Just another day in paradise

It's funny, you live on a tropical island but never really appreciate how absolutely beautiful it is but once in a blue moon.  I mean really, I can see the ocean from my home.  I can make a short walk to the beach right by my house, but I get so caught up in the craziness of life with an infant (mixed with unbearable humidity) that I never make the trek there.  Today we decided to take advantage of the beautiful island we call home.

The Coats found this beautiful beach up by Camp Hansen not long ago.  The real trick to finding great beaches here is just simply taking out a map and finding  an area that is not overly populated.  And that's how they found this beautiful gem.

I really needed to find some shells and seaglass to fill the apothocary jars I recently purchased at the Navy gift shop and Louise told me this beach was perfect for that.  Boy was she right!  I found some pure gems to put in my home and i'll always remember just where I collected those shells.

It took some time, but as I combed the beach, I found some gorgeous shells!

Louise and London helping me find some shells.

 

But that's not all that was cool about this beach.  This beach had crystal clear warm water with lots of neat little critters to explore.  The kids had fun trying to catch the hundreds of fish that swam in the water with us.

The Coats family playing in the water.

 

This was the first time Zach was able to really appreciate the ocean.  Just like the dog, he had to find out the hard way that the water wasn't edible!  Neither was the sand!

Zach & Daddy enjoying the day together.

This trip reminded us of how we need to take advantage of the little time we have left on this pure Gem of an island and take in the stunning views!

 

The kids walking back to the car after a very enjoyable day...

The Lester Heights Tuna massacre!

So the guys have been discussing a fishing trip for a year now.  They were supposed to go last year, but ironically enough the night before they were supposed to leave- the boat they were supposed to go on got hit by another boat!  Let's face it- the chances of all the guys being around at the same time are very slim.  After all, this is military life!  It just so happened that all the guys happened to be around the same time today so the guys were finally able to go out to catch their families some good fish!

I took advantage of the day by working on my quilt with Wendy when I looked out the window at about 6 to see two trucks making their way up the cul de sac.  The men were back, and they had some very exciting loot to show off!

Beautiful, Yummy, Japanese Tuna!

Each guy (plus Alicia) caught at least 10 fish each!

Look what I got Krimp!

 

And what do we do after catching all that fish?  hold a neighborhood tuna massacre!  Here we go...

Fileting the fish

Beautiful fresh fish!

Alicia was the only girl who went with them, but she's without a doubt one of the boys.  She is sporting the look right here!

Shane- just a little bit dirty!

The kids all had a great time watching the show!

Some of them had just a little too much fun!

 

All in all it was quite an interesting time watching the 1st Lester Heights Tuna Massacre!  One more reason that Lester Heights is the place to be!

 

From left: Chris, Steve, Dima, Jon, Joe, Shane, Alicia, & Spencer

Thy Masquerade of Mrs. Ann Marie

Our neighbor, Ann Marie is without a doubt the most creative person I have met.  She is one of those amazing people who can make something spectacular out of anything.  And I mean that with all honesty.  She is also quite the planner.  She has been planning this party for months now, and her months of planning paid off with a spectacular evening had by all.

The theme?  A Masquerade Werewolf hunt!

The guest of honor?  Ann Marie

The guests? All of her crazy neighbors.

We received the most beautiful invites ever a month in advance.  Ann Marie put some really fun touches on them including addressing ours to "Baron & Baroness Stepanoff"  and even including a missing finger with the date and time written in beautiful handwriting!

When we were in the states, I searched and searched for something creative to wear to this party but could not find a thing.  I had planned on pulling something together with the clothing I have at home, but got a knock on my door just a few days before the event from our friend Lisa.  Lisa had purchased a dress for the party at the thrift shop, but it didn't fit her and she broke the zipper on it.  She thought it would fit me and offered it to me.  By the words she used to describe it, it sounded perfect.  It was only when she brought it over that I realized just how perfect it was.... for an 80's prom theme party!  I can't turn down an excuse to dress up in an ugly dress of course so I was excited to put it on.

Notice the bow?  This dress just SCREAMS 80's prom, but I couldn't resist it.  It reminded me of dressing up as a grandma with Jes and video taping goofy Richard Simmons exercise videos! (don't ask... I know we were nuts).

Of course when Lisa put it on, the zipper broke, so it took quite some time to get this dress on... Dima helped, it took about 15 minutes and this is how it looked...

The real surprise is the fact that it never fell apart and I didn't get pricked once!

The costumes were great... Dima dressed up too.  In the 3 years we've been married, I had yet to see him dressed up.  We have yet to spend 1 halloween together.

Dima, putting on the final touches

Everyone's costumes were amazing!

Steve, John, Spencer, & Joe

Wendy

Lisa looking amazing, as always

Rick & Katie were the common folk

For some reason, Joe didn't dress up...

Louise & Steve- the King and Queen

One of my favorite part of this evening was meeting all the wonderful new neighbors.  It was very sad to say goodbye to the Jones' and the Paynes, but we are lucky to have gotten some wonderful new friends in the hood.  I'm looking forward to many more Lester Heights parties with them all.

Eric & Ashley... Yes you read that right.  I now have neighbors named Steve, Louise, Eric, and Ashley.  The irony of that is that is my family's names!  Steve is my dad, Louise- my mom, Eric- my brother, and Ashley- my legal name.  So they are somewhat of my family away from family.

Ann Marie's months of hard work was shown tonight.  I couldn't believe how beautiful the details were of this party.

 

Even the food fit this unique theme.

I made the sangria.  it was amazing and was all gone by the end of the evening!

I thought this was funny.  We were at a werewolf party and there were chopsticks!  Yep... we live in japan!

Because it was Ann Marie's birthday, we couldn't let her make her own birthday cake.  Louise put her creative juices together to make this masterpiece.

Get it?  it's werewolves howling at the moon!  i never ended up trying one, but they looked great.

So the party was wonderful.  Though we never ended up playing the game we had planned, we all had a great time and most importantly- Ann Marie did too.

Ann Marie & I