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
