Day 80-88

enjoying his new cigars

pictures of the modernization of Bahrain

Lets see what has happened since the last blog? We hit halfway point....wheeeeee!!! It is like a goal and every day it gets closer and closer and I was just really excited about halfway day. It is all down hill from here and we have even started talking about planning a homecoming party.

The ship has passed though the Straight of Hormuz again which is at the tip of Oman. During this time period they had the internet completely shut down for a day or two so no family go any emails which was sad.

After that though they pulled into port in Bahrain which is where my sailor took pictures of the architecture strictly for me I am sure. My sailor has been there a few times and said it sucked pretty bad but this time he said it was much more modernized and was moving with forward progress much like Dubai. He got to go to the mall and buy some cigars and a head dress and then got to hang out in what we call the "Sand Box" which is basically a bar on base that all the sailors hang out in and then stumble back to the ship.

Day 76-80

The beep, beep, beep conversation....

My sailor and I are having an email conversation and he types that the library is closing (and yes on a floating city of 5000 the library closes even though everyone's family is 9 time zones away so dont get me started) he says he will call in a few minutes. I am waiting with my cell phone in hand and the phone rings with the usual UNKNOWN caller. I answer and say hello and nothing....I say it a few times and still nothing. Usually I hear the jets taking off in the background or a loud static but this time nothing. So about 10 minutes later another call and I say hello and nothing then I hear a beep. I say can you hear me? Then another beep. I say Matt is that you and I hear two beeps. I say press one for no and two for yes and I hear two beeps.  Needless to say we had a conversation for 10 minutes using beeps so now when we say I love you it is beep, beep, beep.

day 16-76

Yea I know it is a big gap and my sailor had to point it out to me. We have 88 days left until I see my sailor again. A lot has gone on during the past month or so. 

First of all I got to go to Dubai to see my sailor as he pulled into port. It was amazing. We spent almost a week together going to the mall of Dubai, the gold suik, the dessert on 4x4 tours, and of course Wild Wadi. We stayed at the Habtour Beach Resort and Spa and it was a very nice hotel but very pricey as was everything there. It was a 14 hr plane ride packed full of foreigners and of course it is 8hrs ahead in time so my clock was way off.

Second I have been very busy since summer is creeping up and I have joined a kickball and softball league. Also the spring rains make my lawn grow like crazy so if I am not at the beach on the weekends I am behind a lawn mower.

And all this lawn mowing has my allergies going nuts. I have always had bad allergies so the usual routine of Claritin 24 hr is back in full force.

Third I am trying to get a head start on planning the Homecoming for the Mighty IKE and my husband's family is also having a family reunion this summer upon his return so I am helping with that. And yet on top of that I have a 10 yr high school reunion next year to plan and a 5 yr college reunion at the same time so I am trying to make sure all my contact info is up to date and organized. 

Mother's day is this weekend and I have already sent a package to both mom's with gifts and also Dubai trinkets.