grog Bowl this year too. It's a fun tradition where the guys dress up and add strange items to the punch bowl... some items include: a boot with Iraq sand, blood, doughnuts, and lots of random alcohol! Sean did well with it and was able to keep it fun. He's got the gift of gab and was able to ad lib the lulls.

Sean and the team were also awarded the Thorne Award at the ball. It's awarded every year to the best ODA (team) in 10th SF Group. It's a great honor. Our friend Matt's team won this award last year, which is very cool.

As I was leaving for the ball, Cullen said to me "Bye momma, have fun at the dance with daddy!" It was so cute, it sounded like something a 8 year old would say! He was a little upset when I told him I was going to a dance. He thought I was going to CoCo's wedding and he didn't want to miss that! I finally got it through to him that it was NOT CoCo's wedding and only then did he decide it was okay for us to go without him. :)