One Step Closer

Scott will be one step closer to home tomorrow. He leaves Gulfport in the morning and flies (and flies, and flies--yes, three flights!) to Green Bay. He will be greeted at the airport by Bill, Kathy, and Jeff and will spend the evening in Oshkosh. Thursday he'll return to Green Bay to check out through his reserve center, then he'll finally be able to return to New Albin! We hope to have him home Thursday evening.

Reunion

Waiting

First Moments

Mississippi Memories

We're enjoying beautiful weather in Mississippi. Scott had to be on base all day yesterday and a couple of hours today, but otherwise we've had time to just hang out. We spent some time in New Orleans (French Quarter, Riverwalk, and Aquarium). The other day we ate lunch at what Guy Feiri (Food Network host) calls one of the top ten barbecue restaurants in the country. It was quite something. Even Gianna enjoyed it--although all she ate was the homemade banana pudding! Today we thought we'd enjoy the sun a bit and take a paddle boat out on Seabee Lake. Between not planning for weight distribution in the boat and misjudging the distance from the dock, I took a dive! I thought it was hilarious, but Gianna was quite concerned that either an alligator or a giant otter would get me. (Apparently the aquarium made quite an impression!) Alltold, it has been a great week so far. We have a few more days together before Gianna and I head back on Monday. Scott should be able to follow on Tuesday. He'll fly into Green Bay and then between our parents and me, we'll get him back to New Albin in time for the parties to begin!

Mission Completion!

At 9:00 p.m. last night, Scott arrived at Gulfport Seabee base. We will spend the next four days relaxing and enjoying his liberty before he reports for a few days of processing. Gianna and I fly back to Chicago on Monday the 23rd. Scott will fly into Green Bay hopefully around the same time. More details and pictures to follow.

Homecoming Parties!

Two Chances to Welcome Scott Home!

Friday, March 27

5:00 - 7:00 p.m.

The Ramsay House

154 Second St NE

New Albin, IA


Saturday, March 28

4:00 - 7:00 p.m.

Town of Oshkosh Town Hall

230 E. County Rd. Y

Call or email for directions or details.

Gianna and I took advantage of a little extra daylight last evening and built this year's first and last snowman! We used parts of the beautiful flower arrangement Scott sent at Christmas (bows for the scarf and pine cones floral-taped to sticks for arms). When we finished, Gianna exclaimed, "I'm going to show my daddy my snowman. He would be so proud of me. I'm a goooooood snowman maker." I'm sure it'll be long-melted by the time he gets home, so these pictures will have to do.

Getting Ready!

I had grand plans for house projects over Scott's deployment. As time started to wind down, I was faced with the reality that other than a new coat of paint in the kitchen, I had not made progress on any of the grand plans I had. But, that all changed over the course of 20 very productive hours. My great friend Megan came down around 9:00 Friday night and after a bowl of ice cream, we fixed drinks and headed to the closet! Three hours later, we had one giant black garbage bag of stuff to throw and two to donate. We also had all clothes hung and separated by type, season, and color. We stayed up too late chatting and woke to Gianna by 7:30. After breakfast, we headed to the garage where we could have spent an hour two organizing and cleaning and been done, but instead decided to take on a minor construction project! Luckily we found some plywood in the basement (thanks to the previous home owners). A quick run to Lansing for L-brackets and we were on our way! With a couple breaks to entertain Gianna, we got six very sturdy, measured-once-cut-twice utility shelves in the garage and cleaned and organized the whole shebang! I must say, we were quite proud of ourselves. The only problem is, now that those "rooms" are squared away, I really want to get everything else up to par.

BEFORE (Scott's side of the garage!)

DURING (Gianna was a great helper!)

AFTER (Ready for a homecoming party!)

In Command

In the Navy, the role of platoon commander is usually reserved for sailors with a rank of E7. A couple of weeks ago, however, Scott (an E6) was asked to serve as platoon commander for the duration of the deployment--quite an honor but also quite a bit more work!

Tomatoes...Totally!

A package arrived for Scott today. It was filled with his seed order from one of his favorite seed companies, Totally Tomato. It is pretty amazing that from the middle of the Iraqi desert he was able to order and ship right to our front door the makings of this year's garden. I had planned on surprising Scott by starting his seedlings so he could have home-grown plants to put in the garden. I'm not ashamed to admit that not having to start the seeds--and more importantly, baby them every day for weeks on end--is an added bonus to his earlier-than-initially-expected return date!