Christmas Eve Day : POTUS visit and new bedroom set

Hey There!

So on Christmas Eve Day, the President came in to Hickam AFB / Honolulu International Airport (same complex) to spend Christmas in Hawaii.  They stopped all air traffic for awhile while Air Force One was on approach , and launched F-15s from the Hawaiian Air National Guard to provide escort.  Cool Stuff!  It parked in front of Hickam aircraft visitors parking (Base Ops), which happens to be down the street from our house.  Surreal.  Then the motorcade traveled down the main road out of the base, which is about 100 feet from our front door.  We waved to the motorcade, and took some pics.  Here goes!

(Click on any of the pics in our posts to view full size, the photos appear cropped below)

How do you know when the Boss is coming in?  Black Helicopters overhead of course.

Air Force One on approach

Air Force One taxiing in background, Hickam C-17s in foreground

Parked!

Down the street!

Motorcade Start

The First Family in one of the black Suburbans

And now somewhat less exciting, but also requested--pictures of our new (Ashley) bedroom furniture.  We found it 50% off at the Naval Exchange!  Our bedroom looks like adults live there!

Hau'oli Makahiki Hou! (Happy New Year)

-Andy and Sarah

House Pics and a Tale of Two "Trees "

So when we moved in, we had an important decision to make.  There existed a giant banana "Tree" (techically a plant) that took up most of our patio as well as the neighbors.  It was cool, but needed some serious work, and attracted a lot of bugs. These bugs also found their way inside, as we found out the first night we stayed in the house.  So, after deliberation, we decided, along with the neighbors, to have our Banana plant removed.  This happened the second day we occupied our house.  Here's some pictures! (Yes, it produced a small quantity of bananas, along with 10,000 ants!)

 

Bananas!

So sadly, the Banana tree was, for us, short lived.  Here's the exterior of our backyard after the removal:

The tree next to the corner of the fence (center frame) is a Papaya tree!  I decided to light it with "Crimson and Cream" Christmas lights, and hence we have a Sooner Tree "Beacon" for our friends to find our backyard if they walk through the loop.

Here it is lit.

And here is the front of our home (we're part of 4 homes in one building)

Finally, we've cleaned up our dining room and kitchen, including some pre-fab shelves that Andy put together for our pantry.

 

That's all for now.  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

-Andy and Sarah

Ford Island Adventures and Hans the Door Gunner

Aloha!

Just taking advantage of a Sunday to do some blogging. Here's some of the pictures when we stayed at the Navy Lodge at Ford Island a few weeks ago.

Ford Island has quite a bit of history. For more information check this link:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Island

Prior to 1998 when the bridge was built, you had to take a ferry to get to Ford Island. As a part of Navy Base Pearl Harbor, the island is restricted to military, their families, and their guests.

We stayed in the Navy Lodge, which was renovated and rebuilt in the late 1990s and re-opened. Prior to that it was single officer housing, from about 1930s to 1970s. During the Pearl Harbor attack, it was used as a medical triage facility for the wounded.

Ford Island is located essentially in the middle of Pearl Harbor's East Loch. The harbor has 3 water "fingers" or Lochs, and the East Loch is the largest and most famous. Here it is on Google Maps

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=ford+island&sll=21.36437,-157.971811&sspn=0.071779,0.132093&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Ford+Island,+Honolulu,+Hawaii+96818&ll=21.363853,-157.962917&spn=0.143559,0.264187&z=13

There is an old runway (ceased use late 1990s) on Ford Island, along with a multitude of hangers and old buildings dating back to pre-1940s. Some have been remodeled inside while keeping the historic outside (you can clearly see bullet scars on some of the buildings from the Japanese attacks). Others are awaiting tear-down or remodel.

Above, the runway at Ford Island

There is also quite a bit of brand new Navy family housing on Ford Island. Also new is a memorial to the crew of the battleship USS Oklahoma, which was destroyed during the Japanese attacks, along with the new Pacific Aviation Museum (Airplanes! Free to military in uniform!)


And, one of Andy's favorites is the old control tower and base operations building on Ford Island. It might might look familiar to some, as it was in Michael Bay's 2001 Pearl Harbor movie (not a technically or historically accurate movie, but fun to watch)

Giant Banyan tree with 350Z for scale (350Z is 40 feet closer!)

Old Military Building on Ford Island with new housing in back left.

Finally, I had never even known that the battleship USS Utah is still sitting on the bottom of Pearl Harbor. It was moved several times during the salvage, and now rests right in front of historic officers housing on North Ford Island. Solemn indeed.

Taken on Dec 6th, the wreaths are for Pearl Harbor Day the next day

And, this shot below you might recognize as the USS Arizona National Park Memorial, taken from the shore at Ford Island

Finally, on a more upbeat note, I present a favorite picture that Sarah took. It was actually right after we dropped off the Murano in Covina California so it could be shipped to Hawaii. We had rented a car, and we were upgraded to a Toyota Sienna minivan to carry our 14 bags and two cat carriers. While running around town (at low speed) we folded down the seats and let the cats do their own thing. Hans the cat was fascinated with the left passenger window, and from there on he became the Door Gunner!

Mele Kalikimaka (Merry Christmas) from the Putnams!

Unpacking, unpacking!

Sorry folks, it's been a week or so since we've updated our blog. We are in our new house and without internet or cable TV until next week. Our friendly neighbors have all come by to introduce themselves and chat with us multiple times. After Andy helped the next door neighbors with their computer, they have given us access to their wireless until we get ours. Life here on Hickam is turning out to be fantastic! Here is a short list-type recap of our adventures thus far over the past week:

1. First weekend here we celebrated a birthday of our sponsor at their home on our loop where we live now!

2. Sarah went to a Spouse Ornament Social at the commander's home and got a terrific turtle (honu) handcarved Hawaii ornament.

3. A lot of repairs were done to the house shortly after move-in, including the removal of our giganto banana tree in our backyard. It was attracting streams of ants into both kitchens (our neighbors too!). It took all day for them to machete it all down and cut out the stumps. House photos to come soon.

4. Kitchen is finally done, up and running! Andy built fantastic cube shelves for our new pantry spot.

5. Met cousin Alicia's husband, Grant, this past weekend and had a fantastic time at dinner with the two of them.

6. Found our first Christmas tree after quite a search on the island last Saturday the 12th of December. Almost everywhere we searched was sold out and it was eventful getting it home in the 350Z. Sarah had to wait at Target while the tree got shotgun. We are glad to get our second car today, the Murano will give us more space for sure! As far as the tree shortage, Sarah heard through the grapevine that a shipment of real trees from the "mainland" came over badly. So everyone had to run out and get an artificial one like us, mere hours before we got out! We are learning, if you find something in Hawaii that you like, buy it now because it may or may not come on another ship in a timely manner.







7. Went to a base orientation Tuesday called "aloha ohana" (hello family) and Sarah went too! We got a 3-hr island bus tour and lunch at the club.

Photos from the Pali lookout to Kaneohe Bay:











8. We had our first dinner guest tonight, Jessica, over for poppyseed chicken! A Delta Gamma favorite menu item. She is a spouse in the C-17 squadron, and her husband is away flying for an 8-day mission.

9. Tomorrow our new bedroom furniture arrives! After almost 3 years of marriage, we treated ourselves to adding pieces to the bedroom where we have been surviving without any! We are excited.

10. We've had several questions about the kitties. They are doing great! Gretel loves to help us by catching flies that find their way into the house. Hans just loves leaping up and down our stairs, and of course they both are experts at napping. We think they are enjoying their new home.























11. Andy put up beautiful Christmas lights on our palm tree in the front and on the house. We added lights to the upstairs windows today, I'll be sure to add a photo of the completed display soon.











We are learning a lot about Hawaii ... about our household friends - geckos, roaches, and mosquitos. Lots of beautiful plant life too! Tomorrow night is the squadron holiday party. It's at the base beach and the dress is "aloha casual." I was informed that is sunday dress for the ladies and khakis are allowed for the men. Can't wait to see how it all turns out!

We promise to post more soon! ~Sarah