Ongoings in Our Small Piece of the Pacific

I am so happy that the email feature is working again. Thanks for everyone's feedback letting me know that we are back in action! In an effort to maintain the (newly-acquired) regular routine of postings, and so that I don't fall behind and get overwhelmed by all that I need to catch up on, I feel like a quick update is necessary.  Over the past two weeks we have made a second wonderful trip out  to the sandbar on our friend's boat, spent a festive 4th of July at another friend's condo with a rooftop BBQ in Honolulu, and Jordan has been carrier qualified for landings on the boat!

While this isn't necessarily an exciting picture (unless you find filling up gas exciting), I just loved the boat with the American Flag and palm trees in the background on base.

It takes a team!

Another trip to the Sandbar!

Red, white and blue fruit salad for the 4th

What a Motley Crew! 

A beautiful 4th of July sunset in Honolulu

Jordan landing on the boat for the first time!

Here is a video compilation Jordan's friend made of their first trip out to the boat. There are a number of guys in the video and they all kind of look the same, so here's what to look for: Jordan is at the very beginning of the video holding the camera as they fly out to the USS Peleliu. However, his take off and landing practice section of the video starts at the 3:39 mark, and lasts for about 2 minutes. He is in the front seat of the Cobra. You can tell he is finished in the video around 5:45 because the front seat pilot's head is no longer touching the roof of the cockpit haha.


For the most part, I have been spending a lot of time with my girlfriend Ashley, who I have known since our time in Corpus, as well as a few other ladies who we have met already during our short time here in Hawaii. The guys have been very busy at work, so us girls have been sticking it out together and filling our days with indoor cycling classes, shopping in Honolulu, doggy play-dates at the beach, discovering fun "mom and pop"  restaurants around town, and finding unique, hawaiian gifts and staple items at the swap meet (I finally now own a sarong)!

Delish Japanese hot pot Nabe dinner with two girlfriends.

At Pyramid Rock beach on base, also known as Officer's Beach because it is walking distance from the Officer housing (which we are still waiting for). Can't wait to have this beautiful beach basically in our backyard!

Doggie beach date with Ashley and their Springer Spaniel Nelly.

Gunnar absolutely loves the beach, although to be honest, this didn't happen overnight. I think it's the lack of air conditioning in our current living situation and his developed phobia of grass (due to the spikey stickers in the grass of Corpus), that have made him appreciate the cool ocean breezes and the soft sand under his paws. He will chase a ball for hours, until his run slows from a run to a jog to a really mom, again? slow walk, and even then, will faithfully retrieve the ball before collapsing on the ground with a big sandy smile on his face. And while he doesn't enjoy swimming or getting his face wet, he will venture in the shallows. I am sure the cool water is a welcome reprieve from the constant weight and heat of a fur coat. Our favorite time to go is in the early evening, once Jordan has returned from work, and we can take in the beautiful, and ever-changing, water-colored sky.

The Marine Corps Base is located where those land masses are on the horizon

Although the sun sets on the other side of the island, we are still treated to beautiful evening skies

As I mentioned before, all the guys are extremely busy with work because RIMPAC is in full swing. RIMPAC stands for Rim of the Pacific, which is the largest international naval/maritime exercise in the world.  According to the Commander of the Pacific Fleet website, "Twenty-two nations, 49 surface ships, 6 submarines, more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel will participate. Units from Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, the People’s Republic of China, Peru, the Republic of Korea, the Republic of the Philippines, Singapore, Tonga, the United Kingdom and the United States will participate. RIMPAC is a unique training opportunity that helps participants foster and sustain the cooperative relationships that are critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world’s oceans." Because this exercise is only held every 2 years, and always in and around the Hawaiian Islands, Jordan is pretty excited to be participating in this exercise, which will no doubt be a valuable and unique experience in his career. And while I never know what I am technically allowed to be writing on here for all the world to see, nor can Jordan and the rest of the guys divulge all the details of their specific training exercises, the Commander of the Pacific Fleet public website provides news updates on some of the training being done, so I feel comfortable sharing the info I find there. According to their website, the exercises being conducted range from humanitarian relief and disaster preparedness to naval security and war fighting techniques, technologies, and strategies.

We recently went to Pearl Harbor and checked out the larger-than-normal fleet of ships in the harbor for RIMPAC,  as well as took a guided tour of the USS Peleliu. It is much larger in person than it appears floating out in the middle of the ocean from the above video (although the idea of Jordan landing on it's deck still makes me nervous)!  And while we have lived on or near military bases for the last 3 years and have become used to helicopters and planes regularly flying overhead, the sight of large battleships and aircraft carriers in the ocean off the beaches is still quite surreal! It's definitely a neat experience even for those of us civilians living here to witness!

The USS Peleliu

Off Kailua Beach, near our house

2 ships off the coast of Lanikai Beach

One last picture to conclude this post, just because it was so beautiful to wake up to this morning and I wanted to share...

Brilliant colors as the sun rose this morning, with the moon still hanging in the air! Yep, still pinching ourselves!