Dining Out

Saturday evening Jason's squadron had a Dining Out, a very formal, scripted dinner.  Hearing some of the stories from last year, I was anticipating the worst, but it was actually a lot of fun.

Here we are all dressed up and our babysitter managed to snap a picture that included Benjamin actually looking at the camera and smiling:

These are our next door neighbors.  Jason is with Dana and I'm with Danielle.

Dining Outs originated with the British Navy and for the most part, the traditional elements are unchanged from 200 years ago.  Part of the scripted dinner includes having a Mr. Vice who acts as the MC of the evening.  If anyone wants to address the whole room (ie the Mess), he or she must first ask permission from Mr. Vice.  No one is addressed by rank, instead this is the one time officers and their spouses are addressed by either Mr. or Mrs. and their last name.

A bagpiper is hired to Parade the Beef.  He plays his bagpipe while marching around the room and a waiter follows behind with a selection of prepared meat.  After the parade, Mr. Vice tastes it and deems it "acceptable" or "not acceptable."

Infractions (speaking out of turn, wearing inappropriate attire--sunglasses!, getting up to use the bathroom without permission, etc) during the dinner are punishable by several means.  The grog bowl was frequented on numerous occasions (they had two separate ones with alcohol and non-alcohol).  There were also several silly punishments, such as demonstrating how to hula-hoop or reading aloud from a selection of a children's book:Someone even ordered pizza as a joke:

The highlight of the evening came towards the end.  It is kind of a joke in Point Mugu that so many wives in Jason's squadron are pregnant in the six short months that the guys have been home and during the toasting part of the evening, couple number six announced that their first baby is due in January!  Here we are lined up in order of due dates, ranging from August to January: