He came home! He's back!! I have to say, it was the best 3 weeks I have had in the past 9 months! It was just heaven! I was able to surprise him by meeting him at the gate! Right after he got off the plane-- he could see me... it was wonderful! I, of course, started crying the moment I saw him. All that weekend, before he landed, I was so emotional that I would cry at the drop of a hat. I was pacing the gate area waiting for his plane to land and once people started exiting the ramp I had to get a hold of my self-- just my luck he would be the last person off. luckily he was just in the middle. That was one of the best hugs/kisses I have ever received. This pic is right before we left the airport.
During ken's deployment he has been longing for some good NACHOS. So this is him about to dive into a delicious hot plate of nachos in seattle. This other adorable face came out while we were walking - taking advantage of the beautiful weather.
So, Ken landed on a sunday... and that monday we went to visit my brother and his two adorable kids.... I think matthew had a good time. I know Ken just loved spending time with him on our 2 visits. This was Ken's first time meeting Hailey, and I think she let him know who was boss.
This was one thing Ken wanted to do. Go to a Mariner's Baseball game, even if they sucked it up this season. We were there the the 100th loss. Definably part of M's history- just in the wrong way. However, we made sure to have lots of fun! We had great seats 16 rows up from our dug-out.... so it was great to see the players life size.
While we were visiting my parents, Ken and I went to see Eagle Eye thanks to Dave & Valli's b-day gift to Ken last year. We got our tickets and even had enough money left over for some treats! It appeared to be that we would be the only people watching... but alas, 4 other people walked in at the last moment.
One of Ken's favorite memories of his R&R were playing with all the kids again and meeting the newest babies. He just loved it! The kids got good use out of him... doing puzzles, jumping on the trampoline, feeding birds, playing board games, reading stories, playing with cars, playing catch, and a bunch of other stuff. He just loved it--
Isn't that a cute little tongue? Well, we were visiting my other brother, and it happen to be his birthday.... so we went for some cake. But they remembered that Ken would miss his birthday, so they dedicated this ice-cream cake as Ken's b-day cake and gave him candles to blow out. It was really sweet, and we even sang to him... "welcome home uncle ken, welcome home uncle ken" to the birthday tune... it was really sweet and Ken even got a little moist in the eyes over it (a first for me- i think).
The last week of R&R we hooked up with Ken's brothers John (from CA), and Andrew & Beth. We had a fun night of mexican, and guitar hero. Oh, and did I mention that we also got to meet Chuck and Sophie? Some of us got to know them a little better than others.... namely Ken.
Andrew & Beth's little dogs love their uncle Kenny!
We spent the last day together- just us and it was wonderful. After being in the mountains for 9 months, Ken wanted to go down to the water and be on a boat!! Can I blame him? Well, what better city to do that than Seattle?!
Here we are just enjoying the lovely boat ride with seattle in the background. I sure do love you babe!!!!
We had fun walking along the beach, and taking our water taxi to the downtown. Once there we had some yummy sea food. Another thing ken hasn't had in a long time. I, with the help of my honey ate an entire dungeness crab. It was so delicious!
He even got me flowers from pikes place (thanks love). They were so beautiful, and had this fun cabbage flower in the middle. I just had the time of my life. So these are some of the fun things we did on r&r. But, there was so much fun in the the little things as well. Things like snuggling on the sofa watching TV, or making food together, or brushing our teeth together... knowing they are just around the corner. Oh I LOVED every week, day, hour, minute, and second that I got to spend with my honey! I can't wait for him to come home in the next few months. The day he left it was so-so lonely. I had started to expect him to be there... on the sofa, or in the kitchen when I turned the corner and when he wasn't there... it was a hard thing to be reminded of.... and be reminded of again and again. Boy we are both exited to be out of the Army and never have deployments again!!! But, during the deployments--the R&R sure is fantastic!!!
