My favorite field trip!!

This is by far my most favorite field trip! What an amazing tour we had! Our day began at the gates of the naval base, we then drove in andparked. We were treated to a Veterans Day gathering where we Congressman Rick Larsen spoke as well as a naval captain and a few others. It was quite touching to look around the room when they asked for all of the vets to please stand. We applauded these brave men and women for their dedication to our country and to us and our freedom. Incredible. We then left and waited at a naval bus stop. I think this may have weel been Atiras favorite part, riding the double long bus! (that is why there is a picture of her on it!) She was thrilled that we got to ride it both to and from the ships. We stopped down at the dock, we were going to be taking a tour of the USS Shoup. What a fantastic time we had! On our tour we were able to see some of the different weapons aboard this ship, take a tour of the infirmary, dining hall, helicoptor hangar and the bridge. Which is where you will see Atira steering the ship in the above picture. The picture of Jordan has a picture of the Lincoln in the background. This ship as well as the Monson flank the Lincoln when they are out to sea. We have also had the awesome blessing of touring the Lincoln in the past, also incredible and I look forward to the day I get to do this again! It is incredible what these dedicated people do for us, giving up time with their famlies, friends and many facets of what I would say are a normal life. They are on the sea for months at time in some cases. And this may be a fierce ship, but it is not all that big and I can only imagine how much ones social skills are put to the test on a long tour like that. I am so thankful to all of you who serve and have served in our armed forces, thank you for making my freedom possible today!