Pictures, pictures... and more pictures

Okay... I know it's been a while and usually Barb is behind the wheel on driving this blog, but tonight, she is playing with a new scrapbooking cutting tool thingy and I decided I would go ahead and throw some pics on here for everyone. So here we go... captions will be below each associated picture. Enjoy!

This is Matsumoto's at Hale'iwa on the North Shore, they are the most famous "Shaved Ice" spot on the whole island, and it's easy to taste why. Shaved Ice is similar; not the same, but similar, to a snow cone on the mainland. Shaved ice is much smoother and sweeter, and they seem to have full flavor throughout the ice all the way to the end... my favorite is pineapple. Note the line out the shop and around the corner... this is usual, but the line moves quickly... there are directions written outside on how to order your ice... it reminded me allot about the Seinfeld "Soup Nazi" episode. NO ICE FOR YOU!!!!

This was mine... blue was the pineapple (yum yum), yellow was banana and the red was coconut. It's allot bigger then what it appears in this picture.

This was later that evening at Sunset Beach on the North Shore, we were waiting for the expected and forecasted 20 foot waves, but as the sun set over the horizon, we only saw what I would label at best, the occasional 10-12 footer.

Okay, I know you're saying... It's a sandwich... so what? Well, I'm here to tell you it's not just a sandwich, this is a Pastrami sandwich from Giovanni Pastrami's, which is a sports bar and grill down in Waikiki... This was an awesome pastrami... Fries were great too, they had a potato type taste to them.

The day before the Pro Bowl, the NFL opened up the stadium to the public to watch the players practice. So we went. Kyle and Justin tried to get some autographs, but it didn't happen. We still had fun.

Both of these pictures are of my horrible life in Hawaii... Do you see the kind of surroundings I have to work with? I was, of course, in complete misery, standing here on the 3rd tee box of our golf course on Hickam AFB. I'm really not sure how I made it through the day. I'm going to need allot of therapy one day.... HEY! I heard that thought.

This is Freedom Tower, located in the middle of Hickam AFB, it used to be a water tower during WWII era but now it is a back drop to this vast lawn you see here... concerts and parties are coordinated on this lawn. The Freedom Tower was actually untouched during the attack on Pearl Harbor, it was a mystery as to why that was for a while. Finally it was found that the Japanese Zero pilots, assumed that the tower was a memorial to our past fallen military men and therefore out of respect, did not attack it. Nice thought by our enemies at the time, but little did they know that had they bombed it, they would have knocked out Pearl Harbor's fresh water supply; which would have been another harsh blow to us. Pretty cool story huh?

Here's another cool Pearl Harbor attack picture... see the divots in the side of the wall? Those are marks from Japanese Zero cannon fire... many of the old WWII era buildings here on Hickam and Pearl Harbor bare these scars.

This is where I work... well, not out here on the grass, but actually in the building in the left of the picture behind the trailers, the one that has the JPAC sign on the wall. I absolutely love my job! In case, some of you have not heard, I will be going on my first mission later this year to Papua New Guinea.

Okay, this is the last picture for now... this is EXACTLY why all the license plates in Hawaii have a rainbow on them. I'm not exaggerating when I say that we have seen at least one rainbow everyday we have been here. Now that's not to say we have horrible weather everyday either... far from it. It usually rains somewhere on the island once a day for a short while, but that doesn't mean it will rain where you are... I attribute the weather here very closely to that of south Florida.

Well, like I said above, that is it for now, sorry it took so long. We've been so busy between work, school, cruising in the jeep with the top down, picnic lunches on the beach... you know, the typical busy hectic life. We will be going to the opening game for the University of Hawaii's baseball team this Friday night, so, we may have some pics from that... and hopefully with any luck, this weekend we will finally get to Hanauma Bay and go snorkeling. So, be on the look out for more pictures. Mahalo for checking out our blog, and ALOHA!!!!!