JPAC Holiday Gala

On Saturday night, Scott and I attended the JPAC Holiday Gala, on board the battleship, the USS MISSOURI.

 

 It was quite a fun party, but the venue was what made it extra special! We had so much fun exploring the ship and taking in all the history around us. "Mighty Mo" was the last battleship built by the US. It is also significant, because onboard this ship, Japan surrendered in 1946, marking the end of WWII. 

The guns behind us can shoot a shell the size of a Volkswagen 20 miles without moving the ship 1 inch in the water. That's some gunpower!

Here's me standing at the point of Japanese surrender.

Trying out some of the guns...

One thing I love about JPAC is that it is a joint command, which means all branches of the military (and also civilians, like Scott) are represented. We enjoyed dinner with some very neat people, all serving our country in their different roles within JPAC.

What a memorable night!

December Photo #17: Getting Ready for Winter

We are getting ready to brave the cold temps of the Carolinas in 2 days! Covered shoes: check! Now, I just have to get them used to wearing pants all the time...

Kaneohe Bay Boat Parade

On Sunday night, Chris invited us out on his boat to join in the Kaneohe Bay Boat Parade! Since our good friends, the Pitts, live in the same marina, we invited them to join us.

Makani Kai Marina

Keaton and Maddie waiting to board the USS Catatonic (Uncle Chris's boat)

And we're off!

Everyone decorated their boats with lights, and then we all got in a line and circled around the bay and through another marina. Lots of people watched and waved from the shore. We felt extra special to get to be on one of the boats!

There was a beautiful full moon on Sunday!

Attempted dual family pic. Mark is way to fast!

The keiki (kids) broke out in to a spontaneous round of Christmas carols for all the onlookers. It was so fun to listen to them sing together. I was also quite impressed at the repertoire of Christmas songs that they knew!

 Santa was waiting for us back at the Marina with candy and a personalized gift (which we provided prior to the parade) for each of the kids! Such a fun and memorable night!

December Photo #16: Edible Christmas Trees

Had a great time helping out in Keaton's classroom this morning with this fun project.

December Photo #15: Waiting for the boat parade

What's the perfect ending an already spectacular weekend? Being in a Christmas boat parade with two of our favorite friends! More pictures to come...

December Photo #14: Bubbles

December Photo #13: Christmas cookies!

Every year, I like to make at least one batch of sugar cookies and let the boys go to town with the icing and sprinkles. Since Keaton was home from school today with a fever and was licking his fingers a LOT, I wouldn't recommend eating any of them...