Jolin-Carleton family blog

Paul is at his unit

Mark — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 02:46:43 +0000

Paul has arrived at his new unit. 215th Support Battalion at Ft. Hood. There he is getting acclimated to the what and where for. They are expecting a lot of equipment to come back from Iraq this winter so he will soon have his hands full repairing tanks that have been over there for 18 months. In the mean time he is kept busy with duties such as funeral detail, guard duty, and getting the shop and barracks in shape. In the mean time, he and his battle buddy are getting their room outfitted with the necessities and a few luxuries.

Paul's unit badge

Ducks beat Fresno State

Michelle — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 03:57:31 +0000

This is only really news because Mark and I were there to see the game. It was our semi-annual invitation from the football mad parental and fraternal units to join them in worshipping at the altar of little-boy football.

My gorgeous mother made me put little “O” tattoos on my fingernails. To match my new Duck t-shirt and hat. We were stylish, let me tell you. Mom got to learn how to use a beer bong from the guys tailgating in front of us. We met a guy named Donkey who came with Brandon. Ken managed to get the burgers cooked in spite of a Weber failure. The weather was beautiful. The Ducks won big.

Mom and Mark in the car driving to Eugene

Mom and Mark looking through the O at Autzen

Kenny is happy to be tailgating

Nicole pinches Rhodana's Arse

OMG there's a BBQ emergency!!

The pre-game Yukon Jack

Pre-game Yukon Jack

Justin is on his way to college today!

Michelle — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 17:13:02 +0000

His new wardrobe is quite stylin’ according to Justin’s MySpace bulletin.

Here is is at a Duck game prior to his departure. This is not how he looks normally. He seems to have some sort of growth on his chin. I hope he is planning on seeing a physician soon:

Picture stolen from his MySpace page

Pv2 Carleton has arrived at his new base

Michelle — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 16:59:44 +0000

Paulie got to Texas yesterday. He says he has about 3 days of inprocessing to go through before he joins his unit.

The POS, I mean his truck, behaved fine for the trip.

Here are some pictures he sent from “the road”:

Somewhere in the middle of nowhere

Phoenix

El Paso in the middle of the night

Yeah, I’m guessing he was photographing while driving.

Wow. The Ducks beat Michigan.

Michelle — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 05:17:13 +0000

Big time. 39 to 7. In Michigan. Their biggest defeat since 1968 or something like that. I wonder just how loud my family in attendance was screaming??

Read all about it!

Fishin’ with Paulie

Michelle — Sun, 09 Sep 2007 04:58:02 +0000

We took the Paulie and Sarah fishing at Promontory Park today on Paul’s last day in Portland before he heads to Fort Hood, Texas for his first assignment. It was a nice, relaxing way to end his visit. He seemed to need the time to decompress after several days of the usual behavior of a twenty year old male on vacation–party, party, party with his sisters and friends. He’s been feeling a bit pulled in every direction since he has a large family and everyone wants to spend one-on-one time with him before he leaves given that it probably won’t be too long before he’s in Iraq or Afghanistan. He seems kind of stressed about the tearful good-byes and such, so I’m very glad we’ve been keeping things normal and light!

He crashed (practically literally) at our house Friday afternoon and slept for hours. Woke up in the early evening and we sat up watching John Waters and Monty Python movies and chatting while Mark was at band rehearsal. We all slept in late-ish. OK, not really late-ish, as we were out of the house by 10 to have breakfast. After breakfast, Paul wished he could go fishing so off we went. Given that we don’t own fishing poles or tackle, it was perhaps not very practical…but hanging and letting Paul pick his own form of relaxation made it more than worth the money.

Sarah enjoyed the trip in her own way: soaking up sun and snoozing!

To anyone in MY family who might read this: don’t worry. I did NOT actually touch a fishing pole. I finished knitting a sock and just enjoyed the ride. I was also the designated photographer.

There are more pictures of the fishing trip and other moments from Paul’s visit over in the Jolin-Carleton gallery!

I wonder if Paulie is ever going to get tired of wearing his uniform in public? ;-)))

Pv2 Carleton is home!

Michelle — Wed, 05 Sep 2007 02:21:50 +0000

A bunch of us turned out at the airport to greet him on Saturday night. Some of us may have been inebriated. I know– it’s hard to believe, isn’t it? No names will be divulged, because we wouldn’t want to embarrass anyone. Especially not M… no, not anyone

Sarah, Paul, and Shawna

the family at the airport

Mary was nice enough to host(ess) a BBQ for the extended family on Sunday afternoon with cousins and everything:

Jessica, Paul, and Melissa

Mom, Paul, Dad

More pictures are available in the gallery. You can even send e-cards from there to anyone who missed the party.

It’s awfully nice to have Paul around, even for such a short time!

Party at the Blanchard’s this Saturday!

Michelle — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 04:15:36 +0000

Nancy and Scott are having a party at their place to celebrate Ken and Nicole’s wedding for all of those family members who couldn’t make it to Tahoe for the nuptials.

See you there!

Paulie will be home for leave on Sept 1

Michelle — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 21:56:34 +0000

He’s coming in on Delta flight 5684, arriving at 21:29.
Anyone who’d like to come along to meet him is welcome/encouraged to do so. We’ll be waiting just outside the security area.

See you there!

Pictures from Paulie’s cell phone

Michelle — Sun, 15 Jul 2007 21:49:25 +0000

Paul’s been sending his Dad pictures from his cell phone when he has a chance. Here are a couple of him on the M88, which is sort of a tow truck for tanks:

Paul in an M88 tank hauler, he's on the right

Paul in an M88

Here are Paul and his buddies resting under the truck. One of them seems to be a little shy about being photographed:

Paul and classmates in training

This one was taken today, we think at a VFW hall, it’s of Paulie with Robley Rex who is one of only a few living WWI veterans still with us. We have no idea how or why Paulie was in the same room as Rex, but here he is:

Paul with Robley Rex, a 105 year old WWI vet