What We Do For Entertainment

I guess you could say that the start of the deployment is official now. How can I tell? Well, on every deployment, the guys do something to entertain themselves. Last cruise it was "funny moustaches". (Below)

This cruise ..........

What do you think??

Nat's Visit - Day 3

We took Nat to the beach. The first part of the beach that we went to was at Ft. Story and so it was peaceful and quiet.

We thought that we'd break him in easy before we exposed him to the tourist section of the beach. The picture below is of a "Mermaid's Purse". It is actually a skate (like a stingray) egg.

They recently built a memorial to Naval Aviation near the boardwalk. In the background between the flags, is a statue of a woman. She represents the women who wait and watch for their sailor to come home.

Some of the signs posted at the oceanfront.
I think Nat was kind of surprised at everything that can be seen on the beach. We call it "the zoo".

I probably shouldn't post this photo, but I will anyway, with an explanation....

Nat wanted to get his picture taken with some good-lookin' girls on the beach. We saw these two girls and Nat just randomly asked if he could get his picture taken with them. (Didn't realize how young they were until after it was already done)

MEANWHILE.... what you don't see in the background is a woman watching the whole thing and then when I was taking the picture, apparently this woman was kicking at her husband who was sitting in his beach chair. She was furious and trying to get her husband to do something. I would guess that the woman had a word with her two daughters about getting their pictures taken with strange men on the beach.

Ya'll come back now!!

Nat's Visit Day 2

Jamestown, VA

Colleen & Kim posing with Pocahontas

Nat in the Jamestown Chapel

Captain John Smith

The Glass House

Magnolia tree

Nat's Visit

In the middle of June, we drove up to Petersburg, VA where we met Kirk's brother Nat. He and three of his students drove down from Washington D.C. where they were attending an FFA Conference.

Nat and his students live in Oregon. The girls couldn't get over the tree's and greenery. I guess it is something that we kind of take for granted.

Colleen, Nat, Kim, & Allen at the Petersburg Battlefield.

The entrance to the tunnel that was built during one of the famous Civil War battles.
Kelby resting on a cannon.
This is the start of a basket like the ones that colonists made to carry various items.
Yorktown, VA"What do you see Kelby?"

Colleen, Nat, Alan and Kim at the lake in Yorktown.

Levi
The kid's favorite creek at Yorktown.
Kirk & Nat cooling their feet


How many turtles can you see?

Another Adventure Begins

One of our little traditions is to go sit on the rocks at the harbormaster building on Ft. Story and watch the ship leave.

The kids love to climb around on the rocks. The moss makes them a little bit slippery though.
The ship

Nellysa
Kelby

Bye Dad!

It is sad to watch the ship leave, and some people wonder why we go and watch. It's just something that we've done since Kirk started going to sea. I think it helps the kids and I to actually see that Kirk is leaving on the ship. When we don'twatch the ship, I always wonder if they actually pulled away from the pier or if they are still in port. Kind of silly, but it's just something we've done for 20 years.

Class of 2007

The Graduate

The whole family (except Clancy)
"Grandpa Bishop" & Levi
The Ocean Lakes Class of 2007 seated in the Convention Center. There were 504 graduates in the class and there were approximately 4,000 friends & family in the audience.
Allie & Levi -- Graduates! Clint, Nellysa, Kirk, Grandpa Bishop, Kelby, Dale (Clint's Dad)
Proud family
"Enough with the pictures, Mom"
"Wait, just one more!"
We made it through another graduation!!