Quite the Aloha.

Judging from the phone calls at 2:30 am, the text messages and the countless Facebook posts on our walls, I take it that you all heard of this little 8.9 magnitude earthquake that took place in Japan last night and set the island of Oahu spinning for 10 hours last night. Quite the Aloha, I have to say.

But before all of the madness ensued, I actually had a very lovely greeting to Hawaii! The flight was just as everyone expects, long and fairly wretched. But I hung in there. And thanks to the development of technology, Delta has created a lovely way for me to not expand my mind while traveling, not use my uninterrupted 10 hours for good, but to waste my time away by watching movies. Yes, 3 1/2 movies to be exact. And I won't lie, none of them were from the "Independent", aka thoughtful, category of films. Hey...I had to be entertained.


I had some beautiful views as the plane arrived, so I was getting very excited. 

Then Corey, my sweet sweet husband, met me at baggage claim with a beautiful Lei made from real orchids. Quite the welcome if I do say so myself. Cause really, it's not like an Elvis movie when you get here. Well...only if you've paid for it as part of your vacation package. And, let us all remember, this is not a vacation... :)

We made our way to the Navy Lodge where we are staying for the time being which is on Ford Island right near the Pearl Harbor memorials. And it was just our luck that yesterday the USS Abraham Lincoln, an aircraft carrier, pulled into dock. They are truly so majestic. It's amazing how this a piece of metal can hold 3,200 sailors and, basically, act as a floating city. 

We drove around and explored the area some. We went to the NEX (Navy Exchange) and the Commissary, which from now on I will be referring to as the Pearl Harbor Mall. I never believed that a military exchange would ever have as much as they do or be as big as it is. Two stories, five sections, vendor carts and a food court. It's like they think we're needy or something :) 


We had dinner with our friend from back home, Rob, who has been stationed out here for a while. It was good to catch up and hear what he thought of life on the island. After we ate, the realization that I was working on 3 hours of sleep and jet lag started kicking in and all I could think about was collapsing in my bed and not waking up for 12 hours.


And then...the fun began. 

In hopes of catching this week's elimination on American Idol before passing out, I started flipping through channels to find it. Luckily, I didn't get that far without seeing footage of the earthquake in Japan. My heart went out to them and all we could think about was our friend Lesser who is stationed in Misowa, a short distance from the heart of the quake. But then all of a sudden, I heard the work tsunami. Um, excuse me, a what???? Oh wait, Japan and I are in the same ocean, aren't we? Ah ha ha...ha...ha...dang it. 


Soon the talk about how long it would take to reach us set in. And of course, all anyone could do was speculate. Speculate on the amount of time, speculate on where exactly it would come in, speculate on the height. So, naturally, I was a bag of nerves. According to news casters it would be 6 hours and 5-8 feet tall. 

They started practicing the evacuation sirens about an hour into our countdown which did nothing for my confidence in the situation. And all I can think is, if you're just practicing, how on earth are we gonna know when you really mean it?!?!?! Which, thankfully they never did. Although that didn't keep us from driving up to the NEX which is about 30 feet higher up than where we were staying, and not directly on the harbor. We almost immediately came back, because darn it, if I'm gonna die, it's gonna be in a comfortable bed. No, it's okay, I wasn't THAT dramatic. 


But they did end up closing the bridge to Ford Island, and our hotel, so we couldn't have left again if we wanted to. 


Finally, exhaustion set in and I couldn't stay awake for the main event. But I woke up, alive, and heard the tsunami came in at about 8 feet and did minimal damage thankfully. And most was in downtown Honolulu and Waikiki. Thank ya'll for all the thoughts, prayers and messages. It truly meant so much, and it was so nice to realize that even though we're 5,000 miles away, we still feel like we have family close by. 


So today was a new day, and it wasn't going to be filled with tsunamis :) But it WAS filled with an exhausted morning at the housing office. We have two houses available for us, one of which we won't be able to see the inside of before we have to make our decision by Tuesday. Military life is fun! Remember when I mentioned that there is always bad with the good. Case and point. We can have a house by Tuesday (good), but it's really not what we had in mind (bad). But, it excites me to think that we might have all of our possessions back by the end of next week! We're still thinking it over and testing out the waters outside of base housing, but by Tuesday we could be ready to sign some papers. 


(Interjection...Corey has just decided he wants an acronym for his name in this blog. Just like DH-Dear Husband in other blogs, except he wants to take it to a whole other level. He has chosen PEACH - Perfect Extraordinary Awesome Charming Husband. We'll see how long this lasts.)

After seeing the houses, we decided to take a road trip down the H1 to the scenic route up to the Kaneohe area. It was stunning. We pulled over at a couple of lookouts and took some photos. 

 

(There's PEACH)

There were multiple times that took my breath away as we rounded a corner or went over the top of a hill and saw was awaited us there. Places like these on this island are truly magical. 

So, now we've got the weekend to do even more exploration before Corey gets back to the grind. Can't wait to see what we find!

I'm leavin' on a jet plane...

 The sentimentalist in me just chose as the font to this newly sculpted blog, "Georgia". I will now proceed to forget what a sap I am. 

In about 10 hours and 2 minutes (which undoubtedly will be significantly less by the time I finish this entry because I am currently trying to empty my folks DVR box of the episodes of my stories I've missed over the past week and a half before leaving, thus being a little distracted. Please don't judge.) I will be jumping on that big metal bird and flying off to, what is so lovingly referred to as, "paradise".  Although, all I've been hearing over the last four months is "Oh, that must be so terrible," and "How awful for you". Sarcastically of course, with a wink at me at the end of the statement. I know, I know...it's amazing! You don't have to tell me twice. But, despite it's beauty and excitement we, unlike tourists, have to work there for 3 1/2 years. But still, I'm not complaining :) It's going to be quite the adventure!

Another element of this adventure is that we are going on military orders. Although we've completed one duty station already (where does the time go?), we've never been through a PCS (Permanent Change of Station) and all that goes with it. The day the movers came in and took all our belongings away, just to sit in a wooden crate for 4 months, was just the beginning. But everything they've thrown our way, we've handled with grace...and a few choice words on Corey's part. Remember, he's a Sailor ;) 

And now we've reached the culmination of all the paperwork and phone calls and moving boxes, and we're actually ready to live in HAWAII!!! 

Corey made his arrival yesterday to the lovely island of Oahu. He said the flight was quite grueling, weighing in at a mean 10 hours and 10 minutes. But the nerd in me got some good news on that front, they are playing Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 as a choice of an in-flight movie. (Yeah, I know...) 

He's been running around like a mad man getting checked in at the million-and-one offices that require a signature, picking up our car and scouting the area since he got there.  He sent me this picture today of the view outside our hotel window. 

This is Ford Island looking onto the harbor. Sadly, it's been a very rainy day on the island and it's still early in this picture. But I'll take it! 

Still getting used to the time change. Getting a phone call at 3 am when he was just getting settled down for the night was interesting. But my excitement for hearing all about what he was seeing and doing far surpassed the need for sleep. (One story inspired the name of this blog when Corey said "I haven't even been here a day yet and I've already seen 3 rainbows." Oh, and a play on my daddy's favorite song.) And we'll be adding another hour onto the time difference once the states that actually still observe daylight savings time (which I've stopped keeping up with) "spring forward". At least the phone calls between me and my folks will stay within a reasonable limit because they will only consist of the things they've done all day, because I won't have even had a day yet. (Just kidding Mama and Daddy, I'd talk to you till I was blue in the face.)

So, now it's my turn. I can't wait to get my feet on the ground over there and start this new chapter and experience all that it's going to bring with it, the good and the bad. Because in the military, there is always some bad with some good. Even for an eternal optimist like me. More often than not, things don't go the way you plan. In fact, you learn not to bet on anything. But I know I can bet on the fact that Corey is still Corey and I am still me, even 5,000 miles away. And there's always an adventure where we're concerned. 


So here we go! See y'all in paradise!




(And for anyone who may have been keeping a running count on the level of my distraction...we're down to 8 hours and 55 minutes.)