Diving the Vandenberg!

Tom and I finally had a free weekend, the weather was right and everything worked out that we got to dive the Vandenberg. Of course Tom has dove it before since he worked on it and gets to take people out diving on it but it was my first time. On the way out to the dive site (about 20 minutes from the island) we saw a large turtle and dolphins so I knew it was going to be a good day to dive.

It was a GREAT dive!!! There wasn't much current, visibility was good and we went early afternoon after the dive charters had left. It was just the two of us and another boat that had tech divers on it. They were diving the interior of the ship so we could see their bubbles coming out of the various holes in the ship.

As we went down the down line we landed midship (depth was 60 feet) and started the tour moving toward the bow from the large satellite radar dish that was dislodged when the boat was sank. It was so cool to move across the deck, down the walk ways, and look through the doors and windows. There are a number of swim through which allow you to wander through the ship without being inside and having to know wreck penetration diving skills. Even me, who doesn't usually go into ANY wreck, did a few of them. The picture of me is on the weather deck in a doorway that is at a depth of 90 feet. Then we went by the wheel house, past a large access shaft that Tom has dove (but not me) and around the other side until we got back to the down line. The wreck has been down since the end of May and is starting to be covered with marine growth and fish have moved into a new home (barracuda, grouper, king angel and parrot fish to name a few).

It easy to see how this has been rated one of the top artificial reef dives in the world. There is so much to see that its not possible to do it in just a few dives. I didn't get to do the inside of the satellite dish, the kings post or the balloon hanger so we are planning another dive as soon as possible!

September Adventures

So another month has come and gone with so much going on!

Lets start with Taryn, Brandon and Ashlyn visiting KW for 2 weeks.

The trip was our birthday gifts to Taryn and Brandon, Taryn's birthday being Sept 6 and Brandon's Oct 6th. Plus it was Ashlyn's first island visit and a great one at that since they were able to stay for so long.

Highlights were:

Brandon had his first taste of scuba diving! We didn't take the time to do a full certification course so Tom did a resort course which teaches the basics and allows Brandon to dive with Tom. They did a couple of tanks one of the days when we were out on the boat. It was a great time and Brandon now has the diving bug!!!

This was also Ashlyn's first time in the ocean. What a water baby she is! We got to take her out for a couple of trips and she LOVED it. The boat

the best to put her to sleep with the motors and the rocking of the waves. The picture of the right is of her when we were at 'The Resort' which is a friends house that is on the ocean. You have got to love the hat and the rash guard swim suit!!! She really is the cutest baby EVER!!!

After 2 fun weeks in KW it was time to move from Virginia to New Mexico. Brandon had to be in Albuquerque earlier than originally thought so he left for there directly from KW. That left Taryn to go back to Richmond and finish up the packing. Then we realized that a teething baby (or us!) would not make it for 4 days in the car driving across the country. On Monday, Sept 21 we arrived in Richmond, picked up a U-Haul, loaded it that night. Then VERY early Tuesday morning we put Taryn and Ashlyn on a plane. Tom took the U-Haul and I took the Murano with the dog and we headed out for NM. After 3 VERRRYYYY long days on the road, where we covered over 1800 miles, we arrived in Rio Rancho where the kids have their apartment. It was so good to finally be there and get things unloaded into their apartment! It's a great place and the area is amazing too. They really like it! We also got to go to Brandon's new church which we also really like. They have the main church that we attended service at on Sat night and then we to the satellite campus where Brandon works on Sunday morning. They are getting settled in and unpacked but our work was done with getting all the stuff there!

The trip to NM was dual purpose since we also needed to take care of my Dad. In August he had a series of small strokes that have left him with reduced mobility. He is no longer able to walk on his own or even with a walker. He can stand but is pretty much confined to a wheel chair. The strokes also had him in the hospital for 3 weeks with 2 of them in a rehab hospital. After all of that he wasn't able to return to his independent living apartment. He level of care has increased to fully assisted living support. To be able to support this it was decided that we would move him from Las Cruces where my brother Mike was supporting him to Albuquerque. That move came on Monday. Sept 29, after we had gotten the kids moved in. Taryn has also taken over his support and with her nursing training it has been a HUGH help. The new place we have moved him to is amazing and we all really like it. Even Dad is adjusting although the move was hard on him. So the last few days in NM was spent getting Taryn set up to take over Dad's support.

After 12 days of being gone we finally returned to KW on Thursday night, Oct 1. It was REALLY good to get home!!!!!

Now Oct is here which means Fantasy Fest!!!! We are gearing up and I will fill you in on all of the activities once it is over.