HAPPENINGS OF THE NELSONS: GOODBYE MY LOVE

Thursday July 24, 2014 was a HARD day. It was the day we had to say goodbye to Dalin, my love and the kids daddy. He is leaving on a MEU for a very long time. This is our first deployment, and I have faith that we can get through it with the Lords help. It is going to be hard, days are going to be long, but I hope that I remember to pray every day for help from the Lord. We had to wake up the kids around 545 am to leave to Dalin's work. They had a little family day set up on the grinder, right outside of his shop, where we all got to hang out. They had a bounce house and some snacks and also gave away a really cute stuffed animal bear dressed in camis that is super soft. The kids had a really fun time. Then all of the white buses came rolling up around 10am, and that's when the tears started coming. All the marines loaded up their gear, and then it was time to say our final goodbyes:( Dalin had got the kids Daddy Dolls and gave them theirs as their final goodbye. Amika was so cute and said, "oh, my daddy!" And then they each gave it a big hug. As we were saying our final goodbyes, Dalin remembered he had left some stuff at the house, and that I needed to bring it to him. I was happy that we would get to see him again:) He loaded up onto his bus, and then we headed home. The kids were asleep about 2 min into the drive. We all napped when we got home, and then headed downtown around 3:00pm. We waited at this really fun park that had a splash water park on one side, and then a playground on the other side, until Dalin called us and told us he had liberty. The kids had a really fun time. We are totally going back to that park, it's right by the Harbor and by the USS Midway. We left around 530pm to go to Dalin's ship and pick him up:) I was so happy that Dalin's directions were so AWESOME, because he is SO AWESOME, that I didn't even get lost:) YAY! We only had to wait 20 min for Dalin to be released for liberty, so while we were waiting we decided to wait by the ship. The kids liked being close to the water and seeing his ship. Dalin was so excited to have liberty and was so excited to get to spend a couple more hours until he had to leave. We went off base to this really good wrap restaurant and got some dinner. The kids had a fun time running around and showing Daddy their tricks. Downtown was SUPER craZY because of the Comic Con Convention...but we did LOVE seeing everyone dressed up in their cool costumes. Taelin liked pointing every super hero out:) It was fun! We then went to the McDonalds and got some ice cream and then headed back to his ship. We had about 10 min to kill before he had to leave, so the kids sat on his lap, he told them how much he loved them, and they gave him hugs and kisses. Then he helped me strap them back into their car seats, and then it was my turn to say goodbye!!!! NO....I DID NOT WANT IT TO COME TO THIS POINT....But it did....and boy was IT HARD! I tried so hard not to be a sticky band-aid, but I just kept holding him and telling him how much I loved him and told him to be safe, and he told me how awesome I was, and that he loved me, and that he knew I could do this, and that I have a lot of people that are close that can help me, that the Lord loves me and knows I can do it, and then told me that I was being a sticky band aid, because I wouldn't let go. The tears just kept coming. We gave each other a last hug, and a last kiss, and he walked me to my door, had me un roll the windows so he could say a final goodbye to us all, and then he put his fist out and said, "pound it, will you wait for me?" The pound it was an inside joke of ours, so I started to laugh, and then when he asked me to wait for him I laughed more. I love that he is so funny and knows just what to say to make me happy. He gave the kids 1 last hug and kiss, and then told me I SHOULD (another inside joke) turn on the song LET IT GO, but sing LET ME GO....So I turned it on, Amika stopped crying, so she could sing it to Dalin, and she started singing so loud, it was super cute! Dalin started directing our car where we were suppose to go, cuz he's awesome like that, and we were off. It was hard, and the tears came again when both kids were asleep and frozen had finished playing. I love Dalin so much and am so thankful for him. I love how much he does for our family, and for our country. I pray for him every day, all day, and I know that he does the same for us. BE SAFE MY LOVE AND GOD BE WITH YOU TILL WE MEET AGAIN!

Sad rocky:(

The gear

Some of the marines

Watching the buses pull in

Last family pic for a long time

They love throwing their daddy dolls, having daddy do back flips, fighting daddy because daddy can't fight back, and using him as a pillow:) they LOVE him!