USS NC and Sticky Fingers

I realize I'm a little behind...but here are some more pictures of Jeff, Mandy and the girls' visit. It was a really neat experience on the USS North Carolina, and I told Michael that we will need to take a trip back before we head out from NC for good! The girls were amazing on the ship.

That is the anchor in the front of the picture and downtown Wilmington is in the background.

I had to include a picture of Charlie the American Alligator! We have signs on base that warn you about the alligators and Michael always thinks I'm crazy because I look for them. Guess who's crazy now!??! Family pic:
We got Miss O to jump up on a rack for a quick picture: On board they had a "wishing well". I believe it was a 60 foot drop to the bottom of the "well"!!
Proof that Mandy goes on the trips too!
Jeff putting Boo in the mixer.

The girls in the area where they load the huge guns on top of the ship:

Another picture of the Blank Family:

Mandy was such a good sport at Sticky Fingers!
Boo scooping food in :)

Miss O's cheesy smile:

So much fun!! Thanks for coming and visiting me!

Easter...a few weeks early

Easter came a little early in NC! I gave the girls their Easter baskets, and Tater's will be coming home with them. Miss O had to go outside b/c she was hopping so much! She sure is a cute little bunny!

Boo and Daddy playing with the wind-up chick and bunny:
Here is Boo's first taste of chocolate! I think she liked it by the smile on her face:

Lots of Pictures!

Here are some pics from the first part of the visit! So much has been accomplished in 2 days...I still get to spend another 3.5 more with them too! They are up visiting Miss Anna for her 1st B-day, but will be back on Wednesday.

This is at the Japanese Steakhouse (hibachi-style grill)...I think Boo was looking at the lights and I thought it was funny. Miss O did a great job with the chopsticks! and yes, Ryan, they did do the onion volcano :)

Me and Boo-bear.
These are at the park at the end of the street. Boo loved the swing and Miss O was trying to call Ya-Ya on the telephone.

Jeff made pancakes and we all ate our weight in them! Miss O even got Mickey Mouse pancakes!

We went to the beach very briefly (an extended visit with appropriate attire is on the upcoming agenda)... Michael called while we were there so I was able to get some great candid shots of their family looking out at the ocean.

This was right before Miss O went face first into the sand and the wave caught up to her. She was a great sport about it--she didn't even mind that was was soaked and covered in sand! She had to call her Ya-Ya and Mimi to tell them about it.

Miss O showing off a seashell she found.

Company is on its way!

I'm getting some visitors tonight!! Jeff, Mandy and the girls are heading out East for a little R&R during Jeff's spring break. Woo hoo!! My first visitors of the deployment (...I'm only 5.5 months in...no biggie!) I can't wait to show them the thriving metropolis of J-ville, NC! (Not to be confused with G-Vegas--which is Greenville, and confused me when we first got here!) The strip clubs, bars, tattoo parlors...so much to see! There is a beach on base though...and we're only 45 minutes from Wilmington. Maybe we'll even venture all the way to Myrtle Beach! We'll see...I can't wait to see my little nieces!

Paperwork Nightmare

After 5 days of filling out paperwork so that we can then fill out more paperwork, we are officially on the "inactive" housing list in Okinawa. But I still have to file for a brown passport, have an overseas health screening, and go through my own anti-terrorist training before we can even think about getting flights scheduled! I don't even want to think about setting up a move with TMO yet (can you say 3 separate packings ... and 18 copies of our orders?!). There is too much red-tape in the military!! Not to mention the frustration with the rear battalion command that thinks I'm an idiot and won't help me. Good thing I have my brother and sis-in-law (as well as some cute little girls!) coming down here on Friday to spend some time with me! What a great distraction they will be~ Just about a month and a half and my "magic legs" will be back to help me out!!

**KONICHIWA**!!

I think all of the phone calls have been made to family by now, and official orders have been cut... so we can announce that we are moving to Okinawa, Japan in July!! It is a far cry from our original plans, but after the last 48 hours I haven't been this sure of something in a long time. This adventure is too unbelievable to pass up...even if it means staying in the military for another 3 years. We'll be living at Camp Butler in Okinawa for 3 years where Michael will have a non-deployable base job. He will probably be helping get the Marine Corp base moved to Guam while we're there (which is what our best man (and Michael's college-roommate), Marcel, started on the Navy's-side 3 years ago when he was stationed in Guam!) I feel as though the last 6 tumultuous months have been leading to this. As much as I have cried and complained about all the changes we've had to undergo, God has had a plan for us and didn't let us know what that was until now. Hopefully, He will continue to lead us in a path that is right for us regardless if everyone else is happy with it or not. To add to our amazing news...we found out yesterday that Michael is no longer being extended in Iraq!! What a huge surprise this was! I had prepared myself for him not to come home until May, but they have decided to send the MTT team home as originally scheduled. I guess this proves that if you stick with something long enough, that eventually good karma has to come your way. Michael and I are so excited about this next chapter in our lives--we finally get to see the world!! God has big plans for our next 3 years together... we just have to bring them to fruition. Less than 2 months and Michael will be home--WHOOP!!

Our old house

Not that she's just a little bit indulged...but while at Petsmart yesterday I found a little squirrel toy for Pigdog. It even has a replaceable squeaker! She is a true "squirrel hunter" here on base so I thought it would give her some satisfaction of finally catching one. I had to hold the toy though b/c she runs too fast for a picture when she has it in her mouth. She's a real fast runner.These pictures will probably be boring for everyone else, but I didn't want to clutter up Michael's email...these are pics of our old house that are being renovated by the Privatized Housing coorporation.

This is from behind the house.

Looking at our old bedroom and the kitchen window with the new addition of a garage!
From "Ben's yard".

Looking straight on as if from Gordon and Regan's old house (you can still see our flag pole holder in the tree!):

From "Earmuff's house":

I had to hold the camera through a fence and Piglet kept pulling on her leash, also in my hands, so that is my excuse if they are blurry!

WHOOP!!!

I'm done with the GMAT!! I finally took the test yesterday morning and got a score that I was really pleased with! After a little over 3 months of studying I can, at last, put the books away! Michael sent me these flowers as a "congrats its over with" celebration! He's the best...

Just FYI we may have a big announcement in the coming days/weeks? Remember...Michael has been gone for 5 months now. :)

(So don't go there)

Piglet's new best friend

Piglet decided that Sara was going to be her new best friend while we watched a movie. I guess its appropriate since she thinks that Mat (Sara's husband) is her boyfriend.She'll never give up her "real" best friend tho...Bailey-cat.

Documentary

Last night Fox News aired the War Stories by Oliver North, "The Homefront to the Frontlines", which featured 1st Battalion 6th Marines. I had mixed emotions about watching it, but I'm so glad I did and that I taped it for Michael to see when he, eventually, gets home. I don't think 10 seconds could go by that I wasn't tearing up or getting emotional...those were my friends and their husbands--OUR lives being chronicled. What a neat documentary to, someday, show our kids. It makes me much more grateful to the fact that we don't have kids right now because being a husband and wife is hard enough during a deployment, let alone trying to raise kids while worrying about your husband in a combat zone. When they were speaking to Major Jones (head of the Military Transition Team), I kept hoping for a glance of Michael...no such luck. I have a feeling that they taped his interview while he was at the big camp and not where the MTT team is training the IA at. After speaking with my friends at work who also have husbands in 1/6, we all came to the same conclusion...time for them to come home! All of us thought it was a well put-together documentary and it accurately reflected deployments on the homefront. It was nice for the media to finally give some face time to military families and actually honor the sacrifice they make with some recognition... instead of just saying "thank you for all you do" with little sincerity behind it.