Bachelor Months

When Angela and AJ evacuated from Japan in March they left me with alone in a house with an 8 month pregnant Japanese refugee and her American Husband.  While great people and company, I was working what seemed like 20 hours a day supporting the Search and Rescue (Operation Tomodachi) ops in northern Tohoku and couldn't spend much time with them until they went home to Ibaraki (for a healthy birth of a beautiful baby girl!).  Thus myself and scores of co-workers found ourselves in an awkward situation where our dependents actually "deployed" away from home while we were left on the homefront.

Once work started to regain some normalcy we started to delve into unknown territory.  Everything seemed hard and simple tasks required a late night call to our spouses on the other side of the world. For example, how in the world do I pay our rent? Do I pay in yen or write a check? Where do I take the trash and recycling? And the biggest one was in regards to food. I wandered into the unfamiliar commissary and came across several geographic bachelors staring at aisles, unsure of where items were. I had maybe been in the commissary two or three times in a year until this point and was extremely confused as to the placement of products (though the selection was VERY poor due to the fact that less produce was being shipped in due to the earthquake... because we won't need to eat in a disaster?!?!?).

I cleaned the house once all over and settled into a diet of quick turkey wraps, cottage cheese, coffee and alcohol.  To deal with the stress of work, possible radiation, and family separation several of us at work developed an established bar routine on the weekends, enjoying the suddenly mellow local night scene (the Japanese had become very depressed and not out as much after the earthquake).  One of the great things about Japan is the bars do not close, and stay open until at least dawn, so you can take a 0300 cab home, grab an anti-hangover "ginger" shot and be good to go (still not sure what is in these things but they are legit, and sold in every 24 hour convenience store).  In addition to our hard drinking, we kicked off "Operation Keep Each Other Alive" where we each took turns cooking food.   One person would barbeque, I would make enchiladas, and would switch off to make sure we were all eating.  It was tough to the be the ones at home for once, without our spouses, kids, and pets, and it saddened us all.

Thankfully we survived, I now know how to pay the rent, made some friends with the local bartenders, and have Angela and AJ where they should be!

Following in Howard's Footsteps

One of the first things we wanted to do in Japan was visit a site that Grandpa Howard did in 1945-1946 as part of the post-War occupying force.   He often tells of a visit he made one day with some shipmate into central Tokyo on a train from their ship in Yokosuka.  They rode the train past fields of burnt homes from US bombings, leaving only metal safes.



He said there was a Japanese girl on the train learning English through a vintage Reader’s Digest (interesting for the occupied country to embrace American culture so fast).  When they got to Tokyo the thing to do was visit the Imperial Palace, partly because it was not targeted by Allied bombing and was actually still intact.  All his sailor buddies got pictures taken in front a famous bridge on the palace grounds by a random Japanese photographer, who miraculously got the photos back to the correct ship.  Howard always finished this anecdote with his encounter with General MacArthur whose headquarters were nearby.  He watched as guards seemed to know precisely when to open the doors for the General to step out, wave at the Japanese well-wishers, and get into his famous black sedan.



Before we moved to Japan we spent an evening in Yorktown, and stumbled across Howard’s old photos.  We took a digital photo of his aging 1946 photograph from the Imperial Palace and used that as a reference to find the exact spot he stood over 65 years later.  On a nice late summer Saturday we took the train to the center of modern Tokyo to walk the outside of the palace grounds to find the photo spot.  The bridge was remarkably easy to find and is still THE place to get your photo taken.  Dozens of tourists, both international and Japanese, were lining up to take pictures with this bridge in the background.  In 1945 the Emperor officially renounced his deity status to a shocked country, but the place is still revered. And guarded.  Across the before mentioned bridge were stern looking uniformed guards that kind of reminded me of the Queen’s Guards in England.  I am pretty sure we were being watched the whole time.  But we got a photo of another Naval Gouger in the same spot as Petty Officer Howard did in the 1940s.

Happy 60th Anniversary Howard and Ethel!

We received this email today from Dad G and thought we would share it with everyone! Happy Anniversary GM and GP!

"We would not be here if not for this event 60 years ago September 2, 1950.  La Plata Md."

Dad B in Haiti

Dad_Flagship_Article_Haiti

Article about the Strike Group my dad works in.  Look at the picture....you might see a familiar face!

(Picture is taken from the Norfolk Flagship.  http://www.flagshipnews.com/ All rights belong to the US Navy.)

Enjoy the picture! He clearly didn't know someone was taking a photo of him! Ha!  Right now my dad is living in a tent in Haiti, helping coordinate relief efforts among the military.  Please continue to pray for the people of Haiti, and please consider donating whatever you can to help the Haitian people through these devastating times.  Though the earthquake happened almost a month ago, aid will be needed for years!

If you don't feel comfortable giving, consider downloading the Hope for Haiti Now album from iTunes.  Justin Timberlake has an amazing version of Hallelujah on it.

A Year with the Burley's

Smilebox Card from Mom B

Merry Christmas from the Burley's!  My mom made this card through a Hallmark site, so I thought I would share it with everyone.  I think I might make one too!

Back from Iraq!

My dad came home for Iraq unexpectedly, and James and I were able to go home and visit him and my mom!! He was having surgery done on his face due to a skin cancer growth, and although it was benign, because it was on his face, they decided to send him home to have it taken care of. He flew through Germany, where he stayed for a few days, and was given things to feel at home by an organization out of Roanoke! Operation First Response, http://www.operationfirstresponse.org/, provides backpacks with the comforts of home, including hygiene things, underwear, and a homemade quilt.

It was great seeing my dad, but sad that it had to be under these circumstances. I tried on his armor, as he had to travel with it, and it was SUPER heavy! I could hardly breathe in it…let alone wear it for more than 5 minutes! But….if it stops bullets then it is worth it!


He brought back some really cool Persian rugs as well.
They are red, white, and blue, to match our house, and they look amazing! We had to rearrange the house trying to figure out where they looked best, and we ended up finding the perfect spot for them. AJ loved the rugs, and he would jump on them when we were trying to roll them out. The rugs are REALLY cool! You can’t buy that quality in the US!  We also enjoyed some good meals, talked, went shopping, and just hung out while he was home. It was great seeing him! We can’t wait until he is home for real!!!

Christmas with the Gougers!

After a wonderful visit in Virginia Beach Angela and I dragged our poor dog away from his Lizzie and headed across the Bay to see my family. AJ and Lizzie became quite good friends while we were there, and he was sad to be leaving her. Although, I think he was more upset about getting back in the car! We were very tired and still exhausted from the move,

and we realized that in all the chaos there were several more boxes of presents to wrap! Angela thought that she would be able to wrap them in the car, but that was very unsuccessful, and she only wrapped one present in an hour! So we stopped in the parking lot of an elementary school in Newport News to finish…

the rest of the day was a slow paced family visit where Colin was the center of attention. Baby’s first Christmas is always a big deal! We methodically exchanged gifts until Grandma and Grandpa Gouger came over for dinner, which was great! Angela at first had a hard time catching on to the method, but she figured it out!
AJ loved opening his gifts, and really enjoyed his cigar and duck! He was completely worn down from all of the attention, presents, and traveling, and he fell fast asleep on Grandma’s comfortable lap. He loved Grandma and Grandpa, and we have decided that they need to get a little dog! We had a wonderful Christmas ham, with great wine, and spent the evening enjoying great food with the family.

We watched family videos during the afternoon, and enjoyed seeing how cute Mary was as a little girl, how funny James is playing football by herself, and how awesome it is to see teenage girls in the 80s who are too cool for everything! ☺ After family videos, the girls made bracelets and earrings from the bead kits they received for Chrismas.
All in all, we had a very pleasant Christmas with both of our families, whom we hadn’t seen in quite awhile. It was our first Christmas together, which was very exciting and very eventful! We hoped Rod had pleasant holidays in Baghdad, and that next year, we can all celebrate together!

Christmas with the Burley's!

This year was one crazy Christmas. After driving for over 2500 miles since early December, Angela and I were utterly exhausted. We finished unloading our furniture in Blacksburg in a pouring rain alone and headed to Virginia Beach on our last bit of energy. On Christmas Eve we frantically searched for gifts to give each other as we had not the opportunity before.
Christmas Eve traditions for the Burley’s include going to Olive Garden. We dropped of AJ with Lizzie for doggy bonding and picked up Mom Burley from work. It was nice to see Tony, whom we hadn’t seen since July 4. He is really enjoying the Coast Guard Academy! The Burley’s neighbor, Karen Minkowitz threw a Christmas Eve party with a bunch of neighbors which included a silly gift exchange. We had a good time, but it was bittersweet in the fact that Rod was on the other side of the world and Taryn was leaving for California the next day. After the party we went to Midnight Mass with Father Scordo who had married us! There was so much incense in the church my eyes watered up and I could not see anything, plus I was a tad tired. Angela and I stayed up till 2am to wrap presents then passed out till 5am to wrap more. We had a nice gift exchange with Mom Burley and Tony around 6am. He really liked his cigar box we got for him in Key West. The dogs loved their toys, and we realized how dominant AJ is due to the fact that he could control everything Lizzie did… but she is a tiny dog.

Nebraska

Grandmother Lois passed away in early December, and given the fact that Lincoln was merely a long days drive from Waco, we drove up.
Angela had not had the opportunity to meet my Mother’s family as they could not make the wedding, and I was excited to show her Lincoln, which I think is an awesome city due to childhood vacations. We left around 5am and headed north. Our only traffic was in Fort Worth and we made good time. AJ was introduced to snow in Oklahoma at a small truck stop. Kansas was stereotypically flat, and Nebraska met us with tidy farms and a spectacular sunset. At York we hopped onto I-80 and grabbed runza’s, a Nebraska fast food oddity. Meat is cooked with cabbage and wrapped in dough… sounds weird but is fantastic. Using mapquest we found the hotel we were sharing with my Parents and Sarah who had flown in earlier. They were at my Uncle’s place for dinner after the wake. We used the internet to find our way there and had a good reunion with my parents whom we had not seen since July. The rest of the family received Angela well and we shared some memories of my late grandparents. The next day we gathered for a cold funeral for Grandma Collings. It had been 16 degrees the night before… and for acclimated Texans we were COLD. After a nice ceremony we went sight seeing with my parents. We visited my mother’s alma mater, Nebraska Wesleyan where my Grandmother had been a librarian and professor of children’s literature. We then headed to see the library my Grandfather had run at the University of Nebraska. My dad found a park near our hotel to take AJ on a walk, where he met his first frozen pond, poor dog.
Lincoln’s skyline is dominated by the state capitol building and the gigantic University of Nebraska football stadium. They love their Huskers! After a nice visit we got up real early and headed south across the plains to pack up and leave Waco for good!!

Fishing with the Frank Weller’s

The day after Thanksgiving Grandpa and Uncle Frank were going fishing down at Ingleside Navy base. They convinced me to come so we went and picked up a one day saltwater fishing license. We got up early and left by 6am for Ingleside first stopping for some freshly caught shrimp as bait. We walked to the end of the only pier at the tiny base overlooking Corpus Christi. As soon as we started fishing sand trout started biting. In just a few hours we had a cooler full of 120 trout and headed home. Grandpa decided I would be in the way if I helped gut and clean the fish, so I was assigned to cleaning the poles. Angela and I had some friends over before we moved and grilled up the trout into good po’boys. We had a nice stay in Rockport before heading back to Waco to pack it all up and move home.

Cousins + Mac = AWESOME

Thanksgiving break was sooooo good! James and I went to Rockport to spend the holiday with Grandma and Grandpa Weller, Uncle Frank and Aunt Chris, and my cousins, Nicole and Sarah. We entertained ourselves with the macbook! Check out these awesome family photos!