Homecoming

SHANE IS HOME - WOOHOO!!!!!

Shane spent 2 weeks in Japan before flying out to meet the USS George Washington on her summer deployment. While I was adjusting to the cultural differences of Japan, Shane was adjusting to the differences between a submarine and an aircraft carrier. (I'm not sure which was a bigger adjustment!) During his two months away, the ship pulled in to Australia, Singapore, and the Philippines so he got to add some new countries to his travel list! For those of you who have been asking, quality of life is a lot better on the carrier - we had (almost) real time email for the entire deployment, we were able to mail each other letters and packages, he had internet access and a computer in his stateroom, and the best part of all PHONE CALLS!!! Somehow he just seemed closer when I was able to hear his voice.

I can't tell you how excited I was to see the ship pull in on September 3rd!!!

As you'll soon see, I kept myself entertained by taking pictures! Unfortunately, the pictures just don't do justice to the enormous size of the ship!!


Manning the rails!




At the pier!

Do I look excited?!

Do you see the elevator?

Going down!

Lowered from the flight deck to the hangar bay!

To all my submarine families - I was in awe of the homecoming festivities. They had tents...

...and cake, fruit, water, complimentary Avon products (very random), flags, and red, white, and blue leis! (This is considered a "low key" homecoming! Ha!)

Apparently I should have been taking less pictures and paying closer attention to the people on the ship. At one point I could have seen Shane "supervising" shore power but didn't know it until he got off the ship a few hours later! He tried looking for me but gave up quickly because all he could see was a wall of people on the pier!

Now that Shane is finally home and we are mostly settled in to our house, we are taking advantage of the many fun things to do in Japan! We went to a new sushi joint just down the street from our house, drove to Ikego, went for a hike and have many more plans before he has to leave again!