Category Archives: deployment

Counting down

Posted on by

0

Well we now have less than a year left in Hawaii.
Just like when we were geting ready to leave Spain I am getting super sad and nostalgic before we even leave. It does feel like less time than that because Omar is deploying in late winter so we have to get all of out Hawaii to-do stuff done before he leaves.

I don’t want to go! I love, love, love it here. The weather, the people,  the food, the ocean, the mountains. 

So soon it will be decision time… where to go next. Of course it’s not like it is our decision entirely, the Navy will offer us a list of options and we will choose a few of those. We will either get one of them or have to try again next month.
Now staying on this ship IS an option but honestly not a real one. This command has been ROUGH. In the 3 years we will have been on this ship, Omar will have been underway or deployed for over half of it. We are ready to get away from this intense pace.
Omar would really like to get back to Virginia, he is ready to be back near family buy a house and settle down.
I am not ready to go back! I love and miss our family but I love living all over the world and can’t imagine living back on the mainland. 
Its just hard because Mckenna is going to be going into high school soon and I don’t want her to have to move in the middle of a school year then.
But as always I stress and make plans and the Navy will probably throw us another curveball!

What is your dream duty station?

Homecoming!

Posted on by

4

So…yeah. I am like a million years behind in posting and I really have no excuse! We had homecoming, then family visiting, then squeezing every last bit of fun out of summer, then school started. So my kids are back in school, its time to flex my blogging muscles and catch everyone up on what we’ve been up to the past couple of months!

First and foremost is HOMECOMING! We had an awesome, incredible, wonderful homecoming. What a difference it makes when you are greeting a destroyer instead of a carrier!

I was super grateful to Mckenna’s piano teacher who took photos for me gratis to build up her portfolio. I barely touched my camera all morning! (ELR Photography)

Picture time!

The kids with their signs they made all by themselves.

IMG_1700

 

Trying to see the ship coming around the bend.IMG_1740

 

Time to change shoes (this was a LIFESAVER!)

changing into heels

Here she comes! Helicopter escort and the flags flying! The extra long pennant is the Homeward Bound pennant and only ships who are underway for more than 9 months get to fly that. It was helicopter escort

And there he is!IMG_1873

Keep it together, Sailor!IMG_1875

IMG_1928

Finally getting off the ship!rebecca omar hug

rebecca omar kiss

The kids each picked out a lei they wanted to give daddy. IMG_2014

IMG_2019

IMG_2030

IMG_2034

And this one just for fun… My husband had duty the day they pulled in, meaning that he had to stay on the ship overnight (there has to be some crew on the ship at all times!) So this was my personal sign! We got to bring him home the next morning though!IMG_2037

Cup Fence DONE! Almost Homecoming!

Posted on by

3

I have been seriously MIA but getting everything ready for Homecoming is melting my brain. I can’t concentrate, can’t sleep, I am just a hot mess! Just wanted to update with our STUNNING cup fence we put up to welcome the ship home!

1039847_200673206756939_703708545_o

 

E Komo Mai means Welcome Home in Hawaiian, trying to add a little local flair! I’ve never done one of these for any other Homecoming, I think this just might be a Hawaii thing? (Along with the 300 leis we are giving the sailors as well!)

Super excited, we are down to crunch time and I have to get to the commissary and actually stock my fridge and pantry with man food!

Spring Break… Still.

Posted on by

2

This has been the LONGEST break ever! And we have kept up our insanely busy days. It is keeping us busy and we are having a lot of fun, but I am not gonna lie, I am going to enjoy Wednesday when they go back to school. (For two days! Then they are off AGAIN for Good Friday!)

So weekend recap… Saturday was a crazy fun day. It started out with a Deployed Spouse Appreciation Day put on by the Pearl Harbor Chapel. They had a great day set up with breakfast, lunch and classes for us to attend. I was pleasantly surprised because the photography session I had signed up I thought was some photography pointers and ended up being a free photo session. Hooray! I am really looking forward to seeing how the pictures turned out!

Anyways, my first session was pie making, which I didn’t really NEED to take since I already make a pretty bomb-ass pie. However, if there is food involved, I am signing up for it! My friend Cat happened to finish her photo session and was watching us so I dragged her into our class and made her make a pie with me.

spouse1

Then I had my great photo session with the kids. I can’t wait to see how they turned out! When I finished with that I poked around a bit and spied on some of my favorite ladies while they were in their sessions.spouse2

And then we all got to enjoy lunch together with our kids… We were able to eat the pies we had made earlier in the day… I may have snagged the pie that Cat and I had made and brought it to our table… Hey I know that one wasn’t made with licked fingers or anything!

We decided that our weekend wouldn’t be complete without a hike thrown in… Off for our THIRD time to try to find the King Kamehameha’s Summer Palace ruins… And what do you know? We actually found them! I am going to put those pictures in a separate post because it is a pretty awesome hike! Unfortunately we hiked it in the rain, which was pretty fun for me, but the kids were not pleased!

After all the rain we made a quick pit stop at Starbucks for some hot chocolate and coffee to warm us up.

Then off to football practice. Three hours of football practice. I almost died. Our coach FINALLY decided to wrap it up and we all got together at a teammates house for a potluck. The kids had fun playing together, us ladies all had fun hanging out together, it was an all around good time.  Had to finally call it a night because we had a scrimmage the next day, Sunday, and wanted to get together to warm up before that. So more football! We warmed up a bit then drove up to Wahaiwa for our scrimmage… that we lost. Again. I swear we are the Bad News Bears! But we had a great time playing in the rain and the mud, the other team was a bit rough and I am covered in bruises! Yes this is FLAG football!

527837_10151566954398582_181472165_nPost game muddiness… I LOVE these girls!

Out with the old…

Posted on by

1

So. 2012.

Really you weren’t so bad. Or at least you didn’t start off that way.

January we stayed busy in Spain with Three King’s Day, Puerto Sherry, and eating at my favorite 100 Montaditos.

IMG_7459

February was Mckenna’s Rainbow Birthday which was SO much fun to do and a day trip to Vejer de la Frontera.

The 'new' part of the town.

The ‘new’ part of the town.

March brought basketball, homemade hot sauce and a scrapbooking getaway for me.

The girls!

April was a super busy month for us with an ER visit, beach days, Easter, zoo trips, children’s theater, goat farm, hosting my first bunco and FERIA!

IMG_8549

May was even MORE feria, Mother’s Day, a trip to the bee farm and a photo session from one of friends!

SAM_3061

In June Omar reenlisted in the Navy, I had my going away lunch at work, we celebrated Father’s Day, took a day trip to Portugal, I graduated, and we had our last week in Spain.

IMG_8938

 

July, oh July. We left Spain (and left part of my heart there), moved to Hawaii, saw tragedy in Colorado, went to Hanauma Bay for the first time (of many!), and the kids started school!

firstday2012

 

In August we finally got to move into our new house, hit up the North Shore, snorkled, got a Harley, and swam with a sea turtle for the first time!

DSCF0105

 

September. My month of woe. We spent some time at Kaneohe Bay, Omar turned 5, and we found out daddy was deploying. Daddy deployed.

IMG_9503a

 

October saw more beach days, bird rescues, the end of my football season, a month down of deployment, a port call in Malaysia for Omar, and a great Halloween for the kids.

IMG_0036a

 

In November we hit our four month mark of living in Hawaii, Mckenna made it to regionals with her robotics club, we elected Barack Obama for a second term, my husband got older, I got older, I hit my one year blogging anniversary, we hit our 11th wedding anniversary, and the kids and I spent Thanksgiving in California.

One. More. Bite. Of. Pie!

In December we lived through another tragedy, I baked WAY too much, took a million pictures of the kids at the beach, threw a party, and had a wonderful Christmas.

IMG_0363a

2012 it’s been real. Peace out.

Happy Christmas!

Posted on by

3

Surprise! We spent Christmas Day the exact same way as everyone else, but I am going to throw some pictures up here anyways!

stockingsChristmas morning, kids were up at 7am (two hours earlier than they have been up all Christmas break!) We do things a little crazy here… Stockings are at the breakfast table and the kids sit and open stockings and we eat breakfast before diving into the present opening. This makes sure mommy has coffee, we aren’t starving and we can relax and enjoy the gift opening. Bowser even got a stocking this year and was very happy with it!

We then had a bunch of this action:

presents

 

Gift opening is such a traditional family thing. I’ve been talking to some friends this year and it’s really amazing all the different ways that families open their gifts on Christmas morning! I keep all of the gifts hidden, including the ones sent from family, the only gifts under the tree before Christmas were some I had received. Then on Christmas morning there is the big surprise reveal with a mass of gifts all mixed together. Then everyone opens one at a time so we can all ooh and aah over each gift. It can take awhile, especially when we have a big group of our family together. One Christmas it was my mom and dad, two brothers, my sister, my aunt and her two boys, and the four of us. You couldn’t see the floor in my moms living room and we were opening presents for HOURS. But I love it. We get to relax and it isn’t a mad rush of tearing through the gifts in 10 minutes.

Anyways, all of this eventually led up to my gift that Omar had sent me that I was saving for last. I really thought it was a pair of shoes because the box was just the right size:

cameraNope, it’s my new baby girl! I was SO surprised and wish he was here to give it to me in person! I am in LOVE with this camera. Although I am still such a sentimental baby that I can’t give up my Canon quite yet. I have had that camera for FIVE years, we have been, literally, all over the world together! It’s like an extension of my hand! Switching from Canon to Nikon is a little crazy, got to figure this new one out but so far I am having a blast!

We spent some time the rest of the day doing some cookie business, well the kids did anyways while I made a big ol’ dinner just for us.

cookies

 

Dinner was great, well that mac and cheese could have been better. Mckenna got all dressed up and put on some of her new makeup courtesy of Mimi! I got a huge kick out of this dumb little Lego figure I had picked up for Omar’s stocking. You didn’t know which one it was going to be and it ended up being good ol’ Hamlet with poor Yorick. Perfectly suited for a five year old, right? I, however, love it!

evening

 

We had a really good day with just the three of us. We were missing daddy BIG time though. Glad that this is one more big holiday over and done with and we can cross it off the list! Just counting down the days!