Flashback Friday

Uncle Don and Alexis

This was from Alexis' 16th birthday party down in the country.  I think Alexis will be like her Mom in that she will always keep the family close to her heart.

So if you have room on your prayer request card, please pray for Uncle Don's health.  Like brother Steve preached at church this past Sunday, nothing is impossible with God.

Wordless Wednesday - Bellevue Baptist

2011 Year in Review - Part II

Whoops.  Forgot to post this one before I went on travel.  So here's the other half of 2011:

Jena got to hang out with the Honky Tonk Cruzers in Tennessee after a fun vacation week in Miami.  Of course we got our fishing on at nearby Garner Lake.  She crushed me.  She was catching bass, catfish, crappie, and blue gill.  I was catching a cold.  I wouldn't have had it any other way.  Seeing her so giddy over her fishing bounty made it a highly successful day on the lake for the both of us.    

In July, I took a work trip along with some of the other detailers and placement officers from Navy Personnel Command to the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) at Fort Bragg in Fayetteville, North Carolina.  You might have heard about JSOC in the news after the OBL mission went down.  They are one of the commands that I place for.  My brother Lee is stationed at Fort Bragg so we got to catch up a bit.  The bonus was doing some indoor skydiving with the JSOC folks.  Very cool.

For CJ's 13th birthday, he jokingly asked for a 5 pound gummy bear, a kazoo, and a shark with a laser attached to his head.  So what did we get him?  A 5 pound gummy bear, a kazoo, and a shark with a laser attached to his head.  Mission accomplished.  Due to the summer heat, the gummy bear arrived in the mail as a large gelatinous mass.  Not good.  The kazoo was a big hit.  He's belting out "Rolling in the Deep" and "Edge of Glory" like there's no tomorrow.  And here he is with the shark.  I made the laser myself.

So glad the family got to attend my good friend Hoss' retirement ceremony in Meridian, Mississippi. Hoss and I were roommates during our Department Head tour with the VS-30 Diamondcutters.  The second set of wings under Hoss' ribbons are from his time in England flying Harriers.

More travel in July.  This is the US Northern Command Headquarters in Colorado Springs.  They are one of 10 Combatant Commands (COCOMs) that I place for.  I'm the Placement Officer for all of the COCOMs, which means I provide them with their Navy officers.  There is one less COCOM now that Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) has disestablished.  Now I know why everyone wants orders to NORTHCOM.  It's gorgeous up there.  NORTHCOM was established after the 9/11 attacks.

Speaking of JFCOM, I had another trip to Norfolk, Virginia to work the many disestablishment details.  The disestablishment kept me busy for several months.  Nice to have that behind me.  Got to see some good friends in my old stomping grounds in Virginia.  This is me, Lani, and Ruben at the Goo Goo Dolls Concert in Portsmouth.  A good friend of mine was nice enough to get us tickets.  Always nice catching up with friends.

Speaking of catching up, Jake and Hannah had a ball spending time together during the Allen's trip to Memphis.  These two were besties from their Korea days.  The thoughts of being close to the Allens for our next tour is pretty exciting.

More travel.  This time to Stuttgart, Germany for some business with European Command and Africa Command.  Awesome place.  I really enjoyed running through their nature trails.  They've got them all over the place.  I got to take in a nice wine festival during my trip.  Every time I push someone's orders to Stuttgart, I know that I'm making dreams come true.

Things are bigger in Texas, except for the Alamo.  It was much smaller than I thought.  The trip to San Antonio was to visit the Joint Information Operations Warfare Center at Lackland Air Force Base.  The JIOWC is a part of Strategic Command.

In September, I was part of the Seaman to Admiral 21 Selection Board held in Pensacola, Florida.  This board picks the best and brightest enlisted sailors to go through this special program to eventually get commissioned as Navy officers.  I got to catch up with Katrina and her boyfriend Tom.  I will be eternally grateful to Katrina for introducing me to Carol.

October was a big month for the Cruz household.  CJ got baptized!  Love this picture.

San Diego for Fall Break!  This is one of many pictures of the Pose from 2011.

An Alabama Thanksgiving.  The girls decided against doing the Pose.

In December, we did a quick weekend trip to the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville.  Gotta do it if you get the opportunity.  They do military specials every now and then so check those out.  Although we didn't see the Rockettes, we did get to catch a live show with Shrek, Kung Fu Panda, Puss in Boots, and the Madagascar Penguins.

And to round out the year, we had the Cruz Christmas Palooza in Memphis.  Lots of laughs, food, and toilet paper.  Here we are hovering over the newest Cruz - Sammy!

Chilling with their newest cousin.

It was great having Mom visit all the way from the Philippines.  Too bad Dad couldn't make it.

Graceland!

New Year's Eve 70's Party to roll in 2012!

And there we go.  So like a good Navy family, we're prepping for the next set of orders and the new duty station.  More on that later.  Hope you all have a great 2012!

2011 Year in Review - Part I

Ringing in 2011 with our awesome Coltwood neighbors.  That's Amy, Lori, Carol and Stephanie.  I felt like I was back in Korea when they broke out the karaoke machine.

My brother Lee's graduation and commissioning ceremony in January at the Airborne and Special Operations Museum in Fayetteville, North Carolina.  There was enough flair up in that piece for a dozen Bennigan's restaurants.  Lee is now with the 82nd Airborne.

Unfortunately, it was time to put the old Acura out to pasture.  Carol finally got a new ride in Feb.  This is Big Blue.  If the big smile in the front seat is any indication, Jake approves of the new purchase.  We are officially a Mazda family.  If you're shopping for a new car, USAA buying services is a great source to save some bucks.  At a minimum, it gives you some serious leverage.

In February, Carol's brother James hosted his annual bonfire at his place in Alabama.  Bonfire, fish fry and smores makes for a nice weekend.  The white pieces of paper are pictures of Justin Bieber drawn by CJ and his cousins.  They are not fans of the Bieb.

For Spring Break in March, we drove to Virginia to visit Alan, Danita, Joel and Jena.  Who doesn't like Krispy Kreme donuts?

In April, we were back in Alabama for the Burgers and Bluegrass fundraiser at the Spirit of Hope Youth Ranch.  Carol's cousin Leenie runs Spirit of Hope.  Check out this link to learn more about this awesome organization:  http://www.sohyr.org/

The family got to spend our first Easter in Alabama.  The boys got to participate in one of the biggest family events of the year in Alabama - the Easter Egg Hunt.  Big and little kids are tumbling over themselves at the start line to get to the prized money eggs.

One of our favorite things about Memphis is our church - Bellevue Baptist.  CJ and Jake both enjoy the Sunday School and youth programs.  Pastor Steve Gaines is amazing and tells it like it is.  Here's one of the murals near Jake's Sunday School class.

 Spring means it's baseball season.  Play ball!  I got to coach Jake and the rest of the Reds.

A couple of us in Millington flew down to Pensacola in a T-39 to conduct some detailing business and attend the Centennial of Naval Aviation (CONA) events.  Many thanks to Q and VT-10!

Carol and I were living on a prayer while rocking out at the Bon Jovi concert at the FEDEX Forum in May.  I gotta say, it was one of the best concerts I've ever been to.  Made for some interesting people watching too.  We saw an older lady that didn't notice the expiration date on her tube top.  There were young ladies with their 80's hair so big they needed turn signals.  Of course the mullet was out in full force.  I still cranked out my physical fitness test the next morning.

Saying farewell to Team Walker.  That's Lynn, Ann, Carol, Amy and Michele.

CJ put on a heck of a campaign and was elected Vice President of the Student Council at Arlington Middle School. Here's the poster that was banned by the school administration.  Always the rebel.

Block party in our neighborhood.

Supporting the local AAA baseball team, the Memphis Redbirds.  Try the BBQ nachos.

Here's our crew at work.  That's Megan on the left, the best lawyer in the US Navy, Shrek who drives submarines and Pam, a helicopter pilot.  Our job - making dreams come true.

My good friend Deke came down for a weekend in Memphis.  Got some business done and snuck in the Gibson Guitar 5K run downtown.  The weather didn't cooperate very well though.  The rain started pouring at the start of the run and didn't let up for quite a while.  It turned into one of the biggest wet t-shirt contests I've ever been to.

Tubing and having a blast on the waverunners at Leenie's lakehouse at Lake Martin in Alabama. 

In June, we got to visit Jason, Kristi, Aidan and Olivia in Ormond Beach, Florida.  As you can see, CJ enjoys being the center of attention. 

We headed south to Miami for the Cruz family summer vacation.  Lots of eating, laughing, beaching, fishing, shopping and zaboomafoo-ing.

Angela and Carol soaking up the sun at the lake for Cousin's Day.

An Alabama 4th of July!

To be continued...

Sausage Biscuit

My brother Bernabe (Beanie) who lives in New York wrote this note recently.  I thought it was pretty cool.

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I'm not a pious person. I'm not a religious person. I don't pray as often as I should. I don't regularly attend church. One would find it hard to believe that I'm a Christian, because I've not led an exemplary Christian life. 

I am a Christian, and as many times that I have failed to live up to the standard that Christ has set for us, I know He wants me to always forge ahead. "Leaning forward in the foxhole" is the phrase one of my old platoon Sergeants used to say. 

That is neither here or there. It is related and simultaneously unrelated to the purpose of this note. One of the things I do consistently is warm my car up for about 5-7 minutes in the morning before work. While I'm sitting in my car waiting, I usually pray. Regretfully, it is often the only time I'll pray during that day. This morning I asked God to take care of my family and friends, as I usually do, and to take care of me. I also requested that God send people my way that need help. That need a blessing. That need a break. Did he ever. 

It's 7:20 AM as I'm writing this. God has already answered my prayer twice, and the Sun is barely awake. I was sitting down at a McDonalds eating an Egg McMuffin. (2 for 3 by the way, 600 calories), when a young woman walked into the restaurant, approached me and stopped 3 feet away and said rudely. "Buy me a sausage biscuit!!". No exaggeration. 

I looked at her and paused. Inside I was telling myself if this person were male, I would quickly tell him to remove himself from my vicinity or face dire repercussions.  Again she said "Buy me a sausage biscuit!!" I looked her right in the eyes and remembered my prayer and said, "Is that all?". She replied, (no kidding), as if startled by my response "Umm, get me two!!" I replied "How about something to drink?"  She said that's ok. I think she felt guilty. I thought it peculiar to enjoy two sausage biscuits without a nice beverage. 

I stopped mid meal, stood up, and went right to the counter. I ordered her two sausage biscuits and swiped my card, and sat back down to finish my meal. As I was concluding my meal, I wondered if she would thank me. Every time I've ever wondered if someone would thank me, it has never happened. Sure enough, she got her food and walked right out of there without looking back. I thanked God quietly.

Later, as I was leaving, in a not so dramatic incident, I saw a scruffily clad fellow who definitely looked like he needed nourishment. I had my fruit and oatmeal to go in my hand and offered it to him. He politely denied. However, another fellow saw this and immediately yelled out "I'll take it!!" So his it was. 

Upon driving away I realized how good God is. He may not have answered my prayers for more carnal and material things, but He gives me what I need. He nourished me this morning. I guarantee if we ask God to send people our way, He won't disappoint. 

A quick note by B Cruz

What You Got There Coach?

I had the pleasure of coaching Jake's baseball team this past spring.  It's a really nice baseball league run by Bellevue Baptist Church.  I highly recommend it.  Everyone gets a chance to play, the atmosphere is comfortable, the kids learn about sportsmanship and it's a lot of fun.  We do a prayer at the beginning of games, we don't keep score and there's always a juice box and snack at the end of every game.

So here was the awkward parenting moment.  When I popped open the trunk to pull out the baseball gear for a Saturday morning game, I forgot about the refreshments still in the trunk that I had grabbed the day prior.  To be clear, the cervezas were for a work function and not a juice box replacement.  I don't always drink beer, but when I do...

Making Dreams Come True

After growing up as a military brat, attending one of the most spartan military schools in the world and serving 20 years and counting in the US Navy, I consider myself to be a pretty organized and attention-to-detail kind of guy.  It used to be that the checking account was balanced and reconciled monthly down to the last penny.  Mail and papers were filed expeditiously and with precision.  Each clothes hanger in my closet faced the same direction with the exact spacing of two finger widths, just like the way we did it at the Virginia Military Institute.  My car was washed and waxed on a regular basis, boasting a sense of pride.  And checklists galore for every evolution.  Oh yeah, I was one together dude.

But after 17 years of marriage, two boys, pets and the daily grind of family life, the order of magnitude of my meticulous ways (read anal tendencies) has dropped a notch or two.  And that's a good thing.  Now, I'm totally okay with piles of clothes on the floor, stacks of unfiled papers all over the house, an unmade bed and a lawn that's not edged.  Don't get me wrong, I still try to get to these things, but if I don't, I won't have a conniption like I would in the past.  I'll admit it, Carol has worn me down.  I've joined the Dark Side of the organization world - and I like it.  There's a sense of joy and liberation over not stressing over the little things that really don't matter.  No longer does every second of every day of vacation need to be planned.  It took a little bit of letting go.  But it's the right thing to do.  And I'm liking it.

There are certain things in the organization arena that I still think are pretty important though.  Like being on time - especially for church.  If you're going to make time for God, then be on time for God.  But as a family, we've been pretty bad about getting to church on time for whatever reason.

And so a couple of weeks ago, Carol went down to Alabama for a surprise 40th birthday party for her good friend, Heather.  I was Mr. Mom for a couple of days.  The boys and I had some good bonding time.  On Sunday, we got up, had breakfast, got showered and dressed and bam, we were on time for church.  Not a big deal.  It just kind of happened that way.  When Carol came home, I casually told her about how things went with the boys and mentioned how we managed to get to church on time.

Well.  Did I ever strike a nerve.  I haven't had the pleasure of visiting Yellowstone Park but I could've sworn Old Faithful was catapulting highly pressurized water right there in my kitchen.  Carol's reaction was energized and comedic.  I haven't heard octaves that high in a while.  Now it was crystal clear.  Surely Carol was the weighted anchor that kept dragging down "my dream" of getting to church on time.  It's all Carol's fault!  Good thing she was gone for a few days so I could experience the ecstasy of promptness.  My lovely wife's profuse (and highly sarcastic) apologies for crushing my dreams of butts in pews on time was pretty dang funny.  I honestly wasn't trying to rub it in her face.  But she was giving it to me good.  It was a lungbuster of a laugh.  I'm sure that if I was drinking something at the time, it would've came shooting out of my nose.  I am very happy she was only joking.

And yet, like the verbal diarrhea that spews from the mouths of the inebriated, sometimes a little bit of truth escapes.  For the last couple of weeks, "my dream" has come true.  I didn't ask Carol to change a thing.  And yet we've been getting to church on time on a regular basis.

The boys making a beeline for the car.  Gotta get to Bellevue Baptist on time!  CJ's job is to grab the Bibles.  Jake's job is to not spill anything on his shirt.

And there she is, making Daddy's dream come true.

We did have a glitch this past Sunday though.  Our garage door opener broke that morning.  I had to manually pull the door open and stand on a ladder while supporting the open door while Carol drove the cars out of the garage.  And so we were just a tad late.  Dream crushed.

To be clear, I really wasn't making any fuss at all about being late for church.  It's nice if we're on time but I'm not gonna get in a bad mood or lose sleep over it.  I do appreciate the family's extra effort in being more timely for this one thing though.  You see, Carol does so much for me and the boys already.  I've got zero to complain about.  Absolutely nothing.  She still makes my dreams come true - and I'm not talking about being on time.

Miami Vacation - Part 2

It was just too much to put in one blog entry.  And so, like the crusty uncle that bores you to death with a projector full of vacation picture slides, I present to you more Miami pics.

Like Jake, this shark in front of the Bass Pro Shops lost one of his teeth.  Without the toothless area, CJ wouldn't be able to perform this fine impersonation of a human hors d'oeuvre.

Darby and Ariel at the Fort Lauderdale Riverwalk.

Alan and Danita

Chilling.

Too often, we leave the kids to their devices.  Literally.  Even the six year old has to have his fingers on the laptop, iPad, iTouch or iPhone.  Not only that, it's gotta be hooked up to the internet.  Steve Jobs - you're a witch!  If there was even a micro spare moment during the vacation, you'd see these little boogers scrambling to be connected - Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, Facebooking, texting, emailing... it was ridiculous.  Like little crack addicts.  Jake is less than two seconds out of bed in this picture and he's needing his internet hit bad.  What have we created?

Carol and I got to visit my good friend Edisa at the new US Southern Command Headquarters.  Edisa and I worked together a few years back.  Although the job was extremely challenging, spending time with Edisa was the best.  I really miss her.  Got to see some of the old gang too.  The new place was really nice.  Might have to find my way back to Miami.

Saw a couple of these guys basking in the sun.

It was all smiles on our 4 hour fishing trip aboard the Flamingo.  Couldn't beat the scenery.

CJ the hood ornament

Bait

The pose while cruising through Fort Lauderdale, the Venice of America.

Rigged and ready to catch some fish.

That's Darryl the deck hand on the left.  It was obvious he had been on the high seas for quite a while.  I think he was growing barnacles.  He had to be one of the grumpiest and vilest human beings I've ever met in my life.  I'm convinced he's eaten a child or two.  "I told you we shouldn't have done a drop rig!  Filth, flarn, filth!"  Note:  actual language replaced because this is a family blog.  "Those kids are gonna be bored out of their minds in a few minutes!"   Loud burp right after he removes a remora suctioned to his backside.  "Who put this squid on the railing?!?  That's gonna jack up the boat!"  Juicy fart.  "Argh, look at this tangle!  That's gonna be 30 minutes of no fishing!  I told you so!"  Silent fart followed by seagull poop hitting the deck.  Although he reeked of pessimism, his gloom and doom disposition rang true as soon as we left calm waters...

No more smiles for the cousin trio.  Our young fishermen were not amused by the steady rocking of the Flamingo.  Queasy and green is no way to go through life.  While it didn't stop them from feeling horrible, CJ's suggestion of going horizontal helped the cousins to avoid the dreaded technicolor yawn - unlike the rowdy teens who were loudly chumming the waters over the side of the boat with their violent vomit comets.  I was proud that CJ, Jena and Ariel didn't hurl.  They were troopers.  I believe this type of experience is a major reason why Jena's brother Joel will be doing Army or Air Force ROTC at VMI vice Navy ROTC.  Darn shame.

I should be fair.  I'm exaggerating with Darryl's personality.  He was keeping it real and was very helpful.  I don't think we could've gotten a harder worker.  There's not much he hasn't seen.  I could've sworn we brought four kids on the boat though.

Catching a couple of tilefish.

Josh getting in on the action.

CJ feeling a little better.

Staged picture only.  No actual hurling, unlike the group of teens that kept yelling for their friend Ralph.  "Ralph!  Ralph!"  CJ now knows that if he's disrespecting Mom or Dad or isn't doing his chores, he just might get the dreaded punishment of an all day deep sea adventure with Dad.  That'll keep him on the straight and narrow.

Alan enjoying the ride.

The tourists on this Duck Tour boat gave us a couple of loud quacks as we sailed by.

What recession?

One good thing about Fort Lauderdale fishing trips is that even if you don't catch anything, you'll still take in some fantastic scenery.  You know you have a big boat when you need a small boat to get to your big boat.

Believe it or not, after having a bad experience during the deep sea fishing trip, later that same day, Jena and Ariel wanted to go to the lake and do some freshwater fishing.  They just had to catch some fish.  Reminds me of my brother Lee when he gets skunked on a fishing outing.  He goes out and eats some revenge sushi.  Jena caught this little one without a fishing pole.  She used a stick and some line just for kicks.  Show off!

Speaking of showing off, here's Jake showing off his new Jake-O-Lantern smile.  Always the negotiator, Jake let it be known that he thought the Tooth Fairy should leave him more money than usual because 1) he's on vacation 2) it's one of his big teeth 3) it's right after losing the other big tooth.

Carol on the balcony of our resort.

Jake enjoying the big sauna tub with some of the members of Jena's duck collection.

Super Mario Smash Brothers (or something like that) was the Wii game of choice.  Those darn devices again.

Every time the elevator went by the 3rd floor, a strange rumbling noise would emanate from under the elevator.  We were convinced it was the cables grinding past the forgotten bones of the elevator repair man that was sent to investigate the original noise many moons ago.

We walked around the Hard Rock complex for a bit.  That place has gotten really big.

Too bad Hooters didn't get the memo on the big theme.  For those that can't read lips, Jena is saying, "Where's the beef?"  At least we got to see Prince's purple jacket, Slash's top hat, Elton John's crazy outfits (compete with boa) and listen to some good live music.  There was also plenty of silicone that evening, even outside of Hooters.

This Cuban meal was definitely better than Jena's burger.  La Granja is such a simple place but so dang good.

Although we played plenty of games, we didn't do a full blown Cruz Olympics this time.  We were playing Yahtzee this night.

Taboo was the best though.

 Jena keeping a close eye on the timer.

Of course the Cruz's had to spice things up with the game of Taboo.  Hasbro, take note.  We introduced this plastic horn - the Vuvuzela - as an added punishment if you made three or more mistakes or only got two correct words during your turn.  The Vuvuzela, or Zaboomafoo or whatever it's called, was made famous during the 2010 World Cup.  Imagine an entire stadium full of soccer hooligans blowing into these horns at the top of their lungs to support their team.  If you didn't perform up to standards during your turn at Taboo, the punishment was to place your hands behind your back and take the full brunt of a loud Vuvuzela being blown into your face.  If small pieces of undigested pork or a damp mist of black bean aroma unintentionally smacked your face during the trumpeting of the horn, so be it. More motivation to perform better next time.  Here's Joel doling out the punishment of the Vuvuzela on Brandon.

Darby was fortunate during this punishment.  Her son was being lenient and did not blow at point blank range.  Still deafening though.

Usually a solid player at Taboo, this punishment will remind me not to let my guard down.  After being water boarded at Survival/Evasion/Resistance/Escape (SERE) school years ago and now experiencing the Vuvuzela punishment, I believe the Vuvuzela should be banned by the Geneva Convention.  I can live with the water boarding.

Another fun (and very simple) game was "Four Eyes."  You sit in a circle where you have eye contact with everyone in the group.  Everyone puts their head down.  Someone then says, "head up!" All you have to do is stare at one person and one person only.  Just randomly pick someone.  If that same person is staring back at you, you're both out.  You can't look at the same person two times in a row until you get down to four people.  When it gets down to two people, you have a staring contest to determine the champion.  If it's an odd number of people, you won't need to do the staring contest.

And so the champion of Four Eyes was Jake!  He won it fair and square.  The big prize was Ric Flair.  Josh won Ric Flair at the first Cruz Olympics.  Jena won it last year at the Outer Banks.  And now, Jake gets to take home the prize.  Ric Flair is his until the next big Cruz get together.  For those that can't read lips, Jake is saying, "Woooh!!!!!" in his best Nature Boy voice.

Woooh!!!!

The farewell pose.

The girls get into the act too.

Can I simply say that I love my family?  During the blessing for Alan and Brandon's surprise graduation party dinner, my brother Beanie reminded us all that God has really blessed the Cruz kids in that we WANT to see each other and WANT to spend time with each other.  I don't take that for granted.  Some of my friends don't keep in touch with their mother, father, brother or sister.  The issues that sometimes get in the way are money, kids, favoritism or some rift that seems too big to overcome.  I'm telling you, whatever the issue is, it isn't too big to overcome.  It's simply a matter of letting it go.    

Don't think  that we didn't have our issues.  We fought like cats and dogs as kids and would've been great entertainment on Jerry Springer in our hey day.  Heck, there's stuff happening right now but we're all trying to work through it.

A lot of us expend so much energy putting up these walls of anger, guilt, shame or pride with our own family.  Instead of piling on to those negative walls, be reminded of the Good Book and specifically, the Greatest Commandment - which tells us to love God and love each other.  Remember that this is a COMMANDMENT.  It's not a suggestion or a polite request to follow only if we feel like it.  I'll get off my soapbox (or pulpit) now.

I like to think that we're following this commandment when we get together like we do.  I hope my kids and my nephews and nieces remember and learn from these times together so that they can carry it on with their families when they get older.  

The games, movies, fishing, sightseeing, meals, silliness, shopping, sharing a pew at church, Cruz Olympics, laughs, tears, Ric Flair, loud horns and all of the time together with family - it just brings a huge smile to my face and a tear to my eye.  That's good stuff right there.

Cathy and Lee - we missed you guys.  Until next time.  Woooh!!!!