Stokers in Virginia Beach, Virginia

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Hey everyone. This is my first attempt at keeping a travel blog, and I get the feeling I have alot to learn.

I'm down visiting Monika (Washington) Stoker and her family in Virginia Beach. When I was on the COLE (Aug '98 - July '01), she arrived in September of 1998 for a 1.5 or 2 year (can't remember now) tour as Fire Control Officer. Needless to say we spent alot of time together. Today, she is on shore duty and will next attend PXO school as she has screened for command. Woo Hoo!!! She's married to Randy Stoker, also an academy grad who works for the DOJ and they have 1.9 kids. Riley is 10 months old and Monika is 8 months pregnant. Scary amount of work, just around the corner. I'm happy that I managed to squeeze in a visit before it becomes to difficult for them to have guests.

It has been great to be down here. Unfortunately, I didn't leave the DC area soon enough, as I drove through snow on Thurs the 17th and it is pretty cold down here. 24 degrees this morning when I took Aspen and Cedar for a walk. They are still holding out okay. Today, hopefully, Monika and I will head out to see the Oprah Winfrey produced, Great Debaters.

And if all goes well, it shouldn't be long before I started adding some pictures to this blog and write a few back entries, since this trip officially started on the 2nd of January in Brookeville, MD. But this is it for now. I hope everyone's doing well.
Ann 😊

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