Please find him....

It's times like this that we realize how dangerous their jobs are and how small our community is... 

1 still missing in Arabian Sea Hawkeye crash

By Andrew Tilghman - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Mar 31, 2010 14:36:18 EDT

One crew member remains missing nearly seven hours after an E-2C Hawkeye crashed into the North Arabian Sea, a Navy official said.
A mechanical failure forced the crew of four to bail out of the plane; a search-and-rescue team rescued three crew members within 30 minutes of the crash, according to a statement from the Navy’s 5th Fleet in Bahrain.
The Navy withheld the names of the crew members pending notification of their families.
The Hawkeye, from Norfolk, Va.-based Carrier Airborne Early Warning Squadron 121, was returning to the carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower following a mission supporting operations in Afghanistan.
The crash occurred at about 2 p.m. local time Wednesday, which is 5 a.m. on the East Coast. The crash site was about five miles from the Eisenhower.
Crew members contacted the ship about a mechanical problem and told the tower they planned to do a “controlled bailout” from the plane, said Lt. Matthew Allen, a spokesman for 5th Fleet.
The carrier air wing dispatched a search and rescue teams immediately, and several other rescue aircraft from nearby ships began assisting in the search shortly afterward Navy officials said.
It was at least the third major mishap involving an E-2C Hawkeye in recent years.
In August 2007, Lts. Ryan Betton, Cameron Hall and Jerry Smith were killed when their Hawkeye crashed in the Atlantic Ocean off North Carolina. An investigation was unable to determine the cause of the crash, according to a copy of the Judge Advocate General final report — known as a JAGMAN —- obtained by Navy Times. The plane catapulted off the deck of the carrier Harry S. Truman and crashed into the water moments later. The carrier never received any emergency radio transmissions or acknowledgement by the mishap crew, according to the report.
In March 2009, an E-2 Hawkeye veered off a runway in Norfolk and broke its landing gear. An investigation found pilot error and brakes that did not slow down the aircraft quickly enough were the cause.

I think this is why we're friends...

Not only did we buy matching I heart Obama shirts from the city of Obama, Japan (the back says "the Obama loves Obama"), but we both wore them sightseeing the next day. That's a good friend.

Stella Bear

I went to the other side of Japan this weekend to Fukui prefecture to visit Hillary. I took Stella with me on my little adventure too. She was a little scared of the loud trains, but did great! On Saturday, she stayed with Hillary's friend while we checked out a neighboring town (Obama! more on that later) and when I got back Kim had taken these amazing photos! How cute is my dog?!

Here are just a few of her awesome pictures. Thanks Kim!

Seriously, she's too cute. :)

Guam: Day 5

My last full day in Guam was full of laying by the pool and snorkeling again. Since Glenn had to work in the morning and took the rental car so he could come back fast, I didn't go far. I read a bunch of my book and worked on my tan for Badman Ball next month.

We also went snorkeling with Jared in front of the hotel. It was great at first because the water is only about 18 inches deep and you could see everything pretty well, but by the time we got about 200 yards out near the breaker, the waves were picking us up and pushing us into the coral and a little too close to the sea urchin for my liking. Jared made it out past the breaking point, but I turned around when about a dozen of these were inches from my face and body. No thanks!

It was extreme snorkeling if that is possible. :) Good thing we have booties under our flippers because at some point we had to stop swimming and walk because the water was too shallow.

My last day in Guam was short because I was leaving for the airport around 10 am. We woke up to rainy skies and it seemed fitting that I should be leaving that day.

These pictures were the view from our hotel room. Time to leave, I think. It's definitely been hard to get back to my normal schedule and routine after lounging for 5 days!

Family Picture

I can't believe how old Connor is starting to look. Mom and Dad went to Louisiana to visit A, L, C & B this past weekend. I wish I could have gone too!

Guam: Day 4

Glenn had all of Sunday off so we decided to explore more of the island. Guam is only 35 miles long and 4-9 miles across so you can drive around the entire island in several hours. We decided to check out the south part of the island and then do some shopping at Big Navy.

We started our day by the pool (of course) and then for lunch we headed to Jeff's Pirate Cove. It is a famous restaurant in Guam that served delicious American and Greek food. It's hard to find Greek food in Japan so Glenn and I both ordered it. Here is our view from our table at lunch. Beautiful!

We walked around Jeff's Pirate Cove grounds and checked out the WWII bunker. Before going to Guam, I didn't even know that part of WWII was fought here. I guess that's why it is part of America now though.

Jeff even had a "museum" of all the stuff he has found on the beach at the restaurant. Kinda random.

After lunch we headed south to Talofofo Falls which some friends had been to in the past. The falls were pretty, but the part itself was kinda sad. We skipped the haunted house and Lover's Land and headed straight down the cable car to the falls.

Also at the Talofofo Falls part was Yokoi's Cave. Yokoi was a Japanese soldier who fought on Guam and lived in the jungle for 28 years after the war ended because he thought the war was still going on! They finally captured him in 1972 and sent him back to Japan. Here is the cave where he lived for almost 30 years. We couldn't go inside, but it is only about a meter tall and about 10 meters long.

The park map also had an area labeled as "Field of Barbeque". Glenn was quite excited about this, but sadly, no barbeque. Just some picnic tables and grills. Disappointment.

We took the cable car back to the top after one last photo-op. The park was fun as long as you had a sense of humor about it, which we did so we enjoyed ourselves.

Who doesn't love baby pigs?

We continued our drive around the southern end of Guam, enjoying the lookouts and "pets" along the side of the road (cows, goats, chickens) tied to broken cars. Interesting. We stopped at Big Navy and did some shopping- they had shoes my size and clothes and so much to choose from. Yay! Glenn of course was drawn to the LED tv's that he thinks he is buying this winter. Still TBD. :)

We went to a nice steak house for dinner and walked through the aquarium next to our hotel on the way home.

It felt nice to be in America for a day! Only one more full day in Guam.

Guam: Day 3

Glenn had to work on Saturday morning so a few of us organized a scuba trip with a local dive shop. My dive buddy was Tom, our squadron's intel officer, and Chris and Nicole, the FNG and his wife came too!

We were suppose to go to The Crevice, but it was off limits on Saturday so we went to the Blue Hole and the American Tanker wreck instead. As a new-bee diver that I am, each dive lasted about 30 minutes. More experienced divers are better with their air and buoyancy and can last about 45-60 minutes. I'll get there though!

I don't have a waterproof camera so here are some google images of the Blue Hole. It is a underwater cave that starts on the bottom of the ocean and then comes out on rock cliff about 150 feet down. We only went in to the cave but didn't go deep enough to come out the other side. This was my deepest dive to date to about 82 feet.

Our second dive was to the American Tanker that I posted a picture of earlier in the week.

After we got back, I met up with Glenn who was drinking beers by the pool and we went to dinner and then to Mac and Marti's to enjoy the band and some drinks!

I wish I had gotten a picture of the awesome 80's hairband that was playing. I'm not sure they've gotten haircuts since the 80's!

A New Record

Since most of the products at the commissary (base grocery store) come from the States, they have to do some special things to get them here before they spoil.

A prime example- ULTRA-pasteurized milk.

I purchased this carton of milk on March 16th...

I think 6 weeks is a new record!

Happy Birthday Laura! (/I'm a bad friend)

Laura's birthday while while I was in Guam last week so I never posted about it! I'm sorry! We need to catch up soon and I need to hear about these diamonds you received! I hope it was a good one!

Miss you!

Happy Birthday Gizelle!

Monday was Gizelle's birthday so Nicole and I took her to La Ricetta for dinner. Her hubby is still in Guam so it was just a girls' night. Happy Birthday!

I made her cupcakes and Nicole bought her deodorant because she has a slight obsession with it! I hope it was a good one!

Wow, I'm a giant when I wear heels and my short friends don't!

Guam: Day 2

Glenn had Friday off so we got to sleep in, get some coffee and head to the pool! That is vacation! We didn't have a whole lot of plans for the day, which was wonderful. We did a lot of this-

Reading the newspaper, some magazines and enjoying the sun. Can you tell I was happy? In the afternoon, we headed to the Navy base to go snorkeling at Gab Gab Beach. It would not be a bad gig to be stationed in Guam. All the diving and beach time I could ask for.

Here are the guys at the base after snorkeling. The day before a few guys saw a giant sea turtle. No giant marine life for us, but tons of neat fish to see.

After snorkeling for a few hours, we stopped by the Navy Exchange (NEX) in Guam which was HUGE! So jealous. We grabbed a few things and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for dinner. We had Thai food, the most amazing Mexican food and some great steak while we were in Guam. With the exception of Thai food, all things that are hard to get at a restaurant in Japan. Glenn had to work the next morning at 4:30 am so we didn't stay out late. Sleeping in and going to bed early, vacation is rough! :)

Guam: Day 1

I left my house at 6 am on Thursday and arrived in sunny Guam around 3 pm the same day. Getting to Narita airport takes about 2 1/2 hours by car, train and then bus. And that was all before I even got on a airplane. I did end up leaving a littler earlier than I had to so I wandered around the mall at the airport. I found wasabi, cantaloupe, cherry blossom and buttered corn kit kats! Success! The corn ones were disgusting, but the cantaloupe might just be my new favorite. I also saw several other new flavors, but didn't feel like spending $10 on the big souvenir size boxes they had.

During my descent into the Guam airport, I noticed the cars and houses below and suddenly got very nervous that I was going to have to drive on the RIGHT side of the road again. I just kept thinking, "right side, right side, right side" when I picked up my rental car.

I met Glenn in the room and we headed straight to the pool to enjoy the last few hours of sunshine...it felt GOOD!

We met up with a new couple in the squadron, Chris and Nicole, and went for dinner at a great Thai restaurant. Glenn had gotten up at 4 am that morning so we didn't make it a late night, but I did enjoy being able to read the restaurants and store signs as well as the 'Welcome to the United States of America' sign when I got off the airplane (as well as the shorter U.S. Resident line at customs/immigration!) during my first day in Guam.

Guam is a huge Japanese tourist destination so it didn't feel entirely like we had left Japan. Everything was just written in English first, then Japanese instead of vice versa around here. There are of course signs like these even though it is America. Overy berry? Ovary berry? Or is that a berry next to Very Berry. Someone should have thought more about this.

You tell me....

Saw this on a car I was driving behind the other day. Save the turtles? I support the turtles at war? Crazy Js...

Guam was Great!

Here's a picture from my diving trip in Guam. We did two dives on Saturday afternoon. Glenn isn't certified yet so I went with a couple other people from the squadron. Here I am with Tom and Chris in front of the American Tanker. The deck of the tanker was about 70 feet and the bottom rested at about 120 feet. This picture is near the cabins on top of the deck. You could swim through a few of the rooms behind us and well as below the deck. Very cool!

Someone even added an American flag to the ship! We also dove the Blue Hole which is a famous area of Guam, but no pictures there unfortunately. I wish we had time for more diving. The Blue Hole was my deepest dive to date at 82 feet. The visibility was 100+ feet though. Amazing! I'm definitely hooked!

Dave & Jen Visit Japan! Day 10

I didn't take any pictures of Dave and Jen's last day in town. Mostly because I was exhausted I think. If you haven't noticed yet, we went non-stop for 10 days! Dave and Jen were headed to the airport on their last day, but their flight didn't leave until 7 pm so we decided to fit in a little more shopping and sightseeing before they left!

I was planning on putting them on the YCAT to take them to the airport. It is a bus that leaves from Yokohama train station and takes them directly to the airport. It cost a little bit more than the tolls to the airport ($60 round trip) but it saves me the 4 hours of driving. I'm glad they are pretty flexible! The bus worked out perfectly too. We went to the train station, couldn't buy tickets yet so we dropped off their bags at a 24 hour bag check for 300 yen/bag (cheaper than the lockers!) and headed down the train line a few stops to Chinatown!

I've been to Chinatown before but with the being Chinese, she loves to check them out. It was nice having someone who knew what all the food on the menu was! We tried out some dimsum and some fried rice and a few other dishes. Fantastic! Now I know a fun Chinese restaurant to try out when we're in the area.

We checked out a few of the temples which were decorated for the Chinese New Year in February and did some shopping. Oh and we bought a real Chinese steamed bun that did not disappoint Jen. She was a happy camper. The weather wasn't so nice this day so we walked around for awhile and then decided to head back to the train station so they could relax on the bus.

I waved good bye to them and then headed home to teach an English class. What a great trip! I'm so glad they made it out to Japan to visit. I know it's not cheap, but it was wonderful having you both. Miss you already!

Happy St. Patrick's Day Uncle Pig!

My dad is down in Franklin, Kentucky this week for the funeral of my great Uncle Pig on Thursday. I'm glad my dad could make it down there to be with the family. Here's to you Uncle Pig! He would have been 96 the month!

What's for Dinner? Seared Scallops over White Beans

Glenn bought a new cookbook a few weeks ago called Cook This, Not That. It's based on the series of books Eat This, Not That, but this book teaches you how to make restaurant favorites in a much healthier way. Since we always see delicious looking seafood at the grocery store, we decided to try a scallop recipe. I've only cooked scallops a few times, but I was surprised how easy they are too cook! The hardest part was making sure I didn't over cook them (which I probably did a little, but they still turned out ok). The recipe only took about 25 minutes from start to finish (not counting the 20 minutes I tried to keep everything warm when Glenn was late home from work :) ). I only had to chop 1/2 an onion and a few strips of bacon. Easy!

Just a side note- Glenn and I used only 1 can of Navy beans, 3 slices of bacon (cause it's bacon), 1/2 of one lemon and we had a dozen medium sized (1.5" diameter) scallops and the recipe was the perfect for 2 people. So I'm not sure what they are talking about when they say it serves 4 people. Maybe as a first course. If you click on the recipe above, you should be able to view it larger. You should definitely try it, it was delicious!

Tuesday 10: Crazy/Sometimes Cute things to wear at Disney

1. Awesome hats.

2. Headbands galore.

3. $400 leather boots in Frontierland.

4. More awesome winter hats.

5. Tigger tails.

6. Tigger jumpsuits.

7. Dumbo!

8. Monsters, Inc. hat.

9. Everyone had a ticket holder in their favorite character.

10. Adorable mini Minnie!