Day 65: Familiar Places & Faces - OC

Fort Riley is already a distant memory...at least I am trying to make it one! It has been a wonderfully relaxing 4 days with nothing but fun with family, meeting with old friends, visiting favorite eating spots, and well...diaper duty. To be able to finally hold Maya in a place that is not an airport or a hospital has been especially delightful. Here are some pictures of my trip so far.

Here is our happy family reunion just after getting home from the airport. Notice that I flew home in my combat uniform in an attempt to be bumped up to first class...attempt failed!

First stop...Ruby's! One of our favorite "burger & fries" joints. This place is known for the greatest veggie burgers made to order and includes bottomless garlic fries which goes well with a bottle of Listerine.

Our next evening was graced with the presence of our nephew and Max's best friend, Josiah. George and Barbie had a scheduled date night so we took the kids out to my favorite restaurant, the Cheesecake Factory. Yummo! We were also joined by one of my closest friends Janssen and Jen Sacro which made rounding up the "troops" a little easier.


Here we are in Dana Point with Janssen and Jen enjoying our Cheesecake Factory-made cheesecakes to-go after putting all the kids to bed.


Yesterday, we took a family outing to a familiar place, Naval Hospital Camp Pendleton, which was where I received my Family Medicine training and where Maxwell was born. Our primary purpose was not a social one, but rather to get Maya plugged into the the military health care system. At the same time, reconnecting with familiar faces is always fun so we roamed the halls of the Family Medicine clinic. It was great to visit with some of my mentors including Dr. Mark Flynn (on the left) and Dr. John Holman (on the right, and Max's delivery doc).

"I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all." Philippians 1:3,4 NASB