Happy Birthday Grandma!

ACK...once again the time zone has gotten the better of me.  After a long morning teaching VBS, dropping Emily off for a play date, taking Olivia for a haircut, commissary shopping, picking up Emily and then putting away the groceries it is 4:00 and on the late side to call Grandma!  UGG, we are thinking of you today - and all wish you a very happy day.  We can't wait for you to visit.  Much love to you.

Happy 4th

I hope everyone enjoyed their 4th of July - whatever your particular celebration.  We had a beautiful day here - filled with picnics, concerts, food and a fantastic fireworks display. 

 Our crazy week of socializing has come to an end and it's back to work.  Olivia and I are teaching VBS this week at our church but as of day 2 I am already back home early with a sick little one.  We'll see if it turns into anything. 

Only a few more weeks of summer for us so we need to sit down and plan out our excitement for the next few weeks.

A very happy birthday today to our Aunt Kathy!  Hope there is a big cake in your future! :)

RIMPAC

It's been a fun week but as promised, we are exhausted!  4 receptions in 4 nights means David getting home by 6 to change, me getting the girls bathed, fed and ready for bed by 6:15 (and me dressed). These aren't our best photos but I promised I would share.

Night 1.  Japanese reception.  I promise we are happier than we look in this photo!!

Cute huh?

Night 2.  Australian reception.  I promise, David is every bit as tired as he looks in this photo :)

Night 3.  French reception.  Remember the part about David making it home to change by 6?  Ummm, that got a bit tight as the week wore on but I will tell you he chose a lovely white shirt and pants for the evening!

Day 4.  Canadian reception.  Same story as above! 

We had a great time at each one.  We have some good friends in town for the festivities and it was great to see them everyday and catch up.  We are happy to have two nights off before a big 4th of July event on Sunday. 

Happy 4th!!

USS RONALD REAGAN

The girls and I went with some friends to the channel yesterday to see the mighty REAGAN pulling into port. 

We waited...

and waited...

and waited...

Here

she

comes!!

A mighty warrior indeed.  She is now "parked" where I can see her when I drive down our street.  Magnificent!  I met the Captain last night at a reception aboard the Japanese ship and am doing my very best to secure not only a tour but maybe even a flight out to the ship later this month and a landing on the deck!  Can you believe that?  Fingers crossed. 

Happy, happy birthday to my awesome mother today.  It's fitting to add her to this post as she is equally as mighty and magnificent. 

Weekend Fun

RIMPAC is in full swing here now and the harbor looks amazing with all the ships.  I wish I could get an aerial shot to show you.  David took us on a pier walk this weekend so we could see them up close.  Not sure if I am supposed to post photos of the ships so I'll limit it to this one shot. 

We took a tour on USS FREEDOM - here's Captain Emily!

David and two other (also both David's) in our neighborhood hosted a backyard party Sunday for the other major commanders in town for the events.  This is a group of guys in charge of a lot of the world's firepower at the moment.  Very fun bunch and they were glad to have some "down time" together.

This morning the girls and I got up and went on a sea glass hunt on a local beach known for having bunches.  It's no rumor...we collected more sea glass in one hour than I have in all my beach walks combined!

Most pieces were much smaller than this but we did find lots of different colors.  Emily even found a small red piece which I have never seen.  I will have to do some research and see what this place used to be - maybe some type of factory?

My Green Thumb

Well, I have tried and tried to load a little slide show of some nice flowers blooming here (especially my orchids) but to no avail.  In case you don't know this about me...I have a black thumb.  Can't hardly grow my own hair.  Seriously.  Back in December when my Mom was visiting she convinced me to try some orchids in flower boxes.  We spent about $100 on two boxes and I was sure they would go from gorgeous blossoms to dead sticks in a matter of days but they are thriving!  I would love to take credit and say that I have turned some horticultural corner but I will give the props to the Hawaiian climate.  They did lose all their blossoms but have since grown so much that they about attack you on the way up the stairs!  This photo is the second plant that has graced us with new flowers...they are stunning.  I can't wait to show them off to Aunt Betty! 

Here are some shots in still form, I am done arguing with the slide show, I need to get back to arguing with my kids!

Next week starts a little exercise we call RIMPAC.  It involves a bunch of foreign ships, war games and training.  I don't know much about that part of it but I do know we have a reception aboard a different ship each night for 7 nights in a row.  I am looking forward to it but imagine by night 4 I might be dragging a bit!  Stay tuned for the fashion show...

Updates!

Let's see...what have we been up to this past week?  Well, too many play dates for one!  This was my week for "pay back" play dates it seems so we had little girlies over here almost every day including a sleepover one night!  Needless to say we have eaten our share of mac n cheese and hot dogs this week.

Olivia attended an outdoor adventure camp which included snorkeling, kayaking, hiking to the falls, fishing, and climbing Diamond Head.  I was impressed with the camp and hope she gets into the surfing camp in a few weeks (we are currently on the wait list).  She also started Japanese lessons.  Yumie comes to our house on Fridays and spends an hour with Olivia on conversational Japanese!  They have a lot of fun and she is already doing great with it.

My car battery died during the middle of all this schlepping kids to and fro fun but it got fixed and driven back home only to be topped off with a very flat tire.  You can only imagine my mood at that point. 

I am trying to post a slide show right now but it is giving me major grief and I have to get on with my day...I'll try again later.  To hold you over here is a few shots of Emily and one of her peeps.  The Hello Kitty nails?  I have no defense...

 

Summer's On!!

We played like tourists this weekend!  Maybe because David is home or maybe were just getting into the swing of summer -  but we packed a bunch of Hawaii fun into two days!

  

We started with sailing on Saturday am, did some errands in town, and finished off the day with a sunset powerboat "dinner cruise" to the sandbar in Kaneohe.  By dinner I mean Subway and Doritos!

Both girls tried snorkeling for the first time (that Olivia can remember) and within minutes were doing great!

Not too much sea life on this trip but the next day we headed to Turtle Cove and saw bunches of fish and turtles. 

This would be the boat we wished we were on!  A beautiful 57' Benetau - ahhhh maybe one day honey!

And because she only has two speeds...full throttle and off...this is what happened on the ride to Kaneohe when I gently asked her to stop talking for just a while. 

Aloha Dada!!

We pulled the 21st link off the chain today which means today is the big day...Dada is finally coming home!

We decided to try and make a lei for him with the plumeria flowers from our yard.  Plumeria are a gorgeous smelling flower but very delicate.  Once they fall from the tree they brown fast so we will see what our lei looks like at 3:00!

Emily and I gave each other manicures yesterday too.  Don't know if you can see mine in this photo but its a lovely opalescent color with pink hearts, dots and smiley faces.  NICE :)

It's almost done!

Ta Da!

My new favorite photo of Liv!

Summer Fun

I took the girls to the Hale Koa pool in Waikiki yesterday and it turns out about 4 of our neighbor friends had the same idea!  A beautiful day and the girls swam and walked the beach for 5 hours!!
 

This is a shot of Waikiki beach just beyond the pool boundries!

Olivia is house sitting for our neighbors so we decided to have some fun in the hammock and swing in their yard one night!  I am torn between asking for a hammock and a power washer for my birthday.  Either would make me VERY happy!

Can't really teach that lesson...has to be learned first hand!