Off To The Base Inspector We Go...

Sooooo, we finally got called into the Base Inspectors office for Jordens Underage Drinking Incedent. UUHHGGG! No fun! First of all i had to put on a dress! That is enough to tick me off as it is....and Ed had to wear his uniform.....not fun for him on his day off! But, we went in and i got to fill like a kid in trouble for something i didn't even do. Jorden has learned from that huge mistake he made and he talked with the Base Inspector and it looks like he won't be getting kicked off the island, atleast we still are hoping it doesn't come to that! He'll find out his punishment sometime next week....he definately will NOT be getting his license anytime soon, that will be atleast part of his punishment!!! he got 30 hours community service, his skateboard taken away for 6 months, and the loss of drving priveleges for a year when he was caught sketching, holding on to the back of a car while on a skateboard....soooo, underage drinking out in town.....not sure what that is going to bring...i'll let you know next week. Keep your fingers crossed he gets to stay on island!!!

A Moment of Calm

Wow, is all i have to say! It is New Years Eve and all is done and now i just have some time to just relax. I made a quick extra batch of cookies and they are cooling on the rack I finished checking my e-mails and sending out my Happy New Years....Ty is next to me playing Lego Star wars on the playstation with Tank asleep on his leg, Ryan and one of his friends is upstairs playing Lego Batman on the xbox, Bisquit is snoring logs, Ed's watching something in our room, Vicki is accross the way playing Rock Band with all the girls and Jorden just left for the movies with all of his friends, they are seeing Yes Man, looks hilarious! Can't wait to get the review from him. He and his friends will spend the rest of the night here batteling each other on xbox. I hope i have enough food for them!!! We are having a fun party here in the hood with our neighbors. Everything is set up, just have to finish hooking up the ballons in the big net for the midnight drop.....watching the weather so we know where we are putting the balloons and looking for fishing net! I told Pricilla we can always use dental floss, that stuff is amazing and works for everything!!! Ha! Soooo, i guess i will head upstairs and take a quick shower and start getting ready! Wow, another year has come and gone! Our last New Year on Oki! It has been an amazing almost 6 years on this island! Will add pictures when i download my camera.....probably won't be till next year though,,,ha ha ha, already acting corney and it is only 7 pm!!!

Mama Mia

Vicki and i just finished watching Mama Mia. I was thrilled to unwrap this movie on Christmas!!! I don't think i could ever possibly see this movie too many times! The boys scattered when Vicki and i put it in downstairs. They were suddenly tired and all went upstairs, i'm sure to put on head phones or play xbox or playstation at a nice loud volume to drown out Vicki and I. We sang thru the whole movie! I love the part when she is painting her daughters toe nails, that is soooo me and Vicki!!! She is my only girl and i just dread the day she will be out on her own! She's my side kick and we have soo much fun just being girls! I think that is one of the reasons i love this movie soo much! Girls are soo lucky! We get to jump up and down, giggle, sing, create dance routines, and go crazy! Guys just don't get to do that! I'm sooo glad i am a girl!!! I added all these songs to Vicki's ipod while we watched the movie. It is now almost midnight, so off to bed i go.....singing softly so i don't wake the sleeping Marine who has to be up early tomorrow for work.....

When I leave...

With a house full of boys, i just never know what i am going to come home to...here is just a tiny little glimpse of what boys do when Mom leaves the house....take down Christmas flag and put up there own colors!

Our Aquarium

Our boat dive was cancelled again so Ed and i decided to go find a place to dive. All of our usual places were closed or under construction. We decided to go to the place we call our own little aquarium to dive in, i think it is actually called Diamond Cove or something like that....The water was freezing and we had to walk forever before we could drop down, but once out and down, it was beautiful!!! We only ran into 2 Sea Snakes and 1 Lion Fish, all the rest of the critters were non leathal. Ithink i have finally got my weights figured out, i didn't keep surfacing when i didn't want to. Somehow i am becoming more bouyant....huummm....and i think i know why! Ha! But 18 pounds of weights strapped around my waist kept me down where i wanted to be, 16 just wasn't working anymore.....

Green Eggs And Ham

The day after Christmas follows with a breakfast of Green Eggs & Ham! Yum! The kids are grossed out and are happy eating left over cinnamon rolls and egg nogg french toast, but Ed and I have a yummy Dr. Seuss breakfast!

Christmas Morning

Well, we must have stayed up late enough last night as there was no knock on our door until almost 730 am!!! A new sleep in record for us!! Of course i made the kids do their traditional Christmas pose on the stairs before going down to see what Santa had left. Ty and Ryan still had thier dragons in thier hands, they slept with them last night. Everyone was thrilled with their gifts and it was a wonderful Christmas morning! We really wanted to go to the bach and send everyone a video Merry Christmas greeting but it kept sprinkling on and off and the kids just did not want to venture out of the neighborhood. Soooo, no video greeting from us this year...maybe a News Years one, pending our dive schedule and weather, and of course how tired we are after pulling an all nighter here in the hood with our neughbors. After gifts were opened and all the wrappings cleaned up i just relaxed and did nothing, well played the piano, just Julia stuff and than began cooking our Christmas dinner. Since we had turkey at Thanksgiving i just did a ham with all the trimmings. Jorden was thrilled to have the day off from the paper route. He was given a 2 paper edition on Christmas Eve, so he didn't have to deliver on Christmas! it was a fabulous last Christmas for us here on Okinawa!

Christmas Eve

Wow! Christmas Eve has already come and flown by in what feels like a blink of the eye! As the kids get older it just becomes more relaxed and peaceful! No hurrying to get the kids to bed so we can start assembling toys and stuff, just nice and relaxing! We decided we wanted to spend our last Christmas on Okinawa right here! Ed will more than likely be gone next Christmas so we just wanted to enjoy this last one together without all the craziness of traveling half way around the world! Ed built a fire in the backyard and the kids just had fun playing with the neighborhood. Jorden was skateboarding with his friends, Vicki, chit chatting with hers and Ty and Ry were playing Sequence out back in between gun battles with thier friends. We called everyone together around 9 for our traditional reading of Twas The Night Before Christmas, which we read outside by the fire, actually, Ty and Ry read most of it, than we moved into the house to read the real Christmas story straight from the Bible. I always love this last night of Christmas, together, reading the real story with the glow of the lights from the tree. The kids always get to open one present on Christmas Eve. Later, Ty and Ry made sure Santa's plate of cookies had a huge variety of everything i had been baking this last week and than we went outside to take down our Christmas flag and put up our "Santa Stop Here" flag. Ty and Ry dashed up the stairs to bed, with thier new dragons and were sould asleep within seconds of thier heads hitting thier pillows. It was late! We got everything set up and put under the tree, stockings filled and were in bed sometime after midnight! This was the first year Ty and Ryan didn't mention leaving snacks for the reindeer....maybe we have moved to a new level of Christmas!

Vicki Got Brave

Vicki loves her phone, soooo, when she acts up, she looses her phone! Ed wanted to take her for a ride on his bike, but she's been too scared, so one day he offered to give her back her phone if she went for a ride with him. She really wanted her phone back, so she begrudgingly began putting on everything needed to go for a ride. She came back and said it was sooo fun! Now, she has her Dad take her everywhere on the bike!

Twas The Night Before Christmas......2005

When Ed was in Iraq for Christmas in 2005, he had made arrangements to read the story Twas The Night Before Christmas and have someone video it so it could be sent home for the kids that Christmas. He got held up with work stuff and wasn't able to make it over to the Chapel to do the reading....it was a blessing in disguise as the Chapel was mortered during the time he was supposed to have been there doing the reading. He would have been killed reading that story. It was also a blessing that nobody happened to be in the Chapel at the time it was hit. Now, every Christmas when we read that story we remember how lucky we are that Ed is with us and we never get upset when we are held up with something, as it just might be protecting us from something......

Another Thing Off My To Do List!

Yay! I've checked off another item on my "Do Before I Die" list! I held a poisonous sea snake today while i was out diving the East China Sea! One of our friends that we dive with catches them all the time when we're down under. I told him awhile back i wanted to hold one...........sooooo we were finally diving together and before we went in he asked if i still wanted to hold one. Of course i said, "Ya Bet"! Like now that i am 40, just can't be saying "maybe another time"! LOL! We hadn't been down very long and Jim comes swimming over to me with a snake! Thank goodness he brought me a little one! If ya know Jim, than you would NOT be surprised by him hunting the biggest snake he could find for me! I was totally scared but took the slithery thing by the neck and held it for awhile to get a really good look at it. Ed took the picture. It was quite facinating to stare at it face to face and IT not being able to move. After a bit i let it go, that was the tricky part....things just don't work as easily underwater....but i managed to fling it in front of me while kicking backwards and it didn't decide to come after me for any sort of revenge! JIm brought me another snake later in the dive to hold. I wonder if i will ever be brave enough to just swim up and catch one myself.......? Maybe next dive I'll tell Jim ahead of time to give me a lesson down under on how to catch one....Ed hates snakes and was not even slightly interested in holing it when i tried to pass it on to him.....Later at home i was showing Jorden the picture of me and the snake. He said i couldn't get mad at him for the stair sets he jumps anymore 'cause what i was doing wouldn't just break bones like his stuff but could get me killed. He's decided he gets his "doing stupid stuff" from me..........i'm not sure that that is a compliment. Ha!

Ryan's Humor

Ryan is probably our most humorous child, well, in a verbal sort of way....he can come up with the funniest things to say. They are usually just quick little liners. Ryan was at the Barber Shop with Ed the other day and he just out of the blue, blurts out, for all to hear of course, "who are these parents and why are they calling me Ryan?" Ed thought it sounded somewhat familiar and than realized Ryan had taken one of my favorite lines and just reworded it! By my front door i have hanging a sign that reads, "Who are these kids, and why are they calling me Mom?" It is one of my favorite lines and we just cracked up how Ryan had taken it to work for him. Glad to know he is reading!!! Ha!

Vicki's Half Time Performance

Vicki and her Cheer Squad had their first half time performance Friday night. They haven't had much time to put their routine together, but i think they did a fantastic job with only a few practices to put it together! Way to go Vicki! (Vicki is the one with the long blonde pony tail in the middle)

Ryan's Ride

Ryan is our dare-devil child! He has basically no fear and loves to test his limits and try new things! It is no surprise he is the first of our children to ask Ed to tak ehim for a ride on his Harley. Soooo, Ryan went on his first motorcycle ride with his Daddy! He was soo excited! I got him all bundled up, he thought he could ride in flip flops! He is soo funny! He freaked out on the helmet part! It was hilarious! At first he just said, "No, I can't wear that!" I told him he couldn't ride without it, so he said, "Fine, put it on." Than he said he couldn't breathe and started gasping for air, so I pulled up the visor part and he was fine. I lifted him up on the bike and he wrapped his arms around Ed sooo tight and they were off with a squeal of delight from Ryan! He came back and said it was totally awesome and he talked his Dad into taking him right back out for a longer ride. He said every time they stopped somewhere people were looking at him. He told Ed that from now on, anytime he has to go somewhere, he wants his Dad to take him on the bike. Lucky me! Another thing to worry about! LOL!

SSSSSHHHH! Ed's Christmas Gift!

I have always loved the Asian style jewelry boxes! They are made out of the rosewood and are quite pricey. Mine had a sticker price of $262 but i managed to get it for $10 as there was a small scratch on the very back of it. It is impossible to see, but with the scratch, it made the value drop immensely! I snatched it right up and kept going over in my mind how yen transferred to American dollars. I kept thinking i was off by a zero, but it said 1000 Yen, which at that time with our exchange rate it was about $8. I was fully prepared to be told it was missing a zero and it should have said 10000 Yen instead. But, the Okinawan rang up 1000 Yen and i bought it for about $8! I was thrilled! My Dad has one and i have been wanting to buy one for Ed and have had it on my buy before we leave list. He has all kinds of, well he doesn't like for me to call it jewelry......but none the less, it's jewelry! LOL! He's got his DI ring, Marine Corps ring, work watches, dress watches, cuff links, different sets of dog tags, our deployment necklaces (we each have 1/2 a heart, i wear one and he keeps one on his dog tags, but don't tell anyone, 'cause we can't let anyone know Ed has a soft side, hee hee!) And than of course the ribbons and medals, and stuff.....sooooo, yes he needs a "jewelry" box. I was picking up a few odds and ends at the Marine Gift Shop and they were having a special that day. When you got up to the register you were able to draw a slip of paper out of the stocking that told you what your discount was going to be. I wasn't too concerned, i had about 7 or 8 dollars worth of things. Welllllll, i drew out the 50% slip of paper! They only had one of those in there! Yay for me! Soooo, i decided to look around......i found the box! I love it! Ed won't be as excited as i am about it.....but i think it will be a gift that he will like more with time!

Me & My Sandman

Well, it's December on Okinawa......the weather is just beautiful! The humidity is gone and the weather has cooled down! We will never have a White Christmas on this island or build a snowman....but we can go to the beach and build a Sandman! Vicki and i went to the beach today and did just that! He turned out kinda scary lookin.....but we had fun, how can you NOT have fun at the beach? The video is quite hilarious as Vicki is the NOT so talented cameraman, or should i say camera chick? But humerous to watch....was trying to send a Christmas Greeting to my island friend Leilani who is currently freezing in North Dakota!

Jorden and Auto Tech

Jorden is taking Auto Tech right now in school. I'm not sure what all he is learning....we are in Okinawa which means the vehicles are quite different than Stateside. But they do have a few things in common, tires, oil, etc. It took forever for me to figure out where the battery was in my van! It was in the backseat under the carpet. Now i know the secret place where i can lift up the carpet and unscrew the floor to locate my battery. It was also just as confused as when i was trying to find where i put my fluids in my van. I had NO IDEA i had to lift the front seat up, hook to the side of the inside wall of the van, and whala! There were all the lids to various containers that i could pour liquids in! Everything is also written in Japanese, so the owners manuel really isn't much help. Sooo, i guess next time i get a flat tire or something i'll find out how much Jorden has learned in his Auto Shop Class. If anything, it does look like he is having fun!

Motorcycle For Two

Soooo.....Ed was finally able to take me for a ride on his Harley! He's been wanting to do this since he got his bike. Lucky for me, the motorcycle rules here on Okinawa for Military Dudes is that they have to have had their motorcycle license for a year before they are able to take someone on the back of their bike! Well, a year has finally rolled around and Ed took me for a ride. He loves to ride his bike, he says it calms him. Weellllll, let me tell ya......IT WAS NOT, I REPEAT, NOT CALMING FOR ME!!! LOL! I felt like he drove much tooo fast, took the turns in a way that i thought we would tip over, AAAANNNNNDDDDD, it messed up my hair!! Ha! But, yes, it was fun.......as long as i wasn't thinking of falling over, sliding on the pavement, and than being run over by another car............it was very fun! I shouldn't be afraid, my Dad has had a Harley just about my entire life and i have ridden on the back of his bike for a giant chunk of my growing up years! Okinawa drivers are scary! Soo, out in town was the scariest part for me. Ed was relaxed and happy as we drove around and didn't seem toooo bothered by me squeezing him on every turn! We parked over at Jusco to do sticky pictures. The motorcycle parking was full, so Ed dropped me off in front of Starbucks while he went to park. He had made me wear one of his helmets and since he had put it on me, i wasn't sure how the thingy worked for me to get it off. So i am standing there in front of Starbucks on a busy evening with a helmet on and no bike. This is soooo typical for me...continuely looking like a dork. Sooo, i'm just standing there waiting and i see one of my friends walking towards me and i start to say hi, but than realize i am still covered and so just kind of turn away.....Ed finally comes walking up and is asking me why i still have the helemt on....i tell him i couldn't get it off....he gets that little exasperated grinand just shakes his head, but gets the thing off of my head. I thought for sure he was just going to keep walking....so we head over to Dragon Palace to do sticky pictures to celebrate our first ride! Ed hates sticky pixs, so it was more to celebrate me surviving the first half of our ride than for him. Hee Hee. Ed is having a brand new Harley built for him in the States so it will be ready when we get there. It is much bigger than this bike. His original plan was for me to have this bike when he gets his new one, but he just doesn't understand that i would rather be on the back hanging on to him than riding my own bike......so this one will go up for sale when we leave here. I also bought the Hallmark Christmas ornamnant this year that is the Harley with Santa & Mrs Clause on the back. I thought it would be a perfect addition to our Christmas Tree decorations since it is the year that Ed was able to take me for a ride!

Surfs Up!

Okinawa is a little sub tropical island in the middle of the ocean. The East side of the island has the East China Sea and the West side has the Pacific Ocean. There are various sea conditions that determine what water activities you can do. The TV always has the sea conditions posted on the lower left side of the screen. When nothing is posted this usually means the sea is calm and the ocean is available for any kind of water activities. If the water is questionable than there will be various letters on the TV. The first letter will be an E or a W to let you know what side of the island the condition is in reference to. The following letter will be a C, W, or Red. C is for Caution, W is for Warning, and RED means you can NOT enter the water. So, if it just says WC, than usually the East side of the island is fine for diving but you need to take precautions if you were to dive on the West side. I haven’t dove the West side yet. That is the Pacific side and sharks swim those waters. It is just a completely different ocean to dive on the West side. I dive the East side, but will do a West dive before we leave. Ed and I are not able to dive when the sea condition is RED. It is against our SOFA Status. When the ocean conditions are bad, we can’t dive, but the surfers will be out! Today was one of those days. We had to cancel our boat dive but the surfers will able to enjoy our waters instead. We went down to the Sea Wall to see if the surfers were out having fun. They were and there were lots of them in the water and along the Sea Wall. It was fun watching them surf the waves. They were able to catch some good ones. It is primarily Okinawan’s in the water when the waves are like this. However, you will see the die-hard surfer dude, American, out there risking getting caught to catch a nice wave. We saw a few. Lucky for them no one was out checking the water for Americans, so they got to catch some great waves! This is one of my favorite places to go! I love to watch the ocean. Today the sea condition was EW RED, which means we are NOT allowed to go into the water on either side. The waves were pretty rough and it was fun watching the Okinawan's surf. I love to boogie board but am a terrible surfer! I can get up and wobble and actually go for a tiny bit before i biff it! I've just banged my head enough times on my board that i don't even try to surf anymore! Ed and i have dove in waters worse than what these wete before. It was fine when we had gone in but by the time we surfaced the waves were crashing on the cliffs at Meida. Ed said i looked like a rag doll as i kept getting banged into the cliffs. He had got his fins off and made it to the stairs before the next set of waves came in, me, not so lucky. Ha! He was quite entertained watching me. There was nothing i could do except wait for the set to finish. The hard part is not getting sucked out! When you slam the walls and as you get pulled back out you just grab the coral and hang on until the next wave crashes you back into the walls. Good times. My tank is yellow and it is funny to see the yellow lines i leave on the coral after i get out of the water. I love this picture of Ed and I, the one with me standing in front of him. He hates doing pictures, but he humored me today and pretended to be happy. Ha!

USMC Dining Out Dec 5 2008 Okinawa

The Dude in Cammies is an Instructor up at Career Course on Camp Hansen. They had their Dining Out on Friday, December 5, 2008 at the Palms on Camp Hansen. Usually it is a Mess Night but Ed decided to make it a Dining Out so the SSGTS could learn how to put one of these on. He is the SNCOIC of Career Course, so he gets to make these kinds of decisions at the Academy. It went really well, always a few that are beligerent but that goes with Marines and unfortunately just because of society today. I'll finish this story as soon as i have the right words for things. I call it a "Dining In Dining Out one is the Navy one is the Marine Corps, take a pick, you have a 50 50 shot at getting it right"! But Ed says, NO, must say the right words.....so i will double check to see if i have it all right before i finish posting, but here are some pixs, only a few as photography is forbidden during the actual event!


Okay, i think i have this pretty accurate, i'll double check with Ed to make sure i'm not writing out wrong info here.....but this is pretty much what a Dining Out/Mess Night is with the Marine Corps


The Marine Corps has many traditions, one is the Dining Out, more commonly known as a Mess Night, the only significant difference being that with a Dining Out the Marine is able to bring their Spouse or a Date. I have never, and never will, attend a Mess Night and can only assume that those events are probably just a little bit more wild and humorous, but needless to say, the Dining Out I just recently attended was quite entertaining and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The Marines were quite amusing and the skits were hilarious. The PT one had all of us at the Head Table almost rolling on the floor! Sorry Ponderelli! Ya gotta admit the pink shirt was the icing on the cake! I was asked to explain a Dining Out when one of my friends asked what I was dressed up for, so I figured I should probably type this out to go with my pictures before I get a flood of questions as to the who, what, when, where, and why’s that usually come back at me when I post pictures without a story. I will give a little bit of background info and somewhat of a brief synopsis of what goes on at a Dining Out for those of you that have never had the opportunity to attend one of these events. I was only able to slyly take only a few photos as photography is prohibited at these events!


I think the first formal Mess Night after World War 2 was back in 1953 with those in the Third Regimental Combat Team that was in Japan at the time. This Mess Night was in honor of the visit of the Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Lemuel C. Shepard, Jr. The members of the Third Regiment continued to enjoy their Mess Nights. When their commander, Col. Robert H. Williams, transferred to Marine Barracks Eighth and I, Washington, D.C. he reestablished the tradition at the command.


The evening begins with a cocktail hour. When Chimes is sounded, that is your cue that it is time to head in. You are not to enter the Dining Out with drinks or cigarettes. There are different ways that this can begin. At the Academy Ed chose to have all the Marines go into the Dining Room and stand at their chairs as opposed to walking in as he didn’t want to take the chance of one of the spouses/dates tripping. I wasn’t so lucky. Ed sits at the head table, so have to walk in when he and the other Marines march to the table. I stayed in time with the feet in front of me and amazingly did not trip! But I also did NOT do a pivot on the corners. That would have been a disaster! The Head Table marches in after all the guests are standing at their seats waiting. The Marines march, I walk, till we get to our seats and then we stay standing until an about face is called, than we turn to face the guests and an invocation is offered. Yes, the Marine Corps still prays! America has forgotten how, but our Marines pray at the beginning of every important event. Following the prayer everyone is seated.


Next is the “Parade of the Roast”. The President of the Mess will than taste the roast to make sure it is good enough for human consumption. Now, this is another funny tradition of the Marine Corps. The Marines attending the Dinner will sabotage the roast that the President has to taste. They are quite creative in how they want to spice it up. This time, wow! My eyes were watering and I was two people down from him. It was covered in hot sauce and the underneath was thickly coated in wasabi. If you have been to the Orient, you know how hot wasabi is! Shoot, my sinuses were cleared up just from the whiff I got from it! The President of the Mess must eat the entire portion given to him. Upon finishing or should I say gagging down the roast, he than pronounces that the Roast is fit for human consumption. Dinner is now served. It is a five course dinner and very delicious. While the Palms Staff was serving dinner there were a few pranks played. Pizza Hut showed up with some personal pan pizzas. They were for Ed and the other 3 Instructors that work with him. This prank backfired on the pranker/students as now a Marine was called forward for something, I do not recall, and forced to consume all 4 pizzas in front of the head table. Marines can request to speak to the President of the Mess, but they must first ask permission from the Vice to address the President. The Vice can grant or deny this. The Vice may also grant this after asking the Marine to sing a song, do a dance, etc. before he is granted permission. The same goes forth with the President. He may deny the request the Vice granted or, again, have the Marine perform another task to entertain everyone. In this case, a Marine asked if he could come up and help his fellow Marine eat the pizzas. It was granted, however the President said that he could help by drinking water the entire time the Marine was eating the pizzas. There were other such things similar to that and were hilarious to watch. The Marines are very animated doing this and thoroughly enjoy putting on a show! You are not allowed to leave the Dining Out once it has begun, for no reason. Marines do try to slip out when they need to use the restroom, but the Head Table sees them and makes note to fine them when the floor is opened to fines. I will explain that soon. Towards the end of dinner the Vice will suggest that they Shed a Tear for Lord Admiral Nelson. This means that they can visit the head, or in English, go to the bathroom. This came from the fact that Lord Admiral Nelson’s body was preserved in a barrel of brandy after he died at Trafalgar. The Head Table stands and marches out first, lovely, I got to attempt to not trip and fall, again. I made it out without a slip or a slide. After the break, everyone goes back in and stands at their seat and then the Head Table marches in again; well not me, no marching just a walk and staying in stride and step with the rest of these guys. We stand again at our chairs, have to remember to hold my tummy in as everyone is getting a good look at my profile while I wait for “about face” and then I get to turn and face everyone and be seated. Yippee! I did not trip or slip! The floor is opened for fines. The Marines decide ahead of time what their fines are going to be. They all know to have money on them as it is easy to end up being fined. Marines are good at pranking each other. You need to guard your uniform with your life prior to one of these events, as you never know what a fellow Marine will do to punk you out at a Mess Night/Dining Out. The first fines were for the Marines that were late. The next set of fines went to the Marines that had brought drinks in with them. The fines also include any sort of punishment the President would like to inflict on the violator. I heard a beautiful rendition of “I’m a Little Tea Pot” sung by a big ole Marine as well as watched a fabulous performance of YMCA; saw a fantastic Moonwalker, a beautiful duet of “Blame It On The Rain”, etc. Thus the law, NO PHOTOGRAPHY or VIDEO EQUIPMENT! Marines are also known to show other Marines something they are going to do and then not do, just to have someone make an accusation against them. This is a perfect example….a Marine stood up and requested to speak to the President, the Vice granted this and the Marine told the President that he had Intel that there was a RECON Marine not wearing the proper belt with his trousers as he had come in RECON tradition. The Intel wasn’t strong enough to identify the Marine, soooooo all Marines had to lift their top and parade past the Head Table to be inspected. The Marine who supposedly had worn the wrong belt was not found, however, many Marines were seen to not be wearing any belt at all. They were fined and had to do a performance. The evening continued in that fashion. Fines were paid and laughter was in abundance. During the calling out of all these accusations you have the constant comebacks of “Say It Isn’t So” and “Hannious” Later another call will be made to shed a tear and the Head Table marches out again and later marches back in, again, I am amazed that I have yet to fall on my face! Next, the skits are performed. This is the Academy and these Marines are at the end of their school and they now have the opportunity to put on skits that usually make fun of either the Instructors or events that happened during the course of their schooling there. As usual, these were hilarious and the Instructors are already thinking of ways to kill the students at Monday mornings PT session. (I’m thinking it will be a combo of hills, rifle pt, um, maybe some table tops, and a few more odds and ends. Yeah, Ed will come home sore on Monday!) Following this there will be another tear shed, yes marching out again and in again. I’m actually very good at this, I’m just also easily distracted and can fall at any given moment, but tonight was not my night to fall. The Guest of Honor will then speak. We had another great one. After the speaker is given their thank you gift the staff will begin filling everyone’s wine glass. You can choose to have alcohol or non alcohol. The first toast is to our Commander In Chief. You rise for each toast and then sit until the next toast is given. (You do not rise if you; or in my case, my spouse, has been in the conflict/war being toasted.) The toasts include the President of the United States, The Continental Marines, The Marines of the 19th Century, The Marines of WW One, The Marines of WW Two, The Marines of the Korean War, The Marines of the Vietnam War, (I love being able to toast my Daddy on this one), The Marines of Lebanon and Grenada, The Marines of Desert Shield/Desert Storm, The Marines of Operation Enduring and Iraqi Freedom, (can’t toast on this one), The U.S. Navy Corpsmen, Currently deployed Marines, All Marines who have died for the Corps. The Vice will than talk about the table that is set and no one sits there. He explains the symbolism of everything on the table, ending with the blank dog tags as those could bear the names of any of the Marines sitting in that room. Taps is played. Next the Rum Punch is brought in. Everyone gets one of these little glasses. A toast is made-Long Live the united States and success to the Marines! You drink this all up and I put my glass down while the Marines slam their cups on the table upside down. The Marines will than sing out all three verses to the Marine’s Hymn. The Head Table will exit the dining room, for the last time and everyone will join the President at the bar. It was a fun night. There were times my face hurt from laughing too hard. The end is always sobering as you think back on the illustrious history and the many sacrifices our Marines have made over the centuries. I hope I explained this somewhat right. I know I should know these things quite well by this time in my marriage……………but I still manage to get things confused. So, sorry to anyone I may offend if I have this not quite right!