Remembering a Fallen Solider

I never knew Marine Cpl. Stephen "Coty" Sockalosky, age 21. I never had the chance to meet him in his short life. He was from Cordele, GA, which is a 1 hour drive south of Macon. Why am I writing about him? He was killed Oct 6th by injuries sustained from an IED during combat operations. He was flown to Germany for emergency treatment, but later succumbed to his injuries. It is my understanding his wife was flown to Germany to be with him, but I do not know if she got to see him again before he passed.

Today, he was flown into Robins AFB on an Angel Flight where he was met by the Robins AFB Honor Guard and his family. He was driven in a very large procession through base, where thousands of people lined the streets to pay their respects for him. He was also met by thousands of other people along Watson Blvd. and in his hometown of Cordele. Amazingly, his mom was hanging out the window thanking everyone for their support of her son. It was emotional.

So, I just wanted to share in the tribute of Coty. Please, take a minute to remember our troops overseas, still fighting for us.

Some news clippings and tribute videos

Coty




Coty's Procession





The motorcycles are the Patriot Guard, in case you were wondering.

Finally, here are a few newspaper links

Georgia Marine killed in Afghanistan has local ties

Cordele Marine Returns Home

Thousands in Crisp County honor fallen Marine

Birthday Planning

That time is fast approaching. Landon is almost 1 year old. I know, that is pretty weird to type. He's a shade over 10 months right now, but we've already started talking about what we are going to do for his birthday. Ideally, we would like to have something outside that friends and family can come to, but December weather is unpredictable. Weather forecast I can find show that the high for that day is 62. Not freezing cold, but not ideal outdoor party weather.

We could have it inside our house, but our house probably couldn't hold everyone comfortably. That is still an option, though. We have also thought about going somewhere to have the party where he can have plenty of room to run around. We are looking at some places, but we haven't decided yet.

The plan right now it what I mentioned first - have the party at our house, outside. We will use the garage as the main location with the cake and presents and all of the other birthday stuff I can't think of right now. We will probably have some activities and other things in the driveway and yard. We will also open the house up to people to come and sit down. If the weather is too cold, we will move everything inside and deal with the crowd. We went to my cousin's 10th birthday last night, and there were at least 20 people there. That won't be everyone from my family who would come, plus Christi's family, plus friends who will come. Whew.

That's the general idea, anyway. The next big thing is to figure out the theme. Super Why is his favorite show, he enjoys playing with trains, and he absolutely loves cars and trucks, especially real ones he can see driving on the road. We have also thought about clowns and dinosaurs, but we decided that he didn't really like that, and clowns could be a little scary. We looked at Super Why party items, and it just looks like it was made for kids older than 1. So, we have taken that idea out. Now we are left with trains or cars and trucks. We are considering combining those two ideas into one. Right now, we are looking at both ideas separately. We haven't found anything to clearly separate each idea from the other, but we are looking. Trains appears to have more party items and things to do, but cars and trucks isn't lacking.

That brings me to my question - what do you think? Have you seen or heard of any birthday ideas you think we could use? Any votes for the theme of the party or ideas for activities the kids could do? Let me hear them in the comments!

San Diego Pictures

Here are a few San Diego pictures. I wasn't thinking and didn't bring my good camera. All of these are taken with my cell phone, and they turned out ok, but they aren't the best.

USS Midway



Statue of that famous picture of the sailor kissing the girl



A view of San Diego Bay.



More San Diego Bay. I wish I had zoom here.



Downtown San Diego

A view of Northern Island from the Midway. Northern Island is where the Naval Base in San Diego is located. Well, there are a lot of other Navy docks and locations, but it this is where the main base is. It's a very beautiful place, actually. It used to be a Northern and Southern Island, but the Navy filled the channel that divided them and it created one large island. The name Northern Island stayed, though. Take a look at it here . Quick side note, we ate lunch at this Greek place. Delicious food and an incredible view.

Another note: the ship in that picture is the USS Carl Vinson. I wasn't the only middle GA guy there. In case you aren't from middle GA, Carl Vinson is from around here and was a big reason the Navy is what it is now. Carl Vinson Wiki

View from the Midway's island (where they landed and launched planes)



Inside the Midway... it goes on and on forever. It looks like infinite regression



Dock from one of the restaurants where we ate. My phone camera sucks at night, but trust me, it was a good view.



A museum in one of the parks we went to. There was a lot of stuff to do in the park, unfortunately we missed a lot of it because it was past closing for them and since it was dark, all of the pictures I took sucked.



Same museum



The Pacific Ocean





The beach



Me in front of the Pacific. The water was freezing cold. I didn't stay in the water for long



Famous hotel. Hotel del Coronado. The President stays here when visiting San Diego.



See, I wasn't lying



More hotel shots



It's pretty huge







Yes, I'm inside the hotel. This is the courtyard. They let non-guests walk around and see some of the main areas.



Massive chandelier



Love the wood ceiling





Random California houses that I thought were cool. Right across from the beach. It was either a house on this street or the next that President Clinton rented for a week.



Pacific Beach. This is a different beach than the first pictures.



It was overcast and chilly most of the week. Apparently the worst weather they've had in a long time. Very disappointing.

That is all I had on my phone. My friend and coworker, Luis, was with me and he has a lot of other pictures that I need to get from him. San Diego was pretty amazing. It was a beautiful area with a ton of stuff to do and several beaches to enjoy. I can see why everyone wants to live here, but it's very expensive.

Check back for some more pictures coming soon