Dogs like the beach too!

One thing I love about Hickam AFB is the dog beach. It's unofficially dog friendly and on any given day one can find several friendly canines chasing each other on the sand bar if the tide is low, or swimming and frolicking in the ocean if the water is up. Since it's right near the harbor inlet, it's not uncommon to see ships or submarines heading by on their way to Pearl Harbor, which also adds to the excitement. Last weekend we took Conan to the beach for the first time in several months (we had been holding off to make sure his chronic ear infections weren't caused by water) and were delighted to see the joy in his eyes as he ran full out, chasing and being chased by his new furry friends. He even got to play with another boxer! I sometimes wonder if Conan can recognize that another dog is the same breed as he is; he seemed to gravitate toward the other boxer, but perhaps that's just because they share the same style of play.

I often feel guilty that our yard isn't bigger (backyard space -- and space in general -- is at a premium in Hawaii) so Conan can run around to his heart's content. That's one reason I like taking him to the dog beach. He gets to run off the leash and experience the freedom to go where he wants and socialize with the dogs he wants. I love to watch Conan run wide open, full speed ahead, with his long tongue hanging out, his ears flopping every which way, and his face caught in an expression of bliss.

The Lt. Dan Band

Last Friday night, Jarrod and I went to a fantastic USO concert at Kaneohe Marine Corps Base: Gary Sinise and the Lt. Dan Band. The music was great and it was really cool to be so close to a movie star! You'll recognize Gary Sinise from "CSI: New York," "Apollo 13" and of course "Forrest Gump." Standing just feet from him, I reminisced back to elementary school when "Apollo 13" came out and I thought Gary Sinise was so good-looking that I clipped his picture out of a magazine!


Gary Sinise has been called the Bob Hope of the 21st century for all the work he does with the USO. He travels around the country and the world -- including the war zone -- performing for the troops and their families. I was struck by two things: how happy Gary Sinise and his bandmates seemed up on stage and how sincerely patriotic they seemed. The last song the group performed was "God Bless the USA" and it was done with such heart that it left me attempting to hide the fact that my eyes had gotten slightly watery. I guess such songs will always mean more when you've got a military connection; I was surrounded by Marines and people from other service branches, my dad was in the Air Force for 20 years and still works there as a civilian, and my husband is in the Air Force and extremely likely to be deployed to the Middle East sometime in the next 12 months. The passionately delivered lines, "And I won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me, And I gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today," seemed particularly applicable.

A Whale of a Tale

A couple weekends ago, Jarrod and I did one of the most fun activities of our time on Oahu so far: a whale-watching cruise to see the humpback whales that inhabit Hawaiian waters from December to March. We got up bright and early to do the Early Bird cruise on the Star of Honolulu. The weather was fantastic and I guess the humpbacks agreed because they were out in full force. We saw three different pods, one of which was only 100 yards from the boat (which I believe is the closest a boat can legally get to a whale).

We were so lucky to see the whales breach several times, as well as do a bit of a mating ritual involving splashing their flippers and tails on top of the water. The naturalist on board told us breaches are usually seen a couple times a week, but it's rare to see so many breaches in a row. The naturalist also explained to us how absolutely massive humpbacks are. They weigh about 1 ton for every foot in length; the average humpback is 45 feet long so that means it weighs 45 tons!

Diamond Head and Waikiki from the whale-watching boat. This is about the farthest we got from shore; really not that far at all.

A "plume" coming from a whale's blowhole.

This is one of my favorite pictures from the day. I wish I had shot the photo just a split second later, when the tail was straight up in the air.

Jarrod and I had an absolutely fantastic time on the two-hour whale-watching excursion and would definitely recommend it, although I think we were especially lucky to see so much activity. So we've now seen sea turtles and whales; next up are dolphins and monk seals!

I posted two videos from the day on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fcw08axm2BQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MqM5kgoU9E

Pro Bowl 2011

Jarrod and I were bummed when the 2010 Pro Bowl was in Miami and were excited that it was returning to Hawaii this year. But when the time to buy tickets came, we wavered. Did we really want to pay $130 for so-so seats? No, not really. But then at the very last minute (the Friday before the game) Jarrod decided to check Craigslist for tickets. We found several decent seats and decided to go with fourth-row seats on the 20-yard-line of the AFC side. We negotiated a price of $100 per ticket, which ended up being a fantastic deal. The game wasn't exactly a stunner, but sitting just feet away from the players was amazing! I was too busy taking pictures and staring at the alternately hulking/way-shorter-than-I-thought/super-famous/sooo good-looking guys on the sidelines that I didn't even pay much attention to the actual game.

Aside from the players, we also got to see the tail-end of the Goo Goo Dolls pregame performance, Kris Allen from "American Idol" singing the national anthem, Dog the Bounty Hunter sitting on the sidelines and Daniel Dae Kim of "Lost" and "Hawaii 5-0" fame walking just feet away from us. These are a few of my favorite pictures from the game:

Philip Rivers, San Diego Chargers quarterback.

Brandon Lloyd (Denver Broncos), Reggie Wayne (Indianapolis Colts), Peyton Manning (Colts), and Philip Rivers.

Miles Austin, Dallas Cowboys.

Year of the Rabbit

On Saturday, Jarrod and I went to Chinatown in Honolulu for the annual Chinese New Year celebration. The event included vendors and food booths as well as a parade. The parade was by far the best part; the dragon and lion dancers were so neat!


This is the Year of the Rabbit and I loved the rabbit-themed signs the kids were carrying. Jarrod and I were born in the Year of the Ox, 1985. According to Wikipedia (the foremost source on everything, of course) that makes us more prone to be: dependable, ambitious, calm, methodical, a born leader, patient, hard-working, conventional, steady, modest, logical, resolute, tenacious; can be stubborn, dogmatic, hot-tempered, narrow-minded, materialistic, rigid and demanding. Do you think that sounds like us? Besides Ox and Rabbit, the other Chinese zodiacs are Rat, Tiger, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Ram, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig.

Me with a lion dancer.Jarrod and the 150-foot long dragon. This was the grand finale of the parade.