thanksgiving in afghanistan

posted by: Emilie
well, here we are....me, the physical therapist, the dentist, and the PA, enjoying our delicious thanksgiving lunch :) The cooks at the DFAC ((dining facility) are mostly all from Chechnya. which makes for a rather interesting twist on traditional american food. Our menu included Turkey (which was actually quite tasty), instant mashed potatoes, canned yams, canned green beens, canned cranberry sauce, cornbread stuffing (which was....interesting), and a few other things. overall, it was actually pretty good. it was really very nice to have something familiar, and to know that in our own little way we were participating in the holiday along with our families.

in a way it is really hard to be away from home at Thanksgiving. of course i thought a lot today about all the amazing thanksgivings we have spent in my parent's big victorian house, or in North Carolina with all of my aunts and uncles and cousins, or gathered around the Stickley table trying to make a dent in the 1,000 dishes his grandma has prepared, or watching the sunset in hawaii with Tim and Beth and Melody at Gordon Biersch. But although it is tough to be away, i can't help focusing on all of the things i am so incredibly thankful for. And the list is so long, and so amazing, that it really puts it all in perspective.

anyway, thanksgiving was good overall. i did have a busy day in the Aid Station. a very sick soldier with a mystery diagnosis that i had to evacuate to the next level of care (Where they have a CT Scanner), and a guy who totally blew his knee out playing football that i also will have to evacuate. and then a whole bunch of people with sore throats, and runny noses, and coughs and sneezes.

well, i am off to bed, but i am thinking about all of my dear friends and family at home. I am beyond thankful for the love and support from all of you!!!!

Day 27: Turkey Day Eve

Posted by: Cris

Because I am only working 2 days this week, today was a super long day. So, I left the house at 6am, worked in my office for awhile, worked in the lab for awhile and unfortunately didn't get away from the lab until 4:30 which meant I was smack dab in the middle of Honolulu "day before Thanksgiving" traffic. By the time I finally got home 50 minutes later, it meant not much time with the girls this evening before bedtime.

So, we enjoyed a nice dinner of Mickey Mouse chicken nuggets from Costco (Nova's new favorite food in the whole world) We finally got box of stuff we had to have my parents ship to us from Ohio because we couldn't get it in our suitcases. Nova was THRILLED to see her Little Einstein's Rocket and dolls in there.

After dinner we had the mandatory jumping on the couch and be wild time

Finally we calmed down for a bit of a snuggle on the couch and a little t.v. before bedtime:

But before bed, we finished off the night with a Buckeye!!

Breaking News: Nova LOVES chocolate!!

When I tucked the girls in bed, I told them that they needed to go to sleep good because when they get up in the morning we are going to cousin Melody's house to play. I probably shouldn't have told them that because they both got super excited.

I came upstairs to sit and work on crunching data from the lab today (don't feel sorry for me - I get to sit here and do math) and about 15 minutes later Nova came walking up the stairs and said "Good morning Daddy!" - Nice try but it's not time to go to Melody's house yet.

We will be sad to not be able to spend the day with mommy on Thanksgiving tomorrow but we will have a very full day of playing with Melody and enjoying Thanksgiving dinner with the Hawaii branch of our family followed by Second Thanksgiving in the evening at the "orphans dinner" that the other professor in my program throws every year for our grad students who can't go home for Thanksgiving. This is actually better than in previous years when we also had our get together with our Tripler friends and had to squeeze in 3 Thanksgiving dinners (and then try to squeeze into our pants for the rest of the week)

By tomorrow night, you will likely see pictures of 2 tired girls (and 1 tired daddy).

Day 26: The Buckeye Tradition

Posted by: Cris

Today had many highlights:

When you gotta go, you gotta go...

Even though I stayed home from work today, Katy took care of the girls so I could get some work done on my huge fence project. It was super nice to be able to go to the store to get some supplies without contending with 2 and 3 (and 31 year old) attention spans for tools.

As luck would have it, the project has necessitated that I break down and buy a mitre saw (seriously, I can't help it all my tools are in Colorado and I've needed one of these for a long time). Also as luck would have it, the NEX carries Craftsman and had a sale on the saw I needed. Combine that with not paying tax at the NEX and I basically got it for 33% off - SCORE!

After nap, we needed to make our weekly trip to Costco so I took the opportunity to stop at Home Depot and grab a couple things I needed. As we were walking out, there was a lady walking along side us who had looked over, smiled at the girls and then was walking at a faster pace and slowly pulling away from us. Juneau looked up and saw the flag outside the store and just said "Oh" and proceeded to start into her "I pledge allegiance, to the flag, of the United States of America". I immediately noticed the women kind of look over her shoulder and then quickly slow down...it was clear she wanted to see if this little girl was actually going to say the whole thing. As soon as Juneau finished "with liberty and justice FOOOOR ALLLL" the lady stopped dead in her tracks, turned around and said "How old is she?" - "3" - "Wow, nice job".

It was very funny.

Because of the significance of this coming Saturday, tonight we set to work making Buckeyes.
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A Brief Bit of History
In 1992, my sister and I were living in a small apartment just off High Street at the edge of the Ohio State campus. She was in her second year of medical school and I was in my second year of undergrad. We had grown up on a small farm in Ohio and had been raised to love the Buckeyes. That was the year, without knowing it, we started what would become our “Michigan-week” tradition. In our small kitchen we baked a single recipe of our beloved Buckeye candies and each took half of them to work with us on Friday – her to share with her med school mates and mine to the Ohio State Athletic Training Room. The tradition has continued every year since then even after we moved to different corners of the state or country. The tradition has been carried through Ohio, Kentucky, to California for a couple years and even all the way to Hawaii. Now years later, it’s not just her and I carrying on the tradition: Our kids and spouses now know what we do the week before the big game and participate in the fun. So, for 19 years now, my sister and I have been bringing Buckeyes to work with us the Friday before the Ohio State – Michigan game and sharing some Buckeye spirit.
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The girls had been talking about making Buckeyes all day and were anxious to get started... and anxious to help...

Our current living situation required some flexibility this year. I knew we had at least 2 hand mixers and a KitchenAid mixer in our storage unit in Colorado so I didn't want to go buy yet another one.

So, if it's the week before the big game and you need to mix a batch of Buckeyes but don't have a mixer, what do you do?

Luckily, farm kids know how to cob something together and make it work...

...so, if you've ever wondered whether an ordinary spoon can be tightened into the chuck of a 1/2" drill and used to mix ingredients... ...the answer is "Yes"

The drill mixer even still provides the opportunity to lick the "beater" when finished: Juneau tasted the mixture very tentatively.

Once it was Nova's turn...

...she just went for it! Then it was time to dip the chocolate


The biggest highlight of the day was the Emilie's internet speed was at an alltime high tonight so we Skyped for over 45 minutes without dropping the connection even once. That meant that she got to participate in the Buckeye making and even went down with us to tuck the girls into bed and take part in our nightly singing of "You Are My Sunshine"

“Time and change will surely show, how firm they friendship, O-HI-O”

Go Buckeyes!!

Day 25: I Found Her!!

Posted by: Cris

The girls love the days I don't go to work early. They jump in bed with me and cuddle and generally I let them watch an episode of Dora or a little bit of Monsters, Inc. They especially like Mondays because, since I have to go to work at some point, I have to use the shows to distract them a little extra time so I can get in the shower and do my "once-a-week" shave so I can look presentable to teach class. Despite what can seem like constant antagonizing each other, when it comes down to it, these 2 are best buds and love each other (the holding hands was not staged - believe it or not)

Trying to get them to actually pose for a shot can be difficult at times:

Take 1 -

Let's try that again.

Take 2 -

Take 3 - Okay, that's about as good as we're going to get...

Our long time followers will remember the sizable pineapple garden I had built up at our previous house in Hawaii. I had about 6 mature plants that each had kicked out a pineapple twice before we moved and I still was getting pictures last year in Colorado from my former neighbor of pineapples being produced.

Juneau was 19 months old when we took this picture of our previous pineapple garden - was she ever that little?

Coming back to Hawaii, getting a new pineapple garden up and growing was one of the things I was looking forward to. Today, I got the first one (of hopefully many) started.

I'm hoping that this side of the island isn't too wet for them to grow well but I'm going to try. The problem is, it takes patience - this little fellow won't produce his first pineapple for another 18 months or so.

Finally, from the title you are wondering who exactly I found. This will be the best news of the day for Emilie. Throughout our marriage, there has only ever been 1 single person who could cut my hair at an acceptable outcome for Emilie. When we left Hawaii, we left my hair-cutter Tracey behind and spent a year in Colorado looking for someone that could live up to her standards. While I was back here in Hawaii on a business trip last fall, I tried to get in to get my haircut but Tracey had left her previous salon and was nowhere to be found so we were bummed thinking we'd never find her again.

But, today while unpacking a box in my office, I found her business card from her previous employer and on the back she had written her cell phone - I took a chance and texted her. She was thrilled to hear from me and had tried to let me know she moved to a different salon but had problems getting through on my cell.

Long story short, Emilie had already put Becca in charge of making sure I didn't grow any weird facial hair combinations while she is gone, but now there's also a good chance that I won't go the whole 6 months Emilie is gone without getting a haircut like I was threatening!

got him..

posted by: emilie

well, i caught the mouse...without the use of a firearm, thank you very much :) i will spare you the gorey details, but he is definately no longer sharing my space. from what i have heard, however, i will probably get very good at setting mousetraps while i am here.

other than that there isn't much going on around here. i have discovered i have a broad range of duties....including the medical examinations for local detainees. i would much rather take care of pregnant ladies than afghani detainees...but i guess that's part of my job for the next 6 months.

i am enjoying the "positives" of deployment: i sleep through the night (mostly, aside from attacks, or casualties after an IED), i get to go to the gym whenever i want - sometimes twice a day, i don't cook, i don't do laundry (there is a laundry service here), and i am getting to catch up on some TV shows, movies and books. So, it's not all bad.

Day 24: My Wife's Organizational System

Posted by: Cris

I realized today while attempting to put the girls laundry away that I have absolutely no idea how my wife organized their closet when she unpacked all their clothes. I mean, it's not like there is a spot for shorts and a spot for pants and a spot for short sleeve shirts and a spot for long sleeve shirts, etc. There are 2 different shelves with jeans on them and shirts on several different shelves.

So, before anyone says anything about it, don't be surprised if you notice the girls on the blog wearing one of about 4 or 5 outfits in rotation. It's just easier to pull them straight out of the laundry basket and put them back on them than try to navigate their closet. Don't worry, they are wearing clean clothes - well, probably 90% of the time (okay, maybe 80%).

Anyways, other than trying to decipher that organizational system, the day was pretty good...

At low tide this morning, the reef is very visible - super cool looking. After bath, Juneau wanted to play around for awhile in just her diaper. She had a great time building a tower / fort out of the couch cushions.

The best developing news is that Nova has finally regained her interest in using the potty. The only problem is that unlike Juneau who refuses to go by herself and always wants help, Nova demands to "do it by self" and won't even allow the door to the bathroom to be open.

Sometimes, she decides to show a little flair while using the potty:

Tonight, we made our weekly trip to the Naval Exchange to do our grocery shopping. Our weekly schedule must have gotten pretty predictable because on the way there, Juneau said "Can we go eat at that Taco Bell that has a grocery store?"

Nova loves some Taco Bell rice and beans

The full moon over the ocean has been awesome the last couple nights - now if I could only figure out the right camera settings to perfectly capture the scene...as you can see from this picture, I'm still working on it.

Day 23: Learning to Live at a Different Pace...Yeah, Me Too

Posted by: Cris

The last few days and today especially have been challenging me to, like Emilie, learn to live at a different pace. In order to get moved to Hawaii, get settled in Hawaii, spend time with Emilie before she left and get the girls settled in to life without mommy, I've let myself get behind at work and due to moving into a new house, let myself get behind in life in general. So, this past week was very busy at work as I said before and my list of stuff I really need to get done around here isn't getting any shorter. So, this morning I had in my mind that I'd get to Home Depot, get the stuff I needed to get started on the fence and come home and work on it.

Well, let me tell you that having an intricate list of stuff to get at home depot and trying to fill it in an efficient manner just doesn't work with 2 toddlers running around. So, the time in the store starts to extend which makes the girls more antsy and me more anxious to get out of there then eventually frustrated they aren't listening and the end result is Nova getting off of the lumber cart in an area of the store where she shouldn't, almost getting whacked by a guy pulling a piece of lumber off the pile, getting scared when she realizes she almost got hit and running back to the cart so out of sorts that she runs into the end of a 2x4 and now has a nice scrape on her cheek...and the crying (and almost passing out) ensues.

So, what was supposed to be a quick trip to the store turns into a half-day epic and not much gets accomplished. So, the girls are helping me learn how to live at the pace they provide, even if it means that just getting a trip to Home Depot and back is all I can get accomplished for the day :)

But, the day turned around from there. I made it home in time to watch most of the second half of the Ohio State game and thankfully they came from behind to win...I don't think my day could have taken a loss by the Buckeyes. As Tim and I were discussing last night at dinner, I still need to get to that point in perspective that my dad has - if Ohio State loses, he's disappointed, he wishes they would have won but it doesn't ruin his weekend. Sadly, I cannot say the same (and Tim agreed that for him, the Auburn game does the same). Since Tim is 10 years older than me and hasn't reached that point of maturity yet, it doesn't look good for me to gain that perspective anytime in the near future - Sorry Emilie :(

But, tonight I had some friends over to watch the UFC and enjoy hanging out.

The girls love having people over to the house and though they looked ragged from a crazy day, they were wound up.

These are a couple of my awesome PhD students, Melanie and Dax (the "old married couple" of the PhD program) who also happen to be a couple of my awesome friends who came over to hang out and watch grown men hit each other. (Bret came too but he was operating the camera) After a year of not having any good friends that lived less than an hour away from us (okay, maybe we could get to Travis and Laurie's in under an hour but not much), it is nice to have a gang of confidants who have been over here almost every weekend since Emilie left.

Tonight was the reappearance of a beautiful full moon over the ocean. It was very pretty but sadly it reminded me that it has been a month already since me and Emilie and Becca and Brad were all sitting on the lanai, the first weekend after we moved into our house, and the full moon was hovering out there over the ocean.

Come home soon mommy - We miss you!!