Back in the World

Oh my, oh my! What a whirlwind this journey has been. I promise to put up some pictures of the house, but, first I am going to spend a little bit of time catching you all up on our last few weeks! It has been a fun and eventful time!

The last week of our time in Virginia was full of goodbyes. The kids started to catch on to the reality of it all and started telling us things they needed to do "one more time." One of the important things that they wanted to do was to visit Daddy's ship. We hadn't been there in a while and the kids always loved going!

So, we hopped in the car after school one day and drove to base. We took advantage of David's front row parking spot at the pier. This may seem like a silly thing to you, but it is one of the "perks" to being named Sailor of the Year (SOY). For those without the parking spot, there is usually a significant walk to your vehicle.

I know that it isn't a big deal to David anymore, but I find it amazing every time I am reminded of the size of the ship. I just think it is amazing that it floats, let alone that it is a floating runway and houses up to 6000 people!!!
For those of you that don't know, Theodore Roosevelt was an avid sportsman that loved to hunt. This is what he considered conservationism! (this one was donated to him, not killed by him!) And did you know that the teddy bear was named after him also? The ship has several pieces of neat memorabilia from Teddy Roosevelt. it is a neat piece of history!
When we reported to the ship in 2004, Ian was not quite two years old and Isabelle was a wee speck within me! David thought I was crazy for taking so many pictures while we were on the ship for the last time. I tried to explain to him, however, that this meant a lot to me to see our kids climbing the ladders on their own!

The first time we actually visited the ship, Ian had to be carried up and down the ladders and Isabelle was in a little carrier sling. We slowly progressed to a point where Isabelle was able to walk down the passageways, but this is the first time that both of the kids were able to climb up the ladders themselves. They were a little more weary of going down the ladders on their own, but they were able to do it with a little help! Oh my, how times have changed!

Ian was giving us a lesson on how the arresting gear cables work to catch the planes on the flight deck. Thank you Andrea for the Aircraft Carrier video!

If you look closely, you will see the giant "71" on the end of the flight deck!

Here are the kiddos crawling into David's spacious and luxurious rack! If the kids were this cramped in it, you can imagine what it must feel like for David to crawl into bed on the ship! I don't think he is going to miss that much!
And finally, we left the ship and took one final picture of David with the kids. This picture reminds me so clearly of the picture I took of David holding the kids when we were saying goodbye to him before deployment nearly 3 years ago. Ian was three and Isabelle was almost one. It is amazing how time flies by!
We filled the rest of our week spending time with friends as much as possible! The weather was so hot and miserable, the only way to make it tolerable outside was to play in the water! So that is what we did! At our house...
and at theirs! We made the rounds, said our goodbyes and we were able to meet up with Andrea for lunch!
It was so nice to spend that time with you, Miss Andrea! We can't wait to see you again!
After our tearful goodbyes, we got to spend one last night in Virginia with friends and we got on the road to South Carolina the next morning! You might feel like I have left out some key things, but the whole part about the movers and packers and how they showed up late and worked at the pace of a turtle and lost stuff and broke stuff, well, I am trying to forget it and find the positives in my life! So, really, it was much more important to see our friends, and have fun together before we left then to dwell on all of that. What I will say about that, is that I am glad it is over. Well, kinda...other than the open claim we have with them for the damage and lost stuff! But, mostly, it is over!

The day after we arrived in South Carolina, we closed on our house and immediately started painting and planting and making it our own. I will do my best to get some pictures taken today so that you can see the progress so far, as long as you promise not to judge or criticize! It is a work in progress and I am sure there will be plenty of pictures along the way!

Stay tuned...