Pre-Deployment Leave Week Two!!!

Before leaving North Carolina, we received a visit from Ryan Ward one of our sweet friends from TBS (officer schooling in Quantico) They're stationed in Camp Lejeune, NC and since we left them last year have gone from two to three. It was awesome to meet their little boy Benjamin. Brandon & Jon will deploy on the same day, which is crazy considering they're stationed on opposite coasts.Ryan & I were really close last year, as she introduced me to life as a USMC wife. We really miss them, but we're thankful that NC is home for all four of us. Look forward to seeing them at Christmas!Although we spent the majority of our time with the Bass Family, since I'll be back in the next 7 months and Jon will not...we were able to spend one evening with the Humphries & it was truly sweet for me. We enjoyed an incredible Mamma Humphries Dinner, Frisbee golf with Rex, a private guitar concert & a wonderful fireworks display! Thanks for everything HUMPS!As mentioned earlier one of our highlights was spending time with Jon's brother, sister-in-law & our niece, Madison. Here she is sharing her PB & J with Uncle Jonathan!One of the first things we did in California was visit the Horse Races at Del Mar, with friends Julius & Carey Milani. It may have been one of the most fun things we've ever done. We did however have a great "first" betting experience. Winning something in each of the 9 races! We came home $27.70 richer...having had loads of fun & experienced something brand new!

Just giving Jon a good-luck kiss before he went to place the bets!
Jon & Julius enjoyed the horse racing culture...more than 1 million dollars was bet on each of the nine races. Our 2 & 3 dollar bets...probably didn't matter much!Anheuser-Busch, is saluting it's hero's in 2008...so thanks to my HERO, we got into Sea World for FREE! There are definitely some military benefits, we try to take advantage when we can.Our favorite thing about this vacation was just getting to be together, something that hasn't happened as much as we'd like it too...in the past year & a half.Getting to see Shamu, was quite AWESOME...as most kids we both wanted to be dolphin trainers at one point or another in our youth! It's very cool, what these animals can do!Jon let me buy six dollars worth of fish, so I could feed the sea lions. The only tricky part was getting the fish to the sea lions before the seagulls snatched it out of your hand.As always when we visit the Pacific, Jon likes to make time to go surfing. Julius & Carey live less than a mile from the ocean. We're incredibly envious of the Marines who are stationed at Camp Pendleton & get to see the ocean every day. There really is something so wonderful about living near the beach! Jon & Julius surfing the same wave...glad I caught this one on camera!After living in Quantico & supporting the Nationals while we were there, we made a decision to always support the Major League Baseball team closest the where we're living. So here we are cheering on the San Diego Padres as they battled the Diamond Backs. Sadly they lost, but you can see us later in our newly purchased San Diego baseball hats.Here we are at Sea Port Village in downtown San Diego. A cute area right on the water full of shops and restaurants. A wonderful place to spend the evening with your husband!LEGOland California offers a one hour shopping pass for free...so we made the most of our hour took as many pics as we could, bought some Christmas presents & left. Here's Jon getting smashed by an ogar (made entirely of legos)No, we didn't go to NYC...this is still at Legoland! Quite amazing what these guys have made using Legos & a lot of glue. We have a picture just like this, from our engagement weekend, although that one really is in New York City.After San Diego, we headed to Coronado Island. Home of the world famous Hotel Del Coronado, we couldn't afford to sleep there but we did treat ourselves to drinks & dinner. Here's Jon enjoying a Mojito, while overlooking the ocean. It is an amazing hotel and for only $500.00 a night you could stay there too...Downtown Coranado is super cute, filled with expensive boutiques, Zagat rated restaurants & people riding bicycles. I loved it...jon selflessly let me enjoy it!Enjoying an incredible milkshake together before heading home to the dessert!What a wonderful vacation, filled with great memories...hopefully these will last us the next seven months while we're apart. I'm already planning our post-deployment vacation.....