Aloha from Kwajalein!

 No, I didn't sneeze. That's the island Chris' ship stopped at on Monday. He sent me an update that he wanted to share on the blog. He wanted to send some pictures but wasn't able to do it since he's on the ship, so I'm just sprinkling some random pictures from Google and last year's deployment in there. Hope you enjoy hearing about his adventures, I'll be sharing more as he lands in more ports through out deployment. :)

"We pulled into the Kwajalein atoll today after a week at sea. The main island of Kwajalein is only 1.2 square miles and is the home to 2,000 contractors and their families as well as some of the most high tech and state of the art radars and missile facilities. The island is about 1/4 mile wide and 4 miles long with the highest elevation point if about 10 ft. There are no personal vehicles and everyone rides bikes. 

[via]

Kwajalein is leased by the U.S. Army from the Republic of the Marshal Islands. There are many locals who work here but none are allowed to stay overnight. They are all ferried to and from their island of Ebeye every day. 

The pier we moored to is about 200 yds long over crystal clear and pristine waters. We were given approximately one hour of liberty on the island. As I walked along the pier towards shore I noticed a 6 ft reef shark quietly gliding underneath me, probably hoping that one of the planks would break.

(photo from last year's deployment)

When I went to check out the security arrangements, the police offered to give me a personal tour of the island on their golf cart.

(also from last year, and not on Kwajalein... :)

There are lots of bunkers and foundations of structures left from the great battles that took place here 67 years ago to the day where nearly 8,000 Japanese were killed.

I went to Burger King for lunch and went to the one tiny grocery store where I replenished my Honey Mustard Onion Pretzel Pieces stock and picked up some Haribo gummy coke bottles that made me think of Lindsay.

Unfortunately I was not able to make a call home this time, so I had to stick with email. We may be visiting a nearby island tomorrow and then back out to the vast Pacific. It was a nice to see land again."


And on the homefront... well, I'm home! It's so nice to be in cold weather, surrounded by my fam! I even was greeted by some "just because we love you" packages from some sweet blog friends who found out my parents' address! I even got a sweet early Valentine's gift from Chris, I'll be sure to share that next week! :)


OOH, and I decided to pick the giveaway winner for the Dodeline Design handmade notebook early since I'm on MD time now instead of Hawaii time. The lucky winner is comment #10-- Ashley from A Hasty Life! Congrats Ashley! Email and I'll get you in touch with Sarah! :) 


Have a great weekend, friends!