kitchen table chat

Video conferencing during DaddyO's port calls make his long deployment a bit more bearable. I keep asking myself how families did it before e-mail and skype, but then again they were probably asking themselves how those before them did it without letters. I'm just thankful we have what we have and EJ and CJ get to see their daddy every so often.

talking with "my daddy"

His most recent port call happened to be in Dubai over the 4th of July holiday. This was his second time there so he knew where the good internet connections were so we had a lot of face time. We got to see him served Arabic tea while sitting in his hotel lobby, and hear calls to worship come over the loudspeakers. He got to see and hear about all the new things EJ and CJ had learned and done since the last time we spoke. Here are some of his pictures.

skyline

a balmy 111 degree high

for some reason no one is on the courts

spices

olives

We have utilized our Blackberry Playbook a good deal for our chats.  It's nice because I can hear him calling anywhere in the house and he can follow us around during our normal routines. The video and audio quality is excellent!

EJ got to see her daddy right after waking up, have breakfast with him, show him her brother's nursery, and myriad of other normally mundane but now exciting things since she was doing them with her daddy. She gets very excited when she hears the distinctive playbook ring and has become quite an exert at maneuvering around it.