Anchor's Aweigh: 2009

Monday, January 12, 2009

Andy.. Oh, Andy's Luck

So, as I stated in the previous post Andy was able to come home last weekend!! When he returned back to his ship on Sunday night (6:30 ish), he went to his rm. (He has his own rm right now ~ No Roomies!!) When he got there all of his bedding and pillows were thrown on the floor. Weird.. but ok. So Andy found out that when he leaves his rm he is allowed to shut his door and lock it. So, when he went to the head (toilet) he did just that. When he got back to his rm, he found out that his key to his room does not work. Yeah, he's LOCKED OUT! So he has to sit around in what he was wearing ~ Pt Shorts (like Umbro's), a white t-shirt, dress socks and dress shoes. HOT!! I know!! (I was wondering why he even went to the bathroom looking like this!!) Anyway, so he has to WAIT for someone to come and let him in. Turns out, the Master Key for that rm doesn't work either!! Uh-OH! So Andy had to borrow someone Else's PT Sweats and sweatshirt and wear those. He also had to sleep somewhere else b/c they couldn't get him in there last night. They said he would have to wait for maintenance to come in today. SO Andy calls this am and they still have not let him into his rm!! Last night, he was supposed to be shadowing watches in his dress blues and was supposed to have a personal inspection this am. Hehe kinda hard to do that looking like a SLOB! So anyway, this morning Andy couldn't go to his Indoc training (outfit) or go to breakfast (outfit, lack of layers.. VERY COLD, no cover) So he was a little agitated. Then, the person in the office let Andy know that they "sent an e-mail" to someone to let them know he needed to get into his rm. Andy was SO thrilled that they would send an e-mail and care SO much THAT HE HAS BEEN LOCKED OUT of his ROOM!! So he went back to his room and used one of his cards to break into the rm. He also decided that he better fix the door so they don't try to move his rm. He likes not having any roomies. He said NUMEROUS ppl tried to break in and wrecked their debit cards etc.. but I guess he thought he may as well give it a try while the e-mail was sitting in someones trash bin :) So he had to go to his Indoc class with only an hour left. They actually wanted to send him back to the beginning of INDOC ~ that's like ~ a week long (2 day was his last day!) !! He convinced them to let him go and take the test (told them he studied for it all weekend ~ I'da liked to have seen his nose growing when he said that! Anyway.. he took the test, got 100% and is now able to go in and out of his room :) .. Hulings luck I tell ya!

I am falling in LOVE with the word "Liberty"

Since Andy is still in what the Navy refers to as "phase 1 liberty" he is unable to leave base without 2 other Sailors. Therefore, he has not been coming home. I have also not really been going to the base as it is a 45 minute drive one way and we don't think the boys would enjoy that ride too often. HOWEVER, Andy was able to put in a request (Chit) for a temporary Phase II Liberty to come home last weekend. IT was approved! We were able to pick him up on Friday afternoon around 4:00 pm~ish and he was able to stay until Sunday night. We dropped him back off to GL at around 6:30 pm. It was SO nice to get to have Andy here. It made my being here feel more necessary. Andy said that the person in charge of approving the "Chits" told him that he would be "taking care of him" for the weekends! YEahy! I am so excited that Andy will be able to AT LEAST spend the weekends here with us until he can MOVE here! He should be on his Phase II Liberty by the end of this week. This is where he can leave the base by himself, and wear his civi clothes on base! He is also almost done with his paperwork to "live ashore". Once this is complete, and approved, he will be able to move home and go to his school, more like a regular job. That day can not come soon enough!!!

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

We Were Already Able to See Andy!

Andy called me at around 3:00pm last night and told me that he had liberty until 2100. Since he had his car at the base, he was able to leave. However, since he is still in "Phase 1" he is only able to leave with 2 other Sailors. So, the boys and I met him and 3 other Sailors at the Gurnee Mall. We ate at the Rainforest Cafe...(Which Dom LOVED...a little uneasy about the thunder-storms, but he absolutely loved all of the animals and paintings!!) Anyway, it was so great to be able to see Andy already. When you have just been away from someone for 8 weeks.. and then they leave AGAIN.. you always think the worst.. well, I do anyway. So when he called and said I could see him, it was GREAT! It was about a 40 minute drive for the boys and I, but it was SO worth it :) Andy has his induct class today that will inform him about living ashore etc.. So hopefully we will hear some good news!! I am so glad that we moved here.. otherwise I would have missed this opportunity to see him!! Thanks again to everyone who was more than willing to help us move. We really appreciate it!

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Moving On

I know that we haven't even had a chance to tell everyone yet, but our family has moved!! We are now residents of Lake Geneva, WI. I think that kristie told met he population is around 7,000? Anyway here are some pics of the new pad!! It's nice and cozy for our family! Hopefully Andy will be back here soon to live with us!! Enjoy the pics!!

A few pics of graduation!

Just in case there is anyone who has yet to see pics of Andy's graduation (doubtful, but again .. just in case) here they are. These have been e-mailed and myspac-ed beyond belief, but I just thought I would put them up for the few who haven't seen them yet! I am SO proud of Andy!! Sorry it took SO long to post these. We've been QUITE busy lately!

Here is Andy in the front of his division, holding the cutlass (Andy says "it's not a sword Karrie!") This is one of the perks of being the RPOC.. he gets to walk in the front and call the shots ;)