For the First Time in Public, LTJG and Mrs....

Today, June 9th, is our 7th wedding anniversary. It's not the first he's missed (ahem, last year too...I think this is the 4th one he's been away for), and certainly won't be the last.

Bob and I met in our high school cafeteria one early morning in November of 1994. I was a 15-year old sophomore, and he a 17-year old senior. He was selling candy bars for a National Honors Society fund-raiser and asked me if I wanted to buy one. I am picky when it comes to chocolate, so I kindly passed up his offer and he was on his way. The next morning I was sitting at the same table with the same people, and one of them told me that the person here the day before wanted to talk to me and get my phone number. I had no idea who it was, but was curious to find out. A few minutes later he sat down next to me and we started talking.

That weekend we went out on our first date to a movie. It was November 12th and we saw “The Santa Clause.” My mom was working that night, so my Bob came in my house and met my dad and two sisters. He was very nervous and chewing his gum very quickly! He always chewed strawberry Trident.

The next week at school we walked to class together and talked on the phone too. On November 19th we went out with some friends and ended up at his parents' house; I met his brother, Chris, that night too. We were in the car on the Berlin Turnpike in front of Lechemere’s and I remember he asked if I wanted to be his girlfriend. I of course said yes, and we’ve been together ever since. That was the night we had our first kiss too...in the driveway at my parents' house...after the date of course!

On June 27, 1995 he left for the Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland and in August of 1997 I started college at Eastern Connecticut State University. We had a long distance relationship while he was at USNA and until the day we were married.

On May 13, 1999 Bob surprised me in my apartment at college and proposed. He told me he was going apartment hunting in Charleston, but drove up to CT instead. He knocked on the door, got down on his knee, had a dozen roses in one hand and a beautiful diamond ring in the other.

In June of 1999 he moved to Charleston, S.C. then to Ballston Spa, N.Y., Groton, CT and finally to Kings Bay in November of 2000. During that time I finished high school and college and we finally got married on June 9, 2001 at Sacred Heart Church in East Berlin, Connecticut. Three days after the wedding we packed up my blue 1996 Ford Taurus and drove down to St. Marys, Georgia where we started our new life together.

It's been seven years since we got married, and now we've got two daughters. Hard to believe I've spent just about half my life with him...but it's been a great ride!

Thanks to Uncle Bruce for pictures 2, 3 & 5!

Japanese Vending Machines

Japan is vending machine heaven. One of the conveniences of Japan is that there are vending machines everywhere, and stats say there's one for every 20 people. They're called "jidohambaïki," but most people refer to them as "jihanki." It seems like every store has at least two of them in front, but you will also find them in the middle of nowhere. I've seen pictures of them on mountains on the way to temples. They're just sitting there with nothing around them but trees. In America this would never work because they would all be broken into in about two seconds, but here there are virtually no crimes like that, so they are all over. Driving to Costco yesterday I saw a Boss jihanki with Tommy Lee Jones on it. His picture was right there next to a can of coffee!

They sell everything from drinks (hot and cold), to magazines, cigarettes and beer...and did I mention they are everywhere? Perhaps the most bizarre thing about them is that when you buy something the machine thanks you in a woman’s voice - and not just any “thank you,” but the most humble and polite version of “thank you” possible. The LCD also shows a woman bowing to you. No, I take it back, the most bizarre thing is that many people bow back to the machine after buying something. Thanks to a clever mechanism inside, it'll switch between hot and cold according to the season: while almost all drinks will be cold in the summer, the same vending machine will sell hot drinks in the winter. And if you don't have cash on you to pay for what you like, most machines have a scanner, and you can pay using your cell phone!

The funniest thing I've seen or heard of when it comes to vending machines has to do with train tickets. There's a button there for assistance, and if you need help, a person will pop out from behind it to help you! A woman who taught part of our AOB/ICR (Area Orientation Brief/Intercultural Relations) showed us this exact picture. She jokingly told us that the men behind the ticket machines are sleeping, and to press the assist button as a last resort! To avoid that, we bought Suica cards. It's basically a debt card for the train. Scan the card and it deducts the fare. Before Bob left we put plenty of credit on mine so that I wouldn't find myself in the predicament you see to the right!

Cigarette jihanki are only seen in antique stores in the U.S. these days, but they are still used in here where the legal age to buy them is twenty. Don't you think there are kids trying to buy cigarettes from jihanki that are under 20 years old? I would think so. But this is the land of technological breakthroughs. Recently they've come up with cigarette jihanki that are designed to sell to people over the stipulated age limit. How do they manage to accomplish this? Well these clever new machines take a picture of your face and then the computer analyses the wrinkles, bone structure and saggy skin of your face. How crazy is that?! Supposedly there's a 90% accuracy with the system so far, the other 10% are those adults that have aged well might experience problems (take it as a compliment), although if the scan doesn’t verify you can still insert your driver’s license. The computer runs your visage against about 100, 000 possible others and make the decision based on that data. Not sure about you, but I think that's pretty impressive. You can read all about it by clicking here.

The new machine comes in the wake of the government issuing a warning that vending companies will be prosecuted if they sell their cigs to minors. Thus the super-scanner-cig-machine. Up until now “careless” vending machines have been chucking out cigarettes to anyone regardless of their age, this is pretty bad considering the legal age is 20.

Sunny Saturday

What a day today! The weather was beautiful for the first time in a few days, and it's supposed to be the only sunny day for the next few days. We have a very small back yard, probably about the size of the deck at my parents' house. Even though it's small, the girls have adapted and are certainly making the most of it.

Today we were outside playing with the water table and chalk, and as you can see, they had a good time. Keanna discovered that water and chalk is a great combination for making eggs. She rolled up the clumpy and soggy chalk and made about half dozen eggs to share with Sydney. She tried to convince me they needed a bed so that they could hatch, so we made a bed with tissues and left them to rest (and dry out) on the kitchen counter.

Before bed tonight she asked to check on them to see if they had hatched. Sure enough they hadn't, and they won't for a couple of days. I'll help them along, and on Monday the girls will see the "hatched eggs" and will hopefully be thrilled. Now I just have to figure out how to explain the baby birds flying from the kitchen and out of the house!

My friend Star came over tonight. We were going to order a pizza from the little restaurant on my housing base (she lives on the main base), and watch a movie. Around 5:30 she was talking about croissants and how she missed them from home. I told her about Costco having them on a big tray, and don't ya know it, 30 minutes later the girls were cleaned up and dressed and we were out the door! Star got her croissants, and guess what I got...the cornbread rolls!

If you read my entry from May 25th about Costco, you'll remember the crowd waiting for these rolls. Maybe the picture will remind you. Otherwise click above to read the post and be enlightened! Tonight I got a bag wondering if they'd live up to the obvious reputation.

Star wanted to open the bag in the parking garage, but I wouldn't let her until we got the picture. I think this is for Bob more than anyone else. I can picture him grinning, laughing and by now rolling his eyes. But look, Bob, I got a bag! They were good, darn good, and next time we go I'm going to have Bob wait in that crowd. He'll be taller than anyone else (I'm being completely serious), and should be able to get a bag of them quicker than I could. And my other find tonight...look, it's 100% Oran Juice! It's made by a Japanese company and just about everything on it/all the writing is in Japanese except for "Oran Juice" and on the top just under the blue writing it says "Red Oranges Juice."

"Yukata" Be Kidding

When someone thinks of Japan, a geisha or kimono are some of the first images to come to mind. When people found out we were moving here I was asked more than once, "So are you going to buy a kimono?" Up until a couple of weeks ago I entertained the idea, then I found out how much they cost! And they're usually only worn once, and only to formal events. Think about it ladies, do we really want to wear the same dress to the Submarine Birthday Ball or Navy Ball as our husbands change duty stations? Heck no! We want to buy a new dress!!! Same idea here.

So in researching and talking to my friend, Lauren, I learned that a yukata is a more reasonable idea, and even more reasonable is the price tag. A yukata is a lightweight cotton kimono which is worn by men, women (mostly) and children in the summer time. There are two types of yukata: plain robes that are worn as casual wear or pajamas at Japanese style inns (ryokan) and hot springs (onsen), and fancier yukata that are worn during summer festivals and fireworks displays. Wearing a yukata is a comfortable way to beat the summer heat, and enjoy the traditional Japanese festival atmosphere throughout the summer. There's a sash for casual indoor wear, or a decorative obi for out in public. They're typically worn with Japanese sandals (geta or zori), and many women will carry a matching fan or purse (kinchaku). Yukata has a lot of kind of pattern, so some girls buy it every year. It is Japanese girls’ dream that going to see fireworks wearing Yukata with her boyfriend.

This morning I told the girls we were going shopping and buying yukatas for them. Sydney immediately comes back with, "I kata and Keanna kata and you kata too?" I explained that a yukata is the type of dress, and that it's a yukata for everyone. Not "I kata, Keanna kata or Me kata."

Now getting back to buying it...The sizes they had for kids were 110 and 120. That was pretty much the only thing I understood since the lable was mostly Japanese. A woman was looking at them next to me and I asked if she spoke English. She said 'small.' Not too comfortable, but I had a bit of hope that she could help me out. I took Keanna pointed to her, the "120" on the label and asked "too big, too small?" She had no idea what I asked, so I made 'big' and 'little' with my hands. To someone looking

at but not hearing us, they probably thought I was talking about fishing and how big my last catch was!

Anyway, she pointed to her daughter who looked to be 6 or 7, then pointed to another one that was 120 sized. So I said 'Arigato gozaimasu' (thank you very much) and the girls said 'Arigato' too. I think it was safe to assume that her daughter wears the 120. At that point I knew I wanted the 110, and figured Sydney would be swimming in hers. They each picked out their own out of five or six color and print choices. I got them home and tried them on, and sure enough Sydney was drowning! Keanna's is a little big, but she'll grow into it. I can take Sydney's up with a loose hem, so that's not a big deal. It's big in the top too, so I'm going to try to tack it under the arms. We'll see how that works out!

I bought a yukata for myself too, and before I post this entry I'll have Keanna take a picture of me. Please keep in mind it's about 8:15 pm and we were outside in the wind today! I'm having a funky hair day and my hair's doing this weird flip thing, so you'll have to ignore that. I bought them at a store called Uniqlo which is on the second floor of Homes for you local readers.

We had been once before with Bob, but when we went we missed the turn, had to go around the block, cross the barrier, etc. It was a nightmare! Today it was just me driving and navigating, so I was a bit nervous. I found myself talking to myself, and it reminded me of driving in the car with my mother-in-law. I remembered a time when we were in Annapolis and I was the 16 year old girlfriend tagging along with 'The Fam' to visit Bob at USNA. We were looking for Riva Road or trying to figure out which exit it was off of Rt 50...something like that. Another thing that popped into my head was driving home from Stonington with her and my brother-in-law, Chris. We had just left a Naval Academy Parents' Club of Connecticut meeting at someone's house in Stonington. Sitting in the passenger seat I was listening to her, Marty, navigate out loud to herself. So Marty, I adopted one of your qualities today, and whatta ya know, it worked?!

Now my task is to learn to tie the obi. It's not just a bow, so it'll take some practice. I really bought these for the girls for dress up play though. Most girls in the U.S. have their princess dresses, and Keanna and Sydney do too. But not many girls in the States can say they play dress up in their yukata!

It's Tsuyu Time

June is the rainy season in Japan, and it officially started yesterday. Here it's referred to as "Tsuyu" which translated into English means "plum rain." It's called that because it coincides with the season of plums ripening. It's been raining just about every day for the past week, and boy oh boy, we're certainly not in Hawaii anymore! March through May are spring months and July to September are summer. But June is the rainy season and it's earned its name!

Check out the ten-day weather forecast for Tokyo. Every day is rain. I bought a raincoat at Bass in Hawaii shortly before we moved, and I'm so glad I did. Now I definitely need to buy a heavy-duty raincoat for the girls because, for the most part, this isn’t going to be some light drizzle kind of a month. It’s going to be actual rain. Oh well, bring on the rain! Everything is growing quickly and is so pretty and green.

Over or Under?

I promised to keep this blog light-hearted, and I think the subject of toilet paper proves it!

When Bob's gone I never have to worry about putting the toilet seat back down. Although I have to admit, he's good about putting it back down. All those years on the submarines trained him well. I remember walking through both subs he was on and seeing signs reminding the guys to put the seats down because if they make a sudden movement and the seat falls, it'll make noise thus making the sub easier to find. Sometimes he puts the lid down too, and waking up in the middle of the night and sitting on the lid is no fun. Although I suppose it could be worse, I could sit down with the seat up?!

I had to change the roll tonight, and every time I do I chuckle. Strange I know, but you'll see why in a just a second. We have 2 1/2 bathrooms in our house, and all three bathrooms have the same type of toilet paper holder. In case you're unsure how to change the roll, we have instructions. You'll notice they're in Japanese, so good thing I know how to do it!

I'm adamant that the paper come over, and he prefers it under. Well, I don't know if he actually prefers it to come from underneath or if he just does says that! Anytime he changes the roll he puts it his way knowing full well I'll change it. He won't change it back, and won't change it if I do the initial change, but man it bugs me! It bugs me and he knows it, so I'm willing to bet he could care less which way it's on there.

So how about you? Are you an over or under household?

Konnichiwa!

The girls love riding in the car with the windows down. This afternoon while we were heading to the base for a picnic, Keanna asked me to put hers down when we were stopped at a red light. Sydney had fallen asleep already, otherwise she would have asked too. I put it down and immediately hear, "Konnichiwa." FYI, Konnichiwa means "hello/good afternoon" in Japanese. I turned over my left shoulder as soon as I heard her talk. She said that and was waving to a guy in the lane next to us! He got a kick out of it, rolled his window down, nodded his head, waved and said, "Konnichiwa" back to her. I made eye contact with him, bowed my head in return, waved, and commended Keanna for her good manners. I have to admit, that made my day, and I hope it made his day too.

Getting in Our Groove

We did a lot of running around yesterday, even though the weather was yuck. It was drizzling, windy and raw, but we had to go out and run some errands. Bob was tasked with opening a mailbox Thursday at the main base, only he's out to sea, so guess who got tasked with it. Yup, yours truly. You military spouses will have a better grasp of this and the torture I went through yesterday. He emailed me the info I needed (orders, family entry approval, etc) for this guy coming to his command, but I did not think it'd fly. I went with my POA too, but it's for Bob, not this new guy. After waiting in line at the post office for 20 minutes, I got up to the counter only to be told I was in the wrong area. Lovely. Keep in mind that I woke Sydney up getting her out of the car, and Keanna was jumping and running in place. She wasn't bothering anyone but me, but I think holding Sydney and her being cranky made me cranky. And no, I didn't register us at this post office, we have one on ou housing base; I had never stepped foot into this one. Getting side tracked, but we did check our mail on the way out yesterday. The girls love to do it, and Keanna's in charge of unlocking and opening the door.

So we're in line, and at the 10 minute point a guy comes in in uniform. Well we know what that means, don't we?! You guess correctly again....just like at the commissary, he got head of line privileges. That's fine, I didn't mind it so much especially because he was carrying a large box that looked to be heavy. Anyway, long story short, I end up in the correct office, and after 45 minutes of explaining my husband isn't this guy's sponsor, I'm not this guy's spouse and no he hasn't checked in yet and is still attached to another command, I've been asked to do this.

Oh, and the best part? This is my favorite part and I can't believe I forgot to mention it until now. Our printer didn't survive the move. Bob was convinced I did something to screw it up when setting up the computer and printer while he was gone last month. Well over the two weeks he was home he fussed with it, and finally on Tuesday, the night before he left, he finally agreed that it's time for a new printer. So I saved the email from Bob, the FEA and orders to a disk and headed to FFSC to print them all out. Without that email I'd look like a crazy person. It was forwarded from LCDR someone to CDR someone, another CDR someone and finally to Bob. Then it had the headers of being forwarded to me. I was hoping with the proof of this email that I didn't look like a complete wacko to the friendly postal worker.

Anyway, getting back to it since I was side-tracked. After 40-45 mins of sitting in this guy's office it all worked out. He had a mustache, so Keanna asked (and didn't whisper), "Mom, why is his lip dirty?" I must have turned redder than red at that point...I think I actually felt my face get hot. He chuckled (thank goodness, because the last thing I wanted to do was get this guy angry), and said, "Well that's one I haven't heard before!" I explained that he has a mustache and that it's hair, it's not dirty! That seemed to keep her quiet for the time being. She insisted on holding my military ID, and since she had a card, Sydney had to have one too. I gave her my Costco card and hoped for the best. Every few minutes he'd ask for my ID and Keanna felt so important handing it to him. He'd enter information in the computer, and being a father himself, asked Sydney for the Costco card too and pretended she was helping too.

So at least that was done, and I could email Bob the story (no, not what I typed above). I emailed him back the info, and tried to sound professional so he could forward it on to whomever he needed to. Bob went out to sea on Wednesday morning at 9 am, so what do you think he did the day before? Aside from giving the printer one final effort, he bought a car. Yeah, bought a car! All the cars here that the Americans drive are beaters for the most part. My car is a 1997 and his is a 1997 Skyline. The picture to the left isn't his exact car, but it looks just like this one. Tuesday he did some paperwork stuff with it and paid the seller, but I was left with the responsibility of organizing the LTO run. You readers in Japan knows what that is. And I'm not even sure exactly what it is. All I know is it involves going to Yokohama with $190 and paying someone approx $25 to do it for you. Fine with me! I called the same woman that did it for us when we bought my car. After the post office I met up with her, gave her the paperwork and the money, and took another deep breath; one more thing off my list. When I get the paperwork back from her on Monday I have to go over to the VRO and get the stickers for his car. Let me tell you this, yesterday that line was literally out the door and down the sidewalk. Yeah, not fun, especially with two kids.

After meeting up with this woman I headed over the NEX to buy a printer. Bob wanted me to wait until they went on sale, and I could understand that, but no way....it was worth $20 for me to have it NOW versus a couple of weeks from now. They had two Epsons, four HPs and two Canons. And do you think they sold the ink for the Epson printers they carry? You guessed correctly again, nope! I wanted an Epson, we had good luck with our Epson of four years and a horrible experience with our HPs, so I went with the Epson 9400 something or other. It's got a fax machine, so I went for it. For the difference of $28 I went with the higher end Epson. On the way out of the NEX I grabbed the sales flyer for next week, and don't ya know it, it's going on sale for $30 off! I did a U-turn with both girls riding on either side of the cart, walked back in and asked what the deal was with that, and they do price adjustments for 14 days, so on the 11th I'm going in there with my receipt and getting credited the difference.

The girls were behaving so well considering the circumstances, so I told them we would treat ourselves to McDonalds. They could even get a chocolate shake which is their ultimate favorite. And speaking of that, I think I'm going to bring the nice guy at the post office a shake next week as a thank you. He did go out of his way and probably shouldn't have. So I want to show my appreciation. He also said my husband owes me big time. I told him that's why I call myself the Admiral and Bob's the LT of the house. Getting back to it, McDonalds. We went in and the girls got Happy Meals. This isn't the first time, but it is the first time I've taken a picture. The toys are Japanese, the bag is Japanese, and the instructions for the toy are in Japanese. Thank goodness they're not complicated, huh?! Keanna was so happy, and in between slurping her shake she said, "Mom, I love you." I told her I love her too, and told them both that dad loves them too. Even though he's out on the ship, he thinks about us all the time, and he knows we think about him too. And just because dad isn't here it doesn't mean we can't do things and accomplish stuff. I used yesterday as the example. We're perfectly capable of taking care of ourselves and figuring out the post office, paperwork for the car, etc. I'm not sure if they fully understood me or not, but they were nodding their hands and Keanna then said, "Yeah, dad didn't help me put my socks on today, I did it by myself." Needless to say, I think she got my point!

We made a pit stop before heading home, and low and behold, McDonalds on base has the fancy toilets! Japanese toilets often have four or five buttons ... One button, labeled with a music note, creates a flushing sound when pushed to cover any embarrassing bathroom noises, which, from what I've heard, is any bathroom noise. The others mostly relate to the integrated bidet, which both sprays clean water and blow dries, right from the toilet. I tried the spray button as well, and until then thought it was the same thing as the bidet button. Needless to say I discovered that the bidet button and the squirt button hit two different areas. Right there in the stall I laughed out loud snorted too! It was even funnier because of the echo too. Anyway if you ever come to visit here, don't say I haven't warned you! But beware, the shock of pressing a strange button and suddenly feeling a jet of water "down there" can lead to jumping and soaked pants. Well, maybe not soaked pants, but a few drips or dribbles!

They even have the fancy hand dryer. I'm not talking about the one where you push the button and hot air comes out. I'm talking about the Dyson one that was advertised on TV. I don't think this was the actual Dyson model, but same concept. Anyway, The air is pushed out at hundreds of mph and it's like a squeegee on your hands. Those suckers are awesome!!

So that was our Friday. It's Saturday afternoon now and I'm thinking about what to make for dinner. It's raining again, so maybe some soup or even Cream of Wheat. I love oatmeal on rainy days. At least tomorrow's going to be nice. We have a picnic on the main base and it's outdoors, so it'll be nice to sit in the sun! That just reminded me, I need to make two batches of brownies!

Sayonara from USS Kitty Hawk

My friend Jenny just sent this to me. Her husband is on the crew of the Kitty Hawk and he sent it to her. It's an aerial photo (taken this morning) of the Crew's goodbye message to Yokosuka. Thought I'd share it here. Click the photo to enlarge it. Here's an article from CNN with two more pictures, and another from Stars and Stripes. My friend Lauren took pictures and gave me the O.K. to share the link here. She got some great shots!!!

Just Us Girls

Military spouses, especially those with children have a tough job...a few actually. The first being a parent, the second being married to their husband and their jobs, and the third acting as and having the responsibility of both parents while one is deployed. All of the Navy spouses I know are women, but the Navy husbands must have it tough as well. They may be able to accomplish more household projects, but when it comes to the kids, usually they go to their moms to be comforted or consoled. Well when mom is deployed dad has to take on that task.

It's just us girls. Bob left today for the summer. As we bid farewell to him, Yokosuka bids farewell to the USS Kitty Hawk (CV 63). She is being replaced here by the USS George Washington (CVN 73) later in the summer and will be only forward deployed aircraft-carrier. Bob will be cross decking from the K.H. to the G.W., while the K.H. families will leave here this summer and meet their sailors in Virginia where the K.H. will be preparing for decommissioning.

Anyway, getting back to my point. There are a lot of things that we as women and Navy spouses must do while our husbands are gone. Whether we can do it or not doesn't really matter, because it has to be done. If I don't know how to do something or can't figure something out, I'll call a friend or neighbor to help. We have a tight community here, and that's exactly what we all need. In Hawaii I had a lot of friends, and was close with our neighbors. We're still fairly new here, but I've gotten close to a few wives, and have met a couple of neighbors. One friend has already left for Monterey, CA and another will be gone most of the summer. Surprise, I got side tracked yet again! I was talking about things I'll be doing while Bob is gone...not because I want to, but because I have to. I'm talking about things that are stereotyped as "Men's Jobs."

Tasks as simple as taking out the trash or mowing the lawn (thankfully we're responsibly only for our fenced in back yard and it's smaller than my parents' deck), to moving furniture, maintaining the cars, using power tools, assembling coat racks (I speak from experience on that one) and changing the propane tank on the grill. When Bob's gone I've got to roll up my sleeves, get the job done and not be afraid or embarrassed to ask for help if needed. Ya know, thinking about that reminds me of Rosie the Riveter. You know, the WWII poster made famous when the women went to work and the men went off to war. Next time I'm having to turn off the water valve to the toilet to unclog the rolls on toilet paper Sydney attempted to stuff down there, go to the community shed to borrow the weed whacker and trim the back yard, kill bugs/spiders, pump gas or even bring the car for an oil change, I'm going to envision that poster in my mind.

Today I'm allowing us to sulk and feel sorry for ourselves, but come tomorrow morning we're starting fresh. We've got the next few months to ourselves. Tomorrow I'll put my towel on the hook where Bob's is leaving me room for my robe on the other hook. I'll be able to sleep in the middle of the bed and get a good night's sleep since it'll be quiet and I won't hear his snoring. I'll have 1/4 less laundry to clean and fold, less dishes to wash and no black lint on the floor from his socks. His backpack won't be blocking the front door and neither will his steel-toed work boots. I'll take his toothbrush and put it at the back of the holder and when I wash clothes later today I'll fold them and put his away in the drawers.

Tonight I'll let Keanna put a big "X" through today's date on the calendar, and tomorrow will be Sydney's turn. They can alternate every day until the day before his return on the G.W. They know he's gone, and they know he's on the ship. They have no concept of time, so I told them dad will be gone on the ship, and we sing the song, "My Daddy is over the ocean/My daddy is over the sea/My daddy is over the ocean/So bring back my daddy to me." When he was attached to the sub in Hawaii we'd sing the same song, but it would go, "My daddy is under the ocean...." The girls have a picture of Bob in a frame on the nighstand between their beds, and tonight will be the first of many that they kiss the picture goodnight.

Shortly before we left Hawaii he returned from a deployment that was four days short of seven months. Hopefully this summer deployment will be a cakewalk compared to that one. At least with the "Surface Navy" there are phone calls, email attachments (ahem, pictures) and even receipt of emails within hours or minutes of sending them...not days or weeks like with submarines.

So sayonara to my husband and the USS Kitty Hawk. We'll miss you!

Thanks to Della for the K.H. photos from this morning!