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!

8th grade

I cannot believe my little Hannah is almost old enough to go to high school. Help!

Today is the 8th grade banquet. They will be taking a bus downtown for a fancy lunch and awards ceremony. Next week is the 8th grade promotion. I like that they call it promotion, rather than graduation, but I wish both activities were on the same day.

Hannah and I (mostly) had fun shopping for just the right dress. Finding something with sleeves, knee length, cute, and not too grown up was tricky, but I think we did okay.

Don't you think Hannah looks just adorable in her pink dress? I'm wondering what happened to the awkward years.... Would a couple years of frizzy hair and klutzy elbows be so bad?

I took several pictures this morning, but the low light and the slow shutter-speed made for some slightly fuzzy photos. bummer! will try again this afternoon.

Have a fun day, Hannah!

Brrrrr-ing Brrrrr-ing

Hello, Who is it?





Hi Dad!



John loves to talk to his dad on the phone. For the last 5 months, each and every time they have talked, John has told him what he wants to do for his birthday. New things every time. A trip to the waterslides, bowling, a movie, back to the waterslides, to the beach, on a bike ride to the park, and so on. John is so excited about his birthday. Only 3 more months....




John is a fun little dude.

Isn't he cute?

Here is a poem about the dangers of using the phone:

Eletelephony
by Laura Richards

Once there was an elephant
Who tried to use the telephant.
No, no, I mean an elephone
Who tried to use the telephone.

(Dear me, I am not certain, quite
That even now I've got it right.)
How e're it was he got his trunk
Entangled in the telephunk

The more he tried to get it free
The louder buzzed the telephee.
(I fear I'd better drop this song
Of elephop and telephong.)

I wonder if my kids could even visualize that. Do they know what a phone with a cord looks like? Can they see that elephant with is trunk all tangled up in the curly telephone wire? I'm not sure...

Aloha Friday

It's Aloha Friday!

Today's Aloha Friday topic is Vog.

Vog = volcanic fog

or something like that.



With the Kileaua volcano on the Big Island of Hawaii in an active eruption, it is spewing ash and volcanic gases. When the Kona winds blow (wind from the southeast), the vog journeys to Oahu from the Big Island making the air thick and the horizon fuzzy.

Kilauea is the home of Pele, the Hawaiian volcano goddess. The caldera was the site of nearly continuous activity during the 19th century and the early part of this century. Since 1952 there have been 34 eruptions, and since January 1983 eruptive activity has been continuous along the east rift zone. All told, Kilauea ranks among the world's most active volcanoes and may even top the list.

Yesterday was really voggy and my eyes were irritated. It is not supposed to be as bad today, but on my run this morning I looked east across the valley toward Wahiawa and I couldn't see the mountains or the sunrise. I think vog isn't too good for breathing.

Remember when Nathan and I stayed at Kileaua Military Camp?





That was fun.

Happy Aloha Friday!

YooHooo, Blogger -

Why don't you email me comments any more?

You used to send me an email whenever I recieved a comment, but not anymore.

Did I do something wrong?


I miss the good old days when I would find little Looky Here, You Got A Comment! emails from you in my inbox.

I can see that there are 6 comments in yesterday's blog post, but I only got one email from you. That doesn't seem like a big deal, I know, but what if someone was catching up reading my blog and left a comment telling me how to solve my fire alarm trouble, and I never noticed the comment because I never recieved an email from you about it, and then what if the alarm started squawking again in the night and I woke up all fluttery and scared, when I could have been snoozing soundly if I had just read that one comment? That would be terrible.

Is this fixable?

I just hate missing comments...

Your Pal,
w

Science Project and a Package

Tomorrow is Sydney's day to be the classroom Expert Scientist. It's been a while since we last did a science project.

This time our project is simple and fun.

Sydney has a bag of Jelly Bellies to share with her class.


She will ask her class if they think smell affects taste. Then she will give each of her classmates a jelly belly and instruct them to plug their noses before eating. They will plug their noses, chew, and then unplug their noses.

You gotta try this.

It is amazing how much more you can taste with your nose involved.


Then she will explain that your tongue can only taste a few things (sour, sweet, salty, and bitter) but your nose can recognize over 10,000 scents. When you eat, your nose and your tongue send messages to the same spot in your brain that recognizes flavors.

Very cool! Good luck Professor Syd.

++++++++++++++++

It is package time. Sometimes I have a hard time knowing just what to send, so I'm posting this list in case you are looking for ideas. I have loved reading BW's care package lists. And, well, I just like lists. In front of me on the desk is my list of things to do tomorrow. And next to that is my list of things I should do before Nathan comes home (including get a new driver's license...but I've still got a couple months... actually a little more than a couple, but almost less than a few...) Anyway, back to the care package:

Nathan, cover your eyes if you are reading this.

I am sending:

A bag of Jelly Bellies
2 wood turning catalogs
a superman pez
pencil with a scary eyeball eraser
sunflower seeds
more CD's of Conference
blank DVD discs
a funky ball
tuna and crackers
chapstick
fruit rolls
random kid art
and an assortment of chips (sun chips, doritos, cheetos) in single serving bags.


I think that's all. Not terribly exciting. Next week I'll need to gather up a father's day care package. Any ideas?


Happy Monday!

On Your Mark...

Get set...


Go!


Do her feet ever touch the ground?


The hand off...and she's going....


down!
(excuse, me...I can't see.)
Are you okay, Syd?


I asked sydney what happened and she said as she came in for the hand off she was going too fast and couldn't slow down. She passed off the baton and just kind of crashed.


But she's okay!

I do have a home

Three times in the last week I was asked about my "hometown".

Each time I gave a different answer. And now I'm wondering: Do I have a hometown?

Is my hometown the little Oregon city where I graduated from high school? We have Oregon plates and file taxes in Oregon, but we only lived there a few years. My parents don't live there any more. My sister, Heather, is the only McB still in Oregon. I love beautiful Hood River, but is it my hometown?

Maybe my hometown is the Utah town where my parents currently live. I've never lived there, but going "home" makes me think of visiting my parents and sisters. I love visiting there, but I'm not sure if it is "home".

Or is my hometown the California city where I was born? The same city where two of our children were born. Where we lived for the first 5 years we were married. Where Nathan's parents still live. Is that home?

Maybe my hometown is the last town we lived in, where we hope to return on our next move. Hawaii feels more like home, but I don't think I can call it my hometown...And our poor kids. Where will they call home?

Do I have a home? (I do have a home, I know I do, said the baby bird)

I may not have a "hometown" but I know what home is. Home is with Nathan. Something is missing around here. It just doesn't seem like home without him.

"I cast my lot in with a soldier, and where he was, was home to me." (Martha Summerhayes, nineteenth-century Army wife)

Where is your home?

Happy Mother's Day to Me

Portrait of me. By John.

I think this is the first time he has drawn a picture of me.

I love it!

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

I had a lovely MOther's Day, and I hope you did, too.

Nathan called early to wish me a happy mother's day. Then Hannah brought me breakfast in bed (an egg sandwich on a toasted bagel.) Then I got to open all my cool gifts! A necklace, a bracelet, a couple cards and pictures, a few "good for one free ..." coupons, and a sweet photography book from Nathan.

Being a mom is the best!

I stayed in bed all morning reading, and Sydney brought me hot chocolate chip cookies in bed. Mmm! Yea for kids who can safely operate the oven (with supervision!)

I wore my new paper bead and yarn jewelry to church, where I was given some chocolates and flowers.

All in all a good day.

I sent my mom and my mom-in-law lei's for mother's day. I hope they wore them to church. Mom? I love you! Happy Mother's Day!

Here is my favorite poem for Mother's Day. It reminds me of my mom.


You are the trip I did not take;
You are the pearls I cannot buy;
You are my blue Italian lake.
You are my piece of foreign sky.
- Ann Campbell

Smile Experiment

The "appetizer" in Donna's Friday Feast asked:

When someone smiles at you, do you smile back?

I love that question!

Smiling at other people is one of my hobbies. I love to smile at people. I smile at shoppers and baggers at the Commisary. I smile at kids at the school. I smile at the librarian and the gate guards and strangers on the street. If I miss my chance to smile at someone I feel kind of bad.

Early in the morning I go running. It's usually just me out there on the road, but sometimes I pass soldiers out for a run. I always smile and say "good morning." Most people say hello back, but sometimes I get ignored. After a few mornings of getting ignored I started to wonder if I was the only person out there who smiles. So I did a little experiment.

I decided not to smile.

One morning I passed people and didn't even really look at them. There is a moment when you get close to someone where you have to choose to look at them and smile or just look away. I looked away.

and no one noticed. I passed 8 people without a smile or a hello. It was really depressing.

And then someone ran by and said "good morning!" and my faith in humanity was restored...

I stopped my experiment and started smiling hello again. and I felt better!



~~~~~~~~~

Smile at someone, you'll feel better. - me

Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day. ~ Author unknown

A smile confuses an approaching frown. ~Author Unknown

The world always looks brighter from behind a smile. ~Author Unknown

Smiling is infectious,
You can catch it like the flu.
Someone smiled at me today,
And I started smiling too.
~Author Unknown

Smiling is my favorite exercise. ~Author Unknown

You're never fully dressed without a smile. ~Martin Charnin

On Stage

Hannah is having a great time performing in Cinderella. Isn't she a great townsperson? (watch-out cinderella...)


Here's a closer view.


Sing it, sister!

I took about a jillion pictures, but with the low light and slow shutter speed they are not so great....

Here's how it went down -



Cinderella got in her pumpkin carriage

Danced with the prince,

lost her slipper,

ran away...

If you want to know how the story ends, Hannah (and the Tri-School Performance crew)will be performing again this weekend!

Can't Sleep

It is 1:39am and I can't sleep.

The stupid fire alarm keeps squawking at me.

So I dragged over a chair and changed the 9 volt battery.

And it still squawked at me.

So I dragged the chair back over and took the whole dang thing out of the ceiling and took the new battery out. And it still squawked.

So I wrapped it in 3 blankets and put it in my closet and fell asleep for about 1 minute....until it squawked again.

I took that bundle of blankets and the fire alarm and stuffed it out in the storage room in the garage. Problem solved.....

I thought.

Until I heard another squawk and realized there is another fire alarm upstairs.

I didn't even attempt to change the battery. I carried a chair upstairs and took the whole thing out of the ceiling and walked it directly out to the car.

I really need some sleep.



ps - I hope the house doesn't burn down tonight...

pps - I can't believe it. I just heard another

squawk....

HELP!

Three Things on Thursday

#1 John says Hi.

John made me laught at dinner tonight at Taco Bell. Sorry. I'm a rule breaker. Don't be hatin'. I had no choice. We had to drop Hannah off at the high school to get ready for her final dress rehearsal and then wait an hour before we could watch the family-only preview presentation of Cinderella. There wasn't time to go home and fix dinner, and Taco Bell was just across the street. Sheesh.

Yeah, so back to dinner.

John got up and was kind of jumping around behind my seat. Taco Bell was empty, and you are allowed to do that kind of thing there. That's why we were at Taco Bell and not some fancy schmancy black tie restaurant. I wasn't really paying attention until John grinned at me and said "I have a little squeaker in my shoe."

I didn't know what he was talking about. And I was actually a bit leary about what that squeaker might be. So John showed me. If he jumped just right, his shoes made a rather pleasing squeak, like the squeak of basketball shoes on a bb court. He was so proud. Cute little squeaker!


#2 - I'm going to post some photos, but before I do I need to warn you that these are really bad shots. I wanted them to be good, but it was getting dark and the light wasn't good and the kid I was trying to photograph kept moving. So the photos are out of focus. Mz. Booshay wouldn't be caught dead with them, but I'm still posting the pictures because the kid that was moving is so stinkin' cool. You gotta see what she can do:


Here is Sydney demonstrating her very own "Hula Hooping While Riding the Wave Board" trick. Dave Letterman here we come.

We've discussed Sydney's sweet wave board skilz before. Syd Rocks!


And she never crashes.


and #3 - I bought new shoes. They are lovely. They are clean. They smell good. I'll take 'em out tomorrow and let you know how they run.