EVERETT, Wash. (AP) - Families and businesses around Everett are celebrating the return of thousands of Navy personnel after a seven-month overseas deployment.

The aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and guided missile destroyers USS Momsen and the USS Shoup returned to their home base Sunday.

Awaiting them on the pier were thousands of jubilant, emotional family members.

One of them was Leandra Horrell, now the mother of a 4-month-old baby daughter, Kayoni. As the baby's dad walked off the ship and embraced her, he saw his daughter for the first time.

About 3,500 crew members on the three ships supported war efforts and participated in training exercises during a seven-month deployment.

Welcome signs have been posted on business reader boards around town, and merchants have been eager for the return of Navy troops with unspent paychecks.

For sailors on the Lincoln, much of their earnings were tax-free because they were supporting war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.