In Thailand, first full day.

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

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

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

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

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....

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

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

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!

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

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

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!?

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.

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

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.

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

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!

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

On Her Way to Her First Luau

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

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

Carys opens her Christmas presents with the Grandparents on Kauai.