infamous flag shot

John and Ang gave me the idea a couple years ago when they were taking Janie's picture with John every year when he got home from the annual fishing trip in Canada. John is scruffy faced from not shaving in an old beat up brimmed leather looking hat holding Sarah Jane on the front door step. So I started our own 'famous' shot in front of the flag around July 4th. I thought only fitting for a guy in uniform huh? Well, here's this years....




Sylvin said they have to stand next year. Getting too heavy for the old man.








I'm sure you remember this shot from last year?

Change of Command pics

Thanks for stopping by!

Geeze haven't been on here as much as I would have liked to keep this updated lately. Sorry for the negligence. It's been nice having Sylvin home and so we've been pretty busy.
Mehan and I went up to Andersen AFB to get some info about MAC flights to Japan. I've got a better working knowledge now how that might get me and the girls to Japan this summer. MAC flights are free on military planes or space A travel....they also let you long term park right in the parking lot on base for free! Have to be a little flexible and be willing to go in a moments notice but for free it's worth it. They fly into Yokota, Japan and then we've got to get to Yokosuka, Japan...but I've heard there's a bus that runs between the two places for free as well. Since Yokota and Yokosuka are completely West and East on one another, I'm sure that's going to save us some serious cash. There's a Navy Lodge on base and they're usually pretty good at being extremely affordable. Mehan and Kelsey are going too so I've got an extra lap to help hold one of the girls on the plane and someone to travel with. I hate flying...but that's irrelevant at this point. I guess I'm more excited about seeing Japan than what I thought. It'll help break up the big expanse of time that Sylvin will be gone too, so that'll be nice.
Sylvin's been so good at taking care of us while my arm heals. I think he finally has a perspective that I could have never explained to him. The girls I think are more bonded to him now than I've ever seen them before. They've actually snubbed me a couple times when someone gets hurt. So he must be doing something right. They are jabbering more and more each day. Getting into things, climbing and testing boundaries. They both can open the front door now, so the dead bolt is always locked. They know how to move a chair and climb onto the bathroom counter or turn the water on to wash their hands. They can climb up into their highchairs now to eat. We have a pub style table, it's small, but higher than normal if you know what I mean. so chairs are like barstool height. They also can climb into the car and get into their carseats too. Sylvin 'twinado' proofed their room. I finally took the super playard gate thingy down cause they had figured out how to climb over it and were letting themselves out of their room and getting into everything. He fixed the closet so they can't open it now, we moved the changing table out into the hallway and fixed their dresser so they can't open drawers and pull out all the clean clothes. He also bolted the dresser to the wall so it won't fall over in case they decided to climb on it. The rocker is still in there, but pulled way away from the wall so they can't climb and pull stuff down. Little monkeys. They're getting better at making words too. They literally run all over the back yard these days. We got them little trikes for their birthday and they're too short to sit on them and pedal, so they stand behind them and push them all over the yard. They can run fast, little turkies! We've been to the beach, to a couple of going away parties and lately we attended the change of command ceremony the ship had this past Friday. We got a new Captain on the ship. It was a very cool thing to be witness to. The old Captain even recognized Mehan and I as ombudsmans and thanked our efforts. We met the new Captain and his family. I was even introduced to a congresswoman and a mayor who strode up to me while I was talking to the new Captain's wife. Only on Guam! They had a big reception with food and drink after the ceremony. They had lots of local dishes, sashimi, which is raw fish without the facy sushi stuff. It was incredible! And I also tried a dish called Poki which was ........I'm a loss for words. I could eat it all day, everyday. I found a recipe for it.

* 2 pounds fresh tuna steaks, cubed (perferably Ahi, sushi grade)
* 1 cup soy sauceb(green label light Kikkoman's if you can find it)
* 3/4 cup chopped green onions
* 2 tablespoons sesame oil
* 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
* 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper (optional, but strongly suggested to add)
* 2 tablespoons finely chopped macadamia

You'll thank me you did make this I swear! Well, enjoy the pictures from the change of command. We left the girls at home with a sitter, I knew they wouldn't sit still for the whole thing and I wanted to be able to pay attention.
Love you all and miss you much more than you'll ever know!
Smooches from us all.