The Last Homecoming?

Daddy's home!

Yesterday (April 10), Matt came home from what was probably his last deployment ever.  The thing that made this homecoming day special (in addition to the thought of it being the last one) is the BHR hosted a "Dependents Day Cruise."  This is where sailors could have family and guests (8 years & older) come onto the ship and sail the last little bit home together.

Since Leah was old enough but Aaron was not, I let Leah decide if she wanted to go by herself and have a daddy-daughter day or whether she wanted me to get someone to watch Aaron while we both went together.  She chose the first option, going by herself.

I made arrangements with the CO's wife, Heather, to escort Leah to the ship.  Everyone going on the cruise had to meet at Port Ops so they could ride in a LCU for about an hour from the base to the BHR.  Once they reached the ship then Matt would meet Leah and take her off Heather's hands.  That was the plan and it went fairly smoothly.  However, the muster time (when Leah had to check in and be at the dock) became earlier and earlier and the time when they were scheduled to leave wasn't the time they really left.  Factor in that it was cold and rainy and it did not make for a good beginning of the day.  I had to wake the kids up at 5:00 am so we could check-in Leah at 6:00 am and meet Heather.  The LCU trip was supposed to begin at 7:00 am but it wasn't until almost 7:30 am before they started lining people up, giving them life preservers and going over safety instructions.  Leah was wet and frozen and just miserable.  I almost thought she might give up but she soldiered through.  She just kept asking me when could she get to daddy's ship.  Aaron and I left her when they were lining up for their safety instructions, and Matt called me when she arrived to the ship.  He received good reports from both the CO's and the XO's wives that Leah was a trooper and did well.  While Leah was riding the LCU, I took Aaron to breakfast at the McDonald's on base.  I suspect he was having a better time at that moment.

Leah:  cold, wet, tired and miserable.

Aaron loves McDonald's hotcakes and hash browns.

A much happier Leah on the ship with her dad.

Since the weather was lousy, there was no "steel beach picnic" on the ship as originally planned.  (A steel beach picnic is a cookout on the deck.  Sometimes this happens underway as a special treat for the sailors.) Instead, there was lunch in the mess decks as usual.  Apparently, Leah ate a hamburger and (multiple) chocolate chip cookies while the Lego Movie played.  In addition, there were static displays where they could look at different equipment and Matt took Leah on a tour of the ship.  She seemed to enjoy it.  Best of all, the Dramamine worked and she did not get seasick!

Leah posing with a helicopter on the deck of the ship.

Leah tries on some gear.  "Don't worry Mom,
the gun wasn't loaded," she told me later.

At 2:30 pm, Aaron and I returned to base right as the ship was coming in to port.  We could see Matt and Leah on the top deck.  They look so tiny because Matt's ship is huge.

Leah is in the pink jacket and Matt is waving.

Even though the ship came in on time, as scheduled, at 2:30 pm, it was another hour and a half before the lines were tied up, the gang plank was set up and Matt and Leah got off the ship.  This ship always takes a long time, it seems, from the time it pulls into port to the time the sailors can leave the ship.  That is one thing I will definitely not miss about the deployments here in Japan.  And hopefully, I won't ever have to miss Matt for months at a time again either!