Putting up the tree...

 

Veterans Day Weekend

Fall colors in Williamsburg, VA

The Governor's Palace in Williamsburg, formerly home to the Royal Governor of Virginia

Kate and ...

... Matt in the garden behind the Governor's Palace.

The Capitol (that's how it's spelled) in Williamsburg.

USS Monterrey (CG61) and USS Normandy (CG60) at Naval Station Norfolk

USS Enterprise (CVN65)

16 inch guns, turret #3, USS Wisconsin (BB64)

On the fantail, USS Wisconsin

Philly

Matt and I went to Philly the other weekend, and that was an experience. We hit Independence Hall (where we got our flag flown!), Constitution Hall, the Liberty Bell Center, the Franklin Institute, and finally, we got authentic Philly Cheesesteak sandwiches.  Take a look!

The view from the balcony of our hotel room.

The city hall, which has Mr. Penn standing on top. Used to be the tallest building in the city until the 80s, I think.

The location and layout of President Washington's house when he was President. The Independence Hall Visitor Center is just behind.

Who wouldn't want their picture taken in front of THE Liberty Bell?

Us in front of Independence Hall

This eagle was carved from last surviving "Liberty Tree" here in Annapolis!

And, of course, our flag flown in front of Independence Hall!

DC with Mom

Mom came up for a visit a couple weeks ago and we took her to DC since she'd never been. Of course, she wanted to spend the entire trip at the Daughters of the American Revolution library/museum, so Matt and I took a tour of it. It was actually pretty interesting.  About 30 states had their own room, and we toured all of them. 

Go Navy!

Then, as you can see, we hit the White House. A great trip.

Updating

It's been a while and a lot has happened.  An earthquake.  Hurricane. 

And a little more mundane, I moved to a new office.  The school year has started, and I've got two great groups of kids.  We've also had some good times with our plebes.  One of them, we took to Six Flags America with us...

We also went to a football game.  Navy v. Delaware.  We won! And we also got to see the Brigade in all it's glory...



(View from the new office)

All in all, we're settling in pretty well.  We miss everyone, but we're still enjoying ourselves.

Also, Pru graduated from Obedience School! I'll post a picture of her graduation later.

The new lens

So now that Honey got me a new lens for the camera, he has started using the camera like crazy! He's been taking tons of pictures of the girls.  Here are some of my favorites.



This is Beanie trying to keep me from doing sit-ups, by the way.



Both my girls!

I love this one.

I think this is such a beautiful picture. I want to get it printed out and hang it in the hallway with the rest of the family pictures.

She looks so cute and innocent here, doesn't she? Man! Does she have everyone fooled!

My birthday!

Yesterday was my birthday and it was a great one!  When I woke up, we had birthday cupcakes for breakfast and Matt gave me my gift: a new lens for the camera.  Then we went to the movies to see Cowbows and Aliens which was pretty good.  After the movie, it was off to Cheesecake Factory (my birthday coincides with National Cheesecake Day, so we got 1/2 off our chessecakes!).  We then went to JCPenny to get Matt some new clothes, which is an indirect gift for me. So, overall, a great day! 

Here are some pics we took around the house with the new lens...

I took this one, and it's my favorite.

Such a good guard dog

And we see that honey is just a pillow for Beanie

She's conquered the mountain!

Gone Lutheran!

This weekend, Honey and I attended the new member class at the local LCMS church. After about 3 hrs, we completed the class and Honey became a member of the LCMS church! I am going to keep my membership at my home church back in Texas, and the Pastor here was fine with that. Then, on Sunday, Honey and I got to go up for Holy Communion for the first time together.  I wish our family could have been there, but it was still special. And afterwards, we went out to eat at a Japanese steak place - delicious!

Speaking of food, we've also put Pru on a diet. I got this mail-in rebate for a Hill's Weight Loss Science Diet, so we got a starter kit for $25 (after Pet Perks) and sent the rebate in to get it for free! (Man, I have gotten so into coupons!) Anyway, Pru is not digging this diet at all.  And once Honey saw how little food she gets, he felt sorry for her too; but we have to be strong.  Pru is so overweight, it's a health issue now, so we're going to keep her on this diet until she loses a few pounds and can breathe better. Wish us luck!

Happy 4th!

We celebrated the 4th of July with some new friends here in Annapolis. We went over to their house, had a cookout, watched the parade, and saw fireworks. The parade was...interesting.  Just wait until you check these pics out.  But overall, a really nice day, and we were really happy to spend it with some friends.

In the entryway to Sarah's house

Sarah and her two kids on the front porch

At the front of the parade, there were these cute little kids - future sailors!

Yes, that is actually a batman signal on the cop car.  The sheriff's name is Bateman. Apparently, that's funny...

Seriously. We didn't know if we should laugh or shake our heads.

These guys were actually really good.

There was a dog group marching, and this little guy was too cute!

Even Santa showed up...in Hawaiian shorts...

This thing was pretty cool.  They turned this crank to make it read the music and play. 

The weirdest marching band I've ever seen....

Chloe wanted her picture taken with Bugs and Tweety, so I did my best.

This fire truck looked pretty cool. Very old school.

....Yeah.

The kids watching the fireworks from the roof of the garage

All of the people that came to see the fireworks

Sarah, the kids, and their neighbor all watching the fireworks.