Rachel's visit

October, 2009 ~ Rodney's sister had some time in her schedule and decided make a long weekend trip out. When she flew in her flight was to get in about 11pm. As Rodney and I were driving to the airport, we couldn't believe the heavy fog....and sure enough shortly after we got to the airport, heard the announcement that her flight was diverted to LA!!! Then we had to wait to see what was going to happen next. As it turned out, they decided to bus them down instead of flying them in a smaller plane. So, we went back home, took a few snoozes on the couch and headed back to the airport to pick her up about 2:30AM!!! She realized that with the time difference from Texas, she had at that point been up basically 24 hours!! But, that didn't stop us---after a bit of sleep, we were out the door about 9AM for a yummy Chick-fil-A breakfast, then on the road (back to LA!) to go to Disneyland/California Adventure!!! It was exciting since they were all decked out for Halloween :) Enjoy the pictures.....

Golden Gate bridge in California Adventure

The caterpillar from "Bug's Life" was responsible for the bite out of the candy corn, but I never could get a picture of him!!

Rodney enjoyed the decorations a lttle too much, I think!

Rachel at the Seven Dwarfs' house 

Taking a break in a taxi from Monstropolis (Monters, Inc.)

And of course, we caught up with a few Disney characters....

Pluto

Donald Duck

The Incredibles

Mater and Lightning McQueen

Bashful came home

And what's a Disney visit with out seeing a Princess (Cinderella) and THE MOUSE :-)

And then there are the RIDES!! One thing about Disney, even if you have to wait in line, they keep it entertaining..... Good company helps, too :-)

On the way to ride Indiana Jones

On the way to ride Soarin' Over California

Riding the Tea Cups :-}

And one of our favorites-- Haunted Mansion decked out as "Nightmare Before Christmas"

We had a great day, but after such short sleep the night before, by about 10pm we were ready to make the drive back home!!

GO CHARGERS!!

August, 2009 ~ Rodney called me from the office one day and asked if I'd like to go to a Chargers game (supporting our local team ;) and I thought that sounded fun. A season pass holder had dropped off his two tickets since he wouldn't be able to attend this first pre-season game. The other Chaplains weren't able to use them, either, so they were passed to Rodney. We get to the game and it turns out these seats are in Club Level! That's were you have your own special entrance, get a wrist band, and they come to your seat to take your food order!! Quite cool!! It also turned out that it was Salute to the Military night.... 

All branches were represented in the pre-game show...

Here come the CHARGERS!!!

The coin toss....

And the game gets underway.....

Of course, the Charger Girls were there...

They had a great half-time Military Salute, but it was too dark for pictures, except for this one...

A few days later, the Chargers held a walk-thru practice on one of the bases, so went to watch. Rodney got quite a few autographs, but this was his best pic...

Disney!!

July 15, 2009 ~ Disney ran a Military Appreciation special allowing active duty members FREE 3-day passes and their dependents could purchase a 3-day pass for the price of a 1-day!! So we took advantage of the tickets as well as their military discount at their hotels and stayed at Paradise Pier Hotel :)

We enjoyed a yummy dinner at the Rainforest Cafe in downtown Disney....

Spent a little time with Mr. Potato Head.....

Got caught by Pirates on Pirates Cove....

And enjoyed the night lights at California Adventure....

(Just FYI: riding the rollercoaster "California Screamin'" is AWESOME after dark!!)

Always a good time at Disneyland :)

Change of Command

Naval Base Coronado experienced a big event July 2, 2009, with a Change of Command. Our current Commanding Officer was relieved of duty to move on to his new assignment and was replaced by the new Commanding Officer. The setting was great with the bay and San Diego skyline in the background.

Rodney looked spiffy in his dress whites!!

The emblem on the podium

The podium

The red carpet on which The Official Party would enter. The bell is rung as each officer in that party entered. That's a Marine fighter jet behind the carpet.

A Navy helo 

Sailors in rank

Rodney stood in these ranks since the Command Chaplain was responsible for the prayers for this event.

The color guard and Navy band in place

The "MC" for the event waiting with the incoming (CAPT Lindsey) and outgoing (CAPT Gaiani) COs.

CAPT (soon to be Admiral) Gaiani receiving another award.

Me with Mrs. Gaiani

Rodney and the now-Former Skipper

Congratulations, Gaiani's! Wishing you fair winds and following seas.....

4th of July, 2009

A sweet lady from one of the Chapel's invited us to her adorable home on Coronado to join her and some family and friends for a potluck and to watch the Coronado parade. The especially cool part is that her home sits right on the parade route, so we had prime seating for the parade!!

The parade last almost three hours, so I'm not posting ALL the pics I took :) I tried to pick out the most non-typical ones to share.....

The parade started off with the surfers... This was actually a pre-parade. As the story goes, this group is evidently no longer allowed to be in the parade due to past issues, so now they do their own little parade before the big one starts! Check out the surf boards!

Yep, an ironing board... I trust he doesn't really try to catch any waves with it!

They performed a little routine on their boards as their finale....

The Marine Corps was represented

Naval Base Coronado had just gotten a new Commanding Officer, so he got to ride along in the parade!

Of course, the SHAMU car made an appearance :)

(Notice the spray from his blow hole?!?!)

The "Jr." Navy

Dancing Flamingos!!!

The "Big" Navy

Of course, there were floats galore, horses, Shriners in their little cars, and Queens/Kings of various groups. But these were the most interesting to pass on.....

But here comes the grand finale......City Sanitation!!

Wishing each of you a Safe, Happy and Clean 4th of July for years to come :)