DIV 313 SHIP 14

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Permalink Reply by Blair on September 27, 2008 at 1:25am

I'm here with an update, although not much to relay. Eric started SCC (basic seamanship) on Tuesday. It is held a night so we haven't heard much from him due to his new schedule, but he did call tonight. He did say he was a little tired as he isn't used to being in class until midnight, especially after having duty during the day too. He said he will be moving to different barracks after completing this school next week. He wants some of his regular clothes, but with all the moving around, I'm worried the box will get lost in the shuffle.
They are/have switched to winter blues now. I believe he said in another couple of days, but his ship is already wearing them due to some inspection they had. He wasn't overly fond of them--said they were hot, itchy and needing to be tailored for the second time due to being big. I'm sure he won't be complaining once the cold weather kicks in.

I just found out tonight that I'm going to be a grandma. My daughter Whitney and her husband Corey are expecting their first child and we are thrilled! I think I will be signing up for those frequent flyer miles now, as I forsee lots and lots of trips to the east coast.

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Permalink Reply by shelly on September 27, 2008 at 6:46am

Congratulations Blair!!! On the new grand baby,Glad Eric is doing well, I love the dress blues, but I don't have to wear them, I want a picture of both my kids in there dress blues, I will have to get that done if I get them home for Thanksgiving, Chris is still on hold, hopefully next week, Not hearing a lot from him, Hi to all!!! Everyone have a great weekend. God Bless

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Permalink Reply by Jacqueline Manning on September 27, 2008 at 3:25pm

That is WONDERFUL Blair. Enjoy them, I think they grow faster than our children do. I have been a Nanna for almost nine years already!

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Permalink Reply by Pam on September 27, 2008 at 10:27pm

Congratulations, Grandma Blair!! That is exciting news! Curtis has not mentioned wearing the dress blues yet. He had to pull a 12a - 4a watch last night and then muster at 6a this morning. Ever since he got unlimited texting, he has been talking to his sister a lot more. (Even remembered that her birthday was coming up...sweet 16!) I went to the grocery store to buy a couple of boxes of Pop Tarts for him and ended up spending $50 worth of food to mail off to him....what??? he said he was starving!!! What's a mother to do?? (I know...tell him to go eat in the chow hall!!)
Well, he and his roommate seem to be getting along very well. Curtis bought the Xbox and his roommate bought the TV. Holly, Curtis did pass test #2..(I did not realize that it was a "killer"). He told me the night before the test that he was not feeling confident about it, and when I called him on Thursday to see how he did...he told me AGAIN that "he failed, has to take the retest tomorrow and has mandatory study hall for 2 weeks." I was crushed!! Until..."Sike, I passed, Mom, with a 84" as he and his roommate laugh in the background. I don't know how much more of this I can take!! He has 2 tests this coming week. Pray for me...and him! Last weekend, while we were in Melbourne (for 2 soccer games), he called just to tell me that he was at Six Flags. It is so nice to be able to talk to him whenever he wants to talk to me! ha!
I hope that all of your boys are doing well in their various A schools. Take care!

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Permalink Reply by Monica Jackson on September 28, 2008 at 1:50am

Congratulations Blair! That's so awesome and please send my congrat's to Whitney and Corey as the embark on the new journey of being parents! I agree with Eric, it is way too soon for dress blues. Do you know if your kids are coming home for Thanksgiving or if you and Dana are Virginia bound?

Shelly, a friend of a friend had two sailors and in their blues, she had them stand back to back each looking at the camera, it was a great photo.

When Kenny comes home, we are going for a family photo session. And I especially want one of Kenny kneeling on one knee with his eight year old brother standing there and Kenny puts the sailor hat lit' brother. I think that would be a great photo op too.

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Permalink Reply by Holly Powell on September 28, 2008 at 8:19pm

Congratulations Blair for being a grandma. What an exciting time it will be.

Shelly, I saw the pictures. How darling. Tristin is adorable.

Pam, glad our guys are doing well, so far. Matt called rattling off all kinds of junk food he wanted me to send. I finally told him I would send money & he could buy his own.( I still have a package to send with clothes, shoes,etc, so you know I will send some stuff.) He is starving also. Said it was a pain to go to the mess hall. I said that he needed to go there more often. Kids!! He says the food is junk--I told him he needed balanced meals instead of junk food., and I was sure that it was much more healthy than what he had in his room.
Monica--you stay busy with 6 kids. It keeps you young==Right?

Jacqueline--hope you are feeling better.How is your shoulder doing? At one point they talked about doing that surgery on me. I was in pain all the time. Then I went to the athritis doc & the combination of meds he put me on helped my shoulder.( my shoulder wasn't the reason I went to him.) I am so sorry you are in so much pain. I feel for you. I have rheumatoid arthritis, so some days are better than others for me. But, I keep on keeping on.

Take care & have a good week. Hopefully it will cool down by the end of the week. It is in the upper 80's now.

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Permalink Reply by Monica Jackson on September 29, 2008 at 12:13am

You got that right, six kids are a handful. Kenny and I talked last night about Code Pink (women's pre-emptive strike for peace). Apparently, Kenny had an encounter at O'Hare heading to Texas and doesnt want to have another one when he leaves Texas. I had to look them up, wow! Eddie (Chico State baby) also called last night and he was real emotional so we were on the phone nearly an hour. Apparently his birth family are not in touch. He said "mom, the only reason they were around was because you would call and invite them". You know we always think we are doing the right thing, but who knows. But he said repeatly, "I have a real family in Roseville who loves me unconditionally and a true blue brother, Kenny". I asked if he was drinking......he laughed and said only water. The other 18 year old that we did not give birth to nor adopt but tells every one that I am his mom moved to Utah with his dad. That was a good move for Eric (not Blair's Eric) although I would adopt him in a heart beat. Hopefully, all three of the boys are home for Thanksgiving. We miss them.

We made it to the concert in the park tonight, that was nice. Kenny called while we were there and it was loud so the call was short but he told me that he talked to Eric today.

Blair, you will have to let us know if you will be a "Nana" or a "Grandma". Those are important details.

Looks like I will be making a trip in Oct to Chicago. The actually meeting is in Evanston which is close to Great Lakes. When all the plans confirm, I hope to drive there to take the boys out to dinner or if they have shopping to do, etc......I can take them for that. I dont know if Kenny will be there or not but still the same, I can still take Curtis, Eric, Matt and whoever else might want to go so long as I have enough seatbelts.

Jacqueline, please let us know how you are doing? I hope your husband is home this week. Take care of yourself.

Pam, check your PM.

Take care ladies and here is to a great week!

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Permalink Reply by Renee on September 29, 2008 at 7:29pm

Hi all,
Just a quick update for now. Justin went to phase 2 last Wednesday. If he continues to do well on his tests (test every other day) then he should graduate around October 21. I'm going to miss his "21st" b'day. :-( After leave he has to report to Bremerton, WA sometime around November 6th. His ship deploys sometime beginning of January. I can't say where, but let's just say it's not someplace we would want any of our boys going..........so I am scared to death. Going to try to save up the money to fly out and spend time with him prior to his deployment, since work won't let me off for when his ship comes back in 6-7months (busy time at work, nobody allowed vacation time). He will be on the USS Stennis. He was praying for Virginia, but the goofball listed his 3 choices as VA, VA, VA...............so duh, VA was full of ABEs and since he listed no 2nd choice he got sent cross country........ok, well gotta run and start dinner for Jeremy.......hope all is well with everyone and God Bless you and the boys..

Love, Renee

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Permalink Reply by Blair on September 29, 2008 at 9:21pm

Hi all,
Thanks for the congrats! I want to be called Nana, but my mom is Nana to my kids, so will have to come up with something else. I don't like grandma much, so we'll just have to see. We should actually have a due date on Thursday after her Dr. appt.
Still not hearing much from Eric, but his night classes should end this week, so maybe he will have a short breather before the next school and have more than a couple of minutes to talk!
Sounds like Renee's son Justin will be the first to hit the fleet. I haven't heard of anyone else getting stationed yet. His schedule sounds pretty normal as far as him getting to his new base and then his deployment. Thats just about how it went for my son-in-law back when he got out of A school.
Renee-I have a pretty good idea where Justin might be deployed, and it really isn't that bad. Remember, they are on a ship, mostly out in the ocean, which is way better than marching over sand. They do get liberty a few times at various ports and its really an experience for them, especially this first deployment and he will actually enjoy it. They all seem to somewhat enjoy the first deployment. Its all of the following deployments that they dread, but mostly for the married guys. Heck, the single guys live on the ship even back at base, so its not that big a deal to them. My son in law listed all his choices for the west coast and got Virginia, so I don't think those choices mean a thing. I think they just let them go through the motion of picking. I haven't heard of anyone actually getting what they picked.

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Permalink Reply by Jacqueline Manning on September 30, 2008 at 7:16am

Hi all,
Hubby should be in Thurs or Friday. Then he will go back to Omaha for 2 weeks to finish up a few things there. Then on to Little Rock. I am hoping to be able to join him there. Might get to meet Shelly after all. We still have to get a contractor in here to put a new roof on the house (major damage from Ike). Staples come out today. I am not sure if I am excited or not. Each one have become very red and irritated.
I have asked James many times if there is anything he wants me to send him (Momma's goodies) and he says "heck no I am still losing weight and looking good, but you can send some I am sure my roomates will eat them" HaHa He loves the base, school is going GREAT, and he should have a graduation date soon. It is turning off cool here this week, making me think of the approaching Holidays.
Blair,
I have 5 grands, 8 yr old 5 yr old 3 yr old 2 yr old and 10 month old. Out of the 4 who can speak, they all call me Nanna except the 3 yr old and he calls me Nanny. The other 3 try to correct him but he pretty much stands his ground.
Renee,
None of us wants any Sailor in harms way, but that is the nature of the Military. Justin should get extra pay for sea duty and possibly, hazzard pay. And being stuck on a ship his bank account should grow nicely. If you get the chance and you havent already watched it, find the video "Carrier"
Pam,
I have my boxes now too. Wish I had gotten them before I shipped James his clothes. It cost me $85!!! And he said that once he gets his duty station he heard he has to go through Phases all over again.
Hard to believe it was a month yesterday we were all in Great Lakes!

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Permalink Reply by shelly on September 30, 2008 at 7:59am

Hi Jacqueline, It would be so nice to see you, Let me know when you are in Little Rock!! I'm glad you are healing up good, its harder as we get older, Not that we are old, just feel that way some days, Renee, My daughter has been overseas for 4 months now, she said its not as bad as they say, I get e mails from her, and every now and them a phone call, Just keep praying , and know they are in Gods hands, And be very proud of them, I know we all are!!!! God Bless you all.

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Permalink Reply by Monica Jackson on September 29, 2008 at 10:25pm

Blair, I think you have a wonderful support team here on N4M's who can determine what other ways that Grandma is said (different languages, etc). I will start with research on that tonight!

Holly, Today was good in the sense that I have the Principal and Vice Principal who acknowledged the situation that we are up against but they are going to do what they can to help. I think we have plan in place and will reconvene in four weeks. Thank you again for all your support and expertise. You are a Godsend!

Jacqueline, you see something in the mail by Thu. It went out on Sat.

Pam, I sent Curtis a cute but funny card. I think he will enjoy it. It will be his second card from me (1st one was in bootcamp).

Kenny said that he went from having the most mail of those in bootcamp to have zero mail of those in A School. Oh no, I said "you haven’t started A school yet, that’s why"......he laughed.

Night Night ladies.

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