Sunday, December 16, 2007

Talking to the Big Guy

A couple of weeks ago we took a trip to the mall to see Santa. It was a surprise for the kids. When I told Ian that we were on our way to the mall to talk to Santa, his response was quite comical.
"Oh, they have THOSE Santas out now, huh?" he said smugly.
"What do you mean, THOSE Santas Ian?" I questioned him.
"Those ones that come out every year at all the malls and stuff. You know." he explained.

I couldn't help but chuckle under my breath as he was saying that. He is too smart for his own britches! But I didn't want him to miss out on the excitement and the anticipation so we discussed it further and "we" decided that Santa must make his rounds to each of the malls to make sure to visit with all the children. He also has "helper" Santas that sit at the mall when he can't be there. Somehow we must have known exactly the right time to go to the mall to see the "real" Santa.

Even though he seemed to have it all figured out for a moment, Ian climbed right up on Santa's lap, real or not, and shared his entire Christmas list with him. I guess he wasn't going to take any chances on missing out on any goodies!

Isabelle was so excited to go and didn't hesitate either. In fact, she had many more ideas to share with Santa than she had shared with us!

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Christmas Program

Last night was Isabelle's Christmas program at school. I am aware that I might be just a little biased...but she was ADORABLE!!!
She was so excited when I dressed her in her red "princess" dress (every dress turns her into a princess!). When I asked her if I could take her picture before we left for the program, this is what I got:
Cute, right?
She has been practicing this program for weeks now and if you ask her the best part of the program, she will tell you that she gets to wave to us and we will wave at her and take pictures. So, there was no lack of waving! She waved when she walked in the auditorium. When she got to the top of the stairs, she waved. When she found her place on stage, she waved. In between each song, she waved. But she didn't just wave. In between each song, she yelled, "Mommy! Mommy!" and waved with the most precious smile! She was so proud that we were there to see her!
Her class was dressed up as little presents and they sang "Good things come in little packages!"
Here you can see her melodramatic facial expressions. This is the part of the program where they were talking about Mary and Joseph trying to find a place to stay. She looks as though she was feeling their pain! What a little actress!

Here is my very own little Christmas package...the most precious one of them all!

Wednesday, December 5, 2007

Holiday Spirit

I joined in the holiday spirit over here! Take a look, it is pretty cute!

Monday, December 3, 2007

Row, Row, Row your boat

David's ship has spent the last several months in the shipyard undergoing an overhaul. It has been a long process with a LOT of long hours! On Wednesday, we got to go down to the waterfront and watch the tugboats push this massive aircraft carrier down the river! It was quite a site. For those of you that have not seen a carrier in person, here are a few details:
  • It is 1092ft in length
  • It houses more than 3000 sailors on a regular basis and adds another 2500 during deployment times! That is nearly 6000 sailors on one ship! It is really hard to fathom!
  • During deployment times, it also houses 90+ fixed wing aircraft and helicopters!

So, now imagine this large ship being pushed by several little tug boats down a RIVER! It is amazing! The kids really enjoyed watching! They had a lot of fun seeing "Daddy's ship."


The ship as it approached us


Notice the "little people" on the flight deck


Goodbye shipyard...Hello workups!

So, another chapter begins in our story! The shipyard is long and hard for the crew...especially the reactor department! But the nice thing about the shipyard is that our sailors are able to return home for dinner on a somewhat regular basis. Now we start "workups." Workups are all the little trips the ship takes out to sea to receive special qualifications and certifications in order to be ready to go on deployment. Begining this week, the ship is out to sea for varying lengths of time. Sometimes the ship is only gone for a few days at time. Other times it is gone for over a month at a time. We have done this before, but the kids were much younger and handled it quite well. Now they notice more when Daddy is gone. They whine for him when they don't like what I am telling them. They even blame their bad behavior on his being gone! (So far only Ian has pulled that one on me! But I know that Isabelle is a quick learner!)

Needless to say, this will be a challenging time! I am hopeful, however, that we will not have to live through the entire workup period as we are working on getting orders to leave here! Orders can not come soon enough at this point!

Don't get me wrong, I have great friends, a great church, the kids are in great schools, etc. There is just something tugging at both David and me telling us it is time to go! We are hoping we will get to see what that is in the VERY near future!

No matter what is in store for us, we know that God has an amazing plan for us! Life attached to the USS Theodore Roosevelt has been quite an adventure and we know that God won't disappoint us with our next adventure!