Paradise Found

Just a quick note commemorating C's return home, FINALLY!! After 6 months of being gone.... we get him home for a whole 10 days! Of course the kids and I have big plans, and I've taken the whole time off from work. My Mom and her husband will be here visiting for half of that time, too.

The kids and I just returned from a nice, long weekend at my Dad's house in North Carolina, with my Grandparents, too. Nice and relaxing... lots of boating, swimming and tanning. Great preparation for Hawaii.

I've begun the process of swapping cell phone companies! I'm secretly THRILLED that SunCom isn't in Hawaii, because I've had my same ugly Panasonic Duramax phone for 4 years! So now I have ordered and received new phones for C and I!! They're so cool! So now we're Verizon customers... which is probably just fine. The only downfall here is that I had the UnPlan with SunCom, so we all had unlimited minutes. Never any thoughts of going over monthly limits, etc.... and NOW? All three of us are sharing a monthly pool of minutes! I worry about this a little... we'll see how it goes. hehehehe Those of you who know C, know what I'm talking about.

So it's official now!! Thanks to the Army, we were lucky enough to get Hawaii as our very first duty station. How'd we get so lucky?? I really don't know... Hawaii wasn't even on our dream sheet! We chose much more practical bases... but we're ending up in Paradise!

Schofield Barracks, on the island of Oahu... There are two Army bases on the island, and Schofield Barracks would be my choice of the two (the other being Fort Shafter). I am glad we're going to Schofield because it's farther away from the touristy hustle of Honolulu, and it's a little higher in altitude, which I hear brings cooler temperatures. Not that the temps in Hawaii are bad ANYwhere, after you've lived on the coast in South Carolina!!

Here's a quick shot of Oahu:

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.... paradise!

In the time that we received online orders via ASK, I've discovered that I actually knew nothing about Hawaii. I didn't even realize I knew nothing, either! For starters:

Hawaii is 2390 miles from California; 3850 miles from Japan; 4900 miles from China; and 5280 miles from the Philippines! It is one of the most remote spots on Earth, and it IS the most remote HABITED set of islands in the world. Oahu is 44 miles wide and 30 miles high. The monthly average temperatures range from a high of 87.1 degrees to a low of 65.3 degrees. It's located in Polynesia, near the center of the Pacific Ocean, just below the Tropic of Cancer.

Oahu is home to Pearl Harbor, Waikiki Beach, Waimea Bay, Honolulu, the North Shore and the Sea Life Adventure Park (where you can swim with dolphins, etc).

Chris goes on July 10, 2005 and the kids and I will follow roughly 2 months later. It depends on how long it takes the Army, and his command, to sponsor our move. I should arrive in Paradise sometime in September 2005, hopefully!