Time Off...Time to Catch Up!!!

So recently it's been pretty darn busy and I haven't done too well keeping up! But I have a four day weekend over Thanksgiving and some time off for Christmas before the upcoming deployment, so I'll try to catch up! With love, Karin Sue and Callie

VFA 103 Jolly Rogers

Well, it's official! I finished the Fleet Replacement Squadron (VFA-106 Gladiators) after 15 months of training and a knee surgery later! I found out while I was on the U.S.S. Harry Truman doing carrier qualifications (CQ), that I would be stationed in Virginia Beach with the VFA-103 Jolly Rogers for the next 3 years! I was really excited, because it was my first choice of duty station AND fleet squadron. Basically, that means that I am in an operational squadron and deployable. Turns out, they just returned from deployment at the end of July and we are going back out again January 2nd. Some of the guys already in the squadron are a little disappointed about the short turn-around, but all of us new guys are really amped up! Finally, after 3 years in training, we are headed over to the middle east to help in our efforts to end terrorism. We'll leave here in January and it takes about a month to get to the Middle East, and then spend 5 months supporting our brave troops on the ground. We'll be living on the "Ike" the U.S.S. Eisenhower. As soon as I get more details I will be sure to forward email addresses, and of course I can get 'snail mail' on the boat! Stay tuned, I'll add pictures soon!

Updates

I know I have been horrible at keeping up to date on this blog, but I promise there is some recent news to come soon!

A Trip for the Girls <3

May 28-29th, 2009

What a perfect finale for my MI trip! Becky and I drove up to the Mackinac Bridge to meet my mom and stay for a couple nights! We left Wednesday afternoon (Callie got to stay with Aunt Sandy and Uncle Bob, who finally learned that she DOES get to sleep on the bed and eat people food :), and had a great drive up! We got in pretty late, but we still beat mom, so we hung out in our hotel room and waited! Our hotel was awesome, the Best Western Harbour Pointe...and our room was looking right over Lake Michigan! Mom finally got there and we talked for a while, but we were all pretty sleepy from the drive and anxious for the next 2 days so we got some shut-eye!

The next day was pretty foggy and misty, so we decided to spend it at Mackinaw City doing some much needed shopping! They have the neatest downtown area with great "Yooper" shops and food! We went shop to shop, finding trinkets at all of them, but not really buying anything, and then stopped for lunch where my mom and Becky split an ENORMOUS turkey leg, and I had a heaping pile of BBQ ribs! Us Yooper girls can eat! We wanted to see the movie, "Night at the Museum 2" and there's only one real small theater around so we decided to attend the night showing. First we grabbed a couple drinks at the Keyhole bar down the street! The bartender was great and we told her to wait for us because "we'd be back!" The movie was SO funny, even better than the first! Then, as promised, we headed back to the Keyhole. There just happened to be 3 guys drinking there that night and we ended up talking and drinking with them and picking out music on the jukebox! They were all teachers somewhere in MI and made this an annual trip! It was a great night!!!

Sunrise from our hotel room

The next day was the big trip to the island! We were so excited, and just hoping for better weather! We got it! It was a little cool, but ended up being sunny all day and perfect weather for an island trip! We took the ferry boat over, which is SO fun because we all love ferry boats! We arrived over there and immediately rented beach cruisers to ride around on since there aren't any motor vehicles on the whole island! Just bikes, feet, and horses! We rode the whole perimeter (8 miles!) and took our time, stopping to take in the sights or just to rest on the warm rocks by the water! It was a perfect day! When we got back around, we all had a little sweet tooth and knew there was homemade Mackinac Island fudge waiting for us! We all bought a chunk and pigged out! It's the best! Then we found one of those old time photography shops and none of us had ever had our pictures taken! We decided on the "Saloon girls" theme and had a blast getting in costume, and maybe a little into character! We had lunch at the cutest little restaurant, The Pink Pony, and did a little more shopping! It was a perfect day!

That night we ordered in and just had some 'girl time!' It was such a great time, and I miss them both so much and can't wait for the next visit!!! <3>

The Grand Hotel, Mackinac Island

A Memorable Memorial Day <3

May 25, 2009
I am SO LUCKY to have the family I do! Driving all the way up to MI was so great and seeing my old friends was fantastic! Then, on Memorial Day, my Aunt Sandy and Uncle Bob had a cookout at their house and almost my whole family on my mom's side came for it! Papa Horses and Pat, Grandma DeDe, Uncle Wendell and Aunt Carol, Jim, Bre, and the girls Isabelle and Audrey, and even Jeremy drove all the way from Detroit for the day! Becky and I of course went together and it was such a great time! The food was awesome, (Becky made homemade brownies from scratch and I think Jimmy had about 8 :), burgers, potato salad, pasta salad, chips and dip, the whole works! This was the first time I had met Audrey (almost 1 year old now), and she is SO beautiful! We played ladder golf and had TONS of laughs! It was so overwhelming in the best way possible!

The next few days I got a chance to spend a little one-on-one time with my grandparents. The next night, Grandma DeDe, Great Aunt Pat, Aunt Sandy, Becky and I went out for pizza at grandma's favorite joint: Bimbos. The whole wait staff there knows her and her late husband, PaPa Hank from years of eating pizza and dancing next door! After, we rented Slumdog Millionaire and went over to her new apartment and ate candies and watched it! It was so great to see her finally settled in back home!

The next morning, I headed over to PaPa Horses and Pat's house for breakfast. We sat out on the porch and ate and talked and talked! Then we took the 4-wheelers out to go meet their new mule, Bodacious Badass, and visit with the horse, Trudy. After, we took the 4-wheelers all through the fields and saw a bunch of wild turkeys! They have the most beautiful land and it was so great to play outside again!

Later that day, Aunt Sandy and I took a trip to the Air Zoo in Kalamazoo! It's a great indoor museum of airplanes dated back to the beginning of flight! We saw a neat 4-D movie about a B-17 bomb raid during WWII and I got to show her what an F-14 Tomcat and an F-18 Hornet look like! We had a great lunch, and so much fun!

I miss everyone so much, and wish I could be there more, but am so grateful they made it such a special visit for me! I love you all!!! <3

Memorial Day '09

Such beauties!

Our first meeting!

My PaPa, Pat, and me! :)

Sandra Dee and I at the Air Zoo!

The Big Wedding and Reunion!

May 23, 2009
That Saturday, we celebrated the wedding of a great friend from college, Jess Hart. We played basketball together (rather, we sat on the bench together :), and had SO much fun at GVSU! She has been dating Scott Tucker since I can remember and they are SUCH a great couple! The wedding was beautiful; classy and traditional, and in a gorgeous church in Grand Haven. Not only did I get to see 'Hart' and 'Tuck', but so many of my old friends were there that I hadn't seen in years! Some of them 7 years! I took one my best friends, Courtney, as my date and we went with my best friend Jaida and her long-term beau, Justin "Fitz". Everytime I turned around, there was another long-lost friend and teammate and we had a ball!!! It was such a great time, and I can't thank Hart and Tuck enough for inviting me to be present on their special day! What memories!!!

GV Basketball was definitely a presence in the wedding party!

My date, Courtney!

This was the only time we could get Hart to stop dancing for 0.3 seconds! She had the time of her life that night!!! What a beautiful bride!