Good Friends

This morning Becky, Jenny, me, and the kids went to Home Depot for the kids workshop. They made a little tool box. Santa made a special visit and the kids said hello.

This afternoon I took the kids over to Mer's house, where we also met with Leslie and Angie. We got to meet Angie's boys and Leslie's youngest daughter. It's so nice to get the kid together and unfortunate we can't do it more often. Kailani and Keira met each other several years ago and they just clicked right away and were best buddies. We struggled to get all of the kids in one picture. Here's our best...

Tonight I met up with Leslie and Mer at one of our favorite places, Stahley's! Our good friend Jill, who was not able to fly in from Chicago, surprised us by calling in and ordering us a drink. I miss being close to my friends. I hope we can plan a trip together sometime soon.

Hershey Park

Today we spent the day at Hershey Park. We started off at Chocolate World. I took Kailani, Zachary, and Jaylynn in the Create your Own Chocolate attraction. They each got to design their own chocolate bar and watch it be made.

Cousins

Today we got to meet Ava, Jenny's daughter, who we had not met before. It was so nice to see all of the cousins together.

We had Thanksgiving lunch at my cousin Michelle's house. I wish we had gotten a picture of all of the kids. It's so strange seeing everyone all grown up with kids of their own.
We visited with Jason's family for a short time. When we pulled up at his aunt's house there were 3 deer in the yard. The kids were very excited about that.
While we were in PA, Jason's ship had a visit from two very important people in the Navy. Jason received an award for some of the work he's been doing on the ship.

 Here's the full story:

News: CNO/MCPON Visit USS Boxer

Story by Petty Officer 1st Class Jennifer Gold

Seaman Veronica Mammina Chief of Naval Operations, Adm. Jonathan W. Greenert, delivers remarks during an all-hands call aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD 4). Boxer is the flagship for the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group and, with the embarked 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit, is deployed in support of maritime security operations and theater security cooperation efforts in the U.S. 5th Fleet area of responsibility. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Veronica Mammina/Released)

AT SEA – Sailors and Marines aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer (LHD 4) received an early Thanksgiving greeting when the Chief of Naval Operations (CNO) Adm. Jonathan Greenert, and Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy (MCPON) Mike Stevens visited the crew in the Arabian Gulf, Nov. 27.

“It’s a true honor and a pleasure to be able to spend a little bit of time out here on this Thanksgiving holiday,” said Stevens. “It’s such a great opportunity. Words can’t even begin to express how proud I am of you and all that you do each day.”

Sailors aboard had a chance to speak directly with the Navy's most senior leadership during an all-hands call on the flight deck.
Greenert opened the ceremony by administering the oath of enlistment to eight sailors and presenting awards to several others.
“It is opportunities to come out and talk with you that really get us charged up,” said Greenert.

Among the topics discussed during the all-hands call were the deployment cycles, sexual assault, budget and manning.
Greenert also wished the Marine Corps a belated happy birthday and expressed his gratitude for the partnership between the blue and green teams.

"Welcome back to sea," said Greenert. "Thank you for what you do. We are supporting you and we will continue to do that. We’ve got work to do that’s why we’re out here on Boxer because I want to get back and understand ‘amphibiosity’ as we like to call it.”

Greenert also sat down with Sailors and Marines of the quarter and of the year from Boxer, Amphibious Squadron ONE, the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit and other embarked units for lunch.

“I felt honored and privileged to have the CNO take time out of his busy schedule to sit down and eat with us,” said Master-at-Arms 2nd Class (SW/AW) Andrew Lawrence.

“He offered guidance, insight and gratitude for what we do and showed us that he values our input.”

The CNO/MCPON visit comes in the midst of several celebratory events, including the recent announcement of the Navywide advancement results followed by the Thanksgiving holiday.

“It was an honor to host CNO and MCPON and welcome them aboard,” said Capt. John Gumbleton, Boxer’s commanding officer. “It is a great feeling to have our top leadership come out and recognize the sacrifices and many accomplishments our sailors and Marines make every day.”

Read more: http://www.dvidshub.net/news/117562/cno-mcpon-visit-uss-boxer#.Uq1BQeJH5BA#ixzz2nWGXOETz

The Crayola Factory

Today was a rainy day so we decided to take the kids to the Crayola Factory. They've been there before, but do not remember. There has been a lot of change and there is much more to do. The kids had a great time.

Welcome to PA

On Sunday night, we left for our 10-day trip to PA for the Thanksgiving holiday. We got into Newark Airport early on Monday morning, picked up our rental car, and headed for PA. We got to Becky's house by 7am. Although we were all tired from lack of sleep on the plane, the kids were ready to go to things. We visited my mom and dad and then we visited Gram. We spent the evening with Becky and the girls.

This morning the kids got to experience their first real SNOW. It was very wet snow and didn't stick at all, but at least they got to see it. Of course Kailani refused to wear proper clothing!

Today we went to visit with Jason's parents. The kids enjoyed playing at their house. We ended up meeting up with Becky for dinner. After dinner, Jason's parents treated the kids to games at Chuck E Cheese.

Church

We've been going to New Hope Church for almost a year now and the kids really enjoy going. Zachary especially loves learning and making the different crafts each week.

QBowl and Santa Parade

This morning we got up early to head to the field for the last game of the season. The boys played an awesome game, but lost by one touchdown in the last second of the game. What a great season!
 

Tonight we met up with the Brownies to walk in the annual Santa Parade at the Otay Ranch Town Center. We even ran into some friends there.

Thanksgiving lunch at KinderCare

Today parents were invited to KinderCare to have a Thanksgiving lunch with the kids. Kailani and I enjoyed our lunch with Zachary. I feel like it say this all of the time, but I am so glad for a flexible job that allows me to be involved in all of these activities my children have.

Take your daughter to work day

Today I made it "take your daughter to work day." Kailani will be missing three days of school after Thanksgiving break because of our upcoming trip to PA. The only way to get an independent study contract through her school and not be marked truant, is to take five days off. So...because I like to be a rule-follower and hate the idea of Kailani having a truancy letter in her permanent file, I kept her out of school today and tomorrow. While she was at work with me, she spent some time recreating her cheer stunts with erasers:)

Holiday and Bruno are snuggling together on the cold, rainy night!

Operation Christmas Child

Tonight Kailani had a Brownie meeting. It's the first meeting she's been able to go to in a while because of cheer. I ordered shoe boxes through the Operation Christmas Child program for the girls to do as a community service project. I gave the boxes out at the last meeting and the girls brought them back today full of goodies. They put a special paper inside with information about each of them (name, age, where from, etc.) so the little girl or boy knows who it came from. We were able to get a picture of all of the girls with their boxes. I will drop the boxes off at one of the drop-off locations this week.