Rafe is on his way home!

I just found out yesterday that he will be home sometime tomorrow or the next day.  SHOCKING!  I thought he wasn't coming home for a few weeks.  It's exciting and nerve-wracking all at the same time.

Part of the fun of homecoming (for me at least) are the activities leading up to the big day; and the anticipation building and building.  Amelia and I usually make chains for each day we have left to wait; the yard gets raked and weeded; the house starts getting the annual deep cleaning; the wife starts getting spruced up (after months of benign neglect on appearance) and the little projects get finished up and new projects put on hold in anticipation of time spent together as a family. 

This time we are going to miss all that.  Right now it's a mad scramble to get ready!!!!

Like most times in your life when you really need life to go smoothly so you can get stuff done, it hasn't.

 Livi has been sick for 3 weeks and it got much worse yesterday and today.  She went to the doctor today and turns out her ear is infected (thought it was a tooth coming in per the dentist telling us that she would pull her ears when the next teeth came up in a few weeks) and her lungs are full of gunk.  She had a breathing treatment in the office and will need breathing treatments every 3 hours for the next few days at least and possibly longer.   Not easy to do as she fights the mask so hard.

The girls wet my bed; Livi is pulling everything she can down off of tables and cabinets and toy chests; I had to finish delivering some things donated to a local family in need; spring break and Amelia is home; it's been raining constantly; and I'm in the middle of pulling things out to sell for two garage sales, children's consignment fair, and regular consignment.

He'll be lucky if I shave my legs this time.  Welcome home, honey!

Aquarium in NC

The first few days home

She didn't want to be more than a few inches away from him... she picked out the hats :)

Pure Joy


Anything Daddy does is fascinating

Daddy Doll

I should have left the light on, but the room didn't look that dark when I was filming. :(

"My Daddy's Home!"

This was just about 30 minutes after he arrived. We just walked in the BOQ and he was unloading gear from the car into the room.

Together at last!

I can't get enough of these two faces!

And more gear!

That gear is extremely heavy - even the lightest piece of it. He made carrying it look easy, so back at the BOQ I tried to lift it. BAD IDEA. I could barely pick it up. I was actually surprised at how much it weighed.

Getting the Gear

I love it - the only Marine carrying a backpack, a little girl and a pink blanket!

Pure Hotness!

I sure did miss that man!!!!!!!!!!

Birthday Party

I love this one also, because that particular smiling expression is so unusual to see. She is just so happy to see him and yet bashful at the same time.

Shy, Happy and Excited

I took this right after she ran to him and he picked her up... I love that look on her face; it's one I hardly ever see.

"Daddy have a present for me!"

This can't top the first one I posted, but it is still cute. He just told her he brought back a present for her. It's only a minute or two after he came home.

Reunion

This video says it better than I could.

HERE THEY ARE!

You can see the buses starting to come down the road. There were 3 of them all together, he was in the first one. Amelia and I had actually gone to the car and called my mom to pass the time when we heard a loud roar and cheering begin from the crowd. I hung up and ran out with Amelia as quickly as I could - poor thing, she fell and I had to scoop her up and carry her the rest of the way.

The Gear is Here!

This was a beautiful sight - rows of gear, just waiting to be claimed.

Amelia and I started strolling by it to see if we could read the tags.

Is that....???

IT IS!!!!
This is when it finally started to feel real;

that it was actually going to come to an end and he would be with us soon.

Still waiting...

She had two flags she wanted to wave for Daddy...
This one made the cut

Getting a little restless

Finally!! Signs of life!

Their gear arrives!!

Forlorn and starting to get a bit sad

And Waiting...

The night kept fading as we waited. It seemed like forever, with frequent updates on when they were showing up - usually with different times.

Waiting on the Marines...

This was the group of people already waiting when we arrived at 4 am. We headed that direction, only to smell heavy cigarette smoking!! I was actually surprized because who wants to smell like a cigarette after not seeing their husband for a year if they are non-smokers? I figured the group would be separated into smokers and non smokers. Rafe hates that smell so we ended up waiting by ourselves in a nearby building that had the "work party" Marines in it. They gave Amelia a doughnut and all was well.

A "Working Party" is a group of Marines who gather for a specific work purpose - in this case, unloading the gear for the returning Marines. So they wait until the gear arrives. This room was quite... odiferous. Like lots of men camping. :)

After the doughnut, back to the car for a nap.

Preparing for the Homecoming

11:00 pm Tuesday - after we finally hit the BOQ, unloaded the car and got her in her jammies. I put her on the bed for a minute to get her a drink and she passed out, poor thing.
3:00 am - 6 months pregnant, up for an hour and getting ready to wake Amelia up

3:05 am - trying to get a better picture. Soon after that, I received a phone call that said the guys were coming in at 4 am and not 4:30 am and to hoof it to the arrival place.

3:50 am - Amelia in the parking lot right after we get there, getting ready to watch for Daddy. She's very excited right now.

4:15 am - We're told they just left Cherry Point and won't be there until 5 or 5:30 am.

(Isn't she beautiful?!?!? It broke my heart to see that little sad face). If I'd been more awake I would have remembered that Cherry Point was more than an hour away.