Home Again

John and Dad

Sydney and Dad

Dad and Emily

Hannah and Dad

What a great week!

The night Nathan came home seemed rather unreal. We tidied up the house, hung the welcome home banner, and I started a movie for the kids while I headed to the airport. Nathan wasn't coming home with a big group. His group came home a few days earlier, so it was just him. No big ceremony or parade. Perfect!

There was construction at the airport, and I missed the parking garage and ended up leaving the airport and having to drive into Honolulu to turn around! I was plenty early, so I just kept calm and tried again.

At the airport I went to the USO and filled out paperwork so that I could pass through security and go to the arrival gate to meet Nathan. Then I had to hike from one end of the airport to the other (twice) in my cute red sandals. That airport is bigger than it looks.

Just after I found gate 22, an airplane pulled in. They were about a half hour early. Yipes! I saw a few other families waiting for their dads, too. I felt like I had electricity in my skin while I was standing there, waiting.

It was fun to see Nathan before he saw me. He is so cute!

We broke the "no PDA in uniform" rule! Then found his baggage, said "Hi" to his commander who had come to welcome him home, and headed home.

The kids hung a Happy Birthday banner for Nathan, and taped paper over the door for him to break through, since he missed his birthday while he was gone. That was totally fun. John thought that was great.

It is so sweet to have our family together again.

Welcome Home, Nathan!

Note From Nate

Hey Everyone!

Thanks to all of you for making Wendy's blog so much fun over the last seven months. I've been able to read it from time to time and it's really kept my spirits up. I'm at the Atlanta USO waiting for my flight! I'm on my way home...Wendy, you are completely HAWT!...and you always exceed my expectations. I love you.

Mary C., I would have loved to see you guys in Balt-more. I can't wait for your visit. See you soon!

-Nate





(Nathan just sent this comment to yesterday's post. I hope he doesn't mind if I make it today's blog post.)

Checking My List

I worked hard last week so that I wouldn't have any big projects to do if Nathan got home earlier than expected, so my to do list for tomorrow is easy-peasy:

get hannah to her first day of seminary(!)
get the kids to school
do my regular Monday Clean-o-Rama
hope for a phone call from Atlanta
wash sheets
and go to the commissary


Not bad.

I just love lists, don't you? As a special treat I have an old list to review. I thought I'd revisit my list of deployment goals/New Year's resolutions to see how I did. Here it is, copied and pasted from January 3rd - slashes added:

This year I want to:

1 Spend less $

2 Save more $$$

3 Pay off the big red 'burb

4 Stay home more

5 Write

6 Read good books

7 Take a class (hula)

8Learn to surf for reals

9 Plan and Survive (and hopefully even enjoy) Girls Camp

10 Run 5x a weekmostly

11 Do the Great Aloha Run

12 Hang curtains and pictures in my bedroom

13 Look Hawt when Nathan gets home in September

In Review:

I am most proud of #3. That was my main big goal for this deployment. And it was tough, but we did it! It was an exciting day when I got a little notice from the bank, stating me that that giant gas guzzling car taking up two parking spots at the grocery store is mine! All Mine! Which makes it easier to do more of #1 an #2!

All year I have done a great job at #10...until last week...in which I ran just once. Yikes. I hope that doesn't affect my chance at #13.

Did you notice I wrote "September" on #13. All along Nathan was saying July. I was saying September. It is better to be pleasantly surprised with an earlier return date, don't you think?

Unfortunately, I still can't surf. I will learn to surf. I will... I will... hey Mary, wanna take a surfing lesson with me when you come visit? Let's try to leave the guys at home so there won't be any more of those embarrassing photo's...

I wish I had been better at #4 so I would have had more time for #5. It seems like I got busy busy busy as soon as Hannah started rehearsals for her play, and I haven't had a chance to slow down since. I have a feeling things will change a little when there's more than one driver around here, and me with just one car.

And here's me, way back in December, working on goal #6:




That's all!

Waiting

Maybe it's a good thing Nathan didn't make it home from Iraq this weekend.


I gotsta read!





Bella: "Should I be afraid?"
Edward: "Terrified."

Soon

Earlier this week I got a note from Nathan saying "I'm making my way home."

I spent all week trying to decipher those 5 words... what does that mean exactly? coming home when? this week? next week? I worked through the tension by cleaning out closets and getting my hair done. I finally got to talk to him this morning.

Just a few more days until he comes home!

Yippeee!




Here is some reunion advice for myself from the ghost of reunion past.

Deployment #1. John was a baby, I was a new Primary President, and I shovelled a lot of snow while Nathan was sitting easy in a tropical location. I had crazy expectations when he got home, and I was easily disappointed.

Reunion #1 lesson learned - have less expectations. and relax.


Deployment #2 The kids were a little bigger and a lot busier. I spent a lot of time with the snow shovel, again, while Nathan was (again) in a tropical location. Nathan came home at the intersection of track and soccer seasons. We also had piano lessons, preschool, and lots of Primary responsibilities and activities. I tried hard to remember deployment lesson #1. But I think I disappointed Nathan by all our busy activities. My favorite thing about that reunion is that I made arrangements for Nathan and I to escape for a night about a week after he got home.

Reunion #2 lesson learned - don't be so busy, and take the time to escape.


Deployment #3 - I'm in the tropical location this time! Ha! And already this week I've been fighting the expectation game.....but I'm working on it! What I'm really worried about is lesson #2 - don't be so busy.

The kids are getting settled into the school routine, and our calendar next week is looking full. Today I am going to call and find a replacement for myself for YW and cancel piano lessons. I'm skipping the PTO meeting and I'm also going to email the band director and let him know that I won't be able to make it to the band parent orientation meeting.

Luckily I already arranged a carpool for cross country, but but there's still the 5th grade pizza social and the Kindergarten orientation... arrrg.




I know some of you have been through bigger and badder deployments than I have, and I know you've got some great advice, so let me have it. Give me have your best reunion tip!





*I wonder if my favorite babysitter is available for a weekend later this month...

School's In

After just 6 short weeks of summer, we are walking back to School.


We were excited to find that both Sydney and Emily ended up with our #1 top teacher picks!


Sydney was not so excited about the photo-shoot. Mom. Please, this is embarrassing me... Notice the star lei she is wearing? She learned how to make those last week, and gave that one to her teacher. Sydney is so crafty!


Emily, on the other hand, wasn't afraid to smile for me.


John doesn't start school 'til late next week, but he's got the morning routine down!


Happy Back to School Day!


Most of the Hawaii schools do a year round kind of thing. We get about 2 weeks off for fall break, 3 weeks off at Christmas, 2 weeks off for Spring Break, and 6 weeks in the summer. I guess that works, especially since it is always beautiful and summer-like in Hawaii, so why not take a few weeks off throughout the year?

Even though our summer felt way too short, back to school time is still totally exciting. Walking down to check out the class lists + sharpening pencils + buying new slippah's for school = Fun!

High School

Wait a minute. Did you say high school?


Are you sure?


You can't be old enough to be in high school already.


Oh. I guess you are!

Have a great day!


Get to class!

Monday Random

I have a cold. My nose is stuffy and my ear aches. And I keep sneezing. Blech.

School starts tomorrow. Eeeek! This short summer thing isn't my favorite.

Remember when I couldn't decide about John and school? We did decide to go ahead and register him for Kindergarten, and he's so excited. He has a backpack and new shoes and he's ready to go.

Did I ever tell you I had a sea urchin spine in my foot? Back when Hannah was doing her dive class in early July, I kicked a sea urchin at the beach (accidentally) and one of it's pokies ended up in my toe. It was like the size of a piece of broken pencil led, and I couldn't get it out. I was told to leave it alone as it would soon just dissolve, but it's been almost a month and it wasn't dissolving. Is this grossing you out? It's gone now. Last night I got it out with a needle. I'm so glad to have my toe back. I was afraid it would sprout and I would start looking like a character from Pirates of the Caribbean with sea urchins and crustaceans growing on me....

That was gross.

I don't know when Nathan's coming home from Iraq and I'm not really allowed to ask, but I started cleaning out closets this weekend! The pantry looks fabulous! Now if I could just find a dress....

I told John he had to eat 4 bites of his chicken before he could have more bread, since he is 4 years old. He told me, "Wow, you are going to have to eat an hundred bites, mom!" ouch....

Bad Dream

It's been a while since I had a bad dream about Nathan.

But, early this morning I had one of those bad bad dreams. I don't remember the whole dream, and I don't wanna write about all of it and jinx myself or something, but it ended with me trying to decide if it would be better to move with the kids to California near his family, or Oregon near mine. (which is a tiny bit odd since I don't have a whole lotta family in Oregon)

and then I heard a knock on the door.

The knock woke me up from my bad dream and I stayed in bed until I heard another knock to be sure I wasn't still dreaming.

at 5:45am.

That's just the kind of thing to stop my heart.

and make me wish I wore attractive jammies to bed last night.

But I scrambled to find my glasses and my robe. I made it to the door and looked out the peep hole......

...and it was just a neighbor kid offering Hannah a ride to cross country practice, not a few men in uniform. Whew!


note to Nathan: come home soon!

Happy Birthday Nathan!

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly at Camp

I really had a wonderful time at camp. I loved it. Even though I was stressed right up through the drive there, that feeling of angst went away as soon as we got to camp and started setting up. I had a great time, and I think most of the girls did, too.

This year's camp was different than anything I have ever experienced, either as a leader or as a girl myself. It was a ward YW camp, not a stake camp. So all the planning and set up and cooking and activities and supplies and equipment was up to us. With just two of us really doing the work, it was tough. It didn't help that one of us was out of town for half the summer and the other of us' husband is gone. But we did great, if I do say so myself.

The Good:

Bellows was the perfect place to stay. The beach was beautiful, the camp area was shady and grassy, and it felt very safe. Some beach areas in Hawaii don't feel as safe, but I was able to sleep well - and that is extremely rare and important to me. Remember me yelling for dad to save my life in the middle of the night on Mt. Adams? yeah. that kind of thing still happens to me... but not this year!

Snorkeling at Hanauma Bay was so fun. You should go there if you come visit Oahu. But if you are coming with a group, do yourself a favor and don't mention that little fact to the ticket people. They have crazy rules about groups there. I should add that to my bad list, but it turned out good in the end.

The hike to Maunawili Falls gets an A+. A week before camp, we set up a compass treasure hunt along the trail to the falls. The girls followed the clues along the trail, collecting little star beads in the YW colors. Brilliant. Swimming in the pool at the foot of the falls was cool. The girls jumped off the rocks into the water. I did not. The hike seemed to be the girls' favorite thing about camp.
Watching the sun rise in the East. Wow.

Catching crabs on the beach after dark.

Singing silly songs around the campfire. This is a secret that I have wanted to save as a surprise for when Nathan comes home, but I have to write it here, so if you are reading this, Nathan, cover your eyes. For fun this summer, Hannah's piano teacher taught her how to play the guitar and she took a little break from piano. Hannah is a genius and picked up chords in like a day. Watching Hannah play guitar by the campfire with all the girls singing along was so cool. (The day we got home from camp we had to rush over to the Haleiwa Arts Festival so Hannah could perform with a girl band. She played guitar and sang her little heart out. I'm hoping someone will email me some photos of that so I can blog about it properly.) Anywho, the campfire songs were great. You never know if the girls will go along with your ideas, and I was a little nervous that there would be some 'tude about singing, but I was wrong....the singing was fun!

Having the best babysitter ever taking care of my little kids. Cammie was a dream come true. She doesn't believe in television, and my kids were in craft heaven all week. They love her and are dreaming of the next time she gets to babysit.

The Bad:

Bellows is a military area and to stay there with a bunch of non-military people was complicated. I had to gather a load of information and fax it to the security people a few days before camp. Unfortunately my fax was lost and it took 4 trips to the gate (15 minutes from camp) to sponsor people on, and 4 more trips to the security office to get it all taken care of. Grrrr.

Planning and buying and organizing all the food is a daunting task. It is so hard to know how much food to buy. This year was easier than last year, as I made an awesome spreadsheet last year, but it was still hard. And though we did a better job this year splitting up the cooking between years, I had a hard time letting that task go. It didn't help that I seemed to be the only person who was capable of looking through the coolers and boxes to find the different ingredients.

A giant centipede in the middle of the night. Eeek!


The Ugly:

One of our leaders was a little bit left-over happy. She just could not let the leftovers go. That made for some ice chest challenges. Peach cobbler rewarmed and served for 3 days...Gha.

Girl trouble on the mini-golf coarse. I was having a fabulous time swinging the club when all H.E. Double Hockey Sticks broke loose. One girl called another girl a mean name, that girl started to have a panic attack, no one would take the blame or apologize....oh the drama. All the drama made our YW leader have a bit of a break down, too, which was surprising. What would camp be without the drama, though?

The bites on my belly. On about day two of camp I started to notice a couple of bites on my belly. When we got home and I saw myself in the mirror I almost started crying. I look like I have a bad case of the chicken pox. I'm told to keep cortisone cream handy and they should go away in a week to ten days (I hope it's gone before Nathan comes home...maybe you shouldn't read that part, either, Nathan.)

I heart YW camp!

Girls Camp

Confession: I don't actually want to go to camp.

We are heading out tomorrow and I am already feeling frazzled.

But, I'm sure it will be great fun.

Here's our schedule:

Day One:

Set up at Bellows at about 3pm.

Go swim at the beach until dinner and campfire.

Walk back to the beach and look at the stars. Find the Big Dipper and the North Star. Hunt for crabs.

Day Two:

Watch the sunrise.

Go to Hanauma Bay to snorkel. Identify some fish.

Go back to camp and play at the beach. Maybe some noodle surfing!

After dinner, play miniature golf.

Day Three:

Hike to Maunawili Falls. Jump off the rocks and swim in the pool.

Go back to camp and swim some more at the beach.

Roast marshmallows over the campfire.

Day Four:

Pack up.

Go home.

Hug and Kiss Sydney, Emily, and John.

Shower.

See ya Saturday!

SCUBA

Last week Hannah took a SCUBA class. Now she is an actual certified PADI diver. Go Hannah!

Happy Birthday to Me!

My birthday wish:





I have a feeling that wish will come true in the next month or so.

la la la!

happy birthday to me...

Busy Week

I am having pretty much the busiest week of my life. I need a list to get me through Thursday:

Make a list
Get up early
Run
Hannah to Cross Country
Start washing all the sheets
Hannah picked up
Get addresses of deployed guys in our ward
Mail packages to those guys
Call Bro Lee about the t-shirts for camp
Keep washing sheets
Make car appointment
Gather library stuff
Go to the library
Don't forget to take reading program pages
Go to the Commisary
Go to my afternoon class
Make beds
Make sure my babysitter is still coming
Fix a good dinner
Tidy up
Take Hannah to her SCUBA class
Take pictures of Hannah in her gear
Get home late and hope the little kids are already in bed
whew!

Jump!

My friend Adriane is competing this week in the Olympic Trials!

Adriane is one of my school friends. Her son is in 1st grade, just like my Emily, so we see each other at the drop off/pick up times. When I met her last year she was boxing, this year she's jumping.

Adriane is a striking woman. She is tall and beautiful, with great hair. She has 3 cute kids and she's an Army wife who lives here on Schofield Barracks. And she's totally nice. Adriane knows every one's name, and she's always fun to talk to. All year she's been working her way toward the Olympics, and this week she's in Eugene, Oregon competing in the Olympic Trials in the high jump.

The base paper printed a story about her last week. Isn't she cool! Here's another great article about Adriane.

She was also quoted in KATU channel 2 news in Portland, Oregon:

Fellow high jumper Adriane Stone said she doesn't worry about the other athletes in the field.

"I have no pressure, because my competition is not the women," she said. "My competition is the bar. I don't run up and jump over an Amy Acuff or a Tish Waller, who are phenomenal jumpers. I run up and I jump over a bar. I come in expecting just to have a great time, to jump hard, and if I PR, if I make it, icing on the cake."

Monday was the qualifying, and according to the schedule, the 4th is the final jump. The top 3 high jumpers will go on to Beijing.

At the Olympic website I found the results of today's jump:

High Jump: Qualifying (14 advance) - Group 1: 1. Amber Kaufman, Sharon Day, Adriane Stone, Destinee Hooker, Elizabeth Patterson, Amy Acuff and Deirdre Mullen 1.82m, 8. Raevan Harris 1.79; Group 2: 1. Chaunte Howard, Ifoma Olausson and Gwen Wentland 1.82, 4.,Shanay Briscoe, Sheena Gordon and Rebecca Christensen 1.79

Look! Did you see Adriane's name? She made it to the finals!

Go Adriane!

2 Wheeler

Look who can ride a bike!



I didn't have to spend a day running behind John, holding on to the seat to teach him how to ride, he just kind of figured it out. I did have to run along behind him to help him stop. That was a little harder to learn.



Today we took a trip out of our neighborhood and over to the pool. We ride bikes to the pool all the time, but until now, John has been on the scooter. Today he took his bike. It was a little treacherous.





I followed along behind John, calling out directions. Staying on the sidewalk was tricky for John, and my heart nearly stopped beating when he flipped off his flip-flop and nearly followed it right into the road.

But we made it to the pool, had fun swimming, and got back home all in one piece.




Good Job Little Buddy!

Is this my real life?

Nathan's deployment is winding down, but I'm not seeing an end to deployments any time soon. And it makes me a little sad and a little scared. In our neighborhood I see families preparing for the next deployment, though it seems like their husbands just got home from the last one. Wait, they did just get home in October.

During Nathan's first deployment I read every WWII book I could get my hands on. I felt a sort of kinship to those families who waited on the homefront with their victory gardens and blue star banners. But the deployment pattern in WWII is not the same pattern we have today. For them, it was one big bad deployment, and when (or if) their son or husband or brother came home, that was it. Mission completed. The end. Next up - Real life and happily ever after.

Today the deployment cycle seems to be never ending. Deploy. adjust. reunion. adjust. deploy....

Each time Nathan has deployed I have told myself that this is the only time he'll have to go. Or the last time. And while he's gone, I'm waiting. Waiting for him to call. Waiting for him to come home. Waiting.

I'm probably a little slow in realizing that this could go on for a long time. A really long time.

Don't get me wrong. I'm proud of my husband and the job he does to support and defend our great nation. And I am genuinely happy. I'm just thinking out loud here. And I'm wondering if I've got the right perspective on today. on my life.

Maybe this is my real life. What now?

I was going to file a complaint

I typed up a whole big bad blog post, complete with mean words and whining and wailing and gnashing of teeth. It wasn't pretty. (cliff note version: unhelpful sales guy = unhappy me) But it didn't make me feel better.



Then I decided to edit some photos I took last week at a youth activity at Ali'i beach.



I was disappointed that night because the low light made it impossible to get good shots of the kids playing, and the cloud cover made it impossible to get an actual sunset shot, but the ocean was calm and the evening was lovely.




Now I feel mo bettah.

i heart hawaii

Reunion Boot Camp

There's nothing like my husband being gone for half a year to make me want to get in shape.

The last time he deployed, I secretly joined Weight Watchers and lost 20 pounds. That was a fun surprise, but hard to beat.

Nathan's deployment is winding down and we have 6-8 weeks until he gets home. Suddenly I have so much to do. I think it's time for a list:


Make a list
Whiten my teeth
Lose 5 pounds
Consider pilates or weights or something
Put up curtains in my bedroom
Start moving my stuff out of Nathan's side of the closet
Start shaving my legs again
Find an outfit to wear to the airport
Work on my tan
Feel a little guilty about Nathan coming home halfway through the Army's full 15 month deployment.
Mow the back yard. twice.
Clean out the garage
Take stuff to Goodwill
Make and freeze some easy dinners
Start thinking about signage
Get my hair done and my eyebrows waxed (in late July)




That's all I can think of right now, but I know there's more. And that "find an outfit" item deserves a blog post of it's own.

Congratulations Field Family!

I wish we could have been there on your special day!

But I'm a race car driver and I just speed away.*

Watch Out!


the Wendianapolis 500


What a fun day! Today I met Jersey Army Wife. She is so totally cute. We had a nice lunch of burgers and fries at BK, and then we had a chance to talk while the kids played. Her little girl is just adorable. Jrzy Army Wife was really easy to talk to, and not a weirdo (you just never know, you know?) It felt like I was talking to an old friend. Isn't this blog world an odd thing?

While we were watching the kids play on the slide at Burger King, we could see a fancy race car parked across the street at the gas station. So we headed over there and got to climb in an actual formula one car (it may not be a formula one car. I could be making that up. what is a formula one car, anyway? I remember reading this board book to John when he was a baby - it had all kinds of fast vehicles - a jet plane, a bullet train, and a formula one car. The picture in the book looked something like that car up there. But my information from the Firestone guy calls it The #10 Budweiser/Ralph's Della Penna Motorsports Car, if you were wondering)

Here's some information about that sweet ride:

weight: 1550 lbs

top speed: 250 mph

price: $500,000 (without engine)

While we were waiting for the pictures to print I spoke to the owner of the car. He said he is too smart to drive it. He also said I could not drive it. But Firestone Tires had brought the car to Hawaii for a car show and they were taking it all over the island to different military bases as a way to say thank you to the military. Isn't that sweet? It will be at other bases on Oahu this week, if you want to check it out. They'll even give you the picture and a hat. John loves his new hat.

Jersey Army Wife jumped right in and had her picture taken, so I had to try, too...

A new friend, a lunch out, and a fast car. What a fun afternoon!

* bonus points if you know where the title of this post comes from.

ps - Wikipedia says: A modern Formula One car is a single-seat, open cockpit, open wheel race car with substantial front and rear wings, and engine positioned behind the driver. The regulations governing the cars are unique to the championship. The Formula One regulations specify that cars must be constructed by the racing teams themselves. So, other than the "constructed by the race teams themselves" bit, of which I would have no idea, I think that looks like a single-seat, open cockpit fomula one car to me. ha!

Look Ma, I'm in a Book

Introducing HOUSEHOLD BAGGAGE HANDLERS: 56 Stories from the Hearts and Lives of Military Wifes

In this deeply personal collection of stories, 48 wives share their total embarrassments, tragic experiences, and tender emotions as they tackle the daily dramas of military life. By turns touching and hilarious, Household Baggage Handlers opens the door on an often overlooked world, one requiring the independence and survival skills to:

Move overseas while six months pregnant
Manage labor, delivery, and a newborn … without a spouse
Nurse a critically injured husband back to health
Confront the sight of someone in uniform at the front door
Shelter five children alone during a tornado
Cope with bats, blizzards, and broken cars during long deployments
Read all about it in their own words. With anecdotes from WWII to the present, these compelling stories capture a sisterhood forged by extraordinary circumstances.

If you click here, then scroll down (a long way) to section 8 you can see my name! woohoo.

Last year I heard Marna Krajeski was accepting submissions of military move stories, so I sent in a story about our move to Hawaii. I was so nervous when I sent it off. Would she like it? Would she laugh and rip it to shreds and use it to light her wood stove? And now, about a year later - published. Me!

My story is not nearly as interesting as those listed above. no bats or tornadoes or wicked witches of the west or anything. Is that bad? I haven't recieved my copies of Household Baggage Handlers yet, which means I don't actually know for sure how embarrassing this whole thing might be, but I'm totally excited!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

shameless self promotion below:

Household Baggage Handlers can be found at Amazon.com, bn.com, householdbaggage.com, or your local retailer can order it.

If you have any further questions, you can contact Marna through her website: http://www.householdbaggage.com/. I hear she's looking for more moving stories...

#1 Dad

We love you! Happy Father's Day!

Come home soon.

Manoa Falls

Yesterday I finally got to cross an item off my Spring Break list. I just love crossing items off a list!

I'm not sure what happened, but this island seems to have gotten bigger in the last few months, and going downtown seems like such a loooooong drive. So, I don't go into Honolulu very often. But we had to make the trip into the big city to see Hannah's orthodontist, so we decided to make a day of it.

About 10 minutes after Hannah's braces were adjusted we were out of the city and into the rain forest. Manoa Falls is right there, surprisingly close to town. One minute you're in bumper to bumper traffic, the next minute you're in a quiet neighborhood, and then a few turns later you are deep in a jungle.



My favorite guide book says Manoa Falls is the second only to Diamond Head in the hike popularity contest. But there were way, way less people on this hike than on Diamond Head. And good parking. That's important to me.

I was amazed how the weather changed on our 10 minute drive. Sunny skies downtown. Overcast and drizzly at Manoa Falls. I guess that's why Manoa is so green and lush!



About halfway in, the trail went from damp gravel to slippery mud. And John slipped. He was so sad. Having muddy hands is no fun, but come on, it could have been his whole front (or back) side covered in mud. I'd say we were pretty lucky.



Ooooo. Awwwwwwwe. Wowwwwww!



Sydney saved the day with her bottle of water and towel. She helped John clean up his hands and he was happy for the hike back down. As we were hiking and John was crying about his muddy hands, I thought of a few important hiking tips:

Bring treats. Oh, what I would have done for one little Starburst...

Bring bug spray.

Go slow. Take your time to enjoy the scenery.

Wear good shoes. Even though this hike is rated "easy", high heeled flip-flops seemed a little dangerous.

Smile at your fellow hikers. Those Japanese tourists were the happiest people ever!

When you get to the teeny tiny viewing area at the waterfall, be polite and give others a chance to see the information sign and get that great shot of the pool.

At 0.8 miles to the falls, it was a nice distance for me and the kids. Not too far, but still an adventure. I had a great time. All the way down the kids kept saying how much their dad is going to love this hike.


How did you like Manoa Falls, Hannah?

Very Scary

This morning I saw a mosquito sitting on the edge of the toilet seat.



That's just wrong.

Swim

We love to swim.



We go to the base pool a couple times each week. (I originally typed "a couple of times." that's how I say it: "a couple-a times." But it looked wrong. How do you say that? Maybe I should just change it to "a few times", or "two times" or...)



John has really learned how to swim in the last few weeks. He says "something is floating me."

Today we rode our bikes to the pool. That was a little dangerous, but do-able.

With gas prices so high and me with a gas guzzling suburban, we are planning to use the car a little less by riding or walking when we can. We can walk to the commissary, library, pool, bowling alley, post office and movie theater. Yippee for living on base.

My plan for the summer is to take advantage of all the fun that we can have close to home, and plan big beach trips for Saturdays or for when we have to head downtown for other things (like tomorrow - Hannah has an ortho appointment in Honolulu, so while we're there we are going to do a short hike then head to Waikiki to swim.)

Are you driving less? Have the gas prices affected your summer plans? Are you considering investing in a horse and buggy or mo-ped?

Happy Birthday!

14 years old!

We started off Hannah's day with our traditional paper-taped-across-the-door thing. Nathan called just as Emily and I were taping up the last corner. So we put him on speaker phone and we all sang Happy Birthday as Hannah busted through the paper.

After breakfast we headed to Old Navy to let Hannah pick out an outfit. I generally have an outfit for the birthday kid to open at breakfast, but this year I decided it would be more fun if she was able to pick it out herself.



She hasn't had a "friend" party in a couple of years, so this year she invited a few friends to see Kung Fu Panda (on opening night.)



They were a cute group of girls. It's just too bad I somehow managed to ruin all my pictures of the evening (and of her promotion the day before.) (let's pretend that first photo is all artsy on purpose) The settings must be off on my camera. And I'm not sure why...must go ask Scott Kelby....

Happy Birthday Hannah!

I hope you had a fun day!

You are the best!