Busy day touring the White House

Hello all-

Today was a lot of fun for me at work. I was able to get 6 spots for a Marine 1 departure and rounded up the "old crew" from my OCS Staff days. Rachel Lewis, Justin Peters, Scott Beauregard and his wife Sharon and Shawn Decker and his son Billy joined me for the departure. We got to walk around and see all the big "sites" as well as view the departure. It was great seeing them and catching up on old times.

After they left, EK and the kids came in and we took a "holiday tour" of the White House. This allowed us to bring cameras inside and go through the ground floor and state floor (2nd floor) of the house. It was beautiful. It was such a special opportunity.

Anyhow, we are getting ready for Christmas and look forward to seeing all the families during the holiday.

Love to all and Merry Christmas
Jason

The Old OCS crew

In the East wing

The East room all decorated

Collin and Mya in the green room

In the State Dining Room (notice the 500lb Gingerbread house behind Collin)

View from the Blue room looking South

Mya at home after a day of touring!

Thanksgiving and Christmas tree

Hello friends and family-

Wanted to get an update out on what has been going on.

Work has been getting very busy in preparation for the inauguration. It is an amazing time to be working at the White House and seeing how everything is changing. I can honestly say that i know that President Bush's administration is really trying their best to have a smooth transition and it is good to see the President-elect's team willing to learn. That is about as deep into the politics that i go.

For Thanksgiving, we traveled up to LI. We got to see a lot of family while we were there as well as Scot and Kristy Brown. Scot and KB were in Philly at the same time we were there (he was at Drexel med) and he has since graduated and is in his first year of residency at Stony Brook. It was great seeing them. Me and Pop also made our annual pilgrimage to the meadowlands for a game. The weather was pretty nasty, but as all good ("that is code word for stupid") men do, we went early, tailgated with the grill and went in for the game. Unfortunately, the boys lost. They played pretty poorly, but it was still great. This was our 5th straight year and i think the record is now 3-2.

The first weekend in Dec, we went and cut down our tree at a local tree farm. The house is decorated and we are getting excited for Christmas. This year we will be in CT from the 22-26 and then on LI from 26-28. We hope to see as many of you as possible during the holidays.

Few other points of interest. Erin-Kate's sister Kaye-Leigh had her baby on Dec 9th. She had a healthy baby girl and is doing well. On the same day EK's cousin Sara had her baby boy. That is now their 3rd boy. All is well there as well.

Anyhow, that is it. Enjoy the photos and video. Merry Christmas to everyone and we love you all.