October

I was very excited about Halloween this year. I haven't done much in the past few years and I have never gotten to hand out candy. Being on base this year we had tons of little kids stopping by in adorable costumes. I even carved a pumpkin this year. I can't remember the last time I carved a pumpkin, let alone an artistic one. (As you can tell I am very proud of my pumpkin.) Gil kept telling me that pumpkins are suppose to be scary but we are in Hawaii and what is cooler than a sea turtle! I was lucky enough to find a pattern online and it ended up turning out great. We ran out of candy pretty quickly but we got to see some very cute costumes. I think the best was this little boy who was probably 2 years old. He was dressed up as a baby duck, he had the big round belly and everything. Very cute! Once we ran out of candy we walked over to our friends house and hung out for a while.

We also went to our first hail and farewell this month. It was an interesting experience; the combination of the old and new, the incoming and the outgoing. All of the new Marines and wives were introduced and the wives received leis. I was super excited about that. I was really bummed out when we didn't have anybody to receive us and give us a lei when we first landed, so I was very happy to receive the lei at the hail and farewell.

This month Gil inherited quit an interesting....piece of art....Echo company 2/3 has a mascot named Coa (sorry if I misspelled that.) The only way I know how to describe him that he is a large wooden tekke man or totum pole esk thing. Each year the old Marines nominate a new Marine to be in charge of caring for him for the next year, (we are pretty sure Gil got picked just because he went to Harvard.) Which means Gil has to take him to all 2/3 functions....hail and farewell, Marine Corps Balls...the whole nine yards. The hard part is supposedly other Marines will try to kidnap him so you really have to keep a watch out. Apparently Coa also has a log book for when he misbehaves. We had him for only three days when he stole Gils cover (hat.) I personally find it very entertaining. We had to lug him to Honolulu for the Marine Corps Ball then find a safe location for him where they may not find him. We were getting some pretty strange looks getting in and out of cabs with this thing; he is not small or light!

At the beginning of November we went to our first Marine Corps Ball as a married couple. It was held at the Hilton in Honolulu. They had an amazing cake...which by the way we didn't get any of it. We were pretty upset about that. What is a birthday party without any birthday cake. Either way we got to get all dressed up and we spend a nice night with our new friends.The house is coming along really well. I got the bedroom completely painted. The only thing I have left to do is hang some photos. We also recently bought the nightstand that matches our bedroom set. I love our bedroom now that it is complete. I also have the kitchen finished. There are a few things I want to hang up before it is completely finished. I am working on the dining room and living room while Gil is gone this week. After that I only have the two additional bedrooms left which I saved till last since they aren't used as much. Once the whole house is done there will be a lot more pictures.