The Beginning of Our Venture (Part 2)

After the first two days on Kwajalein (work days), we spent part of our weekend visiting the American/Japanese pools for a swim with the fish. Not exactly sure how they were created, but I believe over 60 years ago they (both Americans and Japanese) dug out some of the coral from the south side of the island to fill-in the other side of the island. Today you can walk the reef at (and only) low tide to go swimming, diving, and snorkeling. See pics below...

Mason walking the reef at low tide; water booties a must!

Maegan exploring the coral reef.

Maegan near the edge of the reef at one of the pools.

Purple-tipped Coral

No diving board necessary!

Maegan's best belly flop into the pool.

Mason very carefully climbing up onto the coral reef.

Mason's jump in!

Kitchen

Maegan standing in our living area; dining room is in the background. This is the island style furniture that was provided; we don't plan to keep most of it when our own arrives.

The Beginning of Our Venture

We arrived on Kwajalein on 30 June, took a quick tour and were dropped off at our new home - 475-B Palm Drive.  The quarters are modest, about 1300 square feed, 3-bedroom, 2-baths, recently painted, office-type carpet and seemed somewhat clean and in good condition.  We were offered government issued furniture to include beds, dressers, sofas, desks, dinette sets, washer, dryer, microwave, etc.  Although we appreciate the furniture we have been using, we definitely are looking forward to our own bed arriving as well as our other personal belongings.  We heard today, they will be arriving on the barge on 10 August.  YEAH!!!  We are excited.  We expect it to feel more like home once we can put our own belonging in it.

The view out the front is gorgeous of the lagoon and the sun sets right in front.  The sunsets have been stunning and so have the rainbows.  The family beach is a 7 minute walk along the rocky shoreline.  The water is as expected the majectic blue waters of the pacific.  One of the best things about living here (I think) is riding bikes to everywhere we go.  The kids (who were not the strongest bikers) have improved drastically their biking ability, especially after a few wipeouts each.  They both have scars to show their improvement.

Rocky Shoreline in front of our house

On the way to the family beach...



Emon Beach...



The creature from the blue lagoon....

Hermit crabs everywhere...

Mommy and Misty waiting for the kids to get out of the water...

View of our living room with gov't furnished furniture...

View from the front door towards the dining area

First dinner on Kwaj (pasta)

Maegan had her first pet gecko she caught on our first day...

Models wannabes...

Our house is right behind Maegan...

Show-off!!!

Misty Moonlight

On our way to the ocean for a swim...Mason is in the trailer...



Our little back porch(deck)





Departure to Kwajalein

Well, after many months of pursuing the opportunity to live at an overseas location, waiting patiently for it to come through and then the ordeal of pretty much getting rid of half (if not more) of all our belongings, the time finally arrived for us to leave our family and friends and start our new life on Kwajalein.  It started with having to rent two full size cars and travel to Portland on 27 June.  We couldn't find a van or SUV that we could use and we had 8 check-in size bags, 4 carry-ons, and a dog crate.  No way it would fit in one vehicle.  The trip went well and spent the night in Portland. 

The next day, we woke up at 4 AM to drop off Misty at the Alaska Airlines cargo bay for the trip to Honolulu.  Everything went really well, although we had to re-arrange our check-in bags in order not to exceed the 50 lbs limit and get charged an extra $30 per bag.  Needless to say, we did not look at any of the people waiting in line behind us, but I suspect they were not happy campers having to see my underwear scattered at the airport.  :)

The flight to Honolulu went by relatively fast.  In fact, we arrived 45 minutes early.  We were concerned with being able to make sure that Misty was delivered to the appropriate location at the Honolulu airport for the trip the next morning to Kwajalein.  She made it just fine without any mishaps in her crate, so we were relieved.

Happy fam on the way to Honolulu.


 

Come on, I don't sleep like that...


The next morning (29 June) we had to wake up at 1:30 AM in order to make sure we arrived at Hickam Air Force Base and checked in by 3 AM (even though the flight did not depart until 5:20 AM).  After such a short sleep, we waited patiently at the airport and watched the sun rise as we took off from Honolulu.  The flight only contained about 17 people total and the service was excellent.  Free drinks and meal practically the entire flight (approximately 5 and a half hours) to Kwajalein.  We past the international date line and arrived at Kwaj at approximately 8:30 AM on Thursday, 30 June.  As we were approaching Kwaj, we passed over a few other atolls and the islands and lagoon water was just beautiful.

When we got off the plane, it began to rain and we were shocked that the rain was very warm.  Living in the Pacific Northwest, you get used to the rain being somewhat cool or cold, even in the summer time.  It was a pleasant surprise for us that we began to laugh as we were getting drenched.  The  weather was very  warm and humid.

Don, our sponsor, who we have been communicating with us for the last several months, picked us up at the terminal and gave us a tour of the island.  It was a surreal feeling knowing that we were so far away from what was home to us, but at the same time realizing that this will be our home for at least the next two years.  After the tour, Don took us the cafeteria to eat lunch.  We then went to the post office to pick up 25 of the 30 boxes we mailed to ourselves and finally, we were dropped off at our new home.  House 475-B on Palm Drive.



Mom and son pretty exhausted...



Wake up boy, we are almost there!!!





Passing another atoll in the vicinity...





A view down the runway...





The family beach (Emon Beach)...not a soul in sight...





New housing that is condemned...



Dome Housing...



Little Bustard before the island of Ebeye...




Surfway, the local grocery store...





Maegan making a connection with a sea turtle at the conservation pond...




Got caught in a couple of thundershowers that lasted a few minutes each...