Tuesday in Tampa

Tuesday was a very relaxed and busy day!!  This is how we started off :o)

Daddy and his boys.

There's a little closet in the living room in the "Temporary Housing" where Brett's family is staying and Caden loves to go in there with his Grammy to play.  Well, here he is with his new gun he got on Monday.  The colors showed up so neat!

Being rather serious

 A certificate Brett earned

This is a good picture

Caden gave me a birthday card from him & Jordan.  Unfortunately, the baby was trying to take a nap.

Two coins Brett got from being deployed.  I have quite a few of these somewhere in storage for him. 

Playing with bubbles

There's my baby boy 

And his big brother 

And their handsome Airman Daddy!!  He had to go to where he reports for work for a meeting.

When he came back, he had a large long box and this is what was in it!  A new Fender guitar.

Caden thought it was pretty neat

Next, we went out for several hours looking for home for Brett's family to move in to.  We weren't too successful, but today is another day.  This picture of Jordan cracks me up!!!

When we got back on base there was one of the big AF planes on the runway

I had just told Dennis that I'd love to be able to stop by the pier and walk out on it.  About that time, Brett put on his turn~signal and pulled in there.  That was good timing!!  Here he had just taken off Caden's socks so they wouldn't get all dirty from the sand. 

Walking down the path

A beautiful wild flower along the way 

We walked through this huge pavilion and out to the Bay before going to the pier 

Father and son checking out the shoreline

Coming back 

Beautiful blossoms

Finally, getting closer to the pier

Looking for fish or manatee's maybe? 

A pelican

A look across the bay to the big city of Tampa 

The Paparzzi were on the loose

There's that baby with his Pappy again!

I thought this was so cute!  They were helping Caden look for seashells.

A parting shot

My little Afghani :o)  Really this was a hood thingy that Brett had in his goodies that was given to him before he left for his deployment! 



Happy Birthday to Me

What a celebration I've been having the last two days for my birthday!!  Tonight, Dennis took us all to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner.  Oh, my goodness sakes!!  The diet was kicked out the window, but who cares?  I was partying :o)  I had a delicious chicken teryaki dinner with brown rice which I guess wasn't too awfully bad.  BUT then came dessert. 

I really like this picture

 Here is my delicious dessert that I shared with Dennis ~ Brownie Cheesecake!  It was sinfully delicious and chocked full of sugar and calories, but I didn't really care since it was my birthday and that only comes once a year :o)))

 Karissa got Reese's Cheesecake!!  YUMMY!!

 Jordan enjoyed some cool whip

Caden having a little thumb time

 And the remainder of my (our) dessert!!

Thanks to all who called me or emailed me!!  And for all of my friends at home in Grand Cayman who text messaged me.  You all are the greatest!!  The only thing better would have been for Brandon to be here with me.  But at least I got to talk to him twice today!!

Monday in Tampa

I've attempted to work on this post about 3 or 4 different times, but hopefully have it ready to go now!!  Beware ~ there are many pictures on here and I sure hope you can feel some excitement and the electricity that was in the air for this very special occasion that we were able to witness!!  Enjoy!!

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Our Monday morning after I woke up!

Caden's Daddy doll that sure helped him while his Daddy was deployed

Bath time

While Karissa got ready to go meet Brett, we took Caden out for several hours.  Being that Jordan is so attached to his Mommy, he didn't go with us :o(  One of the places we stopped was at the mall on base (BX, etc.) and he along with his Pappy got a hair cut.  When we went to leave, it was pouring down the rain, so we spent some time waiting for it to stop at the Food Court!  I wanted to get some little American flags for him to take with us to the airport and I found them in the BX.  But I had a major problem!!  We can't buy anything in there if Brett or Karissa aren't with us because we don't have military ID.  There was a very nice young lady who came up behind us while we were talking to the cashier and said she'd make the purchase.  (Of course, we gave her the money!)  How kind of her!!  Here he was showing you the flags.

I'm sorry that I'm so biased, but I think he is one handsome little guy!!  Just look at that smile!

After we got home, he conked out on my lap

And this little guy was full of smiles

Finally, the hours passed and it was time to go to the airport.  As you'll see on several of the pictures, Caden just didn't know what to do or think about all of this.  He's had a real hard time dealing with the fact that his Daddy left him.  Being he's so young, he just didn't understand what it was all about!  We kept talking very positive and tried to be excited for him, but it still had him a little concerned apparently.

He helped me make this sign!!

Finally, a big smile!  Can you see his tee~shirt?

Watching and waiting

Jordan passed the time by pulling on his Pappy's ears.  It was so funny!!

We watched and watched.  Lots of people came and lots of people went.  Finally, the guys came!!  Here are some of Brett's buddies!  When I saw Brett come around the corner, I said, "There's your Daddy!  And someone said, "Go get him Caden!"  I was so shocked!!  He took off running through the mass of people.  How he every found Brett is beyond me being he was dogding through mostly adults.

But finally, he found him!!  It was just soooooooo awesome!!  I can't explain how I felt inside!!

Still hugging his Daddy's neck!!

The four of them

One happy boy!!  The smile says it all!!

Jordan just smiled at his Daddy like he had never been away

Still checking Brett out :o)

Now he's pulling on Brett's ear

Walking out in the parking garage.  Caden had been with us in the morning when Dennis & I went to get a hotel room.  The place where we stayed on Sunday night had one bedroom.  We slept on the sofa bed which was horrible.  I ended up trying to sleep half the night on a chair ~ not a recliner.  Anyway, he told me that he wasn't going back to the hotel with us.  He was staying with his Daddy!!  That made my heart feel so good that he wanted to be with him!!!

When we left the airport, we stopped at IHOP for dinner.  Poor Brett wasn't too hungry, but was very exhausted.

Jordan was bright eyed and bushy tailed for this time of the evening!

What a great day it was!!  God was watched over Brett and his group of guys!!  Every one of them came back home and unhurt.  Many, many times they were in danger, but they came through unscathed!!  Thank you, Jesus, and everyone who prayed for him.  You'll never know how much we appreciate it!!