Let's Play Catchup

Hi! I promise I haven't been eaten by a shark or pulled into the bowls of the sea by a giant squid! But between teaching and grading papers and reading this King book (11/22/63), I'm filling up my days and haven't sat down to blog in a while! [Please accept apology now]
Let's play a quick game of checkup :)


Speaking of consuelo, Deke came to visit! To celebrate his birthday, we took him on a Shark Encounters jaunt up at North Shore. We hopped in a shark cage and swam inches from Galapagos and Black fin sharks. You know my feelings about the water. At one point, our captain killed the engine of the boat and announced that we were a few 10 yards away from some whales. Naturally, I was sure that the massive whales were capable of flipping our 30 ft boat. Then, of course, when we arrived at the floating cage, the sharks swam directly under our boat and between the whales in the distance, the sharks circling our boat and, of course, the ever-pregnant fear of jelly fish, I was certain that I wouldn't survive treading in open water for 30 minutes.  These creature, however, were far from aggressive. They were merely curious. They gracefully swam toward our cage, around our boat, and back down to the darkened sea bottom (600 feet below us!) And even after I chummed the water with my vomit (from extreme seasickness post cage treading), the sharks never elevated above inquisitive. 

             

      

We had an absolute blast! And, as long as we go in the morning next time to avoid the waves, I would be willing to go on this adventure with any Hawaii visitors we have! :)

Also while Nick's brother was here, we hiked to one of Hawaii's famous waterfalls. It was quite the hike! Never mind that we became disoriented and lost our way on the trek into the waterfall. 

It was one of my favorite memories here in Hawaii, though it hadn't rained on the island in a few weeks so the waterfall was but a mere trickle. 

We have LOVED our company, and we absolutely loved having Deke visit for a week. Perhaps our only complaint is that his visit wasn't long enough. 

All the family visits (to include Kage and Wags, obviously) propelled hunkering into our new home. The transition would have been much harder and the holidays wouldn't have been so jolly without our people here with us :)

All while Deke was here, though, I've submerged into the spring semester at UH Leeward. I am loving it, though it certainly isn't my TC3 colleagues. I have four courses this semester, and (cross your fingers!) one over the first summer session, too.  The campus sits on Pearl Harbor. Here's the view outside my office!

Peaking in the background are the ships in Pearl Harbor. Ok, it's not the green, rolling hills of Dryden, but I'm far from complaining!


Nick spent the last few days on the Big Island taking inventory for a project he and his platoon are going to undertake sometime this spring. It's near incomprehensible that Nick can board an airplane in the morning, arrive in Hilo an hour later, take care of business and, if he didn't have other errands to run on the Big Island, be home a few hours later. People who live here in Hawaii island hop for day trips all the time. Nick and I were equating this to a three-day weekend trip to Buffalo or Glens Falls, but people hop on planes and take three-day weeks in Kahului or Kona. Here's a map. We live approximately 10 minutes from Waipahu (Oahu) and Nick was in Hilo (Hawaii).

As if he took a day trip to Syracuse or something :p


Tomorrow, Nick and I have a cocktail event for his battalion. It's valentine's day themed, and (big plus) I don't think he is required to be in uniform. We're looking forward to the event because it will take place on Hickam Air Force Base, which is set on the water and, let's just quote Nick, "the air force does it right".  In other words, the venue should be elegant and the food should be slightly north of decent. :) 


That should bring you up to speed with the last 16 days! I promise to set aside blogging time this semester. I'd be a fool to let this slip since I started to work.
Please, I am the quintessential multitasker. <3 


OHHHH PS... cross your fingers! Kage is looking for flights in May!! Kris is planning her 2012 trek to the pacific and Nick and I are holding our breath for a vacation home in July!!


Mindy?
Jake?
Luka?
Johnny?
Michael?
Courtney?
Mom and Dad Reis?


Get your tickets! <3 
M.