Aloun Farms

Today the Kindergarten took their first field trip of the year. They went to Aloun Farms to visit the Pumpkin Patch. First, we heard a little talk about pumpkins, and as you can see from the picture, Jacob was more interested in the hay on the ground!

Then we all headed over to the tractor for a hayride around the pumpkin patch.

Then it was our turn to go into the patch and pick our pumpkins. I think Jacob picked just about the smallest pumpkin out there. It is the itty bitty one he is holding in his hand.

From the pumpkin patch we went to the park to eat our lunch. It was so fun to watch Jacob interacting with his classmates. Each child had a partner. Jacob's partner was Allison-who really likes Jacob A LOT.

Leapin' Lizards

Another day during Fall Break I took the boys to "Leapin' Lizards". It is basically a huge warehouse filled with inflatable jumphouses. You pay $8.00 for 2 hours of jumping. They encourage parents to join in the fun.

They had some really cool things to go on and we were all tired at the end! The boys can't wait to go back!

Fall Break

This week the boys are on Fall Break! SO I am planning some activities for us to do each day.

Monday we went to the Kapolei Public Library. We got some books and checked out a few DVD's which you get to keep for 1 week and it only costs $1.00 to rent.

Today we went with some friends out for breakfast at the Wright Bros. Cafe and then to Hickam Beach. It was 2 moms and 5 boys and we were amazed at the amount of food they ate for breakfast. They consumes pancakes, waffles, frenchtoast, bacon, toast and juice.

Then we took them to the beach where the played for hours. It was so much fun!

Soccer

Today after church we went to cheer on Oscar at his soccer game. He played at the Waipio Soccer Fields. He plays in a male adult league.

We laid out some blankets under a tree and had a great view of the game. But I'm sad to report that Oscar's team lost. But there were some good points: Micah, Jake and Ki made friends with a 5 year old boy named Angel. I got lots of cuddle and play time with Zek and Genesis. But the sweetest moment was when Geni looked at me and said "Auntie Jenn, I love you so much!"

We also happened to be sitting next to a group of people who were Mexican. They had the most delicious looking food and they invited us to eat with them (Angel belonged to that group)! They had tortillas, rice, beans and carne asada, it was all homemade and all super ono!

Last night after the boys were in bed Darrick and I had a movie night. We even turned off the lights and held hands-don't worry, no funny business, we really watched the movie. The movie was called "Under the Same Moon". It is all in subtitles and it was super good. I shed lots of tears and even though it was dark I could tell it touched Darrick too!

Camp Homelani

This weekend I was invited to attend an overnight Women's Leadership Retreat. Thankfully Darrick is home so I was free to go. There were 12 ladies who attended and all the costs, including meals were covered. Camp Homelani is located on the North Shore past Wailua. It is a Christian camp run by the Salvation Army. It is very peaceful and quiet there. We all stayed in one cottage that had multiple beds and pull out bed couches. We had a wonderful time of sharing and encouraging one another. I got to know ladies that I have seen at church but did not know on a personal level.

Darrick told me that last night he took the boys to McDonalds for dinner. He was in one of the lines ordering when he heard the lady next to him ask the employee if she could have a new cup. He looked over and there was Jacob licking the sides of this lady's cup! Darrick said, "What are you doing? That is not our drink!" Jacob said "I thought it was our drink" and Darrick said "Well even if it was ours you don't lick it on the counter!" The lady took her new drink and left. That's our Jacob...

This afternoon we stopped by a store in Waipahu called Savers. Our Women's Ministry Leader, Pam, told me about it and what good deals it has. On the outside of the store it said "1000's of Halloween costumes" which I think was a bit of an exaggeration but it drew us in. Savers is a thrift store like a Goodwill.

Kids Halloween costumes can be really expensive and the boys had already decided what they wanted to be. Micah-Zorro and Jacob-Ninja. Would you believe that we found both of those costumes! Micah's was $7.99 and Jake's was $3.99! We let them each pick out a little toy and bought face make-up to make Micah look like Zorro. At the register the lady told us our total was $4.98!!! We were confused and she explained that everything with a yellow tag was only $.99 and both the boys costumes had a yellow tag! We were so excited, who doesn't love a great deal!

Today is the Day!

The boys have been waiting months for this day to come! No, it's not the arrival of their new sister, but the day Lego Batman comes out. We reserved a copy at the beginning of the summer and Micah and Jacob have been not so patiently counting down the days.

So today while they were at school I went and picked up our reserved copy which by the way came with a free lego Robin keychain. I put it on my keyring since the boys don't have keys.

After school Micah had Scouts and then they had to do homework before they could play.

They were busy for about 2 hours trying to figure it all out, and since Darrick has duty tonight, I had time to myself! Thanks Lego Batman!

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to my brother Sam today or as the boys like to call him Unker Beaver (we are not sure why...)

We love you Sam and are so proud of all you are doing for the Lord. You have grown into such an amazing man!

Happy Birthday!

Anchors Away

The new Chiefs lead all the Chiefs in singing "Anchors Away"! Navy Chief-Navy Pride!

Khaki Ball 2008

Last night Darrick and I went to the Khaki Ball. The chief uniform in the Navy is Khaki color which is why it is called the Khaki Ball. It was a nice buffet dinner at the Honolulu Country Club. Chiefs from all over the island were there.

It is basically a celebration to welcome all of the new chiefs into The Mess. The mess is the fraternity of all the Chiefs in the Navy. The new chiefs just finished their 6 week initiation and were pinned with their anchors on the the 16th. This year Darrick was chosen to be a sponsor for one of the new chiefs, who is called a selectee before he becomes a chief.

One of the highlights of the night was the recognition of a retired chief who is 93 years old. "Once a Chief always a Chief" is a popular chief saying.

There was singing by the new chiefs of one of their initiation songs and all the chiefs joined in to sing "Anchors Away".

Waimea Bay Rock

On Labor Day we hung out with our friends at Waimea Bay. We went up the rock to see the view and ended up jumping off! I don't know what I was thinking...I hated it! I am scared of heights and I was shaking but Darrick held my hand and we jumped together. I screamed all the way down but at least I can say I did it! Great video Oscar!

Reality of the military

Today I was asked to sub in a 2nd grade classroom. One activity the teacher had me do was called "Author's Chair". The students had previously written something and today they got to sit in a special chair and read to the class what they wrote.

One little boy went up to read his and sat in the chair. His was about his Dad. He read the first two sentences and then stopped. He was looking down so I asked him if he was okay. He stood up handed me his paper. He started crying and told me he couldn't do it.

He said that he missed his dad and that his dad was in Iraq for 16 months. It broke my heart but I told him that I knew just how he was feeling. You can be going through the day just fine but then something reminds you of your loved one and you just lose it. His dad will be home in April.

I am a military wife but I think it is different from being a military child. My Dad was always around so I have no idea what it is like for your dad to be gone for huge amounts of time. I am so proud of my boys and all the other military kids out there-they sacrifice for our freedom too! I do the best that I can trying to be Mom and Dad but I know it is just not the same as having Daddy around.

Camp Pupukea

This past weekend I took Micah on his cub scout fall camp out since Darrick is out to sea. It was held at Camp Pupukea at the North Shore. It was weird because it didn't feel like we were in Hawaii. The weather was great and they had so many fun activities planned for the scouts.

Friday night was arrival and set-up plus going over camp rules. I was pretty exhausted because I has subbed that day for a 5th grade class so Micah and I turned in early.

We were woken up early Saturday morning by roosters. The North Shore is famous for their wild chicken and they were all over camp. The highlights of the day were a service project for the camp, different classes to earn achievements, and a campfire/night hike complete with skits and smores!

Sunday was mostly pack up and clean up in the morning. But everyone did pause for about 30 minutes to participate in Scout's Own which is a type of religious ceremony, which was overlooking some amazing scenery.

Jacob stayed the weekend with Auntie Pat and Abbie. We can't wait for the next camp out!

Giant Caterpillar

The other morning when I was taking my walk I came across this huge caterpillar on the sidewalk. It was injured but I wanted to bring it home to show the boys since they were in school.

The enjoyed examining it with their magnifying glass and holding it. It was pretty lifeless and was dead the next morning but it was sure a cool caterpillar!

Black eye?

Today while we were at Micah's scout meeting Jacob got hit in the eye by some unidentified flying object. He was playing with the older boys and something got thrown, Jacob said it was a seed and he didn't know who threw it. He was crying really hard. We went home and put ice on it and it was pretty red.

But tonight Darrick and I thought that it looks like it might be turning purplish under his eye so we will see what it looks like in the morning.

Termite Invasion

We recently discovered that our personal outdoor is invaded with termites. Our first clue was hard dirt stuck on things when we would take them out of the shed to use them, like our ice chests. The next clue was when we would step inside the shed and the floor gave way underneath our feet.

So yesterday I took everything out of the shed and dragged the eaten wooden planks to the trash-thank goodness it is bulk trash day! Then when Darrick got home he took apart the shed. The worst part for me was that there was not just termites making our shed their home. We discovered more then 20 huge cockroaches, big fat black slugs, millions of ants, spiders and geckos!

The maintanence is coming on Thursday to spray for termites and a bunch of the stuff in our shed is ruined because they built termite mounds on them and it is like brick, it won't come off. Oh well, what can you do?

********OK, now I am officially MAD! All morning I have been cleaning up outside trying to find new places for the stuff that was in our storage shed. It's hot and I'm sweaty and cockroaches are crawling out of everything. I found one of our plastic Christmas bins and when I set it down termites came swarming out of it. I saw there was a crack on the bottom. When I took off the lid I couldn't believe it! They had destroyed my beautiful wooden Nativity set I bought years ago at Oak Glen. Plus in that tub was the top of our Christmas tree which is now full of termite nests, so there goes the whole tree as well as my wreath I hand-made and some garland! I feel like crying but I am too mad******************

Hale Koa

Saturday afternoon we took the boys to one of their favorite places-the Hale Koa Pool! It was not very busy since the tourist season is over and the pool was nice and warm. We all had so much fun in the water and the boys practiced their cannon balls. We had some ice cream to finish off the afternoon and we went home tired and happy!