Our Cup of Tea

Our neighbor Deane invited us to be her guests to an annual Tea Party fundraiser at her church, which is three blocks from our house. Even though we frequently bust out the good china for "real tea parties" at home, the girls were ecstatic to get dressed up and leave the house for a real tea party.



So, thanks to Nana, they had their Easter dresses and matching hats for such a party--pity Miranda wouldn't wear her hat! Or her necklace. But Sydney was proud to sport both her hat AND the 300-yen pearls I bought for her at the Yamato shrine sale in Japan last year.




And they both brought their best manners to the party, which is always nice. But this is likely a result of their favorite foods and entertainment: fancy sweets and crafts. They drank "real" black tea (after maneuvering the tongs to plunk two lumps of sugar into their cups), ate cucumber sandwiches and mini cakes, and created an Easter basket craft. It was fun for my girly girls!

Happy Anniversary to Us!

March 20th was our sixth wedding anniversary. I say it like that, because this one wasn't exactly "celebrated" in the usual sense, what with Brian on a ship and so much distance between us. But, we each had what I'd call exceptional days.

Brian's was special because the ship was celebrating her first 45 days--the period after which each person is allowed to drink 2 beers in a roped off area on the flight deck (the "beer garden"). Only this celebration actually took place on the 65th day, so, it was long overdue. As luck would have it, Brian was overseeing an emergency surgery, so he joined the "steel beach party" a tad late. But even then, he managed to score a couple of Yuenglings, while everyone else in his department seemed to be relegated to Bud Light or Coors Light. So, all in all, not a bad day--as far as days go on a ship. I like to think he drank (at least one of those beers) to our great marriage.

But even though I know he didn't, he did call, and even sent a very cute and delicious cookie bouquet for me and the girls to celebrate (eat) together. It said "To my honey" on one flower and "Happy anniversary" on the heart in the middle. Very sweet.

And my mom happened to be here helping me for a week, so we girls had a great day outside at the zoo with a picnic lunch. And then we all went out for dinner at A.W. Shucks along with my neighbors for some great seafood. So, all in all, a fairly good day--as far as days go without Brian around.

The fact that our wedding anniversary is always on the first day of spring has never brought me as much comfort as it did this year. The memories of our warm, sunny wedding day flooding my mind, the sunshine warming our days this March, the flowers coloring our world around us, two girls budding into beautiful people before my eyes...and maybe it's these things that are improving my mood. Or more likely, it's also that we are one season closer to summer, or Brian's return, when we can get back to sharing our normal way of life.

A Care Package from Daddy

We were walking out the door to go over to my friend Beth's house (another family missing their Daddy on the USS Nassau), when we spotted a box addressed to Sydney and Miranda. We grabbed it and immediately made a U-turn back inside. Nothing is more important than hearing from Daddy!

Sydney made sure to point out, "Mommy, your name is not on there, just Miranda and me." So, she insisted on opening it herself, with her purple scissors (with a tiny bit of help for safety's sake).

Tucked inside right on top, was this initial note from Daddy:

Of course, I later teased Brian about his "brutally honest gift tag"...was it really necessary to tell the recipients of the gifts, let alone a 4-yr old and 2-yr old, they were free? To which he replied, laughing, "Yeah, I guess everything is free to them!" Not exactly my point, but definitely true!

But, I digress...both girls were seriously excited to get mail from Daddy! Sydney took charge of opening their letters, while Miranda tried to figure out what these small, round camouflage things were.

Miranda lost interest as quickly as they popped open into one-man tents! But Sydney hopped right into hers, zipped it up, laid down and asked for her sleeping bag!

Then, since there are two of course, I popped open the second one right away--which came with a bonus gift of Deet bug repellent cream! But wouldn't you know, Miranda wouldn't get in hers. Not to mention, one is plenty big enough for both girls anyway, and eventually after Sydney's urgings, she inched her way in next to Sydney, all the while guarding the zipper to make sure it stayed open.

So...now I just have to figure out how to fold the second one back up. It looks the first one has become a permanent fixture in our house for the next five months. Thanks, Daddy!

Cruising to Nassau

While Brian's on his Nassau cruise, I somewhat ironically cruised to Nassau. Kathleen said, "Let's go on a cruise to the Bahamas; I need to go somewhere warm, we need to have a reunion, AND we'll call it a deployment distraction for you." To which I said, "Sounds good to me," of course, without realizing until it was booked that the one port we'd be stopping in was NASSAU, of all places. So, the cruise with girlfriends to take my mind off of the deployment forced me to realize it is not physically possible to take my mind off the deployment. Isn't it ironic? But it was indeed something to look forward to, and Kathleen, Darlene, Kim and I had a great time catching up and relaxing together, even if it wasn't all that warm!

We all made it to the ship as planned by Friday afternoon--two out of four of us later than planned (not me, seen relaxing with a "Bahama Mama" in photo above), with melodrama that rivals any Lifetime movie. But one "Loving Cup" shot later (compliments of Darlene), we were well on our way to sharing a relaxing time together. So, it's no surprise that we drank a bit.




And we ate a ton (but here Kim just poses, we were too full to eat one bite from this midnight buffet!)

















We shopped (and window shopped) a little.



We relaxed on a beautiful beach (Atlantis, Paradise Island), after lathering on the sunblock, of course. After all, two of us arrived with our tans in tact!









While the other two accidentally seared in the sun!








One of us took her chances at blackjack and doubled her money, winning herself an all-onboard-expense-paid trip...while another doubled her onboard expenses by opting for a guaranteed win: a fabulous "aroma stone therapy" massage!



I'll stop there, before I feel too guilty. Because no doubt, my Nassau cruise was way more fun than Brian's. And was over way quicker.