What About Bob?

He's still out in the Pacific playing Navy and this is his 45th day. Before that he was in port for two weeks, and before that was gone a month. But hey, it's all part of the job, right? At this point I feel like he's married to the Navy and I'm just the mistress!

Last time I wrote about him he had just left Guam after a short port visit there. Well he spent last week in Hawaii and left there on Tuesday morning. The carrier arrived on July 1st, but he flew off a day early on a C-2 aircraft because of a meeting the morning of the 1st. So talk about a once in a lifetime experience! Not many people can say they've flown off an aircraft carrier.

He spent each night there at Sarah and Regis' house. Regis was on the sub with him in Hawaii, and Sarah and I were really close. During the deployment she slept over every other Friday night, and would come over for dinner once or twice a week. Keanna and Sydney clung to her, but only if their hands were clean!!! Sarah came with us last summer went we went to visit him in Guam too. Thanks Sarah and Regis for putting him up! He enjoyed the break from the ship and certainly enjoyed the view from your house and your company.

Bob went diving a few times while he was there as well. He met up with a guy from the sub, and they went with a small group. One in the group was Raymond. We know him and his wife, Melissa, since they live next door to Susan. Bob even got to meet and hang out with Rex, Susan's husband. I met Rex for all of five minutes...and I was wearing my Elmo pajamas too! I actually met Susan through our Hawaii Military Wife message board...Shari asked me to pick up moving boxes at Susan's house because I lived closer to her than she did. So Susan, I guess we have Shari to thank for introducing us!!!

His first day there he went down to the sub and saw a lot of his former coworkers and bosses. He got to see Hans too which I know he was thrilled about. I'm sure he was happy to be able to walk onto the sub and be able to walk around and leave when he wanted! He was also kind enough to go to Dixie Grill and buy me my favorite BBQ sauce. Dixie's makes their own sauces, and my favorite is their Hawaiian one. He bought five bottles and mailed them to me. He also bought two bottles of my favorite pancake syrup...coconut! I gave him a shopping list with a lot more things, so getting two off the list made me happy.

The package he mailed with my syrup and bbq sauce arrived within 48 hours. So thanks, Bob. We're having kalua pork tomorrow night with the sauce! And today I found Hawaiian sweet rolls at the commissary, so I'll throw in some Hawaiian music and it'll be like we're back home on Oahu. Now all I need are my friends to come over to eat with us, and that would make my night complete!

Melissa and Raymond invited Bob over for a July 4th picnic too. How kind of them! He hung out there for a while and then went to a party with a bunch of guys from the sub. He even got to see Sarah (a different Sarah) and Jarrad...they were fairly new to the sub when we left, but we were invited to their Albany wedding in February. And since we were in Connecticut at the time we left the girls with my parents and hit the road!

But anyway, here are some pictures from Bob's mini Hawaiian vacation. Technically this was a working port call, but I think he had more fun time than working time. He left earlier this week to participate in Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC). It's a naval exercise hosted in Hawaii by the U.S. Navy. Lots of countries participate and it happens every two years.

I asked some ladies on my Hawaii Military Wives message board to share pictures of the Kitty Hawk leaving if they had any. Courtney, Katherine and Susan came through, and even Susan's husband, Rex did! Rex took pictures from his ship, and got some incredible shots. THANK YOU guys so much!!!