First Impressions....from Aaron

First Impressions

What has jumped out at me first isn’t the locals and their attire, not the dirt (that’s right, dirt, not sand) that’s everywhere, or not how modern the city can be in spots. It is the smells. Every place has its very unique smell, some pleasant and some dreadful.

Don’t misunderstand me. Jacksonville has its array of smells, from the sea foam at the beach to the coffee factory downtown. There are some not so pleasant smells also, everyone knows I have been responsible for a few. But here the aromas are different.  I know it sounds silly, but they are "foreign". I had no idea there could be new smells.

While walking outside a hint of sweet flower floats by. Enter a building and it’s the fragrance of some kind of spice. Get on the bus and I don’t even want to know what that smell is.

The short of it is if I can notice the smells things are bearable. I am slowly settling in and getting adjusted. Thanks to everyone for their well wishes and prayers. It humbles me to know that so many people have concern and an interest. 

Thanks again.

OS1(EXW) Berrier, James A.

Easter 2011

Saturday afternoon we dyed Easter Eggs with our neighbors Sammy and Tyler. Have you ever dyed eggs with a three year old? Bryce decided the little gadget that comes with the eggs was to complicated. His tiny little hands would be much easier. Needless to say it was a mess and Bryce and I ended with a big fight. He crushed one of the eggs in his hands and his fingernails are still stained. 

 The older boys were very creative and tried to help with Bryce. 

Next year lets have a contest and dye the eggs while Bryce is napping.  

The Ertrachter's invited us over for a Easter morning egg hunt and breakfast. One of their traditions is Easter bunny cinnamon rolls. YUMMY!  

They hide 24 white eggs and one golden egg for Bryce.

 I think this picture says it all. You can even see his stained finger nails. He enjoyed hunting for the eggs, 

but I must say he enjoyed all the toys in Taylor's room, especially the big R2-D2. 

   

Taylor and Alec each had six eggs to hunt. David is showing them what color they need to find.  Of course their eggs were a little more challenging to find. 

It was not an easy task wrestling Bryce into his car seat.  He did not want to go home. It was nap time and not just for Bryce.  Our original plan was to join our neighbors for a 1:30 lunch, well I didn't think that out very well. That is Bryce's nap time. He's hard enough to handle at a restaurant, much less during nap time. Alec was able to join them for lunch and some afternoon fun at the water park. 

Thanks to all of our wonderful friends!!!!  

Boots on the Ground

Everyone,

Boots on ground safely.  At this point there are tons of questions and no answers. We are in a ‘hotel’ for now.  It was 23 hours to get here. It was 15 hours flight time.  My body clock is extremely screwed up now. We have a meeting in the morning. Hopefully we will get into a rhythm quickly.

I need a power transformer. My laptop needs it to charge. No real word on how the internet is going to work. It might be some time till I get a message back out. Always remember ‘no news is good news’.

Aaron

Compose

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

Deployment day has arrived. We have been waiting for this day for months. Aaron began his active duty in January so that he could prepare and take classes. No matter how long you have to plan and prepare your never really ready. Aaron boarded the plane today with about 250 others, some of which he deployed with five years ago. I talked with other wife's and watched many children waiting to tell their mommy or daddy goodbye. I kept telling myself, I'm not alone. For some reason I thought since I have traveled down this road before it would be easier this time, it's not. Saying goodbye was hard. 

The time of departure day changed from Wednesday to Friday then from early morning to late evening. The Davis Family invited Alec to go to Islands of Adventure on Friday. When the departure day changed, we had to make a decision, should Alec stay and see Aaron off or go have some fun.  We decided it would be best for him to go have some roller coaster fun, after all he's 12.  Aaron was able to see Alec off at 6:15 AM then he reported to NAS to check in. After he checked in he was free for the day and needed to return at 3:00 PM.                        

 By the look of that smile we made the right choice. Thanks Matt & Peggy!  

Aaron rushed home so he could help Baby Bryce hunt easter eggs. It worked out perfect.  He spent the day with Bryce then said goodbye when he put him down for his afternoon nap.    

I drove Aaron out to NAS for his 3:00 muster. I was able to hang out at the unit for about an hour. This is like one of the boats Aaron will be working on. I'm sure we can look forward to many more pictures of the boat in action.  

   They finally started boarding the plane at sunset, destination Maine. I talked with Aaron around                  Midnight and they were getting ready to take off, next destination Shannon, Ireland. At this point I will wait for a email.    I don't know when he'll be back again ...

The Why

      The dynamics of this deployment are a little different this time. When Aaron deployed five years ago it was just me and Alec. Alec was in first grade although he was very young, I believe he understood what was going on. This time we have Bryce and at three years old he keeps saying Daddy's going away for a long time, two weeks. He just doesn't understand. I hope this blog will help me journal the experience and   I can have the blog printed as a scrapbook. With my busy life I love the idea of taking care of two things at once. Please check in on the blog, you can leave comments for Aaron and the boys. Aaron leaves tomorrow for the Middle East and I promise you he will be away for much longer then two weeks.    

Pre-Deployment Road Trip

Our last weekend before deployment we ran to Sea World for a little R& R. Thanks to Sea World's Salute to the Hero our family enjoyed free tickets. Although with Baby Bryce I'm not sure we had much R&R. Aaron told Bryce he was going to throw him to the polar bears if he didn't shape up. Bryce came home and told everyone that "daddy was going to throw me to the polar bears".  He even remembered the bears name was Johnny. Our friend Wesley joined us and Alec sure was happy to have a roller coaster buddy. If you have never had the opportunity to ride a roller coaster with Aaron, watch this video to see what your missing out on.