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UPDATE: the Marine Corps base conservationist says it’s a puffer fish based on my sketch…any comments from anglers out there? Seems rather unlikely to me to be a puffer, but I did find some pictures on the web that slightly resemble the fish we saw.

Sammy and I went for a run today on base in between errands. We ran on a perimeter trail that winds through some ancient fish ponds and spotted the BIGGEST fish I have ever seen gliding along the side of the little channel. He (or she?) was obviously a bottom-feeder, about 2 ft long, large eyes, tan and speckled, with a somewhat flattened head. It looked like it would weigh 20-30 lbs.

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Good morning from the aloha state! You have been home about 5 hours now I think. Hopefully you didn’t freeze on your way home. We sure miss you! The house is quiet and there’s nobody hanging out drinking coffee with me in the wee morning hours as I work. Sam just woke up…he will be looking for you, but when he finds his race cars and “laptop” out waiting for him he’ll smile 🙂 Thank you for coming to visit us, for all your help on home projects, yummy meals and good times. Looking forward to your next visit…or move out here! ha ha!

Thank you for celebrating with us!

You’ve waited long enough – your Thanksgiving luau memories are available on magnets!!! I stayed up a little late tonight in order to get them together. We’ve been so busy doing chores and sightseeing that I am a little behind 🙂 See the link to the right for my CafePress storefront. You will find a section for Thanksgiving.

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I thought it was creative genius to turn a bucket, half a cinder block and some wood shims into a tree stand. You can use the bucket any time the other 11 months of the year, unlike a “real” tree stand. Dave didn’t go for it, though. And thanks to his mom and dad, some grunting and advice from the sidelines, the tree is now in a real stand.

Check out the photos from our week with family and friends – there are 230 of them, so grab a cuppa and enjoy 🙂

(A slideshow will play them for you – click on the first picture to blow it up to full size, then look for the arrow at the top right of the page, above the photos. Double-click this button to change the speed.)

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Video: Thanksgiving adventures – hiking and fishing

We have had a wonderful Thanksgiving week with lots of adventures. I have bruises on both arms and hips from surfing, Jen has a scrape from boogy-boarding, Steve has a bruised (broken?) nose from surfing, and Doug is well-rested and unhurt (getting 7 hrs of sleep a night is great for him!) but we did manage to wear even him out…we’re all wiped out from the fun! It’s like summer camp here – early morning roustings for adventures, followed by lots of good meals and good rest at night. It’s tough having good weather every day – no rest for the weary! It has been wonderful to have family here with us for an extended stay. I’m so thankful Doug was able to be here for 5 whole days. He really had fun getting to know Sammy and was wonderful playing with him.

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We decided to check out the Officers’ Club on the Kaneohe Marine Corps base by our home today for brunch. We were floored by the view of the golf course and ocean, mountains and islands. I think we even saw Maui in the distance.

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We picked up Sam’s NanaG and PopPop at the airport last night. Sammy has really enjoyed reacquainting himself with them. Bill underwent an extreme makeover – aloha edition. We decided not to post the “before” picture of him in his favorite cutoff denim shorts and biker t-shirt with no sleeves. We’ll just go straight to the after shot 🙂 He looks fantastic after a bit of sun, some new board shorts and a great shirt. He also got some new “slippers” at the Exchange, so he’s all set now. We’re looking forward to exploring the island with them, and especially looking forward to our next arrivals…Steve and Jen and my brother.

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You’ve read about the truck lights staying on and the battery dying…well, the buzzer alert isn’t working so you aren’t warned you’re about to leave your lights on. We’re still not sure what that’s about. Last night we managed to leave the inside lights on the GTI, but mom and Pete caught it before we managed to kill another battery.

Silliness strikes while out on a run…and Gramma is here to document it!

Sammy and I went running while mom biked alongside. It was great to have a photojournalist capture some of the zany things we do while out and about. Now Dave is happy he works all day so he isn’t roped into such shenanigans. Sammy just cracked up when I pretended to trip and fall down a hill, then once I was down I figured it’d be fun to logroll the rest of the way. He just roared with laughter, so I grabbed him and we rolled together. It really makes you dizzy, though. I went pretty fast downhill…maybe next time I’ll go a bit slower and see if the world spins a little slower as well!

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Dave has been encouraging me to get some new clothes for some time now. I finally went shopping with my beautiful friend, Angel, yesterday while Mom watched Sam. We’d been looking forward to this outing for months! We took before and after pictures just for fun. We started out at the thrift store and ended up at Dawn’s, a cool clothes store that has really reasonable prices. Another highlight of the day was getting mom out on my beach cruiser for a trip to the farmers’ market. Too bad it started pouring as soon as we left, but we persisted and got some good produce. Mom did very well on the bike despite a bit of nervousness 🙂

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Since mom is here I can finally take care of some personal matters…so today I started with my toenail (see previous post on “responsible journalism” for the gory details if you wish), followed by my teeth. Here is Dr. Mew proudly displaying the remains of my toenail. It was painless, thankfully. I told him to go find four large Marines to hold me down, but it proved unnecessary. Then I went to the dentist where I froze to death getting my teeth cleaned. It must have been 58 degrees in there, and since I’m used to 82 in the shade this was very very cold! I asked if I could keep the lead blanket on after they were done x-raying me 🙂 Fun day…

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Video: Halloween fun at the market!

It really poured all day today, the day after mom arrived to enjoy sunshine in paradise for her winter! She might as well have stayed in Washington, except it’s about 40 degrees warmer here. I guess that helps! It was so rainy that we decided not to go house-to-house for trick-or-treating but get my shopping done instead. I figured it’d be dry, there would be lots of friendly people who would enjoy seeing a little bumblebee buzzing around, and I was sure we’d get candy there, even if we had to buy it. We had a great time! The video says it all. See the  Album link above for more pictures.  (They are sorted by month – click on 2006-10 for October photos.)