Playing soccer

Eric has been playing mini soccer (for 3 and 4 year olds) once a week for the last several weeks.  He LOVES it!  It helps that our neighbor is his coach and she's a great soccer coach (club level certified even).  Yesterday they scrimmaged and Eric was thrilled to have scored 3 times!  He understands what it takes to win and would excitedly run back to the coach saying, "I scored a goal, now we have 3 points!"  This is when having an older brother that loves to win and keep scores comes in handy.

The video doesn't show much of them playing (it was towards the end of practice) but there is a moment where Eric charges through and dribbles the ball. Not afraid of a little contact!

I'm sure we will be watching him play soccer for years to come!  Keep up the great work Eric!!

Laie

This past weekend we took it easy.  No baseball  on Saturday.  We did go to the Hale Koa Sunday after church to have a pool day with friends.  Then Monday morning did a memorial day remembrance run (Justin)/walk(me)/bike(kids) with the Wear Blue: Run to Remember group.  There were over 200 people remembering the lives lost!  

After relaxing after the Wear Blue event we decided to head up to the way north shore, past Turtle Bay to a little town called Laie.  This is the town where the Polynesian Cultural Center is.  We had a late lunch at a place called 7 Brothers.  Great burgers!  Then explored the area.

The first place was Laie Point.  Even though there were some clouds the water and mountains were gorgeous! 

We watched some people jump off the cliff.

 Watched the waves and fishermen too.

 And just sat and enjoyed listening to the waves.

Will with his super big smile

And Will now asking me if I was done!  Apparently I was taking too long to take the picture and his cheeks were hurting from the smiling!

 We also checked out a state campground area.  Will has been begging to go camping.  This looked like a great spot!

Gardening

Eric's class at pretty school is studying plants.  They have planted many different seeds and are busy taking care of them.  It's our turn to bring the little seedlings home to water over the weekend.  So Eric is in charge of spraying the little lettuces twice a day.  I'm trying to stay away as I kill living plants.  I'm good at keeping little humans alive, just not plants!  He has been super excited about his new job and the little spray bottle that he got to bring home as well.  

Curling the tongue is required for plant watering!

The school also has a bunny that we might get to watch for a weekend.  The kids are told they have to ask their parents.  And when Eric asked me I told him we could but he might want to ask Miles what he thought about having a bunny in the house!  I'll let you know if that bunny comes for a weekend.

Almost there!

My very busy week is over!  Thursday evening I hosted our battalion coffee group.  I had a neighbor take Eric to soccer and another neighbor take Will to baseball.  I had a lady that does painted wooden surf boards bring all the supplies for us to pain the night away.  It was a blast and everyone had a great time.  Several of my neighbors commented that they wanted to be in our battalion because it sounded like we were having so much fun!  10 ladies (plus Caroline) sat around the dining room table and painted, laughed, talked, and ate.  So much fun!

 You could pick which colors and design for the end of the board.

 After the hectic-ness of Thursday a nice relaxing morning at the beach with some girlfriends was just what I needed!

 Because Saturday was full-on GO mode.  We left the house at 7:25 to pick up one of Caroline's friends.  I dropped them off at a robotics competition, watched for a few minutes, then went on down towards Honolulu for Will's baseball game.  While at the game I was getting texts from the swim meet (which we were going to later) about things they needed.  Our team was co-hosting this meet so it was a big deal.  So after Will's game we stopped at the NEX for what I needed to get, then went to pick up Caroline.  Then off to the swim meet so she could warm up and I could relieve the morning crew and make sure all the afternoon volunteers were there and ready.
Caroline was racing in 4 events.  Her first 2 events didn't go very well.  She didn't disqualify but her times weren't what she (or her coach) wanted.  She was bummed and started crying.  I took her off to the side and we sat and had a good chat about how she could turn it around and still do better.  She wanted it to be more like robotics where everyone got something.  I had to explain how life isn't like that!  I had her close her eyes and talked her through her next race.  Some of her team mates found us and came up to her to see if she was ok.  They cheered her up and gave her a hug and told her she could do it!  Great teammates are awesome to watch!

 I could not have been prouder of her.  She turned her afternoon around completely!  Her next race (50 m free) She dropped 11 seconds off her previous time!  Holy Cow!  She got out to the water just grinning ear to ear!  She felt great and her last race (a relay) went well too!  It was a good afternoon.  We got home (after clean up) after 3pm just tired.  We did walk to the food court at the PX for dinner.

Then Sunday we went to church, to the movie on post, and then Andrew and Jenna came for dinner!  We had a great evening visiting and eating outside.  The kids (and Miles) love company.  Andrew was asked to help with tying 2 sticks together, playing tether ball, and basketball!

 In a few more days Justin will be home!  But in the mean time I found "flat daddy".  Eric said, "Flat daddy, you're going to have luck with me!"

Mother's Day

Mother's day was honestly not the best of days.  Justin wasn't here and the kids weren't in the spirit of the day.  They did work really hard helping me get the house cleaned though.  I was in a mood to clean and get rid of things this weekend.  Saturday afternoon I spent cleaning the panty and lego room.  Sunday I had the boys empty their toy boxes and clean out some toys.  I also got rid of our play kitchen (Eric cried).  

Monday was a much better day and when a random guy in line behind us at Subway said he was paying for our dinner, I about cried!!

Friday Will's class created a restaurant for moms.  D-1 Delights was pretty amazing.  Will was thrilled with being a chef!  The kids decorated, were host/hostess, waiters, and chefs.  I really enjoyed my quesadilla. 

A little bit more organized.  I should have taken a before!

 And Monday on the way home from gymnastics Eric told me he just prayed.  I told him that was a good thing to do.  Apparently he was listening at children's church and told me his teachers told him he could pray whenever he wanted.  I explained that when we say the blessing before we eat and our bedtime prayer were all for God too.  He told me we can pray when were happy, sad, and scared.  I agreed and then he told me he was going to pray again.  I tried to get a picture of him with his eyes closed and hands folded, but just wasn't fast enough!  Such sweet moments riding in the car that I'll miss.

A little of this and a little of that

To say we've been busy lately would be an understatement.  It's really not too much more than normal but now that Will has baseball games on Saturdays and Justin's not here, it seems like more.  Although this upcoming week is going to be a doozy!!  

We have had a good time and we are all looking forward to Justin coming home.  We've been able to talk to him every day.  But starting tomorrow we won't have contact with him for a little over a week. Which will be tough for all of us.

Eric's pretty school class went on a field trip to a commercial farm (bananas and papayas) that's on the north shore.  I really enjoyed seeing the farm and learned stuff too!  

Eric and his best(school) buddy Logan.

Add caption

Going to be bananas

 Will has had 2 games already and has changed his previous attitude about his team.  He thought his team was awful and really didn't want anything to do with it.  But after his first game he realized his team wasn't so bad after all and is fine.

 After the swim meet last Sunday I took my car to O'reilly's Auto Parts and had my battery checked.  It has been dying on me lately.  I was hoping it wasn't something really expensive like the alternator.  It was just the battery (which is expensive enough!) and the guy changed it for me.  All while chatting with Will, who asked him a MILLION questions.  The guy answered them all and even walked Will though everything he was doing.  It was great!  Then we walked across the parking lot and got Baskin Robins!

 That night at dinner we were treated to a wonderful rainbow.  We've seen lots of rainbows the bast 10 days or so.  We didn't have rain in February, like we should have, and it seems to be coming all in May.  It's been raining every day!

 Ater dinner Will decided to brush Miles.  He (Miles) stood really still the entire time will was brushing him.  It was sweet to watch!

 Will is still working on his spelling.  His mom and granddad struggle with it and that trait looks to have been passed down!

somebody

 Isn't this where everyone sorts through their swimming ribbons.  She likes the 5th and 6th place ones best (they're pink and purple!).

 Saw this written at one of my favorite bakeries and thought it was very true.  Justin and I both feel the need to always live by the ocean.

 Friday night we headed across the street to celebrate my friend Dianne's birthday.  Movies on the lawn, pizza, cupcakes, and friends.  Friday nights don't get better than that!!

 Saturday morning Caroline had a robotics competition.  Her team won the best teamwork award and 2nd place overall!  She told me she had so much fun!!

Bellows (never gets old!)

The Saturday before Justin left we joined another family at Bellows.  Will's baseball game was cancelled so we headed over to the other side of the island.  While it was over cast and threatening rain at our house, it was a drop-dead-gorgeous day there.  Nice and warm, the water color stunning, water temperature almost perfect, and good boogie boarding waves.  Dinner at the Kona Brewing Company capped off another great day in Paradise!!

 I mean really?!  Look at the water color!  I didn't do anything to the pictures.  I should probably use a hashtag #nofilter

 I know in the above picture it didn't look like there were any waves to ride, but there were some really good ones.  Justin was doing "air-born" on Eric and the wave went over his head.

 The kids digging up roots in the sand.

 Eric still enjoys just playing in the surf by himself.  He kicks at the waves and lets them wash him around.  He comes back with sand EVERYWHERE!

 There were quite a few people at the beach but I did get a shot of Eric where it looks like we are the only ones there!

 I walked down to the little creek thing with the kids.  The water was bathwater warm and the kids had a blast playing.

 I laid, with using that log on far bank in the picture as a pillow, and read a book.

Just the perfect way to spend a day!

What does Hummwv stand for?

Justin is out on the big island training for 3 weeks.  He has sent several pictures so the kids can see what he's doing and where he is.  We all miss him!  But he was looking forward to getting out of the office and doing so cool stuff.
Here is an article that was posted on Facebook explaining what they're doing.

The Marines flew them over.  This is at MCBH in Kaneohe.

In his vehicle

M9 range

Off loading equipment

I hope you have fun around your campfire eating s'mores and singing songs, Justin.  I know there is going to be a rematch between Justin and his commander on who can set up their tent the fastest!

Oh and the answer to the title question?  high mobility wheeled vehicle