An Outdoor Weekend!

We were on the go this weekend, complete with two spearfishing outings and getting some much needed sun! And, yes, I made sure to have the camera on hand this time...

We headed out early Saturday morning to Ko'Olina, on the west side of the island. Ko'Olina is a very pretty resort area and a favorite spearfishing spot of Blaine and some of his fishing buddies. I actually took pictures that day with my old "point and shoot" camera...NO photo editing whatsoever. Yes, Hawaii really IS this beautiful! As I have done before, and said I would never do again :), I snorkeled while Blaine fished. And, once again, the visibility was poor due to high winds and waves and we couldn't see more than a few feet in front of us. I have never felt more like prey in my entire life...again, I caught myself instinctively wrapping my arms around my chest and abdomen, protecting my vital organs from nearby predators. If that doesn't just scream "fun"! And Blaine told me AFTERWARDS that a tiger shark is known to frequent that area. Awesome. I'm sure that shark was watching and stalking me the whole time. ;)

Since Blaine didn't catch anything Saturday, he headed out for more spearfishing on Sunday. He took a buddy with him this time, so I was able to hang out on the beach with the dogs and some friends. Hickam AFB has a beach just for dogs, which is a nice relief since most beaches in Hawaii do not allow dogs, not to mention this beach is just a two-minute drive from our house. We had a good time...Blaze and Holly seemed to enjoy it, maybe because they were very interested in and excited about all the other dogs there. Here are some pictures from our beach outing yesterday...

Blaze checking out the water

Holly smiling at the camera

This is Dog Beach...and one of Blaine's spearfishing spots. If you look really closely, between the two bushes, WAY out in the water, you can see a tiny speck. It's about 400 yards out. That speck is a cement platform that Blaine swims out to...the same place I swam to with him the first time we went spearfishing, when I swore I would never go again. :)

We saw another submarine while at Dog Beach. They come through here often because Pearl Harbor is just right around the corner...I think this area of the beach is technically in Pearl Harbor. Submarine sightings have become a regular occurrence, but it's still so cool every time we see one!

We made a new friend while at the beach...actually, I spent a lot of my time keeping the dogs AWAY from this new friend. Doesn't he look menacing?!

Hanging out on the beach, soaking up some rays!

Heading back from spearfishing...again, empty-handed.

We will be pretty busy over the next couple of weeks, gearing up for a short trip to Texas and Blaine's family visiting us here. With all the sightseeing we will do with Blaine's family, we should have plenty of pictures to post! Until then...

Our New Place: Part 2...

I thought I'd add some outdoor photos, now that our yard is freshly mowed and I was able to take pictures. Drum roll please......seriously, don't get too excited. ;)

Here is our building...you may recall that it's a "fourplex", like four townhomes in one building. We are one of the middle units, closest to the corner unit that you can see here. Most of the houses are set up this way, unless you are a Colonel or above. Oh, and that's Blaine's spearfishing-scuba diving-surfing-beach going Tacoma parked in front. He insisted he needed a truck just for those purposes. :)

This is our front yard and door. You can see our neighbor's door in this picture, too. It's a good thing we get along so well, being as close as we are!

Our back patio, complete with new furniture and all! I have also added some planters, my favorite being the half wine barrel you see here. This is our herb garden, complete with two types of thyme, two types of basil, oregano, mint, italian parsley, and sage. We also have rosemary, green onions, cilantro, and four types of peppers in the other planters.

Another angle of the patio...and a view of our fragrant plumeria trees! I think you can kind of see how close the units in the building are by looking at the space between the sidewalks. No complaints, though, as our neighbors to the left make awesome pina coladas and mai tais, while our neighbors to the right BBQ regularly and feed us more than we feed ourselves!

Here, you can see our papaya tree, a couple of tropical bushes, and our lime tree.

Stay tuned for "Our New Place: Part 3" for the upstairs pics! And don't forget the picture I promised of Blaine in his spearfishing gear...we're going tomorrow and I plan to pack the camera! ;)

Update: No spearfishing yesterday, as the parking lots near Blaine's favorite spot were full. But we did find an awesome snorkeling spot on the North Shore...and discovered an even MORE awesome Thai food restaurant! Yummy!

Our New Place...

I know you've all been waiting on pins and needles for pictures of our base house! ;) Well, maybe you really have been if you hope to make Hickam AFB your next assignment and are considering living on base. Before you look at the pictures below, let me warn you that we still have SO much to do in the house, but I want to get these pictures on here so that you can see where we live, even if it is half-decorated...

This is the view upon entering the front door. To the left is the living room, which leads into our office, and to the right is a hallway that leads into the dining room. I plan to paint that big white wall in the living room and office; I just haven't decided what color yet. I would like to find a color that accents the blue that is already there.

This is the hallway and view of the stairs from the front door. There are a couple of closets and a half bath in this hallway.

This is our living room...which has been extremely frustrating when it comes to decorating and arranging furniture. I'm not sure the furniture will stay this way, but it's working for now...and I've moved these couches a million times now and don't want to touch them again. We also want to mount the television on the wall, but I'm not optimistic we'll ever get to that. :) Notice the "stylish" vertical blinds that protrude from the wall at least six inches...it's nearly impossible to hang any type of window treatments. We're making it all work, though!

This is our "dining room"...yes, the floor plan calls this little nook a dining room. I can't, for the life of me, figure out why on earth you would carpet a dining room. We have decided not to use this as our dining room. It has, instead, become our office. This floor plan has really required some creative thinking on our part!

Just another angle of the office...you can see where it is situated with regards to the living room. I must comment on our desk here. Blaine's late Uncle Bob gave us this desk. Uncle Bob was an amazing man with even more amazing life experiences. He was from England and spent a significant amount of his life in Africa, where his children still live. I should probably write an entire blog entry on the life of Uncle Bob sometime, since he deserves way more than a couple of lines in this paragraph. Anyway, I'm not sure how he acquired this desk, but we do know that it came from the USS Alabama, a WWII battleship. It has a metal seal with a serial number and everything! The desk was an orangeish-yellowish finish, but we had it refinished in this espresso color. And we love it!!

This is our kitchen, looking into the office and living room. It's not too exciting, but it gets the job done!

Another shot of the kitchen...yes, I know I am missing some cabinet doors. :) The couple who lived here before us wasn't crazy about the "pickled oak" cabinets (imagine that!) so they took the doors off for more of an open shelving look. They also painted the inside of the cabinets, which actually goes very well with our cobalt blue Mexican glassware! We like it, and it's unique, which isn't a bad thing when you and all of your friends on base have the SAME house.

Here is our "family room", as described in the floor plan. We are using this as the dining room, since that makes the most sense to us, being that it is not carpeted and is located right off of the kitchen. If you look closely, you will see the light sitting in the hallway. This is my proud Craigslist find...it's an iron and wood chandelier and I got it for $20! While I like the shell chandelier that is currently in this room, it doesn't really go with my decor. So, as soon as I can talk Blaine into hanging it, we will have a new light!

You may have noticed that there are no upstairs pictures on here...that's because there isn't a whole lot to take pictures of up there yet. I've just started decorating the bathrooms, so two of our three have nothing more than hand soap and a hand towel...not picture-worthy. Our bedroom is not even near completion and one bedroom is completely empty! I promise to post those pictures as the rooms come along. I will also post some outdoor and patio pictures in a later entry...this post is long enough as it is.

I know I'm putting too much thought into a place we will only inhabit for two years. The last thing I want to do is be stuck indoors, trying to overcome my "decorator's block" instead of enjoying this beautiful island! That said, I am planning to get out this weekend for some snorkeling while Blaine spearfishes. It will be my first time at the beach in over a month! And I could use the break from organizing and decorating...