XO is the Man!

The Company XO has been working to build and constantly improve his lounge, which resides in a corner in his office. It started as an idea and began to take form in March when a departing Chaplain gifted him with the Espresso machine. A new table soon followed. His wife sent the coffee maker and recently he received the blender. The XO (with the help of the rest of the staff) keeps the lounge well stocked in coffee, snacks, and other goodies.

The XO has learned to make a mean Espresso. Lately he has been experimenting with smoothies, putting his blender to good use. He takes some ice cream out of the DFAC (Dining Facility, an army term) along with some milk and fruit, usually strawberries and bananas. Blend them all together with some ice and voila'! Strawberry smoothies! They are great and there is always enough for several of us.

The Lounge.
A strawberry smoothie, in an Easter themed coffee cup.
And our proud XO, blender in hand.

DominicsDad, in Djibouti

Jocelyn!!

Jocelyn, the little princess in the family, has been growing in leaps & bounds and is making great progress! DominicsMom took her into her 4 month(!) check-up today. She weighs in at 14.0 lbs and is 25" long. For those of you concerned, she is in the 66% & 75% percentile respectively. She is starting to smile (and no, it is not just gas XO!) and makes lots of noises at DominicsMom. DominicsMom says she has a really cute little voice, which I have been blessed to hear over the phone on several occasions.

Little cutie in her car seat.

A big smile!

DominicsDad, in Djibouti

Batting Practice

During the Memorial Day weekend, DomincsGrandpa Frank brought out a wiffle bat, T-stand, and ball. DominicsGrandpa gave Dominic some pointers and then let him go! There was some trial and error, but we may have another Babe Ruth (Ruth Babe! Ruth Babe!) on our hands.

DominicsGrandpa Frank sets up the ball and gives Dominic some pointers.
Missed! Dominc cannot believe the ball is still on the stand.Success!

DominicsDad, in Djibouti

Dominic Goes for a Walk

During the Memorial Day weekend, everyone went for a walk. Of course Dominic insisted on wearing his new swim trunks! And his kitty.....

Here Dominic has his walking blade of grass and his kitty under one arm. He really likes animals and fish.

Jocelyn also went along for the walk, but she had it easy. DominicsMom carried her in the Baby Bjorn (a must have for all new parents!!)

Back at home Dominic relaxes and watches a little TV. I wonder who he learned this from?

DominicsDad, in Djibouti

Baby Cole

Here are some more pictures of Cole that DominicsUncle Lee sent to me. He sure is a cute kid, good thing he takes after his mother!

I'm Number One!
What a great smile! He's such a happy baby!

DominicsDad, in Djibouti

More Memorial Day Pics

More pictures!

Dominic is in his new swim trunks, he loves them!
Pulling his little red wagon.
Dominic & Jocelyn watching TV!
Dual baby carriage...
Baby Joss sits in her boppy pillow.

DominicsDad, in Djibouti

Memorial Day

DominicsMom took the two little ones up to see DominicsGrandpa Frank & DominicsGrandma Pat. He had a great time there, he saw Mema, fed some fish(!), and wore his new swim trunks that he loves so much.

Here Dominic is talking to me on the phone while showing me his trains.
Reading an Elmo book.
Walking with Mema.
Feeding the fish! DominicsMom had to hold him tight, she was afraid he would jump in with them!
Fish!
On an earlier trip to the Wild Animal Park, Dominic eats a hotdog, or at least the french fries.

DominicsDad, in Djibouti

Dominic Sings Elmo

DominicsMom relates another story to me:

Dominic is starting to sing now, but not very well. However he is trying! He loves that Elmo song that you put on his CD. I keep it in the car and every time we get in, he says, “Elmo”. Then I have to play it like 5 or 6 times before I finally say NO!! At least the drive to Leonie’s is short. So, then I only have to listen 2 or 3 times.

I find it very amusing how little kids like to do things over & over & over. Until I have to listen to it. DominicsMom must have lots of patience to watch the same video or listen to the same song constantly. Follow the link above to see & hear a bit of Elmo.

Dominic is talking more & more, although it can be very tough to understand what he is saying, particularily over the phone. The other day he said "Hello Daddy!" Its always fun to talk to him.

DominicsDad, in Djibouti

First Dive!

Yesterday I took most of the day off and went with one of my sections for my first scuba dive. There were 8 of us and the majority of us had never dove before. Two of the Marines had gone out for their first dive a week before, so they were the 'veterans' showing us the ropes...

Early yesterday morning we took a KBR bus out to the commercial pier in Djibouti harbor. Djibouti does not have a large fishing industry as I saw no large fishing boats like those that you might see in San Diego's harbor. I did see a lot of small, 1-2 man fishing skiffs that the locals used. Some line, weights, and bait were what they used to catch fish, nothing special.

At the pier we all stepped into a small dingy for a short boat ride to the dive boat. The boat was fairly big, but I was glad there was not more than the 8 of us, the dive instructor, and 2 crew. I was also heartened that they towed the dingy behind them as they motored out to the dive spot (and we almost had a good reason to use it!) It took about an hour to motor out to the spot. I was up very late the night before so I napped on the way out.

Once there we all prepped our gear. The dive instructor, Safwan, a Yemeni ex-pat working at the local PADI dive shop, took the first 4 Marines down for their first dive. They stayed down about 30 minutes. After they were in, I grabbed my fins, my mask, and a snorkle and jumped in after them. I was joined by 2 other Marines and we just paddled around for a few minutes, diving down a bit. I eventually came back up, sat on one of the benches, relaxed and read a magazine. Soon the first group was back and it was our turn.

I geared up and jumped in. We followed the anchor chain and the instructor down. We swam around for about 20 minutes. There were a lot of coral & fish, I even saw a Moray eel. Soon we stopped to practice some of our techiques. These included taking out the resperator, clearing it, and then breathing. We also had to fill out masks with water and then clear them. After that we swam around for 5 more minutes. I was glad that we were not down longer than that because my mask kept filling with water after we did the skills. That was rather frustrating...

Once we returned to the boat, we had lunch. One of the crewmen had made rice, a salad, some sort of mystery meat dish, and french bread. It was delicious. We all sat around for awhile to digest our food and just talked. One of the Marines was getting seasick and he stayed near the bow of the boat. The other Marines were giving him a really hard time and they all had their cameras at the ready in case he puked. Then came the word to gear up. I was one of the first ones finished and I moved to the dive platform, just in time to hear the sick Marine give up his lunch. Of course the current took his lunch from the bow to the stern of the boat and we all watched his lunch float by us. It delayed things a few minutes as we waited for it to float away from the boat!

This time the instructor took down all 8 of us. I had a great time again and at the end we stopped to practice more of our techniques. We were down about another 30 minutes and got as deep as about 45 feet. It truely did not seem that we were down too deep. Once we returned to the surface, we hosed down our gear and prepared for the return trip. I went to the top deck of the boat and passed out again as the boat headed for the port.

I woke up at one point when the engine quit. That didn't make me too happy, but we had the dingy in case anything went bad. They soon fixed the engine and we continued back to port. Once there we climbed back into the dingy and went ashore!

I had an absolutely great time and am looking forward to the final two dives required for certification!

Unfortunately, the photo upload is not working, I'll try again later.

DominicsDad, in Djibouti

Another Story

DominicsMom sent me this e-mail last night:

There is so much little stuff that I keep forgetting to tell you over the phone. Like how Dominic keeps scraping himself up!! He has a big scrape on his elbow, knee, nose and upper lip. He has a cut on his lip, too (he fell off the swing!). I also bought him swim trunks with fish on them. He loves them and wants to wear them everyday…I have to hide them. As soon as he sees them, he wants them on and won’t even let me change his diaper for fear that I will take them off and leave them off!!! He’s funny.

Ahh, little boys!

Today I go for my first scuba dive! I recently completed the classes and spent some time in the Camp's swimming pool learning all the necessary techniques. I'll post some pictures soon!

DominicsDad, in Djibouti

More and More Pictures

Wow, it has been a long time since I posted. I have some new pictures to share with everyone. However, I have some exciting news to pass. The unit that replaces us is out for their site survey! That means the end is in sight! Yeah! The Camp recently signed a new lease with the Djiboutian government, allowing the Camp to expand. I have been very busy providing input for this process.

Here are some photos!

Dominic & Jocelyn. She is sitting in a little chair that holds her upright, and no, she did not like it at first.

Dominic holds his two stuffed kittens. He likes them a lot!

Here's Jocelyn hanging out...

Dominic and his buddy Garrett drink milk.

And here is a picture of one of Dominic's new tricks that I mentioned previously. He has learned how to blow bubbles in his milk and it has become a favorite trick. DominicsMom got a great kick out of it when he first learned how to do it (until she had to clean it up!)

DominicsDad, in Djibouti