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?