Christmas Cruise!

Here are some highlights from our Christmas Cruise. We had such a great time. It was fabulous to be together as a family for 7 uniterrupted days! We saw some amazing things, visited some beautiful places, ate LOTS of yummy food, lounged around on gorgeous beaches, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. The boat was full of fun things to do and the kids liked the days spent at sea as much as the days spent sightseeing on land.

Our first day was spent at sea. In the picture about, the twins are preparing to climb the rock wall on the ship.

The kids really enjoyed the rock climbing wall on the cruise ship. The boys entered a climbing competition and Brandon got 2nd place in his division, and the twins got 2nd and 3rd place in theirs.

Shane and Savannah took advantage of the mini golf course on the boat.

Jas and Shaner-D relaxing poolside on Shane's 40th birthday. That's right!! The big 4-0.

Our first stop was in Phuket, Thailand. Wow! Talk about beautiful.

We took a boat out in to the Phang-nga Bay (you can see Dylan on the boat ride, below) and then hopped into inflatable sea kayaks to navigate our way through some sea caves.

Here we are in our kayaks. We went through a tiny opening in the bottom of a big, sheer cliff that looked like the Cliffs of Despair from Princess Bride. It was a cave that is only accessible at low tide, but it allowed us to float in to a hidden lagoon. The guide we were with gave us each a banana- just in case we needed it to fend off any aggressive monkeys. We didn't see any monkeys here, though we sure would later on......

Above, all six of us in our kayaks. Below, we are coming through the cave opening into the lagoon.

Kayaking around some cliffs in the Phang-nga Bay.

Dylan jumping off the boat in to the waters of the Phang-nga Bay.

We kayaked to a little island in the bay. It was beautiful. The kids found a starfish, a crab, a jellyfish (yikes!), among other things.

The next day, our ship docked in Langkawi, Malaysia, which consists of about 99 islands. We got off the ship and hired a local man with a small boat to take us "island-hopping" so we could see some of them.

The view as we sailed through the waters around Langkawi.

The first island he took us to was called Rice Island. Immediately upon landing on the island, we were accosted by monkeys. They were everywhere and they wanted FOOD. Anything would do! They even ripped open my backpack and got into a sealed bag of potato chips all by themselves when I wasn't looking. Sneaky monkeys.

Dylan feeding a monkey a peanut.

Jas and the kids on Rice Island.

Shane and Savannah enjoying some Malaysian sodas on Rice Island. The only thing on the island was a snack shack where they sold sodas, and a place to rent water toys. The rest was a monkey-filled jungle.

The boys checking out Rice Island.

While we were in Langkawi, Savannah lost the second of her two front teeth. That night, the tooth fairy brought her one American dollar and one Thai bott. Who knew the tooth fairy was so financially diverse?

Here we are on the little boat we hired to take us around the islands of Langkawi.

The next island we went to was called the Island of the Pregnant Maiden. It is called that for two reasons: first, do you see below the way the tops of the hills look like a pregnant woman lying on her back? (The kids thought it looked like Timp!) and second, because the island has a unique, fresh-water lake that is said to have magical, fertile properties. It is said that if a woman wants to get pregnant then she should visit this lake. Here's hoping that's just a local myth..... can you imagine! No, thank you.

Arriving on the Island of the Pregnant Maiden.

They should have called it "Island of the Very Amusing, But Slightly Unnerving Monkeys."
Here's one of them. Brandon told this monkey, "Dude, you need some pants." We hiked about a quarter of a mile on a trail up to the lake, and the whole time we were watched by a thousand pairs of little monkey eyes. We were told not to make eye contact with them because the monkeys might mistake that for aggression.

Here are the kids jumping in to the fresh water lake. It was such a hot day and the water looked so refreshing, but on the outside chance that I might get pregnant, I choose not to swim. :)

This monkey was nursing her baby while she was walking around. She wasn't even holding on to the baby most of the time. The baby just had to cling on and hope it didn't fall off as the mother scampered around.

When we got back to the ship that evening, it was Christmas Eve. The kids opened their Christmas Eve pajamas in our stateroom. This room was Shane's, mine and Savannah's. The boys had their own room next door. It was actually a pretty roomy room for a cruise ship. It was bigger than the rooms on the other cruises we've been on.

This was the Christmas tree in the centrum of the cruise ship. The ship was decorated festively for the holidays.

On Christmas Day, we visited Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Here are the twins in front of the tallest twin towers in the world. I thought that was cool.

I got a horrible sunburn, can you tell?

While in Kuala Lumpur, we visited a Hindu shrine called the Batu caves. It consists of a huge golden statue in front on 276 steps leading up to a shrine in a cliff-side cave. It was fascinating! The picture below shows Savannah and me halfway up the 276 steps.

Brandon called this "the big golden dude." It really was amazing to see. It was gigantic.

You can see how big the idol compared to the people beside it. HUGE.

When we got back to the ship that evening, the kids had the pool all to themselves.

Nothing like a Christmas Day evening swim. The twins and Savannah swam until it was dark.

We spent the next day in Singapore. What a neat city! The part of the city we stayed in felt like being in a big American city like Chicago or L.A. The streets were decorated for Christmas akin to what you might see in any large city in the USA. There were endless shops of western and American goods. If I hadn't seen the many hundreds of Muslim pilgrims at the airport, I might not have realized the diversity of this city.

Orchard Drive in Singapore decked out for Christmas.

This is an awesome video of Savannah dancing to the reggae Christmas music being played by a live band on the cruiseship. Enjoy! and Feliz Navidad!

Beautiful Okinawa

About a month back, when Shane had one of his VERY rare days off, we decided to pile into the car and take a drive. On a map, I saw a little island off the Motobu peninsula on the northwest side of Okinawa. It was accessible by bridge, so we decided to check it out! When we got there, we discovered a hidden treasure. The island was tiny and mostly covered with sugar cane fields that went all the way to the edge of the cliffs. We drove around the island several times (which only took about 15 minutes!) before we found a trail that we could hike down to the water's edge. When we got to the ocean, it was breathtaking! Seriously, it was one of the prettiest places I've ever seen. The sand was pale and soft, the water crystal clear, and the shore was dotted with beautiful sea glass. We had the beach all to ourselves and it made me wonder how long it had been since anyone else had been there. It was very secluded. What a great day!


Savannah and her friend, Baylee.

One of the boys walking down the trail to the beach.

How pretty is that view?!?

Right on top of the cliff where this trail started down to the water, there was an Okinawan couple harvesting their sugarcane.

Welcome Home!

On Monday January 12, Shane returned home from his deployment to Afghanistan. There are not words to express how happy we are to have him back! It is such a relief to have him home safe and sound. It has been fascinating for me to listen to him tell stories of his adventures in Afghanistan- he really had some amazing experiences. I thought that I would put some of his pictures from his deployment on my blog so that my family and friends could see them, too. In this case, a picture really is worth a thousand words. In the picture below, Shane's plane had just arrived here on Kadena Air Base in Okinawa and I had just picked him up. What a wonderful moment!

Pictures from Afghanistan

Shane is showing two of the five medals that he received while deployed.




Shane is with a little Afghani girl named Nazia who was receiving medical care at the American military hospital because the kind of treatment she required wasn't available in her country. Her story was so compelling that the hospital staff at Shane's hospital decided to try to raise money for her so that she could go to the States to be treated by the specialists she needed to see. They raised money by having a "moustache-growing contest." While the cause is worthy, I am sorry to have to show this next photo, which shows Shane sporting a fine 'stache. Thank heavens he had shaved it off by the time he came home!

Sweet!

While Shane and his friends were waiting for trauma patients to arrive they would take turns learning how to do tricks in the wheelchairs.



This is Shane inside an MRAP (which stands for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicle). An MRAP is like a tank, only better and stronger. They are designed to withstand IED attacks and ambushes. The photo below is Shane standing on top of an MRAP.

More Pictures from Afghanistan

This is what was right outside Bagram Air Base where Shane was based. I think it is so interesting to contrast the modern American military hospital that is inside the fence with the primitive conditions that exist outside it. For obvious security reasons, Shane was never allowed outside the base during his time there.

One of the highlights of Shane's time in Afghanistan was meeting Afghani President Hamid Karzai when Karzai came into the hospital for a check-up.

Here Shane is standing on top of the hospital and you can see a view of the mountains in the background as well as part of the base.

The picture above shows Shane as he is flying into Afghanistan for the first time. He is flying in a C-17. The picture below shows the sign outside the hospital where Shane worked. Check out the weapon that he has strapped to his leg. He had to have his gun with him and loaded at all times.

One of Shane's main duties was to fly medical evacuation missions from Afghanistan to Germany. What this means is that the patients that were too wounded or too sick to be treated in Afghanistan would be flown on special medically equipped planes to an American military hospital in Germany where they could receive more extensive treatment. Shane's job was to fly with them and keep them alive and safe until they reached Germany. This picture to the left shows a C-17 that was set up with bunks for the patients.

This is a picture of a KC-135 plane that had been configured to accomodate medical patients. KC-135s are normally used for refueling and they are much smaller than the C-17s.

This shows a view inside a C-17