Visiting the Ship

We dropped Paul off this morning and later he said we could meet him at work to spend a few hours together. The later that night turned into 8:30 at night but we still spend a little time with him on the ship.

Road Trip

We decided to go for a road trip today...... head out to the country. LOL!

Beautiful Park in Coronado

I love that ocean breeze but I don't particularly like the sand. Yesterday we went to a park in Coronado and hung out for a few hours. I got Paul ladder ball for his anniversary present so we played that for awhile and Maddie playing on the playground.

After hanging out at the park we went to Cozymel's Mexican Grill. Yummy! It was so good. I had a tamale and chicken soft taco, the taco was so good. Anyhow we are planning to go there again. We did some shopping and found Maddie a new dresser for a good deal so we can move her dressers into the nursery. It feels good getting ready for the baby and just getting stuff accomplished in general. I haven't done much around the house since I have been so tired all the time. I actually cleaned a lot of the house today which is nice still I'm not staring at the huge mess anymore. Well back to cleaning!

SNOW............

We drove to Julian, only about an hours drive away so Maddie could play in the snow. Last year she was really sad because she didn't get to play in the snow. We drove up for the day and she played until she was soaked up to her knees. I got rid of all the snow stuff since I didn't think I would need it here. Of course it wouldn't have fit if I did keep it because she has grown so much since we have been here. Needly to say that she enjoyed the snow. She build a snowman with daddy and had a snow ball fight, it doesn't get any better than that. (Maybe if we had a sled, we are looking on getting one for next year and some snow clothes.)

Family Tradition~ Christmas Tree

What did I want most for Christmas (besides my husband)? A really Christmas tree! In the eight years Paul and I have been together we have always had an artifical tree. Last year when we were putting the tree away I said, " Honey do you realize that we have had this tree since our first Christmas together? I really think we should get rid of the artifical tree so that next year we have to get a real one." We donated the artifical tree because it was still in pretty good shape.
Ever year we put up our tree on Thanksgiving night and decorate it that night and finish it the next night. However this year we bought the tree on the day after Thanksgiving. We ended up getting a 9-10 foot Fraiser fir. I love it! I finally got my REAL TREE! We are not decorating it tonight but I will post those picture after it's decorated.

Thanksgiving~ A little color on a gloomy day!

We had many things to be thankful for this year. The thing we are most thankful for is being together as a family this Thanksgiving. I'm also thankful for all the friends we have made in the year (plus a couple months) we have been here. As we were leaving my friends house I spotted a double rainbow. The rainbow made me think about the past and how much God was with me even in the times didn't feel it. He was there and he is with me and he cares about all the details in my life. Even the little ones.

Picking up my Honey and the Thanksgiving play

I didn't sleep well at all last night. Between the pouring rain and thinking about picking up Paul in the morning I couldn't stay asleep for more than an hour or two at a time. I got Madison to school at the same time I always do but the teacher took them in early this morning so I left to pick Paul up a little before I had planned to leave. I got to the base and found a parking spot, I called his cell phone to let him know I was there but no answer. I sat in the truck waiting all the people walking across the bridge wondering if it was him. I had asked him to wear his uniform to school, because it was supposed to be the first time we were going to see him. He told me he was going to wear it. So I sat in the truck watching all the people, looking for all khaki uniforms. As I was watching I seen someone in all black and a white hat..... I was thinking, "I don't think they are wearing the right cover for this time of year." (note: I don't know all the uniform rules) A few seconds Paul calls me " I'm ready for you to come and get me." I said "I'm already he waiting for you in the parking lot, where are you and what are you wearing?" " I'm in the parking lot, I'm wearing my dress blues," he said. "Oh. I see you turn. Walk toward the yellow poles behind you." He came over the truck we hugged and got in so we start on our way the school for Madison's Thanksgiving play. I said "I seen you when you walked across the bridge in your white hat.......... I was thinking, man I think that person doesn't have the right cover on." Of course I was wrong! (first time for everything)
We were a little early to go to the school so we stopped and got a drink at Starbucks. We got to school and Madison was so excited to see Paul even though she had seen him the night before. I met my friend's husband who was also on the ship and Paul met his wife and sons. Madison's class sang I'm a Little Scarecrow, so cute! Every kindergarten class sang their own song and they sang a few all together.
Madison wanted to eat at home for lunch so we had sandwiches for lunch. After lunch Madison wanted to bring Daddy to the frozen yogurt place. We went out and got it and came back to spend sometime at home. The door rang shortly after we got home and I went to get it. There sat a boquet of roses. The delivery man heard the door and came back to have me sign for them. Awe..........thanks honey! Yep he still has the element to surprise me!
Since this was Paul's first night home I arranged a babysit for the night so Paul and I could have the night alone. We dropped her off at the babysitters at five. Our first stop was dinner, we ate at Fridda's Mexican Restaurant. The food was so good. Then we had the idea to go buy Paul cologne that he wore when we first met and he had ran out of before he left. When we walked out of the restaurant it was raining so we put up the umbrelle and started walking toward the store we were going to but it started down pouring, the side walks were flooding and we were walking in huge puddles. By the time we got the cologne and got home we were drenched. The night only got better as it went by.

The USS Ronald Reagan is HOME

The Reagan pulled in this morning. Paul had informed me earlier that he would not be able to get off the ship today because he had duty. However he emailed me this morning saying that he might be able to get off the ship to have dinner with us. I'm pretty excited about this because I'm thinking that he will try to surprise us by saying it's for dinner but then say he can come home. He said he would call once he was off watch around one thirty or so. He call me at two o'clock the say that he would talk with the boss and see if he could get off for a few hours. He called me back in about fifteen minutes saying we could pick him up at five. So we put up some decorations in case he was really coming home tonight and I told Maddie that we could go for a ride and see the ship. We got in the truck and started driving and I was feeling a little nervous, my hands were sweating. I was thinking if he would already be out waiting for us and I was wondering how I would feel once I seen him. As we drove into the parking lot Maddie was like, "I'm glad we get to see the ship, too bad we couldn't see Daddy." At that moment I seen where Paul was standing. Madison didn't see him so I rolled down the windows as I was about to him and said to Madison "Maybe we should ask this guy if he knows your dad." Then she looked out the window and seen him, "Ohhhh.....It's dadddyyyyy!" I quickly grabbed my camera and took a pic of their first kiss. Then I handed Madison the camera to take a couple pictures of Mommy and Daddy. Few some kisses and hugs Paul gave us some gifts that he got while he was gone and then we when to fine some a place to eat dinner. We ended up eating at a dinner in Coronado. After dinner we headed back to the ship to drop Paul back off because he really had to stay and work. I was so pissed! Really....... I know I should have been happy to get to see him that night but he had to go into the ship a day and a half before all the other guys that were working that day. So we didn't get to spend the last day they were home together and now he couldn't come home the first day we was back. I felt like I was being gipped. I thought we should spend more time together that night so I decided we should watch a movie in the back of the truck. I climbed in back of the truck and started folding down the seats, checked to make sure we had a movie in the truck. The only movie that we had was the movie in the player, Racing Stripes. We got some snacks from the vending machines before we started the movie. We finished the movie and we head home.

The End is Near

The end of a six month deployment is now near. I'm so excited that he will be home soon. I have been having a hard time sleeping at night because I'm so excited. This week is going to be an exciting week, there is so much to be THANKFUL for. I will be posting later this week to let you all know how the week has gone.

Gifts form Korea

We recieved the package of goodie today. Daddy got her a dress from Korea and for me, a Starbucks mug (we collect them) and a fan. I also found a few coins in the bottom of the box that I almost threw away but heard them jingle, jangle.

Daddy's Job

Madison and I got a tour of Paul's ship today. A tour of part of the ship anyways. We got to see daddy's office, the door to his plant, were he sleeps and eats. I am glad that we got a chance to see what and where he goes everyday. The thing I liked best about the ship was in the coffee cups in the Chief. There was a coffee cup for each Chief on the ship hanging in on the wall, I just thought it was cool. I was going to take a picture of Paul's cup hanging on the wall BUT of course his was in the plant. Maybe I will see if he can get one for me later.
This is Paul's locker/closet. It was actually much large than I thought it would be.



Madison sitting on daddy's bunk. Had to be the top one of course.


Madison sitting in the galley with Daddy. I love the chair covers.

Cute.


Daddy and Maddie.


Mom and Maddie.

Me and Paul

Breath Taking Views

We decided to go out and do something fun tonight since Paul got home a little earlier than normal. We packed the bikes up and headed to a trail that we seen yesterday. When we got there we realized that it was only open Wed, Sat, and Sun. Well the parking lot was closed and we could have parked on the road instead we decided to visit the park at the end of the road. It was a good choice. We had to pay three dollars to get into the park but I think it was well worth the views we got after climbing the mountain. It was amazing!!! We could see the ocean from up there, beautiful. The view really was breath taking. I can't believe how much land still in undeveloped around the area. The sad thing is that they are starting to develop the area more and more. We could see all the new housing that has been added in the last few years and I image what it looked like before they were all there. How gorgeous it must have been. It still is gorgeous but in the near future it will most likely be changed. It is so sad. I will post the pictures later but I really wanted to write about how amazing it really was.




I finally got the pictures up. I uploaded them as little pictures or it would have looked like picture overload on this entry, don't forget that you can click on them to make the better. They are awesome and look better bigger but take up a lot of room big too. Take from the top of the mountain, amazing views.