I'M BACK!!!!!!!!

Joy of joys, I'm home!  We got back from deployment on March 24th--it was perfect!  My sisters rode the ship as "Tigers" from San Diego to Everett so I had a few days of sharing my work-afloat life with them.  When the ship arrived in Everett I was near the front of the line to get off and found Frank and the kids on the pier.  It was just a great experience.  Everyone looked great and the kids were talking a mile a minute.  In fact, they've been talking pretty much non-stop since then! 

Now the real excitement begins as we get set to move at the end of April.  We're working on tidying up the boat and selling off some stuff.  The boat looks naked right now as we have sold both of our beloved kayaks (we'll have ones we can borrow from the new marina) and have taken down all the sails and canvas for a good cleaning. 

I am pretty sad to be leaving the Pacific Northwest as I love the land, the water, and the people up here, but I guess it's time to move on.




Happy 5th, Munchkin!

Today as I am somewhere around where east meets west I feel a world away from where I should be.  It's Katreina's 5th birthday today and to say I'm miserable would be an understatement.  Frank is playing Super Dad yet again, making her birthday great.  He started it off by bringing treats and toys to her daycare for a little celebration yesterday.  Today the family flew kites before going to another friend's birthday party at the Children's Museum and when I spoke to them on the phone everyone was getting ready to head to the Mexican restaurant for K's special dinner (2nd year in a row she's picked the same place!).  Tonight they will have cake and open presents, and I won't be there.  Frank will send me a bunch of pictures (he is AMAZING) and they will have a good time.  I have cried (from tearing up to full-on bawling) about 10 times in the past 24 hours, but I'm hanging in there.  The worst was when I was talking to Katreina yesterday and she started singing "Almost There" from Disney's "The Princess and the Frog."  Her voice was so sweet!  Today she got me again by sounding very sad on the phone as we were saying good bye. 

This is almost over, and for that I am extremely grateful.