Another Day at the Water Park

Today was a super fun day. We went to the water park with Kim and the kids. They all had a BLAST! (including Kim) Andrew immediately remembered the place because when we walked in he pointed over to the Keiki Kove and said, "water park."

He was much less timid on this trip. I think it helped having Trevor around. He was walking all through the pools and going on the baby slides all by himself! He had so much fun.

Trevor would help him up the stairs to the slide.

And Andrew would wave and say "Bye Trevor" as Trevor went down the slide. Andrew followed Trevor's lead and helped Addison walk through the pool. We thought he was going to give her a kiss, but he faked her out. Sorry Addi!
She had a great time despite the no kiss. Here's a couple of shots of Kim and Addi.Now onto the really fun stuff...
The adults took turns with the kids while one or two of us ran off with McKenzie and her friend, Kaitlyn to ride the "big kid" rides. Oh and what fun we had, right Kim? You'll have to visit Kim's blog to see more pictures and VIDEOS of our fun day! (I know she's at home blogging right now..just like me)

Kim and McKenzie made a pact. If McKenzie rode the Shaka, Kim would ride the Tornado, despite Kim's hesitations. Both parties fulfilled their obligations. Trevor and Andrew eagerly looked on as the girls hiked up the stairs to await their turn on the half pipe ride.

McKenzie was really nervous, but she did a great job. I'm not gonna lie...it's scary looking down from up there.

Then it was on to the Tornado. Drew was a dear and let the girls ride, which meant he was left in charge of the other 3 kids. He took them to to the landing so they could watch their mommies ride.

Here we go...

Even though she looked scared, she loved loved loved it. We rode again and the second time Drew got it on video. Then we were nice and let Drew go ride with the girls. Again, lots of fun! It was so much fun in fact that Addison just couldn't handle it. She fell asleep watching Trevor go down the kiddie slides about 30 minutes before the park closed. She looks like an angel!

Like I've said 100 times so far, we had a great time. We had so much fun in fact, that Kim and I got season passes, so we're going to make this a habit! It'll keep us busy during the deployment. I can't wait til our next trip...Annah and Jefforey...we're taking you guys!

It's STILL great to be an Auburn Tiger!

So, Auburn is not having the best season....ok, ok...Auburn is having a TERRIBLE season, but I still love my team and I'm proud to be an Auburn fan. The only game that matters is the last one anyway. (For those of you not familiar with SEC football, that means the Alabama vs. Auburn game...a.k.a. the Iron Bowl....our biggest rivals) You see, my cousin Jason is a HUGE bama fan and I've heard a lot of talk from him this season, so the last game of the season is MUY IMPORTANTE! Much like the November election has been deemed the most important election in history, this year is a very important year for Auburn to win. Why, you say? Well it's like this:

1) Auburn has won the last 6 in a row and I'd kinda like to see that streak continue.
2) We're playing in Bryant Denney stadium. (Alabama has NEVER...ahem...NEVER won an Auburn game in their own stadium)
3) Alabama already thinks they're playing in the national championship game (which they might) but I personally think it's too early to tell. So IF they do, it would be so sweet to be the only ones to beat the national champs. After all, we've done it before (FLORIDA).

So, GO AUBURN and WAR EAGLE. Let's hope we can get it together before the most important game in Iron Bowl history!
War Eagle Baby!

Chef Andrew

I guess Andrew has picked up on the fact that I love to cook. I've heard him walk over the oven before, point and say "cookies." (He knows that's where the cookies come from) He has done various other things like that. Well the other day I heard him messing around in the kitchen while I was cleaning the dining room. I walked over to see what he was getting into and this is what I find...

He said "Hi Mama. I cook kitchen." So we have a budding chef in the house.

CRITTERS!!!

So, I totally didn't know that we had scorpions in Hawaii!!! But, yeah...we do. See...

McKenzie and I found this little booger by my front door...eeeeww. This is him dying after we drowned him with bug spray.
He's upside down b/c he's dying. I should've put a reference object next to him b/c this picture makes him look little. YUK...I still have the heebie-jeebies!

Monday's progress

So we're almost there. They would have finished the wall today, but the dirt delivery was late, so tomorrow morning they'll finish the wall and we'll have a yard, of mud, but at least it's a yard. Now we all need to do a rain dance for grass to grow....sod is too expensive!
View from upstairs

Our Saturday

Saturday was a pretty fun day, except for the fact that Auburn lost to Vandy for the first time since 1955! (I don't want to talk about it)

We got up early and headed over to Kailua to drop off the truck at the dealership. It's getting a few things fixed so we can sell it! (Anyone want a truck?) Then we spent some time together before heading over to our friends' house for their son, Calvin's, first birthday party. It was a lot of fun. His mommy, Emily, did a great job. We had some yummy Hawaiian food from Keneke's, which is probably my favorite place on the island! Kim made a beautiful jungle cake, and the kids had a blast playing.

The party started at 11, so after playing for a while, Andrew was getting really sleepy. He climbed up in my lap and said "Mama, go nite nite." At that same time they were gathering everyone to cut the cake. So I asked Andrew, "Can we stay for a few more minutes so mommy can have some cake?" He raised his head up and said, "Mama, have cake please." Guess he changed his mind on that whole nap thing! So we had our cake and then headed home. Andrew was asleep before we got to the end of the road.

Here are a few pictures from the day:

My sweaty, red-faced lil boy! (He's still cute though)
Miss Hannah Trammell...cute as always.
Kim and Addison....isn't her dress adorable!
The birthday boy with his Daddy.
And I had the cutest picture of Trevor and Hudson, but for some reason my camera decided not to download that one?!

When we got home from the party, there was lots of progress added to our wall. Julia tells me they should be finished by Tuesday! (with the wall that is)
Here's the view from the field looking back at the house.
Another view...in this one you can see our neighbor's wall (and Chiquita trespassing)
Andrew thinks it's neat to have a bobcat and a bulldozer in our yard.

Rock Wall

Drew and I are having a rock wall built in our back yard. If you have seen our back yard, it's basically NON-EXISTENT. There is about 6 feet of yard followed by a massive slope. The retaining wall will give us a decent back yard. (Most of you on the mainland would laugh at our idea of a decent sized back yard) After all our lot is only 3779 sq. ft. Yardage is something you don't find in Hawaii.

Most of the people on our street are building walls for the same reason. The only difference....their contractors tore up their beautifully landscaped front yards in order to reach the back. We, on the other hand, asked permission to bring in the materials from the field behind our house. Guess what they said...YES! So no messy front yard for us. Hooray! Here's a picture of the poor guy making a path for the equipment trucks. It took him over 2 hours to clear the way.

Here's a shot capturing just how small our "before" yard is.

Here's the progress from Day 3. (Day 1 was clearing the path, day 2 was bringing in materials)

They say the wall will be finished by Tuesday. They'd probably be finished tomorrow if they worked later than 3:30! Stay tuned for more construction pictures.

Fun at the pool

Andrew LOVES to go to the pool. So while Granna and Paw-Paw were here he got to go quite a bit. These pictures were taken on the day they left.
Photo op with Paw-PawHe loves to jump off the side. He usually counts "1, 2, 3...splash."And then he jumps to Mama...

Everything at the pool is exciting for this little water bug.