Michael's Travels

I never know exactly what Mike is up to because, being in the Navy, he can't tell me when he'll be somewhere and exactly where he is at the moment. You know, security risk! So, it's a little challenging not knowing where my son is all the time, but I'm learning to handle it. The best way for me to figure out where he is, is to watch his bank account. I can see where he's withdrawn money, so at least I know where he was on that specific date. But, I have to wait until he leaves that area before he can tell me what he did there.

Here is the latest update:

Michael's ship has been in Thailand. I believe it was Chonburri. Here's his email about his time there:

"It was fun. I didn't do much but I did go to the mall and go to a ripleys Believe it or not museum, haunted house, mirror maze and 4-D movie. All for 300 Baht, which was like 20 bucks. The whole floor was ripleys. Then I went and walked around a lot and looked at stuff, bought a "From Russia With Love" "Zippo" just for looks. Almost some bootleg movies, but decided against it since I can download better quality ones for free. Played with a taser on the street. They had them and nightsticks, butterfly knifes, chinese fighting stars. Swords.
Anything you want there you can bargain it down for much cheaper on the street vendors.

Other than that, I mainly stayed on the ship and ate out in town.


Oh and I recorded two friends eating fried scorpions, that was on a cart along with grubs, grasshoppers, beetles, frogs, and something else which looked like a long huge stink bug.

It was funny.

They said it tasted like chicken."

Mike can't download pictures while on the ship, so I've asked him to send pictures after he gets back to Sasebo. When he does, I'll load them here.

Don't forget to keep in touch with him. I know he would love some contact from those he knows and loves. His email is cortesem@lhd2.navy.mil.

Until next time...

An Update on Michael

Okay, well here's the latest that he has told me:

They were in Sasebo and left there, went to Okinawa and picked up a bunch of Marines. The day they picked them up, there were so many sea bags in the chow hall, they could barely get to the food. They have now left Okinawa and are out at sea somewhere.

He says he requested a job in the pump room, because there is a lot of down time there. He is planning on doing some college courses, so he knew he'd have plenty of time to study there. A typical day for him is as follows:

He wakes up, gets dressed, shaves, and heads to the Pump Room. He then runs some bottles containing samples of fuel to get tested for water and sediment. Then back to the pump room, where he sleeps, reads and jokes around with the other guys and then sleeps some more before heading off to lunch. After lunch he runs more samples, and then can sleep or read until dinner. After dinner, he has to run more samples to be tested, then more down time. When he gets off work, he does his email, or just hangs out with the guys. He also says that during the day at work, at random times, he has to turn a valve to allow fuel through a pipe, and then turns it off again.

Sounds like a really crazy exciting job, right? He says it's not exactly what he had hoped his navy career would be like, but the money's good, he can get his education, and he's excited to visit some other countries.

He has met a few guys from the church, but they are still waiting for permission to use the chapel, so they just meet in the galley and have a lesson. There are very few members on board right now.

Here's how he described a few of the guys he's friends with:

Erskine - tall, asks a lot of questions
McPherson - short, funny without trying, speaks German
Joe Felmett - nerdy, picks up Jap girls like they are easy

The latest is that right now, Mike is doing indoc (indoctrination). It's a 3 day class where he gets out of work and they talk about things around the ship. He says he just tries to stay awake. He told this story:

Today (the first day), some kid that thought he was being helpful actually hurt himself instead. He decided to tell the XO (Executive Officer - second in command to the commanding officer) that his right shirt pocket was unbuttoned. This embarassed the supervisor. He got yelled at and then had to write a 4 page essay/speech/apology to the class and to her. It took him about an hour and a half. He says this guys job is to read all of the outgoing e-mail to make sure there are no secrets going out. Mike thought it was funny that he would probably have to read this particular email about himself and be even more embarassed.

So, that's the latest from Mike. If you would like to mail him letters, let me know and I'll get you his address.


His email is:
cortesem@lhd2.navy.mil.

I'm sure he would love some news from home.

Nate's AFJROTC Military Ball

Nate's Military Ball was held at Lackland Air Force Base on January 30, 2009. He and a group of other cadets chipped in to rent a Hummer stretch limo. They all met at one cadets house and loaded up the limo. It was really fun. They had an open bar (soda) and the music cranked up so loud that the driver had to close the divider window. The limo had a hard time getting onto the base as it had to maneuver through the security columns, but it made it.

At the ball, they enjoyed good food, dancing and a slideshow of the seniors. They partied into the late hours of the evening. They all looked so nice in their uniforms. Nate decided he didn't want to have a date so he could dance with a bunch of girls. He had a good time.

6 Flags - Fiesta Texas

After living in Texas for a year and a half, we decided it was time to hit Fiesta Texas. Some of the rides were closed for the season, but it was a little taste anyway. We may do season passes this year here instead of Sea World. It was actually a pretty warm night, so we stayed from 5pm until around 10. Nate and Rachel both invited a friend to come along and they were off on their own most of the night, while Mom and Dad hung out with Marshel and Kellee.

We rode the Teacups, the Ferris Wheel, the Scooby Doo Haunted Mansion, the swings, drove the cars. Marshel went twice on The Big Spin (true to its name) and loved that ride. We also enjoyed sledding down the man-made snow hill. A highlight of the night was meeting Bugs Bunny and Shaggy (from Scooby Doo).

Sea World New Years Eve

On New Years Eve, we headed off to Sea World. The weather was perfect, a little cool, but sunny and beautiful. It was the last day on our annual pass, so we wanted to have one last 2008 hurrah!

The kids loved feeding the dolphins and petting them. Kellee was the only one who didn't want anything to do with it. She wouldn't touch the dead fish or reach out to touch the dolphins, but they were really cool to watch and she didn't want to leave. A few of the dolphins got pretty close as they jumped up to find the fish.

Checking out the sharks, sting rays and other fish is fun too. We spent a lot of time watching the eels slink along behind fish or hide in cracks and try to bite at the passing fish.

Polar Express in 3D - Imagine the actual movie condensed into 20 minutes, but in 3-D. That was it! It was okay, the kids seemed to like it.

America's Incredible Pizza Company

With all the big kids gone off for Christmas break with their other parents, Mom and Dad took Kellee and Marshel to "America's Incredible Pizza Company". What a great place. All you can eat pizza, pasta, salad, dessert, ice cream and soda, plus games and rides. It was a lot of fun. We ate before we went in and then had dessert after we played. The kids loved the rides and we all had fun on the Go-Karts, where Dad and Marshel won 1st place. They got a lot of tickets to buy little toys and candy with. We had a good day.

Michael's visit home

Michael was only home for 6 days of Christmas break, but we loved every minute of it. We didn't want him to leave. He looked so nice in his uniform and had an obvious maturity that he hadn't had before he joined the military. It was fun having an adult child to hang out with and carry on conversations with. Marshel and Kellee were especially sad when he left.

A few days after Michael returned to Pensacola, he called to say he was going to come home again for about a week before he left for Japan. We were very excited to see him again. Mom picked him up at the airport around midnight and none of the kids knew he was home until the next day when they got home from school. Michael spent the week visiting his old teachers at Taft High School, getting his clothes dry cleaned, sharpening up his hair cut, and just hanging out with the family.

He left for Japan after a short visit with us. He is trying to immerse himself in the culture again and loves hanging out with the people. He even joined a group and went bowling with a bunch of Japanese people. He's really excited for his life as a Navy man to begin, but we really miss him here at home already. Kellee cries sometimes because she wants him to come home. Apparently we can't mention anything about his ship or job, because it's a security issue, so I will try to keep everyone up to date as much as possible.