Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Family Day 2007

On Saturday, Brent’s work had the first Family Day since September 11th, 2001. I wanted to see what Brent’s desk looked like, so we signed up and went. One of the most exciting things, for most people, was that they were letting people tour one of the submarines. I didn’t really want to go on the sub, but a WHOLE bunch of other people did. Brad’s dad, grandpa and brother-in-law came to see the sub. Unfortunately, they would only let people 8 years old and up on the sub, so we got to watch Chloe and Kyle while they were touring the sub.

They wouldn’t let you bring cameras on base, so I have taken it upon myself to draw from memory what we saw. You’ll be amazed by my artistic ability, I know it!


We decided to take the foot ferry across Sinclair Inlet to Bremerton. A lot of other people decided to do that too, so we missed the first ferry and had to wait ½ hour for the next ferry. I was just happy that it wasn’t raining or windy. When it gets windy by the water, it gets COLD! So, I wasn’t grumbling with the rest of the people. I was looking on the bright side. It was REALLY foggy though. You couldn’t even see to the end of the marina. That was a lot of fun!

We finally got on the ferry and made our way across the inlet. As we were nearing Bremerton, I could see something in the water. It was sea lions feasting on salmon. They were having a grand old time! I tried to depict this with my beautiful drawings, but I couldn’t convey what the scene was like. The day before I had picked Brent up and heard sea lions. I couldn’t see them, but now I think that they were in mostly the same place, making a lot of noise.

As we’re pulling up to the dock, I see all the people in the park right next to the dock. I didn’t think much of it, that is until we got near the gate to the base.



The line was HUGE! It took us about 1 hour to get through it. I don’t think anyone expected this long of a line! It was kind of crazy. But, then again, it wasn’t raining or windy. And, the sun was starting to peek out from the clouds. A great day here!

We’re waiting and waiting and who do we see walking up the hill – Ryan, Marcela and Reyes. They had been waiting for awhile and were giving up. It was just too long of a line. We talked with them for a minute and said good bye. We weren’t going to give up. Not when we had waited this long.

Finally, we get through the gate! We had to stop and get a snack for the rest of the day.

I have to say, I wasn’t that excited to go. Other than seeing where Brent’s desk was, I didn’t really care. But then you’re walking down this road with HUGE buildings all over, BIG old cranes and submarines in dry dock everywhere and it is kind of cool. Some of the buildings are really old, so that’s kind of interesting. It was built in the early 1900’s, so there’s a lot history there.


I have to say, this is one of my best pictures. On the right is a big building. On the left is a HUGE crane and there is a submarine in dry dock below it. I’m such an artist!

We went to some of the shops and they were giving out things. The sheet metal shop gave out these:


And the machine shop gave out these:


I thought that was kind of cool.

The whole time we were in the line to get in we joked about it being like Disneyland only without a cool ride at the end. This was more true once we found the line for the submarine tours. I think EVERYONE wanted to go on the sub! It was crazy.

We got there just in time to get Chloe and Kyle from Brad before they got on the bus to the sub. I don’t think anyone was expecting such a long line to get in.

We took the kids to Brent’s desk. He works in a warren of cubicles. It’s kind of depressing. He really needs some pictures in his office. But, it was nice to see so now I can imagine what he’s doing when I’m on the phone with me. (Normally it’s working and kind of ignoring me, but that’s another story.)

Then Brent thought it would be cool to go on the roof of his building and look around. He was right. It was cool. You could see most of the area from there. And by that time the fog had cleared up. Kyle liked playing in the mud and being able to get out of the stroller, so we stayed there for a few minutes.

We went back where we were going to meet Brad et al and no one was there. We waited and waited. We later found out that there was an alarm for a Freon leak in the sub so they had to shut it down for a while. It was such a fluke, but it would have been nice to know.

We did get to go to a couple other shops though…

Chloe played tic-tac-toe with a diver at the Dive Shop.


When we went to the foundry, the guy opened the furnace. It was really hot and we were far back. I would hate to work there all the time!


It was getting to be the time when they wanted all non-military types out, so we left Brad a note, hoping he would find it, and made our way back to the gate. Kyle loved going under the big cranes. “Here we goooooo!!”

Then we let them play around while Brent went back to find Brad. Brad was very apologetic. It was just a bad situation, but he did offer to take us to dinner at Anthony’s. We couldn’t pass that up. It’s the best seafood place around! Thanks Brad! We had a good time!

All in all, it was a great day!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ashley, sounds like a decent enough day, though I understand your frustration. It seems whenever I have family around and want to show them something neat (at work or otherwise), we spend about 90% of our time waiting. So frustrating! Glad you had a good day, though!

Anonymous said...

Those are some AWESOME drawings! :) I thought about drawing John's desk (since it was the main thing I was interested in, too), but no one but me cares what a room full of cubicles looks like!

Angel said...

You are so funny -- I love your illustrations! I think that it is great that Brent's work opened up to allow families around, we always look forward to the JPL Open House that is in the Spring every year, that way the kids know what Roy is doing while he is gone all day...

Anonymous said...

Sounds like a fun and interesting day!
Loved your illustrations!!!

Jess said...

Sounds like a fun filled day in Brent's neck of the woods. Your drawings are totally cracking me up! You are so funny! I love it!

Anonymous said...

And you always said you couldn't draw. They were great...broke a smile to my face. Thanks for the play by play on an interesting day!! What did you do with your "goodies" from the shops? Glad your power is back on!

Love you!