Norfolk Sailors - Family & Friends

My don deployed that first time so abruptly June 2013. He has sense be back, deployed again and is currently in Norfolk and his ship is doing a series of short underways. He did not re enlist and will be leaving the Navy in November:(  He has a twin also in the Navy out of Hawaii who so far is quite satisfied and last we talked was re enlisting. He is currently deployed on a sub. 

Does anyone know if the sailors can receive emails when deployed? I do not have a way to contact my son and wanted to send him a few words of encouragement on his first few days out to sea?

To 1ProudMomofNavySon - yes on most ships, they can receive email while deployed.  However, emails have to be sent to their Navy accounts.  Hopefully you have his Navy email address.  They will not see them immediately, just whenever they have time to log on.  Accessibility is determined by their rate (job duty).

I mostly FB message with my son. fun, almost like talking.

Someone asked about Easter care packages. Since my son will not be home for Easter, I too would be interested in sending a package. Please let me know your thoughts about the package getting there in time. I hear playing cards are a good item to send, even little toys they can goof off with in their spare time, beef jerky, maybe some protein powder (if I can find it in small enough packages). Any other ideas? 

Michelle, is he deployed? If he is, don't send chocolate-it melts. :) DVD's are good, cookies individually wrapped and in a strong box, little toys are good. I use to send some of the sailors who come over to our house(when they were on deployment) those and cookies and sometimes DVD's of the Little Rascals(original)-gives them something to laugh about. For their birthdays I made peanut brittle  in a round pan and put a hole in the middle so they could put a candle in it.(I sent the candle too), balloons they could blow up, (all the things we did when they were little.) I think they and others who celebrate with them get a kick out of those. :) 

Yvonne

My son says PF Chang's at Town Center in Virginia Beach and there's a comedy club called Funnybones right next door.

Yvonne, he is not deployed... yet! We're getting pretty close though so they take the ship out a lot. And, I got my paperwork in for the Family Day Cruise.  I am so extremely excited for it! 

Thanks for the great ideas! As always, you are a blessing to us Navy Moms who have sailors in the Norfolk area! Thanks to you and your husband for all you do! God Bless you both!

I keep thinking the same thing dwaynesmom!  My son even said I missed a signature but when he turned it in, the girl told him it should be fine... fingers crossed!!!

Good for you Michelle! I hope you enjoy the Family Day Cruise!

Yvonne

Wasp mom - My son is not assigned to the Wasp but he is on it. He contacted my dad for his birthday. He says things are pretty good out there and has decided he's looking forward to this deployment. I hope you hear from your sailor soon!

I was able to text him last Thursday for a few minutes. He's only been a sailor on the Wasp since March 3. So he's pretty new. He is liking it alot better than when he first arrived. I mailed his first Care Pkg Monday for Easter. I hope he gets it in time. I've never mailed a box before so I'm not sure how long it takes. I wish all your sailors the best of luck and I know you can't wait to hear from them. Happy Easter everyone.

I am in the USS Wasp Group.

Okay great! 1ProudMomofNavySon :-)

Hi Susana! What ship is your sailor on? The ship schedules the Family Day Cruise, so you should speak with your sailor to see when that will be. My sailor knew about the cruise back in June but they kept pushing the tentative date out. I finally heard about the official date early this month. Anyway, there are usually groups on here for each ship. You will want to join the group for your sailor's ship to keep abreast of what is going on with your sailor's ship specifically. Of course, feel free to remain a member of this group as there are some very helpful and knowledgeable people here! I wish you and your sailor the best! God Bless!

It has been a while since I have been able to get online.  I am about to move to Norfolk to help with my grand baby.  My youngest will be going along with me and we are looking to see what is the best school for her to attend high school, or possibly homeschool.  Any parents know what the best schools are?

Oneproudmamma, I asked a friend of mine that has a daughter in high school, and she said if she was pushed to rate them she would say Granby, Maury, Norview, and then Lake Taylor, and to definitely avoid Booker T Washington. She said Granby and Maury are the top two. 

Thank you Pobs!  When I called the district they weren't very helpful.  Do you know if I a able to put her in the school of my choice?  She is also a musician so I am wanting to keep her in a school with a good music department.  She would have been going to a Arts Magnet school if we weren't moving.

That has been a great help!  I think we have decided where she would like to go.  Now it'll be just a matter of applying for her to be able to go since it is out of our school zone and looking into the music departments.

Singingbird, she plays the flute and violin and also does choir.  Not sure if she will do orchestra but she does want to do band for sure.  I believe she is also wanting to learn a new instrument this year.  Possibly do marching band as well.

How safe to live Norfolk /Hampton/ New Port area ? Me and my fiancé (Airman) are looking for a house or an apartment but My fiancé has been really negative and skeptical about the area before even really into it. He thinks that when he is underway , I would be all my self , and if the area is not good , he worries too much , and I am really curious since I haven't been yet to VA.  Would you give me some advises and thoughts , please ? Our plan is to get married in Sept , and I really think we still have plenty of time to research.  

Also How is like in base housing ? 

Hi all!  I just added a few things to the Discussion Forum area above :)  

In  the Discussion called "Car FAQs," I added sailor recommendations for shipping a car.

I started a new Discussion - "Child care" - with recommendations from sailors in Norfolk and Portsmouth. 

chris_mom_1995, I thought the answer was blue but if it isn't working, I wonder if it is because they don't seem to be taking new accounts: http://navyformoms.com/forum/topics/attn-prospective-members

I hope this is just a temporary hold.

chris_mom_1995 - tell you friend to not give up.  When I signed up it took me several attempts to get it to work.  I do believe the answer CL gave it correct.  It won't tell your friend that it's on hold for now, it just goes into a loop until it's ready to let them join.

I thought the colors were Blue and Gold.

It's pretty disheartening to read that post from the admins at Navyformoms.com dated April 11.  I sent an email to the admins asking for an update.  I also used "Report an issue" at the bottom of the page and sent the same inquiry.  If I hear back I'll post it here.  And yes, CO is right, colors are blue and gold!!

Hi, just found this group and am grateful, because we are just so new to the military life, and our son is not the most communicative guy on the planet :) His ship just deployed from Norfolk, and he gave us his address. I won't put it here, and this may be a silly question, but I'm not sure how exactly to write it out so that mail and packages get to him. If anyone can pm me with how the address should look, I would appreciate it! Also, does anyone know if I can order stuff from Amazon and have it sent to his "sea home address" for lack of a better term? I figured it might be nice to have them do the packing and shipping for some items, like dvd's. Thanks for any info you can share. I am wading through some of the comments, but there is a lot to get through.

Welcome SeasonedMom!  Here's how to get those flat-rate boxes for FPO addresses that CO-TwinSailorsMom described - http://navyformoms.com/group/carepackageideas/forum/topics/usps-lar...

Also, are you on the Ombudsman's list for your son's ship?  Here is how to find yours.  Your Ombudsman is the liaison between the command and families, and can answer questions  . http://navyformoms.com/group/whatsanombudsmanandhowtocontactthem/fo...

And lastly, this is a good group for finding and sharing ideas for care packages :)   http://navyformoms.com/group/carepackageideas

okay. since Marcy said this is a place to give suggesting items for care packages here is one of mine.

Whenever one of the sailors who come over to our house on the weekends deploys, this is what I have done in the past. For their birthday, instead of sending a cake or brownies, etc., I have made peanut brittle in the microwave and put it in a round cake pan. I put a straw in the middle and it hardens that way. I pack that, a candle, balloons they can blow up, little games from the dollar store like a mini pool table or other mini games, movie candies, sometimes a Little Rascal movie or other funny movie, a match or two to light the candle, etc. You can add little plates or napkins too if you like. It may sound silly, but all of them have really liked their birthday care package. Chewing gum is a great thing too. 

Anyway, that's my two cents worth! :)

Yvonne