Today marks my 11th year in the Navy.  11 years!  When I started this whole thing, I never for a moment thought I’d be in for more than 4, and here I am, officially over the halfway point toward retirement.

I’m spending this anniversary in an awesome place - Washington DC!  I got here yesterday, and I will spare everyone the details of the Charlie Foxtrot that is getting anything done for traveling, but suffice it to say that I’m here and having fun now. 

I really don’t know how people got by traveling in the past without a GPS receiver.  I got a rental car and I’ve only driven in DC once and that was directly to a house that I had gotten satellite directions to; to try and drive anywhere else while here was something I was not interested in attempting.  But last night I got in just before dark and typed the address into Carmen, our little Garmin Nuvi 270, and she took me right to my destination without any stress whatsoever. 

Today I drove from a northern suburb of D.C. down to Andrews Air Force Base, to 2 hotels, to a Peruvian restaurant that was highly recommended by the visitors reception center on the base, then to the Navy Yard and back here - and the entire time I drove with confidence and no stress.  I will be so bold to say that of every little gizmo and gadget I’ve ever bought, my Nuvi was easily the best money I’ve ever spent. 

This trip is best described as a mullet - business in the front, party in the back.  The seminar that brought me here starts tomorrow, and come the weekend I get to spend some time with Krustina which I’m looking forward to immensely, followed by a quick flight back to Milwaukee to spend some time with the family there.  It’s going to be a pretty fast paced trip but I’m so grateful to be able to see so many people I love and have missed for so long now.  

I love that I’m back in America! 

Last weekend I spent an exorbitant amount of time in the bathroom, and what else does one do whilst on the toilet than peruse classified ads?  They finally got a daily newspaper on base which is the most exciting thing that’s happened here since last October when they opened the new NEX, aka The Only Thing to Do On Base.

So I’ve been buying it here and there but haven’t had any time to do, well, anything lately.  Except that little bit of extra peace and quiet time that Mother Nature allowed me last weekend.  So I picked up the paper and started reading through the classifieds.

Always looking to pawn off something useless, I skipped forward to the “Merchandise Wanted” section and found this little gem:

Thanks to my friend, the infamous Casey Wheeler, I was introduced to the highly offensive, hilarious band, Tenacious D (the frontman is Jack Black), and Tenacious D introduced me to the term “Cleveland Steamer”.  But Rusty Trombone, that was a new one, and unless you are adequately prepared with a crank to pull your jaw back up, I do not recommend Wikipediaing that term.

Poor Cameron.

B: So what were you doing at your friend’s house, Isak?

I: We were playing Pokemon and trading cards! <goes back to eating his hot dog>

B: You know, when I was a kid, we used to trade soccer cards.

Me: You know, when I was a kid, we used to stop the police cars that would drive down the street and ask for baseball cards.

I: Nom nom nom

B: Really? That’s cool. Why don’t they do that anymore?

Me: Probably because someone didn’t get the card they wanted so they sued the police.

I: Nom nom nom

B: No, someone probably got a papercut so they sued the police.

Me: No no no, someone probably sued the police because the guy on the card got the DUI and interpreted that as an endorsement by the police of drunk driving.

I: Nom nom nom

B: No no no, someone probably didn’t get the card they wanted so they went out and got drunk and drove home and killed someone and sued the police because they were the ones that made him go get drunk and kill someone.

Me: You’re so right.

After 4 straight days of heavy rain, strong winds, and cold temperatures, the weather finally cleared up on Friday.  Everyone was cooped up in their houses all week, so when it finally did get nice, we naturally had to go out and enjoy it.

Friday we had a reenlistment ceremony at a castle in the neighboring town; Saturday was a baby shower that we were able to enjoy outside, and last night B and I went out with some friends and stayed out til the wee-est of the wee hours of the morning.  When we finally woke up near noon after only about 6 hours of sleep - even the kids slept ridiculously late - it was to a phone call asking if we had any water balloons.

I should back up a minute and explain the friendly rivalry we have in our neighborhood.  The base replaced the fences between yards a few months ago, knocking down the nice wood privacy fences and replacing them with cheap PVC fences that offer no privacy.  The only good that came out of them was that we were able to knock out 3 “planks” between our yard and our friends’ yard which eliminated the previous need to walk down the street, up another and back down to get to their house (we both live on bends in different roads so our backyards are side-by-side but on different streets).

Across the street is another family that we’re all friends with.  My backyard neighbors and across the street neighbors have known each other for several years now after having been stationed together for 3 years prior to this.  Since we’ve been here, we’ve gotten to be good friends with them and now that we all live so close, we’ve had a lot of fun.  Especially with water balloons.

But our water balloon fights aren’t what one might expect from a water balloon fight.  No, these are the kinds that wake you up while you’re sleeping to the sound of your windows being hit with water balloons from across the street.  Thanks to some super-mega-giant slingshots, we have some of the most fun water balloon fights ever.

Today I decided to get my camera out and take some pictures of the fun. While it’s nearly impossible to get the shot of the balloons landing because their landing site is totally unpredictable, I got some fun ones of us launching them.  The destination was inside the fence in the house to the right of the palm tree across the street.

.

As you can tell, this thing has some serious strength behind it.  The balloons have flown much further than just their yard; in fact, we got it past their neighbor’s yard on another street a couple of times.

Now, YOU keep in mind that strength when you enjoy these following pictures, because *I* did not keep in mind that strength when I took them.

Ready?  Aim?

Yeah, that was not such a good idea.  Right after that shot of the balloon being launched, it hit my camera straight in the lens.  My very good, very expensive, very frequently used wide angle Canon 17-40mm f/4L lens that cost an arm and a leg.

It appeared to have knocked the fitting around the top glass loose and condensation got inside the glass.  Fortunately my camera is pretty decently water tight and doesn’t seem to have been injured, but…but…my poor, poor lens.

At least we got some fun pictures out of the deal…

…and, more importantly, we got some direct hits in enemy territory.

This is spring break.

Last week it was in the upper 70s. On Friday, it was 79°F with a gentle breeze and a cloudless sky. It was finally so dry we had to start watering our lawn. Saturday was mostly beautiful; though a few degrees cooler it was still sunny and nice. With the great weather, B decided to put up the tent. Isak begged for him and his friend to sleep in the tent, so Saturday night he and his friend and Anja and I camped out.

Until 3am, when the tent broke on top of me from the high winds that picked up about an hour after we went to sleep.

Sunday was a lot cooler and overcast all day long, but when the sun came out it was still nice. The kids were excited that spring break was starting.

And then today came. With wind. And rain. And it’s in the 60s. And rain.

The forecast for tomorrow? Wind. And rain.

Wednesday? How about some more wind and rain?

Thursday? Why don’t I let you practice your meteorological skills?