Guest Blogging

I entered a blog to the Cloth Diaper Whisperer's blog and got it published. It is called cloth diapering from a guys perspective, if you are interested in reading click the link Click Here

or copy and paste this link

http://www.theclothdiaperwhisperer.com/2011/11/cloth-diapering-from-guys-perspective.html

New BLOG!

For all of you who used to follow me on this blog, I now do most of my blogging on a joint blog for me and Alexandra and soon Baby too!

the site is www.mattandalexl.blogspot.com.

Hope you like it.

Happy Halloween!

So I am stuck on the night shift in shiftwork so I won't get to enjoy Halloween or hand out candy to the kids. But I carved our pumpkin today. Here's some pics!

Sorry about the delay.

So I have heard there is a request for new updates. I have been slacking. So I will do my best to post some new stuff soon and on a more regular basis. Here's a pic from the honeymoon!

I'm Back

HEY EVERYONE!

I am back! I am in Hawaii again. Finally back after 186 days deployed in the Western Pacific.

It's so nice to be free again! I picked up my truck from my deployed parking storage and it was mad at me. Died a few times after starting it up, but it is alright now. Need to get the oil and all other fluids changed.

I had some friends at the pier waiting for me to return. Hilary and my little buddy Mason. Jeremy was at work across the water on his boat. We met up later and ate at Chilis where I had a couple Corona's. mmm....

Well here are some pics of the homecoming, its a big deal, they even laid a red carpet across the brow!

WestPac First Half

We left the end of November for our Western Pacific deployment. This is my first deployment and being underwater for extended amounts of time sucks a lot. The whole experience is basically mind numbing, the routine is essentially the same everyday. Wake up, eat, stand watch, eat, clean, work/study/watch movies, sleep and then the cycle begins again.

So far we have made 3 port calls, 1 of which was for some repairs. We pulled into Guam, then Okinawa, and then back to Guam. Below are some pics from Guam and then Okinawa.

Guam:

In Okinawa I met up with Alexandra's friend from college who lives there because her Marine husband is stationed there. They have a neat Japanese style house and 2 dogs and a cat. Here's some pics:

Cypress

Mmm! Cypress is an awesome restaurant on East Bay st at the corner of Vendue in the historic district downtown Charleston, SC. We ordered a Caesar salad that was prepared beside our table and the salad was delicious and the food was delicious and dessert was great too, and the right proportion. Some restaurants give you way too much dessert. The pomegranate mojito I had was yummy and Alexandra and I both asked for a glass of wine with our meal that would complement the meal and the waitress did a great job of this. The picture above was at the end of our meal, in the background is a small glimpse of their wine rack.

Bottles & Brushes

We went to Bottle's and Brushes. It is a fun painting class. The artist walked us through the painting step by step. It took about 3 hours, and they served beer and wine. It was a lot of fun, I think it would be fun to do with the family in New Orleans too. Our paintings are of the Arthur Ravnel Bridge on Cooper River. Here's the pics!

SURPRISE

Last Monday (October 26, 2009) I get to work and I am told that on the next underway I will be the underway ELT so I can get some experience and get proficient at the day to day duties of my job. About an hour later my LELT came in and said "Hey how much leave do you have." I have about a 0 leave balance maybe -2 days. He said oh well, you need to write a leave chit for the next underway because we don't have room for you. I was a little shocked.

Normally the Navy is a pain in the butt when you request leave. You ask and they say maybe and you ask again and they say maybe and eventually they let you know for sure. However, this time they are telling me to go! WEIRD! So I said ok, and wrote out my leave chit.

I had duty that night so I couldn't leave the boat.

Tuesday I asked if I can really go ahead and buy a plane ticket. He said yes. I had also decided that my plane ticket will be going to Charleston, SC to visit Alexandra, but I'm not going to tell her I am coming. She still believes I am going underway. So I made the flight and hotel reservations with <1 weeks notice. (The Navy is so considerate...)

My plane landed in Charleston on Tuesday morning (November 3, 2009) I arrived at my hotel around 1100 and waited for her to get out of her class. I had a pizza for lunch and took the leftovers to the dorm front desk because I know a lot of the people that work at the desk they would probably let me leave it there to pick up later. Also I asked what route she would take to go from the building Alex's class was in to the building she was going to next. I had about 45 min until her class was scheduled to be over and she would be making her move.

As I turned to go out the door, there she was just walking in the door. We both stopped for a second. Alexandra turned really red and was speechless so I gave her a BIG HUG and picked her up! She was still speechless. I'm pretty sure she thought she was dreaming. She never asked how or why I was there, she said she didn't care. She was just super happy to see me and I was super happy to see her!

I love you sweetheart!

MWAH

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Long Deployment...?

So apparently we came back early from our underway to get ready for a possible early deployment. I thought this would mean our 6 month deployment would start and end sooner, nope, it would be more like an extra deployment. So like 6-8 months, ahh! I hate being away from Alexandra and my family. However at the same time this is kind of what I signed up for. I know what it is and if I knew no one was going to do anything I would not be happy. I guess I just wish it would be someone else, maybe, idk. I just hate being away. I want to be with Alexandra married and happy, I love her so much!!!

I love and miss you sweetheart!

MWAH