Puerto Rico, aye aye aye aye

Last week John returned from a business trip in Puerto Rico, we missed him a lot, but he sure had a good time. This is a sea urchin that John found on the shore of the caribbean sea, each spike is a leg that moves on it's own. He was wondering what a thistle was doing on the beach, when he picked it up is started moving, eeek!

John and his co-workers at the Arecibo radio telescope observatory.

Getting lost on the way to Arecibo, on the GPS they selected shortest route instead of most use of freeways--they were almost eaten by dinosaurs (not true, but doesn't this remind you of Jurassic Park?)

One of John's favorite past-times while on business trips is to see how long he can hold his breath under water. He spent a lot of time relaxing and practicing this after long days at work, at sea level his top time is 3 minutes.

Road to Arecibo, the "short-cut".

Jumping beans and Rock candy

John just returned home from a three day trip to southern Arizona, he is always so good about bringing souveniers home for the kids--even on the little trips. This time he brought home rock candy and Jumping beans. The gifts were awsome and we were all glad to have him home again.

Strictly business

Here are a few pictures of John's recent business trip. He not only traveled to Taiwan and Japan, but he also traveled into the future! Apparently this is what Japan and Taiwan will look like in the year 2038. I love that he can have the experience of traveling around the world, and I hope that someday I will be able to go with them. Though this trip was a grueling trip for him, he worked very hard and slept very little--so I am sure I wouldn't have had a lot of fun on this one. He was able to get away one day and do some sightseeing around Okinawa, and he had an eight hour layover in Taipei, Taiwan where he was able to go and experience Taipei 101.
This is a picture of one of the suicide bomber shelters

John in Taiwan near Taipei 101, he got really good at taking self portraits.

Having a meal in Okinawa

Surfing the web with a tomato in the Taiwan airport.

Home again, Home again

Four days after John returned home from Germany, he was asked to go to California for last minute emergency work trip. Two business trips this close together are rare, and we were glad that it was only for a few of days. While he was gone, Hannah and I were invited to a birthday party for my friend's daughter. Since I was alone, with no husband to watch the others, she invited all of us to come along. She had an excellent party at the park, and Johnny seemed to be oblivious to all of the pink stuff. He proudly sported this piece of the pinata as a hat, and who could say no to a helium balloon and a tasty heart shaped sucker?

In three days, John was able to fly in, fix a job, and fly out. Great job being speedy! As always, we're glad to have him home again.

Home from Germany

John took a little business trip last week to Germany. Every once in a while his work sends him to some foreign beautiful country so that those of us at home can feel what it is like to be jealous (and of course so we realize how much we like having him around.) These military HMMV's are the reason he gets to travel around so much. He oversees the testing of these satellite communications terminals. Of course if you are going to a beautiful place like Heidelberg, Germany you've got to have a little fun. Here are some pictures of their adventures driving on the Autobahn. AusFahrt means Exit--he he he (sorry that was immature).

One of John's co-workers took a picture of John sightseeing, he looks so happy.

On the Hauptstrabe (sounds like Hopstrauss)

And his incredibly tasty chocolate souvenirs. They sell Kinder Eggs there, and our kids absolutely love them. They are such a novelty because they aren't sold in the U.S., understandably, people are worried that children will eat the toys hidden inside. Kids will eat anything covered in chocolate.

Here are some of the beautiful old houses,

And the awesome castle that they were able to explore.

There is always something that goes wrong while John is away. Usually it has something to do with the our 300lb garage door or a computer (I am so not a techy) so I was surprised when it was our dishwasher this time. The latch on the door broke and my Kitchen Aid mixing bowl was trapped inside. I don't realize how much I use it until I have to go 3 days without it. I tried everything I could think of to get the door open, prying it with a knife, pulling really hard, asking nicely, nothing worked. When John came home he just took the latch off completely--now it works fine. We hope to take this trip together next year, I can't wait.