Crazy Sock Day!

This is Red Ribbon Week and today is Crazy Sock Day!

Box Car Racing

Sunday the boys were invited to a birthday party at the Box Car track in Kunia. Kids 7 and older can ride by themselves so I got to ride with Jake. Darrick couldn't join us because he was zonked out with pain medication.

Saturday at North Shore

Saturday we took the Flint family to our favorite place on the island, North Shore! It was a rainy day but we made the best of it. We started with a delicious lunch at Cholo's. Then we quickly stopped at Turtle Beach before going to Sunset Beach.

The waves were a pretty good size and we had fun watching the surfers. There was also a monk seal on the beach. After the beach we stopped and had shave ice. We convinced the Flints to have ice cream on the bottom and they loved it!

Friday Night at the Hale Koa

Thirteen years ago after Darrick went to Boot Camp, he met a guy named Matt Flint at A school. They became fast friends and were so happy after A school when they both got stationed on the USS Supply together.

This week Matt, his wife Gina and their son Bradley have come to visit us! Friday night we took them to the Hale Koa to swim and watch the fireworks. We are all having so much fun together!

They're Back...

This weekend Darrick ended up in the ER with his 4th Kidney Stone.

Friday night we went to the Hale Koa to swim and hang out with some friends visiting from the mainland. After we got home Darrick was complaining of pain and started throwing up. We thought maybe he had food poisoning.

Saturday we took our friends up to the North Shore and he felt fine. But by evening the pain was back much stronger and he was throwing up. Around 11:00 pm he drove to the ER. They verified it was a kidney stone and gave him morphine. The boys and I drove to the ER at 3 am to pick him up and were back home by 4:30 am. Darrick was knocked out all day Sunday with pain medication which left me to do all the last minute running around we had planned to do together.

This morning the pain has lessened so we are hoping the worst has passed. Today he just took advil and that took pretty good care of the pain.

I didn't know you could do it, but I did it

Yes, I did it, I sprained my jaw. You might wonder how in the world I did that.

Let me take you back to high school...

When I was in high school I needed to get my tonsils out. Well during the surgery they somehow popped my jaw. I don't know how because I was asleep. So from then on my jaw always pops when I open my mouth really wide.

Well about a week ago I was eating and suddenly had this terrible pain on the left side of my jaw. I was hopping it would go away, but it has not, so I went to the doctor. She told me that when someone has an "abnormal" jaw like I do, the ligaments are stretched funny and when I bit I strained them resulting in a sprain.

She recommended a liquid diet or soft foods until it heals but that is really hard. Hopefully it will heal quickly!

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".