On The Move

Monday marked the beginning of a new adventure for Payton and I. I'm officially a civilian now, and we're moving back to California. It's very bittersweet for me. The past six years in the Coast Guard and (almost) three years have been an interesting ride and looking back on it all amazes me. How much Payton and I went through, good and bad. How much she's grown into a little girl, how much I've even grown as a mom and every other role I have. As excited I am to move on with our life and move to California, I am extremely sad. All our memories we made in Virginia with our military family. They were so much more than just friends to us. You were there for us and let us be there for you. I am eternally grateful for you and can't wait to see you all again. (I may be secretly praying you guys all get stationed back on the west coast :)

Monday the movers came and our stuff is now on its way west. Payton worked very hard. Her job: make sure they don't pack the iPad.

We're driving cross country with my mom. I'm excited. My mom drove with me to Virginia to check me into my first real unit and she gets to come on this journey again. Only with a mini me too :) We're taking our time visiting family and seeing random places we probably wouldn't otherwise.

Thank goodness for ipad mounts and Tangled.

Monday night we didn't get too far but Tuesday made it to Georgia.

As of Wednesday, still in GA but we did some sightseeing to break up the monotony of constant driving.

Piggy Tail

Payton had a pig tail!!! Her head is pretty much covered in hair now. No more random bald spots, her scar is covered and I think it's all real hair that's going to stay. The hair that I can pull up is baby hair but the rest is the real stuff!!! And the ends have a slight curl to them :)

Here is P's opinion of her new hair...

The outfit my mom made, not sure what pattern she used, but I like it on her. It's a little big but she will be able to wear it for a while. It crosses in the bag and has bloomers but she wasn't feeling the photo shoot (thus more aweful, flash used indoor photos) so we'll have to try again soon.

Have a good weekend! I'll be working so have some fun for me too!... And in case you're wondering a little more about what I do, click here to see what I was involved in Monday night at work. I sit in a room, with no windows and a bunch or radios talking to everyone on the water and in the air. Be careful out there!

In Memory Of...

All of America's fallen Soldiers and Sailors. Dad, Payton and I went up to Arlington National Cemetary today. I was just in awe of all of the Veterans there. There were a few services going on and it just made me so proud to be in the service.

But we didn't go as tourists, we went to see family. I am posting the photos of the sites of our family members and not sure if it's really "proper" to do so on a blog, but I'm proud of them. First, my grandfather, Capt Gordon MacLane or as people knew him back then, Capt Mad Mac. I didn't know him that well, he passed when I was young but his CG stories I hear from my dad and grandma never get old.  He had an impact in the CG and I am so proud to be his granddaughter.

Next we visited a brother of a very close family friend. U.S Army SFC Charles Dunson. I didn't know him but he passed while he was serving. His family hasn't been able to see his site yet and I was honored to be able to visit him for them.

I know this seems like a sappy post, but I am very proud to be in the military and all those who do serve as well. It's amazing to be a part of something so historic and important.

Recap...

Hi... I'm sitting here, in the middle of big blue, waiting to go to next watch. Been an interesting and none the less busy patrol. Thus the reason for no posts since I was on leave in Feb. Been to 3 new countries I've never been to and done several things I've never done before. That's pretty much why I chose this job. (And a few others, but we'll save that for another time) It's definitely has been the better of the three that I've been on. For starters, I have not gotten sea sick (knock on wood and thank you to doc and his little pink pills :) I've gotten to go to San Juan, Rio de Janiro, and Grenada. Played war games with different Navy's and swam on the equator. It's been fun, but don't get me wrong, totally ready to go home for a while. I'll post some pics when internet is a tad faster. Had some rough days as well, port and starboard watches for 3 days get to you. I'm mostly excited about this summer because Dean is coming home for leave!!! I am extatic, can't even begin with that one. It will have been 8 months since we've seen each other, then we will have another 8 months to go. I am very proud of him though, I can't tell him enough. I have so much respect for him for being over there, fighting for me and our families. That's about it for me, just been working like a dog, having a little bit of fun too... Anyways, I'll get those pics up this week... ciao for now!

Long lost loves...

I realize it has been an extremely long time since I have shown any trace of life on this page, but I have not forgotten. I am sitting here now, watching the Chargers beat the Colts :) going through my photos on my computer and vowing to start anew with my blogging life. The photos I am posting today are from the gun range a couple weeks ago (eek) I liked shooting the Sig 40, better than the 9mm and dad's 45...

duty day #1

ok, so yesterday was my first duty day on a cutter. pretty cool, no biggie, except i was in the engine room for most of it. my job isn't located in the engine room...but i still have to learn everything down there. i specifically picked a rate that had nothing to do with any of that stuff...oh well too bad. it was actually pretty cool learning some of the stuff though. knowing how the boat works and all that fun stuff. and today i spent 3 hours trying to figure out the different circuits in radio :) spent 17 weeks in school and still have a few months ahead of me full, no crammed packed of stuff to get qualified in...yeah CG. i still love it though and wouldn't go back... :)

p.s. i got my first piece of mail at my new address today yeah :)

underway in a day

so today was my first full day on the cutter :) and we ran all these drills. it was actually a lot of fun. i had to put on a gumby suit, shoot at people (kinda/sorta) and learn flight ops. way fun, i can't way to really get underway!

two weeks left...

only two weeks left of school, it's going by so quickly and i'm stoked to get to my new unit. on flip side i'm going to really miss everyone here. we're finishing up nav this week, much more fun than SAR. and as one of my favorite instructors says: "ain't no party like a mo board party, cause a mo board party don't stop" hehe...

my roomies of 203...

plotting paul...

my classmates...

that's me with a cool sound powered phone, piloting :)

our chart table after a run...

my first video yeah!

coast guard

I figured out this you tube thing!! yeah!!! this is the coast guard in a nutshell... p.s. see if you can see my cutter...

my new home...

literally, this will be my new home soon...

in the underground...

today i had to crawl under the barracks building to change light bulbs, i wasn't the only one thankfully. it was a wee bit creepy under there. but i took some photos just incase anyone was wondering what it looked like...hehe. oddly enough, i kinda had fun. i hope you all enjoy my photos of pipes, mud and my muddy boots... p.s. 5 days...

broilers & wallyball

so the task of the day was cleaning out the broiler rooms, which were cleaned yesterday. but that's all they could come up with so that's what we did, sort of. my theory is that cleaning a broiler room is as effective and important as cleaning a garage, you just don't! anyways it was also moral day. wallyball was the sport i chose. i have never heard of it until today. volleyball in a racquetball court. i'm thankful my head is still attached to my body, i thought i was going to loose it there a few times. because the ball can bounce off the walls and ceiling, and we were playing with a really big bouncy ball. i did have fun though so all's well. 7 days!!!! and counting...

9 days!!!

since we are on christmas break from school, we get work days. woo hoo! ok so i'm not that excited, i would probably rather be running sar cases. but my job for the day was painting. haha (yes that's funny to me and some people know why) anyways i was excited soley because i got to wear coveralls for the first time. :) yes that's how exciting my day was. ok so its a beautiful day and i'm going running...ciao! p.s. 9 days till my birthday!

look at me...

look at me...in trops. i make this look good, haha, well i did pass inspection so it must be true :) i'm getting used to wearing them, but i still prefer odu's any day!

long time, no chat...

wow, ok i know it's been almost a week since my last post. sorry. Anyhow, i haven't gone anywhere or done anything thank you to school. literally, i haven't left base at all! going a little loco. discovered a few things this week though: running can be quasi fun when you're running with 60 people. i seem to run longer, faster and overall don't feel like i'm going to die. second thing, the horrible, grammatically incorrect "myspace lingo" has significantly hindered my typing speed by a good 15 wpm. that's very upsetting because i used to be pretty fast and now i'm average, not cool. ok so that's my rant and raving for the evening. i hope you enjoy the image of the day... i took it myself :)

i spent an hour this evening shining my wonderful boondockers! oh joy. i seriously think the coast guard should change uniform regs from boots to black reef flip flops, i think that would be better! less shining :) and i would have happy feet woo hoo! but unfortunately that's probably not going to happen... ok ciao for now!

i'm gonna live forever...

ok, so everyone should know what song/play this (the title) comes from. if not, go find out and then finish reading. today, first day of classes, felt like i was in fame, military style. three different rates starting out together, then we get class advisors. blah blah blah. the classes split up and taken into their designated buildings. "you picked the best rating...some other stuff...we hold you to the highest standereds out of all the schools..."etc. just like fame, no joke. except i would rather take dance classes for eight hours than sit in class for that long...but oh well. and i do think i picked an awsome rating and i'm totally stoked about it, but i just wanted to laugh today. all in all though, it was a pretty ok first day. more postings to come... oh! about all those animals, aparently we are a federal wildlife preserve on base. explains a lot! and mountain lions come to visit us every few months, to hunt the millions of deer. oh joy...

sports day...

in the wonderful coast guard, we sometimes have sports days. we had one yesterday afternoon and i had a blast. if you know me at all, i don't play sports...period! i'm a total girly girl. but we played softball and our team won...13 to 12 and guess who scored the winning point/run (whatever)...ME!!! i also scored earlier in the game too. i was soo... stoked! and yes i had a victory dance, everytime i made it to a base. i actually played well yesterday...woo hoo! that's my exciting story for the day...i can play a sport! oh and yes i was getting paid to play...haha