Norfolk Sailors - Family & Friends

Mloopey, if you're going to and from the base, I think you'd be happier to stay on Hampton Blvd vs. 20 minutes away in Greenbrier (and that's not counting traffic).  If your sailor can check you in, the best deal is at the Navy Lodge on Hampton Blvd.  To figure distances to the base, use the address for the Naval Tour and Information Center:  9079 Hampton Blvd. Norfolk, Virginia 23505.  It's next to Gate 5, which is the base gate closest to both the Quality Inn and the Navy Lodge.

Nancy, here are two groups for Navy wives you're not in yet, and yes there are members without kids!  Navy Wives of Norfolk/Portsmouth VA  and  Ladies of VA.

Thanks abuon18! My husband is also stationed at NOB. I will definitely look around on Facebook. 

HELP! We're going to be in town this weekend and my family is wanting to have a sit down family style meal for our sailor since he hasn't had one of those in awhile. Does anyone know of a restaurant in the area that serves family style meals? We were going to order a turkey dinner from Kroger to take back to the hotel, but from what I understand, it's cold and you have to heat it up. Any suggestions? 

 Virginia Hotel Reservations $10/night Dec. 23rd-26th for military families.

OPERATION JINGLE PROGRAM

All Hampton Roads area active duty service members are invited to participate in the annual Operation Jingle, sponsored by the Hotel Association and Convention and Visitors Bureaus from Norfolk and Virginia Beach.

The annual holiday program provides complimentary hotel accommodations to the visiting families of locally stationed service members who are unable to go home for the holidays. Operation Jingle provides a three-night stay in local hotels from 23 – 26 December. To qualify, service members must live aboard ships or reside in one of the local barracks or single sailor PPV housing. Commands must verify that the rooms will be used for families traveling to and from the Hampton Roads area to spend the holidays with their service member. Room availability is limited. Rooms will be reserved on a first come-first-served basis.

To participate, commands must designate a representative as the command’s single point of contact to coordinate the delivery of applications and confirmation information with the Norfolk Navy Marine Corps Relief Society. The only charge for the room is a non-refundable reservation fee of $10.00 per room, per night. The entire reservation fee will be donated to the Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society (NMCRS). Reservation fees ensure that all rooms are used.  Hotels require 24 hour cancellation in the event rooms cannot be used.

Deadline for submission is 18 December.  Commands may request registration forms from Loretta Russell, Norfolk Navy Marine Corps Relief Society by calling 757.322.1175 or e-mail at Loretta.russell@nmcrs.org.  

All incidental expenses incurred during the hotel stay, to include phone calls, laundry services, movies, room service and other meals are the responsibility of the service member reserving the room. Command representatives of underway commands/units unable to meet the December 18 deadline should contact Ms. Russell for more details.

Tracy, I tried looking online for you for restaurants serving Thanksgiving meals, but they were hard to find, or very expensive! One that I found was McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant serving Roasted Turkey, Cornbread stuffing, apple squash casserole , mashed potatoes and more. Price: Adults- $24.99; Ch-9.99

I'll try looking some more for you and let you know what I find. :

How many are in your family including your sailor?

Yvonne Wagner)

We don't necessarily need a thanksgiving meal, just wanted some kind of pass-around meal instead of ordering from menus. Thanks for checking for me though. He may just have to wait until he's home for Christmas.

Oh I forgot, there are 9 of us that will be there this weekend. In fact, pulling out as soon as I shut down the computer.

Tracy,

If you are going to be here this weekend, does that mean your sailor won't have anywhere to go on Thanksgiving Day itself? Or does he by any chance have duty?  If he has no place to go on the day itself, we would be happy to invite him to our house. We open our home on the weekends and invite the sailors to come over to eat and play board games and just have a place to hang out. We also invite anyone who has nowhere to go for the holidays to come join us here too. If you think he would be interested in coming let us know and we can pm you our cell number

Yvonne 

P.S. You can go to our page on this site and find out more about us,

Have a safe trip and enjoy your weekend with your son. :)

Yvonne. School is intense so far 6 hour lectures all week on food safely. BIG exam tomorrow. If I pass I have Serve Safe Manager certified.  I have learned to not be a night owl and to go to bed by 10 at the latest as I get up at 5am.  New house getting more homy everyday. Slowly finding stuff I need among the see on boxes. Weather VERY cold this week and snowy. -7* this am. Way to early for that kind of cold. 

I am a new Navy Mom.  Son graduated in Sept and is stationed in Norfolk.  He will not be able to get leave until Feb and will be alone for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  He said that the ship will have a Thanksgiving dinner.  He may be just saying this to calm me down. Last Thanksgiving his Dad was in the hospital and we got home late from visiting him and our dinner consisted of a Swansons Turkey dinner.  I just don't want him to go thru that again. Do the ships have a dinner for the sailors?

nvduhmom,

My husband and I are inviting sailors over to our home for Thanksgiving. We would love to invite your son to join us. 

We open our home on the weekends and invite sailors over to eat and play board games...Saturday evening and Sunday afternoons.

If you would like I can pm you my cell number and your son can give us a call or we could call him if he wouldn't mind.

You can know more about us if you go to our page on this site.

Yvonne and John Wagner

We also invite the sailors over for Christmas dinner as well.

Yvonne

nvduhmom, welcome!  Yes, the ship will provide and it's actually a good time to be bonding and making friends!  Funny story - a few years ago I was in Norfolk (Portsmouth side) for Thanksgiving and cooked dinner for my son and apartment-mates.  While they cleaned up I checked NavyforMoms and read a comment from a mom with a sailor at Norfolk.  She was just frantic because her son had just told her he was stuck alone on watch on his submarine for Thanksgiving with zip, nada, nothing but a granola bar.  So…my son and I ran to the store, picked up several roasted chickens, mashed potatoes, pies, etc and headed to the base to find this sub and its hapless sailor.  When we got there, we ran into the sub's XO who happened to be chatting with the guard at the pier gate, and asked them if we could deliver dinner to those stuck on the sub.  Guess what!  they laughed and laughed and said, Well if he told that to his mom that's pretty funny, because her son and about a dozen of us just finished a full Thanksgiving four-course meal with all the trimmings catered from Cracker Barrel!  Anyway, they were awesome about it, happy to have our contribution (call it leftovers LOL) and after they finished teasing the son, we got a tour of a Navy sub!  A memorable Thanksgiving Day :)

Marcy~Corpsman Mom,  that is a great story!  It put a smile on my face. Thanks.

Yvonne,  I just sent you a message.  Thank you

Marcy ~ Corpsman Mom - What a fantastic story! It brought a smile to my face this morning on an otherwise yucky day!

Just saw this from Fleet and Family Support:  

The Navy is changing mailing addresses for ships, afloat units, and ashore FPOs to improve service, reduce costs and get mail to service members more efficiently. Here's what you need to know -

1. No more nine digit zip codes

The new Navy Standardized Addressing format only requires the use of a five-digit zip code, more like standard mail. The USPS process will automatically generate a barcode with any additional digits that are required for delivery. This change will eliminate undeliverable as addressed (UAA) mail currently being returned to sender.

2. New virtual boxes

A new four digit virtual box number will be added to the standard addressing format. This number will be unique to each service member and will aid in getting your mail to you and not someone else.

3. Faster delivery!

With the new format, the Postal Service is anticipating reducing transit time by 7 to 21 days for letter mail and publications. That makes it more likely that you'll receive the August issue of Sports Illustrated in the mail before Thanksgiving!

4. Less Expensive

The new Navy Standardized Addressing format is expected to save Navy postal operators $1.2 million annually in labor and transportation costs. 

5. Any Questions?

Visit your base/command post office or talk to a postal clerk or read the NAVADMIN on the Navy Personnel Command website.

This is something I saw on FB a few minutes ago about Thanksgiving dinner on the Norfolk Naval Satation.  For servicemen and families.  Click the link

Norfolk Naval Station Thanksgiving Meal

We read and follow. I would like to thank you all for your comments. This group has been my eyes and ear into the world where my son lived. I have cried for you and prayed for you all. I wish you  I al the best. Please continue to comment and ask questions as it helps Moms like me. Even though we may never comment. My son is beginning his reinlistment in San Diego.

Does anyone have any advice for safe dealerships to look for vehicles in Norfolk?  My son is realizing that the motorcycle might not work the best for him all winter.  He is being stubborn and wants to keep it.  We are telling him to trade it for a truck.  He can always get a motorcycle again when he is older.  His insurance is going to kill him if he keeps the motorcycle and buys a truck. 

He is interested in getting a Dodge, so wasn't sure good places he could look. I really wish we could be there to help him.  I have told him to take someone older who maybe has lived there for awhile that could help him out.  I just don't want him to get suckered because he is some young 19 year old.  We live too far away to make a quick trip out there to help him.  Marcy, I know you always have good information. :)  Thanks to anyone who can help me out!

Funny you should ask about that HuffyMom23. We went to Navy Federal with our son while we were in Norfolk last week because he's planning to buy a vehicle when he comes home for Christmas and wanted to see what the process was since there isn't a branch anywhere close to us. The loan officer gave him some very good advice. She didn't even know he was wanting a truck and the first thing she said to him was that trucks are pretty and trucks are cool, but trucks are not practical for Norfolk...period. The gas and insurance alone will kill him. She also said to be very careful with dealerships out there because they know exactly how much they make and can get approved for, so they make sure they sell them the highest price vehicle they can get by with. She said they can smell a 19 year old navy boy from a mile away. Her best advice was to by late model used and don't finance for longer than 60 months.

These are the things we are worried about.  He really wants to get a truck when he comes home for Christmas break.  But we do not want to worry about him driving back for 14 hours when he heads home.  It would be his luck the weather would be horrible.  If he had a friend driving with him would be one thing, but alone would worry us to death. 

My brother lives out there and could go with him to look at vehicles except he is in Bahrain right now.  He won't get back to Norfolk until the middle of December.  He did tell me the other day on the phone that if he got a contract, he was bringing it back to the base for the financial person to look at before signing anything.  How very sad and disgusting that our kids are giving their life for this country, and some of these dealerships find it acceptable to rip them off.  Makes me sick!  That is why it would be better for him finding something here at home.  We will see though.  Thanks for your advice and information ladies. Have a great Thanksgiving week!

Amanda and Tracy, we all live not too far from each other.  I live about 15 minutes southeast of Springfield.  I guess you two can sympathize with the long drive out to Norfolk. Wish it was 8 hours instead of 14 so that we could go visit our son more often.

Navy Fed told our son to come in the week before he comes home and get a pre-approval check to bring home with him. That would be the easiest way to do it.

HuffyMom- We are 25 minutes north of Effingham, 15 minutes south of Shelbyville. We just made 14 hour trip home last night, and it makes for a long day. There are 4 of them coming this way for Christmas, but he won't be riding back with them. I think his girlfriend is going to make the drive back with him, then fly back. I'll be a nervous wreck until they get there.

Congrats June! That's awesome!

Huffmom another mom here has a daughter there and her daughter skyped her parents while at the car lot and on a test drive. I thought that was pretty cleaver. 

Congrates June on your daughters achievement

Yes Amanda, I had heard if your car is registered in VA, you have to have it inspected every year to renew your sticker. That's another reason our son is buying his car at home and getting Illinois plates.

Huffymom, my son purchased and registered his car in Virginia.  The safety and emissions inspections are easy - you can get it done at local garages and dealers that offer the service - and it's kinda good to know your sailor is driving a car without problems.   This is the Virginia DMV's "Military Guide" for active duty personnel with answers about purchasing, registering and insuring a car: https://www.dmv.virginia.gov/webdoc/pdf/dmv206.pdf  

For renewing registration annually, the personal property tax is waived if your sailor not a Virginia resident, just have to provide the latest LES statement to the DMV.  

If your sailor is willing, there is a 1 1/2 hour class called Car Buying Strategies offered once a month by Fleet and Family Support Center, 757-444-2102, next class Dec 5. noon-1:30 pm.

AAA has a car buying service if you're a member - this is the page for the Norfolk/Mid Atlantic area:  https://aaamidatlantic.truecar.com/main.html

CC0727, I remembered that someone else was asking about brakes last month so I scrolled back and found it and the recommendation  :)  Here it is -

Comment by Lizb on October 17, 2014 at 6:22pm

 Comment by Trevor's mom on October 17, 2014 at 7:34pm

abuon18 - thanks! My sailor told me that she will be going to one on the 18th. She had me send her a dress and shoes from home just in case she went shopping for something and didn't find anything. She is happy that she will get to dress up and feel girly.

Leach73, I recall when my son attended the USS Iwo Jima's holiday party at the Norfolk Marriott Waterside - quite the event!  An ice sculpture of the ship, wine glass memento, dinner, music, the works.  This gal posted about it with photos too - http://www.homeiswherethenavyshipsus.com/2010_12_01_archive.html

Yes! my daughter mentioned something about it being at a Marriott hotel.

Sounds like it should be fun! I know she can't wait to get all dressed up and fancy.

How cool for her!  Tell her that Navy moms want a full report!! LOL

My son has his tomorrow night he is looking forward to it taking his fiancé 

Merry Christmas, all you moms out there! Our hope is that your sailors will be able to go home and be with you and your family for this wonderful holiday! But, if any of them won't be able to, and don't have any plans, they will definitely be welcome at our table in our home for Christmas dinner. 

Yvonne and John

I am curious about something.  Is it normally last minute that the sailors find out their holiday time off has been approved?

HuffyMom23, it depends on many things including when they submitted for leave, so yes, it can be without much notice.

I believe he submitted it in plenty of time, but they were all waiting to hear from what he says.  Thankfully he is catching a ride halfway home and we will have to go pick him up about 6 hours from here.  I can't imagine trying to figure out what a flight would have cost a week before his leave should start, or when one would have been available. 

He is driving his dads old truck back to Norfolk as his father just got a new one last week.  He loves that truck so it is all working out great.  It will just be a long drive back to Norfolk  and he will have to shave a few days off of his leave. :(

As always Marcy, thanks for your information. 

HuffyMom,

When your son gets back to Norfolk, we would be happy to invite him to join us on the weekends with the other sailors who come to our house. Let us know if he would be interested. Check out our page on this site. :)

Yvonne and John

disonn63 (Stefan'smom), my son used Pep Boys (both on Military Hwy in Norfolk, and in Portsmouth) for oil changes on his Hyundai, and when he sold it the Carfax showed a record of all the oil changes he had done - which was good since it showed how religious he was about it!  :)   Apparently Pep Boys has a relationship with Carfax which shows up under Service History.