March 2015 - Page 2 of 2

He was deployed… but now he’s HOME!!!

March 10, 2015 at 11:17 pm

There’s a good explanation for the radio silence around here…

… Elliott came home from deployment!

We welcomed him back last Wednesday, and it was such a joyous day. There’s just nothing like that day your husband comes home. I stood there in a dress he loves, hugging the children and saying, “Daddy’s coming any minute! Can you see him? Where is he?” We held our crumpled “Welcome Home!!!” signs and looked and looked until finally, at last, there he was! Alive and well and hugging them and kissing me and the waiting is over and he’s home.

Elliott was “only” gone for just over a month — a mere blip in the military world we live in. Around here, servicemembers are routinely gone for deployments that last six months (or longer). I was hugging and texting friends that very day whose husbands are where Elliott was or are going there soon.

But a month is a month, and the Middle East is the Middle East, and he’s home and safe and there’s nothing like it! I feel only gratitude and relief when I look at these happy, everyday photos that are dated March 4, 2015… meaning he’s home and the deployment is done and we are together again.

I’ll be back soon with some photos from our wonderful weekend, where we did everything we possibly could to enjoy Elliott’s return and friends and beautiful Southern California.

I also have some more honest — and maybe controversial — thoughts about how this deployment was actually good for us, but those notes need more editing first. Can time apart be a good thing in a marriage? What do you think? I’ll share those thoughts soon.

In the meantime, we’re so glad he’s home!!!

21 :: in Army, deployment, family, husband

08/52 + A Visit to the San Diego Zoo with Grampa!

March 2, 2015 at 8:20 am

One of the best parts of having grandparents with work all over the U.S. is that they can sometimes add San Diego to their itinerary! Elliott’s dad has taken every speaking engagement in San Diego that he can, and we were treated to a visit from him last week.

He’s a gentle, kind soul that his grandkids adore, and I can never forget my first impression of him about seven years ago: “He looks like Santa Claus! If I marry this man [Elliott] and we have kids, I would love them to have a grandfather who looks like Santa Claus.”

Some dreams really do come true!

We took Grampa to the San Diego Zoo one morning, a place he hasn’t visited since he was a boy. His strongest memory was of the giant tortoises, and so we visited them first. The kids and I have been ALL OVER this zoo, I thought, but hadn’t seen these fellows yet. What else is hiding in that huge zoo?!

My favorite photo from the day… :)

I’m including this one of Lena because I don’t think she stuck her tongue out to be rude, just to be funny for the camera, and it shows a lot of things that are true about her lately. She’s a little performer. The other photo is equally descriptive: she loooooves the zoo workers who dress up like animals. Gil is not so sure…

This man loves his snacks. He is supremely content with a bag of snacks in hand, walking around the playground or sitting in the stroller, and watching the world go by.

We are having a minor obsession with koalas these days, and the play structure inside the koala area isn’t bad either. Exhibit B right here.

And, just for fun, here are a couple other photos of the kids from the week:

Lena: Enjoying a quiet snack of yogurt after waking up from her nap to find Grampa in the house. Still flushed from sleep and the shy excitement of discovering our visitor! He had just taken a photo of our cat, Siena, and was showing it to the kids on his phone.

Gil: We had a rainy weekend in San Diego, a rare treat around here. I am totally spoiled, though, because I am not used to be cooped up indoors with the kids anymore! The kids enjoyed a lot of jammies that day.