USS WASP FAMILY

Hi Trish! My daughter is also on the WASP, she has been there for not quite a year. I agree with you, I miss her like crazy but am so proud of her. I have not seen her since Christmas, I flew down and spent a week with her. She will be home next Thursday for her sister's wedding. I can't wait to see her and the family has not seen her in about a year. I wish you and your son the best!

Aww. thanks for the reply. I dont know if you saw this, but if you Google "Robert Johnson Business Insider USS WASP" you can see three articles (with pictures) he wrote about the trip from Norfolk to NYC. Pretty cool!  DId you see the Tim Mcgraw concert when it was streaming live Monday night? King took a picture and sent it to me so I could tell where he was standing, I saw him at least a dozen times. We are fortunate to have the technology that we have now. Glad your daughter is coming home soon, what is better than that first moment you see them at the airport? Now that he is married (!), I know my daughter in law has it much worse than I do, somehow being in the "supporting role" makes this a little easier. Thanks again for replying. Enjoy your family being together!

I haven't seen it but I will google it now. I did watch the concert but my daughter wasn't there. I also taped Live with Kelly but she wasn't there either. She doesn't understand why I would try to catch a glimpse of her. I am counting the days til I pick her up and I agree, watching her walking toward me at the airport is great! I will go google that now, I'm anxious to see it. Thanks!

Hello to everyone from Kentucky!  My son has been on the Wasp for 2 years now.  We're flying him here tomorrow night to join up with his wife and baby.  They have been visiting while the ship has been in NY.  He's going to be on leave for a week and I can't wait to have time to spend with him, his wife and our 1 yr. old granddaughter!

     I was not happy when my son told us 3 years ago that he was not going to continue going to college and that he had enlisted in the Navy.  But now, after seeing all that he's been able to see and do; I'm glad he made that decision.  I'm so proud of all that he's accomplished and how great the Navy has been for him.

     I am a teacher/librarian and as soon as I finish my extended employment days in mid-June, I plan to make several trips to Norfolk to visit with my son and his family.  My favorite thing to do while there is to go on the Wasp and visit with my son.  We even got to eat a holiday meal with him on the ship last Christmas.  I think the ship is amazing (and huge!).

    It's storming here now, so I better get off my laptop before lightning "zaps".  I look forward to getting to know more of you this summer, now that I'll have more time to "chat" since school's out.

Doing good over here in Texas, getting ready to head to Vegas next week for my 10th wedding anniversary. Gonna stay there 7 days this go around, usually only stay 4-5, so I am gonna soak up some rays and chillax.  

Do you know what the dates for the Boston Navy Week?

Boston Navy week is June 28-July 6

Ahh. Fleet Week Boston! What a great experience. My son just broke his ankle Monday (ladder well) he was flown back to Norfolk. Poor guy is not real happy.

Hello Ladies! I hope all of you are doing great.

I'm sry I have been a MI but right after I got back from NYC Fleet Week I went through a really rough time with my health and the worst part my sailor was still in NYC :( I am feeling much better now and I am glad to have him home right now. The ship left this past week but he had class so he was left behind, he is not to happy about it but they will fly him over sometime next week so he will be able to participate of Boston Fleet Week anyways.

You lovely Ladies have a great weekend and let me know when you coming to Norfolk, maybe we can meet for lunch :)

Hope everyone had a wonderful July 4th !! This extreme heat is crazy !!

our group has become strangely quiet for the past few weeks. How is everyone doing ?

Hello lovely ladies! My hubby just showed me this and I wanted to share with you. This is what our love ones do while they are out.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cscs51ka_Lc

Hello from a hot and steamy New Orleans afternoon :)  My son has been on the USS George Washington in Japan for the last couple years and is now headed to the Wasp in 10 days.  Any info that a parent could use from your own experience would be welcomed.  Looking forward to a couple hours plane trip vs. 18 !!!!  Thanks in advance, and looking forward to getting to know you all. 

for Nola: My son has been on the Wasp fo the past 3 years and we have made a lot of trips to visit him, his wife and our 1yr old granddaughter.  They live in military housing about 2 miles from the base.  We live in Kentucky and it is only a 10 hour drive to get there.  I'm a teacher, so I get to visit a lot in the summer.  I just got back last Friday from spending 2 weeks with them.

     I would encourage your son to try to get a car because the base is huge and there's not much on the base.  To walk from the ships to the NEX is about a 2 mile walk.  The NEX is huge, the size of a shopping mall.

     We haven't stayed at the Navy Lodge.  We usually stay at my son's house and sleep on blow up mattresses.  On one trip we got to stay at another couple's house at the end of their street because the husband was on deployment and the wife had gone to MIchigan for a visit.  That was really nice of them and sure saved us a lot of money.

     My mom and I went down last September and due to her bad back, we stayed in a hotel.  We stayed at a Hampton Inn that is only 1/2 mile from the entrance to the base.  It was a really nice hotel.

     There's so much to see and do while in Norfolk and Virginia Beach is only 15 miles away.  We also go a lot to Chick's beach which is near the Chesapeak Bay bridge and not as crowded as Virginia Beach.

     Our favorite thing to do is to visit our son while he's on the Wasp.  We visited last year the week after Christmas and got to have a holiday meal on the ship with him!  On the days when he has duty, we usually go take him supper and visit with him on the ship for a few hours. 

     There is a harbor cruise that tours the whole base that we keep wanting to take, but never seem to find the time to do it.  Colonial Williamsburg, Yorktown and Jamestown are a little less than an hour away, too.

     My son will be leaving the Wasp on Dec. 31st and will be moving to Italy for 3 years.  I will miss being able to see him as often, but we are already saving and planning for a trip to Italy while he's there!  Where the Navy sends him - we will go!

Jboysmom and gonavymom,  thanks so much for the responses!  I feel right at home now :) Sorry I haven't communicated before now but we have had the luxury of having our son home for much of the last month.   He's been in VA on the Wasp now for over two weeks now and he is reporting nothing but good things to us at home - really glad to hear that.  I do have to get used to not not being able to tune in to this ship on Facebook as we were able to on the GW.  That was a real treat and we even got to see him "swabbing the decks" with about 20 others ..... but I surely knew he was mine!  We hope to travel for Thanksgiving or Christmas depending on their sea vs base time.    Jboys mom .... Italy ~ incredible!  What an awesome opportunity to visit!   gonavymom, our son has a brand new truck and drove from NOLA to VA.  He is Petty 3rd Class ... just recently before he arrived in VA.  Hope to talk to you all again real soon. 

gonavymom, we will be heading to Norfolk in 2 weeks, too (Sept. 14-17).  I bought ride along Nascar tickets for father's day for my husband, and my son so we'll be going to Richmond speedway while we are down there to watch them all ride along in the Richard Petty driving experience.

Nolanavymom, that is great that you got have your son home for a month.  We'll get to have our son home for almost a month before he has to leave for Italy in Feb - can't wait!  For the past 2 years, we have gone to Norfolk to visit on the day after Thanksgiving and the day after Christmas because my son had duty and couldn't get away to come home for the holidays.  If your son wants to come home for the holidays, encourage him to get his leave chit in as soon as possible.

Blessings,

Lisa (jboysmom)

Hi everybody! 

NOLANAVYMOM.....hope you stay safe in the up coming storm, please keep us posted on your status.....You and your family will be in my thoughts and prayers!

Thanks tackijacky :)  We are holding tight tonite with Isaac.  We still have power so we're hoping we can get thru the night without the generator!  God Bless all :)

NOLANavymom.....Please keep us posted as much as you can, we over here in Houston are really worried about y'all

Hi to all. Our son has order's to report to the Wasp no later then 27 Dec. Thought it would be good to join the family while I'm here.

Hello friends ~ so sorry it has been a while since I'm on FB.  We did fine with that nasty Isaac.  Made a mess out of our neighborhood with lots and lots of really old Oak and Magnolia trees down all over the place.  One poor family had their roof crashed in by one of them so there went the electricity for a couple days.  The brand new generator from last year worked like a charm .... but that thing is loud :(  Plus I had flashbacks from Katrina with all that noise going on and the helicopters flying overhead toward the east and Plaquemines Parish..  Hope to see our sailor for a little while sometime next week as he is being sent to Pensacola for a class.  Can not wait!  God bless all .......P.S.  any word on a FB page for the Wasp?  I so miss signing in the the GW when my sailor was in Japan,

As many of you know I'm not a USS Wasp Sailor mom, but a wife. Norfolk is our second duty station, but is the first time that my Sailor is on a ship and far away from me. I know the USS Wasp don’t go on real deployments, but that doesn’t make it any easier when my Sailor is away. Being in a strange place without a support system is not easy. I mean my family and in-laws are always there for me, but they live miles and miles away. I need people here, that I can go get dinner with or a cup of coffee or just talk without worrying of what I’m saying, because if my mom gets just a hint that I’m sad because my Sailor isn’t here then she will start to worry about me and that I’m all alone, etc, etc. I guess you guys get the point; after all you are mothers and understand that kind of worries I’m talking about.

Anyways the point I’m trying to make is that I started looking for such support system here and in my search I found the Navy Wives Club of America, Inc. This is an amazing organization with chapters nationwide, here in Hampton Roads only there is like 6 chapters.  The Ladies from this organization are wonderful; we have a big range of ages from seasoned members with retired husbands on their 70’s to new wives in their 20’s. I’m so grateful I found this awesome group of women; they have carried me out through hard times. As part of the club we vow to be sisterly and charitable, but these ladies go above and beyond.

I am sharing this story with you guys today because maybe one of you know someone or have an in-law that is having a hard time coping with deployment or in need of a support system and maybe the NWCA could be as helpful for them as it was for me.

If any of you would like more info you can contact me at dennise.velez@gmail.com or check our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Navy-Wives-Clubs-of-America-NWCA-...

Side note: as part of the NWCA I have been volunteering at the Treasure Shop on base. Is a thrift and consigment shop run by wives and all proceed go to charity. They have limited hours and not many people know about it but I have found some great stuff there, including uniforms for my Sailor. They have a complete section of gently used uniforms and you can’t beat the prices. So the next time you visit Norfolk ask your Sailor to take you to the Treasure Shop you never know what you will find and it all goes to charity. I was at the shop last Saturday and found 4 awesome cooking books (I love new recipes and collect cooking books) and they were only $1 each; can you say jackpot???

I’m sorry this post was so long, but if it helps at least one person I think is worth it :) Have a blessed day Ladies!

My last post made me think; would you like to trade recipes? Maybe once or twice a month we can find a good recipe and share it here? After all mom's have the best recipes in the world; I know mine does :)

Hi to all the Wasp moms and wives!  I'm so glad to see some posts on here.  For a long while, there weren't anyone on here - like a ghost town, so to speak ;-)

     My son has been on the Wasp for 3 years and his time on there will end Dec. 31st because he will begin shore duty in Italy for the next 3 years.  We have been very blessed that he's been on the Wasp and didn't have to do long deployments.  Gave us lots of opportunities to go visit him and his wife.  Now that they have a daughter, our trips down there have increased immensely!  It's going to be a major adjustment for us to get used to them living in Italy for the next 3 years, but I have already started a vacation account to save up to get over there at least 1 time.

     Earl's Wife - I would have loved to get you hooked up with my son's wife.  Through these past 3 years, I have connected her with several wives in Norfolk when I found out about them from other moms on this site.  They have become close friends and I'm so glad she has them for support.  I'm already on the Italian Navy moms site and looking for wives I can connect her with over there.  Thank you for sharing about the NWCA.  Do you know if they have international chapters?  I will give the information to my daughter-in-law anyway.  She might be able to get some help from them as they prepare to move to Italy.  Thanks, too for letting us know about the Treasure Shop on base.  We are going to Norfolk for a visit Oct. 12-15 and I will make sure we go there.

     I like the idea of sharing recipes.  I'm always looking for new or different recipes and get tired of fixing the same thing all the time.  I have never tried attaching a file to a post, but I'm gonna give it a try and see if you all can get to the recipe for Chicken Pot Pie Cupcakes - they are awesome!  I don't use the herbs mentioned in the recipe because they are too strong.  I just add a mixed seasoned salt I have and it still tastes great.Chicken%20Pot%20Pie%20Cupcakes.docx  Let me know if the link works or not.

The Navy just posted this pictures of our love ones in action.

ATLANTIC OCEAN (Nov. 2, 2012) A U.S. Coast Guard helicopter prepares to land on the flight deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Wasp (LHD 1). For prudent planning, the Navy has begun to preposition Wasp, USS San Antonio (LPD 17) and USS Carter Hall (LSD 50) for primary assistance in the affected North East region if required by FEMA following the devastation brought on by Hurricane Sandy.

With all the kaos lately I have not been able to post anything here, I hope all of you are okay and no one got affected by Sandy. We were fortunate to have no damage at all, just couple of rainny days.

I know most of you are not located in VA and can't assist to the FRG meetings and stuff like that so I just wanted to fill you in. Yesterday was the Nov FRG Meeting and the Ombudsman was pressent. As of yesterday they don't have a set day to come back home, it will all depend on the need. They prommised to give out more info as soon as they have it, but they also told us to have a Plan B for Thanksgiving, just in case.

I dont know how many of you are as fortunate as I am to be able to chat with Chris almost every night, but he let me know that they are all okay. They encountered coulple of days of rough seas while the Hurricaine was around but everything is back to normal now, they are all anssious to come back home but they all know the importance of the mission. They are very happy to be of service for the people of NYC who treated them so great during Fleet Week. Hubby also said that he dont think they will stay out too long, because if they do they will have to get separation pay and it was not in the budget, so hopefully we will have them all back in time for the Hollydays :)

Well lovely ladies I just wanted to let you all know a lil of what is going on and wish you all a great Sunday.  

Thanks Earl's Wife. . . so glad to hear a little bit of news.  We are due to arrive in Virginia (from California) on the 19th and had planned on spending a week there with my son for Thanksgiving.  Guess we'll have to keep our fingers crossed and hope that they make it back for a day or two before we have to come back home.  Please let us know if you found out anything new - would be very appreciated!  :) 

Good Morning Everybody.....a little birdie told me they are suppose to pull up anchor today.  Has anybody else heard this info?

Hi,

My son's PIR was 11/9 and he will be heading to the USS Wasp next month.  So glad there is a group to fill me in.

I am not on here very much but I do want to say Thank you for all the updates. They come to my phone so I am able to read all the info. It sure was nice with Sandy and all. I live in MO and was really nervous about the weather. Thanks again!

Does anybody know if they are serving Thanksgiving dinner on the ship?

Earl's wife and gonavymom - my son is on the same duty section as yours.  He has duty all day today - bummer!  I saw a FB post from his wife earlier today that she was heading to the ship to eat T-giving meal with him.  We flew him up here to Ky the day after the ship got in from NY.  His wife and their 17 month old daughter (our only grandchild) drove up here the day the ship left out to get away from the hurricane.  They got to be here til yesterday when they drove back down to Norfolk so he could report for duty today.  We had our Thanksgiving meals last weekend so my son, his wife and our granddaughter could be with us.  Today has been a lonely day, but at least we have the great memories of times spent together last week.  Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

My son arrived Saturday on the Wasp.  Looks like he has a lot of good people on the ship with him!