Dinner at the Navy Lodge

As most of you are aware, because of my frequent trips out on the carrier, Michelle, Fin and I spend much of our time traveling back and forth to Seattle to accommodate my work schedule. While the ship is in port we spend our time living out of a hotel in Everett. While this isn’t the most ideal situation, it allows our family to be together during port periods and it allows us to save money on rent while I am out to sea. Other advantages include maid services, fresh towels, free wake-up calls, plenty of ice, and if the neighbors are not nice they’ll be gone tomorrow!


Mom and Dad gave us this really cool convection oven that sits right on the countertop in our kitchenette. Michelle is a wonderful cook and is getting really good at cooking fun meals out of it for us. I’m sure it can be a challenge to go from the Johnson’s where the kitchen is bigger than our entire hotel room and she is cooking for 11, to a small kitchenette barely a step up from a Little Barbie Toy Kitchen where she is cooking out of a 12 inch oven. It doesn’t seem to affect the quality of her cooking though! So far she has baked an assortment of entrees, roles, and even desserts! Fin and I are pretty lucky guys to have such a wonderful mother and wife!

Christy came out with us this past week to keep Michelle company while I was working and also to research schools. This is a picture of us eating a wonderful dinner that Michelle cooked.

Fin's Nursery

In a recent email I outlined some of the advantages of spending so much time in a hotel. Perhaps the biggest advantage is that we get to spend so much time together on account of there only being one room. While that ultimately is an advantage, it can be really tricky to find a place to put Fin so that he can sleep and not be disturbed, at the same time Michelle and I can live and not be disturbed either – as both his sleeping and our living require a different set of quietness criterion. The solution to this problem may be obvious to all……
Fin has found consistent sleep in the bathtub with the curtain drawn, lights out, and fan on providing white noise. Is it still considered a “master bath” if the bath and his bed are the same thing? I wonder how that would list in the real estate adds. The only trick to this arrangement is that all bathroom efforts should be considered and coordinated before the little man goes down for a nap. I guess there is always a toilet in the lobby!

Under the sink is a close second to the tub! My poor gypsy family! They sure put up with a lot to deal with my career and spend time with me. I thank them and love them so much for it!