Barge Cruise

If you have to have a busy week it's nice to have it full of things like this! We were treated to another cruise around Ford Island last night to welcome some new folks and say goodbye to others. A perfect way to forget about your to do list for a few hours!!

ANZAC Day

Yesterday kicked off a marathon week for me which includes (but is not limited to) an ANZAC Day Memorial Service and reception, a conference for 60 (not at my house thankfully), an evening barge cruise, a PTA meeting, a field trip, a May Day program at school, teacher appreciation week, a change of command ceremony, a promotion ceremony and a change of command celebration evening party. No sweat. I actually have a chart of baby sitters lined up so I won't forget who is coming when!!

ANZAC Day is equivalent to our Memorial Day for Australia and New Zealand. Many years ago when I met David's ship in Australia he marched in their ANZAC parade so it was fun for us to be invited to this service. We began at Punchbowl which is a national cemetery located in the basin of an old volcanic crater. Beautiful! I didn't get a lot of photos but the setting was gorgeous and the ceremony was very moving.

View of Diamond Head Crater (you might remember we climbed that a few months back)

For you Grandma Hughes!!

Oh yeah, and we made a bird feeder!

Peace out!!

I know, I know!

My Mom gently told me today that my blog was gathering dust...time for an update! I know, I know. It really has been bugging me too but honestly I have just been so busy which is nothing new but I've been busy with boring stuff so that combination makes it tough!

Let's see...where did we leave off. Kauai right? Maybe that's why I haven't posted, I wish we were still there :) Well, like I said it's been pretty run of the mill since then. Couple trips to the pool, couple sailing excursions, one very excellent diorama for Language Arts (that I forgot to photograph) which took up about 4 solid days of painting and gluing, and one CO/XO spouse symposium almost under my belt. I'll fill you in on that later!

School is wrapping up and will be done for the girls at the end of May. Olivia is having a poetry night at school next week and as such has been writing poetry for her assignments. She is a great writer and since I can't wow you with any great photos this week I will share one with you. She is so darn cute :) Side note (Dom is a kid in her class that apparently loves meat)

Can you Imagine:

Science with no why,
Penguins that can fly

A ruler that can’t measure
Happiness without pleasure

Youth without the young
A singer that hasn’t sung

Teachers with no tests
Sleep without the rest

A gamble with no bet
Best friends that haven’t met

A Dom that hates bacon
Feelings that can be taken

Christmas with no fun
Numbers without one

A poem that never ends
Life with no friends

Boxing with no fists
Instructions with no list

Imagine That!

Last Day

We spent our last day in Kauai at a beach not far from our cottages. It had an amazing stretch of coral reef with large pools of water in between. It was fun to walk along the coral and see all the sea life and then jump in for a dip when you found a big pool!

It always amazes me how few people are on the beaches here. There were about 3 other groups but they were mostly surfers catching waves in the non-reef part of the beach.

Olivia had a great and well deserved break from school. She starts her last semester tomorrow and gets out at the end of May.

She played her last soccer game of this season on Saturday and they had a big win and an after party celebration on the beach with a cookout.

Not a bad way to spend a week ;)

Day 3 - the Na Pali Coast Cruise

About 14 years ago David and I took a small boat cruise up the Na Pali coastline. I remembered it being a spectacular tour and this time was no different (minus the 10 ft. swells but we will get back to that). Kauai is the island where they filmed Jurassic Park, as well as a few scenes from an Indiana Jones movie. The mountain peaks rise straight out of the water and are very dramatic.

We were accompanied by a few turtles on the trip and at one point a whole bunch of spinner dolphins showing off for us. We were lucky and had a few humpback whale sightings too (no photos though, too unpredictable).

Ok, back to the swells. It was an ok day, pretty overcast and not too hot but not raining either. The sail lasts for about 6 hours and includes a stop for snorkeling and lunch before returning. About the time we hit hour 2 the wind picked way up and the boat was really bouncing - just ask Olivia who was up front on the trampoline nearly being thrown into the deep with each wave (and loving it). Emily and I started to feel a little woozy. She decided to sleep it off but I went a different route. Yep, Mrs. Navy actually threw up over the side of the boat in the company of all my new friends. How great is that? My kids thought it was pretty funny. Ha ha.

Easter Sunday

Well, I guess when I take a vacation I really take it! I didn't get one single photo of egg coloring or the girls finding their Easter goodies on Sunday. My bad. Have no fear, the bunny did find us and brought fun beach toys, kites, and a few new movies. After Olivia read us the Easter story on the lanai we dressed and headed out for a fantastic brunch at an old sugar plantation that has been converted into a restaurant. We took a train ride through the plantation then headed out to some local sight seeing places before coming home to the beach.

Tired after a day of sight seeing!

Train ride throught the plantation - we got to stop and feed the wild pigs!

My girls messing around in the luau spot

This one's for you Dad! See you COULD live here.

Hale Ali'i

We're back! We had an awesome trip...no cell phone coverage, no computers, no soccer, school, work, etc. Ahhhh vacation. It's hard to return from that! Here are some photos of our first day at the cottage. We were lucky enough to stay in the VIP cabin owned by the Navy on their very remote installation on Kauai. It's a very secluded beach area and has a great view of the island of Ni'ihau. Ni'ihau is an Hawaiian island but privately owned and only inhabited by about 250 native Hawaiians. No electricity, no modern amenities and no visitation allowed. Olivia did a report on the island for her social studies class so it was fun to be able to see it every day. If you click on the collage, the photo top row, 2nd photo and in the bottom right are pretty good shots of it. More photos of our trip to come!

Happy Easter!

Alooooooohhhhaaaa! We are outta here for a couple of days of R&R on a very remote island (as David says, it's not the end of the Earth but you can see if from there) and won't be home to call and wish everyone a Happy Easter. Enjoy the day and think of us lounging on a secluded beach or sailing with the dolphins :)

These are some photos of us at a beach last weekend where you are almost sure to see a turtle or two.

And sure enough this very friendly little fellow whom we called Limo couldn't get enough of us. He kept swimming by and holding up his flipper for Emily and Olivia to touch.

Another great Hawaiian day!