A Night on the Town . . . on Base.

Mark & Courtney enjoyed a night out attending a graduation event for one of Mark's troops. It was a fun evening, and the troop even took home the most prestigious award of the evening! Courtney just loved dressing up. Mark liked the cake (like he hasn't had enough of that in the last 2 weeks).

Good looking couple!

The Visitor

This little creature showed up in our backyard the other day. I noticed him crawling across the lawn. At first I thought it was a snake. When I went out to take pictures, it scurried up the palm tree, got attacked by birds, came back down, and then jetted back into the jungle. You never know what you'll see!

A Monitor Lizard?

Birthday Bash

Well, the last couple of weeks have been all about birthdays. I believe Olivia thinks cake is a permanent fixture in our house now! On Sunday (25 Mar), we went to church before heading out on a boat dive. We went to Haps Reef first, and then we went to Barracuda Rock. Both dives were great, and we were able to see 2 sharks under a rock, a lion fish, and lots of other types of fish. I had an underwater camera, so hopefully we'll get some good pictures out of it. I was within 10 feet of the sharks. We also saw a bunch of dolphins as we went from one dive shop to the other!

When we returned, I had arranged a surprise birthday party for Courtney. Thankfully, a friend bought pizza and drinks and a cake while we were diving. Then, everyone met at our place. When we arrived, they all jumped out and screamed, "Surprise!" We quickly at some pizza, at some cake, and then opened some presents. It was a lot of fun. Hopefully the surprise party made up for where we ate on Courtney's real birthday (which was the 28th) -- a doughnut shop!

Well, as always, enjoy the pics, and more are on the way.

The Cake

The Cake + 35 candles

The Cake + 30 candles

Dirty 30s

Well, Mark's birthday has come and gone, and 35 really isn't too bad. It actually has its benefits in the Air Force. I don't have to do as many sit ups, push ups, or run as fast for the fitness test! Yeah! Courtney made a wonderful German Chocolate cake, which I ate 1/4 of in one sitting!



Now, we will celebrate Courtney's birthday next week as she turns 30. I don't think she is too upset over this, especially since she still looks 25!



We will celebrate this weekend with a boat dive. We'll try to take some good pics for you. Until then, enjoy these:

Time for some more pics

More pics

Remember Fish Eye? It's the place where you can go down into a building below the water and watch the fish and divers. It is also the place where Courtney, Wade, and Mark did a night dive. It is also the place where Courtney and Wade got to show off their diving skills to Olivia and Gerri, which were caught on camera.

Let the Pictures Begin

Ok, I thought I'd start putting up some of the pictures from Vacation Days. Enjoy!

Vacation Day #12 -- Last Day

Vacation Day #12: Thursday

I'm sure you noticed the theme here -- Mark worked.

The others? They were able to get down to Tarague beach one more time and play in the waves. Thursday night was a going away party of sorts -- burger burn! We fired up the the grill and made hamburgers and hot dogs. Many friends came by and brought other goodies. Gerri and Courtney got a lesson in how to make lumpia by Maria Cruz.

Unfortunately, the plane departed at 4:30 a.m. on Friday, which means arriving at the airport at 2:30. The great debate was whether to sleep a bit before leaving. We did, and Courtney drove her parents to the airport early, early, early for their 28 hour ride back.

The 28 hours did include a 12 hour layover in Japan though, and they bravely went into Tokyo to see the sights before hopping back on the plane. They safely arrived back in Springfield at 9:00 p.m on Friday (you lose a day flying back).

And that concludes the Vacation. Now, as soon as the pics start rolling in, we'll start posting them.