Happy Birthday, Marines!

Today is the United States Marine Corps' 236th Birthday.

Here is a photo from this year's annual Marine Corps Ball.
We attended the 26th MEU's ball on the 5th of November.

Isn't Jared handsome?

Jared's Promotion

Jared was promoted this month to Captain in the USMC.

The promotion ceremony was held yesterday.

Jared and Major Craig

MSgt Gillian announcing the warrant

(Dad Bussey--see the "Spirit Orb"?)

Jared reciting the Officer's Oath

Pinning on Jared's bling

Congrats Captain Blake!

Express Shipment

In a total of 58 minutes, the Japanese moving company came and took our rather large express shipment today. Amazing. I have a few tips for future Okinawan movers:

1) NO LIQUIDS>>>ZERO. I kept hearing "no opened cleaning products" and "no aerosols" at all the moving briefs. Guess what?? Those phrases are UNDER-STATEMENTS. What they really mean is no Body Shop bubble bath, no astringent,no swiffer sweeper cleaner. No Aunt Jemima's Syrup, Purex, Palmolive, or Bugspray. The little man packaging the bathroom items politely took my liquids, opened and unopened, out of the containers they were in and placed them on the table. Got it?

2) TAKE YOUR PICTURES OFF THE WALL IN YOUR HALLWAY TO THE FRONT DOOR. Obviously I forgot to do that--it makes it easier for them to move your stuff out. 'Nuff said.

3) DON'T HOUND THE MOVERS. They really do know what they are doing over here. Matter of a fact, they don't even want you touching things or helping pack. Get out of their way and stay out. They disassemble and wrap faster than you can say "arigato." They even wrapped my plastic plates individually. What service!

4) THEY SPEAK AND WRITE ENGLISH. I was impressed. They listed all of the items I had, in English, on both the boxes and paperwork. Have no fear, no language barrier here...

Before

After

"One who never climbs Mount Fuji is a fool, and one who climbs twice is twice the fool..."

Mount Fuji is the second largest mountain in Japan with an elevation of over 12,000 feet. After a crazy trip to mainland on via a SPACE-A C-130, Gina and I headed up the Kawaguchiko Trail to do a night-climb to the top on August 14th.

We started around 10 pm, which was a little later than we had hoped, but to be expected during the ever-busy Obon week. The purpose of doing a night-climb was to see the sunrise from the top of the mountain around 4:45 am.

Gina's body hit a wall around the 8th station. After being tested at the First Aid Station, her oxygen levels were really low and the volunteer doctors recommended she head back down the mountain. Since we had previously discussed what would happen in the event one of us was injured or sick, Gina allowed me to continue, guilt-free to the top, while she was a trooper and headed down the descending trail.

The sunrise was beautiful! The view from that point forward was simply heavenly.

Except for when you look up and you still have a L O N G way to go before hitting the summit!!

A Sengen shrine, dedicated to Princess Konohanasakuya, the Shinto deity of Mount Fuji, sat at the top of the mountain. Another Sengen shrine sits at the foot of Mount Fuji. Some hikers chose to leave the bells from their walking sticks on the torii poles, and other chose to slip coins in between pieces of split wood. I stuck two lucky 5-yen pieces in the wood for mine and Gina's sake!

After getting the summit stamp burned into the wood from my walking stick and taking pictures of the volcano crater and collecting "samples" of the dirt for Jared's collection, I headed back down. But not before making a stop at the 9th station bathroom. Yes, I paid nearly $2.00 for the privilege of urinating in a hole, and squirting my waste down it with a water gun.

The descent took me 2 hours and 49 minutes, but if I could go back, I would do a more leisurely pace on the way down... I was mostly hauling myself down as fast as I could go in order to ensure Gina was alive and well.

The little ants below are people on the trail ahead of me!

I am so grateful to Heavenly Father for the beautiful things He has created for us to explore and enjoy here on Earth!

Expeditionary Warfare School Graduation (Okinawa)

Congratulations, Captain-Select Blake, for graduating from EWS last Wednesday. "Oh--are you missing a few ribbons?" - Brian Biscoe

Jared's Return From The Land Of Smiles

Two weeks ago, Jared returned from a month abroad in Thailand. Although he was very busy with the Marine Corps exercise that brought him there, he was able to take several day trips, including one to Bangkok. His greatest adventure, that of riding in a tuk-tuk, was caught on video. The video Jared wanted to share is too large to add to the blog, but do know that you can hear background laughter throughout the entire 3 minutes and 30 seconds videotaped due to the driver darting in and out of traffic fearlessly. Below is a short clip to whet your appetite:

Jared also returned home with a quite a few treasures. My favorite is a hand-carved wooden elephant scene (we still need to decide where to hang it!) and three pieces of artwork (again, the elephant below is my favorite) made out of/with coffee beans. They even SMELL like a good ol' cup o' joe!

As you can see, it is beautiful and very green in Thailand:

WELCOME HOME JARED!