Micah and Jacob doing spoon tricks

Last Saturday-out to breakfast and taking a walk by the water

Thumb sucking buddies-Jacob and Loretta

Commune Living

Me and my neighbors always joke how it seems like we live in a commune. We share everything-food, cars, watching each others' kids...the only thing we don't share is husbands! :)
But the "new" Navy has all the sailors gone more often so we all depend on each other a lot.

For example a fellow Hopper wife was told they had to move because the amount of lead in their house was too high-it was a much older home. So what do you do when you have a 7 year old and an 18 month old and you have to pack and move? I offered to take her 2 girls for the day (can I just say that girls sure do talk a lot more then boys!)

Every afternoon we hang out in the frontyard and the kids play and the moms talk. We take turns sharing snacks, running after the kids and being another set of eyes for one another. Well we played so late today that 3 moms and 9 kids all piled into my house and we made spaghetti and breadsticks for everyone. Then the kids played andthen we had cookies and a funny face contest, I think I won, and then I did a storytime for them. It was so fun. Two of the husbands are underway and one had duty tonight. It just makes it so much more bearable when you are not going through it alone. God has truly blessed me with wonderful neighbors who have now become dear friends, and special people outside of the Navy community, from church, who have been so supportive and encouraging.

Art Camp

Today Micah had his first day of Art camp at Hickam Airforce Base. It is open to kids 5 and older. There were 40 kids in his class, from all ages. He was a little nervous at first since it was new but I stayed in the back for a few minutes and then he was fine. He said that they had to go outside and find a big leaf and then they each got a slab of clay and made an impression of the leaf, then they cut it out and painted it. They had to leave it there overnight so it could dry. Micah loved it and asked if he could sign up for more weeks.

It's me again

It was brought to my attention by my lovely wife that I have been doing a bad job at updating on the blog. Sorry about that I guess I didn't think what I am doing was that exciting.


Well we are in Singapore now and I have had a few chances to go out and see things. I am including a picture of a Merlion statue. It doesn't look so impressive in the picture unless you look to the left and notice the street light dwarfed next to it. It was really big! I wish I knew more about what it means and why it is like a symbol of Singapore. One thing I learned was that Singapores birthday is the same day as me and Jenn's Anniversary.

Another thing that we did on our last underway was give a helicopter fuel while we were underway and it was flying. It was pretty cool and one of those things we can only see live here in the Navy.

I will try to update more and give more pictures when I can. I just read Jenn's blog and it was very nice to talk to the boys and say goodnight to them. I enjoyed singing with Jacob very much. I really miss Jenn and the boys.
Darrick

Catching Up

Thursday: We hosted our first mini church at our house. The shepherds (leaders) are Mike and Susan Ching and we are the host family. It is at our house every Thursday from 7-9pm. My friend Margaret comes over and takes care of the kids in our playroom while the adults have the study. It went really well.

Friday: We babysat Loretta most of the day so her mom, Margaret, could attend a conference for Head Start. I even braved the grocery store with all 3 kids and it went really good.

Saturday: Bright and early (7:30) we met our friends Margaret, Loretta, Tonya, Deja, Jalen and Tayveon at the Wright Bros. Cafe for breakfast. It was so fun. Then we all walked down the path to the ocean and looked at fish and searched the rocks for hermit crabs and other sea life. Then I did my usual Mow the lawn. Then at 3:30 we picked up our friend Nadine and we went to a swim party at Troy and Bow's house. We had such a great time and reconnected with friends and met new friends. One couple was was Redlands and Rialto!

Sunday: We got up and went to church. I was extremely exhausted and so were the boys. We made plans to go to the beach at 2:00 with Sedrick and Nadine. So after lunch we layed down for a nap and did not wake up until 5 pm. I couldn't believe it! So we missed our beach outing.

Monday: We had a few Doctor appts. and Nadine was able to first watch Jacob and then watch Micah and Jacob. This morning I was trying to clip Moses' toenails and clipped too far. Apparently dogs have veins in their nails and it bled so much it scared me so I knocked on Margaret's door for help. She helped me but it was scary.

Darrick bought a special cell phone that works over seas that works by him buying a special card in each port and then he can call us more often. It has been great. Tonight he got to say goodnight to the boys and sing "Jesus loves Me". It was so cute to hear Jacob singing it with Daddy while holding the phone.

Swimming

Yesterday Jocelyn and Kai invited us to go swimming with them. It was a great day for swimming and the water felt so refreshing. We first had lunch under some covered picnic tables and then swam for a few hours. Even Jocelyn and I got in the pool. Jocelyn also brought some food for us to try. I don't remember what it was called but it was a slice of ham with white rice wrapped in seaweed. It was yummy and Jacob liked it too but not Micah. Then we had oranges with Li Hing on them-it is like a sweet and sour powder. It was different but good. Jocelyn you can correct me if I spelled it wrong. The people next to us were grilling oasters in their shells, they looked like big rocks.

We also took Moses to the vet yesterday. He needed to get 2 shots. He did a very good job. He now weighs 9.3 lbs. and is healthy.

We love Casting Crowns!!!

It has been a crazy and busy weekend but so much fun! Friday night my friend Sonya watched the boys so Jocelyn and I could attend "Spirit of Aloha 2006". It was a gathering for believers all over the island to get together and worship God no matter what denomination. It started with a praise team made up of people from many different churches. The second half was a concert with the band was Casting Crowns! This is my third time seeing them in concert but Jocelyn 1st. We had great seats and acted liked silly teenagers. It was a blast. But on the way home the H1 was closed and it took us 2 1/2 hours to get home (it usually takes 20-30 minutes). But it was such a great time for us to get to know one another better. Thanks again Sonya, sorry it got so late.

Saturday we did some stuff for the Hopper and then I did my usual Saturday chore of mowing the lawn. At night we babysat Loretta. It is so fun having a little girl in the house.

Today we went to church. I have been feeling for the past couple of weeks that it is time for me to help with the children's ministry. So I talked to Uncle Brian and I will be starting soon. It was a much needed break but I am ready to get back into it. After church we had pizza with our friends Sedrick and Nadine. The boys love silly Uncle Sedrick and the jokes he plays. Then the boys and I did a little shopping. Then we rested at home and played in the backyard. We also planted some greenbeans in our backyard-hopefully they will grow and Moses will leave them alone.

Save The Ship

The Hopper is now in Singapore. It is very hot and humid here. So when we went to the Singapore Navy Damage Control School we were happy to get wet.


The reason we went to their school was to see how they do Damage Control and to practice our Damage Control. They had a mock ship that they have damage on like flooding through holes, cracks and ruptured pipes then we try to save it from sinking. Pretty much what my real job in the navy is. It was a lot of fun to use our skills and put them to the test. It was also interesting because we had some Singapore Sailors with us. Besides a little language barrier everything went really good and I think we could have saved the ship.

Other than call Jenn that is that only thing I have done here so far. Tomorrow I am going on a mountain biking trip that should be really fun and Saturday I am going out on the towne to check things out. I will try to keep you posted.

I am doing good. I feel good with only a little bit of soreness and have lost a few pounds. I will try to post more often to keep you updated. How do you like the pictures of the ship and me?
Darrick

Micah's 1st Bike Ride

Today Micah officially rode his bike for the first time! He
has tried before and could do it but gave up. Today I
encouraged him to try again and his first try, he took off
riding and did not stop all afternoon. He couldn't wait for
his friend Deja to get home from school so they could ride
bikes together. I even got on our neighbor Will's bike and
joined him and Deja for a ride. I am so proud of him and I
made sure to video tape the whole thing for Darrick! Way
to go Micah!

Happy Memorial Day!

I got an email from Darrick that said they are now in Singapore. Hopefully he will be able to call us-it would be so great to hear his voice and talk to him.

I didn't really have any big plans for me and the boys today but then my friend Sonya called and invited us over to swim at the pool in her apartment complex. Ironically we know that pool very well because it is the pool the boys had private swimming lessons in last summer. We got there at noon and they swam until 4. They got out occassionally to munch on some pretzel sticks and drink some water but then it was right back in the pool!

My neighbor let us borrow their copy of "Nanny McPhee"-it is called the new Mary Poppins. It was really good and the boys loved it. There was one part I did not like because they use some "bathroom" language but the rest was good.

One last story. Included in the goodie bags from the boys pirate birthday party at the beginning of the year was treasure. Included in this treasure was beads and gaudy rings. This weekend Jacob was playing with one of those rings and came up to me and said "Mom, when I get big like Daddy, I'm goign to marry you with this ring!" It was one of the best things to hear as a mom. It will be a bittersweet moment someday when I am not his favorite girl.
__________________________________________________

I just got off the phone with Darrick. We were able to talk for an hour. It was so great. We laughed becaused I almost talked the whole time, I just had so much to tell him. But he did ask a lot of questions. It is 9 pm Monday here and it was 3 pm Tuesday for him. He said it is hot and humid. He said he will try to post of his adventures while in Singapore-so keep checking back!

USS Hopper by Japan with Coast Guard Ship Sherman in the background

Darrick and Walter enjoying a Steel Beach Picnic

Mini Church

This is a group picture of our mini church (Bible Study in someone's home). We meet every Thursday from 7-9 pm. We have a great time, learn a lot and encourage one another. Top Row: Jocelyn, Mike, Troy, Bob, Cassie On Couch: Tomoko, ME, Susan

Last few days

Later today we will be bringing Sam to the airport. We had so much fun with him, it will be hard to see him go. The boys adore him and will miss their Uncle a lot.

SATURDAY: we went to the 3rd annual Wahiawa Pineapple Festival. The weather was rainy on and off but we still had a nice time. We met our friends Will, Margaret and Loretta there. The kids rode rides and we all tried things like pineapple yougart, pineapple tea, pineapple vanilla ice cream and of course pineapple.

SUNDAY: we went to church and then went to North Shore with our friend Sonya. We ate lunch at Cholo's and then hung out at the beach.

MONDAY: Micah and I went to Lehua Elementary School with Margaret and her headstart class to tour kindergarten. Then me, Sam and the boys went to Dirty Lickin's for lunch and shopped at the Goodwill.

TUESDAY: we went out to breakfast at the Wright Bros. Cafe and then went to Lanikai beach. Then at night Sam and I went to Waikiki and had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory.

On Sunday when we went to North Shore Micah had a cruch on a teenage girl. Her and her friend were digging a hole by the shoreline and Micah kept getting closer and closer to them. But the funny part was that he was acting like a gorilla. I laughed so hard I cried. He followed them around for at least 45 minutes. If they talked to him, he would run away. They were so kind and let him follow them all over. He would just sit and stare at the one girl.

Yesterday at Lanikai Beach we had quite an ordeal. I was dozing in the warm sun and Sam was building a sand castle with the boys. All of the sudden Micah and Jacob are crying and it took me a minute to figure out what happened. A dead jellyfish washed up on shore and they both touched it. It had stung them and they were crying hysterically. I remembered once I saw on Survivor that they peed on a guys hand when he got stung and it helped. Well Micah was too upset and couldn't pee but Jacob had no problem and peed all over his hand. Some people whose house is right on the beach ran to get some vinegar and we poured that on too. Well all of the sudden Jacob starts screaming again and yelling "my penis!" Apparently when he peed on his hand he touched it and when I looked at it, it 2-3 times the size and red. So we poured vinegar on it. The boys were crying "I want Daddy!" and honestly at the moment I wanted him too! So we left the beach. When we got home I gave the boys a shower and tylenol and I am happy to report they are feeling better and everything is back to normal.

Micah with a creature we found at the beach today

Yesterday and Today

Yesterday afternoon we headed up to North shore to get some Matsumoto's Shave Ice. Sam tried rainbow with ice cream on the bottom and loved it. The boys never seem to get the hang of eating it right and once again they dropped theirs. From there we headed to Turtle Beach where there was one turtle on the shore and two in the ocean close to shore. Then we went to a beach my neighbor told me about that dogs can go to. So we brought Moses along for his first outing to the beach. It was pretty empty so Moses could run around and chase after the boys. The waves were really rough but we could get our feet wet and enjoy the sunshine. At night we went to Bible Study and Sam fit right in playing guitar for worship along with Tomoko playing her ukelele.

Today we took a nice drive to see the famous blowhole and the east side but it was not too great because of the tide. Then we walk down to the beach where they filmed the classic movie "From here to Eternity". They have lots of tide pools and we found some interesting creatures. Sam is starting to get a nice tan and not looking like he just came from Iowa anymore! This afternoon Sam and I went to see the DaVinci code. It was good but the book was so much better. Enjoy the pictures.

Going in the waves with Uncle Sam

Moses' first time at the beach

Eating Matsumoto's Shave Ice

Sam and Micah trying out poi balls

Where's Darrick?

Hello everyone its me, Darrick. The USS Hopper just pulled into Okinawa today. We have been cruising across the ocean for eleven days. I am doing good and not having any problems with hernias. I am just really tired because we work really hard while we are out to sea. It is 10pm and I have been up since 1:30am so when I go to sleep after writing this I will sleep really good. I get a full night sleep tonight and have the day off tomorrow so I can take a tour of Okinawa. I was able to go to the Air Force base here and get a memory card for the digital camera I brought so I can get some pictures of my adventure here. Thank you for your thoughts a prayers I will try to write on here more if I can.
Darrick
Here is a picture of me on the ship. See how awake I look.

What we've been up to

Monday: Sam arrived and after some lunch we drove to Pali Lookout. The view was great but it was windy and chilly. From there we took the scenic drive home. Once we got home it was still early in the day so we packed up and headed to North Shore. We stopped at Shark's Cove and it was a little rough but we went in a little and had fun looking at little fish and building a rock tower. We stopped at Stordo's deli for dinner-so yummy and Sam loved it.

Tuesday: We spent the day at the Polynesian Cultural Center. On the way there we stopped and got another Stordo sandwich. We toured the villages during the day. Sam's favorite was New Zealand where we all practiced twirling poi balls and Sam and I played the stick game! Then we had a yummy luau dinner and then on to the night show. We were so amazed when we were seated in the 4th row from the front! It was really cool!

Today: We had a relaxed day today, the boys were pretty tired after yesterday. In the afternoon we went to the commissary to get some groceries. Then we had dinner at Dirty Lickin's. Sam really liked it-he got 10 hot wings-and wants to go back again while he is here.

I really love having my brother here-we have had some great talks and boys have enjoyed daily wrestling with Uncle Sam. There has been lots of laughs lately!

Me and Sam at the Polynesian Cultural Center

Next visitor...

This morning we picked up our next visitor from the airport...My brother Sam. Watch our blog for our adventures...

Interesting day

Today some unusual and awesome things occured. It started out as a normal morning. Our friend Alex came over to play for awhile.

I decided we should go for an exercise walk. So I put Jacob and Alex in the double exercise stroller. Since Moses has not had all his shots yet, he is not allowed to walk outside of our house or backyard. So we strapped him into the single exercise stroller and Micah pushed him. Our whole walk I could see people looking and smiling or chuckling. One lady jogger said "That is about the cutest thing I have ever seen!" See picture. We also found a really cool bird nest on the ground.

After that were walking to the park minus Moses. Alex stubbed both of his big toes twice in a row. They were bleeding so we ended up walking home. But then they wanted to play in the tree in Alex's front yard. They were monkeys and I was the zookeeper building a nest for them. I was gathering flowers and leaves and sticks when I came across a huge centipede. It was dying but was still moving its legs. It was about 4 or 5 inches long! They are very poisionous. So I picked it up with some sticks and put it in one of Darrick's old hats. It was super gross!

Tonight Micah is really missing Darrick and was crying for him so I got out the book about Darrick and the boys that I made for his last deployment. It really cheered him up. There is one part that explains that Darrick and I asked Jesus into our hearts which is why we had them baptized. Micah said "I asked Jesus into my heart when I was 4!" And then Jacob said "I want to ask Jesus into my heart." So we all prayed there on Micah's bed and Jacob asked Jesus to come into his heart. It was such a beautiful moment and one I will never forget.

Ready to go for a walk

At North Shore the weekend before Darrick left

Goodbye

Well today is the day...The Hopper is leaving this morning for a 5 month CARAT cruise. We actually said goodbye to Darrick yesterday morning at 6am because he had duty. Micah and I cried and the boys keep saying that they miss Daddy but so far we are doing good on the home front.

Today my youngest brother, Jeff, is graduating from Dordt. Now all 4 of us have graduated from Dordt College and my Dad can finally retire from 30+ years with the phone company. Thanks Dad! My parents flew out to Iowa on Wednesday and will be there until the beginning of next week.

Moses is doing good. We have had to try something new because he kept having accidents all over the house so we have contained him to the kitchen-which he doesn't really like but it is saving us a lot of clean-up.

Once again I would like to thank everyone for the emails, prayers and gifts of support. It means so much to us!

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.

Learning to ask for help

This is Jenn. Darrick is getting a little better everyday. We had more rain again today. Yesterday I mowed the lawn again. I know I will be doing it for at least 6 weeks-lucky me.

Last night I attended the Pre-Deployment Fair for the USS Hopper. A lot of people came, which was really good. It basically is different speakers talking to us about what needs to be done before our spouses leave (Power of Attorey, Make sure car is working good...) and what to expect while they are gone.

Darrick will be gone May5-September 15. I cannot believe that it is time for him to go again. Even though I don't like to see him in pain I am so thankful for the time me and the boys are getting to spend with him-even though all he can do is sit.

I have been talking to some other Navy wives about deployments and what helps them make it through. The biggest thing I have learned so far is that people who make it through the best are those who have a lot of support from family and friends. I have also learned that some people have no one. Another person told me that as soon as her husband leaves his family and her family step in to fill the gap and help her. Her mom is coming for 3 weeks when the ship leaves then a few weeks later another person. And these people don't just come to see Hawaii, they come to help her with the kids, the house and give her a break or a chance to go to the grocery store alone or to have someone to talk to when the evenings are lonely.

So I am putting it out there. I am not super woman and I would LOVE some support and help while Darrick is gone. If this sounds like something that you would like to do, email me and we can set something up. It is hard to ask for help but I am learning that that is how God designed us to live-in community.

The weekend

Well my weekend was a lot of the same, sitting around. Actually on Saturday we tried going for a drive. We went to North Shore and got lunch at Storto's Deli. It is hard for me because I just sit there. After getting the food we drove to a beach to eat. If people pay attention they probably think I am really lazy. My wife gets out and gets the food, carries the food, takes care of the kids, sets up the food on the beach gives out the food. I slowly get out of the car and slowly make my way to a spot on the beach that my wife set up and sit down and eat. After eating Jenn and the boys played while I sat and watched. Then when we are done I get help up, slowly make my way to the car and sit and wait again. Jenn cleans up, gets the boys in the car and drives home. Then I slowly make my way in the house and sit down again. So that was Saturday which was good to get out but I was in some pain after all that sitting.

Sunday Jenn and the boys went to Church I rested. When they got home I rested and the boys played and we stayed at home the rest of the day.

Today Jenn and the boys are home hanging out. Now that I just sit Jenn gave me the job of blog updater. This morning we had a sad time because Jenn's fish Daisey had past away during the night. She was the smallest of the fish and seemed to not be healthy. Jenn buried her in the back yard this morning and thinks maybe she will get a new fish.

The Day After

Hello there,
Well the day after my surgery is almost over. I am feeling OK as far as getting over the anesthesia but boy am I in some pain. It really hurts to get up or down and Micah says I walk like a really old man. I feel like a really old man. The good thing is Jenn takes really good care of me. I feel bad that she is doing everything on her own but I really can not move so I couldn't help anyway.

I got some good news today though. You may remember Jenn writing on our blog a while back about me taking the test for Chief. Well the results came back and I passed. So now my package will be submitted to the board and I have another chance to make chief. The way it works is that after you pass the test a board convenes and they choose chiefs base on our records so my part is done just more waiting. This is my third year so we will see.

That's all for now
Darrick

Quick Update

Just wanted to let everyone know that Darrick's surgery is over and the doctor said it all went good. He was very pale and out of it when I first saw him, but he was able to come home tonight. He is in a lot of pain in his abdomin area and has a hard time going from sitting to laying to standing. He had about half a piece of toast, took some pain medicine, drank some water and went to sleep.

Thank you for all the emails and prayers!

What a day

Hello everyone this is Darrick again.
Today was a long day for us today. This morning I had my appointment at the general surgery department at Tripler Army Medical Center. Turns out that I have two hernias, one on each side. I am going to need to have surgery. Jenn and I were really surprised when they came and said Thursday March 2nd. Just in case you don't realize it that is this Thursday. So I am having surgery on Thursday. So after my appointment we went straight to doing all the preparation stuff at the hospital. After that we had to stop by the ship and let them know what is going on with me. I will be away from the ship for about a month. A big thank you goes out to Lauren who had the boys all day when she probably only expected to have them for a few hours.

On a better note we got some pets today. Last night we bought a fish tank and I set it up. Today we bought the fish, we got a goldfish each. They are Rocky, Daisy, Lion and George. The boys love them.

Well that is all for tonight we will make sure we let you know how I am on Friday.
Darrick

Trying new things

Confession: I am 30 years old and have never used a weed wacker. Growing up with 3 brothers, they were the ones who were trained to do the yard work and I learned housework. And then when I got married, Darrick did the yard work and when he was deployed I had a neighbor boy do it. But now that Darrick has a hernia, I needed to do the lawn today. And since he is deploying in the near future he wanted to give me some lessons.

Just looking at the weed wacker intimidated me. Lesson one was how to put gas in-that was easy. Lesson two how to start it..not so easy. There is some kind of deal with a full choke, half and no choke and pulling the start cord and giving it gas...I couldn't do it. Darrick wanted to help me but I told him, no that I had to do it on my own. Well I eventually got it. Lesson three how to use it. It was hard to figure out the right angles-I put a lot of dirt spots on the edge by going to deep-oops...when I would look back at Darrick, he said nothing but just smiled. He was probably thinking: Jenn is mutilating our yard. Then after I was done with that I still had to mow the grass! My arm muscles are so weak tonight.

The other new thing was that Micah learned to ride his bike. He got it pretty quickly and now he just needs to practice more. The boys are growing up so fast!

Yesterday and Today

Yesterday Darrick and I went on the most fantastic date. My friend Lauren had the boys. The first thing we did was to drive down to Waikiki and walk to the beach. It was there that we checked in for our reserved sail on a Catamaran. Neither of us had been on one and we thought Hawaii was a great place to try it. It you are not familiar it has a net part where you can see and get wet and also seating in the back. There were about 20 people-a very lively group of tourists who liked to drink and be silly. The weather was perfect. We saw whales, dolphins and a sea turtle. It was so relaxing just gliding on the waves-we loved it. It was a 90 minute sail which was a nice amount of time.

From there we went to a late lunch, early dinner at the Cheesecake Factory. We had not been there for about 3 or 4 years, since we lived in San Diego. It was so so yummy and after our meal we each had a piece of delicious cheesecake. I chose the Godiva Chocolate Cheesecake and Darrick had a Peanut butter cookie dough cheesecake. We had such a nice time.

Today it is raining and it is suppossed to rain until Wednesday. Darrick was feeling bad this morning so he stayed in bed. I offered to watch Charlie and Alex this morning so I loaded up 4 little boys and we went to church. It went really well.

Jacob is doing great on his potty training. Today he had an accident and we are not quite sure what happened exactly. When Darrick walked into the bathroom he had his underwear off, there was poop on the floor and he had already stepped in it. We are so surprised at how fast he learned especially because Micah took so long. The stickers we put on his chart are scratch and sniff smelly stickers that I had leftovver from teaching.

In our efforts of trying to teach the boys about loving others and showing God's love to them we read them the scripture in Matthew 25:31-40. We then went on to the Compassion International website and each boys picked out a 4 year old boy they would like to sponser. We hope it will teach them compassion and about other people and their lives. Micah chose a boy from Brazil and Jacob chose a boy from Mexico. There were so many children on there it is hard not to want to do more. If you are interested checkout their website and see what you can do.

One last thing, a long time ago we use to write about this huge frog that would jump around in our yard. Well this morning I saw him squished in the street, it looks like he got run over by a car. So sad...

Whales and the bathroom

Hello this is Darrick
Today we had to find something to do that did not require me doing anything, hard to do but we can not stay in the house to long. In case you forgot I have a hernia and unfortunately I am not one of the people that has one and it doesn't hurt. So we thought of whale watching all I had to do was sit there and look for whales. I was really great! The boat was big but there were not a lot of people on it. Where we sat was covered from the sun and it had seating all around. Yes, we did see whales and we got it on video. We also saw a lot of dolphins. Jenn and I enjoyed seeing the whales and dolphins but really enjoyed seeing the boys seeing whales and dolphins.

Another great thing that happened today was that Jacob decided today was the day that he would start going to the bathroom like a big boy. He did a great job with zero accidents and no dirty diapers. Jenn made him a chart to track his progress and put it in the bathroom. It had about ten squares but we had to add more because he was going to get stickers in all the squares to quickly. We haven't decided what the reward will be for feeling the chart but looks like we should because he will fill it quickly if he does that good over the weekend. Well that was our day we will keep you posted of the rest of the weekend and what the doctors say on Tuesday at my evaluation at the surgery department at the hospital.

Good news/Bad news

The Hopper is out to sea and is not due back until the end of the week. But Monday night I got an email from Darrick telling me that he is coming home and I need to pick him up in the morning.

If you missed a few days ago, Darrick has a hernia. They did not want him doing anything on the ship to make it worse, because if it became an emergency situation they could not get him to a hospital. Tuesday morning some civilians who were working on the ship were going back to Oahu on a small boat, so they decided Darrick should go back too.

The boys and I were so happy to see him but wished that it wasn't under these circumstances. The ship wanted him to go to the ER at Tripler so he did-he was there 8 hours and when he was finally seen they said "yep you have a hernia". He has an appt. on the 28th for a surgical evaluation so they told him to take it easy until then.

After sleeping all night it is not visible but after playing with the boys it popped back out and started hurting. They called it an inguinal hernia.

So good news: we got to see Darrick early, Bad news: he is in pain because of a hernia.

Thanks!

Thanks to the link that Darrick found me I was able to find the lyrics and some history on the song:
*Pharoah Pharoah was based on the song Louie Louie, written by Richard Berry in 1955
*As seniors in High School Tony Sbrana and two friends wrote and performed a Rock Opera as their Bible as Literature final project.
*One of the songs they wrote was Pharoah Pharoah, just for laughs, and everyone liked it so they kept it.
*Also at the same time Tony was also doing music with a friend Rick Riso and decided to perform it at a retreat. A producer heard it and suggested they do an album, so they did. But they had to leave Pharoah Pharoah off because they didn't know how to get parody rights. But they still performed it in concert.
*Apparently someone at one of their shows heard it and started doing it with their youth group. And it caught on quickly and took on a life of its own.

The boys and I sang it after dinner and they loved it. Yes! I am helping the song live on! Sorry Sam!

Today we got 2 packages from my brother Sam. One was a beautiful print I had ordered from him called "Embrace". You can see it on his art link on the right side. I already hung it up and it looks great. The second package was for Micah and Jacob and they each got the cutest monkeys. They love them! They have magnets on their hands and feet so they can stick together. But of course the boys had to figure out what else they could stick too like the fridge and the washing machine. See the pictures below.

Also today is my Grandma Vanderbilt's 87th birthday. I called her to wish her a happy birthday. It was so great to talk to her-there is nothing like a grandma's love for you. Happy Birthday Grandma, may God continue to bless you and bless us by having you in our lives! We love you!

Thanks Uncle Sam, we love them!

Micah and Jacob with monkeys from Uncle Sam

Pharoah, Pharoah

For our after dinner devotions I have been reading to the boys from a Children's Bible. Tonight we read the story of Moses and the 10 plagues of Egypt.

After we were done I told the boys I knew a song about that. "Pharoah, Pharoah, O Baby, let my people go (Huh!) Yea, Yea, Yea, Yea, I said Pharoah, Pharoah, O Baby, Let my people go, yea, yea, yea, yea" That is the chorus and that is all I can remember. I even remember the hand motions to the chorus. The boys loved it and we sang it 5 or 6 times.

Does anyone remember that song? Do you have any idea where I can find the rest of the lyrics? Maybe you remember them. I would love to buy the song...can you help me?

Maggots

Last week the trash truck did not come to pick up the trash on our side of the street. But it did pick up at the houses across the street from us. I still cannot figure out the trash system here. So anyways I left it by the curb in case they were coming on a different day, which they do sometimes. So we had 2 weeks worth of trash baking in the warm sun everyday. Well today was trash day and they came to get our trash but left at the bottom of the can was a whole bunch of maggots crawling around! It was so gross. At first I wasn't quite sure what to do and thought about leaving it for Darrick but it is still a week until he comes home. So I tipped the can and sprayed them out with water and then bleached the can...it was disgusting!

On a more pleasant note-I took Micah and Jacob to see Curious George (the movie) today. We went to the 12:15 matinee and including us there was only 3 families there-it was great. I got the boys each a booster seat at the entrance so they could see good and I brought our own drinks and we shared a medium popcorn. The movie was so great! It was just a clean, fun, cute movie. It was so fun to hear the boys laugh or Jacob yell something out about what was happening or repeat what they said in the movie (good thing it was all nice words!) I love the ages that they are at, 3 and 5, it was so easy to take them out and we had a really good time. I highly recommend this movie!

Aloha

On Sunday the boys wore their Aloha Clothes that they got from Uncle Troy and Auntie Bow for their birthdays. They looked so handsome! They are sitting next to the tulips that Darrick sent me for Valentine's Day.

Chinese Dragons

Today the boys and I needed to get out of the house, we have been home for days, sick. Micah is feeling better but Jacob still has a fever and is coughing a lot.

We went to Ward Center Mall. It is an outdoor mall in Honolulu. There were some kids performing, a class I think. They were doing chinese dragon dances. So the boys and I watched, it was really cool. I started to notice that people were holding out money. Then one of the dragons would come over and "eat" the money out of your hand. So I gave the boys each a dollar and he came and ate it from them. They thought it was so cool! I am wondering if people always give money to the people who are being the dragons or if it was some type of fundraiser...Does anyone know?

Kindness

I got an email from Uncle Marv and he made it back to California and is missing Hawaii already.

We are all still sick. On Thursday after breakfast Micah broke out in hives. I thought it was the medication he was on and made an appt. for him. The doctor was pretty sure it was not his medication but something he ate. He had a reaction like that one other time and we discovered he was allergic to hazelnuts. The only new thing I fed him was Quaker Dinosaur Eggs Oatmeal. He ate it for 2 mornings. The first morning he had some bumps behind his ears and the second morning within a half hour after breakfast he was covered with hives. I read the ingredients but cannot pinpoint what did it. But after some benedryl he is much better today.

Jacob is still running a fever and felt pretty rotten today. I had the doctor look at him yesterday too and she said it is just the cough/fever virus that is going around.

Today my friend Jocelyn from church called me. She said that she had read our blog and wanted to see how we were doing. Then she said that she was on the way to our house because she bought us a cooked chicken and was bringing it over so I wouldn't have to cook dinner. It was just what I needed today. Just a gesture to know that someone cares. We have been stuck at home for days because someone has been sick and the only place we have gone is to the doctor. It feels so good when someone shows you kindness out of the blue. Thanks Jocelyn, I needed it!

Happy Birthday Micah!

Today is Micah's 5th birthday! That is the good news. The bad news: we are now all sick. Micah is still getting over bronchitis, Jacob has a temp of 101.2 tonight, I have a sinus infection and Darrick emailed me that he has a hernia. He went to the Doctor on the ship and he told him that he will need surgery. But he is out to sea about 2 more weeks.

Uncle Marv leaves tomorrow so we took him to the beach today so we could get out a little and breathe some fresh air. A lifeguard found an octopus in the reef and let us see it and touch it and he even let me hold it. It was so slimey and slippery. And his suction cups stuck to your fingers. What a once in a life time chance. Then he put it back in the ocean and we got to watch it swim away.

Micah getting up close

Jenn and her new friend

Three Things...

Darrick left today for 3 weeks.

I took Micah to the doctor today and he has bronchitis.

Uncle Marv is hiking Diamond Head today.

Busy Weekend

On Thursday Uncle Marv, me and the boys had lunch at the Wright Bros. Cafe. Darrick was pulling back in after a week out to sea and we wanted to see him go by. So after lunch we walked to the place and waited. It was pretty windy and a few raindrops were falling. But the closer the Hopper got, the harder the rain came down. So by the time they passed us it was pouring and there we were waving at the ship pretty wet. As we started to walk back to the car it stopped raining.

Saturday we had a birthday party for Micah and Jacob. It was such a good time and the boys were blessed with so many wonderful gifts.

Today Uncle Marv and Darrick went to church because Micah was running a fever. After lunch we all took naps. For dinner Uncle Marv treated us to Taco Bell and then we went and checked out a new Walmart that they built a few minutes from our house. It just opened on Tuesday.

When we got home we ate some birthday cake and ice cream. Yummy!

A new little miracle

I got a call last night from Darrick's brother Charlie. Him and his wife, Maud, welcome their first baby, a precious little girl into their lives. She was born on January 30 at 11:06 pm. She weighs 6 lbs. 11 oz. Her name is Amelie Marie Hays.

This week Uncle Marv has been taking The Bus all over the island to explore. Monday he went to Waikiki, Tuesday he went to Makaha Beach and today he said he was going East.

The boys and I have been hanging out and playing with friends. It has been a pretty relaxing week.

And the visitor is

Hello this is Darrick. The visitor is Uncle Marv. He flew in Thursday night. He said he had the best flight ever. He sat in the front row with no seat in front of him so he had lots of leg room and the movie screen right there in front of him. I think he also that the seat next to him was empty. Why can't I ever have that seat? I was out to sea until Friday so when I got him we all went to Northshore with our neighbors. We went to a sandwich shop called Storto's and then took our sandwiches to Turtle Beach and ate them with six sea turtles laying there on the beach with us. On Saturday I had duty so Jenn and the boys took Uncle to the beach on Hickam Air Force Base. Today I got home to late to go to church so I cut the grass and got ready so that when they all got home we could go to lunch at Dirty Lickins. They have the best hot wings. Then we went to hike to the light house on Makapu'u. The view is amazing there. We saw some whale spouts and one whale breech. Then we stopped at a blow hole. The waves come in and force water through a hole in the java causing a spout which was really cool. Then we ate dinner a Pizza Hut and spent the rest of the evening at home. Tomorrow I go out to sea again which stinks but what can I do. I am sure you will hear from Jenn soon.

Rain, Rain go away

Today is the 5th day in a row that it has been raining. It rains off and on all day long and sometimes it pours really hard. How long will it last?

Tonight after dinner we are heading to the airport to pick up our next guest...who will it be?

Charlie, Micah and Jacob

Make a wish!

Birthday Boy

Happy Birthday Jacob!

Today our little Jacob has turned 3! It is so hard to believe and seems just like yesterday that he was born...

It was a Thursday morning and I woke up about 5 am to go to the bathroom and noticed some blood. I was sure this was it because that was the same way my labor started with Micah. I had an appt. at the doctor that morning so we just waited. At the appt. they hooked a monitor to me and I had no contractions so they said I should just go home and wait. But my instincts told me different and so I asked to be checked by a dr. No doctors were available so we had to wait. When we were finally seen she said "Wow! You are going to have a baby today, you are 4 cm and the head is down. You should get to the hospital."

So we stopped by my parents to drop off Micah's car seat and over night stuff and went to the hospital. The dr. checked me and I was at a 5 so he said let's get things going and broke my water. And then the pain started. I opened from a 5 to an 8 in three contractions and it felt like my body was ripping in half. I wanted an epidural but the guy was in surgery so they gave me some pain medication. They switched me to a different room and then the guy came to give me an epidural. Soon after I was ready to push and in 3 pushes he was out.

What a blessing he is to us. He is active and busy. Makes up stories and hits when he loses his temper. He loves his blankie and sucking his thumb. He loves to cuddle and is very friendly.

Darrick is out to sea this week and will be for Micah's birthday so we are celebrating both of their birthdays on Feb. 4 when Darrick will be home for the weekend.

The Hays Family and Paul Wright

Saturday night Paul Wright gave a concert at our church! It was so awesome. After the concert, Pastor Randy introduced us to Paul. Darrick shook his hand and he gave me a kiss on the cheek. He was very nice. Jacob gave him a high five and Micah hid behind Darrick. He is an amazing musician and very talented, it was just him and his guitar and he sounded great!

Darrick, very excited to be talking to Paul Wright

Try, try again

Yesterday morning Darrick took the test to be a Chief again. This is his 3rd time. He has passed it the first two times. Once you pass the test then you are eligable to submit your package which will go before a board that then selects the chiefs. Darrick has been an early canidate because he has not been in the Navy long enough. Most people who are selected have been in around 12 years and Darrick just hit his 10 year mark. So we will see. They do not announce the new Chiefs until August or September.

Day at the Beach

This morning after we got ready the boys and I headed out to the beach. I read in a book that I have that there was a nice paved bike path right by Kailua Beach. I loaded up all the beach stuff plus Micah's bike and the single exercise stroller. It is such a beautiful drive on the H3 to get to the other side of the island.

So first we did our exercise. I was so proud of Micah, he biked almost the whole way. There was one big hill that he had to walk his bike up.

The we went to the beach and played and had lunch. It was a little cloudy and the wind was blowing so when the sun was gone we got a little cold. I love the beach more and more. The warm sun and the sound of the waves. It is so relaxing. And now that the boys are getting older I can sit and relax and not run all over the beach chasing after them.

Darrick is home now and the lasagna is cooking in the oven. Tonight we will watch "American Idol" and "The Biggest Loser". Does anyone else watch those shows? What new shows are you watching.

P.S. Happy Birthday Becky!

Pajama Day

We are having a pajama day today. We are just playing in the house, watching cartoons and I am doing laundry.

Yesterday we had a nice day. The boys played at Charlie and Alex's house while I went for a run, well jog I should actually say. I really think that was the first time I exercised alone. I was so great.

After lunch we all took a nap. Then I watched Charlie and Alex while Lauren went for a run. We had a snack and mostly jumped on the trampoline. I pretended I was a giant that had a magic finger and when I touched then they fell asleep. They LOVED it. It was pretty fun, 4 little boys, me and lots of giggles.

Lauren invited us over for dinner. She made really yummy enchiladas. The boys all got a special treat and got to watch the movie "Robots" while they ate dinner. We got to eat at the table by ourselves but we seemed to be jumping up a lot to tend to the boys.

Our Weekend

Saturday was spent relaxing and hanging around home-it was nice but by the end of the day Darrick and the boys were feeling a little stir crazy. In the morning we all went out for some exercise. Micah rode his bike, me and Darrick jogged and Jacob rode in an exercise jogger. We were going to just put him in the double one we have when we ran into our neighbor Margaret. We started talking and mentioned we were thinking of getting a single jogger since Micah is getting bigger. She said we could try hers so we did and really liked it. After we had gotten back she came over and said she saw a single jogger stroller at a yard sale a few houses down for $20.00! They normally start at like $75.00. So Darrick ran over there and we got it! Yea!

This morning we went to church. We had a really great sermon that gave us a lot to think about. After church we decided to pack a picnic and go to the beach for the afternoon with Lauren, Charlie and Alex. We had fun and the adults got a little too much sun but all 4 boys had a blast. They really all act like brothers-they spend so much time together and can hardly spend a day apart without asking to go to each other's house to play-good thing we live across the street from each other. We invited them over for dinner and they brought dessert. It was such a nice day.

Good Question

My brother Sam left a comment yesterday asking why we weren't sending Micah to Christian school, so here is the answer.

This year one of Darrick and my "resolutions" is to make better choices with our money. We are not savers and are impulsive spenders. But when we came to Hawaii over a year ago one of our goals was to be debt free by the time we leave. And so far we have been doing good working toward that goal.

Through researching the Christian Schools we found the cheapest at 4000.00 a year and the most expensive at 6300.00. Our impulsive part told us to go for it. But we really prayed and examined our finances and realized that if we sent Micah to school, we could afford it but then we would just be making and couln't pay down our debt to meet our goal.

So we are trying to look to the future and not just the present.

On another note, the boys caught a baby frog today in the backyard and put it in Tuggy-our toy boat. They gave him grass and water to make him happy.

Where are we?

It has been a week since we posted and we have been quite busy. We'll catch you up!

Friday: we went to Bishop Museum with Lauren, Charlie and Alex to attend the members only grand opening of the Sesame Street exhibit. It was pretty busy, families everywhere, but the boys all had a good time.

Saturday: we took a tour of a Christian school we are considering for Micah. It was great and had everything we wanted but after much prayer and discussion we have decided to send him to the local public school in the fall. Then we went to north shore to hang out.

Sunday: Lauren, Charlie and Alex joined us for church . When we got home all four of us took a nap-it was great. Then we went over to celebrate Alex's 2nd birthday with dinner, cake and presents.

Monday: Darrick went back to work since his leave is over.

Tuesday: Housework!

Wednesday: Housework!

Thursday: Today I took the boys to Bishop again to see the sesame street exhibit. It was great because there were hardly any kids. We had such a nice time. Then we had a nice lunch at McDonalds and then a treat at Dave's Ice Cream. Tonight we have Prayer and Praise at church instead of Bible Study.

A day with Dad

Hello everyone this is Darrick.
Well our visitors left on Monday night and I guess we were more tired than we realized because Tuesday we did not really do anything. First I feel asleep on the couch for an hour then it was Jenn's turn so she feel asleep on the love seat for almost two hours. We did take the boys to the little park by the house in the afternoon but that is about it.

Today when we woke up Jenn was sick with a bad cough and a fever so I took care of the boys. After breakfast and getting ready we headed to the Navy exchange to get them some hair cuts. Then we went to the food court to eat some lunch at McDonalds and get some more Narnia toys with our Happy Meals. You might think this sounds like a lot already but there is more. We got in the car and took a 45 minute drive to Sea life Park. First we went to the jump house they had set up. Then we went and saw a dolphin, sea lion and penguin show that was very good. After the show we saw the penguins, sea lions and turtles. It was getting to be snack time so being a good dad we had to go get some ice cream. Then we got some pressed pennies and some toy divers the boys could use in the bath tonight. Then we walked around one more time and stopped by the little play area for a bit before we called it quits and headed to the car to go home and check on mom. When we got home we found her resting on the couch so I made dinner and then gave the boys a bath and let them play with their divers for a long time. Then Jenn and I read to them and Jenn prayed with them and we both sang with them and put them to bed. I did the dishes and then Jenn and I watched the biggest looser. Busy day but a good one. I love to hang out with the boys. Lets hope Jenn feels better tomorrow so she can join in our adventures.

Surf's Up Becky

The Hays Family at Pali Lookout

Hike up Makapu'u Head-we made it!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone! I enjoy this time of year to reflect on the past year and look forward to the coming year-what will it hold?

Today is our last day with Jim and Becky-they leave tonight at 10:55 pm Hawaii time, back to winter and Michigan.

We had a great time at the Polynesian Cultural Center, the weather was beautiful. We really enjoyed the food at the luau and the atmosphere was so beautiful. Then we went to the night show. Jacob ended up falling asleep at the beginning but Micah loved it and couldn't keep his eyes off of it.

Saturday morning we hiked Diamond Head which was something new for us again. Darrick and Jim took turns carrying Jacob up but Micah hiked up all by himself. Becky and I brought up the rear but it was so worth it when we got to the top-the view was amazing. After we hiked down we went to Waikiki. We found a great spot on the beach and Darrick, Jim and Becky took surfing lessons. And they all did it and got up on their first wave. Their lesson lasted an hour and I videotaped it from the beach. They caught more waves but felt sore when it was done (and the next morning)!

Sunday morning we went to church. Then we stopped at Dole and Jim and Becky shared a "Dole Whip", yum. Then we headed to North shore. We had lunch at Cholo's and then looked in a few stores but most places were closed because it was New Year's Day-including the shave ice places. It was also raining so we took a nice drive around most of the island. We stopped to stretch our legs, which ended up being a 1 mile and a 1/4 uphill hike to a light house. Once again the views were great and rewarding once we got up there.

This morning Darrick, Jim and Becky got up early to get in line for the USS Arizona Memorial to be sure to get a ticket. They were also going to tour the Battleship Missouri. The boys are resting and we are waiting for them to return.

And our visitors are...

... Jim and Becky (LeMahieu) Peterson! They arrived to Honolulu late Tuesday night (10:15 pm)-their flight was delayed. They had a good trip but they were exhausted since Michigan is 5 hours ahead of Hawaii.

Wednesday we took it easy so they could adjust to the time change. In the morning Becky and I got pedicures! We tool them to Pali Lookout, which had very little wind and a great clear view. From there we went to Lanikai beach and relaxed. It was a perfect Hawaiian day. Jim and Darrick snorkeled a little and Becky and I soaked up the sun while the boys played. We packed a picnic lunch and had so much fun. We came home and cleaned up and then went to Dirty Lickin's for dinner.

Thursday morning Jacob went to the dentist. They told us that Jacob is missing a front tooth. Most people have 4 and he has 3. They are going to do xrays next time to see if he has an adult one.

Then we headed for a personal tour of the USS Hopper given by everyone's favorite sailor-Darrick. From there we tried a new place for lunch "Bob's Giant Malts and BBQ", it was good. Then we went to the Arizona Memorial only to find out they had no more tickets for the day and will have to try another day. So we went over to the Exchange and looked around.

Darrick took Micah to the Doctor in the afternoon because he has a cough that is not going away. They said it was a virus going around and gave him some cough medicine. I made Fajitas for dinner and then we went to Bible Study at night.

Right now everyone is getting ready for our big day. We are going to the Polynesian Cultural Center. We are going to visit all the villages during the day and then go to their luau (which we have never done before) and then the great night show. It will be a long day but hopefully the boys will do okay! We'll let you know...

Micah singing (smiling) in front of Church at Christmas Eve Service

Holiday Update

Well the Hopper did not win, the USS Russell did, oh well. And we could not take any pictures, they are very strict about picture taking on the base.

Wednesday we got a new refrigerator. Ours was on its way out so housing replaced it with a brand new one-it is really nice. Lauren took all four boys to Sea Life park so Darrick and I could go on a date. We went to see Narnia. I really loved it and I hope they will make the other books into movies also.

Thursday we took our boys to Bishop museum to see the new Science Adventure Center. It is pretty cool and has a pretty big volcano in it. Thursday night we had our Bible Study Christmas Potluck. It was really fun, we played a few games and the kids all ran around. There are 7 boys and 1 little girl-so it got pretty wild at times. It was a Hawaiian food theme which we made it a little difficult for us to know what to bring. Darrick decided to get hot wings from his favorite place here so that was easy. The most unusual thing we tried was chicken lau lau. It was some chicken mixture wrapped and cooked in a taro leaf. We tried it but did not really care for it.

Friday Darrick had duty. We were invited to our friend Alex's 2nd birthday party at Honeymoon beach. It was a beautiful day and the boys had a great time. At night I babysat Lauren's boys so her and her husband could go on a date. They were all super good.

Saturday was my 31st birthday and Christmas Eve. Darrick made me breakfast when he got home from duty. Then we relaxed. I opened presents and cards, had a few visitors and got a few phone calls. It was very nice. At night we had church. We went to the 5:00 service because Micah's class sang in front of the church. He did good but did not really sing much. But he stood up there with a big smile on his face and waved. Our friends Steve, Lauren, Charlie and Alex came to church with us which we were so happy about and hope they will join us again.

Sunday was Christmas. This was only my second Christmas away from home in my life. The first was one year when we lived in New Jersey. We had a really great day. We got up and opened our stockings. Then we had breakfast and read the Christmas story. After I did a little food prep we opened presents. It was so fun watching the boys. I made a ham for lunch with some side dishes and a pie for dessert. The boys played all day with their new toys.

Today Darrick has duty but tomorrow he goes on leave until January 9th! I am busy today getting our guest room ready. We have visitors coming tomorrow, who could it be...

Ship competition

Yesterday Darrick had duty so the boys and I brought him dinner because the ship was serving tuna casserole. We also went to see the lights. Last night was the judging night to see which ship has the best holiday decorations. When we got there I realized how serious this was. There were guys with bionaculars "spying" on the other ships to see what they had out and then they relayed it to one another by walkie talkie.

The Hopper had lights all over, a movie screen showing "It's a wonderful life", a guy dressed up like Santa and two girls as elves. They attached a floating barge in the water next to the ship which is where Santa and his elves were.

The judge is the Admiral. He has a boat that he rides around and views the lights from the water. The Hopper's plan was when he came to judge them the elves would give him fresh baked cookies and eggnog. They also had Christmas songs playing over a loudspeaker.

Jacob could hardly take his eyes off Santa. It was fun but I have not heard yet who won. We will let you know when we hear.

A Day off

Darrick had the day off today because they are in stand down right now during the first leave period of the holidays. Darrick heard they were having big waves at North Shore so we drove up there. It is such a beautiful drive and the weather was perfect. We stopped at Pipline first but no surfers. Then we went to Sunset beach and found some surfers. We sat under the shade of a palm tree and watched while the boys played in the sand. The surfers were good. It is also fun to watch the silly tourists who do not obey all the bright orange flags and large signs that say "NO SWIMMING". There are always a few who think they can still go in and the lifeguards come and blow their whistle and tell them to get out. On our way home we stopped and had shave ice with ice cream in it, yummy!

This afternoon Charlie and Alex came over to play while their mom did some shopping. All the boys were so good and I think they had every toy in house out. We also fed all of them dinner and it went really smooth. We had BBQ hamburgers and hot dogs.

I put our boys to bed while Darrick went out to do some last minute Christmas or birthday shopping. I wonder who that could be for...