It was marvelous! Thursday evening we hugged quite a bit, and shared a Chinese dinner together before I had to go back for the night. Zac called though and announced he had been let off entirely for Friday, so he decided to come immediately. Didn't get there until after midnight though, so I didn't see him until they all picked me up around 1500 (3pm) Friday.Our first task was to get the Navy parking form notarized... and right after that we headed for the Mission Valley Mall where we had an outstanding dinner at Outback Steakhouse for the beginning of a joint birthday/reunion celebration. Lobster & steak was *really* nice. :) They gave us ice cream on the house; I think we talked and enjoyed it for around an hour and a half.
Back at the motel, we found we needed to stop by MCRD for Zac
to pick up the EGA insignia he had forgotten to bring along for the dress uniform pictures we wanted to take. So we made a little side trip of it just in time before they closed. Zac and I ran over to the MCX and found them right away.Again, back at the Dolphin Motel, we relaxed and watched two movies: Disney's new cartoon "Tangled" (with Donna Murphy as the villain!), and "Crimson Tide"... since I haven't ever been able to sit down and watch the whole thing... always too many ad breaks. I loved Tangled! It had elements from Sleeping Beauty and Beauty and the Beast... a couple of my favorites. They did a great job putting their classic twist to classic tales. :) I enjoyed Crimson Tide too... but I noticed they got a perfect reading on the SONAR with a broadband signal... Maybe sub-surface SONAR is a little different. :)
So we were all together! Saturday morning we took a while getting up and had breakfast at Denny's. Then it was Sea World all day! We started out with the otters... and stumbled across a little building with a 3-month old baby feeding and playing to her heart's content. There were big windows on her, roughly 3-foot-square, pool... and the windows were only inches away from it. A trainer came out and told us all about her. The dolphin show was neat, but not quite as good as when I saw it in 2008. They had a strange middle part to the show with a couple birds and lots of swimmers dressed up like birds. It confused me terribly! :)
(here's a pic by Dad at the Orca Whale show!)
I didn't do the latter last time, so I was particularly happy about doing it now. We only had some popcorn and chips at the park, so when we were done, after first getting Zac's required haircut at the NEX, we went back to Mission Valley to eat at Chipotle and then shop at Best Buy, as he requested. As he bought Charade, I ended up buying Disney's "Oceans" from last year (that I saw in the theater with Chaya). Back home again, we watched last year's "The Fighter" with Mark Wahlberg, and then the newly purchased "Charade" (with Cary & Audry) during chat.
Sunday morning I guided them past my library to Ocean Beach for breakfast at the same diner I ate at with Mike. We got a table after just a minute or two, and I had a great big pancake with my corned beef hash and eggs. After this was a trip to the USS Midway (CV 41) that I saw in 2009. But last time I didn't have time for the bridge tour, which we definitely took advantage of this time. Had a great time wandering around again, especially with my family. When we got to the motel we had our little photo shoot with some success:
And then the grand farewell dinner with Zac was held at the Olive Garden near Target. Another outstanding dinner (I need to exercise a lot this week!) and good time with everyone. He left afterwords... and I decided I needed to sleep on base since Monday was a workday. We dropped off all the things they brought me (like my movies, some clothes and my blanket), along with my things from the weekend, and then we headed off for a little drive across the Bay Bridge to Coronado. Found a cute little creamery, and enjoyed some delicious ice cream... I had dark chocolate.
Next morning I met Mom & Dad at the gate at 0630 to get the temp pass I need to park their car on base. That went off without a hitch, and then I had a very long day at school. Did a mock PRT by myself before lunch on the course at Liberty Station... did very well for not having run in a while. I did a mere half-hour of open study in the evening (just to reinforce it) and then met Mom and Dad once more for a little trip downtown to see the newly released "Jane Eyre" at a little theater that plays foreign films. This was done by the British, so it very closely resembled the book... although they condensed the story into 2 hours, and therefore had to make it flash by. I loved it though. So very well done.
At the motel one last time I said goodbye to Mom and Dad, and then drove their car back to base. They got a taxi this morning to take them to the airport. They should be coming back the end of June to bring me mine and pick up theirs! I can't wait for another fun weekend! :)
Jp
No comments:
Post a Comment