ShareOurLife

In Thailand, first full day.

2010-06-01T17:51:00.000-07:00

Is in Thailand and living it up. Had a great day in Phang-Nga and Phuket Thailand. Started with a great breakfast, seafood Kao Tam I think they called it, it was like a fresh seafood and rice soup with a poached egg on top and a bunch of fresh herbs/seasonings. As I had breakfast I watched everything imaginable being hauled by on mopeds, 4 kids and a poodle, a jet ski etc and crazy amounts of people being hauled in vehicles way over capacity. I wonder what the mortality rate is here for motor vehicle accidents? After breakfast a van picked me up to head up to Phang Nga to go white water rafting followed by a jungle hike and then jungle trek riding on the back of an elephant. Note to self, guys from Kuwait are probably not the most experienced paddlers/watermen. But it was still fun to watch them keep falling out of the boat. Not much help in steering the raft, in fact one had already lost his paddle about 1.5 minutes into the trip. Some really nice and funny guys though. After White water rafting I took a short jungle hike to the Tone Pariwat waterfall and went for a swim. I think the elephant trek was the low point. Felt bad for the elephant as all he seemed to want to do is wander off and eat what ever tasty looking plant he saw and in the jungle there are lots of tasty looking things to an elephant and we were keeping him from that. At one point I my seat slid and I was hanging sideways off the elephant over a rocky ledge. Good thing elephants are sturdy enough that he just stood there in place while I climbed back up. Don't think I would have fared as well in that situation on a horse. Had more fun feeding the elephants bananas after the trip than I did riding on them. Then after that I went on to a Buddha temple surrounded by monkeys. Lots of monkeys! And I was very popular because I had two big grocery bags of rambutans to share. I got much more attention then the others that just had bananas and peanuts. I had little monkeys hanging off the legs of my shorts, climbing me... and some older monkey standoffs going on in front of me over who got to sit in front of me.... all good fun. Long drive back to the hotel after. Lobster stir fry for dinner followed by one of the best two hour Thai massages of my life from this older Thai lady named Moo who works in a high end Spa across the street from the restaurant. Still cost me less than $25. I am going back to see Moo every day for the rest of the trip. After that off to the tailor for a first fitting of the shirts I am having custom made and then a little shopping on the way back toward the hotel. Got Carys some cute silk pajamas and a beach dress. Plan on doing more shopping later in the trip. Made one last stop before the hotel at a Fisho Spa. That's where you go hang your feet in the water and these tiny fish come up and nibble all your dead skin off. Feels funny, like little tiny buzzers touching you. The girl that worked there told me it is most popular with the French. In fact they do the whole body treatments. I just stuck with the feet. After the fish were fed back to my room for a shower then out for a night cap. First stop an Irish Pub with local musicians two hot female leads in mini kilts a female drummer and a guy on bass and one on lead ax. And every one of them could sing. Quite well... without any accent. They performed quite a variety of non irish music by request. Entertaining. It was closing so after my pint I went next store to a club for a scotch. While there I had to use the restroom facilities and had one of the most unique experiences with I have ever had with bathroom attendants. I was in a 10 x 10 restroom with probably five attendants. One was adjusting TV channels on the LCD screen in front of my urinal while I was attempting to go... no luck too much attention and stage fright. So I thought I'll just wash my hands and be out. As I started washing my hands one guys starts massaging my shoulders while the other holds my towel. After I dry my hands the guy rubbing my shoulders grabs my head and starts giving me a full chiropractic adjustment as I am standing in front of the sink. Not really what I was expecting! First he cracks my neck both directions then proceeds to crack my back at least 8 different ways and is successful each time while another guy works on my hands. Then the guys cracks my ears! Don't even know how that works? He did both up and down. Well after that I called it a night and walked back to the hotel as I have to catch a boat in the morning for my next adventure. Going to do some ocean kayaking around the islands where a couple James bond movies were filmed. Golden Gun and Tomorrow Never Dies. Hey it looks like it is time to go to breakfast. So starts another day in the Land of Smiles!

ABC special about our Atoll

2009-08-10T18:17:00.000-07:00

http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/

Watch the video "Rocket Island"! An ABC special about the atoll we live on. Really recent. It was filmed while I was visiting Alaska a few weeks ago, so unfortunatly I didn't make it into the video. Riding a skateboard with purple hair; I would have surly made the cut!

Alaska

2009-08-05T20:48:00.000-07:00

http://akquilter1.blogspot.com/2009/07/three-weeks-of-family-fun.html

Mom posted some photos from our visit on her blog.

Time to Update

2009-08-05T20:26:00.000-07:00

I really should update this blog and my web page. I picked up a new computer while I was on vacation. So no more excuses! Stay tuned!

Just Another Weekend on Kwaj

2008-11-24T20:20:00.000-08:00

On Kwajalein our typical work week runs Tuesday through Saturday. I say typical because Laura and I both work an opposite 9/80 shift. So we both get alternating Saturdays off work. The typical Sunday morning on Kwajalein starts with Irish coffees at the Price house and then down to the beach around 8am to meet up with the beach volleyball crew. We usually play until around 10:30, then end up in the water as it starts to get a little hot for volleyball mid day just a few degrees North of the equator. Then we head back home or off to a friends house for brunch.

Thanks to Dad we made wood fired Pizzas this weekend. Dad mailed me a big bag of hardwood lump charcoal and a ceramic "plate setter" (ceramic table that my pizza stone sits on top of in my XL big green egg). They turned out great. Very much like the simple thin crusted pizza Laura and I had in Venice Italy that we liked so much. Thanks Dad! I made my pizza with artichoke hearts, paper thin sliced egg plant, green olives, roasted garlic, sliced grilled chicken, red onion, drizzled with a little olive oil and a fresh parsley oil I made, seasoned with just a pinch of Hawaiian sea salt, and topped with some mozzarella. Good stuff. I loved the thin crispy crust, just like what we had in Italy. Maybe next time I'll take some pictures for the blog.

Here are some photos from beach volleyball this weekend:

Here I am serving.

Carys and Laura arrive at the beach a little later to hang out.

Carys stuffs her face with cheddar goldfish...one of her favorites....one of mine too.

Here is my beautiful wife Laura. You can also see part of my main mode of transportation on Kwajalein next to her in this photo. My laminated bamboo skateboard.

Another birthday...another goodbye....

2008-10-15T18:36:00.000-07:00

Well I survived another birthday. I think we had three parties for this one, the memories are still a little hazy. Possibly due to the amount of over consumption that took place. Hmmmm....maybe that had something to do with it? The grand finale was a pool party on the 11th. A good time was had by all. My feet still hurt from dancing on the no slip plastic pool tile. I blew a flip flop out early in the night when my friend Miguel pulled me into the pool so I ended up dancing barefoot. Speaking of my friend Miguel, we are having one last PCS (permanent change of station -aka- "going away") party for him tonight as he and Poncho get on the flight tomorrow to head back to their home in Hawaii. Miguel is my best buddy out here and Poncho is Miguel's old boxer who has spent some time at our house while the Busquets were on vacation. They have been trying to get out of here since the end of last month. Miguel was just waiting on all of the paperwork to go through. I'm sure he's getting excited about getting back to the family and spending some time with his new twins. I'm sad to see them go. They will surely be missed. Aloha my friends.

My One Year Old In Houston

2008-08-25T12:31:00.000-07:00

Here is a photo my Dad sent me of my one year old little girl Carys at the Houston airport. Looks like with the hat she was able to fit right in with the natives.

Pink Eye

2008-08-05T22:49:00.001-07:00

Hello friends that I haven't seen in a while…no I haven't forgotten about you all. I have pink eye!…or more like fluorescent red eyes! I've had it for a full week now. I woke up yesterday and it was far worse; not better after 6 days of antibiotic treatment. Apparently I have been unlucky enough to contract viral pink eye or I've got a drug resistant bacterial strain. They took a culture yesterday and said they should have results by Thursday. If it's viral like the PA suspects (they've had a few cases lately) I just have to wait for it to run it's course. WTF!!!?

I'm back in my office now with three bottles of hand sanitizer, a can of Lysol, box of tissues, and a couple bottles of eye drops as the deadlines won't wait. My eyes are F…ing killing me! They feel like someone rubbed beach sand into them. My boss saw me a little bit ago and said I looked like the devil with my glowing red eyes. Well the name Brandon actually is derived from a hebrew word meaning from the depths of fire or from the firey hill. When I told my mom this she said how appropriate. Hmmmmm....maybe time for a career change? What kind of income would the devil pull in?

Going on week two of quarantine in an empty house all by myself…:(

It's out there folks. Wash your hands.

Happy Birthday Sis!

2008-08-04T16:05:00.000-07:00

It's my little sisters birthday today. Well actually where I'm located just on the other side of the international date line her birthday was yesterday. But where she is in Seattle Washington it is still today, August 4th! You can check out her blog at http://michelleauer.blogspot.com/

Diagnosis Asthma

2008-08-04T15:58:00.000-07:00

The specialist Carys went to see in Virginia Dr. Nair (pronounced two syllables NA-Ear) said that she thinks Carys has asthma. So she wants to put her on steroids twice per day for six weeks and see how she responds. She has to be closely monitored while on the treatment as there is a possibility it could stunt her growth. Not very cool.

Beach Babe

2008-07-29T20:31:00.000-07:00

Here is a cute picture a friend took of Carys hanging out at the beach watching her Dad play volleyball with his friends this last Sunday. The day before she and her Mom flew down to Maryland for a couple weeks. Carys is on a medical referral while she is down there to see a lung specialist. She has been sick for about 7 weeks now and was not getting better. The poor kid hasn't been able to sleep through the night for quite some time because of her coughing. It wasn't until last week that the Pharmacy got a stronger cough medicine for infants that actually helped her. Chest X-rays indicated her lungs have inflammation and tests showed her oxygen saturation levels have dropped. The Doctor said it is most likely a viral infection in her lungs or asthma.

However sick and tired she is, it still doesn't seem to dampen her spirits. She's such a happy little girl.

Carys's First Birthday! July 19th. Wow, has it been a year already!?

2008-07-22T17:45:00.000-07:00

I guess it is all relative. If you ask me: How long it has been since my daughter was born? I'll tell you it seems like it was just last week. If you ask me: How long it has been since I hung out with all of the boys? I'll tell you it seems like it has been a year...

Back to the party.

There was fun for the kids...a sprinkler ball, small swimming pool with canopy that a few kids dove into with their clothes on; a new sand box, and a couple piñatas full of goodies. The theme was Elmo.

Cute pic of Carys and one of her friends. It appears that the boys are already lining up. I'll have to stay on my toes. That is her nanny "Shaggy" holding her.

Carys enjoying her dinner. Looks like she was enjoying the pulled pork, or as the Hawaiians call it Kahluha pork. Apparently I make pretty good Kahluha pork for a "Haole" or so my Hawaiian friends say. I was up all night cooking and then went into work around 2:30AM to meet a deadline. Biked home for an hour and a half to frost the cake to look like Elmo and cook some more. Then back to work until around 3:30PM. I was feeling pretty out of it by the time the party rolled around.

Any idea how many bottles of red food coloring it takes to get cream cheese frosting Elmo red? It takes 4...4 whole bottles of red food coloring! Any one have any ideas on how I get this stuff out of my clothes now?
She decided she wanted to feed some to her Dad. That's my arm on the left.
Carys passed out about half way into her party. I on the other hand saw the last guests off and cleaned up at around 2:30AM. Did we all sleep in? No... Carys got up bright and early the next morning to open and play with all of her new gifts. I think it was a success.

Carys took her first steps this weekend.

2008-07-08T14:18:00.000-07:00

Laura's manager had us and few others over for dinner this weekend (July 6th). Carys and Laura were in the kitchen and I was seated in a chair in the next room. Carys was standing on her own in the kitchen smiling while her Mom and a couple others were cheering for her and telling her what a good job she was doing standing all by herself like a big girl. When all of a sudden she locked eyes with me, took off running and ran right to Daddy. She threw up her arms to hug me and buried her smiling face into Daddy. I guess you don't actually have to walk before you run. I think she took about seven steps in all. What a great moment. I know I'll never forget it. :)

Carys Video - More Stuff From A Proud Parent

2008-04-23T13:29:00.000-07:00

My sister Michelle put some video of Carys up on youtube for me. To view follow the link below. Unfortunately I can't view it out here on island. Youtube is blocked on our network.

Youtube link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6uewBxJPVgA

All the photos you ever wanted, and then some.

2008-04-15T14:07:00.000-07:00

When I dropped by my sister's place in Seattle on my way to Whistler; my sister was nice enough to offer to utilize her faster connection and upload pretty much every photo we've ever taken of Carys on our Canon. You can view them by following this link to her flickr account.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lilblackcat/sets/72157604283431259/
Carys 0-8 1/2 months.

Enjoy!

Thanks Sis!

Teething

2008-02-27T18:30:00.000-08:00

Carys had a tooth come in on Monday, which was joined by a second tooth the following day. So she now has two front teeth on the bottom.

New Years Baby!

2008-02-06T12:42:00.000-08:00

We thought this photo might look cute on a new years card.

On Her Way to Her First Luau

2008-02-06T12:38:00.000-08:00

Here she is with her Mom on the trolley taking a tour through the gardens. She liked seeing the exotic birds in the garden and she really enjoyed the hula dancers and the poi.

I don't get the poi part.

Family Hike, Waimea Canyon, The Grand Canyon of the Pacific

2008-02-06T12:29:00.000-08:00

We set out in a downpour along the western rim of the canyon, so I just zipped Carys up in my raincoat and let her head stick out under my chin so she could see. She seemed to love it, she was wide eyed checking out the view until she fell asleep in the baby carrier near the end of the hike on the way back to our vehicle.

Kauai was fun. The hiking and getting to surf the North Shore (Hanalei Bay) in the winter were the highlights of this trip for me. We got really close to two wild goats on this hike but didn't get any photos worth putting up, just one blurry shot. They pretty quickly bounded away once they realized were close. We got within about 15-20 feet before they realized we were there.

Happy Kid

2008-02-06T12:27:00.000-08:00

Carys opens her Christmas presents with the Grandparents on Kauai.

Sleeping Beauties

2008-02-06T12:25:00.000-08:00

The Ladies catching some Zs at the condo on Kauai.

Dressed Up To Go See Grandpa Cool.

2008-02-06T12:22:00.001-08:00

Can anyone guess where Grandpa Cool went to school?

I Hear Carrot Facials Are All the Rage Now.

2008-02-06T12:18:00.001-08:00

Carys tries carrots for the first time. Seemed to have a difficult time keeping it all in her mouth. Takes after her Mom I think. :) Another messy eater.

More Shots of Carys!

2008-02-06T12:11:00.000-08:00

Cute. Her father has a similar pose in his repertoire that he often breaks out at parties or drinking establishments for photo oportunities.

She's not really crawling yet, she scoots around and rolls to get where she wants to be. She likes to walk if you let her hold your hands for balance. So maybe she'll skip crawling all together and go straight to walking?

Our Kwaj cat Twigs and Carys hanging out.

Such a happy baby. Enjoying her time bouncing in her Jump-a-roo.

Movie star style.

My Girls

2008-02-06T11:40:00.000-08:00

Toes! Check out my toes!

2008-02-06T11:35:00.000-08:00

Toes! I've got toes!

Apparently these toes tasted good, or at least good enough to stick them in her mouth for while...

Palm Frond Hat

2008-02-06T11:29:00.000-08:00

Here Carys is sporting her hand made palm frond hat. She got it from her extended Hawaiian ohana at the Hawaiian Christmas party down at Emon beach. There are a lot of parties around here during the holidays, or any time for that matter. Sometimes it's hard to keep up with the social schedule.

Looks like Carys is ready to party! Have a good day all!

Carys and Santa

2008-02-06T11:12:00.000-08:00

Carys's first Christmas. We arrived late as we often do with baby in tow, and it looked like Santa had already left. However Santa (our friend Les) spotted us from the back of the store and came back for one last photo shoot.

My Amazon Girl

2007-11-15T13:45:00.000-08:00

Carys went in for her shots and a checkup this morning. The nurses talked about how well behaved and happy she was; and the doctor commented on how tall she was…we’ve noticed that she is already getting too tall for 6 month old clothes. The doc informed us that at 16 lbs 2 oz she is at the 100th percentile for weight and she measured 26 and ¾ inches tall which is way off the charts for height. My not so little, little girl. Looks like I might be playing beach volleyball with her a few years down the road. But that is still a little ways off. She just learned how to roll over on her own this last week.

Loving being a Dad.

Take care all.

Happy Holloween! Here is a Treat!!!

2007-11-01T15:49:00.000-07:00

Carys's first Halloween. She's such a happy baby, which of course makes me happy. :)

Proud Father

More Photos of Carys

2007-10-11T16:46:00.001-07:00

My Little Girl

2007-07-23T19:30:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics I snapped just moments ago.

Her eyes are open for this one! They are currently a dark shade of blue.

The New Love In My Life - Carys

2007-07-22T12:55:00.000-07:00

What an awesome experience!

Here are the pictures you have all been waiting for...

The new girl in my life. Meet Carys. 8lbs 2 and 1/4oz. 20 and 3/4 inches long. Born 7/19/2007. Happy Birthday Carys.

Laura -aka- "Hot Momma" just a couple days before delivery

The new family.

Her head was shaped a little funny right after delivery. I was calling her Ms. Potato head.

She got even more cute as time passed and her head regained it's original shape.

Exhausted.

Glow bug. She had to wear a light last night because she looked a little jaundiced yesterday. No problems though everything came out fine when tested this morning.

She's cute.

The other lady is cute too. The little scratch on her head happened during delivery. Mom was in labor for 28hrs!

Catching some Z's with dad.

Happy Birthday To Carys's Grandpa Price who turned 55 today and came out to celebrate with her!

It's Been a While

2007-05-03T21:25:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, I haven't updated my Blog or website in quite a while. A lot has happened since I last Blogged. One thing that happened is that I got a promoted. The new job has kept me very busy. I am now the Manager of Mission Operations Project Controls. Sounds kind of important doesn't it? My band played our first gig at the Spring Break Beer and Music festival, which was fun. I play bass in the band. We had the best fans at the event. Thanks to all of our friends that came out to support us!

I hurt my back while playing beach volleyball about a week and a half ago. So no surfing or skate park for a couple of weeks. Bummer :( We had some nice waves last week...

We've added to the members of our house hold. We have a tank full of sea creatures now and a cat. The cat came with the name Twiggy. I've been calling her Twigs. She has been nice to have around but my allergies have been acting up. I've got an appointment with the Doctor Tuesday to look into Hyposensitization aka-allergy desensitization. I hope it works because I'd like to keeps Twigs in the family. And speaking of family...I know you all have been wondering.... yes Laura is looking very pregnant, but not as big as you'd expect for a woman that is over 7 months along. It's hard to believe that she'll be giving birth in just a couple more months. It's all gone by so fast. Wow I'll be flying to Maryland first week of July to await the birth. Exciting stuff!...for me it is anyway.

Sounds Like...

2007-03-12T19:41:00.000-07:00

So many of you have been asking me, how do you pronounce Carys? And the honest answer is that, Laura and I have not yet decided.

The Americanized pronunciations sound like “Care-us” or “Care-iss”. This sometimes elicits a really lame joke about how much we must love working for KRS (Kwajalein Range Services); so much in fact that we are naming our daughter after the company we work for. Making that joke will get you the not so friendly-you had better be kidding look from Laura or myself, sometimes followed by the infamous pseudo laugh.

I believe the original Welsh pronunciation is “Ka-Riss”, sounds like a shortened version of Carissa. But this would probably destine her to a life of having her name mispronounced by every school teacher, prospective employer, telemarketer…hey that might not be so bad…sorry sir no one by that name here…Would that really be so bad?

Laura and I are considering waiting until we meet Carys and spend some more time with her before we decide. We are not really in any rush to make a final decision as it will be spelled the same no matter how we decide to pronounce it.

So which pronunciation/pronunciations do you like the best? Which do you not like? Why? I look forward to all your comments!

IT'S A GIRL!!!

2007-02-22T17:33:00.000-08:00

Laura and I went in for another ultrasound the other day and the radiologist told us that it looks like a girl. That certainly makes it easier as we already have a name picked out for a girl, and had not yet decided on a boys name.

So here she is; I'd like to introduce you all to Carys Lynn Price :

Carys is a Welsh name meaning "to Love"

More Photos From Our Day At Alyeska!

2006-12-24T17:15:00.000-08:00

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High speed internet access sure makes this updating/uploading stuff a lot easier. Too bad we don't have it on Kwaj. Some shots from the lower part of the mountain.
Laura ripping it up at her first snowboard lesson.

These cars had only been parked there since around 10:30AM and it was only about 5:30PM when I took this photo. Look at all the snow!

This is Derek's volvo after being parked for only about four hours!

Snow, Snow, Old Friends, and More Snow!!! Makes For A Great Day!!!!

2006-12-24T16:28:00.000-08:00

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Alaska...Whoooooo Hoooooooo!!! Brandon is back, and playing in the snow again!

Yesterday Laura, Jones -aka- Derek Jotzat, and I went up to Alyeska in Girdwood Alaska to get in some turns; and did we pick a good time to go! Can you say powder? Lots and lots of powder. It was a little rough at first, the light was flat and the snow was coming down so hard that I couldn't see where I was going. In the four hours we were there we must have got between 8-12 inches of snow judging by how much was on the car when we got back to it. Visibility became much better after they turned the lights on...and then it was on!!! I wish I had more time, I actually contemplated cancelling the rest of my trip and spending the next month on the slopes. I don't think the rest of the family would appreciate that though.

Derek is a guy that I shared a house with in college. I just found out he was in AK the week before we got here. Turns out he moved here about a month ago from Colorado. It was good to catch up.

This was Laura's first time snowboarding and she did great; she's a natural. She kept switching back and forth going just as easily in either direction. She can't decide if she's goofy or regular. But I guess she doesn't have to...that's my girl!
Laura all bundled up registering for her first snowboarding lesson.

My buddy Derek approves of the ski conditions.
Laura during her lesson.

US Tour

2006-12-17T14:16:00.000-08:00

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Hey all we are about to start our Tour of the US. Time to go visit the Folks and immediate family members as well as hook up with a few old friends along the way! We wanted to stop and see everyone but just couldn't fit it all in.

December 19th: Arrive in Baltimore, MD
December 20th: Arrive in Anchorage, AK (WoooHooo! Snow! I get to ride my snowboard!)December 27th: Arrive in Seattle, WA
December 30th: Arrive in Frederick, MD
January 5th: Arrive in Chicago, IL
January 7th: Arrive in Detroit, MI
January 12th: Arrive in West Palm Beach, FL (will be checking out the club scene in South Beach Miami!)
January 15th: Back in Baltimore, MD
January 16th: Arrive in Honolulu, HI
January 17th fly across the international date line and jump a day into the future; so...
....January 18th Back on Kwaj.

Wow we are going to rack up some flight miles in the next 30 days. This should keep us in elite status with the airlines for another couple years. Maybe Laura and I will use some miles to go to Bali in May, that and I'm sure I'll have enough to take care of my tickets for the big surf trip to Pohnpei in February or March.

Hope to see some of you soon!

Phoebus

2006-12-14T20:27:00.000-08:00

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OK, my friend Alex suggested we come up with a name to call the fetus, so we can talk to it or refer to it without calling it "it". Well a few of us were sitting around my living room going through baby books, when I came across the name Phoebus. As a lame joke I suggested the name as a potential name for our baby to Laura. Immediately my former friends (kidding about the former part) started laughing and yelled out “That’s it! – Phoebus!!!”

So now our fetus has a nick name and yes it’s Phoebus.

The meaning behind the name is much cooler than the name sounds. My Grandfather just sent me some info about the name. Apparently Phoebus literally means, "the radiant one". In Greek mythology, an epithet of Apollo because of his connection with the sun or as descendant of the Titaness Phoebe (his grandmother). The Romans venerated him as Phoebus Apollo.
The Lamp of Phoebus, the sun.

Baby's First Picture!!!

2006-12-12T15:42:00.000-08:00

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Dr. Horner giving Laura her first ultrasound.

Well here it is! I know, I know...whenever your friends show you an ultrasound photo you look at it and say "yeah I see it", when really all you see is a page of grainy black and white fuzz similar to the "snow" on the old televisions when they lost the signal. In fact it seems that it was easier to see Bigfoot or the Loch Ness monster in those now infamous poor quality photo hoaxes.

Well the baby is there, laying on it’s back, and there is just one of them. Two arms, two legs (so the doctor tells me), a huge head (takes after it's dad), and I could see the little heart beating (I got it on video too). How cool.

8 weeks 2 days. That means the baby is due around July 21st, 2007. Looks like there is a chance the baby could share it's birthday with my Dad. Wouldn't that be a cool birthday present for Grandpa!

Pregnancy: Hormones and Morning Sickness

2006-12-12T15:08:00.000-08:00

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“Hormone” comes from the Greek word hormao, a substance that starts, urges on, initiates, irritates, stimulates and excites.
Powerful stuff those hormones. Laura had just been saying how she has nearly made it through this first part of the pregnancy almost symptom free (except for the frequent trips to the bathroom…every 30 minutes). That is until the other day when she started balling because she couldn’t find her snorkel before we went on a boat trip. Now keep in mind we do have four other snorkels that she could have used, but when I suggested that, she replied while wailing, with tears steaming, “but I can’t, I don’t know who might have used those. BWAAAHHHAAHAHAAAAA….BWAAAAAAHHAAAUUUHHHHAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaa……” So after some hugging, coaxing, and wiping away of tears off to the store she went to buy a new snorkel while our friends and I all waited on the boat for her to show, our group trip delayed for about an hour. Oh and during the entire 4 hour trip she may have used the snorkel for a total of about 5 minutes.

Around 3AM the next morning is when the next set of symptoms showed. The dreaded morning sickness. I woke to the sounds of dry heaving. I was so proud of her though, because this time she actually made it to the bathroom to throw up. Our history has been a little different. She has thrown up on me more than once in the bedroom since we’ve been together. So what does this mean to me? It means I have much to look forward to. Instead of my dear wife throwing up on me I will soon have a new baby to do that…and you know what? I’m really looking forward to it…all of it.

I'm gonna be a Dad!

2006-11-16T12:19:00.000-08:00

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Laura went to the Doctor Wednsday to confirm the results of the tests she took at home, and great news. I'm going to be a father!!! Wooooooo hoooooooo!!!!

Looking for Big Wednesday

2006-08-30T15:24:00.000-07:00

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As Super Typhoon Ioke passes a few hundred miles north of us we were hoping for some epic surf. So some friends and I took off from work early to go find it. Not what we had expected or hoped for; but we were able to find a few waves. Here are a couple pics from yesterday.

Pictured in the photos is my best bud Miguel Busquets and Paul McGrew.

Photos courtesy of John Breen

Mother Nature One, Brandon ....

2006-08-17T16:38:00.000-07:00

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Big swell this week, and some great waves. Unfortunately my enjoyment was short lived as one of those large waves bounced me off the reef a few times. I'm OK though, just really sore right now. I was most upset about the new $60 pair of surf shorts that got shredded by the antler coral I got rolled through.

This is just part of the beauty mark left from my initial bounce. I could only wear pants that where a few inches bigger in the waist for the next few weeks because of all the swelling.

A Stormy Night

2006-07-21T14:27:00.000-07:00

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I love watching lightning. The other night we had an amazing electrical storm on the atoll. I woke up thinking “what jet would be flying out this time of night” and then with another flash of lightning I realized that it was thunder and not the sound of a jet engine. We haven’t had too many large electrical storms on Kwaj in the three and a half years that I’ve lived here. So this one was even more unexpected. It seemed that we were averaging at least five strikes a minute on our little island for a while that night. The flashes lit up the sky brighter than day and the thunder was rolling non stop. A pretty exciting show. Reminds me of those times as a young child in Michigan watching the big electrical storms roll through.

If you see my Dad this weekend, don't forget to wish him a happy birthday!!!!

Lost and Found

2006-07-04T15:22:00.000-07:00

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We survived another 4th of July celebration on Kwajalein. Another win for our team this weekend. I think that’s four years and a row now, that we’ve won the 4th of July beach volleyball tournament. I made seven gallons of sangria for the day at the beach. It was all gone by nightfall. We had a little interruption in the festivities this year. I decided to sponsor a treasure hunt for the kids. Well kind of…what really happened is that I had to take my wedding band off during the first volleyball match. I put it in a bag and when I went to retrieve it, it was gone. Not good. Had everyone on the beach sifting through the sand. I started offering little kids a $200 reward if they found the ring. Next thing I know we have the beach covered with little kids sifting through the sand. And wouldn’t you know it worked, a little girl is now $200 richer and I have the ring back! Whew!!! After getting drenched in a sudden downpour; we finished the night off with another great fireworks show over the Lagoon. They really do a great job with that here. I haven’t really seen any other place that rivals the fireworks show that they put on out here in either volume or duration. Pretty impressive for such a small island community.

Laura is now a Betty.

2006-06-20T13:54:00.000-07:00

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Good surf this weekend. On a whim Laura decided she would come out with us and give it a go, I couldn’t believe it. I thought she must have been still half asleep when she said she’d go with us that morning. But she did great! She caught her first wave on her first attempt, and was showing no fear out there. We all sat outside the break waiting to see her board come flying back over the wave but it never did. She rode it all the way in and had this huge ear to ear grin on her face the whole way as she paddled back out! She was hooked! After that she was going after the biggest waves she could find. We had a wonderful time. To complete the weekend the very next day she tried windsurfing (she was hurting too bad from some nasty board rash to go back out surfing the next morning, that soft top ate her up pretty bad) while Miguel and I worked on his Cape Dory. To think just a short while ago she hated even getting wet and was scared to death of being anywhere near sharks. It didn’t seem to bother her this weekend. We had a grey reef shark hanging out with us the whole time we where surfing. By the way, we where surfing in a spot called the shark pit; so to even have gotten her to swim out into a place called the shark pit was an accomplishment in itself.

The last photo is of the aftermath of Laura's attempt at her last wave of the day. I wish I could have snapped this a few seconds earlier so you could have seen the look on her face as she started to perl (perl = nose of the board goes under). Her eyes were as big around as saucers.

Work and Play on the Atoll

2006-06-15T14:38:00.000-07:00

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I know… I know, you are all waiting to see the photos from the Amsterdam and Pohnpei trips. I see that you all have been checking in at the website ShareOurLife.com and I’ll try and find some time to get them up. It just takes so long to load photos with my slow internet connection (never able to connect any faster than 22 kbps, no broadband out here yet!) and more than 80% of the time the upload or post fails so I have to keep trying over and over again until it goes through. Really busy at work. The manager I was working with moved on, now it's time to train a new one. I went surfing last night, waves were pretty small. Just ankle breakers. I still had fun. It's like meditation time for me, getting out in the water helps me clear my head and relax. What's my friend Miguel call it? "Going to the temple." It's as close to a religious experience that I have ever come. :) Paddling is great exercise too. Expecting a 7-9 foot swell out of the South any day now. I went fishing this last weekend. It's been a while. Slow day for fishing, caught one small tuna, turned him into poke (Hawaiian dish made with cubes of raw fish) for Scott's birthday party the next night, good stuff. I also got a few photos of dolphins while out fishing this weekend. So it was still a good day. I'm waiting on my replacement power inflator from Halcyon now. I hope it gets here soon so we can get in some more scuba diving. I'm kind of excited about it now that I have the new underwater camera housing. Now I'll be able to share some of the underwater world with the rest of you. I'll have to swim out into the waves with it and get some surfing photos of my friends too. Take care, talk to you all later!

Back at Work

2006-06-02T20:34:00.000-07:00

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Pohnpei was fun but now it's time to get back to work. Coming up is the busiest time of year for me at work. No one in my department is allowed to take any time off between July 1st and October 31st as we are busy putting together next years budget for the project during that time. That means long hours in the office and less time out playing. Oh well, no traveling for a few months, but there is plenty of fun stuff to do around here. Take care...

Pohnpei and back

2006-06-01T16:06:00.000-07:00

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Had a great time in Pohnpei; and yes my underwater camera housing arrived right before I left. I got some great video of a large manta ray that swam right up to me and some shots of Laura and I playing in the waterfalls. Pohnpei is beautiful, covered with tropical fruit trees. Hawaii must have been like that before it was developed and commercialized. We visited the ancient ruins of Nan Mandol, saw the giant stone currency used previously by the natives (Damn, I just realized I forgot to go back and take a picture of that, maybe next time), swam with manta rays, played in the waterfalls, had a jungle adventure with our taxi cab driver, bought a bunch of native arts and crafts, and ate a lot of great food. I think I’ll be going back for another visit. Honestly I didn't want to leave.

Waiting for the Mail

2006-05-23T18:01:00.000-07:00

Hi Mom Happy Birthday!

I’m starting to get excited about going to Pohnpei. It’s only a couple of days away!

I’m hoping that my underwater camera housing arrives before we leave, so I can get some good shots of the manta rays, the submerged ruins at Nan Mandol, and of the giant eels in the pools under the waterfalls. Maybe that is just wishful thinking though. The mail planes have been few and far between lately. The ATI plane that brings our mail keeps breaking down and our mail has been backed up for little while now. I imagine most of my packages have been sitting along the runway at Hickam AFB in Hawaii for a while now. It would be nice to get some fresh produce in too, that and my new skateboards.

I took up surfing recently and have really been enjoying it. I’ve been out three times now. My first time I did a lot of paddling, caught no waves and managed to get really tired and sore. The second time I caught a few waves and had a blast just riding in lying on my belly. This last time I managed to get bounced off the reef. Nothing big, I walked away with only a few minor scrapes. It actually kind of makes me feel more like a real surfer. Next time I try and stand up. Previously I haven’t been in any real hurry to do that as we are surfing some pretty shallow reef breaks.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

ShareOurLife

2006-05-23T15:21:00.000-07:00

I set up this blog and my website at ShareOurLife.com to share my life and adventures with my friends and family. I live on a small tropical island in the middle of the Pacific and want to be able to give those people a glimpse of my life.