Snorkeling!

I have a new neighbor who is more adventurous than me. She has started dragging me out of the house to explore this lovely island because I am lazy... and because I have 2 little people that I have to make arrangements for. She has 2 girls too (4 & 6) so this week she even got the sitter to watch all 4 of our children. We drove along the coast on our way to Hanauma Bay to go snorkeling. It was wonderful. I got a little creative with this picture playing with the colors. I don't usually do that but I thought it looked pretty cool.

Hanauma Bay is right around the bend from Koko Head, one of the volcanoes on Oahu. See those steps that go straight up the side of the mountain? My friend wanted to do that too (0n another day) but I told her I was pretty sure I was going to be unavailable for that excursion.

And here is the lovely Hanauma Bay. It is a big tourist attraction and can get crowded but it is worth it. You can see in that picture all of the coral and how big the reef is. It is so close to the surface of the water making snorkeling amazing. The fish are so close. I literally felt like I needed to suck in my stomach or I was going to scrape the reef. We saw so many fish. There are also lots of "honu", turtles around this area but we did not see one that day. Don't worry, I intend to go back.

It really was not that crowded while we were there. We didn't get there til 330pm. It is probably busier earlier in the day.

If you aren't in to snorkeling it's a good beach to just sit back, get some sun, and people watch.

On the drive back we decided to stop at one of the scenic overlooks. We took lots of pics here.

The land on this side of the island is so interesting. Mostly rock and carved out from erosion. Remember this is right by Koko Head so at one point it was probably lush and green like other parts of the island. Do you see us in the pic there? Tucked into that cave right by the edge. It looks dangerous from here but I felt perfectly safe. Until a wave splashed up almost over us.

But it was the perfect little spot for a photo op.

Oops. Were these signs here the whole time? We must not have seen them while we were climbing over the wall. ;)

Obviously I did not take this picture myself. I copied it from the wikipedia page about Koko Head. I just wanted to show you the side of the island where we were. Hanauma Bay is the cove on the left side and Koko Head on the right. Where we were climbing out on the rocks is down almost immediately in front of Koko Head before the piece of sandy beach. I still pinch myself that we live here. And I am very thankful for my neighbor who is helping me explore it more. We are hoping to do a once a week excursion while the kids are in school. I am looking forward to it!!

Vacation Bible School

On base last week it was PANDAMANIA!!!!

Julianna really enjoyed Bible School. She had a ball last year and couldn't wait to do it again. She made some new friends and also had a few old friends in her class which was fun.

There were 52 preschoolers at church this week. That was JUST the preschool class. It was wonderful to see so many children so excited to learn about God.

Doesn't she look happy. That's one of her best little buddies, Tate, in the background. She lives down the street.

We have been jammin' to the songs from VBS for the past 2 weeks. Mason bops his little head in the back seat and tries to sing along the words he knows. Julianna does all of the hand motions and he copies her. I love it. I always have to tilt my rear view mirror so I can watch them in the backseat. One thing we learned this week..... God is WILD about US! :)

Whoopsie

I was doing something on the blog when I accidentally did something that I couldn't undo. So, hence the new look. I tried to just do something new since I couldn't fix it. I might keep playing around with it so don't be confused! :)

Little bit of this, little bit of that

Shew, it's exhausting to have this much fun! We've been making the most out of our last couple of weeks before school starts again.

Big Bird is Mason's new favorite toy. We got it at Sesame Street Live a couple weeks ago and he always has it tucked under his arm when I get him after his nap. Very cute.

Mason is taking care of business around here.

Oh my goodness. We got really silly playing with wigs. Baby mullet makes me laugh.

She looks a waitress at a diner.

And I look like.... George Washington?

We have also been watching too much "Swamp People" on tv. Anyone else watch that?

This cute little crocodile made me want to snuggle with him.

I ran over my foot with the wagon. The kids were in the wagon hence the big bruise.

Mason fell asleep sitting straight up.

This I took as a joke. Everyone on the East Coast has been posting pictures of their car thermometers on facebook to show how hot it's been. The highest I saw was 117 degrees. I posted this one just to be a smart ass. 80 degrees at 6pm. Glorious.

Ike and I went on a date night to Haliewa Joe's in Kaneohe. It was delightful. The drinks, company and the view.

Mace and Sissy took a train ride at the mall. I was a bit nervous when Mason had to strap up to ride... he HATES to strap but since everyone else was doing it he didn't fuss. Crisis averted.

Chooo chooo. See you soon!

Family Fun Day

Last weekend we drove down to Honolulu for a little bit of Seasme Street Fun.

Julianna's friend Izzy and her family came along too.

They each got a little toy. Mason is so in to Sesame Street right now I couldn't resist. We are total suckers but I don't mind. Mason has been carrying around his Big Bird ever since.

The Orts.

Mason was really into the show.

SS Rubber Duckie

They had some really need glow in the dark characters. The show was at least and hour and was really cute.

Julianna got to hug Zoe.

Mason looked pretty cool with his awesome tee shirt on. :) This is the 2nd year in a row we have gone to Sesame Street Live. I wonder if we will still live here next year??

What do we do now?

Our vacation is over, what do we do now??

It took a few days for us to recover and get back on Hawaii time. We spent a lot of time in pajamas just snuggling.

Then we got back in our routine of playing. Dress up is always a favorite so we tried out some new play scrubs that I got while we were in Baltimore.

We spent a lot of time at the pool.

I tried and tried but could not get one picture where they were both looking at me at the same time.

We had friends over to play.

We've been to a birthday party...

...with a bounce house, of course. That is the standard these days. You just HAVE to have a bouncy house!

Daddy got back to work too. This photo doesn't look real but I promise it is. I took this from the front yard while Ike was out flying one afternoon. I love it!

Mainland Trip (Day 15 - one last stop)

Our flight left early the next morning so to be closer to the airport we stayed with our friends. Remember Nyla? She was one of Julianna's first friends when we moved to Hawaii. We were so excited to spend the night with them and squeeze in one last playdate.

These 2 had a good time, they were in dress up clothes within 5 minutes of walking in the door. Here they are having a quick tea party before bed.

They look comfy don't they. It was fun while it lasted. In a few minutes she was yelling for mommy as I knew she would. She ended up in the bed we were to sleep in. Nyla at that point was jealous that Julianna was going to sleep with her parents so she decided she wanted to sleep in her parents' bed. None of the adults were in bed by this point we were still visiting. Long story short... Ike and I ended up sleeping in Nyla's princess bed. It was very comfy. :)

Bright and early the next morning we were at the airport for our long journey home. Man that's a killer. 2 hours from Baltimore to Atlanta then 10 hours straight from Atlanta to Honolulu. Shew. We were all happy to be back "home." The best part of coming home was walking into a perfectly clean house. That is one of the best tips I picked up from my mother. Never leave a dirty house. We had dinner, all took baths and climbed into our beds with nice, clean sheets. Ahhh.