Mike Gets His Orders

Mike was with his 9 classmates when the Petty Officer walked in the room and announced he had their orders. Of the 10 guys in the class, there had been wishlists of San Diego, Washington, Virginia, but Mike had listed Japan as his top choice. The Petty Officer handed out all of the orders, but didn't give one to Mike. A little worried, Mike asked if that meant he wouldn't be leaving at the same time as the other guys. The Petty Officer told him he would check into it.

A while later, he called Cortese and asked him if he had heard of IA (Individual Augmentee). When Mike said no, the Petty Officer explained that his orders were to train with the army in Connecticut for 2 weeks, whereupon he would be sent to work with the Marines on the frontlines in Afghanistan. Mike admits this scared him, but he accepted his assignment.

After the Petty Officer made sure Mike had swallowed this whole story, he gave him his real orders. Mike is headed to Sasebo, Japan. Mike's Grandpa Welch was assigned to the same area when he was in the US Navy many years ago. According to the map, this is in the southwest region of Japan, across the sea from South Korea. He will be assigned to the USS Essex, which is currently at sea in the East China Sea. He will be heading out just after the beginning of the year. He's very excited to start his new career in this way.

He definitely had us sweating it a little when he played this same trick on his parents. I'm so proud to know that he is serving his country and fighting to protect our freedoms. The 4th of July, Veterans Day, and 9/11 will always be more important to me than they already are.
Mike will hopefully be home for Christmas and New Years before he heads out. I'll keep the blog posted with updates as I get them.










This is the USS Essex, an Amphibious Assault Ship. Mike will be one of those guys running around on the deck of the ship fueling up the planes. He says on an AAS it is too small for planes to land on, so he will be working with vertical planes like harriers and helicopters.

Sasebo is in the Fukuoka region that you can see on the map here. It looks like a beautiful city. I hope we get to visit it sometime while Mike is there.

The Girls Hit Twilight

Rachel, Mom and Rachel's friend Ivy, after reading the Twilight Series, couldn't wait to see the movie. Rachel and Ivy giggled throughout the movie (you know, in all the "romantic" scenes). Mom enjoyed the movie also, but from a more mature place.

We laughed and sighed and oohed and aahed. Rachel checked to see if Mom was crying...nope, not during this movie. It was fun to just hang out with the girls, though. We all shared a popcorn, even though Mom grossed out that the girls were dipping theirs in nacho cheese (yuck).

Now, what will we do until the movie about the second book comes out? What a dilemna!

Celebrity Solstice Inaugural Sailing

First of all, sorry these pictures are in a weird order, but I'll explain as we go.

We boarded the Celebrity Solstice on Monday around noon and spent the day exploring the ship. It's an amazingly beautiful ship with many things to do and a lot to see. That night, we ate at Blu, a specialty restaurant offering a healthier fare. We also ate at Bistro 5, which has crepes and Panini's. The evening show, Solstice, was so awesome. They had people flying all around, acrobats, etc. It was so cool. We also went to the Comedy Club where we laughed so hard. We spent time at the Blackjack table as well.

Tuesday, we putted on the golf, saw the Hot Glass Show (I've never seen anything like it), did a tour of the bridge, danced at Quasar, donated more to the casino, etc. All day we could see Florida off in the distance, since this was an inaugural and we didn't really go anywhere.

Wednesday, we were sad to leave the ship, but happy to head home.

Our tour of the bridge, with the 2nd officer.

Marty and Michelle with Dan Hanrahan, President and CEO of Celebrity Cruises

Marty and Michelle with Dondra, VP of Marketing

Yes, this is real grass. Pretty cool, huh?

Tastings at the Specialty Restaurants

This is Cream of Mushroom Soup - MMMMM!

Michelle didn't quite understand the ant design on the floor - Weird!

The lobby of the ship

The fountain by the pool

Team Earth - where you learn of conservation efforts around the world

Our friends, Diane and BJ Shelton, from Virginia.

The kids playrooms

Sports Court

Hot Glass Show - 2300 degrees - they make it right in front of you

Private hammocks and cabanas all around the pools

A real tree growing in the middle of the ship, leaves were dropping and it has sprinklers, so we know its real

Don't jump!

This is our cabin - Deluxe Oceanview with balcony

It was so much fun. I can't wait to do a "real" cruise on this ship.

Marty and Michelle Get Away

We left San Antonio on Saturday, November 15th and headed to Ft. Lauderdale. The plane on both flights was so empty, we each got a row to ourselves. We had a layover in Tampa and they had these cute little airplanes for kids. We couldn't resist acting young. We stayed at a timeshare in Pompano Beach. It was really nice and comfortable. We loved the heated pool and "HOT" jacuzzi. We didn't get out until we were fully cooked.

























Sunday morning, we woke up (not too early) and went in search of cheap breakfast. We found McDonalds. Then we headed south to Pembroke Pines. Michelle wanted to see her old stomping ground. We went to the old condo at 1196 Hiatus Road. This is a picture of the pool where Mike and Nate learned to love water and a picture of our actual condo. It all looked exactly the same.













Next we drove by Flamingo Villas where we had our townhouse. It's a gated community, so we couldn't get in, but I took a picture of the sign. The other picture is the hospital where Nate and Rachel were born - Memorial West.













Next we headed out to Everglades Holiday Park to see the alligators. It has been fixed up a bit and the water level was very high. No alligators were close by. We wanted to take an airboat ride through the glades, but hadn't brought jackets and it was pretty chilly that day. We went into the little zoo area where they have alligators they have rescued from the swamps. This guy was showing how to wrestle an alligator. Crazy - he only had 3 fingers on his left hand. HMM - I wonder why!

This is a picture for all of you who want to see a true fire ant hill. In Texas, they are smaller than this. These were everywhere around Everglades park.

Next we headed to the beach. We walked along Hollywood Boardwalk and happened upon a Turkish festival. These girls were dancing and it was fun to watch. They had turkish food for sale, but the smell kind of drove us away. I don't know what it was, but it wasn't appealing to me.