Happy Birthday Quantico Style

Being apart during birthdays means having to get creative with gift giving. I must say, Danno is an expert at this, which I learned during our courtship while he was away in Law School in Hawaii. (His gift giving tactics is another story!) In 2006, his birthday landed when he was out in Quantico enduring crazy OCS (Officer Candidate School)...which of course limited the gift options since sending packages always ran the risk of drawing the wrong kind of attention to them, so I had to be careful. Tons of friends and family helped me send him lots of love. Many of you may remember when I gathered emailed birthday wishes and tons of individual birthday cards to send him all at once. It was so unexpected and it totally brightened up his day (well as much as a day in OCS can possibly be)! In addition he got birthday coupons showing his actual birthday gifts and the birthday dinner he could look forward to when he returned, and then of course a photo of myself with my truck and our dog Emo, (which was actually the only thing he asked for.)

Last year, he was done with taking the Bar exam and our big day was around the corner! I must say, it worked out that I secretly managed to get a great deal on a Hummer rental weeks before the wedding because it became part of his birthday gift. I loved his face when I pulled up in it to pick him up for his birthday dinner (he would’ve been satisfied with just the dinner of course). But come on, I definitely couldn’t resist giving him a Hummer for his birthday!

Apart from only the necessities, Danno never asks for much, and it’s never the dollar value of anything that makes a great gift to him. He keeps life simple and knows he can live off very little. A reminder of what he values and love, a memorable experience, even to just know that he’s loved and cared for, will suffice. I believe he always deserves so much more than what he ever asks…for all his hard work and accomplishments that he is always so humble about…for being the honorable man/husband that I love and respect...for just being him!

So this year, he’s back in Quantico on his birthday...out in the field as we speak. Clock will strike midnight and I’ll text message him a Happy Birthday. No need to send him packages this time since I'm here in Quantico too (yay!), but squeezing in some sort of birthday plans this year have been a challenge (boo). I’m not sure when he’ll be home tomorrow, so celebrating will have to wait til the weekend once he finishes the week out. Even planning the dinner in an unfamiliar place is tough, and for some reason everyone we talk to out here thinks the Melting Pot is an amaaazing place. (eh, for real?!) His gifts are still arriving, so maybe if they get here I can wrap them in time before he comes home?…eh we’ll see. Beginning tomorrow, I'll be playing it by ear. I know I shouldn’t stress too much. These past months of having time with just the two of us have been great. Quality and quantity time together to relax will be so valuable! Anyway, Happy Birthday Hubby and I’m looking forward to celebrating with you soon!

We See D.C.

It was a successful week of MCMAP a few weeks ago. I even got to learn some moves…so go ahead, try and choke me and see what happens! Haha. They completed their Tan Belt and will continue to work towards the remaining ones as their career progresses.

All the guys were worn out since they all got a fair share of inflicting and taking the beating…very sore neck muscles…arms…legs…bruised elbows… My weak comparison was to that of snowboarding for the first time when muscles you never knew you had ache like crazy. Yes, it’s much worse to get your body pounded, taken down to the ground repeatedly, your limbs twisted and bent for breakage, and getting pegged with pugle sticks (like the giant cutips on American Gladiator). Dan loved it of course.

Nonetheless, they wanted even more exercise so we went along with our church buddy and his friend to explore D.C. Actually, it wasn’t until later that we all realized just how much the day completely tired us out! There’s so much to see there that it’s difficult to decide where to start. Luckily one of the guys came prepared with some of his points of interests, so we focused on a variety of museums – good timing to enjoy AC while it was blazing hot and humid outside! We first stopped off in Chinatown, tried our luck with a random food place – still nothing has compared to places in Cali. Checked out the International Spy Museum, the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, the Capitol building, and ended with the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. A lot of walking, looking, learning, and all was entertaining and good times. Still tons more to explore...especially in museums. Here's a glimpse of the Natural History Museum

...and passing by the Capitol...

Independence Weekend

Dan was granted a nice long 4-day weekend to celebrate July 4th…and it much needed to allow him to catch up on sleep, soak his feet and rest his body! Here’s a few more photos from the field….

Hey look, it’s Danno! That’s a whole lot of officers…with a whole lot of gear!

A view from the "Pitz" They take turns setting up the targets for the guys on the end of the field.

Danno & his BCGs in action. He passed all quals (qualifications) Woohoo!

In addition to resting, we successfully cleared out tons of boxes, making room for a new couch in our living room, which should be delivered next week. We’re very excited. Dan will no longer have to come home to sit in a wobbly dining table chair, and will no longer have to watch TV from the floor with his head propped up on a Bosu ball (Google it if you don’t know what it is). Most of all we look forward to accommodate having friends come over. In Cali we were so used to having our small group lounging at our house…they were over so often, it wasn’t unusual that they just walked in without knocking. (btw, we miss you guys!!) We definitely won’t be leaving our door unlocked out here, but we certainly look forward to having company in our house again.

Anyways, for some 4th of July fireworks, we ventured to D.C., taking the metro to avoid the inevitable traffic and parking madness – good move. We decided to stop at the Iwo Jima Memorial Park to watch the fireworks from there, rather than heading to the National Mall – another good move. It was calm, not too crowded, and a nice view of the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Memorial and the Capitol Building in the distance. But we forgot to bring an umbrella – bad move. Clearly we’re not from the East Coast, always ready for the sudden rainstorms that pass through! At least we packed a blanket, snacks to eat, and put his textbook in plastic baggy – good move!

Sure enough, we toughed out the rain…pouring off and on for a few hours…we were determined to see those fireworks! In the end, we were glad we went. Their show out here looks like a finale the whole time. Non-stop. It was great! Here’s some pics..

My first time to see the Iwo Jima Memorial in person…the rest of D.C. is still yet to be explored!

Keeping dry hours before the show....We're under a tree…that’s near an electric pole..and at one point Dan was talking on a cell phone…yes, we realize that was a bad combination if lightning were to strike.
What a good student...Danno reading while I admire the view.
Claimed our spot on the lawn. No longer dry.
More waiting in the rain.

We’ll leave the firework images to the pros, since our camera does not do justice whatsoever. Here's diff views, from the memorial and from the park.

Up next...MCMAP - Marine Corps Martial Arts Program. Danno getting paid to learn how to fight people a billion different ways. I know he's really gonna enjoy this...

...and heeere's Danno!

Ah yes, and here's Danno on the range (photo taken by the husband of a new friend I hung out with at the mall today). He hasn't even seen this picture yet. As you can see he got issued glasses. They call them BCGs..."Birth Control Glasses!" cuz they are sure going to keep the ladies away! haha! Amidst all the strict rules within the Marine Corps, there's so many funny things as well. Hey, if it helps him shoot on target, I'm all for it! They may look goofy, but whoever is behind those BCGs is being trained to kill.

On Target

(I'm borrowing this photo from our friend of a different platoon)

Its Rifle Range training for the next couple weeks for Danno. I keep thinking...man, he's getting paid to play in the dirt and shoot guns...how awesome is that?! To warm up, at least with handguns, we did some shooting over the weekend at a local indoor range. I went from observer to shooter at no extra cost thanks to the Filipino worker =D I did very well, they say most girls do, but what matters most is that Dan does well in the field and passes all the qualifications to keep moving forward. Please keep him in your prayers for his safety and performance!

It feels like things are picking up now. We're getting the house settled in a bit...still need to finish arranging boxes, buy a couch (figure out how to fit a couch!), cozy up the place. They had a Spouses Orientation last week when all us platoon spouses joined our Marines at school and sat through informative sessions about the upcoming year, and most importantly we got to connect with each other. They had a small fair of different organizations for us to explore. There's an Officer's Wives Club which may be something I'll look into, and also Officer Christian Fellowship which holds weekend small groups for married couples which we hope will be a great fit for us (haven't started meeting yet).

We're a community of about 45 spouses. I'm trying to stay involved with the group emails and be of help as much as possible. I've been keeping in touch with a few gals and already began running into familiar faces the next day running errands on base. Yesterday I even hung out at one girl's place who didn't attend the orientation, yet her husband had passed me her info. It was the first time we met, she happens to be Filipino, and just began working as a nurse out here (not surprised! hehe). Her husband is in Dan's platoon, and they live just down the street from us. It's great for us to be so near, and helpful that the guys they can carpool. This week I have plans to meet up with another wife/mother of 2 adorable kids who invited me to hang out..so that will be a new one for me!

It's interesting, out here you jump right in and gain instant friendships. You either haven't met before, or at most have introduced yourselves, and the next thing you know you are in their house, at the mall, having lunch with them... In the Marine Corps there's no hesitation to take care of your own.

You’re Fortunate to be Cruisin’ in CA

So I’m at home and I hear the low rumbles and “boom!...boom!” every so often (one time even strong enough to rattle the windows) and I realize ah yes, it must the soldiers out in the field. We definitely got a place close to base! We’re located off a small highway that cuts through its center, so we can access the base on either direction. Though we’re only about 5 miles to Camp Barrett, where TBS is located, there are no straight roads and the speed limits on base are suuuper slow, which means it can take up to 30 minutes to drive just a few miles. Compared to driving back home in CA, we’re not used to maintaining these whopping speeds of 15mph! (That’s right, 15 mph!! Try it one day, its reaaally slow!) And beware, the MP (Military Police) are so strict on bases, you will get a ticket for the littlest things.

In general, it’s a challenge driving out here because…

1) It’s so dark. Hardly any street lights along the roads (especially on base). Reflectors on the outer edges of the road are scarce to none. I’m bound to hit an animal if it were ever to bolt out from the dark forest.

2) Clear, logical signage do not seem to be popular out here…may it be lack of arrows, bad location, or none whatsoever. For instance, you’ll come across large intersections where they just use those dinky corner street signs that we usually only see in neighborhoods. Err…how is that helpful?! Plus it doesn’t help that markings or arrows on the roads have not been re-painted for ages…so you’ll be driving in a lane and surprise!...it’s now a left turn lane. Freeway signs are confusing too.

3) The roads aren’t maintained very well. Crazy pot-holes everywhere…even on the freeways. (my lowered truck would not do well out here, good thing we left it back home)

4) It doesn’t help that our GPS is often confused since road/freeway/bridge construction is always in progress. “Recalculating…” is our GPS’s favorite word!

5) It rains so suddenly here while the weather is hot, so the streets are always “steaming” when rain hits the ground. It looked pretty cool first times I saw it, but it’s not fun when it creates foggy conditions any time of day.

You should have seen us driving the first week here. I don’t think I’ve driven with my face so close to the windshield since I was 15 years old first learning to drive. We're keeping within the law as best as possible, so we're driving like old people keeping the 55/60/65mph speed limits on the freeways, but hey, we don't want to risk getting ticketed out of our home State. So, we definitely love that our location minimizes having to drive as much and we definitely miss cruising California! (not to mention you get to drive with your windows down and enjoy nice breezes..here its so humid, it's A/C all the time!)

Enjoy it Californians!

Message From Dan

I’ve been pretty busy with training. There isn’t a lot to really talk about, since the first two weeks have been mostly administrative. I passed the initial PFT and am now officially training. I am supposed to graduate in December (God willing). The training is very difficult but having Loralee here has been great. I’ve met some amazing Marines and made a few friends.

One friend whom I go to church with is a strong Christian and an awesome guy. Loralee and I have hung out with him several times and got to watch a couple movies. We saw Kung Fu Panda which was surprisingly funny and The Incredible Hulk which was incredibly bad.

Church: For the past couple weeks we’ve been attending a local Calvary Chapel in the area. It’s very cozy and a stark contrast from the mega church at Saddleback. This week’s message was from Pastor Justin Alfred, a fellow Californian, has a teaching ministry "Word in Life" ministries, and can be often heard on the radio.

The actual service was the most interactive one I’ve ever been to. He had my friend actually stand up and punch him in the stomach to explain the importance of building an iron shield stomach. He did this in order to emphasize the importance of being rooted in the word and having the ability to shield yourself from the ways of the wicked.

During one point the pastor told us the story about his daughter’s murder. If you have a minute you can read it on your own time. But to sum it up, he was able to forgive his daughter’s murderer through the grace of God. He said, his faith helped him realize that whatever his anger toward the murderer would have led him to do would have been incomplete. He prayed for God's perfect and complete mercy, but also his justice. He further explained that he must forgive his daughter’s murderer because God had forgiven him and he will not let anger rule his life.

Links:

Justin Alfreds website

News articles about his daughter:
The Californian
Press-Enterprise

Thats all for now. Time to get ready for tomorrow...

PS: Happy Fathers Day – Dad thank you for all the sagely advice you have given me and all your unconditional love and support. I miss you and mom and hope to see you both once we finish our time here.