More news and busy-ness!

Here I thought I was caught up on my blogging and then more news happens!

As you might know (or maybe not!) Nathan graduates from Boatswain's Mate "A" school in Virginia next Friday. I am flying out to see him graduate! When he graduated from boot camp I had a six-week old baby so I took a pass and let my parents and Don be his cheerleading section. My wonderful, amazing mother is flying up to help Don hold down the fort, allowing him to at least work a little! Nathan and I are driving his little truck back west...a reverse trip from his adventure in June with Tom Bennett.

But that's not the news! He just found out that after he gets back here, he is NOT traveling to Cordova, Alaska to report to his unit...he is traveling to JAPAN to report to his unit, as the USCG Cutter Sycamore is leaving Cordova on August 27 and will be in the Tokyo harbour from September 10-13. He is supposed to meet his ship there, and then travel with them to RUSSIA! They'll stop in Tokyo again on their way home, and then will sail back to Cordova sometime in the middle of October. As you can imagine, Nathan is giddy with excitement about seeing the world so early in his Coast Guard career, and he's even more certain that he made the right choice when he selected Alaska.

We're a busy family for the rest of summer. We leave tomorrow for Merritt for a family reunion at Don's parents' place, so we're preparing for that. When we get back I'll have two days to get myself ready to go to Virgina. I'm picking up my sister on Wednesday from work and driving down to Seattle, where my mom will be waiting for us (having just flown up from the Bay Area). We'll have a hen party at Embassy Suites Wednesday night. Thursday morning early I'll depart for Virginia, and my mom and sister will drive back up here, where Don will be eagerly awaiting my mom's arrival : )

When we're not busy having all this fun, we've been working hard. Don is ecstatic to have his entire work force back from their summer adventures, and now great progress is being made down at Radnai's. Even Don is starting to feel optomistic about being able to get all the work done before school starts on September 9.

Oh! One more bit of news: it looks like I might have lined up a childcare gig for my friend who found herself a part-time job! I watched her son this summer a few times when she was doing casual work, and he and the girls got along well. He'll be in Patience's kindergarten class so it will definitely be convenient. Don and I were JUST talking about needing just a little more money to make things run more smoothly, and then she called asking if I was interested. I love when that happens : )

I'll post early next week with family reunion news and pictures, but then I'll be away until Nathan and I return September 3.