WOW, really thats all I can say about the fact that it has been well over a month since my last blog. You see not much happens to us here and its kinda pointless for me to write about nothing.
So now deffinatly alot has happened since our last update. Shortly after my last writings we went to the Air Force Ball. Boy that was a little crazy because of the fact that it is a little hard to find formal ball gowns here. So I turned to good ol Jessica McClintock online and foud a cute dress on clearance. I had a little scare with the delivery tie mostly because its Hawaii and takes a little longer to get things here via mail. Yeah the dress arrived the day before the ball. The ball was fun even though we knew no one there. Almost nobody from Ben's shop even came. So we drank and drank. The highlite of the night was deffinatly when the Lt. Colonels wife was so drunk that she almost fell onto our table. Then her girlfriend walks up and talks about making out with her. LOL.I dont know if I will be able to force Ben to go again.
October 22, 2008
September 17, 2008
Life of a night shifter
I don't know where I left off on my last post so I had to publish it. That was like a week ago. Since then I have started working again. Ahh, such long hours. Because I will be attemping to go back to school for my RN, which I am mildly excited about, I am working three 10 hour shifts and a half day of 4 hours. Last Friday was my first day it went pretty smooth and was kinda nice because it was my half day. Saturday was a little more busy but thank god there aren't any scheduled surgerys. I forgot what it wa slike to have mass removals, spays, and neuters. I met a few nice girls who just happen to be military wives.
Sunday was spent alone, again. It is so hard just to let Ben sleep and not go jump on the bed and say wake up. It's not natural for someone to sleep and work the hours he does. Monday we actually had the day off together and one of our good friends, Brian, for Cali was flyin through on his way to make a PACAF run. So the plan was to wake up and clean and let Ben sleep till noon, go open a local bank account(they dont have any of the same banks here), shower, change and Brian should be here. Well I should have known that a C-5 leaving from Travis was not going to be on time. Better yet, they got in at 8pm. That was ok because me and Ben ended up running errands all day anyway. Not to mention the fact that I had to order a dress off Jessica McClintock for the Air Force Ball this week. We had went to Macys this past week only to find out that they don't carry formal dresses year round and niether dose anyone else. Being so late in the game I did the one thing I know how to do, order it online with an overnight delivery. So we were all excited to take Brian to Dixies and to actually see someone we know. We are starving to meet new people, well more me than Ben, but anyway. I had even called out to Dixies to make sure they didn't close early or something. We go pick Brian up, he had my partylite stuff which smells so good, thanks Jaimie. We get to Dixies and what do they tell us, "sorry we closed early because we were to slow". Ahhh I was pissed. So instead we went to good ol Hooters. I must not have been in the mood for wings because they were just ok to me and I only ended up eating a few. By the time we were done chatting and catching up, Brian needed to go and get sleep so we dropped him off and came home. It was almost 12:30a and I had to work at 10a.
Next day, Tuesday, came and went. I worked 10a-9p. Went smooth, fast, and stress free. Today is Wednesday and I feel like I have done nothing. Probably because I slept way to late. Went to the commissary which was unlike our last visit, came home, tried to start to lawn mower we "stole" from the bulk trash pickup pile and of course it didn't work, but Ben is going to try to fix it. Other than that I have been enjyong the fact that I have internet and trusty Discovery Health now. I made terriyaki chicken breasts with some rice for dinner and Ben went to work. Sucky sitting here alone but it's nice having me time. It's my time to go run and relax. Hopefully I will see Ben before I am off to work early in the morning but I doubt it. So I guess I will randevous with him Friday after I get off work at 12pm. Love you Babe! Miss you.
See uneventful,
With Love,
The Morgan's
Sunday was spent alone, again. It is so hard just to let Ben sleep and not go jump on the bed and say wake up. It's not natural for someone to sleep and work the hours he does. Monday we actually had the day off together and one of our good friends, Brian, for Cali was flyin through on his way to make a PACAF run. So the plan was to wake up and clean and let Ben sleep till noon, go open a local bank account(they dont have any of the same banks here), shower, change and Brian should be here. Well I should have known that a C-5 leaving from Travis was not going to be on time. Better yet, they got in at 8pm. That was ok because me and Ben ended up running errands all day anyway. Not to mention the fact that I had to order a dress off Jessica McClintock for the Air Force Ball this week. We had went to Macys this past week only to find out that they don't carry formal dresses year round and niether dose anyone else. Being so late in the game I did the one thing I know how to do, order it online with an overnight delivery. So we were all excited to take Brian to Dixies and to actually see someone we know. We are starving to meet new people, well more me than Ben, but anyway. I had even called out to Dixies to make sure they didn't close early or something. We go pick Brian up, he had my partylite stuff which smells so good, thanks Jaimie. We get to Dixies and what do they tell us, "sorry we closed early because we were to slow". Ahhh I was pissed. So instead we went to good ol Hooters. I must not have been in the mood for wings because they were just ok to me and I only ended up eating a few. By the time we were done chatting and catching up, Brian needed to go and get sleep so we dropped him off and came home. It was almost 12:30a and I had to work at 10a.
Next day, Tuesday, came and went. I worked 10a-9p. Went smooth, fast, and stress free. Today is Wednesday and I feel like I have done nothing. Probably because I slept way to late. Went to the commissary which was unlike our last visit, came home, tried to start to lawn mower we "stole" from the bulk trash pickup pile and of course it didn't work, but Ben is going to try to fix it. Other than that I have been enjyong the fact that I have internet and trusty Discovery Health now. I made terriyaki chicken breasts with some rice for dinner and Ben went to work. Sucky sitting here alone but it's nice having me time. It's my time to go run and relax. Hopefully I will see Ben before I am off to work early in the morning but I doubt it. So I guess I will randevous with him Friday after I get off work at 12pm. Love you Babe! Miss you.
See uneventful,
With Love,
The Morgan's
September 10, 2008
The unevents
I am so not good at keeping up with this. But when you have so many uneventful days in a row it seems pointless to talk about it, but maybe every couple days. Ben is still off till friday. Monday we attempted to go out to the beach. When we left the house it was beautiful outside but by the time we got to Hickam's beach, Yes the base has its own beautiful beach, it was down pouring. The most rain I have seen here yet. So we detoured and went to try out a new sushi place we have discovered. Its called Kuru Kuru. It was pretty good. Alot like Genki Sushi. See you need to understand that sushi here isn't like on the mainland. It's more traditional Japanses style suhi with not alot of sauce and very plain. At this place the sushi goes by on a conveor belt and you pick what you like. Each plate has a color on it that indicates how much it is. And the portions are alot small which is a very good thing for us. After Sushi we went and got a pearl tapioca drink at the nex mart. By the time we got done with that it was still pretty rainy and therefore didn't end up going to the beach.
Yesterday we got up and headed to the beach. We stayed for about 1 1/2 hours. And again, I got pink. This time i sat in my chair and read and tried to tan my front side to catch up with how dark my back got.
Yesterday we got up and headed to the beach. We stayed for about 1 1/2 hours. And again, I got pink. This time i sat in my chair and read and tried to tan my front side to catch up with how dark my back got.
September 7, 2008
A Whole Bunch of Nothing
So an all in all pretty uneverntful couple days. Its taken so long because my stupid internet signal is in and out. Mostly because its not really mine. Just, we'll say, using other peoples. That all changes Wednesday when we scould have cable, high speed internet and a good ol land line.
Friday Ben slept till almost 2pm. So I was forced to clean up and do my womanly chores I guess. We sat around and were going to go to the Thrice concert at the Pipeline Cafe but weren't able to get tickets which is really gay because I LOVE them. So Ben came up with the marvelous idea of going to Dixie's. This place has an awesome bar type atmosphere, good ol texas BBQ place. Dixie's excited us for 2 reasons, 1) southern type BBQ and 2) they have crab legs, which both of us have taken a fancy to. They also have the BEST sweet tea. Even better than Ben's aunt Carol's which is really hard to beat. So off we went. This place is convenently placed very close to the navy gate we go in and out of all the time. This time I was feelin adventerous and got the Screamin Mai Tai. 32 oz of acholholic goodness. At first I was thinking it was really weak but soon changed my mind as soon as I stood up. This time I had the 1/2 rack of ribs. Still too much food. It comes with 2 sides of your choice so I got a salad
and mashers. The salad its self filled me up. Ben got the Beer Battered Fish N Chips. He says they were the best he's ever had. See, last time we went there we both were cravin some crab big time so we each got the 1lb crab meal. I didn't think 1 lb. was that much. No we wont do that again, maybe split it.
Later that night we were walking the dogs around the block like we always do and saw some people out who we always see and have shown interest in the dogs. This time they had a bunch of people over and were cookin out and drinkin. Alright sounds like our kind of people. We ended up stopping and talking to them for about an hour. We exchanged numbers and hopefully will be doing something with them by next weekend. They seemed really cool. I need people to socialize with. We also met a couple friends of theirs who I hit it off with right away. I just hope they call and don't just leave us hanging. The guy, Scott, has a beautiful dark brindle boxer that didn't take a liking to Charlie and Lexi too much. Scott says he doesn't like any dogs for that matter. Hmm...aggressive Boxer? Ben came home and played Fable, uggh, all night while I feel asleep.
Yesterday we both got up late and sat around until we got the idea to go check out the swap meet at the stadium. Pretty cool place. Reminds me alot of Denios back home. Alot of the vendors had the same thing though. We are looking for a bench seat almost like a hope chest to throw shoes in by the front door. The places I haven't checked yet are the navy thrift store and and Goodwill. I cooked my specialty for lunch, sauteed mushrooms, chicken breasts and a small amount of rice. Mmmm. Ben laughs because I never liked mushrooms until I sauteed them. We finally wet out to Lowes to get our good ol replacement curtain rod. Yes, I did find one I liked. We also picked another one up for our bedroom. See, Ben has to sleep during the day on his new schedule and our bedroom gets alot of light and heat because it is up stairs. We attempted to find some curtains that would block out the light and heat but they were way too expensive. So it looks like we will be heading back to K Mart. I am so done with curtain shopping. On the way home we found Sam's Club and looked around. We didn't find too much. We have noticed tons of places putting out Christmas stuff already though. Crazy! On the way home our hunger got the best of us and we stopped at this place we've been wanting to try called Anna Miller's. Almost an exact replica of Marie Callenders. Their macadamia nut pie is pretty good. I felt old though, we sat and had our cups of coffee and pie.
Today the plan was to go to the beach but that yet again didn't happen. I managed on putting our addresses and phone numbers in a new phone book and started my new address post cards project. We both had the wonderful idea for lunch to go pick up some odds and ends from the Commissary. We wanted to try sauteed mushrooms with stir fry yokisoba noodles and chicken. Mmm sounds good thinking about it. So off we went...bad idea. Commissary, on a Sunday, after church is out, never a good idea. It was packed, but at least its not like Travis where it was all retirees that didn't know what they needed. No offense to anyone but its just annoying when your in a hurry. So today it was just a bunch of people who would block the middle of the isle and not let you through. One lady even gave me attitude when I said excuse me. Lunch was good once we got out of the mad house. Since then we have been tiddying up and hanging our new curtain rod. It looks good. Thank goodness that fiasco is over. Ben says I should write to Chicken Noodle Soup for the Military Wife with an addition to a story I was telling him about. It was about all the differences between when a civilian wife moves and a military wife moves. He said I should add my whole idea of buying bigger curtains and cutting them in half to make them fit a smaller window, then I took velcro squares and made them a big curtain again, that a way we have a small set and large if needed. You never know what size window you'll have at your new base house. Now im off to bed so we can get up early to go to the beach, maybe the sun will be more bearable then.
Until tomorrow,
The Morgan's
Friday Ben slept till almost 2pm. So I was forced to clean up and do my womanly chores I guess. We sat around and were going to go to the Thrice concert at the Pipeline Cafe but weren't able to get tickets which is really gay because I LOVE them. So Ben came up with the marvelous idea of going to Dixie's. This place has an awesome bar type atmosphere, good ol texas BBQ place. Dixie's excited us for 2 reasons, 1) southern type BBQ and 2) they have crab legs, which both of us have taken a fancy to. They also have the BEST sweet tea. Even better than Ben's aunt Carol's which is really hard to beat. So off we went. This place is convenently placed very close to the navy gate we go in and out of all the time. This time I was feelin adventerous and got the Screamin Mai Tai. 32 oz of acholholic goodness. At first I was thinking it was really weak but soon changed my mind as soon as I stood up. This time I had the 1/2 rack of ribs. Still too much food. It comes with 2 sides of your choice so I got a salad
and mashers. The salad its self filled me up. Ben got the Beer Battered Fish N Chips. He says they were the best he's ever had. See, last time we went there we both were cravin some crab big time so we each got the 1lb crab meal. I didn't think 1 lb. was that much. No we wont do that again, maybe split it.Later that night we were walking the dogs around the block like we always do and saw some people out who we always see and have shown interest in the dogs. This time they had a bunch of people over and were cookin out and drinkin. Alright sounds like our kind of people. We ended up stopping and talking to them for about an hour. We exchanged numbers and hopefully will be doing something with them by next weekend. They seemed really cool. I need people to socialize with. We also met a couple friends of theirs who I hit it off with right away. I just hope they call and don't just leave us hanging. The guy, Scott, has a beautiful dark brindle boxer that didn't take a liking to Charlie and Lexi too much. Scott says he doesn't like any dogs for that matter. Hmm...aggressive Boxer? Ben came home and played Fable, uggh, all night while I feel asleep.
Yesterday we both got up late and sat around until we got the idea to go check out the swap meet at the stadium. Pretty cool place. Reminds me alot of Denios back home. Alot of the vendors had the same thing though. We are looking for a bench seat almost like a hope chest to throw shoes in by the front door. The places I haven't checked yet are the navy thrift store and and Goodwill. I cooked my specialty for lunch, sauteed mushrooms, chicken breasts and a small amount of rice. Mmmm. Ben laughs because I never liked mushrooms until I sauteed them. We finally wet out to Lowes to get our good ol replacement curtain rod. Yes, I did find one I liked. We also picked another one up for our bedroom. See, Ben has to sleep during the day on his new schedule and our bedroom gets alot of light and heat because it is up stairs. We attempted to find some curtains that would block out the light and heat but they were way too expensive. So it looks like we will be heading back to K Mart. I am so done with curtain shopping. On the way home we found Sam's Club and looked around. We didn't find too much. We have noticed tons of places putting out Christmas stuff already though. Crazy! On the way home our hunger got the best of us and we stopped at this place we've been wanting to try called Anna Miller's. Almost an exact replica of Marie Callenders. Their macadamia nut pie is pretty good. I felt old though, we sat and had our cups of coffee and pie.
Today the plan was to go to the beach but that yet again didn't happen. I managed on putting our addresses and phone numbers in a new phone book and started my new address post cards project. We both had the wonderful idea for lunch to go pick up some odds and ends from the Commissary. We wanted to try sauteed mushrooms with stir fry yokisoba noodles and chicken. Mmm sounds good thinking about it. So off we went...bad idea. Commissary, on a Sunday, after church is out, never a good idea. It was packed, but at least its not like Travis where it was all retirees that didn't know what they needed. No offense to anyone but its just annoying when your in a hurry. So today it was just a bunch of people who would block the middle of the isle and not let you through. One lady even gave me attitude when I said excuse me. Lunch was good once we got out of the mad house. Since then we have been tiddying up and hanging our new curtain rod. It looks good. Thank goodness that fiasco is over. Ben says I should write to Chicken Noodle Soup for the Military Wife with an addition to a story I was telling him about. It was about all the differences between when a civilian wife moves and a military wife moves. He said I should add my whole idea of buying bigger curtains and cutting them in half to make them fit a smaller window, then I took velcro squares and made them a big curtain again, that a way we have a small set and large if needed. You never know what size window you'll have at your new base house. Now im off to bed so we can get up early to go to the beach, maybe the sun will be more bearable then.
Until tomorrow,
The Morgan's
September 4, 2008
Stupid Curtains
It was a crazy night last night. Ben took a little nap yesterday afternoon beacuse he found out that he was going on shift tonight. Boo...night shift sucks. So last night Ben ended up playing his new Fable game until 6am this morning. Yeah, I feel asleep on the couch around 12am. I got up this morning and managed to pick up alittle and hook up the surround sound all by myself. I desperatly needed some music to listen to because the cable won't be connected till next week. Speaking of music. My XM radio in the car that I love and cherish, I really spend that much time in my car, yeah, doesn't work here. Hmm...there are no satelite XM recievers over this island. Not to mention ALL of the local radio stations are rap/r&b. Nothing really rockish like 98 rock or my XM Squizz. I did manage to find THE ONLY country station here. So at least I have that and the good old IPOD.
I cooked some awesome sweet and sour pork with rice for lunch and then headed to my dreaded next errand. The DMV. So once your car gets to Hawaii you have 30 days to get a saftey inspection and go to DMV and register it. I could have kept my Cali plates by applying for an out of state license permit BUT...here's the kicker, I get the military rate here for registration making it only $20 a year. Sweet! My Cali registration was up in like 4 days and it was $300. So we headed to the local mall were there is a satelite DMV so you dont have to hastle with the Honolulu one. Walked right up to the front of the line and watched and waited while the line became full. Talk about prefect timing. So I got my Hawaii plates even though I really wanted the personalized ones that said K9RN. I like it, but I didnt want to deal with that today.
So coming back to the reason for this blog. Our front room curtain rods. We love them. They match our decor beautifully. Only problem is that they are both max 48". Our new window is 74". So I had the wonderul idea of just mounting them side by side. Well that was a no go. See most of the walls in our new house have about 1/2" of drywall over CEMENT. Yeah hard to hang anything here. There's only a couple walls that are hollow. So I got the two brackets mounted on either side by find the hollow part of the wall then I got the bright idea while Ben was a work the
other day to just drill some new holes into the cement for the middle two brackets. HA! I just made holes to the cement not through them. So yesterday we went back to Wal-Mart were I puchased the original rods to see if they just had the next size up. Well I didnt think of the fact that its been over a yeah since I bought those and they don't carry the model anymore. So we stopped at the good ol Nex mart. Nothing there we liked. I came home and went on Target, Walmart, Linens and Things, Bed Bath and Beyond online. Nothing that matched. We have antique broze material in the front room. This morning Ben got up and I said, "We hav
e got to get these stupid rods hung, its been a week trying to mess with them." He says "we'll just try Lowes tomorrow". I immediatly looked at the wesite and right away found one we liked. Hurray. So that's the plan tomorrow.
Tonight I am sitting here alone with the dogs trying not to think about all the ghost stories people have thought it neccesary to think about. Ben won't be home till 5:45am. So I have plenty of projects that I would love to finish. Like our change of address postcards, my digital picture frame I got for Christmas but didn't want to set up till we got here, clean the house up, and bake a cake. I have a sweet craving. But in the meantime, I've got to get my butt off this couch and go for a run.
Until tomorrow,
The Morgan's
I cooked some awesome sweet and sour pork with rice for lunch and then headed to my dreaded next errand. The DMV. So once your car gets to Hawaii you have 30 days to get a saftey inspection and go to DMV and register it. I could have kept my Cali plates by applying for an out of state license permit BUT...here's the kicker, I get the military rate here for registration making it only $20 a year. Sweet! My Cali registration was up in like 4 days and it was $300. So we headed to the local mall were there is a satelite DMV so you dont have to hastle with the Honolulu one. Walked right up to the front of the line and watched and waited while the line became full. Talk about prefect timing. So I got my Hawaii plates even though I really wanted the personalized ones that said K9RN. I like it, but I didnt want to deal with that today.
So coming back to the reason for this blog. Our front room curtain rods. We love them. They match our decor beautifully. Only problem is that they are both max 48". Our new window is 74". So I had the wonderul idea of just mounting them side by side. Well that was a no go. See most of the walls in our new house have about 1/2" of drywall over CEMENT. Yeah hard to hang anything here. There's only a couple walls that are hollow. So I got the two brackets mounted on either side by find the hollow part of the wall then I got the bright idea while Ben was a work the
other day to just drill some new holes into the cement for the middle two brackets. HA! I just made holes to the cement not through them. So yesterday we went back to Wal-Mart were I puchased the original rods to see if they just had the next size up. Well I didnt think of the fact that its been over a yeah since I bought those and they don't carry the model anymore. So we stopped at the good ol Nex mart. Nothing there we liked. I came home and went on Target, Walmart, Linens and Things, Bed Bath and Beyond online. Nothing that matched. We have antique broze material in the front room. This morning Ben got up and I said, "We hav
e got to get these stupid rods hung, its been a week trying to mess with them." He says "we'll just try Lowes tomorrow". I immediatly looked at the wesite and right away found one we liked. Hurray. So that's the plan tomorrow.Tonight I am sitting here alone with the dogs trying not to think about all the ghost stories people have thought it neccesary to think about. Ben won't be home till 5:45am. So I have plenty of projects that I would love to finish. Like our change of address postcards, my digital picture frame I got for Christmas but didn't want to set up till we got here, clean the house up, and bake a cake. I have a sweet craving. But in the meantime, I've got to get my butt off this couch and go for a run.
Until tomorrow,
The Morgan's
September 3, 2008
Welcome
Welcome all! I thought I should start this little project as a way to keep friends and family on the mainland informed of how and what we are up to here on our little island. Let me get everyone up to speed. Name is Amanda Morgan married to Benjamin as US Air Force Staff Seregeant and mommy to 2 crazy Boxers, Charlie & Lexi. We just celebrated our 2 Year wedding anniversary YESTERDAY! I met Ben through mutual friends when he was stationed at Travis AFB in California. We were engaged very quickly and then found out Ben was deploying to Iraq. I was sort of thrown into the military wife role but have adapted unbelievably well. He came home safe and sound. We were married at Squaw Valley in Tahoe, found out a month later that he was deploying to Spain, and poof...he was gone AGAIN. 
Long story short, Ben didnt really care for Travis, he is a southern boy from West Virginia, so he put in for orders. This December we were awoken by our best friend Jenny to the words "Your have orders and they arn't to Alaska like you wanted." My heart dropped hoping they weren't to Japan or Turkey. No offense I am sure they are great places but I just wouldn't prefer to live there. Then came "You lucky bastard, they are to Hickam." Well Hickam AFB is situated on the lovely island of Oahu in Hawaii. A quick history lesson; Hickam AFB lies adjacent to Pearl Harbor Naval Station and was the first place hit in the attack of Pearl Harbor. So we prepared friends and family for the big move, which was very hard, and as of August 10th we offically reside in Hawaii.
Our PCS went entirely too smooth but I think it was only because we were so well prepared. We arrived here at Hickam in the afternoon to a small shower. Everyone said "oh look out for the humidity", but I think they were either a) crazy or b) never been to the south. I visit West Virginia every year and trust me, this is not humid. Our first week here we stayed at our old neighbors brother's (who is delpoyed with the army) house. After getting us and the dogs settled, who both had horrible stress induced diarrhea for almost a week, we took a couple trips to Waikiki. Beautiful public beach right in front of the Hale Koa if you ever visit. Well the apartment we were staying at is in Eva Beach, for those of you who aren't familiar with it, it is on the south west side of the island. Hickam dead center south. This little piece of info brings me to me next pet peev.
People said, "Oh the traffic is so horrible, you'll never believe how bad it is." Yes, the traffic is bad, but not horrible. I am from California, I know horrible traffic. It once took me 3 hours to get from Sacramento to Vacaville, which normally takes me an hour. Here at least the traffic moves and it may add 15 minutes to your travel, but hell, I'll take 15 minutes over 3 hours any day. Not to mention the people here drive like mianiacs. People said, "Oh the Hawiians take their time and drive slow and are on Hawaiin time." Um...No. They drive slow because the speed limit on the freeway is only 50mph, and in actuallity, they don't drive slow. They are all over the place. The third day we were here there was a women majorly tailgating Ben while he was breaking for the red light she apparently didn't notice. She flew around him and blew through the red and hit 2 cars who were turning. She was ok but good god. One of the major puchases we have made here thus far is our Garmin who I've named Carmen. She's great driving around Honolulu. But as we have come to find out, shes wrong alot and takes us the longest way possible. Not to mention the fact that anything built in the past 1 1/2 years she cant find. Oh well.
The first week we were here we learned about how powerful the sun is. An hour will give you a crisp golden brown color. Anything more gives you lobster. Although my sunburn didnt really sting and didnt blister and peal. SPF 50 is usually good. The water is beautiful clear blue and Ben makes fun of me beacause I only go in up to my waist. I am secretly scared of the sea creatures our Oahu book has warned us about. We even went to the beach in Kailua, where we had the best macadamia nut pancakes with mac sauce, were you could see the jelly fish float by you. We also went to go check out my new job in Kaneohe.
It's actually not as small as I imaigned. Reminds me alot of my first vet hospital I worked at. Everyone seems nice. i am just scared of stepping on someones toes and I have a bad habit of telling someone they aren't doing something right or by the book. Sounds weird but I dont want to come off too smart. I thought the drive to Kaneohe was going to be this beautiful long drive throught the rainforest. Well, the later is true but long, oh no, maybe 10 minutes to get home with no traffic. I start back to work September 11th.
We got into a house quickly which was awesome. Its a 2 story townhouse type house on base. Nearly everything around here is townhouse style. The floor plans on the intrenet don't do it any justice. I was petrified it was going to be this dinky old place. Well it's not. It was renivated almost 5 years ago and is in great shape. The dogs have a huge backyard considering what we came from, with green grass and tons of neighbor dogs to play with. There is a boxer across the way named Rocky that Charlie loves to play chase through the fence with. All of our furniture fits and we still have space. And it came with 2 big storage rooms so we dont have to get a unit. Speaking of furniture. It all arrived safe and sound with some minor bumps and bruises. JPPSO had us pissed for a while because I called to check on it's status and they said "well its arrived and on island but we dont know where it is." WHAT? But it ended out ok. One of our neighbors is getting ready to move and the others husband should be home from a deployment soon. Other than that we have only met crazy Tony as we have named him. He curses at the yappy dogs across the way and I dont think I have ever actually seen him go to work or wear a uniform for that matter.
Our anniversary was spent on a sunset dinnr cruise. I was very good and way better than our honeymoon cruise almost. We went to the Nex mart and Ben found an awesome light weight blzer on sale for like $12. Gotta love Labor Day sales. Our holiday weekend was spent hanging up thinga and trying to get everything put away. The only down side of moving I guess. Well hopefully we will be in this house for over a year which will offically make it the longest we have ever lived some where. LOL.
The base is an incredible piece of history. Its sad and haunting at times when you think bout how many people died here. Every where you look there are huge bullet holes is buildings that they have preserved. All the the hangars are origional 1940's glass door hangars. Pearl Harbor is right next door and every where you look you can't help but remember those who lost their lives.
All in all, I love it here. Great weather, nice people, Ben has a great shop(but he is on mids right now so it is crappy). I am going to start my nursing program winter semester and hope I like it. I would love to accomplish becoming an RN by the time we leave. Which may be later than thought of. If Ben's shop likes him enough they will ask him to stay another 3 years making it 7 total. We've talked about it and like the idea.
For now,
Aloha from the Morgan's
Long story short, Ben didnt really care for Travis, he is a southern boy from West Virginia, so he put in for orders. This December we were awoken by our best friend Jenny to the words "Your have orders and they arn't to Alaska like you wanted." My heart dropped hoping they weren't to Japan or Turkey. No offense I am sure they are great places but I just wouldn't prefer to live there. Then came "You lucky bastard, they are to Hickam." Well Hickam AFB is situated on the lovely island of Oahu in Hawaii. A quick history lesson; Hickam AFB lies adjacent to Pearl Harbor Naval Station and was the first place hit in the attack of Pearl Harbor. So we prepared friends and family for the big move, which was very hard, and as of August 10th we offically reside in Hawaii.
Our PCS went entirely too smooth but I think it was only because we were so well prepared. We arrived here at Hickam in the afternoon to a small shower. Everyone said "oh look out for the humidity", but I think they were either a) crazy or b) never been to the south. I visit West Virginia every year and trust me, this is not humid. Our first week here we stayed at our old neighbors brother's (who is delpoyed with the army) house. After getting us and the dogs settled, who both had horrible stress induced diarrhea for almost a week, we took a couple trips to Waikiki. Beautiful public beach right in front of the Hale Koa if you ever visit. Well the apartment we were staying at is in Eva Beach, for those of you who aren't familiar with it, it is on the south west side of the island. Hickam dead center south. This little piece of info brings me to me next pet peev.
People said, "Oh the traffic is so horrible, you'll never believe how bad it is." Yes, the traffic is bad, but not horrible. I am from California, I know horrible traffic. It once took me 3 hours to get from Sacramento to Vacaville, which normally takes me an hour. Here at least the traffic moves and it may add 15 minutes to your travel, but hell, I'll take 15 minutes over 3 hours any day. Not to mention the people here drive like mianiacs. People said, "Oh the Hawiians take their time and drive slow and are on Hawaiin time." Um...No. They drive slow because the speed limit on the freeway is only 50mph, and in actuallity, they don't drive slow. They are all over the place. The third day we were here there was a women majorly tailgating Ben while he was breaking for the red light she apparently didn't notice. She flew around him and blew through the red and hit 2 cars who were turning. She was ok but good god. One of the major puchases we have made here thus far is our Garmin who I've named Carmen. She's great driving around Honolulu. But as we have come to find out, shes wrong alot and takes us the longest way possible. Not to mention the fact that anything built in the past 1 1/2 years she cant find. Oh well.
The first week we were here we learned about how powerful the sun is. An hour will give you a crisp golden brown color. Anything more gives you lobster. Although my sunburn didnt really sting and didnt blister and peal. SPF 50 is usually good. The water is beautiful clear blue and Ben makes fun of me beacause I only go in up to my waist. I am secretly scared of the sea creatures our Oahu book has warned us about. We even went to the beach in Kailua, where we had the best macadamia nut pancakes with mac sauce, were you could see the jelly fish float by you. We also went to go check out my new job in Kaneohe.
It's actually not as small as I imaigned. Reminds me alot of my first vet hospital I worked at. Everyone seems nice. i am just scared of stepping on someones toes and I have a bad habit of telling someone they aren't doing something right or by the book. Sounds weird but I dont want to come off too smart. I thought the drive to Kaneohe was going to be this beautiful long drive throught the rainforest. Well, the later is true but long, oh no, maybe 10 minutes to get home with no traffic. I start back to work September 11th.We got into a house quickly which was awesome. Its a 2 story townhouse type house on base. Nearly everything around here is townhouse style. The floor plans on the intrenet don't do it any justice. I was petrified it was going to be this dinky old place. Well it's not. It was renivated almost 5 years ago and is in great shape. The dogs have a huge backyard considering what we came from, with green grass and tons of neighbor dogs to play with. There is a boxer across the way named Rocky that Charlie loves to play chase through the fence with. All of our furniture fits and we still have space. And it came with 2 big storage rooms so we dont have to get a unit. Speaking of furniture. It all arrived safe and sound with some minor bumps and bruises. JPPSO had us pissed for a while because I called to check on it's status and they said "well its arrived and on island but we dont know where it is." WHAT? But it ended out ok. One of our neighbors is getting ready to move and the others husband should be home from a deployment soon. Other than that we have only met crazy Tony as we have named him. He curses at the yappy dogs across the way and I dont think I have ever actually seen him go to work or wear a uniform for that matter.
Our anniversary was spent on a sunset dinnr cruise. I was very good and way better than our honeymoon cruise almost. We went to the Nex mart and Ben found an awesome light weight blzer on sale for like $12. Gotta love Labor Day sales. Our holiday weekend was spent hanging up thinga and trying to get everything put away. The only down side of moving I guess. Well hopefully we will be in this house for over a year which will offically make it the longest we have ever lived some where. LOL.
The base is an incredible piece of history. Its sad and haunting at times when you think bout how many people died here. Every where you look there are huge bullet holes is buildings that they have preserved. All the the hangars are origional 1940's glass door hangars. Pearl Harbor is right next door and every where you look you can't help but remember those who lost their lives.
All in all, I love it here. Great weather, nice people, Ben has a great shop(but he is on mids right now so it is crappy). I am going to start my nursing program winter semester and hope I like it. I would love to accomplish becoming an RN by the time we leave. Which may be later than thought of. If Ben's shop likes him enough they will ask him to stay another 3 years making it 7 total. We've talked about it and like the idea.
For now,
Aloha from the Morgan's
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