Goodbye Girls

Today we said good bye to our dearly loved Guinea Pigs, Sarah and Twinkle. We had a little ceremony and the boys each shared a favorite memory. Then they each took turns filling in the dirt. Micah placed the headstone and Jacob put flowers.

One year ago we brought home 2 little baby guinea pigs. Micah's was white and he named her Sarah and Jacob's was brown and white and he named her Twinkle. They have been awesome pets and we all loved them dearly.

Yesterday morning they were fine. We even had a friend over and we played with them and held them. We have a little fenced in area in our backyard where we often put the girls, so they can get out of their cage and run around.

A few hours later I went outside to put them back in their cage and as soon as I stepped out the door I knew something was wrong, they were just laying there. I went closer and they were dead. I was shocked! I went into the house crying and Micah asked what was wrong and I told him and he started crying. Jacob ran into the room and Micah told him and Jake fell to the ground in tears. It was horrible.

One of our dear friends, Jen S., came over and helped by getting them wrapped up and put in a shoebox while we all watched and cried.

We have no idea what happened and why they both died at the same time...the heat? something they ate? they were sick?

I guess one of the major bummers is Jacob was supposed to bring Twinkle to school tomorrow to share with his class. His teacher is SO awesome and when I told her this morning what happened, she called the librarian right away and got a book about losing a pet and shared it with the class and then had a talk with the kids.

Micah is handling it way better then Jacob and Naomi is clueless. Jacob had a huge melt down tonight and said he can't stop thinking about Twinkle dying and that he wanted to get her out of the shoebox. It was breaking my heart to hold him while he was sobbing. Jacob has such a tender heart for animals.

We talked about getting another pet when we move to Washington. Micah decided on a rat he will name Junior and Jacob wants a dog named Ruby.

Marcio's Story

Today at church we heard this amazing testimony from one of the families-God is SO good-Praise God He has risen!!

Happy Easter from the Hays Family

USS Lake Erie Easter Party

Today we all attended the ship's Easter Party. They had a lot of stuff for the kids to do. Naomi LOVED the Easter bunny and Lydia cried every time she saw him. Naomi followed him around all over and even wanted to share her eggs and candy with him. She cried when he had to leave.

After the Easter party we headed up to North Shore to have lunch at Cholo's and then some shave ice.

Then we headed back home and it was time for Jim, Becky and Lydia to leave. It was so fun having them and we will really miss them but now that we will be living on the mainland soon we decided to take yearly family vacations together. We are thinking maybe the Grand Canyon for our first one! And Becky and I are also planning a yearly get-away for just us!

Congratulations!

Congratulations to my brother Sam and Darcie! A few days ago Sam asked Darcie to marry him and she said yes!

Our Weekend

We had a very busy but great weekend! We started bright and early Saturday morning with Darrick and Micah competing in the annual Ford Island Bridge Run. It was 10 k or 6.2 miles. It was Micah's first race ever so Darrick planned to go at Micah's pace. The race started at 7 am. They ran some, walked some and finished strong! We were so proud of Micah-way to go!

Before and after the race with their snacks

Saturday afternoon we all drove up the west coast to go for a hike. It was so fun and the weather was great. The Dads put their girls in backpacks and we were off! We stayed on the trail for awhile but then ventured off the trail and went down to the tide pools.

Becky was not very excited about the living creatures we found but the boys were diggin them!

Naomi and Lydia were cautious but had fun exploring.

Then today we headed to Waikiki. We had lunch at Cheeseburger in Paradise and then headed over to the zoo. The kids had so much fun looking at all the animals. Lydia fits in perfectly and is just one of the kids. Jacob has taken a special liking to Lydia and Lydia loves following him around.



We love how excited Naomi gets when she sees the animals. She points and yells and makes sure everyone sees what she sees. We also had fun playing at the zoo playground. Naomi liked going down the slide but there was some throw up on the ground so I made sure to catch her so she wouldn't get in it. When Micah saw how much fun we were having he wanted me to catch him too. But he came down to fast and knocked me over and I landed right in the pile of barf! Becky had a great big laugh at that so I made her clean me off. It was so gross.

Darrick and Micah finishing the race

Our Last Visitors

Over the years we have hosted many friends and family who have come to see us. But since our time in Hawaii is nearing its end so must our visitors. Yesterday, late afternoon we picked up our last visitors: Jim, Becky and Lydia Peterson. Becky is one of my best friends, who I met at Dordt. It has been about 2 years since I have seen her and since then she has had Lydia. Jim and Becky came to visit us once before but it was over 3 years ago.

They live in Michigan and were excited to leave the cold behind and enjoy some warm Hawaiian sun! Lydia loved her lei, in fact she loved all the leis and wanted to wear them all!

It is a 6 hour time difference for them so after we grabbed dinner at Da Big Kahunas it was home to get some rest! This morning the kids played a lot outside and Naomi and Lydia hit it off pretty good. The best part was when Naomi was pushing Lydia on the swing! Too cute!


After the girls had naps (the little girls, not the big girls)we spent the afternoon at the beach. It was a fun time!