Happy Mothers Day

Christine and I just wanted to say happy Mothers day to our Moms.

Love A&C

Anonymous Wedding Present

We received four sets of dinnerware as a wedding present. However, there was no note in the package to say who sent them to us. We called Target to try to get this information but they would not provide it to us.

Also, we did not get the dinnerware till just last month as the original shipment was lost in the mail. We called Target because the registry showed it was purchased but we had not received it. Target (after a few phone calls) ended up just shipping out a whole new shipment, but would not tell us who bought it.

So if you bought it for us, Thank you!
If you know who bought it, tell them Thank You, and let us know who it is.

A&C

Pics

Still playing with the camera, some good some not so good. These I like. Well except the one of me, but thats a given.

New Camera

Christine and I got a new camera, a fancy DSLR one.

And I figured out a new trick, HDR Photography. You take three pictures, under, over and perfectly (or as close as I can get it) exposed and software blends them together to make them look cool.

Here are some before and afters:

Scuba Pictures

Today we went on our first dive since our certification. We saw a whole lot of fish, but no turtles.

The black and white striped ones are called convict fish, because they trade fish food for nail files.

I am still getting the hang of our new underwater digital camera so hopefully the pictures will only get better.

Weather Update

In case you were wondering what the weather has been like here lately I drew you a picture.

I saw a small child dressed in all black burst into flames today.

Kong Rey

On Sunday I get a call telling me that a Typhoon is headed towards us. Of course that day is less Sunny than the last few days but it does not look too ominous. But just to be prepared myself and Christine went out and bought some more candles and food and water. Christine had already set up a nice Typhoon locker when she came out in August so we were really prepared. Monday I go to work and pretty much just secure it. We then went and spent the majority of our day (me and some coworkers) in line waiting for gas. We had to gas up all our cars, get propane and get gas for generators. The generators had been in the shop for a month so we called and got just enough for those that needed them (good thing too because thats exactly how many they actually repaired). We then had to wait in line to buy gas and put it in portable gas tanks. We then had to go out in town to get propane because here on base you can't refill it only exchange it, and they were all out.

So we go out in town, I split up and go get the generators, and my coworkers go to the propane place. That goes swimmingly until they see an old man get run over by some other guy backing out.

So at the end of the day I have fifty dollars worth of gas, and 25 dollars worth of propane in my garage. A ton of food and water, and a generator. We moved everything that was outside inside, and took apart our new garden. And.................


The storm missed us completely. Barely even rained.

The picture above is the storms path. You can see for yourself. (Kong Rey was the name of the Typhoon)

Tuba for Scooba

Christine is now dive certified as well! She had pictures taken during her class, I did not. We will put some of those up as soon as she gets them.

Work in Progress

Well, after digging up all that dirt and all those weeds, we began the process of re-planting the area. I hauled many many boxes of dirt to an undisclosed location (ditch across the street) and we still had a ton of rocks and just unusable dirt. We bought this tarp thing that you use to block out weeds and other unwanted plants and laid that down over the rocks. Then we used all the leftover dirt we had and then bought some more to cover it. The brown border we got on clearance, they were 9 for a dollar, so that worked out very well for us. Thanks to some wedding guests we have the nice solar lighting as well. Christine planted that bird of paradise looking plant and a whole lot of perennials, such as pansies and wild country. I have no idea what they look like either but we will post pictures as they grow.

Yes we watch too much HGTV. We also watch too much Food Network, you should see how well we are eating this month!

Snorkeling and Gardening

Today we went snorkeling in the ocean. We saw quite a few fish but no turtles. Soon we will have a waterproof camera and will put up some pictures of the fish.

Remember this?

Before

After

http://adamandchristine.blogspot.com/2006/11/gardening.html

Well now Christine decides she doesn't want those bushes there at all. So I dug them up and out, we are just waiting on getting rid of the dirt and rocks. Our house just got painted too so we will put up some new pictures soon.

A

SCOOBA

I am now SCUBA certified. Me and some of the guys from the office did an accelerated class, so we got it done in one week. Christine is starting her class in a week or so and it will last two weeks. Which is probably better because doing it all in one week was too much SCUBA, and no days off.

The house so far

The above is BEFORE and the below is AFTER.

The far wall was painted a very light tan. Any boy, I mean man, would not notice the slight color change unless you were to look at a corner and compare it to the sterile white color all the walls were to begin with. The living room has a brown and green theme with wrought iron decor on the walls to accent. The big green couch was split and the two portions are now on opposite sides of the room with the leather couch in the foreground. Yes, I need fake plants otherwise they would be dead soon and there is enough brown in the room.


These are the walls to the right and behind the above pictures. The far wall is also painted tan.

Again, above is before, and below is after.

The wall is kinda like a mint green. I have three picture frames for the bamboo thingy. One is of a very very young Adam and Brent posing as deputies. Definitely worthy of his work buddies make fun of him.
Where Adam can put all the items (from his pockets) he collected while at work. That way I can keep my kitchen counter a kitchen counter.This wall was all kitchen boxes when I arrived. Now it's the dining room/guitar area.

Well here is the new and improved living room. All thanks to Christine with a little help from me. He preped it a lot.

Christine painted the walls too!

And yes those are my guitars, I am starting a one man band. And it helps me keep my sanity from Christine's bouts of decorating!

Volcano

The other day Christine saw on the news that a Volcano on a nearby island erupted. The news said that it erupted once many years ago and has kind of been bubbling over ever since. Well it erupted again recently and filled the sky. The odd part was it still looked better than some of the smog over downtown LA. It also actually made it cooler as it was blocking the sun.

Here you can hardly see the mountains through the clouds (from the volcano).

Honeymoon PHOTOS!

This was taken in front of our hotel. The beach area was fairly empty, not that many tourists were at our beach, I think more people were in the Hilton pool than at our beach.



These two were taken from our balcony. We saw the ocean and sunset to our left and the city to our right.




I took Christine to the aquarium. Thats her touching a sea anenome. It had spikes all over it, then she held a hermit crab.
This was after our climb up Diamondhead crater. We pulled up just to see what it was and the lady at the booth (approx 400lb lady) said you hike up the hill and overlook a huge crater. Christine was obviously not dressed for hiking, and was even wearing some kind of girl shoe like a pump or something. We found out about 100 stairs and zigzags later that that 400lb lady obviously hasn't been up here in a while. An hour later we got to the top and took these photos.

If you look right over Christine's right shoulder you can see a rainbow, it was much more vivid in person.
This was the hike we actually scheduled for that day, so after climbing Diamond head, we got to take a guided hike through the wilderness and visit a waterfall. This is where I got filthy and Christine didn't. Apparently I walk funny.
This is an island called Chinaman hat, because from further away it looks like a Chinese hat. I don't get it either. I think the "others" live there though.
These are frequently asked questions about pineapples. We visited the Dole plantation. It was geared for smaller children, but at least you can see what a pineapple looks like when its growing. Oh and it takes two years for a pineapple to become a pineapple. Thats an awful long time for something no one eats all that often. And its a wonder they are not more expensive.


This is Christine in front of a huge anchor. I just see my ball and chain next to an anchor and chain. Just kidding. Kinda.
These penguins were at the Hilton hotel next door to us.

And this is us on our wonderful dinner cruise, where Christine had whole lobster for the first and last time. It kept looking at her and freaking her out as she crushed its vertebra. Just the tail for her from now on.