More While We Were In North Carolina...

This is on the River Walk in Wilmington, NC. Right on the river, who's name I can not recall at the moment. I really like Mel's smile and little Joshie's expression in this picture.

Melanie got this picture of Dad and son when we parked our car to go down to the River Walk and try one of the local restaurants there. Poor little guy had a hard time some days with his schedule mixed up with different time zone (NC being 2 hrs ahead) and the flights he and Mel took to get out here. He fell asleep on the ride from the hotel to the river, which was only about 10 minutes away. He was tired, but like most things he does, he does them with style and looking good! So Melanie snapped a picture of her two good looking men... ...I'm the one holding the baby...

Here is Joshie and his very first visit to the ocean. Like the previous posting said this is the Atlantic Ocean, and I hope my mother forgives me for it. I think Mel wrote some where that if took us three visits before we actually took Josh in the water or even attempted it. Melanie was very careful to introduce Joshie slowly to the water and the waves so that he would not be traumatized or afraid of the water. He loves the water and going swimming in the pools at various places we've been that we weren't too worried, just cautious as new parents. These are more great pictures of mom and baby. I love them both... (the pictures and those in the pictures)

Next, I'd like to illustrate a comparison I ran across recently...

This is how things started, dad and baby having a good time together...

(How it started.)

Then one thing leads to another and a little wrestling match begins and dad starts chewing on baby's fingers a little bit because baby has to stick his fingers in your mouth for some reason. That's how babies like to wrestle I think, I'll show you what I mean...

Oh, and dad is just man-handling the boy, because that's how dad's like to wrestle.

(Who started it..)

Then we move in to the revenge slash opportunity for baby to get back in to the wrestling match and lull dad in to a false sense of security thinking that baby is just being cute for the camera and the pictures mom is taking of him and dad... So I think baby had an accomplice, especially if this was documentable!!

(The Opportunity!)

Then we have the retaliation, and/or counter attack, from baby on dad.

(THE VICTOR!!!!)

Here is the comparison....

Mom and baby, same idea and same activity as dad and baby above. Baby getting a ride on shoulders.

(How it started.)

Baby looks as if he has about had enough fun on mom's shoulders and is looking for a way down. I'd dare say a little rambunctious. He may even be licking his lips a little bit... that's how I see this picture... He's getting ready to strike at any moment!

(The Opportunity!)

Then this is how the engagement ended. What is this all about?! Mom gets a kiss and dad gets his thumb almost bitten off. Something ain't right here.... So this is the illustration of the difference between how mom and baby like to interact and how dad and baby like to interact together.

(MOM IS ALWAYS THE WINNER AND BABY IS LEARNING THIS AT A GOOD AGE!!!)

Then I wanted to leave you with this picture that shows a little mischievousness in Joshua's face. I read this as if him saying to me (because he bit me but gave his mom a kiss), "You might think I'm only 15 months old, but boy do I know who is in charge around here!"

That's how I take that little grin of his. Plus he is a cutie too!!

Some Stuff

Melanie usually gets to pick the pictures that get posted and I've been trying to figure this thing out so that I could post some too. So this is me trying to do that... So here is our son and the little cutie that he is. These two pictures have been added to my all time favorite pictures of Josh. The top picture is of Joshie at Carolina Beach on the Atlantic ocean. Which is down near Wilmington, NC. His first trip to the ocean happen to be to the Atlantic, I hope my mother forgives me for that. Then the other picture is what I saw when I came back from the base Monday morning the 2nd of July. I had to spend a half day on the base that morning and got the weekend off prior and then a 96 for the 4th of July holiday and wasn't charged any leave. So I parked in the parking lot and was walking towards the front door when I heard some one pounding on a wall. Well it wasn't a wall and it wasn't just some one. It was our son pounding on the third floor window of our hotel room trying to get his dad's attention, and it worked. I was lucky enough to have my camera on me from showing off other pictures of my handsome son to some of my Marines that morning and snapped a shot. Melanie probably wouldn't post something like this so I will. That's 20mm deck gun on the Battleship North Carolina. She looks so cute in her Capri's and flip-flops!!

"UP LADDER!!" That's what you say and that's how you do it.

Joshie would make his Great-Grandpa proud the way he maneuvered around while on ship. The only thing he didn't try was the 'peanut-butter sandwiches and the coffee', while we explored the ship.

Family Vacation

I didn't think we were going to get a family vacation this summer, but Gary ended up having some time off for the 4th of July, so Josh and I got to fly out to North Carolina for a visit. We flew out on the 29th and then came back on the 5th, so we were able to spend almost a full week together. I ran out of memory on my digital camera pretty early into our trip, so most of the time we used Gary's camera. I've been waiting for him to send me the pictures before I posted some, and today I finally gave up. I may as well post what I've got and hope I don't have to wait until he comes home in September to see the rest.

This is Gary and Josh on the USS North Carolina. It is a battle ship that was used in World War II that is now docked on the Cape Fear River and you can tour the ship.

Josh learning how to shoot

Me and Josh inside the turret

Josh's first view of the ocean.

Josh was a little nervous his first time to the ocean. I got a little too close to the water and wasn't paying attention, and got hit by a wave. I squealed and it scared Josh, so he clung to me for dear life but didn't cry. Our other trips to the beach he rather enjoyed.

Josh and I in a medical helicopter in downtown Raleigh on the 4th of July.

There were lots of buttons for Josh to push! This is at the Museum of Natural Science in Raleigh

Hats

Josh's latest thing is hats. He thinks everything needs to go on his head. He loves to wear his dad's hats.

Most often Josh uses Tupperware for his hats.

Josh even tried to convince his cousin, Jordan to put the bowl on his head. Jordan wasn't too appreciative and started crying.

The boys insisted on playing in the Tupperware even though there were a lot of toys in the other room.

Here's a great image of Gary to keep in mind while he's gone.

Gary hard at work at Camp LeJeune. This is in a buddy's room borrowing a laptop, but he now has his own laptop. It has a built in web cam, so hopefully we'll be able to see each other while he's in Iraq.

Camp LeJeune

Gary made it safely to Camp LeJeune. I dropped him off at Camp Williams Monday, and they put him on a chartered flight to Camp LeJeune, NC. I will keep his address updated and posted on the blog for anyone to send things to him. He does have access to the internet, but I'm not sure how often he will be able to check his e-mail, or how much time he will have to respond to e-mails. He has his cell phone with him, but hasn't had much time to use that either. I've been able to talk to him every night this week, but not for very long. He will be in Camp LeJeune until September. He will fly home from Camp LeJeune in September and will be home for about two weeks. Then he will fly back to Camp LeJeune and will be there for a few days before he goes to Iraq. He will be in Iraq for 6-7 months and then back in the states for the last few months of the deployment. The deployment is a year total, but he thinks the last six weeks of it will be at Camp Williams where he can stay at home and commute back and forth. I'm glad he'll only be in Iraq for 6-7 months.

Not Much New

Gary got home last week from Boise a little earlier than expected. It was really nice. He got home Tuesday evening and had to spend a few hours at Camp Williams Wednesday, then had Thursday off. He's at Camp Williams until Thursday and then doesn't have to be back up there until June 4 when his active duty time starts. I wasn't expecting to see him much this week, but he's been home in time for dinner most nights. It has been nice to have a little time together. Saturday we spent half the day at Camp Williams together for Family Day, where I was supposed to get more information about the deployment. After three hours of listening to different people give briefs, I didn't really learn anything new. Mostly they discussed benefits available to me, wills, power of attorney, and things like that. It sounds like Gary will be reporting to Camp Williams on June 4 for active duty, and will be there a week or so before flying to North Carolina. He may be home a little during that week, but I don't know for sure. It would be nice if someone would let us know for sure what is going on, but that is not the way the military works!

Josh has found his belly button. If you ask him where his belly button is, he will lift up his shirt, grab his rolls, and lift his belly so he can see his belly button.

He likes to get into my tupperware cupboard and a couple of the drawers. I find measuring cups and tupperware all over the house, but it is great entertainment for him while I am doing dishes or cooking.

Eating avocado is a very messy process. Josh usually needs a bath after because he smears it all over his tray, face, hair, and clothes.

He is getting to be pretty smart when it comes to finding a way to get what he wants. He wanted the keys off the table , but couldn't reach them, so he put the box of diapers by the table and climbed on top of it to get the keys.

This might not look very exciting, but I had to post it because it was my great accomplishment Mother's Day weekend. Josh was sick, so I stayed home from work with him Friday. All weekend long he averaged three naps a day, at least an hour a piece. Between the naps and what I got done in the evening after he went to bed, I probably spent 10 hours in the yard those two days. I mowed, watered, fertilized, and put bug killer on the lawn. Then I pulled out all the flowers and weeds in the flower beds on both sides of the porch. There were some big flat rocks that lined this flower bed that I didn't like, so I put those in the back of the truck. Then I dug a trench around the flower bed, put in the edging, and buried it. After that I bought some flowers to plant, and planted all of them. Saturday night I think every muscle in my entire body ached, but it was worth it. The yard looks much better now.

Digging up the Yard

Josh and I are having an interesting time with Gary gone. It hasn't even been a week yet and already I am calling my neighbors at 10:00 at night for help. Tuesday night some ladies came over for a meeting, and as they were leaving they discovered my front lawn was soaking wet and there were no sprinklers on. Not a good sign. So we called my next door neighbor, Rick to come take a look at it. He figured the water main had broken, but knew my other next door neighbor, Bob would know more about it. So we pulled him out of bed to come take a look. I felt really bad because he's been sick with strep among other things. Bob deals with this type of stuff every day at work, so he said he'd take care of it. They shut the water off to the house and gave me some jugs of water to get me by until it was fixed.

Thanks to the good people at Geneva Rock and my amazing neighbors the only thing I have to pay for is a little cement to patch the sidewalk. Bob explained to his boss my situation, and they made arrangements to have one of their back hoes delivered to my house as well as the supplies, without charging me a dime. Bob left work early to come fix my problem and Rick helped. Bob is still sick, so he kept having coughing spells while he was working but kept going. Bob and his wife made all the calls to the city to report it, and to get an emergency blue stakes so we'd know where we could dig. Their kids removed stepping stones and things out of the way so they could dig, and about all I did was sit on the porch with Josh. We most definitely picked the right house to buy. There's no way I could have found better neighbors. Now I've got my yard pretty much together again, other than the missing cement. It is nice to have water again. I had to take the babysitter dirty dishes for Josh and asked her to wash them before using them to feed him. Now I guess we're back in business. Bob even taught me how to use the back hoe and let me put a couple scoops of dirt back in the trench. While Gary is off shooting big guns I get to play with machinery in our front yard. Now I'm wondering why I went into accounting when I could have gotten a contractor's license. I could be playing with power tools and machinery instead of sitting at a desk all day.

Bob in the back hoe, Rick in the background, and Bob's wife Janna on the right. This is the chunk of sidewalk I am now missing.

We had a porch full of neighborhood kids watching Bob dig, and

got some interesting looks from everyone that drove by.

This is what the yard looked like after all the digging was done.

Bob in the trench and Rick on the lawn.

This is the problem area. The pipe was badly rusted. A pipe in the back yard froze because the water wasn't drained out of it during the winter, so the people we bought the house from had to prepay to have that fixed when the weather got better. The pressure of them turning on and off my water main so they could make the repair caused the pipe to break.

This is the new pipe. It looks much better.

This is what my yard now looks like.

I also had to add a picture of the sign Janna, her kids, and scouts made because I thought it was nice of them. They took it around and had all the neighbors sign it. Some of the neighbors I haven't even met yet.