Shipping up to BOSTON!

Danno sure has been toughing out the cold in RI! His first week of school has been keeping him very busy, but fortunately we're still able to talk a little bit every day. It was nice to hear he got the chance to take a break and go out on the weekend with some fellow classmates. He sent me some pics, which I added to his post below...
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Went to Boston for the weekend to watch the UFC fight and to see some of the sights.

Saturday I went down to the MFA (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston). Forgot to take pictures but they had some amazing pieces: Monet's Water Lillies, Jackson Pollack, Manet, Van Gogh and Jan Jensz den Uyl, John Singleton Copley and many others.

Then went to watch UFC fight at Cask N'Flagon. Of course BJ Penn got rocked by GSP. It was a completely one-sided fight. We stayed at the Omni Parker Hotel and Sunday we woke up walked over to Fanueil Hall and grabbed a Cannolli at the North End (little Italy). Grabbed some Dim Sum in Chinatown for lunch. Also checked out the USS Constitution aka Old Ironsides.

Dannos friend in the photo actually went to UH with him, but at that time hadn't decided to go JAG yet. And there's actually one other UH classmate Danno ran into who is in the same program (both are Navy though). Small world!

Adios Virginia

During all the Inaugural commotion in DC, we successfully dodged traffic and closures around the DC area and made it to our family in Maryland. Our time is done here and we're happily leaving behind Virginia. If we ever end up back in Quantico again, it won't be by our choice that's for sure! We did gain some great friendships and experiences though.

Irene and Edgar kindly provided us their spare room these past couple of weeks after moving out of our place in Dec. I first met Irene on an online forum when she posted she was moving out to Quantico, would be car-less, and was hoping to meet some people. Once she got out here in Nov, we met up and I was her guide - showing her around the area and educating her about military life as I knew it so far. Turns out they are from Northridge! So no surprise, us Californians clicked instantly. The hubbies got along great as well, and Danno was able to pass down his TBS wisdom to Edgar, who still has months left to endure it. Overall we had such a great time together. We’re fortunate to have developed this new friendship just before we left!
Danno is now in the snowy weather of NJS with one digit low temps, and I'm just a day away from Cali where "warm" temps finally means 80 degrees instead of 40. So...back to the long distance routine we go! We're sad to part each other, but it's sure to go fast as the past 7 months have flown by. Here's some pics Danno just sent me. Looks like a good sized room. But brrr...its cold there. Good thing he's much better at enduring the cold than I am!

Warrior Day & TBS Graduation

Here’s the long overdue post about the last days of TBS! At the end of the POI (period of instruction) before graduation, Lieutenants get to bring their spouses and family on base to learn about, and get a hands-on encounter with all the dirty, dangerous, and fun stuff they were paid to mess with the past 6 months (and for most Lts. it will continue to be in their job description). They had an array of vehicles, helicopters, and weapon systems on display…MCMAP (marine corps martial arts program) demonstrations…opportunities to ride an MRAP (mine resistant ambush protected) vehicle while dressed in a Flak jacket (vest) and Kevlar (helmet)…shoot an M16 and M203 (grenade launcher)…handle a variety of guns…and much more. I had a blast! Here’s a short slideshow of the fun…



The following day was Danno’s graduation held at the FBI academy. It was a huge relief to finally put TBS to a close! I’m so proud of Danno for making it through – what an accomplishment! Taking photos during the ceremony was a challenge, but here’s a few. Also, a photo of his Platoon during MOUT (military operations urban terrain).

One Down...

…two more trimesters to go! Fortunately I didn’t have a miserable first trimester as some may have it. I only suffered a few occasions of sickness. Today was my 2nd appt and Danno got to join me and hear koguma’s heartbeat for the first time. As we were leaving the office, the Doc quickly detoured us into another room to give me a surprise ultrasound so Danno could see the baby for the first time too! Usually you don’t get one done every visit and she complained how people always try to ask her for additional ones. She appreciated that we never even bothered to ask, plus she knew Danno wouldn’t be able to be there for the next one during my 2nd trimester (since I’ll be in CA). It was a special treat for the both of us to give Danno the chance to see and “bond” with the baby in this way. Danno was so happy to hear its strong heartbeat and see the baby, he was smiling ear to ear the whole time.

There’s such a difference now that koguma is about 3 inches, has lil fingers, legs and a face! At moments you could make out a lil nose, eyes, and mouth. Koguma is already quite active and kept moving around and stretching out his limbs…making it a bit of a challenge to take good still shots. We were joking that koguma is trying to make more space in there because there’s no room to move! Haha. Turns out I'm successfully gaining some pounds…starting from 101 when we first discovered I’m preggers...to 103 at 8 weeks...and now 107 at 13 weeks. Slowly but surely I will gain the 30lbs. I’m supposed to. Consequently Dan has been gaining some unwanted lbs trying to help me eat! But as we all know him, he can PT and shed the weight in no time.

A Happy Holiday

Wow, the year has finally come to an end…and so has packing up and shipping out the bulk of our stuff to Oki and Danno’s stuff to Rhode Island. Woohoo! Holidays always keep us busy one way or another, either scrambling to shop and wrap everyone’s gifts, decorating the house, preparing food for Christmas parties with friends and family… This year’s holiday was busy indeed, but instead we spent it doing the complete opposite… discarding, donating, packing everything away, and attempting to eat whatever we had left in our kitchen so things don’t go to waste. We had no problem spending Christmas Day with our TV dinner trays, 2 borrowed chairs, and my laptop as our entertainment center!

Although we had to keep things super simple this Christmas, we couldn’t take for granted the ample time we’ve had together. While Danno is in transition, his flexible schedule only requires him to check in the morning...with very rare occasions of duty for a few hours, otherwise none at all. He’s had plenty of time to rest and relax. And he’s been nothing but helpful with every little thing, even making sure Koguma and I are well fed everyday!

Now that we’ve officially moved out of the townhome and living out of our suitcases, we’ll be staying with some friends in the area until we part ways at the end of Jan. Which reminds us…from now on please don’t mail anything to our recent VA address! (it will be forwarded to CA anyways) As always, we’ll keep you updated on our whereabouts. There’s so much we’re looking forward to this coming year and we’re excited to bring you along in our journey (at least via internet!). Until next time, take care and Happy New Year!!

Rewind

Before we get too caught up in the hustle bustle of the movers next week (that’s right, we’re practically spending our Christmas shipping out all our stuff!)…Here’s a recap to show you some pics from our time in Cali. We were definitely eager to leave the cold weather behind in VA – as you can see, we’ve been dealing with light dusts of snow from time to time.
We were fortunate to spend Thanksgiving with our family at Danno’s parents house…and indulge in the delicious lumpia, pancit, turkey, roast, apple pie and other holiday goodies enough to put you in a wonderful food coma for the day. It was also the chance for us to announce that we’re expecting a baby, so it was a great time to be together and see the surprise and joy on their faces!

With the future grandparents and great grandma.

It was nice to see Emo again!
After spending time with our Emo in the I.E., we headed off to stay in Irvine for the remaining days to visit our friends. Finally we got the all-u-can eat Korean BBQ we’ve been craving for so long!...not to mention a stop at Yogurtland, first time trying 85°C Bakery Café, and we got our dose of playing Rock Band! Best of all we got to spend precious time with some of our closest buddies.
Thanks Howie for letting us stay in your new home!

While in the O.C. we also had the opportunity to attend Danno’s godson’s 1st Birthday in Long Beach. Again perfect timing, so we could spend time with the growing boy and his wonderful parents. Ana Lisa was preggers with him during our wedding, and just gave birth to her second son this week! She’s amazing! It will be great to go back to meet their newest addition to the family.
We loved the time we had in Cali, even though it was very brief. We’re happy to know we’ll be returning once again before we leave to Oki. I’ll be staying in CA while Danno finishes up in Rhode Island. We expect him to come out to CA one last time once he graduates, then off to Oki we go!

Great News!

We’ve had the greatest time this past week…having spent a wonderful time with family and friends in CA during Thanksgiving, and Danno graduated TBS yesterday! Yay! We also got confirmation that we will not have to leave to Okinawa until April..phew!...which means a little more time to pack up our VA home before Danno leaves to NJS, and that we’ll get the chance to see everyone again before we go. We’ll be catching up with a couple of posts to recap and share photos of our good times this past week, but for now we’d just like to announce that we’ll be bringing along some extra “baggage” to Okinawa since I’m confirmed to be 2 months pregnant. We are so excited and looking forward to both adventures of relocating overseas and becoming parents for the first time!

Here’s some pics of the first sonogram. Since we don’t know if our baby is a he or she, we call it our “ko kuma” (pronounced koGUMA) which means “bear cub” in Japanese. Seemed fitting considering we call each other Mama Bear and Papa Bear. Haha. Anyways, it was so nice to hear the strong heartbeat and see that something is actually growing inside of me! It’s truly a blessing. We’ll keep you updated as time progresses. For now my greatest challenge is trying to gain weight! The doc told me I have to at least gain 30 lbs! I’m sure returning to CA will help me accomplish that.