Saturday, June 29, 2013

An Evening Here and There

After so many days away from him while he was here with me, it was a joy to be able to spend any time at all actually together. Monday he took me out to Virginia Beach to celebrate our five years of knowing each other (June 21, 2008) at a marvelous place: Captain George's Seafood Restaurant (buffet), and boy, did we enjoy it! Especially the "Norfolk Special" they offered which was a broiled stew of shrimp, scallops and crab. We continued on to the beach to enjoy the sunset and the sea breeze before going back home.

Tuesday we had a quiet evening, making dinner ourselves and enjoying a movie (the 1987 Sleeping Beauty Ice Ballet Spectacular). Wednesday was spent on the ship, then Thursday night we stayed home... but I was way too tired to watch anything or do much at all. I took a shower and went to bed immediately after getting home. As I laid on the mattress with the afternoon light peeking in through the blinds, I teared up I was so happy to rest. Mike picked up hamburger and fixings at the store for dinner, which was very nice.

Friday afternoon I was also pretty tired, but nothing compared to the day before. I mowed the lawn right away, since it had gotten a little too long... and with all the late afternoon rain we've been having, it's been pretty hard to get it in. We went out for dinner to a local diner called "Mom and Pop's Restaurant". I had a BLT and Mike had some chicken Alfredo pasta. We were both pretty tired that night, so it was not long before we were both sound asleep.

Today was wonderful! Got to sleep in and have breakfast together for the first time in two weeks! Mike had work to do (for the law school), and I busied myself by doing the dishes. We then went out (very domestically) for groceries and to do the massive pile of laundry (two weeks of uniforms! plus normal wear and the bed). Felt so good to get all that done! We had a little Farm Fresh salad bar for lunch as we waited for the laundry to dry, watching the ocean from the laundromat's back porch. We put everything away at home, then blasted off downtown for the Tides baseball game. And it was a fun one, a nail-biting 4-3 win, a little bit of a shower, perfect seats behind home plate, and a lot of ballpark food. So happy for one more day to sleep in and have breakfast! It's the little things that count so much!

Jw

Sunday, June 16, 2013

First Weekend of Our Summer

Well, it's all been one long weekend for a while now. :)

Thursday afternoon I got off early, and while Mike did some work, I finished up some unpacking and colored in a coloring book I brought from home. We had lasagna for dinner, which we had at the table while listening to some 1920's Radio Network on my laptop. Took the dog out for a little walk, and generally enjoyed ourselves. Managed to get the laundry done as well... I needed clean sheets for my duty day on-board ship the next day.

When I got off duty on Saturday morning, I came home and we had a great big breakfast... the nicest thing after a day-plus on the ship. Later on, we got on a very slow freeway to Newport News to check out the Virginia Living History Museum. Indoors it was mostly an aquarium, focused on the coast and rivers of Virginia... and the special exhibit upstairs was "Bodies", which I've wanted to see for a long time. It was kinda disturbing and a little disgusting... but fascinating too. Seeing models of organs and bodies is just not the same as the real thing. Although we were tired, we walked out on their boardwalk to what I thought was just an aviary... turned out to be a winding path around the little natural river of a small zoo... wolves, eagles, vultures, big cats, beavers, otters, etc. It was a very nice little walk, and unlike anything I've done before.

Then we sat through a bunch of traffic to get home to take care of the pets before going to the baseball game that night... that was also very crowded. Ended up being a 2-1 loss, but we did get to see some good plays, eat lots of good food, and see a spectacular fireworks show afterwords.

Today, we slept in, rested, had a good little breakfast, and I've been catching up online.

Jw

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Our Kodak Moment

...or "We'll Get Some Sleep Tomorrow Night".

This was our saying every day from the moment we touched down in Oklahoma to the day we finally made it to my Grandparents town in North Carolina, five days later.

We flew into Oklahoma late on June 4th, after an afternoon flight to Dallas and a short connecting flight out of the same gate. Got home by June 5th. We slept in a while, had a swell breakfast at Jimmy's Egg, back at home, we cleaned out the car to prepare for the trip, then managed to get his car tags renewed (even though it meant getting help from the Marine recruiters for the military discount). For dinner that night, made burgers, fries and corn-on-the-cob while we watched some funny Mystery Science Theater 3000 shorts. Was especially entertained by the CONN commercial called "Mr. B" about a Peter-Pan type character who gets a little boy to fall in love with a trumpet.

On June 6th, we didn't sleep in so long, and again had our usual scrambled eggs and waffles at home. That afternoon we drove down to Lawton to go out to dinner with family, and ended up after much deliberation to go to the Cracker Barrel, as they had the turkey dinner special that night. And that's what I got too... it was delicious! And as usual, Mike and I stayed a few hours longer at Judy and Dickie's, just talking about everything under the sun. It was a bunch of fun, as always. Took the dog for a walk around the neighborhood when we got home, although it was pretty late. I misplaced my phone right after we got back, and we ended  up running all over the place at about 3am, looking for it before I found it in my backpack when we got back again.

June 7th was the first  day on the road: from Norman to Memphis. Left at about 4pm after doing all the packing and such... picking up one last thing from here and there, and having taco bell before heading out - we arrived to our Memphis hotel at about 2am (ten hours) with Mike driving the whole day.

Saturday the 8th was spent entirely in Tennessee, and not by choice. Everything was going just fine, even though we didn't have much sleep at all. Mike started out driving, but I relieved him after an hour or so. We had KFC for lunch around Jackson, after nothing much for breakfast besides granola bars in the car. Nashville was nice to see again, even if it was a drive-by. We stopped every now and then for the pets, but our serious halt came about 9pm, about 10 miles past Knoxville, just after exit 398 I later learned, when we suddenly lost acceleration just after I was figuring out how to turn on the headlights. The AAA guy told us it was the timing belt... and found us a great little repair place nearby called Grandpa's Auto Shop in Kodak, TN. He took us there, and we rode in the car on the flatbed with the animals. Grandpa took a quick look at the car and took us to a nearby Motel 6 so we could get a little sleep, but once we got there, we spent most of our time winding down and making plans. 

June 9th was a wild morning. We got an early taxi ride to the airport, 33 miles away, rented a car from Hertz, and continued on to see my grandparents in North Carolina as planned, except arriving at noon-ish rather then the night before. I-40 across the Smoky Mountains was exciting as ever, beautiful and scary as we drove past the semi-trucks. Made it in time to relax and have some sandwiches at Grandpa and Grandma's after checking into the hotel. Soon after we went to the local playhouse in Flatrock for a performance of Evita, then had a wonderful dinner at the regular... a Mexican restaurant called Papa's and Beer.

June 10th we finally slept in a good deal. Very late breakfast at G&G's, relaxed a good while, worked on their latest puzzle, and went over to my Aunt and Uncle's for a dinner of burgers on their porch overlooking their little lake. Four deer even came out of the forest to munch on the corn that my uncle put out. :) Stayed with my grandparents at their home that night a little longer, then said our goodbyes. We needed to leave in the morning.

It was a wise decision to drive home on the 11th... took about ten hours, plus. Had to go back to get the car and turn in the rental, then it was straight on to home. Took I-81 from Knoxville all the way up the Shenandoah in Virginia, the cut across I-64 to Richmond, where we stopped for a local fried chicken dinner, then gloriously, spent a night in our own backyard and finally, bed.

Wednesday, June 12th, we were home. Went out to breakfast because there was no food in the house. Then we spent a little time unpacking, getting groceries from the commissary and local grocery stores, and then decals from the housing office and the Navy for Mike's car. Had a lovely salmon dinner with lots of fixings as we watched Finding Nemo. A very pleasant affair.

Jw

Tuesday, June 4, 2013

One Week Home in Washington

Tuesday, May 28, arrived 11 am. Took a first look at my boxes downstairs, and relaxed with my parents as people came over to visit. Had a fantastic dinner of crab, trout and shrimp that Dad had caught. It was so good to be back! And how I loved holding my niece Jonna for the first time! How cute she is!

Wednesday, May 29, helped Mom with delivering fliers for their church outreach all afternoon... their weren't enough people, so Mom and I took care of the Everett School District nearly single-handedly with the help of my phone. Enjoyed a spaghetti dinner at home with Meg and Jason, then Bach at Leipzig at the Taproot Theater in north Seattle with just Mom and Dad. Continued on Highway 99 and I-5 to the airport afterwords to pick up Mike!



Thursday, May 30, was a partly cloudy day, but Mike and I decided that afternoon would be a good time to go take a ferry ride anyway. We did a round-trip route from Edmonds to Kingston, stopped for a fine snack at the Main Street Ale House, just as it began to rain. We returned to a fabulous dinner of chicken, corn-on-the-cob, and fried red potatoes that Mom and Dad prepared with the whole family.

Friday, May 31, Dad's idea of seeing the Museum of Flight at Boeing in Seattle was a good one! Not only was it free for all three of us because of my military status, but it was more interesting than ever. I had been once, many years ago, when I was only interested in the military. It has a broad spectrum of exhibits though, and I enjoyed them all, from the original Boeing Factory barn to Air Force One (Eisenhower to Nixon). That afternoon we went and looked at my brother's new apartment, and back at home monitored the next big tornado that hit Oklahoma... delaying a Washington Huskies softball game in the World Series tournament. That night Mom took us out to a Pizza Bank dinner with Andrea, Beckie and Micah.

Saturday, June 1, Mom, Andrea, Beckie and Micah, and Mike and I, all went to the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium (in Tacoma), enjoying the beautiful sun... and having to buy hats to shield our faces... we saw the whole place, loved the "Rocky Shores" exhibit best. I thought of this zoo on our last visit, chiefly because of the ferry to Vashon Island just next to the park, which none of us had ever ridden before. This also included a different ferry on the north side of the island back to West Seattle. It was a very long day, and we loved every minute, but we were so tired! We took Mom out to Chan's Place that evening before going over to spend a little time with Meg and Jonna.

Sunday, June 2, we took it easy, since we'd been doing a lot the last two days. We walked the dog twice, did separate things (played with the dog, did computer work, and I went through my boxes downstairs to pick out the things I wanted shipped to Virginia. Lots of people came over for lunch (soup and sandwiches), the Huskies won a softball game against Missouri, and then everyone had lots of strawberry shortcake. The Huskies ended up playing the Sooners in Oklahoma for the softball World Series tournament that night, but we couldn't watch it all as it started late, and there was a lovely evening to spend with Meg, Jason and Jonna. Met up at Spud Fish and Chips, then ate our take-out at Juanita Bay Park... and then walked the boardwalk and found a bald eagle up on a tall post, a couple beavers chewing on the lilies not far from us, a lone baby duck making its way along the shore, and several other ducks who came flying in. It was so perfect! That night we watched a film I had been interested in a while... a 2008 film about the occupied Netherlands... Winter in Wartime. I liked it.

Monday, June 3, we had plans to go to Seattle, but I just couldn't bear the thought of traipsing all over when all I wanted was to relax at home, walk the dog, rest, and finish up with my boxes. It was another beautiful day... and we enjoyed these simple things too. That evening we all headed for Issaquah for my brother's softball game (he's on his church's team).

Tuesday, June 4, we had another nice, slow morning, but we also had to pack ourselves up. We had to leave at 12:30, so at least we could enjoy the first half of the day at home. Mom and Dad drove us... and we got through check-in and security pretty fast. American let us check three bags for free (Military) and security let us skip the line (same reason). This gave us time to enjoy a perfect view of the Olympic Mountains out the great big glass window on the food court. We enjoyed Ivar's clam chowder and cod for our lunch before going to our gate. Also picked up a little present for our neighbors in Norman who were watching the animals. It was a fine trip back.

Jw