I am back in Hawaii. One of the biggest benefits of this is that I can skype with the boys again. Last night, right before bed, Tracy go them all on and we got to talk for a few minutes.
Rhys was standing, so all I could see was the top of his head. I know he has missed Daddy. We were both happy to see each other. He had a lot to say, most of which I couldn't hear.
Owyn was sitting on Mama's lap. He just kept smiling and waving and blowing me kisses. He was so excited to see me. I was not sure that he was missing me, but I have no doubt now.
It was great to see them. Tomorrow I get home and can actually hold them all again. I can't wait.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
The Rhino
Tracy and the boys were watching Little Einsteins. This is Owyn's favorite show. Every time he gets to buy a book, it is "Einsteins!". Every time we ask what show he wants to watch, "Einsteins!". Every time he gets to take something to school for show and tell, "Einsteins!".
In the current episode the kids were on a safari and Tracy was having the boys name the animals. When the rhino came on she said "rhino". Rhys said "rhino". Owyn said "No, Daddy".
The kid is scary smart.
In the current episode the kids were on a safari and Tracy was having the boys name the animals. When the rhino came on she said "rhino". Rhys said "rhino". Owyn said "No, Daddy".
The kid is scary smart.
Saturday, August 22, 2009
Missing Daddy
Rhys has a list of things that will happen once Daddy gets home.
1. "Daddy will take me to Rhys and Daddy's store."
2. "I will stop having accidents when Daddy gets home."
3. "Daddy will get me a new comic book when he gets home."
Rhys and Daddy are missing each other a lot.
Owyn is missing having Mama to himself. The last four nights he has gotten up in the middle of the night to cuddle with Mama.
Daddy is missing Owyn a lot too, even if he doesn't miss Daddy.
This has been a very difficult deployment for all us, much harder than last year. I will be very happy to get it over with and get home.
1. "Daddy will take me to Rhys and Daddy's store."
2. "I will stop having accidents when Daddy gets home."
3. "Daddy will get me a new comic book when he gets home."
Rhys and Daddy are missing each other a lot.
Owyn is missing having Mama to himself. The last four nights he has gotten up in the middle of the night to cuddle with Mama.
Daddy is missing Owyn a lot too, even if he doesn't miss Daddy.
This has been a very difficult deployment for all us, much harder than last year. I will be very happy to get it over with and get home.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Accidents
Rhys has been having many accidents. I am hoping that it is because I am gone and that he will get better when I get home. I suspect this may just be whistling in the wind.
He has a new teacher at day care. This has caused us many problems in the past. He needs to be reminded during the day. I also think that when he goes before nap he does not always do a great job of getting it all out.
He will be five in a couple more months. He is way too old to be peeing himself at school. I'm concerned.
He has a new teacher at day care. This has caused us many problems in the past. He needs to be reminded during the day. I also think that when he goes before nap he does not always do a great job of getting it all out.
He will be five in a couple more months. He is way too old to be peeing himself at school. I'm concerned.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Strep II
Owyn now has strep. The little guy is completely miserable. Tracy is just trying to get through the days and hoping that Rhys doesn't get it as well. The picture was Owyn before he got sick.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Two Schools
Rhys went back to school on Monday. The bus picked him up from day care, but he had a new teacher who did not make him go to the bathroom before he left. He was so excited that he had an accident, so was not wearing the cute outfit that Mama had picked out for him.
Nana picked him up and took him to swim lessons. He was very excited to see her. He moved up to the next level in swimming. The only thing holding him back was his kicking but he finally figured it.
Rhys loves pre-school. All summer long he was very sad that he did not have his "two-school". This year he has the same teacher and some of the same kids, as last year. His friend from his pre-pre-school, the year before last is in his class this year as well. Ryan and Rhys were the only two kids in their program so they had a lot of time together.
Nana picked him up and took him to swim lessons. He was very excited to see her. He moved up to the next level in swimming. The only thing holding him back was his kicking but he finally figured it.
Rhys loves pre-school. All summer long he was very sad that he did not have his "two-school". This year he has the same teacher and some of the same kids, as last year. His friend from his pre-pre-school, the year before last is in his class this year as well. Ryan and Rhys were the only two kids in their program so they had a lot of time together.
Wednesday, August 5, 2009
Strep
Tracy has step. This is the second time in the last eight months. It is a shame that I am not there to take care of her. My dad stopped by tonight and helped to get the boys to bed.
Hard times for Tracy.
Hard times for Tracy.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
SCUBA
I'm in Hawaii right now, waiting to deploy to Korea. I was supposed to be here for three days. I've been here for a week and a half now. This doesn't suck.
I have some SCUBA gear. It is all virgin. I did not bring it because I was not going to have time to dive. I should know better by now.
This last weekend I got my PADI Advanced cert. I dove twice on Saturday and three times on Sunday. When I am out here I dive with Island Divers. They own their own boat (there are only two or three companies on the island that do, everyone else rents space on one of those.)
On Saturday our dives were in a relatively uninteresting spot, which I dived in last year. They were both shallow and were all about skills. First dive was navigation, which is not very different from land nav and is not all that interesting, but does take the whole dive to do.
The second dive was Peak Performance Buoyancy. This is interesting stuff, very useful and was a lot of fun. Again, this was a skills dive so mostly just working on that instead of enjoying the dive.
The seas and winds were also pretty nasty on Saturday. I was feeling a little sea sick, which made things less fun. All in all I was glad when the day was done.
Sunday was a whole different kettle of frog fish. This was a three tank dive. We started at 0830 and went until about 1500. We had a fun, forty minute boat ride from Hawaii Kai to Waikiki.
Our first dive was off the beach at Waikiki on a wreck, the YO-257. This was a Navy yard oiler, sunk by the local submarine tour company to give them something to look at. The bottom there is at 100 feet, making it my deepest dive to that point. We dropped down the line and the wreck loomed out of the dark. Visibility was about forty feet, even at that depth. You have to love Hawaii for the great vis.
We saw some rays, green sea turtles and a couple of frog fish. These things look like a chunk of reef. Even if you know exactly what you are looking at they are very hard to spot. One of them swam off and it just looked like a floating turd. We live in an amazing world.
While we were down there one of the subs pulled up. It was very cool to be diving five feet away from a submarine. SCUBA is a much better way to visit than a sub. No regrets about getting my cert at all.
After this dive we headed in to the fuel dock to top up and get some chow. It also gave us a nice long surface interval. The fuel dock food was iffy. The dude had three crock pots going with food in them. He made sandwiches bare handed, wiping his nose in between ingredients. I went for a hot dog.
The second dive was on another wreck, the Sea Tiger. This was a Korean ship, rumored to be a smuggler. I can't back that up with facts or anything. The deck of this one was 100 feet, the bottom at 130. I stayed at deck level.
My rented depth gauge was not working. I discovered this at depth on the first dive. We got down there, I looked at it, and it said 200 feet. I thought "Either we are all screwed or this thing is broken." I went with broken and stayed just above my buddy the whole day.
There was not much wild life around the Sea Tiger but it was a very cool wreck. Parts of the ship were falling off and there was debris all around it. We went into the bridge and my buddy, who was also the instructor, showed me the Korean instruments with Hangul symbols on them.
Our third dive was a drift dive on Fantasy Reef. We had another nice long surface interval driving from Waikiki back around Diamond Head and to the new site. Conditions were fairly rough, with a nice swell and a brisk wind. We did a negative buoyancy entry, since the boat was drifting pretty quickly.
We were split into two groups to make things easy. We dropped down to the bottom, fifty three feet at the deepest, and just let the current carry us along the reef. There were fish everywhere, six foot eels, a green sea turtle that was bigger than I am. I saw a porcupine fish about a foot long. The best thing was a lion fish. The dive master said that in over 2000 dives in Hawaii he has only seen them eight times before.
When the first diver signaled low on air we grouped up and headed to the surface. This was my first safety stop in open water with no line to hang onto. Since my depth gauge was not working I just tried to stay at the same depth as my buddy. It was a good chance to practice my peak performance buoyancy. It still needs some work.
When we were done with the safety stop we surfaced and got aboard the boat. Then we drove for fifteen minutes to pick up the second group. It was a good object lesson in how the wind can push a high profile boat a LOT faster than low profile divers.
Everyone got aboard fine and we headed back in to the pier. I got everything signed off for my advanced cert and the card should arrive at home while I am in Korea.
Last year I got to dive with my friend, but he is no longer in this unit, so is not out here with me. He would have loved it, especially all the different fish I saw, as he is really into that stuff.
I can't wait to dive again.
I have some SCUBA gear. It is all virgin. I did not bring it because I was not going to have time to dive. I should know better by now.
This last weekend I got my PADI Advanced cert. I dove twice on Saturday and three times on Sunday. When I am out here I dive with Island Divers. They own their own boat (there are only two or three companies on the island that do, everyone else rents space on one of those.)
On Saturday our dives were in a relatively uninteresting spot, which I dived in last year. They were both shallow and were all about skills. First dive was navigation, which is not very different from land nav and is not all that interesting, but does take the whole dive to do.
The second dive was Peak Performance Buoyancy. This is interesting stuff, very useful and was a lot of fun. Again, this was a skills dive so mostly just working on that instead of enjoying the dive.
The seas and winds were also pretty nasty on Saturday. I was feeling a little sea sick, which made things less fun. All in all I was glad when the day was done.
Sunday was a whole different kettle of frog fish. This was a three tank dive. We started at 0830 and went until about 1500. We had a fun, forty minute boat ride from Hawaii Kai to Waikiki.
Our first dive was off the beach at Waikiki on a wreck, the YO-257. This was a Navy yard oiler, sunk by the local submarine tour company to give them something to look at. The bottom there is at 100 feet, making it my deepest dive to that point. We dropped down the line and the wreck loomed out of the dark. Visibility was about forty feet, even at that depth. You have to love Hawaii for the great vis.
We saw some rays, green sea turtles and a couple of frog fish. These things look like a chunk of reef. Even if you know exactly what you are looking at they are very hard to spot. One of them swam off and it just looked like a floating turd. We live in an amazing world.
While we were down there one of the subs pulled up. It was very cool to be diving five feet away from a submarine. SCUBA is a much better way to visit than a sub. No regrets about getting my cert at all.
After this dive we headed in to the fuel dock to top up and get some chow. It also gave us a nice long surface interval. The fuel dock food was iffy. The dude had three crock pots going with food in them. He made sandwiches bare handed, wiping his nose in between ingredients. I went for a hot dog.
The second dive was on another wreck, the Sea Tiger. This was a Korean ship, rumored to be a smuggler. I can't back that up with facts or anything. The deck of this one was 100 feet, the bottom at 130. I stayed at deck level.
My rented depth gauge was not working. I discovered this at depth on the first dive. We got down there, I looked at it, and it said 200 feet. I thought "Either we are all screwed or this thing is broken." I went with broken and stayed just above my buddy the whole day.
There was not much wild life around the Sea Tiger but it was a very cool wreck. Parts of the ship were falling off and there was debris all around it. We went into the bridge and my buddy, who was also the instructor, showed me the Korean instruments with Hangul symbols on them.
Our third dive was a drift dive on Fantasy Reef. We had another nice long surface interval driving from Waikiki back around Diamond Head and to the new site. Conditions were fairly rough, with a nice swell and a brisk wind. We did a negative buoyancy entry, since the boat was drifting pretty quickly.
We were split into two groups to make things easy. We dropped down to the bottom, fifty three feet at the deepest, and just let the current carry us along the reef. There were fish everywhere, six foot eels, a green sea turtle that was bigger than I am. I saw a porcupine fish about a foot long. The best thing was a lion fish. The dive master said that in over 2000 dives in Hawaii he has only seen them eight times before.
When the first diver signaled low on air we grouped up and headed to the surface. This was my first safety stop in open water with no line to hang onto. Since my depth gauge was not working I just tried to stay at the same depth as my buddy. It was a good chance to practice my peak performance buoyancy. It still needs some work.
When we were done with the safety stop we surfaced and got aboard the boat. Then we drove for fifteen minutes to pick up the second group. It was a good object lesson in how the wind can push a high profile boat a LOT faster than low profile divers.
Everyone got aboard fine and we headed back in to the pier. I got everything signed off for my advanced cert and the card should arrive at home while I am in Korea.
Last year I got to dive with my friend, but he is no longer in this unit, so is not out here with me. He would have loved it, especially all the different fish I saw, as he is really into that stuff.
I can't wait to dive again.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Caged no more
Yesterday Rhys and Mama were sitting downstairs, after nap, when they heard Owyn. Rhys told his Mama "You stay sitting Mama, I'll get Owyn". This was a new one, so Tracy went along, listening on the baby monitor.
What she heard was lots and lots of laughing and giggling. After a few minutes, down came Owyn with his brother. She is still not sure how he got out of the crib, but I would like to have been a fly on the wall for that one.
Both boys are growing up so fast.
What she heard was lots and lots of laughing and giggling. After a few minutes, down came Owyn with his brother. She is still not sure how he got out of the crib, but I would like to have been a fly on the wall for that one.
Both boys are growing up so fast.
R - H - Y - S
(From Tracy) So, this morning as I am typing Rhys comes in and I told him I had printed the letters to his name so he could trace them. He was very excited! I then asked him what the first letter of his name was and he said R then I asked what the next was he said H and so forth until he spelled his whole name. He got the first letter of Owyn’s name.
He even spelled it for me at 0200 when they called me this morning. He was also working on his brother's name but he kept getting fixated on the O. We often call Owyn "O", so can see how that would be enough for him.
He even spelled it for me at 0200 when they called me this morning. He was also working on his brother's name but he kept getting fixated on the O. We often call Owyn "O", so can see how that would be enough for him.
Big Beak
(From Tracy) Going to bed and Rhys put his animals away, after he and Owyn destroyed it, he points to his Penguin and baby and mama says “is that Rhys and mama”, Rhys says yes and then points to another penguin on his dresser and says Owyn, and then points to the Penguin with the long beak and say daddy. The joys of little boys.
I do have a rather large nose. I guess he is paying attention.
I do have a rather large nose. I guess he is paying attention.
Acting out
Tracy has been having a rough time with the boys while I am gone. Not only does she now have to do everything, but she is not getting that one day a week to sleep in that we both count on.
This weekend was especially trying. They boys were on a jag. Rhys especially. Finally he told her, "Mama, I'm being bad because I miss Daddy." You have to give him points for honesty. Also for being that self aware.
It's gonna be a long August for Tracy.
This weekend was especially trying. They boys were on a jag. Rhys especially. Finally he told her, "Mama, I'm being bad because I miss Daddy." You have to give him points for honesty. Also for being that self aware.
It's gonna be a long August for Tracy.
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