What is Darrick doing

Hello everyone this is Darrick. Jenn wanted me to write tonight so here I go. So what have I been doing? Well I have gone back to work. We are preparing for our deployment next week so I have had duty then two days off then duty. But tomorrow it is back to normal work then I have duty again on Friday. Just a reminder duty means I stay on the ship all day and over night. I have been doing things like getting a passport, getting my uniforms together and trying to get things squared away at home so I don't leave things not good for Jenn. I still have some more things to do like get the tires on the exercise stroller fixed, fix the toilet seats, do some work on the van and get all my supplies from the store. Oh I also need to finish my current college course and get my Chiefs package together and send it in. Last but certainly not least and the most important I need to spend time with my family. So I am feeling a little stressed and busy. But there is no sign of any hernias, just some scars and a little soreness. Please pray for us this last week at home and then while I am gone. Thanks
Darrick

Oh, Jacob

We knew it was just a matter of time and today it happened, Jacob ate dog food. I guess it was just too tempting for him sitting in a shiny green bowl on the floor in the kitchen. All of the sudden we see him spitting something out and pieces of dry dog food on his chest.

But that is not all he has tried. Moses has a dog toy that you put some peanut butter in to keep them busy. A few times we have caught Jacob trying to eat the peanut butter. He has stepped in dog poop. He has tried to carry Moses by his hind legs. And he has carried around the dog toys in his mouth.

We also think Moses has kennel cough. But we have an appointment at the Vet tomorrow so hopefully he will get an answer.

Glimpses into our day with Moses

So far everything is going much better then we expected. He has been sleeping in a cage in between the boys' beds. He does not whine but just goes to sleep. He has had 3 pee accidents in the house but no poop accidents and twice today he has gone outside to pee.

This morning the boys brushed him and then I gave him a bath. He smells really nice now.

He also found a new place he likes to sleep. The bottom shelf of our coffee table.

Question of the day

Today we ate Popeye's chicken for lunch. The boys each had a chicken finger kid's meal. About half way through the meal Micah says "Do chickens have fingers?" We all got a good laugh out of that!

Pets

Introducing the newest member of our family,
Moses. We bought him today, he is 9 weeks old and is a Cairn Terrier.

He is so adorable and we all already love him. Micah told us that this is the best day of his life. The boys have been wanting a dog for over a year and we thought now would be a good time since Darrick is leaving next week for a 5 month deployment.

The boys spent all afternoon running around the backyard and Moses was running along with
them.

On a sad note last week my new fish Lily died. We have no idea what happened. So I think that is the end of fish for me.

Darrick went back to work on Tuesday. Right now they are on stand down so he has duty one day and then two days off which is nice. We are busy getting things ready for Darrick to leave-making sure the car is in good order, getting his passport, getting our power of attorney.

It is hard for us to believe that it is time for him to leave again. A year and a half went so fast!

Another day of adventure

I started my day with my annual physical check-up at 8:00 am. Everything went good. From there I headed to Diva Nails to get a pedicure so my toes look nice for Easter. I was relaxing and enjoying the pampering when in walked a big Hawaiian man. He said he wanted a pedicure and manicure. He was in the chair right next to me. I overheard he was a roofer which he does in slippers (flip flops) which is why his feet were so dirty. We chatted about a few things. The girl working on his feet was amazing, they didn't even look like the same feet! She just cleaned his nails and feet and cut his nails, no polish or anything. Before he went to get his manicure he turned to me and said "When you get home I want you to tell your husband thank-you". I was confused but he said "I'm serious. He's in the military right? (He must have overheard some of my conversation too) I'm a Vietnam Vet and I want you to thank him for protecting me and my family". It was very nice and Darrick really appreciated it.

This afternoon we took the boys to the Hickam Airforce Base Bowling Center. It was not very busy which was nice. The boys were so excited. First we got their shoes and they thought they were so cool-Micah even asked if we got to keep them when we are done. We had bumpers put up on our lane to help the boys. The boys did really good and in the first game Jacob got a few spares and in the second game Micah bowled a Strike! He was so proud of himself. Micah's high score was 91 and Jacob's was 84. We only had one mishap when Jacob crossed the line, which I warned them not to do, and he fell on his back. Darrick and I couldn't hold back our laughter. When he got up he said "I hurt my bum!" We also got a kick out of watching the speed of their balls down the lane. On the score screen it listed mph. Micah's high was 7 mph and Jacob's low was so slow going down the lane it did not even register a speed!

Driving around to see new sights

Last night we decided that we were all tired of sitting in the house-especially Darrick. So this morning our plan was to get haircuts for the boys and then go where the wind blows.

It was lunch time when we were done so we went to the Pizza Hut near the exchange where we were a few weeks ago with my parents. We were surprised to find out it was closed-for good. So we went to another one and it was yummy. The boys each tried a piece of blueberry dessert pizza and they really liked it.

We saw a pet store in the same shopping center so we went there to look. It was pretty cool, they had a lot of fish, birds, lizards, rats-the boys had fun looking at them all. I was so surprised when I saw some celestial goldfish. When we lived in New Jersey we had one and his name was Paco. I loved him so much but he died when we were moving and we have never seen another one until today. So of course I got one since I am fishless. She is so beautiful and I named her Lily. They are called celestial goldfish because their eyes always look upwards.


This is a picture of a celestial goldfish. It's not Lily but it looks just like her.






Then we saw a used bookstore so went there and got a few books for the boys. Two that I read when I was little "Cookie Monster and the Cookie Tree" and "Big Bird's Red Book".

Then we drove around Hickam Airforce base looking for a wooden park I had heard of. We finally found it. And right next store was Kidsport which is like an indoor obstacle course for kids. They have some classes that I thought the boys could try sometime. As we were walking to the wooden park the boys ran ahead of us to play. As we got closer we see Jacob run off the structure, pull his pants off and just start peeing! We couldn't believe it. How embarrassing!

Then we stopped at the bowling alley to check it out. Then we found a scrapbook store on the Airforce Base and it was really cool.

Then we went to Dirty Lickin's for dinner. When we got home we put Lily in her new home and found some cockroaches for the gecko. Now it's time to relax.

New Pet

One thing the boys love about Hawaii is finding all the interesting creatures and then catching them. The bad thing is when they do not want to let them go. Geckos are very fast but Micah has great reflexes and catches them often.

Sunday Micah caught a gecko and we put him in a bowl with a lid so he can't get out. Yes there are air holes. But Jenn and I thought we would let him go after a few hours. Micah would not let that happen so we made a deal with him that we would find him a bug and if he ate it we would keep him. We never thought he would eat the bug. But as you can see in the picture there is no bug. So we have a new pet.

Update from Darrick

Hello everyone
It has been a long time.

I am doing good, I am sore but not feeling like I am going to fall over or walking hunched over.
Today my friend from the ship, Nate, came over and we went to a Christian book store to check it out and to Denny's for lunch. He made sure he parked close at both places so I barely walked at all.

Micah is doing good. Jenn has gone out twice leaving me with the boys and he had a little bit of a hard time but pulled himself together quickly.

Thank you for all your prayer's and encouragement.

Please pray for Jenn who is now feeling under the weather.

Updates

Darrick is continuing to get better. The pain medication they gave him last time and this time made him spacey and feel wierd so he only took it the first night this time. Now he is just taking motrin. Tonight he gets to take the bandages off so we can then see the incision. He can also take a shower tonight which will be nice...just kidding!

Yesterday was Micah's appt and it was a hard day. Micah cried a lot and basically freaked out which was hard but it also gave them a chance to see what I deal with. I had to give them a lot of family history and details of Micah's life beginning with my pregnancy. Micah is dealing with a lot of fears and anxiety and they agreed to help him and hope that the progress will be quick and he should be doing great by the time kindergarten starts in July.

So please continue to pray for them both, thanks!

Darrick Update

Today went really well and we are home and Darrick has been sleeping for over 3 hours. We had to check in at 7 am. We got there early to beat traffic and so had time to eat some blueberry pancakes in the hospital cafeteria-well except for Darrick he had to stop eating at midnight.

The surgery went really well and the doctor said he fixed it good. He said that he has done over 100 hernia repairs and this is his first one that has relapsed.

This time they made an incision to do the repair and he is in a lot more pain. But we are praying for a speedy recovery.

Thanks for the prayers and tomorrow at 1:00 is Micah's appointment.

Have you heard?

This is part of an article that was in the Honolulu Advertiser:

"The 48 million gallons of raw sewage pumped into the Ala Wai Canal this week marked the largest release of untreated wastewater into Honolulu waters in at least two decades.
And yesterday's extremely wet weather caused additional sewage spills in Waimanalo, Kailua, Kane'ohe and central Honolulu, city spokesman Mark Matsunaga said.
Despite the heavy rains, city officials said repairs to the ruptured Kai'olu Street sewer line in Waikiki held and no more raw sewage was pumped into the canal.
It was that rupture — beginning March 24 and ending six days later — that has contaminated coastline waters in and near Waikiki and prompted city and state officials to post 103 warning signs urging people to stay out of the water."

There are so many stories going around the island right now about is the water safe or not, is the government telling the truth or are they scared of frightening tourists away...

On top of that Hawaii has just hit over 40 days (and nights :) of rain, is the end in sight?

Two Prayer Requests

The first is for Darrick. He is having surgery again Monday, April 3 for the hernia. A few weeks ago he had surgery to fix two hernias but one of them has slipped and is out again. He has to check in tomorrow morning at 7 am. I will post tomorrow some time to let everyone know how he is doing.

The second is for Micah. We are having a very difficult time with him and Tuesday we are having him evaluated. Please pray that God will reveal to us what is going on and what we need to do to help him.

I'm leavin' on a jet plane...

Well about now my parents should be landing at LAX. I can't believe how fast our time together went. It is just so great being with them. It feels so good and safe, familiar and comfortable. The boys had a hard time with them leaving. Micah cried off and on all day saying he missed Nana and Papa. Jacob kept crawling in their suitcases while they were packing and telling them he didn't want them to go. When we got home and I walked past the guest room and I felt sad, it looked so empty.

But we had such a good time. Yesterday we thought it looked ok to venture out even though we got the occasional rain shower. Our first stop was turtle beach and there was a turtle there! Mom said she wished she could see a turtle coming out of the water but this one was sleeping. We also took some time to crawl on rocks and just enjoy the beauty of the beach. Micah and I went exploring on the rocks. At one point we saw a baby honu (turtle) right by the rocks. It was amazing.

Then we stopped at Stortdo's deli and picked up sandwiches to go. We drove to the beach and had a nice picnic. We were all prepared with our umbrellas and put them up when it rained and back down when it stopped. As we just sat down to eat our lunch a turtle crawled up on the beach-it was awesome-we had never seen that before. Then after a few minutes it crawled back into the sea. It was as if it heard my mom's wish. The boys played in the waves and mom and I tried to take a walk on the beach but the angle of the beach and soft sand made it hard. When you stepped your foot sank and the sand went up to your ankles. We kept tripping and bumping into each other and had a lot of laughs.

After the beach we went to Flavormania. Everyone except dad had a hot fudge sundae, dad had mango ice cream on a cone. Then we drove back home.

It is still raining here...it has been almost 5 weeks and we have barely seen the sun. So we hung out at home after the airport.

Having fun in the ...rain

Wow, I can't believe that it has almost been a week since we posted. It has just kept raining and my parents have hardly seen the sun but we are having so much fun.

Last week we hiked Makapu'u (my parents made it all the way!), went to Bishop Museum, ate at the Wright Bros., USS Arizona Memorial, went to the Exchange and Commissary, watched "Racing Stripes", had friends over for a BBQ and went to church.

So far this weeks weather has been the same. Yesterday we started out at Dole and rode the Pineapple Express. Then we each got a type of pineapple treat for a snack:
Dad: Pineapple Turnover (which he ate so fast none of us got to try it)
Mom: Dole Whip in a bowl
Darrick: Pinapple Sweet bread
Jenn: Dole whip in a waffle cone
Micah: Pineapple muffin
Jacob: Dole Whip in a bowl

We all shared, except Dad, and they were so good.

Then we went to Tripler because Darrick had made an appt. because he was having burning again and a lump where his surgery was. We got bad news that one side of had slipped and they scheduled him for surgery this coming Monday. They are trying to move quickly so he will be ready to deploy May 5th.

Then we headed to North Shore and ate at Cholo's, walked around Haliewa and watched the sun set at Turtle Beach. We saw turtles swimming in the ocean but none were on the beach.

Today we headed to Waikiki to eat lunch and shop. We had such a good lunch at the Cheesecake Factory-it was Mom and Dad's first time there. In the car we told the boys we were going to eat at the Cheesecake Factory and Jacob so innocently asked if the Oompa Lompas were going to be there. I think he thought I said Chocolate Factory (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). Then we walked to the International Market Place and it started raining. It just kept getting harder and harder, we had to buy umbrellas. We were trying to shop but were getting wet and there were puddles everywhere and we had wet feet so we decided to head home. But when you add rain+traffic and a drive that takes us 15-20 minutes took us almost 2 hours.

The boys had a blast with Papa and Nana tonight and actually I was surprised how much energy they (my parents)had. They tickled, wrestled, chased and played horsey. We all laughed a lot.

Quiet Day at Home

Today we had a quiet day at home. Good thing the boys were really tired and needed to rest.

We had plans to have our friends over for dinner and to meet Jenn's parents. While getting things ready for dinner Micah was falling asleep on the couch and didn't look so good and was whimpering. So Jenn took his temperature and it was 104.9, yikes. So we gave him some Tylenol and a cool bath. Praise God an hour later his fever was down to 101 then two hours later it was 99 and he was playing again. Before bed we gave him more Tylenol so hopefully that is it.

So the dinner went on as planned and we had a great time. We had hamburgers, hotdogs and other yummy stuff including puppy chow. Not literal puppy chow a yummy, sugary, chocolatey, peanut buttery treat.

We hope the rain will stay away tomorrow so we can see some more of Hawaii. That's weird as I typed that I heard the rain start coming down and sounds pretty hard too.

That's it.
Darrick

Polynesian Cultural Center

Yesterday, Tuesday, we took my parents to the Polynesian Cultural Center. The weather was so nice. It was not sunny but warm with a nice breeze. We visited the different villages during the day. Darrick and Micah participated on stage for a pig hunt. And Darrick was chosen to wear a grass skirt and play the drums during the show at the village of Tonga. We decided to see the IMAX of the coral reef, which we have never done before. Right after we got in to the building where you wait for the movie it started pouring!

After the movie it was time for the Ali'i Luau. We each got a nice lei and were seated. We enjoyed a nice show and yummy food. Mom and Dad tried some new foods like lomi lomi salmon, taro rolls and poi.

Then it was on to the Horizons Night Show. It was so good and my parents felt like they learned a lot about the Polynesian Culture!

Our next guests

Last night we picked our next guests from the airport...my mom and dad!

The boys could hardly control themselves they were so excited, Darrick and I were too! They had a great flight and even arrived a little early.

We were so happy this morning to wake up and see the sun! It was such a beautiful day. After breakfast we took a nice walk down to see the crabs. Then we drove to the base and got some tickets for tomorrow and picked up a few groceries at Hickam exchange. We came home and had soup and sandwiches for lunch. Then we went to Dave's ice cream. Dad tried banana fudge and Mom had Hawaiian Mud Pie-yummy!

We then drove to Pali Lookout and enjoyed the beautiful view. Then we took a nice drive to Lanikai beach. It took the boys about 5 minutes to get completely soaked in the water, with their clothes on. We weren't planning on going to the beach and just stopped because we had time. Mom and I put our feet in the water. Dad did not want to. I took a really nice picture of them by the water and all of the sudden a wave came and got Dad's new sandals and jeans wet. It was pretty funny!

We went to Dirty Lickin's for dinner, Mom and Dad both had teriyaki chicken and rice.

We had such a nice day and the weather was beautiful. Until tomorrow...

Still Raining

Hello this is Darrick again. It is still raining here but we are hoping it ends by Sunday when our next guest get here.

I had my post operation appointment Monday and they say I am healing fine. I still have some bruising and swelling and a few sharp pains and some aches. I just want be 100% by the Hoppers May deployment. I know that may sound crazy but it is my job. I don't want to do all the hard work it takes to get ready for a deployment and not go.

This week we found some time to take the boys to the zoo between all the rain. They have a new children's area it is really cool. It has a koi pond with a hollow log through it where kids can go in and look through windows and also pop up in the middle of the pond. They have an area where they can dress like zoo keepers, goat petting, cow milking, baby cows, pigs, miniature horse, llama and guinea pigs. The cow was fake and the nipples were rubber and water came out. They had a great time and the benches were there for me.

Today we got groceries and some other supplies and then we had our friend Sonja over for dinner. She was on my first ship in New Jersey with me. We had BBQ chicken, rice and salad.

that's all for now
Darrick

Movies

This weekend our friend Lauren let us borrow 2 movies and we actually were able to watch them. The first movie was "Crash" it was good and very thought provoking. The second one was "Walk the line". We enjoyed that one also.

This morning Darrick has a check up with the surgeon to see how he is healing. Hopefully everything is going as planned.

We have been hanging out at home a lot so that Darrick can sit and rest. But we did all go to church yesterday which was nice. Our friend Sonya, who we knew from when we were stationed in New Jersey came to church with us, which we were so excited about. Also our friend Lauren, Charlie and Alex met us there. After church we all had lunch at the Wright Bros. Cafe on Hickam Airforce Base.

We have not been having very nice Hawaiian weather. It has been cool for here and cloudy a lot with showers on and off. We are really missing the sunshine.