First Tooth

Last Wednesday while Micah was brushing his teeth, he came to me and said his tooth hurt. When I looked at it we discovered it was loose. Well after a whole week of wiggling it, it came out this afternoon! And it was pretty soon after we got back from looking at the class lists...I feel like Micah is growing up before my eyes today. It is exciting but sad because Darrick is missing it, but I guess there will be more teeth to lose and more first days of school. So tonight the Tooth Fairy is coming to our house...does anyone know how much teeth are worth these days?

Getting ready for Kindergarten

Today Lehua Elementary posted the class lists for school. So Mommy, Micah, Jacob, Nana and Papa went to go find Micah's name on the list.

Papa and Micah riding the waves!

Dad and Mom swimming in the ocean

Yes, we're still here!

Since we picked up my parents it seems like we have been so busy.

Thursday: my parents watched Jacob while Micah and I went to VBS. Then Thursday night we had Bible Study at our house. Dad and Mom joined us and we all had a nice time.

Friday: my parents watched Jacob again while we went to VBS. Then they met us at VBS to see Micah sing in the VBS finale. He did such a good job Mom and Dad treated us to Dave's Ice cream. At night we had movie night and watched "High School Musical".

Saturday: my dad edged and mowed the grass!! And he got the edger started right away, Sam-we must have been doing something wrong! Then in the afternoon we went to Haleiwa and hung out at the beach. I was really surprised how much time my parents spent in the ocean. It was warm and they just played in the waves and dad even body surfed, kind of. Some of the waves knocked him over and dragged him to the beach and then pulled him back, it was pretty funny. Then we had dinner at Killer Tacos.

Sunday: was church in the morning and then a restful day. We watched a movie and the boys swam in our pool in the front yard. In the evening we walked to the minimart to check it out and get an after dinner snack.

Monday: Mom and Dad babysat the boys and our neighbor Loretta. I had my first day at work. It was called Lehua on tour. The staff toured Pearl Harbor, Ford Island, military housing and a historic hawaiian church. It was very interesting and I learned a lot.

My mom and dad have been such a great help! They are doing laundry, cleaning up, helping with the boys, giving me back rubs, taking care of the car, watering the lawn etc. I am so thankful they are here!

And the guests are...

Papa and Nana Gutierrez! Yes, they were here a few months ago in the spring and are now back-they are really living the retired life! They came to visit us and give me help and a break while Darrick is deployed as well as help with transition as I go back to work.

After dinner tonight we all took a walk to enjoy the warm breeze and smell the plumeria. Once we got down to the crabs we all were taking our time looking around. All sudden Jacob started screaming like I have never heard him scream before. I turned around and there was about 10 wasps swarming around Jacob's head. My maternal instinct just took over and I started hiting them away with my hands. My mom and dad came running and helped and we got them away. I got stung once but poor Jacob had 2 on his hand, 3 on his ear and a few on the back of his neck.

We started searching the near by bushes and found a large wasp nest. Jacob walked by and bumped it with his head and they came out and attacked. Praise God he is alright!

Darrick called me late last night and they are now in Singapore. It had been weeks since we talked so it was extra good to hear his voice.

Vacation Bible School

Yesterday was the first day of Vacation Bible School at our church. The theme is "Fiesta-where kids are fired up about Jesus!"

I am doing the Crafts and it went really well yesterday. I also helped decorate with my friend Mayra. I met her a few months ago at church. She is from Oaxaca and is newly married (5 months) to Livingston. If you have been here to visit then you know when I say that she lives in Brother Towers on the 26th floor. She invited me and the boys over to see the view, which is amazing!

Micah, Charlie and another friend Joey are all attending VBS and they loved it!

Tomorrow our next visitors fly in...we can't wait!

Hip Hip Hooray-we made it halfway!

Today is the official halfway point through the deployment. Halfway down-halfway to go! We celebrated with a kids halfway party. I was in charge of this event and it went really great. We had face painting. Micah got spiderman and Jacob got a bat on one cheek and a lightning bolt on the other. We had a balloon man come-who was amazing, he could make anything. Micah got a spiderman and Jacob got an alien (I have no idea why he picked that) and a sword. We also had a craft table where kids could make a card to send to their parent on the ship. We also made a kids handprint banner to hang up at the homecoming. Then we had cake and pretzels and cookies.

Next week Thursday is the Adults halfway party!

Thanks

Wow, thanks for all the responses. It seems to be a pretty hot topic and all of you brought up good points. It all really comes down to style choices. My friend prefers preppy and traditional clothes (www.garnethill.com) and I like our boys in relaxed surfer, skater style clothes (Old Navy). She loves the jeans and is keeping them and insists they will look good with a red polo and tennis shoes.

Today the boys and I all went to the dentist. Jacob and I have 0 cavities. Micah has one little one on his last right upper tooth. So he will need a filling. The dentist also had to have a big talk with me about Jacob's mouth. He recommends that Jacob start seeing the orthodontist around 6 years old. He has a very small jaw and his teeth do not fit. He will need head gear to stop his upper jaw from growing outward to let the bottom jaw catch up...he kept going on and on. It made my head spin. Forget college, we have to save for braces first!

We need your opinion

In our neighborhood we have a debate going on and we would like some more opinions. A mom (who shall remain a mystery) bought these jeans for her 4 year old son to wear. Please comment on your thoughts and please be honest! Thanks!
Back of jeans have a little red bird sewn on the pocket
Front has alligators and little red birds

Close-up of back pocket

Cheese Burger in Paradise

Tonight we got together with Mr. and Mrs. Hamiliton. They are friends of my Grandpa and Grandma Vanderbilt and they go to the same church. When my Grandma heard that they were coming to Hawaii she insisted they look up her grandaughter and say "Aloha!" The boys and I picked them up at their hotel and then we parked and walked to Cheese Burger in Paradise for dinner.

Happy 4th of July!

Happy 4th of July Everyone! We hope that you had a nice day! We celebrated by attending the 2006 Block Party and Fireworks Spectactular on Pearl Harbor. During the day they had activities for the kids and we also walked around and looked at the booths. We met up with some other Hopper spouses and kids and sat together by the stage. At night before the firework show they had a comedy show with Bert Kreischer, Alonzo Bodden and Jay Mohr. They were pretty funny and told us how much they appreciated what the military is doing and how much the appreciate the families. We all got teary eyed and shed some tears when we stood to hear the National Anthem and then we saw a beautiful firework show. Jacob ended up falling asleep before the fireworks and missed the whole thing. I was so thankful that I borrowed my neighbors wagon because I just loaded Jacob in it, asleep, and was able to get him and all my stuff to the car very easily. The boys both fell asleep on the way home but I was prepared and changed them into their pajamas before we left the parking lot so I could put them straight to bed when we got home!

This night also bring backs a lot of memeories because it was 11 years ago on the 4th of July that after watching fireworks by Upland High School that I said goodbye to Darrick and he left at 3am to go to San Diego to fly out to Boot Camp in Great Lakes, Illinois. Darrick, I am so proud of you and all the sacrifices you make for us and our country. Only 9 more years-we can do it!

RIMPAC 2006

Right now RIMPAC is taking place here. RIMPAC 2006 brings together military forces from Australia, Canada, Chile, Peru, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States. This year's exercise is the 20th in a series of RIMPAC exercises conducted periodically since 1971. More than 40 ships, 6 submarines, 160 aircraft and almost 19,000 Sailors, Airmen, MArines, Soldiers and Coastguardsmen are participating. RIMPAC is intended to enhance the tactical proficiency in a wide array of combined operations at sea. RIMPAC stands for the Rim of the Pacific and helps to promote stability and enhance interoperability.

It is so amazing to see all the different ships here as well as the different flags and uniforms. Needless to say the exchange and commissary are places to avoid with all the added military people. Tomorrow the bases are having huge celebrations to celebrate the 4th and to host all the countries-should be fun!

Darrick called last night and said he is not able to post on our blog right now, the computer guys are trying to figure out why. But he is in Kota Baharu which is in Malaysia.

Shirts Darrick sent the boys from Japan

Neighborhood Night at North Shore last week