Funky Christmas ornaments...

Visit By Santa

Here's how Santa gets to all the good girls and boys on the island...

Christmas Gala

Steve and I went to the Christmas Gala on base last weekend... what a great time! I've still yet to download my pictures, but here's a few from friends' cameras. Steve made quite the impression with his dance moves. I've been told I should be the "most proud wife at Ramey Base!" LOL!

And, here's Steve's longtime friend and roommate's comment to me:

"Tracy (my dear), Steve doing the splits has been no less than bathroom wall knowledge since the early 80's. It is believed that Steve had to go "under ground" with this ability for many years, due to the fact that "Angel flight" slacks could not stand up to his super human flexability in heavy dicotechque competitions.(Even John Travolta avoided ... this well documented fact) also, A major groin injury at the hight of his illustrious career forced him into early retirement, but the competetive nerve in him is often seen during alcohol related weather phenomnon referred to "drunk fronts" moving through your area.......... please~ just be wary, I thought as a close personal friend you should know this! ; ) He was the guy that coined "Bust -A- Move"....for gods sake!"

Because we need a little Christmas right this very minute

Ok - I have been horribly remiss at keeping up the blog for the last
couple of weeks. Many apologies! It's been such a fun, busy time! And
I have tons of pictures, but I haven't taken the time to download any
of them yet, and I just kept thinking that I would do a mass posting
and keep everything in order.... Yeah. Didn't happen. Anyways, last
night was the official lighting of the Christmas tree here on base. We
had so much fun! Lots of singing, laughing, a brass orchestra, tractor
rides, and then an absolutely heavenly dinner of pinos. I am
officially in the Christmas spirit!

Relaxed

I'm not 100% sure, but I think Zoey and Steve like one another

They call THIS an apology? BUNK.

“Certainly, our industry is responsible for things. We’re a leader in our industry, and we participated in things that were clearly wrong and we have reasons to regret and apologize for.”


—Lloyd Blankfein, chairman and chief executive, Goldman Sachs, Nov. 17, 2009.

The Waterfalls at San Germain

 
 
 

Sunday, my friend Johanna and a new friend, Matthew went to San Germain to hike to the waterfalls. What a great time! The trail was ridiculously muddy and sticky, but it was worth all the slip sliding when we got here and jumped in. Matthew had the guts to jump from the waterfall... I didn't. I had the guts to climb it, and then climb it back down. ahem.

The Beach in our Back yard!

 
 
 
 

Steve and I spent Saturday at Survival Beach - the one just over the cliff from where we live. It's not a great place to casually swim, but man, it sure is pretty! Here are a few pictures; more are in a google album which you can get to by clicking the smaller, last picture in this post.

Survival Beach

Nap time!

Even though Zoey has her blanket here, apparently she much prefers to
take over Steve's side of the bed!

Zoey, the authoress

Savannah, did you know that Zoey likes to type? For the past two
nights, she's been sitting here in my lap as I work on the computer.
Sometimes, she likes to paw at the keyboard, but mostly she likes to
lick my hands and arms while I'm typing. This sometimes leads to some
interesting spellings of words! I'm pretty sure that she was trying to
get me to type this tonight:

"I miss you Savannah!"

(for the record, steve and I miss you too! Hope you're having a great
time!)

Sleeping in

It's really hard to get up early and start your workout routine when
zoey would rather snuggle. Sleeping late won out this morning! Of
course, Zoey might have been responsible for a late night bedtime last
night... She got up to get some water with me, and then decided she
wanted to play with some paper under the bed. For some reason, getting
under the bed proved a lot simpler than getting OUT from under the
bed. So, at midnight, I found myself taking the bed apart to extricate
her! We both slept quite well after that :-)

I hope you guys had good travels and are enjoying seeing old friends
and family again!

A week in the life of Zoey Beltran

Savannah, I took this picture an hour or so after your mom dropped Zoey
off with me. As soon as I put your tshirt down on her bed, she trotted
over and snuggled in with a big smile on her face! I know she misses
you, but we're having a good time keeping each other company until you
come back home!

Fireflies

I caught a firefly tonight on my way out to the the cliff for a little
nighttime reading in the breeze. Catching fireflies, in general, makes
me happy, but when I stopped and realized that it was November, and
that I was catching fireflies; well, that's when I puffed up with all
kinds of happiness. It's a really good life.

Sent from my iPhone.

Check out what the post delivers these days

Morning peaches

Sir Stumpy, wolfing down a large bite of peach this morning.
Thankfully, he finally shed his skin and is looking much less like a
tragedy.

Icharus

It's all-out war

If he goes for the rest of our tomatoes...

I'm not sharing my hammoc

Check out the freeloadin iguana in the far left of the trees. I see
him eyeballing my hammoc...

Our first tomato

 
It's the inaugural picking! This one happens to be a Better Boy, but there are Romas on the way. Lots and lots of tomatoes on the way! This fellow was quite tasty tonight with some fresh basil from the back porch, lots of basalmic, and some fresh mozarella. I can't wait for the rest to come in!

Teensy tiny crabs...

...Are ridiculously fun to catch!

Stormy skies

Last night, it rained like cats and dogs. Today, it's been sunny, then
cloudy, but always pleasantly breezy. I spent an hour or so on the
cliff reading and watching rain showers move across the ocean. This
picture is on my way back to the house.

Body Surfin at Borinquen

 
 
 
 
We spent a lovely Sunday afternoon at the beach with Leslie and Justin! The weather couldn't have been more perfect - sunny, warm and breezy. Good enough for hours of paddle ball before having to jump back in to cool off. The body surfing was a bit rougher though - the break is so close in to the shore, and it is HARD. My favorite is the very first picture - Justin is getting smacked in the head, I'm trying to jump the wave, and Leslie has been hurled off her board, lost at sea

Festival Isabela tiene sabor

Love those skirts! While I was taking my first flamenco lesson, I
couldn't quit twirling all that floaty fabric.

Festival Isabela tiene sabor

He may have given me a hard time about eating all the cake, but you
see who's bogarting the pineapple mango frappé...

Festival Isabela tiene sabor

More twirling swirling flamencoing

Festival Isabela tiene sabor

Flamenco dancers and a truly spectacular comb-over

Festival Isabela tiene sabor

Leslie and Justin

Festival Isabel tiene sabor

We just got back from one of the local food festivals. Lots of
phenominal food booths, great music and dancing. Great way to spend a
Saturday! Here's steve, giving me grief for eating too much of our
shared cake. Justin and Leslie know better!

Baby!

 

Halloween Party

 
 
 
 


Introducing Guitar Heroes Lars Umlaut and Shirley Crow - High Security Prisoner Dana King, and Jose, as well, Flash. Josh as the Ripper ( I can't remember which movie he's from), and Angelica as the world's cutest belly dancer. I was a bit out of place in the belly dancer circle, but they let me join since I at least had a henna tattoo around my belly button.

click the picture below to go to the rest of the pictures, in our google album:

Halloween

Halloween

All right - this year was absolutely the most fun ever! Steve and I started off the day by running in the Halloween 5K here on base. Time wasn't great, but it was a lot of fun! Then, we spent the rest of the day getting our costumes ready. The original plan was to go as Guitar Heroes with the couple who got us hooked on the game, but they bailed on us. Not to worry, we pulled it together with only half the band still intact. While shopping for Steve's makeup, I found the most awesome fingernails, and I was just starting to put the first one on when Flash and Dana showed up at the house. In an "oh-so-typical-Tracy maneuver, I started talking to them and instantly glued my fingers together. So, here's Dana trying to soak my fingers apart and leave some skin still intact. If you look in the top left of the second picture, you can see Steve being ever-helpful by whooping hysterically and taking the pictures.