Monday

This morning at 8am I got a call from the visitors that were suppossed to come today and they did not make their flight. They were up all night with their daughter and she was pulling on her ear so they took her to the doctor instead of getting their flight to Hawaii. They were right she had an ear infection and now she is on antibiotics and the doctor gave her the okay to fly. So they are going to catch a flight tomorrow. Because they had a doctors note they were able to change their tickets without any extra fees!

So I did some work around the house and ran some errands. While my parents were here we bought some flowers but did not have a chance to put them in their pots so I decided to do that. I also cleaned up, washed stuff off and reorganized it all. Below are some pictures of the end result.

Getting Back to normal-for one day

This morning, before the sun came up, my parents left our house to fly back to Cali. The 2 weeks they were here went by way too fast! Darrick had duty today so he dropped them off at the airport on his way to the ship. We miss them already.

But we get new visitors tomorrow! Yes, back to back visitors!

But before my parents left, we had one more beach day on Saturday. We headed out to Lanikai beach to meet up with our friends Beth and Oscar. The fun thing is that Beth's parents are visiting her too. Our parents know each other because we all grew up in Alta Loma and they both sent their kids to Ontario Christian. So we all had fun hanging out in Hawaii.

Micah got his second surf lesson from Uncle Oscar and he was standing up and balancing a lot more. Jake had a blast playing with Kai. The water was nice and warm. Then after the beach we all went to Teddy's Bigger Burger for dinner! It was a fun time!

Sunday

Today was such a great day! After we went to church we headed to the Ewa Beach Railroad. We were going to go last Sunday but it was raining. The weather was much better today!

It was such a beautiful train ride and there was a wonderful breeze blowing, it was perfect. It is a 90 minute train ride up the West Coast. The whole ride is narrated so you learn a lot about the railroad and surrounding areas.

After the train ride, since it was such a beautiful day, we decided to then drive up the west coast. We drove until the road ends and then got out to hike. What started out as a little walk turned into a full fledge hike! We stopped and watched a blowhole before heading up most of the trail.

We did this hike in December and had visited some tide pools so we wanted to take my parents there. It is off the path and you have to hike down to get to the tidepools. As we got closer we were so surprised that there was a huge seal laying in one of the pools. We have never seen one in the wild before and it was amazing! It would open its eyes and look at us and grunted at Jacob once because Jake got to close but mostly it just layed there. The boys also found sea cucumbers and let Nana and Papa hold them.

The views were so spectactular, the pictures don't do justice to what we saw. As we were driving home, Darrick saw what looked like a big cave so we stopped to look. It was big bit not very deep. It was the first cave the boys have been to so they thought it was so cool. The cave was dripping water so the ground was slick and Jacob slipped 3 times!

Our showers felt so good tonight and I'm sure we will all sleep like rocks!

Sunday Train ride and hike

The Atlantis Submarine Tour

Friday

Yesterday Darrick got off of work early so we wanted to go do something together. We weren't quite sure what but we headed out to the Navy ticket office to see what we could find.

It turns out that they had an amazing deal for the "Magic of Polynesia" show, buy one ticket and get one free! We also booked an activity for Saturday afternoon but we will tell you about that later.

So we headed to Honolulu but first we stopped at Big Kahunas for dinner. They have the most amazing Kalua Pork BBQ sandwiches.

When we got to Honolulu we had time to walk around before the show. We stopped at the Croc store and we got some. Plus they had the most amazing selection of Jibbitz so we let the boys pick some out.

Then we went to the Magic Show. It was awesome! The boys loved it and couldn't figure out all the tricks-they were amazed.

After the show we walked back to the van. On the weekend they have pretty cool street performers so we watched a few. We paid $1.00 and this robot man danced for us. Then we stopped and watched the Basketball Man. We were so surprised when we picked Jacob out of the crowd to help him with one of his tricks. Jacob was awesome in front of all the people-we were so proud!

You tell us...

What do you think is going on in these pictures?

Projects

Today we worked on some projects. Both the boys went to school today so we had some time.

It started with my Dad doing the front brakes on our minivan. But just as soon as he got started her realized that he did not have the right size socket. To quote my Dad "I think it is time for Darrick to get a big boy tool set!" Darrick has slowly been growing his tool collection, as he needs a tool, he buys it.

So my parents and I headed to Home Depot because we needed so other items for our other project. My Dad found the tool and we also got some paint, brushes, sandpaper and drawer knobs.

A few months ago I bought a buffet on Craig's list for $50.00. It is a dark forest green color and I have been wanting to paint it for months. So this afternoon we spent some time sanding it.

Wednesday and our next year

First things first-our future. We found out that Darrick did not make it into the Officer Program this year and we got extended for another year on the Lake Erie which means we will be in Hawaii until August 2009 for sure.

We had kind of a do nothing morning. I did laundry and then my Mom and I sorted and folded a huge pile of clothes to give to our nephew Elijah.

On Wednesday afternoons I help for a bit in Micah's classroom so I went and did that.

In the afternoon we went to Micah's weekly piano lesson.

Then we were invited to dinner at Pat and Carlos' house. Pat is Navajo and so for dinner she wanted to make us Navajo Tacos. We all agreed that they were very yummy. You fry the bread and then put a meat and bean mixture on top and then lettuce, tomato and cheese. I even got to make one!

Rest of Tuesday

We had the most amazing weather today-so warm and beautiful! Jacob stayed home from school today because he has a bad cold so he got to hang out with us.

After getting Micah off to school and having breakfast and getting ready for the day we went for a walk. We walked down to the beach with is about 10 minutes from our house.

Jake swam in the water and we put our feet in. Luke stuck pretty close to my Dad. Then we walked over to the Beach Cafe and Papa treated us all to an ice cream!

This evening we attended Micah's Blue and Gold Ceremony for scouts. It was on the beach, which was beautiful. They started off with a moment of silence for all the people in cold weather since we had such great weather. They all of the boys got awards and Micah earned his Tiger Badge. Then we had a great potluck.

Monday

Yesterday we had a busy day. We all got up early and took each of the boys to school. They enjoyed showing Nana and Papa around their classrooms and having them meet their teachers.

Then my parents and I drove to Palolo Valley to pick up a table and 4 chairs that I bought on Craig's List for $50.00. I plan on using it for scrapbooking. It is solid wood and in great condition. My plan is to set up my scrapbooking place in our laundry room because it is extra big. I'll post a picture when I have it all set up.


Then last night our friend Sonya, her son Braiden, and her friend Shaun came over for dinner. Sonya got out of the Navy and has moved back to West Virgina. But they are out visiting Hawaii for about a week and so we wanted to have them over for dinner. The last time my parents saw Sonya she was pregnant so it was nice for them to she her little guy. Braiden has grown so much! I was Sonya's labor coach and even cut the cord!

We made yummy tacos and then had brownie sundaes for dessert. It was an awesome visit!