my wonderful week, cont'd...

Got busy and didn't get to finish this post...
One thing I forgot to mention... The removal of the dog tag and deployment bracelet. I wore the deployment bracelet that MM gave me as well as the extra dog tag my hubby gave me every day while he was gone. Once he got off the bus and we got back to our room, the first thing I did was say to him, "you're home safely. I can finally take these off!" What a joy!
However, today, I can say I feel a bit naked without them on. They have almost become a part of me. Maybe when hubby is home from GP, it'll fill in that weird void. Hope that makes sense.
Anyway, I left off on our 5th night. We did this because I was supposed to be going to the airport to get home... New Orleans! Never been and what an experience it was. Our nicest hotel yet! No beach view but OMG! It was amazing. The Roosevelt Waldorf Astoria. Our Valet parking for the night was 38.00. Our room service breakfast, which was delicious but way too expensive, 100.00. There was a television in the bathroom! Weird thing, only a shower, no tub... But it had 4 heads! Total luxury... even robes! :) It was so beautiful. I took lots of photos.
We spent Friday night on Bourbon Street. I don't see how people do that more than one night in a row or on Mardi Gras. It was so busy and other people there I talked to in the restrooms, etc were telling me it was 100x worse during Mardi Gras. So many people, you can't even move! There was a jazz festival going on. We heard some great music. Had tons of drinks. Tons of laughs. I loved it!
Problem was, in my opinion, the oil spill. Now in case I hadn't mentioned this... BP had an oil rig explode before I left right off the gulf. They to this day are having problems containing it. Bad weather hasn't helped either. (It started pouring down rain the last day I was in Gulf Port. I am so thankful we had beautiful weather while I was there.) There was a mass evacuation of the gulf area. That included Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama and Florida. So sad.
I attempted to buy a plane ticket about 3 weeks before my trip but because the dates kept changing as to when hubby would be stateside, and the cost to change the ticket each time, I never bought one. The military rate was twice as much as the normal ticket, but at least you could switch it up... Anyway, I was given a free ticket by one of the other Seabee wives. The plan was to leave the car with the hubby and fly home.
The free ticket was stand-by basis only. There were no flights leaving from New Orleans... Which led to our next decision... Hubby's mom lives within the travel distance he was allotted in Alabama. So we drove there and spent a night with his Mom. She refused to let us get a hotel. :) It was good to see her and even better to see the huge hug she gave him. Warm fuzzies. She and her boyfriend took us to a piano bar for dinner. That was a cool experience. It was dueling pianos, 2 guys playing together but sort of competing... I was going to try to catch a flight out of AL instead... No go. All sold out.
So we ended up back in GP the next day. Hubby checked into his room and I got to spend one last night with him. We stopped and got him a rental car for the week. I personally was glad for one more night with him. Slept like a log, I was so worn out. We went to Outback Steakhouse for dinner and to see Death at a Funeral at the cinema. (I fogot to mention on our first day in GP we went to see the movie, Kick Ass... not what we were expecting but actually kinda cool.) I drove home Monday. Started out at 5:30 AM when he left to check in and got home around 4. I thought it was pretty ironic that it was pouring rain when I left him in GP and I hit sunny skies all the way to my home city, where it was raining when I got here. Ha! We were sharing each other's weather! The little ones weren't home yet, cousin still had them and agreed to meet us around 7 at home. So I took C and L to see Nightmare on Elm Street. They were glad for a little break from the house. We all like scary movies. Go figure.
I am praying for the gulf area. I had so much fun in all of our stops. The wonderful seafood. The beautiful beaches. I am hoping they get that stupid oil spill cleaned up soon, though they are saying it will be a few months. I hate it for that whole area to have to suffer a loss of tourism and the financial aspect for the fishermen of the area.
I am trying to be patient. I have been saying , "not much longer" for months and it's quite literally any day now but I am ready for my hubby to be home... I need a hug...
I also want to add... hubby and I have been married for a while now. We never got to go on a honey moon. We did the Vegas thing before his last deployment and got married with no family around. Didn't matter. We had each other.
Last time, 2005-2006, they left out of Port Hueneme, CA. I got to go out and be with him (when we only had Cici, Elliebear and Princess, who was 3 months old when he left) alone. That was when I met MM at the airport. I still say, "small world" on that one... Anyway, we drove to Vegas one evening, stood in line at their 24 hour licensing office, got married at a random facility (wonderful minister- hilarious) and drove right back. Now. I guess you could say we were away from home. Port Hueneme is also beautiful. But I love the ocean. But he was going to work getting ready for deployment. We didn't get to do a lot of sight seeing, etc. It was kind of dinner every night. We did go get tattoos together. :) So I am not counting that as a honeymoon.
This 96 hours of leave they were given was truly amazing. Since I hadn't seen him in 10 months, it was almost like that new love/just married bliss still had me glowing. We got to spend every minute together. We saw things and did things. Though I missed them, there were no kids around. (Hubby threatened to take the phone away from me until about the 3rd day.) I can actually count this as our honeymoon. Thank you, hubby! I had a wonderful time. It was a much needed break. And I fell in love with you all over again.