First, RJ had his first day of school. I made him a t-shirt that I hope to photograph him in every year to help show how big he is getting.
Then Ryleigh had her first day of school on Wednesday.
Wednesday morning, Jip checked into the Temporary Personnel Unit at Norfolk Naval Base. He was issued plane tickets to fly to San Diego, got his orders signed so he'd stop using leave, and then headed home. Jip and I got to have a quiet lunch together at Lone Star Steakhouse--a place we would never be able to take the kids without a huge fight. We had a little time to kill before picking up the kids from school, so we stopped by a prospective gym and signed the kids up for trial gymnastics (Ryleigh) and karate (RJ) classes. Then it was time to pick up kids and get home to absorb the last few hours with Jip.
Thursday morning, Jip and RJ said their good-byes before I took RJ to school.
Then Ryleigh and I took Jip to the airport.
Thursday evening, the kids and I sat down in front of the Dad Tracker and discussed different time zones, how the boat will get to Virginia from California, and more. We will be building a paper chain while Jip is gone--each night, the kids will take turns adding a link.
Jip made it safely to the ship late Friday afternoon. He is settled into a temporary state room (alone, for now) until he gets to his real state room after the person he relieves disembarks sometime in October. He doesn't have email access yet, but he's been able to borrow someone else's computer to check email and FB instant messages. Jip said he can already tell that it is going to be a challenging job, but a very rewarding one.
On Saturday the kids and I went to BrickHeadZ, a Lego-building club/facility, for open build. We plan to make it a regular Saturday thing--we can even bring in lunches and hang out for as long as they have open build. Our first Saturday, we made it about two hours before we got hungry and cranky. But, it was a productive two hours!
We enjoyed some quality friend time with my long-time friend Patti on Sunday. Jip and John were on their first ship together (Nimitz) and Patti and I have been friends ever since. We're so grateful we are finally in the same area again!
We are looking forward to trying to establish a routine this week. We have gymnastics and karate on Thursday. Then Friday, assuming we have good weather, their school is having an outdoor movie night, so that should be fun for meeting other kids and parents. As always, we'll let you know how it goes!
Until next time, cheers!
