Christmas Day

We had a blessed Christmas Day. I hope you all did as well.

We woke up and drove to the beach to watch the sunrise. We got some amazing pictures. We stayed for about an hour just watching the sky and playing a little in the water then came home for breakfast.

We opened gifts after breakfast. Thank you family for the wonderful things you sent. Here is Daniel with his latest edition to his Seinfeld collection:

Here I am sporting my snorkeling gear for the camera:

We took a quick picture in front of the tree for family. We didn't dress up or anything so it just our regular morning attire. :)


Daniel spent the rest of the morning and early afternoon packing up for deployment. It was a tough afternoon for me.

We ended the day with a great game of Monopoly, Marine edition, that I found at the Marine Exchange. I was pretty excited about playing. I hadn't played the game in a long time, and Daniel played it frequently when he was growing up. We loved the twist of the Marine edition. Instead of houses and hotels it was battalions and regiments. The entire board had Marine associated cards, property and even special game pieces. I won in the end because of my voracious buying of everything I landed on. Daniel was too kind of a player, except when he called me Potter, like the bad guy in It's a Wonderful Life.

Today was a difficult day. I took him to the departure point on base and I left. I couldn't stay around because I was too emotional. He has a long day of flying to make it there. They also had several layovers, so these hours are probably dragging by for him.

Please continue to pray for him.

Tomorrow I am having lunch with Jo, a fellow wife whose husband left today. We are meeting up for lunch then getting massages. Our friend, Amaya, scheduled and paid for massages for us as Christmas gifts because she knew it would be a good way to relax after our hubbies left. I am thankful for wonderful friends!

Love You All!

Mele Kalikimaka!

Merry Christmas from Hawaii!

We spent Christmas Eve morning at the beach. I was wanting to gather some more sea glass, but I forgot that it was high tide in the morning and the waves were huge. There was very little area to walk on, but we still enjoyed our walk on the sand.

Last night we went to Honolulu for dinner with three other couples and then went kareokeing at the Hale Koa, a hotel in Waikiki. All the couples are from the same unit as Daniel, so it was good getting to know the wives. I hope to stay active with them during the next few months. I took a quick picture in the restaurant before we left, but I unfortunately cut off Daniel's head. I was in the aisle and trying to hurry up. You all know how he looks. : )

We took the day easy today. We walked on the beach and then came back and watched It's a Wonderful Life. It has been years since I have seen this entire film and I didn't remember much of it. It was good watching it again. We don't have TV stations so we had to borrow the DVD from a friend. She was gracious enough to help in the reeducation process for Maryn. :)

We just got back from the Christmas Eve service at church. We invited some friends of ours to the service and were very happy when they actually showed up. The church was packed. They even had chairs lined up outside the main sanctuary. It was a blessing.

Here are a couple other pics from the beach this morning:

Well, I am going to go fix us some egg nog and cut Daniel a big slice of chocolate cake I made. I don't want many leftovers after he leaves.

Please keep him in your prayers. The winter is going to be very cold and it will make his job as a logistics guy even harder with all the snow. Pray for their safety in traveling over there as well as their safety in just being there. Keep his older brother in your prayers as well. He is in Iraq now. So both guys are off fighting for freedom, something to be so proud of! Thank you for all your support.

We Love You All! Merry Christmas!

Meli, the real owner of the house.

Well, Daniel is at work this morning even though he is supposed to have today off. There is so much to do before they leave. He is making sure the transition to Afghanistan goes smoothly. It is a big job. Hopefully he will be able to have the afternoon off.

I have been baking this morning. The entire house smells like pumpkin bread. Mmmm. I have Puccini, not Puccelli, blaring in the kitchen. It makes for a nice morning.

Yesterday, I mowed the entire lawn. I am getting better at it and now I have a good eye for which mower to pick out at the self-help. I am thankful for the workers there. It is such a good service. The friendly men always help load and unload the mower in the car trunk so I don't have to lift it as much. It is helpful because Daniel always worries about me lifting it too. Mowing only takes me about an hour now with water breaks... :)

I came into the study planning on writing on the blog and I found this in the chair. Apparently she was planning on using the computer next. I moved her to the messy desktop and she seems quite content to roll around up there. It was surprising because she has become quite a window-seat dweller. She loves to jump up and look at the birds outside. She is not a very big cat and it looks like she is going to remain petite. She is only 6 months now. She still has to grow, but her paws and ears are still small and a lot of times a cat grows into those features.

I am so thankful to have her around as a cuddlebug.

That is all I have for now. I just wanted to write a little blog since my family was complaining about my blog writing frequency and its correlation to the entry length. There you have it, a short entry.

Love you all and Merry Christmas!

Great Visit

Daniel is off at work today so I can write without missing spending time with him. I have not updated for that reason. Daniel had Friday and Monday off so I was busy doing things with him and I didn't want to take the hour and a half to blog. I do apologize. ;)

The tour of the island on Friday was wonderful and I have a few pictures to post. They are not in the order of how we saw them, sorry.
Iolani Palace downtown Honolulu.
Here we are at the Pali lookout. It started as a gloomy day but cleared up by the late morning.










Here is Daniel and Charles looking at the tile mosaics at the Punchbowl Memorial to the World War II battles of the Pacific.

The picture on the right has the Goods in front of the Kamehameha statue on King Street, downtown Honolulu.
The waves on the North Shore were massive. This picture can barely show you the size and power of these waves. The little black dots in the picture are surfers, brave surfers. We estimated the waves to be about 15 feet high and that isn't even close to the height they can get in the winter months.


The Saturday night of the last entry we ended up going to a luau. It was Daniel and I's first time to this specific one so it was new for us too. The sunset was perfect and we got lots of pictures in.

The show was great and I am glad we were able to enjoy it with them. They even threw in a few Hawaiian Christmas songs at the end instead of doing just a regular show. The picture is blurry but worth putting in.

Sunday we attended Faith and found that Charles had a connection with the pastor's father. They were able to chat briefly before the service. It was an unexpected surprise.

Sunday afternoon we had a nice lunch and decided to catch The Chronicles of Narnia. I was busting at the bit to see it and I was glad everyone else wanted to also. Vacations are a nice time to just relax a watch a great movie too. We all enjoyed it and it inspired Marsha to start reading the novel. I need to pull it out again and re-read it also.

Marsha and I finally got the gingerbread men made. They turned out really cute and we had fun decorating them together. We made enough to last the rest of the week and to share with people.

Tuesday Daniel and Charles went diving again off the west coast. They took several underwater pictures which turned out great but I have to find a scanner so I can post them later. They saw an octopus and turtles and even have several shots of whales as they took the boat ride out to the diving location. I will try to post those soon.

Marsha and I went downtown to the Mission House Museum. (Sorry I didn't take you there Lolly) It was an excellent museum that showed the stages of the early missionaries on the island. They came from Connecticut in the 1600s and were very popular with the islanders. When they came there was no written Hawaiian language. After 46 years of missionary work, 3 out of 4 Hawaiians had learned to read and write in their own language. Their work was definitely an act of God. The museum was comprised of three houses they used for living quarters, school rooms and places of worship. It was decorated with period furniture and had some original pieces still in it. Very neat visit! One of the exhibitions was a display of Hawaiian quilts. That was one reason why I wanted to come. I love the quilt patterns here on the island. That exhibit was great to walk through as well. Unfortunately photography was not allowed so we did not get any great pictures inside. I do have a few pictures outside on the disposable camera to scan from that visit as well.

Tuesday night we had the Morales' over for some steaks and shrimp Charles had picked up at Sams when Daniel and had to go buy front tires for the Grand Prix. Charles ran across a good buy and decided to bring it home. It was great! It gave Daniel another reason to start the grill up. We bought the little grill the day after Thanksgiving and we have grilled everything on it and even roasted some marshmallows as the fire died. (Thanks Ashley for the idea!) Here are the guys grilling the yummy shrimp.

Wednesday we stopped by the Swap Meet for some shopping for souvenirs. It is a great place to buy anything cheaper than most stores. We stayed for a couple hours, got some lunch and I had to leave the group. I had the last AWANA meeting to run off to so I left after lunch. I was reluctant to go but I needed to be at AWANA to lead music.

Daniel and his parents decided to explore the Navy Harbor and check out Barber's Point where Charles' brother was stationed when he was in the military. They spent the afternoon exploring and hanging out on a beach on the southwest side.

Wednesday night we had our Christmas meal and time together. I threw a ham in the oven before AWANA and came back to fix potatoes, corn, green beans and cranberry sauce with Marsha for dinner. We sat around and chatted about Christmas memories and what we learn each year about the birth of Christ. We moved into the family room and opened gifts. The evening was a good time of learning the Good's traditions at Christmas.

Thursday we woke up early and went snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. I love SNORKELING! Of course I was excited to get out there. It was a perfect day and the sun was shining brightly. Marsha and I went out for about 45 minutes with the guys and then decided to rest on the beach. The men went out again, this time outside of the reef area to see what was outside. There are so many incredible creatures to see underwater and it never ceases to amaze me when we go snorkeling. We have several underwater pictures of that visit as well and yet again I have not scanned them in yet to share with you.

We spent the afternoon recouping from a full week of activity and the Goods started packing up to leave that night. It was an excellent visit and we loved having them here. I look forward to the next visit!

Our weekend flew by with errands, Christmas card writing, mailing off packages, and the general things to do before a deployment.

Sunday we went to a Christmas party thrown by my friend Lydia from South Pacific. It was good to see her again and meet her friends.

Yesterday Daniel changed the oil in both cars and changed the half shafts on the front of the Acura. I was running errands for him and the car stuff, but I got in some much needed house cleaning.

We are taking the week easy before he leaves. I am still planning what we are going to be doing Christmas day. I want to make it a special first Christmas, so we'll see what ideas I have up my sleeves.

Have a great week before Christmas family and friends!

Mom and Dad Good are Here!

It is a beautiful Saturday morning here in Kailua and it is incredible the activities we have already done with the Goods.

On Thursday we picked them up from the airport in the afternoon and headed home for dinner. Unfortunately I had a KV meeting that I had to be at so it was not the quiet night I wanted it to be. The meeting was a pre-deployment brief for all the spouses of the deployed. It was a very informational meeting but it ran much later than I wanted it. I ended up getting home at 9:30 and the Goods were exhausted from the long day and the time changes.

Friday we went on an Around-the-Island tour that was offered by the Marine Corps Family Services. It was a great chance to see so much of the island and I learned quite a few new things about Oahu. Unfortunately our camera lens jammed so we did not get to take many pictures, but hopefully we can get it fixed soon. The tour was great and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Today the guys are diving on the west coat of the island. They left about an hour ago for the boat ride out to a ship wreck off Waianae. I am not sure about all the details of the dive but it looks to be a good day for them to go out. We are hoping everything turns out great. I will keep you all posted.

Marsha and I are doing some shopping and general familiarization with this side of the island today. We are planning a Christmas dinner on Wednesday night so we are food shopping for that as well as gingerbread men, on request of our husbands.

I will try to post again during their visit so the blog write-up after they leave is not incredibly long. I will try to get some pictures by then.

Everyone have a great weekend!

Army-Navy Game, Parade and KV Party

Well, this was a full weekend so I am glad to be writing again so soon after the last post. I just need to get into the habit of posting regularly.

Friday we had a 1/3 Holiday Party at Bellows Air Force Base. Bellows is used now only for training and recreation and it is located right on the beach. Daniel had a half day at work and the party started at 2:30 so we had a relaxing afternoon. We made our way over to Bellows and enjoyed chit-chatting with other couples from 1/3 and watching the balloon sculptor make incredible things for the kids. They hired two sculptors and they were creating everything from rainbows to monkeys and fairy wings. It was fun just watching them. The odd part of the afternoon was watching the skinny Santa (probably a Marine) have children come tell him what they wanted for Christmas. The image of children in their swimsuits with Santa was odd for me since I am so used to cold weather around Christmas. We spent the evening relaxing at home with pizza and movie.

Saturday morning we met up with several Naval Academy grads at the Officer's Club on base to watch the Army-Navy game. Kick-off was at 9:30 am so people were eating breakfast and watching the game. We met up with a couple of our friends, Fred and Jen. Here is Daniel and Fred watching the game and Jen and I close behind. We cheered the entire game and Navy was victorious with a 42 to 24 win. We were glad we were able to catch the game. I was very happy to not be freezing to death watching the game in Philadelphia. It was a beautiful sunny day here in Kailua.

Saturday afternoon we met up with Phil, Amanda and Rhiannon for the Honolulu City Lights Parade. It is the annual parade downtown Honolulu with several organizations, bands, companies and clubs participating. My favorites were the Celtic Pipers and the high school marching bands. There was only one band with regular high school band uniforms. Most of them wore aloha shirts with shorts. It was very Hawaiian.

The parade went on for about and hour and half. Rhiannon was pretty happy the entire time even though Phil was getting tired. We had a great evening watching the parade with them. Towards the end of the parade we met up with two couples from Faith Baptist, the church we have been attending.

After the parade we went by the Honolulu Hale, or the City Hall. Hale means house in Hawaiian. There was a giant Santa in front as well as a Mrs. Clause, of course they were Hawaiian style. Santa was barefoot with his shirt open and his hand in the air with the "hang loose" sign.

We had a great time downtown with Phil, Amanda and baby girl.

Sunday morning we went to the late service at church and heard a fantastic sermon on the mystery of Christmas and Christ in general. The music minister at the church now is leaving to help with a church plant so Faith is in search of a new worship leader. Today they had a candidate visit and lead worship. Daniel and I were both impressed with his leadership and style. We just have to pray about the decision of the church.

After church we ran a few errands and came home for lunch. Amaya dropped by after lunch and Daniel had to show off his new winter/rain gear the Marines have given him to use in Afghanistan. The excellent part of this is Daniel gets to keep all of the gear. Looking through all of the items, it has to be about a couple thousand dollars of intensive cold gear. Here he is looking rather intimidating in his camouflage snow jacket and pants over his feather down pants and jacket. He quickly took it all because he was burning up. He has two sets of giant gloves and one set of mittens. They are like snowboard gloves. Amaya has most of the same kind of gear because she is an avid outdoor girl. She was raised in Idaho. She loves to snowboard, hike and snowshoe hiking so she has quite a knowledge of all the gear Daniel has. She was impressed that the Marines are finally taking these steps to reach comfort and warmth for the Marines in cold weather.

Well, it started thundering and lightening outside so Daniel had to test some of his Gortex gear. It was actually the worst storm I have seen here on the island. The thunder sounded like cannons. It was really incredible. There was water everywhere. Here is Daniel in the downpour:
Here I am tightening the hood on his jacket. It was letting in too much water. It was neat to see the water bead up and just roll off, like rainex on car windows. Our backyard is thoroughly flooded. At least it is nice and green now and not dead and brown.


After Daniel got in from the rain we a had a couple of friends call us from the base Marina. Their car had flooded and they couldn't get home. Fortunately, they got a hold of us because we were getting ready to head out the door for the KV Christmas party. Daniel ran to pick them up and take them home. They are friends from the musical and they live on the other side of the island. It took Daniel awhile before he was able to make it to the party. The party was quite a bit of fun.

We did a white elephant gift exchange. I had bought a two-cup teapot and wrapped it with a box of gingerbread cookie tea. That gift was a hit and was stolen twice, once from the woman who opened it and once from the first thief. I opened a picture frame with pineapple on it, but ended up leaving with 2 Hawaiian tree ornaments. I was glad when Daniel showed up because there were not many husbands there. He was very helpful and funny when he was coaching me about which gifts to steal. Here are the KV ladies of 1/3 with the chaplain.

We are home now and Daniel is still playing with all his gear. I can hear him walk around the house because the rain gear is making "swishing" sounds as he walks.

We are looking forward to Daniel's parents visit this Thursday. It is going to be a great time with them.

Daniel is on the pistol range for Monday-Wednesday so he will be very busy this week. It is my last week of Bible studies so we are choosing our studies for January. I look forward to more growth with the wonderful ladies I have come to know.

Have a wonderful week!

Thanksgiving and Visitor from Maryland

Here I am after another long hiatus. The week Daniel had off of work was a great week of catching up with some Christmas shopping, planning and general preparing for the month of December. We ended up bring Christmas to our house sooner than December. Daniel bought me some official snorkel gear. I say official because the flippers, and boots can be used for diving as well; it is not the flimsy stuff for quick snorkeling dips. We also found a DVD player with speakers at the Navy Exchange for an excellent price. (We were looking because the one I had brought to HI gave up on us on Friday night.) We ended up rearranging the living area so the speakers could be put around the room. Daniel had fun setting that up and we love the furniture setting. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday went by all too quickly, but Thursday rolled up nice and slow.

Thanksgiving Day we had two couples, Phil & Amanda, and Jerry & Michele, and James, a single Marine, over for dinner around 2 pm. I tackled the turkey, dressing and veggies and the other guests brought over some excellent sides. I was happy with the turkey results. Daniel and I made a good team. I cooked, he carved. Apparently Rhiannon was content with the day because she took a nice long nap in the papasan chair. She is so cute!

Friday morning we tackled the crazy crowds for an mp3 player, washer and dryer and a Christmas tree. Daniel had an mp3 player stolen from him on the way over to Iraq so he had been wanting to get another one. We figured the prices were hard to beat on the day after Thanksgiving so we trekked to Circuit City in Pearl City. Sears was having some suh-weet sales on their appliances , and we had to turn in the loaner W&D from base so it was time to get our own. We ended up driving home with a new mp3 player, a delivery plan for the W&D and a great Christmas tree.

We got home and after a nap because of the 4:30 am morning we decorated the tree and Daniel played with the new mp3 player. As you can see in the pic, my fins are under the tree. The mp3 box is too. :)

Saturday, we picked up my dear friend Ashley from the airport. I met her at Univ. of MD at The Life, our church. We spent the evening catching up and chatting Daniels ears off. Sunday, we went to the early service at church then made our way to the Dole Plantation and the north shore for some big waves. Ashley had spent about 4 days on Oahu when she was docked here during a Summer Semester on a ship with several other students (didn't intend to have that alliteration). They stopped at countries all over the Pacific: Japan, New Zealand, Australia and Fiji. I am sure I missed some places. Basically, when she was here she stayed on the Waikiki side so we wanted to show her more of the island. We hit the plantation and filled ourselves with pineapple and mango ice cream. It had big pineapple chunks on the bottom. Yum Yum!

The waves on the north shore were gigantic. Unfortunately, we didn't get any good pictures while we were out and about, but I am sure I will be able to post some later because we are planning another trip up there before Daniel leaves. The drive on the north side is just so beautiful with amazing mountains on your right and the deep blue ocean on your left. It is truly awe-inspiring.

Monday, we planned to go snorkeling but due to very little parking in the place we wanted to go we ended up just catching some sun on a beach on the south east corner of the island. We came home, got cleaned up, did a little souvenir shopping for Ash, made dinner at home and had a quiet evening.

Tuesday, Ashley only wanted one thing, to see the sunset unobstructed. So after babysitting for Rhiannon in the morning while Amanda went to an appointment, we made our way to the west side of the island. I had never spent a large amount of time on that side of Oahu, but it was so worth it. The sunset we saw was amazing. It brought Ashley and I to worship the Lord. Pictures can not give it justice, but here is a taste of the beauty God displays every minute.

We left the beach to meet Daniel for dinner in Waikiki. After dinner, we took Ash to the airport for a late flight. She made it back safely on Wednesday afternoon, Maryland time.

I just met up with another friend from Maryland today. Joe, a guy I also knew from The Life at UMD, is doing ministry out here on Oahu at the University of Hawaii campus. We have been playing phone tag the past few months, but we finally met today for a quick lunch. He showed me around the campus and I met the people he works with at the Baptist Student Dorm. He is really enjoying being out here and working with the students.

Daniel is on his way home and I have to get dinner started. I am starving and I am sure he will be too.

Take Care!