Catch-up

So, working backwards...

Joy is still pregnant. Aiden assured me today in the car that Madaline Elizabeth will arrive on Saturday, Aug. 28th. Of course, I think his prophetic words were at least in part influenced by our planned Daddy-Aiden sleepover tomorrow night.

Joy is doing well. She maintains a wry sense of humor despite the obvious discomfort and desire for this baby to come into this world. What can I say? Our babies don't like to come out on their own. Induction is scheduled for the 2nd, but for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is mama's comfort, the sooner the better.

In other news, I just got back from deployment. It was fairly short in that I caught the tail end of FARRAGUT's deployment. That being said, it was operational and very busy. FARRAGUT left January 2nd for 5th Fleet operations (Middle East). I flew out and met her June 7th in Bahrain. Here she is below underway doing her thing.

FARRAGUT (DDG 99) did a lot of CTF-151 anti-piracy operations and did very well. She had five "pirate disruptions." that's the vernacular we're using now. Anyway, a dead pirate is a good pirate I suppose...

In all seriousness, piracy is a very complex issue with the US playing a very large role. It's very interesting in that so many countries have vested economic interests in protecting the sea lanes from piracy that you get some strange bedfellows. Chinese, Iranian, Indian and other nation warships were not uncommon to be seen in our area of operations. Granted they didn't operate under our command structure, but I mention it merely to punctuate the seriousness of the threat on the international system that you find in the Horn of Africa and Gulf of Aden nations that are enemies are at least adversarial at times dealing with each other in close proximity on professional and regular basis. FARRAGUT also did some support for the carrier in support of OEF operations. I'll leave it at that. Finally, on our way back, we had two brief stops in Lisbon, Portugal and Santander, Spain under the banner of "theater security cooperation." Now, as Chief Engineer, I spent most of my time inport working, getting the plan up and running, overseeing repairs to one of our generators, and re-fueling. But, when I did get out (briefly) I saw some amazing things. I hope to bring Joy back to Lisbon one day.

Being a Department Head is busy and challenging. I'm in charge of the Engineering Department with about 6 officers and 6 chiefs, as well as 4 divisions and 60 plus sailors under me. It's an awesome responsibility. While Joy (and I) are still adjusting to the long hours and heavy demands, it's also very exciting and rewarding to be able to have a tangible impact on young sailors' lives and the life of a US warship. But, life is extremely BUSY...even moreso back in the US where there are inspections and maintenance and no rest for the weary!

Aiden's 1st day of school: Here he is strolling in with his mama.
Apparently I'm the only one having a hard time with Aiden going to school. Joy is ecstatic. Aiden is thrilled (and totally unemotional about it.) Just me and Emma miss him. However, it's been quite a blessing for me to get so much father-daughter time with my sweet girl.
Here, Aiden's teacher, Miss Laura, shows him where to hang his backpack and lunch box.
These two have their sweet moments. Emma asks for her brother throughout the day. I'm blessed that they genuinely care for each other so much. Aiden is doing very well with school. He is learning to read, improve his writing, making crafts, loving recess, and even chasing girls! Some girl named Isabella currently has his eye!
I'm not sure what I did to get this look from Emma. I think she was trying to beat me in a stare contest. I guess she got the silly gene, too.
Just playing and dancing.
pool time! Aiden, Emma and Mama enjoyed many hot Florida afternoons trying to stay cool with our lanai and kiddie pools, his and hers.
Monkey see, Monkey do. She does everything he does...good, and bad.
Case and point. For the record, I was deployed during this time. If I had to venture I'd blame Grand-daddy. Just sayin' , Dave.
Aiden is taking Emma for a run...Aiden loves to run on the Wii system. Emma loves to do whatever big brother is doing.
There's always time to be silly.
Oh, did I mention we bought a new house?!! Florida has offered us something that Coronado or Monterey never did: home ownership. Joy has done an amazing job moving by herself, settling in, and getting everything set up. Navy wives truly have the hardest job in the Navy. It's a big house, which is nice. It's about 25 mins from work and close enough to shopping, beach, and zoo for the kids to have plenty to do. Aside from Comcast's lockdown on my neighborhood I have no complaints. It's great to be in your own home. (even if it's only been a few weeks :)). I have at least 18 months here with every intent to get another ship out of Jacksonville/Mayport for the following 18 months for 3 years total in Florida.
Emma playing with her new tri-cycle from her 2nd birthday in May. Aiden showing her how to do it.
Peak-a-boo!
Ever the guardian
And yes, they're still goofballs!

Alright, pray for Joy. Here due date is TODAY...no signs of labor yet. We're all ready. we'll keep you posted. check back here and on facebook. We'll let you know soon!

Best Wishes,

Dan(iel) for Joy, Aiden, Emma, and soon, Madaline