Faraway Friends

Long before the fair and the 4th of July, we said a "see you later" to some good friends from faraway places. The Marine Corps is famous for plopping you down in a new place, expecting you to make friends, and then promptly moving you away. We are used to that by now; the little people are 4 and have lived in 4 houses and 3 states!

However, if you want to talk about a MOVE, let me introduce you to our good friends Cato and Maria. Cato is an officer in the Norwegian military and he moved his family to Quantico for EWS. When we first met them, they had been in the states for just a few weeks and had a 4 month old baby. I know plenty of people do it, but I can't imagine moving to a new country with my infant and attempting to go through the trials of a new baby AND a new country! What a challenge/adventure!

Over the course of the year, Cato and Maria became our very good friends. The little people LOVE Mr Cato! I think he won them over when he visited our home for the first time and brought them a Norwegian snow globe. When he told them there was snow in his country, they were SOLD! (This was LONG before we experienced Snowpocalypse Parts I, II and III. I'm not sure if they are still enamored by snow after all of those blizzards!)

Cato and Maria were such troopers and took to American culture quickly. They obliged and let us dress up their daughter for her first (and probably only) Halloween.

We celebrated the Marine Corps Birthday, Thanksgiving, a Swedish/Norweigan Christmas, many birthdays, Easter, and EWS Graduation together. They even came to visit us one more time before they headed home.



Here's to our "see you later"! We can't wait to visit you in Norway when the little people are a little older.