Yesterday was a busy, busy day...but "good busy". It started out at a brunch in honor of "Military Spouse Appreciation Day", which is actually the Friday before Mother's Day...but because of some other scheduling conflicts, was being held later. It was a very nice meeting, and I shared a reading with everyone called "Military Wife" that Cliff sent to me last year while on deployment. Lots of tears in the room...but I was able to get through it while only cracking once! That's huge for me.
From there, I drove over to the high school and lightened my wallet a LOT, with payments for Patrick's "Far East Film and Performing Arts" trip to Korea and tickets to Troy's Sr. Parent's Appreciation Dinner. ("We appreciate you...that'll be $20 each or your kid will think you're a total loser.") While I was there, I also remembered to register Patrick for school next year, then took the paperwork over to the Bus Barn to renew his bus pass. Since it is right down the street from Cliff's office, I decided to call him and see if he was back from Naha. (He had gone down there to pray for a "National Maritime Day" ceremony and luncheon.) He was almost there, so I stuck around...and boy was I glad I did. Talk about eye candy...
I LOVE this uniform!
And look at all that fruit salad! (Yummy, Yummy!)*
I wanted to lock the door and make-out on the couch, actually...but the smoking area is right outside his window, and that's not the reputation the Chaplain wants to get. (Dang it!)
Instead, we had a nice little chat. He said the ceremony was great...he got to rub shoulders with some cool people (American and Japanese) and he collected some business cards. He met a Marine Colonel (the guest speaker) who was also a former Marine Staff NCO like Cliff (he recognized Cliff's Marine Good Conduct Ribbon in the rack) and they had a nice talk.
On a side note, remember how I've said everything has animated characters in Japan...not just kid stuff? Here's an example:
Can you imagine military business cards with cartoons on them? Not that there's anything wrong with that...I think it's pretty cool, actually...but that would just not happen in the US.
I headed home to upload a bunch of music to my iTunes for a project I'd been putting off, and to help Coree make lemon bars. Neither of us had ever made them before, but she did a GREAT job. I only showed her briefly how to zest a lemon on the microplane, use the juicer, etc., and she did all the rest with great results. Best lemon bars I'd ever tasted. Too bad she was taking most of them to a sleepover farewell party for a friend from church.
Cliff came home, changed (dang it!), ate a lemon bar and we headed out to drop off Coree and Sarah at the party, pick up Troy from lifeguarding, swing through the Taco Bell drive-thru for the boys, slow down to about 10 while driving by the house, shove Troy out...and head out on a HOT date!
We weren't sure where we were going, but decided to see if the restaurant at Kadena Marina had opened back up. I was just hoping for a yummy salad. We were in luck, it had reopened...and I had the best seafood salad I have ever eaten...right out on the water where we could feel the breeze and smell the saltwater. It was a beautiful night.
I wish I had a picture to share with you (but I had left my camera with Patrick who was working on a project...for a girl, of course). Anyway, the salad had asst. greens, tomato, cucumber, kalamata olives, crab meat, fish, 4 large scallops, 4 big shrimp and 4 mussels, topped with a light balsamic dressing. YUM! Now I'll have to go back, if for nothing else to be able to share a picture with you. I'm a giver like that.
On the way home we tried to guess what we'd find the boys doing. I said there'd be two on the computer and one watching a movie. I was wrong. We came in to find Patrick on the computer, Jake passed out on the couch and Troy on the Wii. I'm sure they were as glad for the down-time as I was for some time with only my honey.
I wish he would have kept that uniform on, though. ;^D
*Hehehe...gotta love the Wiggles!
From there, I drove over to the high school and lightened my wallet a LOT, with payments for Patrick's "Far East Film and Performing Arts" trip to Korea and tickets to Troy's Sr. Parent's Appreciation Dinner. ("We appreciate you...that'll be $20 each or your kid will think you're a total loser.") While I was there, I also remembered to register Patrick for school next year, then took the paperwork over to the Bus Barn to renew his bus pass. Since it is right down the street from Cliff's office, I decided to call him and see if he was back from Naha. (He had gone down there to pray for a "National Maritime Day" ceremony and luncheon.) He was almost there, so I stuck around...and boy was I glad I did. Talk about eye candy...
I LOVE this uniform!
And look at all that fruit salad! (Yummy, Yummy!)*
I wanted to lock the door and make-out on the couch, actually...but the smoking area is right outside his window, and that's not the reputation the Chaplain wants to get. (Dang it!)
Instead, we had a nice little chat. He said the ceremony was great...he got to rub shoulders with some cool people (American and Japanese) and he collected some business cards. He met a Marine Colonel (the guest speaker) who was also a former Marine Staff NCO like Cliff (he recognized Cliff's Marine Good Conduct Ribbon in the rack) and they had a nice talk.
On a side note, remember how I've said everything has animated characters in Japan...not just kid stuff? Here's an example:
Can you imagine military business cards with cartoons on them? Not that there's anything wrong with that...I think it's pretty cool, actually...but that would just not happen in the US.
I headed home to upload a bunch of music to my iTunes for a project I'd been putting off, and to help Coree make lemon bars. Neither of us had ever made them before, but she did a GREAT job. I only showed her briefly how to zest a lemon on the microplane, use the juicer, etc., and she did all the rest with great results. Best lemon bars I'd ever tasted. Too bad she was taking most of them to a sleepover farewell party for a friend from church.
Cliff came home, changed (dang it!), ate a lemon bar and we headed out to drop off Coree and Sarah at the party, pick up Troy from lifeguarding, swing through the Taco Bell drive-thru for the boys, slow down to about 10 while driving by the house, shove Troy out...and head out on a HOT date!
We weren't sure where we were going, but decided to see if the restaurant at Kadena Marina had opened back up. I was just hoping for a yummy salad. We were in luck, it had reopened...and I had the best seafood salad I have ever eaten...right out on the water where we could feel the breeze and smell the saltwater. It was a beautiful night.
I wish I had a picture to share with you (but I had left my camera with Patrick who was working on a project...for a girl, of course). Anyway, the salad had asst. greens, tomato, cucumber, kalamata olives, crab meat, fish, 4 large scallops, 4 big shrimp and 4 mussels, topped with a light balsamic dressing. YUM! Now I'll have to go back, if for nothing else to be able to share a picture with you. I'm a giver like that.
On the way home we tried to guess what we'd find the boys doing. I said there'd be two on the computer and one watching a movie. I was wrong. We came in to find Patrick on the computer, Jake passed out on the couch and Troy on the Wii. I'm sure they were as glad for the down-time as I was for some time with only my honey.
I wish he would have kept that uniform on, though. ;^D
*Hehehe...gotta love the Wiggles!
7 comments:
HI Carrie,
I'm sure you had plenty of make out sessions on the couch in El Centro and there weren't any windows...you know when you needed a break from, "The Trailer."
Chat soon,
The Troublemaker
LOL, Lisa...no, we actually saved all our making out for your couch when we were house-sitting. =^)
Sounds like a fun day. I have made out in my husband's office before. Great times.
Karen...that's what I'M talkin' about! (hehe) =^)
Did you know that the Good Conduct Medal can only be awarded to enlisted ranks? Of course, officers can and should wear it, as Cliff does. Notice its position also, ahead of most of the other ribbons. I did not know that it could be awarded more than once, or is that the reason for the star? Like an oak leaf cluster?
SO proud of you both!!
Dad...yes, I did know that, actually. It's the main reason it stands out so much to other people when they see it on Cliff's uniform...they automatically know he was prior enlisted and it gives him more "street cred".
Another bit of trivia, when I was in the Navy, we only got the award every 4 years of "untarnished" service (so I only got one since I only did 5 years). The hashmarks on the sleeves were for every 4 years served, also...so you could look at the hashmarks, count the stars on the good conduct ribbon and determine whether or not the person had been to Captain's Mast (NJP) if they did or did not match.
Another bit of trivia...we used to tease the Marines because they received their Good Conduct Award every 3 years, but we had to wait 4 for ours. We said that it was because the Navy had higher standards and 3 years of good conduct at a time was all you could really expect of a Marine.
Anyway, now all the services receive theirs every 3 years. (This moment in military history brought to you by...Jack's Army/Navy Surplus)
Oh, and I should also mention, the reason Cliff only has 2 awards (the original ribbon/medal and one star for the second award) is that even though he did 15 years total as a Marine...he only did 7 on active duty...and the award is for every 3 years of active-duty, enlisted service. He didn't get into any trouble or anything. Hehe.
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