2007 Submarine Officers Ball

Our family is very happy to have Kelly home with us. He arrived early morning on April 20, just in time to escort me to sub ball the next day. (A good thing to, I really didn't want to go looking for another date! :) The ball was at the Hawaiian Hilton Village, downtown Waikiki. We had a wonderful time with good friends, dancing, and even Elvis impersonators! All the officers off his boat sported Elvis wigs for the enjoyment of all!

The keynote speaker was an admiral from the Australian Navy who is over submarines. Kelly had an opportunity to talk with him and found out that they need Kelly's expertise on their new fire control system that has only been installed on Kelly's boat so far. So it looks like we are most likely going to Australia for at least a year after our time here in Hawaii. We are very excited for the opportunity and Ashley and Mason are all for it since I told them that is where the Wiggles are from! (The picture above is of Kelly, Admiral Chalders (Australian Navy) the Navigator, and Kelly's Captain, Doug Perry.)

It was really a night of fun and enjoyment, but the best thing about it was that Kelly was there with me!

Mason's Birthday

Friday the 13th was very lucky for Mason, it was his birthday! He started the day off with a little birthday party at the park with a few of his closest friends. There was pizza, cake, presents, and a slide. What more could a two year old ask for!

Later that evening after a lovely nap, (for both Mason and mom), we had a little celebration as a family here at home. He got to blow his two candles out all by himself and helped us sing "Happy Birthday" to him. And of course, we cannot forget presents! He got a bike and play doh. So, that was Mason's special day. Nothing to incredibly exciting but, hey, he was happy!

Easter Fun

The kids and I went to an Easter party at the Hale Koa hotel on Waikiki beach the Saturday before Easter. It was only for the families on our boat so there were very few children there. It was great for them because they were able to get eggs galore! I think that they may come down from their sugar high sometime next week. Also the fact that the Easter bunny had filled their baskets the night before wasn't helping the sugar situation any either. That morning Mason went around pilfering candy from everyones basket. He came into my bedroom and I could see that he had been eating someone's jelly beans. Since he had just eaten someone's marshmallow peeps I told him to spit the jelly bean into my hand. He complied and lo and behold out comes into my hand at least 10 jelly beans!

Fun in San Diego

Kelly and I had a great opportunity this last month to spend some alone time together. His submarine pulled in to San Diego and I was able to fly out and spend the week with him. He, of course, had to keep his department on the sub running, (Those weapons can't load themselves without him for some reason!), but we still found a lot of time to be together and have fun. We went shopping at Target, which I was quite excited about since we are Target-deprived here in Hawaii. We filled our quota of Mexican food for the next year and enjoyed the sights that San Diego had to offer. I was fortunate to see an few friends from Georgia and reminisce. We were a bit chilly since our blood has been accustomed to Hawaii weather, but we had each other to keep warm. Most of all we just loved being with one another again since we don't get a lot of that lately with Kelly being gone. I have to say I did miss the kids very much but my wonderful mom did a great job taking care of them. I was a bit worried that they might want to send me back and keep Grandma! Thankfully they were happy to see me and now we are just waiting for Kelly to get home so we can all be together again.