The weekend

This last weekend was great, busy and fun! It started out on Friday night with Taylor's basketball game, which they won. We then headed out to San Diego at 8PM. We didn't get in until 1AM and had to be up by 4AM in order to get ready and get to the ship by 5:45 for Mark to muster. I guess it wouldn't have mattered if we were there in time or not because there was a long line that we had to wait in. The day on the ship was long, but fun and exciting. Taylor had a blast and I'm glad that we were able to experience it together. I definitely have a new found respect for what Mark does in the Navy. Don't get me wrong, I've always respected his work, but now I respect it differently. It was amazing to witness things first hand and is nothing like seeing pictures or videos. Pictures don't do it justice. For Mark, its just another day at the 'office' but for me, its mind blowing. We were able to sit on the flight deck during air ops, where a jet did a touch and go, landed (caught the wire) and launched off the ship. We watched them drop bombs in the water, shoot a .50 cal gun and watched the helos do the same thing. Powerful is an underestimate of the ship and jets' capabilities. We explored the ship with Mark and were able to go down the elevators. That was pretty cool, and not nearly as scary as I thought it would be. We were also able to go into the sea combat room, which was really cool, and kind of eerie. The whole room was dark, not to mention empty! There was only one guy in there working when we went in. That room has so much vital, secret and important information that Mark advised me NOT to take any pictures. I really really wanted to, but wasn't able to. We visited Vulture's Row for a bit and tried to go up to the foc'sle, but every time we went up it was secured. All we were able to see were the giant chains that pull anchor. It was still cool, none the less. We visited the ready room, Mark's shop, and a few other places. Its hard to remember all of it. Taylor had a wonderful time, and was blown away by the air show. From what Mark says, it wasn't much and they didn't do as much as they normally do, but we didn't care. It was heartwarming to see the giant smile on his face all day long. He had such a great time there. He wanted to spend most of his time on the flight deck. There were also sea cadets on board. Some of them looked like they were Taylor's age. He said he would want to be one. =) Our day started at 4AM and didn't end until nearly 7:30 (the time we got back to our friend's house.)

The next day we attended the World Baseball Classic in LA at Dodger Stadium. We took our friend's daughter, Natalie. We have been friends with them for about 8 years now (since Taylor and Natalie were babies.) It was special in the sense that the very first baseball game either of them had ever been to was the Tide's game in Norfolk! This was their second game together, in about 7 years! Everyone had a great time even though the US lost! Austyn really loved the cheering and yelling and would jump up and pump his fists in the air while yelling, "USA, USA, USA, USA!" He was hilarious to watch. Taylor pretty much only cared about watching Jeter play since the Yankees are his favorite team. I think he was pretty amazed to be there. Elvis, one of our friends tagged along since Adam couldn't find a sitter for the night.

We ended our weekend by driving up to Laura's house for lunch. We visited for a couple of hours with her, Jack, Kenzie, Haylee, Jenn and Bonnie. It was fun and good to see everyone, but definitely time to head home!