MC Ball and San Diego

Unfortunately I was not able to update sooner but we have had a lot going on since I last wrote.

Before I get into the busy second half of the week, I took a quick picture of Daniel mowing the lawn on Tuesday. Mowing the lawn is not usually picture-worthy, unless you live in Hawaii and the egrets chase you around while mowing to get the freshly uncovered bugs. At one point Daniel was having to shove 11 egrets out of the way to mow. They are not intimidated by the mower at all. It is really funny to watch.

Wednesday was a regular day for me with Bible Study and AWANA. It was Daniel's last full day of work that week so we were both getting ancy for the weekend.

Thursday, Daniel had work in the morning, came home, had lunch and then slept on the couch until we had to get ready for the Marine Corps Birthday Ball. He had a good sleeping buddy. She loves to sleep just like Daniel. When I took this picture, thankfully I only woke up one of them. Daniel slept for another hour. He was a tired man.

Thursday evening we headed to the Ilikai Hotel in Honolulu. The 1/3 Ball started around 6:30 so we got ourselves dolled up and headed downtown. We ended up running into a bit of traffic, which Honolulu is known for and made it there right on time. We were not the only ones to run into traffic so the whole evening was shifted until a later time. I am so thankful we live on the other side of the island with minimal traffic.

This is a picture of Daniel and I at our table. The flash is a little too bright and I couldn't figure out the photoshop way to darken the photo so it is going to be posted with the bright flash. Dinner was yummy and we sat next to Jerry and Michele. Jerry works with Daniel and Michele and I are KVs together. We had a good time at dinner and the ceremony following dinner. They cut the giant cake and there was an excellent guest speaker. The speaker has an outstanding life-story as Marine Colonel and he kept his speech short and sweet so it made everyone happy. Unfortunately the Dj was terrible so we did not end up dancing at all that evening. He played mostly heavy metal and rock songs that were near impossible to dance to. It was like we were getting ready for a pep rally or some big game. It didn't ruin the evening though.

We had lots of opportunities to meet up with people and take pictures. Here is one of Daniel with the Marines he works with. Jerry is on the far left and Daniel on the right, of course. (I am not going to name the others because I have not asked them personally if they want to be online. I don't want anyone to be upset about being on the web without their permission.)

Here is a picture of my fellow KVs in 1/3. It took Michele and I quite some time rounding up the ladies for this picture. I am on the top row and Michele is to the right in the picture, in the navy dress. We have a large group of KV for a Battalion. We are lucky to have so many ladies interested in the volunteer position. It makes it easier for all of us that we have so many people. Everyone looked lovely.

The funniest thing of the night was the fact that I only saw one person with my dress on and she happened to be sitting at the exact same table as Daniel and I. We both laughed about it. I figured I would see someone with it on because I bought the dress at Macy's, but I did not think she would be at the same table! It was funny!

Here is another picture of us before I move on from Thursday evening.

Friday, our friends Fred and Jen took us to the airport in the morning. We flew for 5 hours and landed in San Diego on Friday evening with plenty of time to hang out before the wedding on Sunday. We rented an economy size car but ended upgrading to a Saturn Vue(woohoo) because there was a great discount with the airline we had flown on. It turned out being a great decision. We hauled people around all weekend. We spent most of the first evening getting our bearings driving around San Diego. It really is a neat city. I enjoyed just looking at it through the car window, but the next few days made me love it even more.

Saturday we ended up driving around more to familiarize ourselves so we wouldn't get lost when we were in a hurry. The harbor was so beautiful. i ended up taking so many pictures. Here is one that turned out great.
We drove to pick up a friend of Daniel's from Okinawa, Bonnie from the airport, and the bride, also a friend from Okinawa, was there to pick up Bonnie as well. We ended up driving to Mandy's (the bride) parent's condo they had rented and met friends and family on the bride's side. It was nice to meet people before the wedding day on Sunday. We left around lunch time and hit a restaurant Daniel had been telling me about, Santana's. They had excellent burritos.

That afternoon we drove down on the harbor and walked around a little then decided to hit my favorite store that Oahu does not have...TARGET! I can't tell you how happy I was to go shopping. We had one last gift-card to Target remaining from our wedding gifts and it had to be used. I was so excited I had Daniel take a picture of me after we went shopping.

We drove over to Coronado Island, took several more pictures and ended up spending the afternoon and evening walking around the Navy base and the historic section of the island. We had a wonderful time window shopping and walking around even though it was chilly. Cold for me is now anywhere in the 50s. I have gotten used to warm island weather and it was crazy having goose-bumps after five months of perfect weather. I didn't pack warm enough for the evenings so I was clinging to Daniel to stay warm when we walked.

Sunday morning we woke up at 4:30 to drive north 2.5 hours to go to Grace Community Church, the church Daniel's family attended when they lived in California. We got there a little early and we ended up driving by Daniel's old house and seeing his elementary school. I enjoyed Daniel's stories of growing up there for three years before returning to Missouri. We were able to see two couples Daniel and his family knew and it was great meeting them both.

After church we drove back down south to go to the main reason we were in California, Dan and Mandy's wedding. The wedding was held at this Conference Center right on the harbor. It was a lovely setting with perfect weather to compliment the day. Of course the bride and groom were so beautiful and handsome. Here they are after the pronouncement. Daniel got to know both of them very well in Okinawa. They were both so glad we were able to make it out to the wedding. It was such a joy meeting them both. I loved getting to see the people that Daniel grew so close to in the year he lived in Japan.

At the reception, we sat with Kevin and Becca, another couple Daniel got to know in Okinawa. Here is a picture of the Okinawa group, minus the groom. He was busy at that moment. From the left, Daniel, Bonnie, Mandy, Becca and Kevin. We had a such a good time. It felt like I had know these people as long as Daniel had and it was like instant friendship.

During the wedding reception, we ran to the airport, picked up another friend, John, from Oki and brought him back to the wedding just in time to say goodbye to the newly-weds. His flight had been delayed several times and he wasn't able to make any of the wedding. He had gotten very close with Daniel in Oki and it was so much fun to hear stories of their year there.

Here we are, finally getting some dancing in after a long time without dancing together...

We shuttled Bonnie, John, Kevin and Becca around after the wedding and ended up hanging out at Denny's until midnight. It was so much fun just sharing stories and sharing some life with everyone. I was delighted to spend the time with them.

Monday morning we flew out early and we were zombies the entire trip back. After the past three nights of minimal sleep and then flying on a plane for several hours, we were about to crash. Jen picked us up at the airport and we came home and slept.

Daniel returned to work today and he is on duty this evening. That is why I am typing up this incredibly long blog right now instead of during the day when he is gone. Amaya is going to come over in just a few minutes to hang out for a bit. She has had a long day and she just wants to hang out for a while.

I better close this for the evening. Thanks for reading this long update. Love to Everyone!