Nice.
You getting all suited up?
I am.
It's exciting.
I'm not fully home yet because I haven't--
I got to be with the whole family to be fully home.
Let me see how you look.
Let's see what this looks like.
Show me some moves, a little bit of personality here.
There you go.
That's some serious horsepower right there.
You ready to go? - I'm ready.
All right, sir.
I'm going to go meet up with your family.
And I will see you out there.
I was feeling a little nervous because I knew this was it.
It's so many emotions at one time
that it's almost like, oh my God.
How is Eva going to react?
How is Kaitlin going to react?
Like, all that runs through your head at the same time.
It's like, oh, I cannot wait.
What's going on, kids?
Good.
Good to see you.
Ooh, horsey.
You like the horsey?
Oh my God.
It's a bronco.
Oh, excuse us.
It's our bronco.
What is it, Bucky the Bronco?
I don't know.
It took me a while to find them because I
couldn't see anything.
The horse's mane, I guess it'd be-- it
lays right where your eyes are.
I feel bad for the person in there
though, because he's probably burning up.
He's probably burning up?
Thank you so much.
I look over, and I see them.
But I don't want to stare because I don't want them
to think, OK, why is he look-- why
is this mascot looking at us?
Welcome to our first annual parent-student luncheon.
Woo.
The first activity that we are going to be doing
is a tug of war activity.
Woo!
Yeah!
Are you ready?
Yeah.
Get set, go.
Go.
[inaudible] make some noise.
As much as you wanted to just rip the head off and be like,
ha-ha, I'm here.
Today is about the girls.
The girls have no idea what's coming their way.
So it's like, focus on this.
I have a friend here today who's
going to help me out with the three legged race, Matt Rogers.
Woo.
Let's hear it for Matt.
Yay.
Thank you, Miss Armstrong.
I appreciate it.
We need some volunteers for the three legged race.
Kaitlin, you come up here.
You race with our mascot.
Come on up.
You let me know when they're ready.
Shake hands with the mascot.
Introduce yourself.
I'm Kaitlin.
When we got tied together, it was nerve-wracking
because I was that close.
I was so close.
As soon as I say one word, it's over.
She's going to know who it is.
Miss Armstrong, are we ready?
We're ready.
All right.
On your mark, get set, go.
They said go.
And it was like a speed walk.
This person doesn't know what a three legged race is.
I'm just thinking, don't fall. Don't fall.
Don't fall.
Oh, look, there goes everyone else.
And I know in her head, she's probably thinking,
you stupid horse.
It's a race.
You don't walk in a race.
And last and certainly not least, the bucking Broncos.
I was so excited.
My heart was racing.
It was beating pretty fast, actually getting all of them
back together as a whole family.
I was like, I cannot wait.
This is actually my friend Kaitlin.
I got the chance to meet her and her family.
Her dad has been serving our country
for the past 7 and 1/2 months.
I was so nervous.
I was just ready for it to happen.
It felt like forever.
I bet you miss him a lot on days like this.
Yeah.
Well, unfortunately, you took last in the three legged race.
But you still get to win a prize because you get
to find out who our mascot is.
Who is our mascot?
Daddy!
[cheering]
When I saw it was my dad, I didn't want to let him go.
I thought I was just going to wake up
and it'd just be a dream.
Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming
home Eva's dad, Caitlin's dad.
Eva, hi.
I love hugging my dad.
Petty Officer Second Class Aaron Morrow.
Having them all holding on, that, to me,
that meant more than anything.
Finally home, finally back where I should be.
It felt like our family was finally complete.
And I haven't got to feel that in a long time.