Long Overdue Update

Since I find myself with a few spare moments and a "built-in babysitter" (thanks Mom!) I am finally able to post an update. There is much to report and a handful of pictures as well, so I'll just hammer it out. In November we made a quick trip to Chicago and Southbend for a mini Cronley get together and to see Notre Dame lose to Navy (AGAIN!) at home. On the way there, we had a pretty funny experience -- as we are boarding the plane, the Pilot greeted Marin and then asked her if she would like to sit in the cockpit for a few minutes. Of course she said yes and the next thing I know, he plucked her right up and put her in the seat and told me to take pics if I wanted. Tom was quite irritated, to say the least, that his 3 year old daughter has managed to sit in the cockpit of a 737 before he has!!









A few weeks later, we decided last minute to take a road trip to Kansas City to spend Thanksgiving with my sister and her husband. We had a great time and thanks to Cath and Matt's good friends we managed to score some tickets to see the #1 Jayhawks play in Allen Fieldhouse. It was Tom and Marin's first Kansas Basketball game and it brought back a ton of memories for me :) We also got to meet up with our old friends, Matt and Allison Wilkening and their two sons Eli and Asher for a morning in the park. Marin was very excited to see her old buddy Eli!










Here are some pics of our last few weeks in Meridian:
Although we have not yet sold the house in Mississippi, Marin, Muzzy and I have made the move out to California! We decided that it made more sense to just come out for Christmas and stay rather than fly back to Mississippi after the holidays for a few weeks and then come right back out to the GOLDEN STATE. So we will be residing with my mom for the next couple of months. Tom will join us next week for Christmas and New Years and then he will be back in Mississippi to do a debt in El Centro (this is totally confusing, I know) for work and then one LAST TIME GOING TO THE CARRIER in early Feb. Then he will make the permanent move to CA. It feels great to be back in California and to have survived the three and half years in Meridian. I'm grateful for the friends that we made and the different experiences we had, but mostly I am just grateful to be back in a place that really feels like home. I apologize for the ramblings (Tom is much better at this than I am!) -- I blame it on this awful cold I have and not being able to "cure it" with my usual concoction of Robitussin and a hint of Johnnie Walker Black. UGH!!

More Bahamas

Before I can continue on with more updates (trips to Notre Dame, the upcoming move, etc), I have to load these pictures. By the way, if you're not a fan of a 30 something in a Shamrock Speedo, prepare to be offended.

Bahamas Teaser

Here are some pictures of our time in the Bahamas. The other folks are either Rob & Leea (whom you probably recognize) or The MacCallums--Scott, Betsy and their son, Charlie.
What a trip! Scott's uncle let us use his home on Eleuthera Island. The weather wasn't ideal, but there were no hurricanes either.
We took only a few photos here with more coming...I have to steal them off of Rob & Leea's camera. It was simply amazing. The island has shells on it like we have rocks in Mississippi. We came home with 3 or 4 bags full of conch, sand dollars, starfish and other neat shells. We snorkled on the beach in front of the house and saw bright fish, sea turtles, barracuda and even shark. It was very rural and had a 3rd world feel to it. We bought jugs of water, showered in rain water that had been stored and were without TV and internet for the duration...I did watch the end of the ND vs. Southern Cal game however. The nights were as amazing as the days with the stars coming out by the billions. One night alone I spotted 10 shooting stars! The people were friendly and didn't seem to mind that I was using the Atlantic in lieu of a shower. More photos to come!

Great Fun in Seaside

August in California - Pictures

Here are a bunch of pictures from our trip out to California earlier this month. Enjoy!

In Case You're Not A Meridian Star Subscriber...

August Pre-Travel Update

This summer is seemingly running right passed us. Since our last update, we all made the trip to Cleveland, MS and Delta State University for Mississippi Long Course State Swim Meet. From Thursday at 2pm until Sunday at 7pm, it was back and forth across the pool for Tracey's best swimmers. There were lots of highlights, but my favorite for sure was watching one of Tracey's swimmers win the 100 Butterfly in comeback fashion.

Surprisingly, Cleveland had a couple of good little places to eat and some crazy terrain that could only be described as a bayou.



On Saturday, Tracey and Sara coordinated our very first garage sale to get rid of some stuff before we put the house up for sale. Things were priced to sell. Tracey proudly cleared out all of it (after a post-sale trip to Salvation Army) and netted $400+. Whohoo! One highlight was when an elderly woman wondered if we had any men's clothes, since her grandson was "pert near, nekked." I ran inside and came back with jeans, and long sleeve shirt and two swim suits and sold them for $10!



And now having just returned from Jacksonville, FL from another trip to the carrier, we are packing our bags for Southern California to find out about Ventura County and look at some places--not to mention take in a Jackson Browne concert, hit Knotts Berry Farm and, of course, take in the sights at Disneyland.
This Fall I was trying to coordinate a flyover of the Notre Dame versus Washington football game and things were looking pretty good. But this week I found out that it is for sure not going to happen. To make up for that, I flew over the house tonight and since I had warned Tracey, she was able to get this little clip.

Where has the summer gone?

It seems like since summer started the days have just flown by. June was ridiculously HOT and shockingly, so far July has been a bit cooler. Grandma C has been visiting for the past couple of weeks and it has been great having her around. Not only has she been entertaining Marin, but she's been doing yard work, helping with meals and laundry, helping maintain a bit of sanity and of course, squeezing in a few minutes of Fox News viewage each day :) Aunt Sara is coming to town again today for another weekend visit!

A big portion of each day for me is spent on the pool deck and in-between morning practice and afternoon practice I've been doing my best to teach Marin how to swim and keep myself in shape. My team is doing really well. We had a "last chance" meet in Tuscaloosa this past weekend and had a few more swimmers qualify for the big state meet, which is July 23 - 26 in Cleveland, MS. It's TAPER TIME right now and the kids are getting really excited! Tom was able to meet me there as he did a X-Country flight with one of his students who is now becoming an instructor, so that was pretty cool! Even though I had to spend most of each day at the swim meet, we were able to check out a couple of good restaurants and at least enjoy civilization (aka Target and Starbucks) at least a little. On an unrelated note, a photographer from the paper came out to practice the other day because she was told to get a "weather" photo. We had one ridiculously "cool" day this week (it was in the low 80's, which is absolutely unheard of for July) and for some reason she decided to take a pic of me helping one of the younger swimmers with his goggles. Here's a link to the page. Maybe someday we'll get some press coverage for actually being a good swim team, but for now, I guess we'll take what we can get.

It's been three weeks exactly since the dreaded bike ride that resulted in my left elbow being broken. How many people can say that they have broken their left elbow twice in a span of 24 years? I feel like such an idiot! Luckily, this time around is MUCH better than last time. I only had a cast on for 5 days and I'm functioning almost normally with little or no pain. My doctor, who also happens to be one of my masters swimmers, told me I could try to swim this week, so I did -- it was not pretty! BUT, I have set my mind on competing in a triathlon in Tuscaloosa, AL on August 22nd, so I have 5 weeks to get ready! I can't get back on the bike for another couple of weeks, but hopefully that won't be too bad, as long as Tom isn't there trying to push me over ;)


This is the first year that Marin and I have been in Mississippi for the month of July. In the past, Tom has shipped us back to California so that we can have a break from the heat and the sticks. But honestly, even though I would always rather be in California, it hasn't been too bad! Staying busy and having visitors helps a lot and knowing that soon enough we'll be gone from here helps too :)

Here are a couple of pics of Muzzy's new hair cut. It pains us to have to do this to her, but the heat is just too extreme to keep her hair long during the summer. The last one is from the fourth of July at Bonita Lakes -- it's a shot of Marin with one of my favorite (and definitely HER favorite) swimmers, Thompson. Yes, he has a mohawk!

Happy Birthday Marin #3!

Father's Day, Injury & Triathlons

Last weekend, Tracey and Marin treated me to a trip to Madison, MS. We like this area for a number of reasons, but we were especially excited to ride our bikes on the Natchez Trace--a 400 miles roadway that splits the state and has some sort of historical significance. It was a great weekend of fun and excessive heat.
We're going on a crazy string of hot days in a row.
As most of you know, Tracey fell off her bike when she and I were enjoying a ride on Thursday. She broke her radius right at the elbow and will be in a soft cast and sling until Tuesday. She'll be back up and fully healthy in just a couple more weeks. Being one armed has not slowed her down as she didn't miss any practices for her swim team.
One thing she did miss, however, was the Race of Grace triathlon that we both were planning on competing in this weekend in Philadelphia, MS. It was incredibly hot--even at the 8am start it was in the mid-80s--and it did involve the longest bike ride of my life, I had a lot of fun and finished second in my age group. It was a great workout and it felt good not losing to my wife. And as a warm-up to her birthday next weekend, Marin went to an all pink, "Pink-a-licious" birthday party and had a great time. Enjoy the photos!

Catching Up

The past couple of weeks have been busy! While Tom was at the boat, my mom and sister were here to keep me company and to help me out with managing Marin, coaching, maintaining household/sanity. Our neighborhood "nanny", Ms Johnnie Nell, fell and broke her shoulder a couple of weeks ago :( She is doing fine and will make a full recovery, but needless to say it has taken it's toll on her and on us! We miss having her take such good care of Marin!! So anyhow, it was very nice to have some family here to help out. We had a great visit and as always, the time went to quickly. My sister and I did a little side trip while they were here in the south. For my birthday, Cath had bought us two tickets to see No Doubt in Atlanta, so we took a quick road trip to GA for the concert -- it was fantastic and we had a blast!! and yes, we did tour the CNN headquarters, but were disappointed to learn that Anderson Cooper is actually based out of New York (actually, I could care less, but it seemed that every other woman on the tour was DEVASTATED). Thankfully we did not run into Nancy Grace either because I think I would have had to punch her -- can't stand that woman! Tom returned from the boat on Thursday and then we left Friday to head up to Memphis for a weekend of swimming. I had 7 kids actually make the trek up there for the meet -- it was great! The meet went well and it was especially nice that it was a VERY well managed meet and we were actually done each day before 1pm! This left us plenty of time to hang out with our dear friends AmyD and Nic Morrison and their sweet kids, Peter and Lily. We had a great time! Now it's back to reality and possibly time to start doing some research on the Camarillo, Oxnard, Ventura, CA areas :) I am so excited to be within walking/running/biking distance of the ocean, and the Pacific Ocean at that and to be within a short driving distance of my mom's house and where I grew up and also wine country and the bay area and family in Northern California!! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh, big sigh of relief.
Here are some pics of the past few weeks. Can you pick out the one where Marin freaked out after having a potty training "accident" (#2) in the bathtub?! I'm so proud of her for instinctively knowing that she needed to get out of the water, any way possible!
Hope everyone is doing well!

Exciting News!

This week, while aboard the Navy's newest aircraft carrier, the USS George HW Bush, I received notice that I needed to contact the detailer in charge of my follow-on orders. As you might imagine, calling someone from a ship, involves the use of a satellite phone and an extremely annoying, but wholly necessary pause after each transmission, to allow the data to travel to space and back. After miraculously getting a hold of someone who prides himself on being hard to contact, I found out that the Cronley's of Meridian will soon and once again be the Cronley's of Southern California! I've been assigned to fly the C-130 Hercules out of Point Mugu, California with VR-55. We are extrmely excited about our move back to the West Coast which will occur March of next year.
Now about the C-130, it has been around a while, it's somehow not as pretty as the S-3 and Tracey's dad flew it in Vietnam! Also, in case they need to do this testing on it again, I think they'll chose the right guy. Thanks for all the prayers!


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Quick Trip to Minneapolis

This past weekend I took a very quick trip to the beautiful city of Minneapolis to visit a great friend from college who is currently 33 weeks pregnant with her second child and on strict bed rest. On top of that, her mother was just recently diagnosed with an aggressive form of leukemia. Needless to say Jeanine was in serious need of some distractions, so my college roommate, Adrienne (another great friend!) and I decided to fly in from opposite ends of North America to pay her and her family a visit. The weekend was full of laying around, eating and drinking wine (for Ade and me at least) while Jeanine's husband Mike basically waited on us hand and foot. All three of us girls and Mike swam together at KU, so we always have fun talking about the 'good old days' in Kansas. It was wonderful to get caught up, at least a little, with some very good friends. Anyhow, the weekend went by way too fast and we look forward to getting everybody together again, under happier circumstances, soon! Here are a couple of pics - the first one is from this weekend (Ade, Jeanine and me with Jeanine and Mike's son Nolan -- the squirmy, but darling, 3 year old!) and the second one is from a swim meet (I think Big 8's) our Freshman year! Can you pick us out???
Meanwhile, Tom and Marin were kept company by Aunt Sara who came to the big city of Meridian for the weekend with her two little dogs, Tina and Pele. They had a great weekend too!
This week the swim team started the "Summer Schedule" which means we are now swimming every morning at 6am at the outdoor 50 meter pool here in town. The 5:30am get-up routine is a hard adjustment, but I do really enjoy coaching in the morning as the sun comes up. If we could just get the schedulers at the squadron to stop scheduling Tom for early morning flights so that he can be at home with Marin in the morning, that would be great. Yesterday, just to prove a point, Tom brought Marin to work with him while I was coaching. She got to help him do some waving in the shack (you'll have to ask Tom to explain this) where she learned how to say "Roger Ball" and then she assisted him in giving a brief that he had to do for a later flight. Don't worry, I picked her up before the flight took off, but nonetheless, I think she had a lot more fun going to work with Daddy then she has had in the past when I've taken her to the pool with me. Future pilot, perhaps? Gosh, I hope not --- I've done enough worrying about pilots in my lifetime!!
Next up, my mom and sister arrive tomorrow! They will be here for a week! Cath and I are taking a quick road trip to Atlanta on Friday to see her favorite band, No Doubt, play and then we plan to tour the CNN headquarters on Saturday. I don't think too many people would pair those two things together ;)
We're really looking forward to having them here!!

Triathlon

Last Saturday, Tracey and I participated in the "Soak Up the Sun Triathlon" in Madison, just north of Jackson, Mississippi. It was an ideal first real triathlon for us, as it was short distances (250m swim, 8 mile bike, 2 mile run) and it catered to people who have just started to do TRIs. We both had done the TRIs on base, but they were nothing more than a few people getting together for a workout--this one had over 400 participants!
Friday night we drove to Madison, had some dinner and checked into the hotel near the race site. The race began at 7am so driving from Meridian was not going to happen, especially because of the "setup" involved with the bike and getting checked in, etc. So we were up at 5 and racing by 7. Because of the number of participants and the fact that you start the swim in a lake, the start is a little different from most races. A long single file line was formed and everyone started at 5 second intervals. Each person had a chip--an electronic timing device affixed to the ankle--that would record the individual's time to do each event and the overall time. So even though people may be in front of you, they may be going slower than you!
As it turned out, the chip and timing was a disaster for both Tracey and me. My chip fell off my ankle during the swim and though I miraculously found it in the cloudy water, it failed to record any times for me. Agh! Tracey's timing was not without controversy as well. She started her watch when she began swimming and stopped when she crossed the finish line, thus at least giving her the overall time. However, the chip said that she took 38 seconds longer than her watch! It would not be a problem, except it meant the difference between 2nd and 3rd place overall for women. Double Agh!
Despite these issues, we had a lot of fun. We figured out my time based on one of our friend's time and the time stamp of the picture of him crossing the finishline and the time stamp of when I crossed the finishline. And though in our hearts, we know she was second, Tracey was officially 3rd overall female and I, if my chip had functioned, would have been 1st place, 30-34 male in the mountain bike division...or more succinctly, second place in my own house.
To the surprise of no one, Tracey beat me soundly.

End of the School Year Program

Marin has been going to Tuesday and Thursday school for about 6 months where she has made a lot of friends at Northcrest Baptist School. The school year is coming to end, however. And to mark the end, along with countless parties, lunches and other gatherings, the students put on a program of musical selections. Above is Marin with her teacher, Ms. Jerri.


Marin's class practiced these numbers at school and Marin practiced them at home as well. As you can tell, she was very proud of her singing and gesturing throughout the songs. We love the picture below of Marin showing off her painted finger nails to one of her classmates, Jackson.

To explain a little, the children on the bottom step are under 2, Marin class is next up (between 2-3) and then you have 3 and 4 year olds above them. Enjoy the video & pics!

Back to Back Posts

In what I believe is an unprecedented move, I am actually authoring two blog posts in a row! Frankly I am using this medium as a distraction from some crazy swim team "drama" that has been happening this week. As a true testament to the ways things are done here in the deep south, it has taken some seemingly drastic moves, even threats, to initiate the first small steps in implementing some big changes. One might think that I am referring to some big civil rights movement, but oh no, I'm simply talking about the volunteer swim team board of the team that I am coaching here in Meridian. Somebody shoot me, please. In any event, the "drama" has been a nice distraction from the slow and depressing days that seem to blend one into the other here in Mississippi, but I can only take so much drama in any given day, thus I need a distraction from the distraction and so here I am.

I wanted to share this picture that my mom took of us during our visit to San Diego last month. My mom, God love her, would never claim to be a seasoned photographer, but whether it be sheer luck or momentary streaks of pure genius, my mom has, upon occasion, captured some indescribable images with her little camera. On July 5, 2006, mom managed to get the most unbelievable picture of Marin literally taking her very first breath of life. For obvious reasons that picture will never be put on this blog, but it is probably the coolest picture I have ever seen. This picture is, for me, another top fiver. I can't really describe the reason why and that's pretty much the whole point. There just aren't words for it.....

One more thing I want to mention -- Tom and I are competing in an itty-bitty (aka sprint) triathlon this Saturday in Madison, MS. I'm not going to lie to you - I'm a little bit nervous. Not about actually doing the triathlon or competing against the other athletes, but rather that I will likely get my butt kicked by Tom despite the following: my new, super "high tech" triathlon outfit, my unfair advantage in the swim portion, the lucky penny in my running shoe, my ipod loaded up with the new Better Than Ezra cd (which, btw, is AWESOME), oh and let's not forget that I will be on a new road bike while Tom is riding an antique mountain bike. I fear that the meager 250M distance on the swim portion is just not going to be enough to give me the lead I will need to hold him off. We'll see. I'm sure we'll have some pics to share and perhaps the winner will have enough strength left at the finish to capture some video of the loser coming across the finish line ;)

Board Results and The Mullet Toss

First off and most importantly, the FTS Board results were finally announced (last Friday) and we are extremely excited that Tom has been selected for FTS - VR. I know that Tom has told most of the family and some friends and I have a feeling that you are all waiting for me (or somebody) to explain to you exactly what that means. Sorry to disappoint, but like everything else associated with the Navy, I honestly have very little insight as to exactly what it all means. I do know this -- when we leave Meridian (still looking like early 2010), Tom will still be gainfully employed by the US Navy and will continue to fly airplanes. What type of airplane remains to be determined and exactly where we will be living is a little up in the air as well. However, it will DEFINITELY not be Meridian, MS. Our top picks of course are San Diego and Pt. Mugu (which is inbetween LA and Santa Barbara). Other possibilities include the Dallas area, DC, and a few other East Coast towns. We're still trying to figure out how the whole process works and who exactly we need to send a case of booze to, to ensure that we end up in the Golden State. Hopefully we will know more soon ---- we'll keep you posted.


Now, for some almost equally important news (not really). We finally attended our first Mullet Toss at the glorious FloraBama a few weeks ago. Our good friends, Rob and Leea Myers have been attending this event for years. In fact, this is where they actually met and eventually ended up getting married on the beach just a short distance away a few years later. Anyhow, they've been begging us to go with them each year and we finally caved. It was a fascinating experience. Tom kept saying that he felt like he was at a "High School Drop Out's Spring Break". For me it was like traveling through a red-neck/hillbillie/barbie doll time warp. I would look around and at one moment I would think to myself "man, I'm seriously getting old" and then the next instant I would see something that made me feel incredibly young. Tom actually competed in the Mullet Toss which entailed him attempting to throw a nasty old fish as far as he could. He did quite well, considering it was his first time and that nobody told him that the number one secret for success in launching a fish is that you must dig your nails into it's flesh to ensure that it does not slip from your grasp too soon. As you can see from the photo, his fish slipped and the immediate frustration is evident in Tom's face and his left hand which looks like it's about to claw somebody to death....
It was a hilarious day from start to finish.

Here are a couple of shots of us with Rob Myers, who after having flown for 10 years with the call sign "Pee Wee", may now be earning himself a new call sign.......... Leea entered him in Redbook Magazine's "Hottest Husband" contest and we have learned that Rob is a top 5 finalist. We are so proud of him and he is absolutely mortified and can hardly keep his head up when he walks down the hallway at work. Check out the "Hottest Husband" link and stay tuned for the final winner announcement :)




Next up we have some little local triathlons we will be attempting and my sister and mom will be visiting in a few weeks -- can't wait!

Quick Trip to San Diego

Earlier this month, VT-9, my squadron had another trip out to the carrier in San Diego. I was tired of being away but in my current position, I can't miss "the boat." Soooo, we packed Tracey and Marin up and off we went. It was incredible. Yes, I did have to work (a little), but we had a lot of time to ourselves and with Grandma Mac.
We stayed on the Navy base, but it was in a room right on the beach--a beach with slides and a swingset.
We went to the beach, the new children's museum downtown, SeaWorld, the zoo, St. Brigid's! and Tracey and I hit up one of our favorite downtown stops too. Amazing trip! I can't believe we almost didn't do it!

Working on Her Lower Register

One of Marin's latest tricks is this little ditty she came up with all on her own. Lately she's been delving into deeper notes. We have no idea why.

Easter Photos

Here are some pictures put to music. They are of Marin at the two Easter egg hunts she participated in this weekend. I had some video, but I'm experiencing some technical difficulties. Enjoy the photos.