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

Update from the Big Blue

Hello,
I know it has been longer than I had hoped to update again but we are a little busy out here. After my last update I got to go on a little adventure. I got underway on a Thailand navy ship, something that not a lot of US Sailors get to do. It was a very interesting experience for sure. There were four sailors from the Hopper, 2 Chiefs, 2 officers and me. We got there and they were ready for us with a place to sleep, but after they showed us were we would be sleeping they left us. So I wondered around until I found someone. I ran into a guy that had spent some time in Los Angeles so he could speak a little English. His name was JJ and he said he missed Wendy's, Taco Bell and Foot Locker. Then the ship got underway. That seemed to go pretty smooth but a couple of hours later I was walking around and I saw smoke. So what do I do? What most Damage Controlman would do I went to find out where it was coming from and then I took some pictures and helped secure the area. Turns out it was a washer that caught on fire. The thing is they do not do things like we do. They did not put on breathing apparatus or protective gear they just went in there like John Wayne. After the fire about eight of them were outside coughing up lungs. So that was that and it came time for lunch. We had rice with every single meal, and some kind of soup and chicken. But they did have Coke or Pepsi so I was able to survive. I was there three days and two nights and it was good except for the roaches, tons of them, like when I went to get a cup there would be about ten roaches on the dishes.

I never thought I would be so happy to see the Hopper.

Pictures from Thailand

They have these shrines everywhere. I don't have the beliefs they have but I do find these shrines interesting. I hope it is okay that I took a picture in front of one. That is a Pepsi I have, it cost me about $.25 at the Seven Eleven. Seven Eleven is something I think they have everywhere.

Anybody Hungry?

Well I am now in Thailand.

It is interesting to go to all these different countries. I know that some of you have been to other places besides the US but I know a lot of you have not. In that way I guess I am fortunate to have these opportunities, like seeing the way different people live. Like the different food carts we see in the different countries. I am willing to bet that almost none of you have never seen a food cart like this. There was a man pushing this cart around selling his food. Just incase you can not tell those are grasshoppers, beetles, grubs and there were frogs and lizards to the left. No I did not try them but only because I had already eaten.
That is it for this one but I am going to add a few more pictures.
Darrick

Will you forgive me?

Our church is going through an awesome series of sermons about relationships. Last week was on husbands and this week was about wives. The three main points were "Three things every husband wants his wife to say". They were 1. "You Da Man!" 2. "Yes we can!" and 3. "I was wrong, will you forgive me?" If you would like to hear what those are about you can listen to this sermon or the whole series at www.hcwo.com

One point that Pastor Mike said was that no one says "I'm sorry" in their family. They ask one another for forgiveness. I really liked that and had many opportunities today to have the boys ask one another and it was powerful. Give it a try!

Girls Night Out!

Last night Jocelyn and I got together for another girls night out! Her husband watched their daughter and my friend Margaret watched Micah and Jacob. She picked me up and we went out to dinner at Chili's. It was so yummy. We spent so much time laughing and talking that before we knew it it was time to leave for out next event.

We were off to Livingstone Cafe to hear Stacey play. Stacey works with the youth at our church and leads worship on Saturday nights. She played her guitar and one guy played another guitar and the other guy played this drum box thing. Does anyone know what it is called? They were so good. They played some songs by other people but then they played a few songs that Stacey wrote herself. They were very beautiful and touching. Jocelyn and I shared a yummy dessert called a Choco lava flow-because on girls night it is a requirement that you must consume some chocolate. After Stacey played, we stayed a little to hear the next group but they were kind of silly. Way to go Stacey, God has blessed you with a beautiful voice, thank you for sharing it with us.

Hanging out with new friends-Kierra and Mika

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!