3 Days and Counting!

Well it started yesterday. Everytime Darrick leaves or comes home the boys have a, let's call it, adjustment period. In basic terms everything falls apart and they do things that are unusual for them. I believe it is because of the change that is coming and they are not sure how to feel and they act out. They whine, do naughty things, cry for no reason and are tired. It has been a long two days but at least there is Darrick at the end of the tunnel!

Some people asked about Lulu. We still have Lulu and love her very much. Yesterday she did a lot of sniffing but seemed ok. Today was different. She would not eat her dog food at all and she seemed bothered by Luke. I hope it is just an adjustment period. Luke is interested in Lulu and they sat by each other once. The boys named him Luke after Luke Skywalker from Star Wars.

We have been giving Lulu tons of extra attention incase she is feeling left out.

We lost Luke two times under the couch today. His tag jingles when he walks so that helps us find him. House training is going good. I caught some cute moments of the boys and Luke. Enjoy!

Our new puppy

We got a new puppy! He is a miniature pinscher, 6 weeks old and we named him Luke.

So Gross!

It was really cooling off nicely this evening so I thought I would mow the backyard before dinner. The grass was a little longer then usual because I didn't mow it on Saturday like I usually do.

Everything was going along fine and I was almost done and I heard this loud THUNK noise and I saw something go flying to my left. My first thought was that it was one of Lulu's dog bone toy things see chews on but as I continued to examine it, from a far distance, I thought I saw blood. Then I started to panic and try to think what it was, but I didn't know. So I had to get closer.

I then saw that it was a huge frog. It's body had been ripped open by the blade and its guts were all over. There was some wierd goo oozing out of it mouth...could I wait 7 days and leave it for Darrick to clean up? No that wouldn't work-either Lulu would try to eat it or it would get maggots and flies-gross.

So I called the boys and asked them to bring a trash bag. I told them something bad had happened while I was mowing the lawn and they were like "What is it? What is it?" I told them the lawnmower got a frog and pointed in the direction it landed. They ran over and right away Micah says, "That's cool!" "No it's not" I said, "It's sad" and Micah said "Oh yeah". Jacob didn't get to close. So Micah held the bag while I scooped it up but I just couldn't do it so Micah said he could scoop it if I hold the bag. So that is what we did. Thank goodness for Micah!

Who knew?

When Micah was in kindergarten at Lehua he was always at the top of his class and often complained about why he had to do this stuff because he already knew it.

So when we moved him to Iroquois Point Elementary we liked the fact that they got higher scores in testing and they had a program for gifted and talented. So at the start of the year they said that parents could fill out a form if they would like their child tested. I talked to Mrs. Hudson about her thoughts and she said that she had noticed Micah was ahead of the others in the class and said she would endorse him being tested.

This is the first year that the school is opening up the program to K, 1 and 2 grades.

So for 3 days Micah was pulled out of class, by Mrs. Jennifer Gutierrez, and given four different types of tests. We got the results this week and Micah was accepted into the program. When I talked to Mrs. Gutierrez she said that they measure his scores with national scores of other kids who are the same age down to the the exact month. Your scores could either place you in the Gifted and Talented Range or Enrichment (lower). Well Micah scored in the Gifted and Talented.

There are 2 second graders and 3 first graders who made it into the program. So two times a week from 8:15-9:30 Micah goes to class in a different classroom with the other four kids and has class with Mrs. Gutierrez.

Feeding the Homeless

Tonight we had an opportunity along with a few other mini churches to help out at a Homeless Shelter. Our group was assigned to cook the main dish which everyone decided should be Shoyu Chicken. That sounded great except that I had no idea how to make it.

So Susan Ching said that I could come over and make it with her. It was really easy and turned out great!

We were allowed to bring kids 5 and up so Micah could go but Jacob stayed with Margaret. Micah served the salad and did a really good job. Almost all the people there were from Micronasia. We were able to sit and talk with them after we served the food, it was very nice.

After we served Mike and Susan took me into a Philipino bakery to get a dessert. I decided to try butter mochi. I was looking at all the desserts and many had unusual names. Then I saw some cakes and asked Susan what a Mo-cha cake was, was it a cake made out of mochi flour instead of regular flour. She looked at me puzzled and pointed out to me that it was a Mocha flavored cake. Boy was I embarrassed. We got a good laugh!

And then there was one...

Today the wierdest thing happened when we got up 3 of our fish were dead. Jacob's, Darrick's and mine (sorry Darrick). Now I just looked in the fish tank and 2 more were dead. There is only 1 fish left. I wonder if they all got some crazy disease or something. I think we will wait and not get any more fish until after we move at the end of September.

This afternoon I took Micah, Jacob and Loretta to see "Artic Tale". I heard it was a lot like "March of the Penguins" which we never saw. I read the review on Plugged In Online. If you haven't been to their site it is awesome. They review movies and break them down into categories like sexual content, language, spiritual, etc. and tell you exactly what you will see.

Anyways it was good-I mean it wasn't action packed but it held the kids interest but I think if it was any longer I would of lost them-plus the popcorn, fruit punch and sour gummi worms helped.

It was funny because there was only one other family with kids in there and the rest was all older, kidless, couples. I tried to keep the kids quiet but they would yell out "What is the mommy doing?" "Miss Jenn I don't like walruses!" or "Walruses have big teeth!" you know things like that.

But my favorite part of the outing was when we got out of the car and Jacob grabbed Loretta's hand, kissed her right on the lips and said "Loretta, I'm going to marry you, BUT Deja is going to be my girlfriend!" Uh oh, sounds like trouble in the future. Darrick when you get home you and Jacob need a Father to Son talk!

Happy Birthday Chief Hays!

That's right, today is Darrick's Birthday! I doubt he will get to celebrate much but we will have cake and presents when he gets home! This picture is Darrick and his fellow Chiefs of the USS Lake Erie.

Quick Flossie update

At 7 pm tonight Flossie was 102 miles from the south of the Big Island.

It is expected to be 180 miles south of Oahu tomorrow afternoon. We never got any rain today but some pretty good gusts of wind. Car covers were blowing off, trashcans blown over and our trampoline safetly net got ripped. We will see what tomorrow brings...

On a side note there is a teacher named Jennifer Gutierrez at Micah's new school. I talked to her and she said that is her married name. She is doing some special testing with Micah this week and she said he is the only one who can remember her last name!

New Ring and Eggs

Some of you emailed me and asked to see a picture of my new wedding ring. It is very simple with 5 diamonds. It is really beautiful and I love it, thanks again Honey! The other day we also found 2 gecko eggs. Jacob wants to see if they will hatch so we have them in a bowl and are watching them. We have found other ones before but they always got crushed by curious little fingers. And it is 10:30 am and the sky is clear and blue but off and on we get strong gusts of wind.

Hurricane Flossie

If you have been watching the news you probably heard that Hurricane Flossie is heading for the big island and is expecting to have its biggest impact Tuesday afternoon around 3 pm Hawaii time.

We are not sure what the effect will be on our island of Oahu. Right now it is windy here and raining off and on. Hopefully that will be all that happens to us. I went out and bought extra water just incase and found out where the nearest shelter is in case we have to leave.

The news said if it moves 1 degress north it will hit the islands but so far so good!

10 years and still going strong!

Happy Anniversary to us! Yes, 10 years ago today Darrick and I were married. In the past 3 years Darrick has been deployed everytime our Anniversary rolls around. But one thing I have learned as a Navy Wife is that a date is just a number on the calendar and we can celebrate when he comes home.

Once again Darrick remembered, he has never once forgotten, and sent me a beautiful arrangement of flowers and a new wedding ring. He gets his present from me when he gets home :)

Darrick, I can not even describe how deep my love for you is. When we got married I loved you but it was not even close to the love I have for you now after being married 10 years. You are a wonderful man, so kind and patient. You love me and the boys with all your heart. When you are gone there is a hole in our family and we don't feel complete. Thank you for all you do for us and our country. I am so proud you and love you so much.

Never seen this before...

Yesterday after school I was looking through Micah's papers and found this book with a really cute dog on it wearing a lei. But I was very surprised when I read the title "Ilio shows you what

to do if you find ammo" yes, you read it right...AMMO!
The first step is RECOGNIZE-Ilio sees old ammo! Then RETREAT-Don't touch it! Ilio turns and follows his tracks away from the danger.

Third is REPORT-Ilio, with help from an adult, calls 911 and describes what he found and where he found it.

Fourth page says- Ilio has saved the day! He remembered the 3Rs of explosives safety: Recognize, Retreat, Report. Experts carefully remove the ammo. We haven't found any ammo yet, but now if we do, we know what to do!

Such a cutie!

DSC03426.JPG, originally uploaded by weathertation.

Lydia

DSC03424.JPG, originally uploaded by weathertation.

This is a recent picture of Becky and Jim's daughter. She is wearing a dress that I bought her

Aloha Dog Taining Inc.

Just to refresh your memory at the end of April we adopted Lulu, our dog, from the Humane Society. She is a great dog but as time has passed we have noticed two major issues with her. The first is that she is super hard to walk. She is very strong and has so much energy that she pulls really hard. The second is that she will not come when called she just runs off and we can't get her back.

So we called Heather at Aloha Dog Training and talked to her about Lulu. She thought that we would benefit from a private lesson instead of 8 weeks of group lessons because we wanted to address two specific issues.

So yesterday afternoon was our appointment. One thing I really liked is that she believes in a lot of praise and touching the dog and making the training fun instead of mean voices and discipline.

We first worked with having Lulu on a very long leash where she could roam a little. We worked on keeping her in a certain area . We said "stay here" and when she went too far we jerked the leash once to pull her back. She really started to get it. We also worked on teaching her to heel. Which was much harder but she started to get it.

She recommended that we not take Lulu on walks for about a month and just practice these techniques with her.

I feel like I learned so much too, it was definitly worth it!

Strange...

This week Micah's fish, George, was not looking so good. He was floating around the job one morning so before school I told Micah he might want to say bye to his fish. When Jacob and I got home from bringing Micah to school Jacob ran over to the tank and said "Mom, George's eye is gone!" Sure enough I went over there and he was missing his eye. But the wierd thing was there was this empty bag thing thing still attached by one thread of something but the actual eyeball was gone. Later that day George died and we buried him in the back yard. The next day we went to Walmart for a replacement fish and now we have Silver Surfer or silver for short.

As you can see by our ticker we have finally made it down to the last month. Darrick called me this weekend because they pulled into Guam for 2 days. We are all getting so excited to be reunited. The boys said they want to have a sleepover with Daddy and play superhero and monsters with him.

First Day of School

Micah and Mrs. Hudson

Today was Micah's first day of First Grade. He did a really good job when Jacob and I dropped him off. There were 2 kids crying but he was not one of them! When we picked him up he had a big smile on his face and he said he had a great day. He said they learned a lot of rules and had a tour of the school. He said at recess he tried to stop some boys that were killing beetles. He said he talked to 2 boys in his class.
Visor he made at school today

Darrick at Hong Kong Disney

Last week the Lake Erie pulled into Hong Kong. On one of his days off Darrick signed up for one of the trips which was to go to Disney for $23.00! He had fun and said it was much smaller-they saw the whole park in about 3 hours. It did not have all of the popular rides but he enjoyed the experience.

Meet your teacher day

Today was "Meet your Teacher Day" at Micah's new school-Iroquois Point Elementary School (IPES). We left the house at 6:50 am and arrived at school at 7:25 am. Until we move in October it will be a drive I will make 4 times a day bringing Micah and picking him up.

Micah said he was nervous but it seemed more like a nervous excitement. We had a meeting in the caferteria first where the principal talked and she introduced all the staff. Micah was very excited when his teacher walked up on the stage, Mrs. Hudson. He thought her name was cool, like Doc Hudson from the movie "Cars".

After the meeting we were invited to go to the classroom and meet his teacher and put his supplies away. She seemed very nice and one thing that impressed me is that former students and parents were stopping by to come and say hi-that is evidence of a teacher that is loved and well liked. Micah has 13 girls in his class and 7 boys! He was excited when he saw that she had toys in the room and she told him that when they finish work they sometimes have time to play. He was also excited because on the daily schedule it said that they have Science and he decided over summer break that he wants to be a Scientist when he grows up!

After the classroom we visited some booths that were set up and Micah told me that he would like to try Boy Scouts. They can start in first grade. So I signed him up. Darrick was in Boy Scouts...he will be so proud!

Then we bought him a red school shirt that they wear every Wednesday for School Spirit day!

It was a really positive experience and he said he is excited to go to school tomorrow!

Back Home in Hawaii!

Here we are once again...in paradise! There are things I miss about California but the weather is not one of them. The weather in Hawaii is so great and a welcome change from the heat.

We had a great flight back over the Pacific and we were all happy to sleep in our beds again.

Lulu was beside herself with excitement when we walked in the door.

I am almost done with unpacking and getting things back in order. Friday we went to the dentist and we all passed with flying colors-No Cavities!

Tomorrow Micah has meet your teacher Day at his new school-Iroquios Point Elementary and then Tuesday is his first day of First Grade!

So now I have to spend time labeling all his supplies. First we have to go out and buy them and then we have to label evey single one of them-down to each and every individual crayon and pencil! I better get busy!

Highlights of our trip to Cali Summer 2007

Uncle Sam is here!

Yesterday my brother Sam drove down from Northern Cali to spend a week at my parent's house with us. Sam is going to Western Theological Seminary in the Fall and is working a Granite Springs Church in Northern California for the summer.

The boys were so excited when Uncle Sam arrived. They have been wrestling and playing pirates a lot.

The boys also received a care package from Darrick yesterday. He sent it after he visited Australia. Micah got a boomerang and Jacob got a stuffed Wombat. The both also got growing crocodiles. The kind you put in water and then they grow.

Tonight we are at my brother Dave house visiting! Everyone is here except Darrick, Jeff, Beth and my new niece (Laura is 3 cm)!

Disneyland

Tuesday the boys and I went to Disneyland with Papa and Nana. We got there a little after it opened and took full advantage of our day. A few months ago we went to Toyko Disney which was awesome but everything spoke Japanese so we couldn't understand what anything was saying so the boys liked that everything spoke English a lot! We started our day at Star Tours. After we sat down Micah said to me, "I hope C3PO drives our space ship and not the bad driver we had at Toyko Disney!" Micah laughed and smiled through the whole ride. Jacob was like a statue but as soon as we got off he said "That was SO awesome!" We went to check out the line for the new Nemo subs but the wait was 3-4 hours! No Thanks! So we drove the cars at the Autotopia. Papa rode solo and Nana and Micah were in one car and Jake and I in the other. Jacob was so serious and I asked him if he was hving fun and he said he was trying to watch the road! Then we rode the train all around the park-one of our favorites. Then we took the boys on the Matterhorn for the first time. Micah was not sure about this. He wanted to know if it was fast? Why were people screaming? Where was the snow monster? But we got them on it and they both wanted to do it again. Then we rode its a small world and over to toon town to ride Roger Rabbit. Next stop was Casey Jr. train-which the boys both loved. It was so fun to see how much fun Jacob was having on that ride. Then we went to Big Thunder Mountain. Micah did not want to do it and had a lot of questions again. Micah and I rode in 1 seat and Jacob in the middle of my parents in another seat. It started out good but as we picked up speed I looked back and Jacob and his little head was squished in between my parents arms and his eyes were huge and he looked feaked out. Micah actually started screaming out loud-it was pretty funny. Then we did Pirates and the Haunted Mansion. Then we went to Tom Sawyers island which they renamed Pirate's Lair. It was super cool and the boys ended up finding the pirates treasure! Next was Tarzans Tree House, the Jungle Cruise, Aladdin's Story time , the Tiki Tiki Room and the Parade. By then we were all tired and even thought the park was open 4 more hours we decided that was enough fun for us!

Yesterday we went to Mervyn's because they were having a huge 1 day sale and I got all of Micah's clothes for school.

Today we are just hanging out. The boys watched Stars Wars with Papa and are now running around in the backyard playing what else...Star Wars!

Sunday Fun

Yesterday the boys and I went to our old church Friendship Community Church to worship and see our friends. It was so nice to see the Martinez Family, the Norman Family, Ken and Candy and Helen. After church we went to lunch at Souplantation with our friends Micah, Nicole and Kaitlyn Leonard and Bryan Frame. We had a super yummy lunch and enjoyed catching up.

After lunch we went to the Leonards apartment and we took the kids for a swim in the pool. It was such a hot day and it felt so good. After we were all tired out we went to their apartment and the kids watched a movie while we visited. Then we had pizza and Big Micah wrestled with the 3 kids! It was such a fun time!

The "New" Me

Today I got my haircut. Joanna, who is my cousin Chris' girlfriend, is a student at Salon Success. She cut my Aunt Belinda's hair and my cousin Amber's hair, and their cuts were super cute so today I went. She cut almost 4 inches off and gave it some layers and style. She blew it out but I can also still wear it curly...what do you think?

Cousins

Elijah, Micah and Jacob

Great Grandparents

Micah, Jacob and Elijah with Great Grandpa and Grandma Vanderbilt and Great Grandpa Gutierrez

Science Experiment

We put 1 Mento in a bottle of Diet Coke and this is what happened. It surprised Auntie Laura and Micah!

Laura, Dave, Elijah, Jenn, Micah and Jacob at the 4th of July Parade

Sarah, Arden, Jacob, Micah and Jenn

Micah, Jenn, Jacob and Amelie

We are back at my parents house now after our mini-vacation to Bakersfield. We had such a nice visit at Sarah's house. The boys called her Marme which is what her grandkids call her. Two of her grandkids were there, Arden and Sophia, plus Micah, Jacob and Amelie-it was a full house but the kids had so much fun playing together. Sarah made us a yummy spaghetti dinner and we had fun catching up and sharing memories of Darrick's mom.



Let me just say that it is SO hot in California. It is 102.5! Oh where are the cool Hawaiian breezes?