Ready for Some Fun!

It's been all work for the Hendricks as of lately! I've been working in a few different Edward Jones offices in the last few weeks, and next week I'll be in another new one! It's been great to have something to do, although my work schedule doesn't work very well with Corey's. It always felt hard to spend any quality time together in the first place, now it seems almost impossible. But, such is life and we work with it as best we can.

But his working so hard all the time and my recent employment really has us begging for some fun time! Which is why we can't wait for my mom and dad to get here in 10 days!!! I've really been enjoying planning their trip out here. I got our Luau tickets on Friday and am trying to come up with other fun things to do!  I just can't wait to see them! 6 months is way too long to go without seeing anyone we love!

Other than the regular day-to-day, there isn't a lot going on in our lives. I had my surgery almost 4 weeks ago and it went very well. Granted the first couple of days I was miserable, but each day after that I was getting better. By the 6th day I was getting around really well. I am still waiting to be able to go to the gym and start jogging again, but it won't be but a few more days now until I'm cleard for that again! I still haven't grown accustomed to seeing scars all the time, but I guess I'll get used to that eventually. Thank everyone for all the prayers and thoughts the day of and after. I received some beautiful flowers from my grandmother and from my best friend. They really lifted my spirits! I felt like I had family around, which was wonderful. Corey was the best nurse. He really took care of me and helped me so much while I was out of commission. I'm just so glad it's over now and that I can begin to feel better again :)

We hope everyone is well! We miss everyone a lot and wish we could see everyone soon.

Lots of love!
(And I'm sure we'll have a much more interesting post after Mom and Dad have been here!)

Finally...something to talk about!

Hey Ya'll! I know, I know...it's been a month since I've written anything. But trust me, not for lack of wanting to write. Our lives just aren't very interesting. Sorry to break everyone's hearts, but life in Hawaii is just like life anywhere else :) But there are a couple things on the Hendrick news front. Not that we're so important that anyone would be holding their breath for such precious information, but some just like to know what's new I suppose.

Well, for anyone who is sort of familiar with my struggle with being stomach sick over the last year and a half, I finally found a doctor who wanted to help me figure out what was wrong. Which is a total blessing since I paid someone in Maryland to pretend to know what he was talking about, and I found someone for free here in Hawaii! But after an ultrasound earlier this month, my doctor discovered I had a gallstone. And it all became so perfectly clear and all of my pain was understood! She recommended me to the military hospital and Corey and I went to meet with Surgery Department today. So I'm having my gallbladder removed on July 26 and hopefully, as long as it goes well, I will be feeling 1000% better soon! I know it's a very routine procedure so I'm not very nervous, but I am a bit just because I've never experienced this before. But I am the gifted hands of an Emory graduate who's family still lives in Atlanta! All of my Georgia people will appreciate that I think! She was very nice and wore a Prada belt, so I trust her. Anyway, so good thoughts to us on that. Corey will be able to be with me for my pre-op visit, the day of so I'm at ease. And he's happy he gets to take leave.

Corey's been up to his usual. Two day shifts, two night shifts and then four days off. It's definitely been and is still an adjustment but we're learning. He's only been at it for a month and already deserves a break! His shifts usually run about 13 hours so he's pretty exhausted when he gets home. 

I haven't started yet, but I found a job! I'm going to be working as an on-call Branch Office Administrator for Edward Jones Investments. Hopefully, the part-time concept will be ideal until we can at least visit home once. I was hired under the idea that I would work towards a full-time position if anything ever opened up though. They are working on my background check now and hopefully I will be able to start training soon! I'm just grateful for an opportunity to learn something new and gain some more experience! And my best friend Brittany was so great in helping me find an office to work for!

We are so looking forward to visitors! My mama and daddy are visiting the first week of September and Corey's family will be coming at the end of October! 

Love and miss ya'll! Take care!

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes

Yes, David Bowie said it best. "Turn to face the strange. Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes." Guess we knew it had to come sometime. We were livin' the high life. PEACH gettin' home at noon, hanging around the house, going for drives, being the only folks at the beach, hiking when the trails weren't busy, shopping, going to matinee movies, doing whatever we please. But our little trip down Easy Street has intersected with Real World Avenue and it's a one-way. 

Corey started his new schedule on Monday. He's working 2 day shifts, 2 night shifts (each about 13 hours) and then he is off for 4 days. And yes, in most cases, having 4 consecutive days off sounds like a dream, but when you spend a day and a half adjusting your sleep pattern from nights to days it's really only down to just about a regular weekend. On top of all the hours you've put in. Despite him coming home this morning at almost 8am and seeming exhausted, he hasn't really complained. He's takin' it like a trooper. But when it comes to work, I don't expect any less from him. He always does so well and gives it all he's got. And that reminds me...

COREY GOT PROMOTED!!! He is now a Petty Officer Second Class and I am just so proud of him! He took the test early in the morning the day after he landed here in Hawaii and passed with a great score! In fact, when his scores came in and his Chief called him in to discuss his results, he told Corey that he had the best score he'd seen all day! He was quite impressed. But again, nothing shocking there! :)

We had a wonderful visit with Corey's mom a couple of weeks ago! It was so great to have family around and company in the same time zone! We went to the beach, spent an afternoon in North Shore and Corey took her on the hike that I posted pictures from in my last blog. There, they saw another Monk Seal but this one was a little pup! Susan names her Pebbles. Now I can't wait for my Mama and Daddy to come visit in August!!!

Other than all of these changes with Corey's work, we're doing pretty well. We are going to a picnic on the beach with the guys on Corey's shift tomorrow afternoon as a kind of morale booster thing. I made a few dozen cookies for it tonight with all of my new found alone time. Corey told the fellas in the office not to give me a reason to bake or they'd find themselves swimming in cookies! 


We love you and miss ya'll! Take care!

 

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter yall! I hope everyone had a great holiday! I woke up to a wonderful Easter basket and then had to find 54 eggs full of candy hidden all around our house. And let me just say, Corey's pretty creative with a little less than 1,000 square feet! He had eggs in every nook and cranny of our living room, kitchen, foyer and stairs. All of which he did after getting back from a 6am trip to Walmart. Needless to say, I've got a pretty fun and thoughtful husband. 


But by far the best part of the basket were my bubble gun and bubble wand. About a month ago, I saw the commercials for the new Crayola colored bubbles that they make now and thought they were just about the best invention ever! I would have flipped over those as a kid, heck, I'm flipping over them now! And then on top of it, those colored bubbles come out of a cool new bubble gun that shoots out about a thousand bubbles in a minute! Kids these days, don't have to work for anything. Why in my day, we could only blow out one tiny bubble at a time through a little tiny wand, dip it and start all over again. Ha ha, but anyway. So Corey tried to find the colored bubbles, but apparently the Walmart across the street isn't cool enough to have them, so I got an awesome bubble gun with regular bubbles instead. Still totally awesome! So I went out in our back yard to play with them while Corey decided to water the lawn. Now, I'm not saying he is so malicious as to plan out what happened next, but if you know my husband, you wouldn't put it past him. I am still betting that it was his own stroke of genius on the spot though. You might be able to imagine where this is going. I had to go out into the yard to get the bubbles to hit the wind and not come floating back on me, putting me in perfect range of the garden hose. Correction...Corey with a garden hose in his hand :) It was fun though! Had flashbacks of running through the sprinklers on Mama and Daddy's driveway as a little girl...that is until I had to come back in my house in completely drenched clothes. We laughed and got the dog next door barking, to which his owner came out to quiet him. I can imagine he's thankful for such crazy neighbors!  The Hendrick household it nothing if not full of laughter! :)


I realize we haven't blogged lately. It's quite the process for us to transfer pictures from Corey's phone, to my email, to uploading them on the computer and then to Blogspot so I have to be extremely motivated to do it all and Corey has to be accessible and willing to send countless pictures one at a time. Well folks, today is that day.

We took another hike a few weekends ago on the Ka'ena Point Trail which takes you to the westernmost point of O'ahu. It was a lot of fun and intense for an out of shape girl like myself. We got to see some really wonderful things while we were there! 

This is before we started out. I had to show off my new Oakleys that Corey got me. My big bug sunglasses weren't working for hiking.

I loved all of the black lava rock. 

We decided we should have gotten married under this archway and made all of you hike to the ceremony. Or enlisted the help of our great friend Michael Salter and his huge, jacked up F150 to shuttle you there.

 

The trail was a railroad that ran from the west side of the island up to North Shore. These are the railroad ties left behind.

We made it to the end of the trail which is a protected wildlife area that is nesting grounds for Seabirds and you can often see whales from the point in season and Monk Seals, who are native to the Hawaiian islands, sunbathing on the rocks when they make their way to O'ahu. We didn't expect to see any because they aren't always around our island. They stick to the others mostly. They are also endangered and there are only about 1,200 left in the world. But, it was out lucky day!

Meet Rocky! Corey lovingly named him that :)

We spent about 45 minutes with this Monk Seal. We won't lie, at first we weren't sure if he was alive. He wasn't moving and didn't seem to be breathing, thankfully I was not traumatized because he was alive and well! We thought he might be stuck until the tide came in and got him past the rocks. We just hung out with him from about 5 feet away (we're going to forget that the sign up there says anything to the contrary) and talked with him and about him. After a while we think he picked up on it cause he started to sit up and look around at us, then he'd turn his head and stare right at me as I talked and waved to him. He was a sweetie! His tail was tagged with number 738 so we contemplated calling someone about him being stuck, but as we started heading back up to the trail, he started turning over and moving. We were able to watch him get himself off the rocks and head back out into the ocean. It was such a wonderful experience! He's out new best friend! 

A Seabird nesting

This was some sort of ceremonial thing on the rocks at the shore.

It was really neat because the waves were coming in from the right and the left to the point of the island.

We slept soundly that night. It took about 3 hours to hike there and back. Quite lengthy, but definitely worth it! 

 Corey's been doing some training courses this week and I'm getting ansy at home. I'm going to be checking to see if there's anything I can do on those countless DON applications I put in a few weeks ago, and I'm gonna go knocking on some doors with my resume this week. I enjoy being able to keep the house up and laundry clean all the time, but we won't make any friends unless we start working! Ha ha. I'll also be glad when Corey gets out of this holding period and he starts doing his job. I think that will make us feel a bit more normal here. 


We miss everyone and hope you're all well! Take care till next time!

A hiking we will go!

Yesterday, PEACH and I played tourist and did a Hawaiian hike! Now, if you're thinking we went all 127 Hours on ya'll, you'll be sadly disappointed. Although about halfway through I may have considered cutting off my little toe just to take my attention off the humidity of the jungle. I'm from Georgia, I should be accustomed to not being able to breath in the heat! Twenty five years of living in the South should have prepared me for just this occasion! But we hung in there! You know, for the wimpy mile and a half hike. We're novices, okay? Don't judge. Besides, it's more about the atmosphere right! 

So we drove out to Monoa Falls, which is actually in the direction of Honolulu. So I'm thinking, okay...we're driving towards these skyscrapers and we're gonna go hiking? But all of a sudden...you're in the jungle! I think that's pretty amazing. 

Now, this isn't a regular activity thing for us, so we're not really equipped with the proper gear, but we did the best with our every day sneakers and comfortable clothes. But, before we go again we're gonna be taking a nice little trip down to Sports Authority. But it's probably our own fault that we feel it necessary to spend money on all of the hiking accoutrements. I guess it slipped our minds that it had rained the day before and rain + dirt = mud. In case you didn't know. But, we managed to make it all the way up and back down without falling once! Quite the feat for me, if I do say so myself. 

By the way...this is what happens when we go to Sports Authority without a goal in mind.

 Anyway, we had a great time on the hike and took some pictures for your viewing pleasure.

Danger Will Robinson, Danger!

These makeshift stairs look way more intimidating from the bottom when you're about to have to climb them.

Pretty/scary flower

Oh no! PEACH is in Bamboo Prison!

We can see our destination!

Really instills confidence

Let's not judge our athleticism based on my red face.

Corey's been in "holding" at his command and was the lucky lad chosen to drive the shuttle between bases. But so far, it's been pretty great because he's been home by 12:30 every day. Don't want to get my hopes up for too long though. It definitely won't last forever. 

I've put in about 14 applications to some government jobs and a couple resorts on the island. Of course now it's a waiting game. No one actually wants to talk to you before they choose you for an interview or dismiss you because you're resume isn't exactly what they want. Don't they know I'm a good person who would do really well?!?! :) 

The house really looks great! I've attempted some pictures but none have turned out very well. But I'll try again soon. I'm ready to get some patio furniture for our lanai, but haven't been able to find anything that isn't astronomical in price. But that's nothing new for Hawaii. Although I have been pleasantly surprised with gas prices in comparison to stateside. We did hit $4.00 on base yesterday, but I just assumed we'd be at least a full dollar over Georgia gas prices. We'll hit it though, I'm sure. They say it gets up over $5 in the summer. Something to look forward to...


Hope everyone is well! We miss everyone a lot and hope that time flies until we get to see everyone again!


Lots of love and hugs! Take care!

The military owes me a pedicure.

How many idiots does it take to move into a house? Well, none here! Cause we kicked this move in the behind! Of course, after sheer exhaustion and bodily pain that is. The military owes my poor feet a pedicure after all this is said and done. And a manicure for the broken nail and chipped polish I endured.

Thursday, we were able to pick up the keys to our house and brought in a mass of cleaning supplies and laundry (which I was able to put into the brand spankin' new, beautiful washer and dryer that came with the house). We sat anxiously awaiting the movers coming Friday morning. You can't imagine the excitement over seeing your belongings after 5 months and 2 days! It was like Christmas around here! But, it was also a daunting task as well. Especially when the truck pulled up with 6 packed crates. All I could think was, how do two people have so much stuff??? (As Corey would late point out, how does Megan have so much stuff???) And to Corey's credit, most of it is mine. But dangit, if I didn't supply his house with pictures of family and friends and yummy smelling candles...he'd miss it! At least that's my justification.

But with moving 5,000 miles away, there comes heartbreak. If you'll please bow your heads and take a moment of silence for those we've lost along the way...

The DVD shelf where all of our classics and comedies, drama and action films resided.
The Cusinart Grind and Brew coffee maker that brought me so much warmth and energy.
The desk hutch which held all of the instruments to writing cards and letters to the people I love.
And the lower, left corner of our 47" Toshiba LCD TV, which is now lost in the abyss and where a dent is now permanently in its place.  

Thank you.

And where we've lost some things, we've had to replace them, which was sort of fun too do. Yay shopping! And hopefully the claims process with the moving company won't be so awful and we will be reimbursed in a timely manner (as my gut instinct laughs at me).

So, after two days and 80 boxes we have made some definite headway! The place is starting to look good and becoming organized. Give me another 24 hours and it will be perfect! :) And by the end of next week I promise to have some pictures for ya'll!

Corey has this week off for house-hunting leave (which is really intended for moving in) and hopefully since the house is in really good shape, we'll be able to go out and do some things. Maybe go to the beach or snorkeling, go see some movies and get anything else we need for the house.

Now that the house is really in order, I'm starting to have to think about job hunting (terrifying!). I am not looking forward to this at all. I think this is my least favorite part about moving. I hate starting over. I have no idea where to look or what to do, but that doesn't change the fact that I still have to do it!. Waaaaahhhh. That's me crying. But, if there's anything that I've learned from my life, it's that God truly does provide. Somehow, I have always been taken care of in the job department, so I'm keepin' the faith!

Hope everyone is well and know that we miss everyone tons!

Aloha for now! :)

Pineapples with PEACH!

Being that we LIVE in Hawaii now, PEACH and I think it best that we get all of the "touristy" stuff out of the way up front so that we start to conform and fit in within a certain amount of time. Not really sure if my pasty skin and freckles will ever fit in over here, but I can try. So yesterday, we took a trip up to the center part of the island to the Dole Plantation in Wahiawa. 

(And may I just say, it's hard to continue this acronym nonsense when his name is as long as the acronym he wants me to use.)

May I first express to you Corey's love for Pineapple. All he has been able to talk about is visiting the Dole Plantation again and eating pineapple. He even planned on eating it to the brink of wearing away the inside of his mouth, then switching to the low acid pineapple.  So naturally, I was there to cheer him on. It was quite beautiful when we got there. 

We walked around the store a bit where we found just about anything you could imagine...in pineapple. Pineapple candy, pineapple jelly, pineapple salad dressing, pineapple candles, pineapple relish on a hot dog. We stuck with the pineapple ice cream and some candy. Oh, and Corey's notorious shot glasses. And where Corey gets a shot glass...I get a Christmas ornament. 

While there, they had an area where you could pick an oyster, open it and see if you got a pearl inside. I did! I remember my grandmama and granddaddy did this when they visited Hawaii a few years back and she got hers set in a ring, so I did the same. So now I have a beautiful pink pearl and crystal ring. I'm quite fond of it.

We took a ride on the Pineapple Express, their small train that rides around the plantation. Filled with cutesy music and narrating, it actually allowed you to see some beautiful flowers, plants and views. And yes...they have tractors in Hawaii! I feel at home!

Banana Trees

Once we left the Dole Plantation, we decided to drive about 15 minutes north and go see North Shore. 

Hello ocean. It's so blue it almost blends right in with the sky.

 We stopped and had lunch at this great Seafood/Mexican restaurant (i.e. Fish Tacos!). You can't imagine how much better the seafood is here. The fish is so fresh and there are so many different types to choose from. Although I miss my catfish from back home, it doesn't get much better than this. 

We drove on, trying to get to Pipeline...but so was everyone else on the island it seemed. So we stopped about halfway to put our toes in the sand, and boy was it gorgeous!

Although we knew how big the waves were out there, we definitely underestimated how high up they came, and the power they possessed. Needless to say, we ended up with soaked pant legs and a sandy car. 

After a long day, we hit the hay only to wake this morning at 8:30am to the last 1:30 of the SEC championship basketball game (which our Wildcats won). This is gonna take some getting used to. 


We hit the gym early this morning as we were both feeling like we've entered some sort of time warp where old habits take over your life and you forget that you gain weight when you eat way more than you exercise. 


After pumping iron, we decided we'd take a walk down to the USS Utah memorial which is on the same property as our hotel. 

The USS Utah capsized after being hit by three torpedoes and was later pulled up to it's right position to clear the channel for ships to come through. This is it laying on it's side. 

Only one man was saved from inside the USS Utah after it capsized.

It's very easy to forget what happened at this place. You come on and off base multiple times a day and the area has been reconstructed and modernized with bridges and lighting, roads and buildings. But when you walk up to the water and see this sight, it's hard to forget how men and women give their lives to defend this nation and how brave they remain through the trials and tribulations of our country. Past and present. 


For lunch we went to this local place called The Dixie Grill. Oh yeah. Their slogan..."Put some South in your mouth". You know we were there! A place in Hawaii that actually serves sweet tea! Praise the Lord! They had really good pulled pork and brisket, with BBQ sauce from all the different regions of the south. I'm really glad we've got a place to run to when we're feelin' a little homesick for some southern food. Now, if only they had some collard greens. 


We went to check out Hickam AFB where they have a much calmer Commissary and BX (Base Exchange). Might be shoppin' there from now on. They are ocean side, so we drove down to take a look. We found a people beach, and a doggie beach. Might be spending some time at the latter after we've settled in to our house! We will see :)


Corey's back to the grind tomorrow, doing more check-in things and leaving me alone for the day. But I've got plenty on my agenda. It takes a lot to shift two lives into a new state!


We're missin' everyone and hope yall are well! Lots of love!


Aloha