Minnesota is Heaven, But Virginia is Home

Mom, Gen & me at Mount Rushmore, circa 1978 The Kuehl homestead, circa 1978-79 (they have a "few" more garage stalls now) Me, Gen, Eli & Mom

As usual, these are backwards...here are Hans and Josiah, leaving the ship. A painting of LEYTE GULF, from the wardroom. Hans and William in the wardroom, just after we boarded The XO gets his own chair and his own special coffee cup (and yes Donna, we'll try to get you one!) Annika and Josiah checking out LEYTE GULF's quarterdeck board (Hans isn't there because he's not officially the XO yet) Bridge wing (Hans is not one of the people up there) Bridge Long view--I need a wide angle lens! Raising the flag just after tying up The excited crowd (that is the CO's wife and daughter directly in front of me) So--we survived the homecoming. I was made a little nervous by an e-mail from Hans on Thursday evening that warned me that we would be part of the VIP crowd to be first on the pier and first to board. I really just wanted to blend into the crowd with the rest of the families and not be singled out, but so much for that wish. For all the people that I called, fr...

So, I've had a couple of ship-related events over the last couple of days. This blog is closed to the general public, but I'd rather not mention the ship by name, just in case. We can all just call it "the ship" and we'll know what we're talking about, right? So far, so good. The ship is just coming back from a six month deployment, so it's an interesting time to start mingling with all the spouses. I feel a little like I'm intruding upon their excitement, but it can't be helped...Hans is set to take over as XO within a very short period of time and so I have to start getting to know them. FRG is Family Readiness Group and it's basically all the spouses, enlisted and officer (or rather, any that care to attend) getting together and holding meetings. FRG is especially useful at times like this, when the ship is underway and the spouses can band together to lean on one another and share information...it makes the time go by a little more quickly ...

Come, enjoy this adventure with me: backwards, of course. This was post-rampart walking, pre-juice box drinking. They were a little hot and sweaty and still excited by all the little cacti they found up top. Seriously, I guarantee that every time we drive by Fort Monroe from now on, Annika will say something about cacti or ask us when we can go back to that "cacti place". A view out to the ocean...I don't know who lives in that housing, but that is one dang fine spot. Great views all around. All of the housing was beautiful at Fort Monroe--almost all of it (with the exception of what you're looking at) was early 20th century with beautiful Victorian details. Fort Monroe is like a little Army spot stuck out in the bay that got trapped in 1910...if you can squint and ignore the cars. Wow, that is two (TWO!!) posts in a row with a picture of me! Here we are, on top of the ramparts, enjoying a GoGurt. Just like the troops would have during the Civil War. Nothing refres...