Portraits

Portrait
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

We're back from our little vacation to Washington state. It was great to see so many friends and family along the way.
While we were up at my parents' house, we all sat for some portraits. I particularly liked these three shots of our family.

Hunter in the RV

Hunter in the RV
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

We've been in the pacific northwest for about a week now, visiting my parents and some of Sarema's friends. My parents and sister were pretty stoked to spend some time with Hunter. Here's a picture of Hunter enjoying some dinner during a stop on the southern Oregon coastline. It's been really nice to see lots of trees... something I didn't see much of in Kuwait.

No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn!

Well, not Brooklyn, actually. That's just the Beastie Boys song that I listen to at the start of every road trip. The origins of the tradition have been lost, but it started in college sometime.
We're loading up the RV (pronounced "erv" in case you forgot) and heading for Washington state to visit my parents and sister. We're going to stop by Hollister and do some refresher jumps on the way up. Then we're going to visit Sarema's best friend, Kymi, in San Jose. After that, we're just going to drive north and see where the road takes us.

Slow Blogging

Hunter and kitty
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

I haven't been blogging much since I got home. I've been just trying to fit into my new life. There's some household chores that need to be done as well as some loafing. I've been trying to take some of the burden of entertaining Hunter off Sarema, too.
We've been to the beach a few times, the park a couple times, and even out to dinner at Firestone's in SLO. All in all, it's been great to be home with my family.
oh, and here's a cute picture of Hunter from a visit to uncle Tawnly last week...

Swampmates and Families

Swampmates and Families
Originally uploaded by Rob Wooldridge.

As my sister, Kim, wrote in a comment on an earlier post

I was so wrapped up in you coming home that I forgot that your friends from "the swamp" got to see their families this week, too. Thanks for everything, guys! Welcome home!!

On Sunday night, we all gathered at Jim's house with our families and/or significant others. Jim's wife, Michelle, was a gracious host and we all had a great time getting together. It was nice to meet the other guy's families and was a good way to wrap up the deployment.
that's Sarema, Hunter and me in the back right; on the far left is John, his wife Connie, their youngest, Catherine, and their oldest, Jessica (who is leaning her head on Belle). In the front row just to the right of Jessica, are Jim's daughter and two sons Belle, Mitch, (Jim), and Matt. Jim's wife, Michelle is on the far right sitting next to Hunter. Last but not least, Dave and his girlfriend Sonya are in the middle on the couch.

15 seconds

Jim wrote me an email about being captured on the news during our formal "welcome home" ceremony monday morning:

Rob,
We watched KCRA news tonight and they showed the 115th homecoming. There was a brief shot of us sitting in the front row and you are closest to the camera. Of course, being techologically challenged, I have not figured out how to tape TV with our VCR/DVD player that I bought 3 years ago, but I am sure someone has it recorded.
Hope Sarema, Hunter and you arrived home safely. Keep in touch.
Jim

Sarema didn't get to see any of the welcome home ceremony because Hunter was too fussy to sit in the auditorium. It's a shame because most of that ceremony was focused on praising the family members who did such a good job taking care of things on the home front while we were gone.