A Family Again

Since Jason got home from Haiti, we have done alot as a family. Hard to believe that come tomorrow he will have been home a week. Yet, even harder to believe is Jason has to go back to work Monday and he has duty so he wont be home until Tuesday after work. Of course, I work Tuesday until 8 p.m. so by the time I get home he will be almost ready for bed.
After much badgering, begging, and pouting Jason got a boston terrier puppy whom we named max. He is a good little puppy and has quickly blended into our family. The kids love to play with him and take him outside with them in the fenced in backyard.
We all went out to eat at the kids favorite chinese buffet. We have been to the Mt. Trashmore park twice this week and the Max joined us as well. The kids got to play at the playground and then we all climbed to the top of the Mt. Trashmore hill. We got play sand for the kids sandbox and so far 28 bags of mulch to spruce up the front yard. We all went to Wal Mart together and I picked out flowers for the yard, Aedan picked out flowers and we got some tulips and a raspberry shrub for the yard as well. The kids have been having so much fun helping their daddy in the front yard. They helped Jason lay the weed barrier and spread the mulch. They helped daddy destroy weeds in the front and back yard. They even helped their daddy lay the weed barrier in their sandbox and pour the sand in.

Today, we met one of Jason's old shipmates and his wife and some of their friends at the Mt. Trashmore park. We all talked and ate and let the kids play. Then Jason, his friend and all the kids went to the top of the hill and flew a kite while myself and the other wives sat and talked. Turned out on of the other wives there is a navy wive also and her husband used to be on the same ship as Jason. He is assigned to a different ship now and forward deployed. After the park, we all came home and played outside some more. We had chicken, asparagus, mac and cheese and crescent rolls for dinner. The kids also had some fresh pineapple.

Jason and I went on a date night earlier in the week to Cinema Cafe and saw Old Dogs and ate dinner there. It was actually a pretty hilarious movie. It is pretty rare that Jason and I get to go to the movies or anywhere for that matter alone. I baked Jason a red velvet cake last night for dessert because it is his favorite. Then tonight when I returned a redbox movie, I surprised everyone and brought home vanilla bean ice cream and root beer for root beer floats. They were so yummy!

Right now Jason is in the office and the kids are trying to take Max out of his cage to play. It is almost bedtime and then mommy and her sailor can have some alone time. Night!

More family fun!

Aedan helping make chocolate chips pancakes with mommy

Aedan watching daddy lay weed barrier in the front yard

Family fun time while our sailor has liberty!

Kyra helping spruce up the front yard

Aedan learning to shoot a bow and arrow

Kyra learning to shoot a bow and arrow

Daddy and his baby girl

Fun time in the sandbox

Our Sailor returns from Haiti

Jason' ship as it came into view at the pier

Maning the Rails

Brother and Sissy waiting for their Daddy's Return

Colorful and Patriotic

Where is my daddy?

Link to media coverage of return of Jason's ship

http://www.wvec.com/home/USS-Fort-McHenry-returns-from-Haiti-87625512.html

Our Sailor is Home!!

So yesterday the 14th, around 1530 my husbands ship came into view and started the slow process of pulling into the pier with the help of the tug boats. There was news camera's there and photographers. Honestly, there was more media there for this 2 months of assisstance his ship provided in Haiti then when they returned from their 7 month meditteranian cruise. I am going to attempt to post some video I found online of the ships return from Haiti yesterday.
Aedan and Kyra were both pretty excited and it was difficult to contain them while waiting for the ship to get secured so the sailors could come ashore. Aedan kept saying, "I wanna pick up my daddy," and Kyra was saying, "daddy home, daddy home."
Finally, Jason got to come off the ship. We said our quick hello's, hugged and kissed and pretty much immediately packed the car up and left. First, we went out to dinner at Texas Road House. I told Jason he could get whatever he wanted to eat since he had been on the ship for 7 months then home 30 days and then on the ship again for almost 9 weeks eating ship food. He got a 16 oz ribeye and boy did he savor it. After dinner was over with we went to Target and picked up a few things and then we came home. So fascinating huh? Its just nice to be in eachothers precense. We don't actually have to do anything fancy.
Jason has duty tomorrow but then he is off after turnover wednesday through Sunday. So it will be some nice time together as a family. Thankfully, I do not have to work again another week so that won't interfer with spending some time together as a family.
So for now we are just readjusting as a family. I have to say so far this time the adjusting is going smoother than it normally does when he has been gone for 7 months. I was excited to get him home but honestly I wasn't as nervous as I was when he returned from our previous two seven month deployments. I would venture to guess I wasnt as nervous because he was gone for 9 weeks this time as opposed to 7 months and it was less time away from eachother.

Remembering my Grandma Beverly Lutz 11/28/36-3/14/2008

Today not only does my husband come home but it is also the 2 year anniversary of when my Grandma Bev passed away. Jason and I was enduring our first deployment together at this time and I was very pregnant with my daughter Kyra (8 months).
Honestly, when I moved back to Ohio for this deployment in October of 2007, I told my mom later on that I worried about Grandma because she seemed more forgetful and withdrawn. She just didn't seem her normal self at least in my opinion. I even told my husband in an email before we found out Grandma was sick that I had a gut feeling that something was going on and I feared she wouldn't be around much longer.
Grandma always loved to get together as family. She liked when we all gathered for holidays, birthdays and just because. She would make dinners (boy could she cook) and my mom and I along with Aedan would come over and eat with her. She was so good with her grand babies and loved on them whenever she could. She was also a very caring and generous person and could get along with pretty much anyone. If grandma didn't like you there was a pretty good reason as to why she didn't. I can remember when the social work club I was part of in undergraduate school adopted a family through social services and bought for them for Christmas even though Grandma struggled some months she gave me $5 towards buying for this family.
When Grandma was in the nursing home; I would bring Aedan to visit her. She always had a room full of visitors between family and friends. Shortly before she passed, I remember her asking me to put Aedan in her lap and she hugged and kissed on him and said "you know how much I love you don't you?" I think she knew her time was coming.
When Grandma had gotten to the point where we almost lost her a few times; the decision was made to put her in hospice. I have to tell you that watching this whole experience unfold was life changing for me. I think Hospice is just an amazing program. I never thought as a social worker that is something I could do but seeing what the social worker did and watching how they helped out family what just amazing and one day I hope I can help in a similar way. They gave us a blue book on death and dying and different stages people go through in the dying process. Boy did my grandma go through those stages in perfect order. As in and out of lucidity as grandma was you could see the pure happiness on her face when the ambulance brought her home for the hospice program. Family helped care for her around the clock. She ended up passing away in the same bed and same room that her mother did. My mom was with her when she passed away.
The funeral was beautiful. I remember rubbing my big pregnant belly after the service and the funeral director asking if I was okay. He was afraid I was going into labor. Jason was pretty upset that he was deployed and couldn't be at the funeral. Him and my grandma got pretty close. Its quite funny because in the beginning when I first started dating Jason my grandma didn't like him because of what a few others had told her. When she finally met him I remember her telling my mom what a nice guy he was and she didn't see any truth to the things other people had said about him.
I hoped throughout this process that grandma would be alive when our daughter Kyra was born. Unfortunately, Grandma passed away in the early morning on March 14, 2008. Kyra was born April 1, 2008 at 9:10 p.m. in the same hospital and on the same floor as where Grandma was in ICU a few times. Originally our daughters name was just going to be Kyra Anya Insley. However, both Jason and I wanted to honor my grandma is some way. So we surprised my mom and named her Kyra Beverly Anya Insley. My mom realized it when they brought Kyra out in the baby crib at the hospital and she read the name.
So today is a bittersweet day. I get my husband back safe and sound for the 3rd time and also today we celebrate the life of my Grandma Beverly Lutz. If i was in Ohio I would visit her grave site but since I am in Virginia I will think of her today and the great woman she was and try to be a little more like her.