Saturday, January 13, 2007

Under the Sea

We got a call this week from Nathan's cousin, Mark. Mark is in the Navy, and his submarine is here for a while. It turns out he has been here in Hawaii about as long as we have, but could not get a hold of us. I feel so bad that we weren't able to share Christmas with him. But it has been great to see him this week.

One evening he took us on a tour of his boat. Muy cool! A real submarine! We climbed down ladders and looked out the periscope and saw real torpedoes. John even used the "Head."



Mark was a great tour guide and did an especially terrific job of explaining things so that the kids (and I) could understand. The berthing where 9 guys sleep in 3 sets of triple bunkbeds made me wonder about claustrophobia, but the most memorable event was when I accidently suprised a poor (shirtless) shipmate heading to the showers. How embarrassing! (But another great story to add to my shirtless list.)

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In other under-water news, Nathan and I went scuba diving this morning at Hanauma Bay. We got there before the sun came up and hiked down to the water with our gear. We swam out the cable channel to the outer reef and and saw a couple of big sea turtles, an eel, a huge shell, and loads of fishies. The visiblility was not great, but we had a good time. You can see some pictures of Hanauma Bay here.

But I did a terrible thing. After our dive we had to walk back up to the car and stow all of our gear in the car. And somehow in all the changing and packing I knocked my Military ID card out of the car and lost it.

I am hoping, hoping, hoping that someone very nice picked it up and turned it in to the lost and found. Until then, or until I can get a new one made I can't even get on base alone (though I think I can get a temporary pass if I need to.) Nor can I shop at the commisary or check out books at the library. And it is a 3 day weekend, so I won't be able to replace it (I'm assuming they let you replace them - maybe not a bad thing as my picture was taken when I was way pregnant with John - blech) until Tuesday at the earliest. I am such a loser. For the record I would just like to say that I have NEVER lost my ID card before. Actually, I have lost it many times, but never outside of our house. And I feel just sick about this. Millie, why did this happen to me?

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In happier news, this afternoon I washed every stitch of dirty clothes in the house, and just folded and put away the last load. Whew. What a day. Time to snuggle down with a good book.

Hannah and I are reading Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card from the Alvin Maker series. I read these books back when Hannah was a baby, it is really fun to read them again with her, and the story is still intriguing!

8 comments:

Deanne said...

How cool to get a private tour of a sub!! Speaking of claustrofobia (sp?).....when we first moved to Portland we went to OMSI and toured the sub they have there (the name of it escapes me at the moment). I had never thought of myself as being afraid of small spaces, but aparently I am! We started out in the captian's meeting area and bedroom. No problem. We were told that this was the most spacious area in the entire sub. From there we went to the navigation area. Problem! Once get through the itsy bitsy hallway and into that room I was feeling somewhat trapped and overwhelmed! Yikes! That is such a scary feeling. Somehow I was able to control myself and get through the tour without freaking out or having to leave. At least now I know I've got that kind of fobia. Maybe it'll be 'mind over matter' in the future and I can overcome it? We'll see. But I also do not have any plans to test it anytime soon! :)

I think that is soooo cool that you get to go scuba diving!!! Do take pics for us sometime!

Way to go on the laundry! Too bad that by the time you go to bed tonight you'll be back to square one. Sorry, don't mean to rain on your parade. Enjoy your laundry-free house as long as you can! *big grin*

Sketchy said...

Here's hoping that your wallet turns up! (and that Millie didn't jinx all of us with her secret zombie-modo voodoo!)

We have a decommissioned sub here as part of our science center, it is really cool to go inside, although no shirtless sailors, dang it!

Oh and I love OSC too! Alvin the Maker series is one of my favorites! Have you read the Women in Genesis books? Awesome!

Anonymous said...

The sub tour sounds fun~ woo hoo more shirtless men!

Still looking into SCUBA lessons, nothing local, looks like I have to head into Portland.

Hope you can get your ID replaced quickly, what a pain. At work we have a drawer filled with left behind credit cards, ID's, SS cards, etc. Do you want a new identity?
Heather

wendy said...

Deanne - maybe this sub was a little bigger - it seemed bigger than I had imagined - but I think when it's full of all those sailors it must be a tight fit. As I tucked the kids in bed and gathered the laundery I had that same thought - back to square one.

Sketchy - I have read one of the Women of Genesis. And I loved it. I heard he has a new book out - I need to go peruse? his website and see what else he has.

Heather - If you can't get scuba certified, don't beat yourself up. You'll have more time for surfing!

Lana said...

all the laundry done in one day! Whew!

I like Orson Scott Card but havn't read that one. I'll have to look it up.

Mary said...

The scuba diving sounds fabulous! How fun to see family in HI. I think that worse than the close quarters of a submarine would be the knowledge that you are under so much water with no escape!! Eek!

I'm muy impressed by the laundry - folding AND putting away? That's where I get stuck. I can get it folded (though grudgingly) and have a hard time hauling it up 2 flights and putting it all away. wah.

Are you guys getting tan?

Batya said...

looks like you're doing great!!

Super Happy Girl said...

That's too bad about your ID card (which I see you still have not found). Hope the nice person who picked it up returns it soon.

Submarine...oh...yeah!