Aerial yoga

Adventure Friday's are back!  6 of us went and tried a different kind of yoga class. It was so much fun!!  If you ever get a chance to try this, do it!  You won't fall, you don't need any special yoga skills, and it's a great stretch.

Im the one in the white top. 

Spring time

Spring has come to the island and it's my favorite time!  So many different colors, new bright green leaves, and soon the smell of plumeria wafted into my house.  The waves on the north shore are dying down and the earth has rotated enough to see the sunset in the water again. 

We've had some rainy days lately but after not much rain during the winter, it's much needed. 

I've been way too busy with swim team stuff. I'm trying to hand items off and dedicate only certain times to those tasks so it's not so all consuming. Meaning hopefully more blogs!

Caroline has been really improving in her swimming. Achieving more A times!  She is setting goals and telling her coaches what they are so they can help her with them. 

Will was supposed to have his first baseball game of the season Saturday but it was cancelled. He is being challenged this year by his teammates by having to work on his sportsmanship and attitude!

Eric starts soccer this week and is super excited!  

The school year is almost over and we are all looking forward to the short summer break. 

The hundred foot palm

Last week a maintenance crew came through the neighborhood trimming the palm trees.  They cut off the dead palm fronds, the seed bunches (not sure what they really are), and the giant pods (no clue here either).  When the giant pods fall, the kids sit in them and call them boats!  They are longer than my leg!  

Everyone needs a cuddle while doing homework right?!

 The workers drove the big cherry picker truck right up close to my house.  So close I could have touched it through the window.  I went out side and spoke with the 4 workers watching the guy in the bucket doing the cutting.  They said the tree was at least 100 feet tall!!  And there's another in the neighborhood that is so tall they can't even reach the top of it!  Crazy

You can see all 3 parts that were cut out in this picture. 

 Will's class made art from recycled items after a field trip to the Hawaii State Art Museum.  He made his dad and CSM Morgan!

Hapalua

Justin ran his very first half marathon last Sunday!  I'm so very proud of him!  He achieved his goal of running the race in under 2 hours too!!  

Saturday morning we headed down to Honolulu to the convention center to do packet pick up, have lunch and run some errands.  One of the places we stopped was Runners HI, a shoe store, where Justin bought the pair of shoes he wore in the race!  While we were there the boys both needed to go to the bathroom.  There was a sign on the door that said they had no public restroom.  So I took the boys outside and found a dumpster for them go go behind.

This picture makes me giggle!

Sunday morning Justinand I woke up at 4, got the kids up at 4:30, 2 friends came over to ride with us, and we got in the car at 4:45 to head to the race.  The car wouldn't start!!  Jumping the car at 4:45am wasn't really a great way to start the day but it was a quick fix and we were on our way.  I dropped Justin, Gina, and Michelle off as close to the starting line as I could and the kids and I went to park.  We found a perfect parking spot.  We were maybe 40 feet from the water station at mile 9 and 200 yards form the finish line!  So we had some time to kill before Justin made it to mile 9, so the kids watched a movie on the iPad and I read.  

Waiting for their dad to run by

 We saw lots of people that we knew run past us!  I never saw a single one of the dozen or so people I knew before they called out my name!!

 Justin coming in for the finish line!

 After the race they handed out shave ice and malasadas (cinnamon sugar coated donut like thing).  I got to eat Justin's malasada (I worked hard cheering! Ha!) and we met up with other runners we knew.  Then we drove over to the Hale Koa for brunch and an afternoon hanging at the pool with friends.

Laying on the hot ground to warm up.

 It was a beautiful day to hang out at the pool!

 Then 3 families walked over the the Yardhouse restaurant for an early dinner.  We put the kids at one table (Caroline was the oldest of the 9 kids) and the adults at another.  After getting up early and swimming all afternoon the kids were very well behaved.

Then the drive home was surprisingly traffic free and we had the kids in bed, lights out at 6:10pm!!  They all slept until 6:30 the next morning.

Justin, I am so proud of you for running and making your goal!!  Way to go!!  Oh, his official time was 1:56:40 with a pace of 8:52 per mile.

Buddies

If you have been to our house or maybe you've been lucky enough to have him at your house, you know how great a dog Miles is.  Miles and Will have always had a tight bond and sort of grew up together (We got Miles when Will was 3 almost 4).  But while Will is at school Eric and Miles have been have lots of fun bonding moments!!

Watch and try not to giggle along with it!

Another Ball

Thursday night we picked up CSM Morgan and his wife, Janet, and headed to the Hickam Officers Club for the 45th Sustainment Ball.  It was a lovely evening.  The weather could not have been better and the view was pretty great too.  I had a handsome guy on my arm and lovely ladies to chat with.  It was another fun evening out.

Susan let me borrow her junior year (1999) prom dress that my mom made for this ball.  The dress was a little long or I'm just short but other wise fit great.  I received many many compliments on the dress.  It fit the theme (1940's Hawaii) perfectly.  We had taken a few swing dance classes and it was very difficult to even attempt to swing dance in the dress.  Lots of fabric in the skirt part!  I loved it and felt very beautiful all dressed up.

 The location was right at the mouth of the entrance to Pearl Harbor.  We didn't see any boats/ships coming in though.

 When you checked in you received a ration book good for a cigar or cigarette (candy ones), or gum, your dinner, and your souvenir.

Justin is speaking with the youngest guy in the brigade in the background.  The kid is 18!!

The Officers Club is right on the water at the entrance to Pearl Harbor.

Jenn, me, and Janet

It was a great evening and we had a fun night.  But I'm glad we don't have another ball to attend in the foreseeable future.

Shooting guns

Wednesday was Spouse to Soldier day.  Tuesday was Sports day (not sure if I mentioned that before). It started out with an volunteer recognition ceremony then we could have our faces painted and get in several vehicles they had on display.  Eric and Justin went around looking at all the different vehicles while I went with the other spouses to a weapon simulator center (on post).  We got the opportunity to shoot a 9mm and an M4!  But not with any real bullets, it was all computer simulated. 

Despite his smile in the picture below he didn't like having the camo on his face.  I had a hard time getting it out of his eyebrows!

 He maybe confused as to which super hero he wants to be.  Hulk or Captain America?

 I don't have any pictures of me in the 9mm shooting range.  But it was set up the same as the m4 room.  There are several guns connected to boxes that then connect to a computer.  A guy tells you to "lock and load" then wait for the targets to come up on a big screen.  You shoot at a fixed target with the hand gun and had scenarios with the m4.  The 3 scenarios we had with the m4 were a desert mountain scene with helicopters, trucks, and people moving all over, a city scene with buildings, planes, and people coming out from behind trees, and then the last one was a turkey shoot.  Very fun!!

Justin's boss's wife, Jenn.  She is very funny!

I didn't lay down to shoot the m4 (it's pretty heavy) because of my back.  But when it came time to shoot I supported my arm with my knee.  The guns are all real guns that have been modified.  

After we were done shooting I went back to Justin's office to get Eric.  It was time to pick up the big kids from school.

Below are pictures that someone from the unit took and posted.  I downloaded them so you can see more of what was going on.

So this picture shows more of the set-up and all the wires.  The guy in the blue shirt on the far left was the one in charge of the room and the computer.  I'm in this picture.  My head is above the baby's head.

 All the volunteers that were recognized.  Somehow I ended up in the center.

 Here's a great picture of the screen and the fixed target.  I was in lane 1 on the far left.

 And the best picture goes to Justin and this great action shot of him playing softball!

The week ended Thursday night with the 45th Sustainment Ball.

Books!

The rest of Easter was just as fantastic as church and the hike!  So after hiking we came home had lunch and then Eric, Justin, and I took a nap.  Caroline and Will took a break and watched part of the Avengers movie.  We got up from our nap at 4 and immediately left for the Ala Moana mall to go to Barnes & Nobles.  When we got home from the beach Saturday we had an envelope in the mail that had gift cards for B&N!  They were burning a hole in Eric's pocket and since we couldn't go Saturday night we went Sunday afternoon.

After more than an hour looking at books we had to go to dinner (California Pizza Kitchen) even though none of us were ready to leave!!  I really love that my kids love books and reading so much!!  Eric you will learn how to read soon.  He already will sit for more than an hour and just look at books.  I love it!

Eric is showing off his book choices along with the bunny headband he made at pretty school!  Thanks Mimi and Granddaddy!!

He is Risen!

Easter morning we woke up to the kids in our room telling us what they found in their baskets and where they found them! Seems they did not want to wake us up before searching for their baskets.  After breakfast we headed off to church.  After church it was a typical trip to the PX for Justin to get his weekly hair cut and then home to take some pictures and change for a hike.  

The pictures are out of order.  But we went on a great hike that started here on post.  A Boy Scout was completing his Eagle Scout and fixed up a trail along the KoleKole pass.  It's only been open for 2 weekends so far, they only open it when there aren't troops on the ranges.  But it's one we will go back to again.  We hope it's open when we have visitors!!

The end of the "fixed up" portion of the trail.

 Georgous views of the Waianea side of the island.

 Eric told me that he wished he was taller so the branches wouldn't hit him in the face.  Soon buddy!

 Looking back at Schofield and the Dole plantation.

 Caroline loves dresses, shirts, bathing suits, really anything that has fancy details on the back.  So when I found this dress I knew she'd love it!

 My beautiful children!

 There were some challenging parts to this hike.  It was steep in parts and the loose dirt didn't help.

 On the way down we took the leash off Miles so he wouldn't hurt us or himself.  Miles loved hiking with us!

Me and my boys!

My loves!

 At the very top!  It was a little windy up there.  Dad and Marie FaceTime called me when we were up there.  So I got to show them a view of where we were!  So fun!

 Oh Will, how I love that you asked if you could wear a bow-tie.

Quite the adventure!  Eric walked the whole thing!

 It's a 'red fern'!!

 Is that sign meant for Justin?!