Yard Work

Since returning to Hawaii, my yard has been in desperate need of some TLC. I spent the first 10 days back pulling weeds out of the front and back yards and chopping down a 10 ft. weed/tree that grew from the bottom tier of our retaining wall. If that wasn't enough I've decided that I'd rather have grass instead of this out of control vine with yellow flowers. So I took on the tedious task of getting rid of it. It's such a pain because there's a root every 2 inches or so. This is a before picture. This is after round-up and 4 hours spread over 3 days of pulling weeds. (You can tell I didn't get very far. The bottom right hand corner is where I started.)
Today I had a wild hair. I decided I was tired of my window boxes being empty so I took it upon myself to do some plumbing. I cut off the end caps on the PVC pipes running from our sprinkler system and added a few connectors and a drip hose. Once I had the window boxes hooked up to the water, it was time for flowers. Here is the finished product...
It looks so much better! Too bad I didn't have this done when the "Ugly" ladies came over for our monthly coffee! Andrew was such a great helper all day long. This kind of stuff is right up his alley. He held tools, handed them to me when I needed them, planted one of the flowers, and even swept up afterwards without me asking! I LOVE his help.
We worked outside until the light was almost gone. Since we had been outside all day we thought "why stop now?" and so we ate supper outside. I had to run in and get my camera because this is what we saw when we stepped out the back door.
It was a beautiful sunset painted by the hand of God! It was the perfect end to a perfect day and now if you'll excuse me...I need a bubble bath!

Banner Painting Party

Saturday we had a banner making party at the hangar. (That means the deployment is almost over!!) Andrew and I are going to make Drew's personal banner at our house, so we were going to help with squadron banners and ones for single marines. Andrew was all smiles before we left the house.His adorable helicopter shirt was my by my friend Jennifer at Polka Dots & Robots Check out her blog. She'd be happy to make something for your little one.
Andrew fell asleep in the car so he wasn't too happy when I woke him up. He wasn't in the mood for banner making so I just sat around and talked with some of the ladies. Later, we got all the kids together for a group photo to send to they guys as a Father's Day gift. A couple of the moms had to sing "If You're Happy And You Know It" to keep their attention.
And here they are....some of the adorable "Ugly" kids. *Please notice that Andrew Ladner is NOT present in this picture. He was the only child that refused to participate. (sigh)
At least he let me take a picture of him in front of a helo with beautiful Kaneohe Bay in the background. (it was super windy outside)
We're going to decorate the hangar with all the banners and signs. If you'd like to make one for Drew, you can mail it to:

Family Readiness Officer
(Attn: Troy Euclide/HMH-362)
Marine Aircraft Group 24
Box 63047
MCBH Kaneohe Bay, HI 96863-3047

Drew would love to see some banners from loved ones back home!

*We make our banners out of a bed sheet, but posters, pillowcases, or shower curtains work well too.  

Fun at Wet-N-Wild Hawaii

Today, Kim and the kids drove over to meet us at the water park, Wet-n-Wild Hawaii (formerly known as Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park). We have season passes so we're really trying to take advantage of those now that McKenzie is out of school for the summer! It's fun and it gets us out of the house. I didn't take any pictures of the kids in the water. I was too busy going up and down the stairs to ride the kiddie slides with Trevor and Andrew.

Here's Trevor drying off before we headed to the parking lot for our picnic lunch.

And he's sour Andrew refusing to have his picture taken!
The water park doesn't allow outside food or drinks in the park, so we packed a lunch and found a shade tree in the parking lot to enjoy some good 'ole PB & J!
McKenzie and her friend Kaitlyn (I probably misspelled that) ate one too!
Kim and Addi. (Look at that cute preggo belly!)
Addi enjoying a cheese cracker snack.
After lunch the girls went back inside, but Trevor and Andrew were having so much fun finding "acorns" that Kim and I decided we'd much rather sit and talk in the shade while they kids played, so that's what we did!
They ran after each other for about 3 hours!
And just before we left they all 3 laid down on the blanket. However, NONE of them fell asleep! But aren't they cute?
We had fun and I really enjoyed getting to catch up with Kim and have some good adult conversation. (Which is few and far between with just me and Andrew in the house) So thanks Kim! I hope you're at home resting now!

Remembering the Beauty!

This was the sunset on our second day back, taken from my balcony. All I have to say is...
...Ahhh!

Flying Space A

Andrew and I flew on a military flight for the first time. As you know, we didn't have the best of luck trying to get from Hawaii to Memphis. My grandparents were generous enough to buy us a ticket home. (THANK YOU) I was a little nervous about the return trip. The closest space-a travel that flies to Hawaii is Memphis and they make a trip every other Wednesday. The night before the flight we drove up to spend the night. We got there that morning and found out that the flight was on and there were only 15 people on the plane! We made two new friends in Memphis. Melany and her daughter, Tori. They're stationed in Guam and she had been visiting her family in Grant, AL! How cool is that?! (For those of you who aren't familiar with Sand Mountain, Grant is very close to Albertville!) They were a huge help to us all day and I'm really glad we got to meet them.

With so few people on the plane, Andrew and I had a row to ourselves. He barely made it through take off before falling asleep. He looked like this until we landed in California...
We had a 3 hour layover at Travis AFB, CA. It flew by because we had to claim and recheck our bags. We only got to sit down for 15 minutes before it was time to board the C 5. Andrew stayed awake for the first 3 hours on the flight and slept the last 2. He is the perfect travel buddy. He gets really excited around take off and landing. And he looks really cute sitting there by himself with his seat belt buckled.

We had a GREAT space-a experience. The seats were nice. They reclined all the way back and you still had leg room! The weird thing: on a C5 the seats are upstairs above the large cargo space below and they face backwards. So when you take off you lean forward and upon landing you're slammed back in your seats. It was interesting.

It was a great flight and we were glad to finally make it home after a long day. I really am blessed that he flies so well. It makes traveling as often as we do easy and stress-free!

Last Night With Gracie and Uncle

(And LAST catch up post!)

Sunday was our last day with Gracie and Uncle. They stuck around a little later than normal so after church that night we had a picnic at the lake. Andrew chased the ducks (as always) and after that we headed over to the playground, where I cracked up at this sign:

Uncle took a turn on the slide.
And so did Mommy!
Gracie helps Andrew with the rock climbing wall.
After all the fun was had, we had our tearful good-byes. (I hate those)
Gracie and Uncle...we miss you!

Potty Training Breakthrough!

Today was a great day for potty training! As soon as Andrew woke up we took a trip to the potty and instead of putting on a diaper, we slipped into our big boy underwear.

*Now I have to tell you this is no small feat. In the past few days, weeks, and months, we've had our difficulties. And I've been patient because we've gone through lots of changes: a new house, Daddy being deployed, a 3 month trip to the southeast, and now back home again. He has told me on numerous occasions "I don't want to wear big boy underwear, I wear diapers." Or at other times I hear, "No, I'm not a big boy. I'm little. I pee pee in my diaper." So...It hasn't been easy. And we've tried big boy underwear before. It wasn't successful. He'd wet them literally every 10 minutes. So after going through 6 pairs...I'd give up. (Score one for Andrew)

Now back to today: We put the underwear on at 8 am. We ate breakfast, went to the potty, played, went to the potty again, played some more, went potty....you get the idea. So far so EXCELLENT. I was shocked. Soon it was 3 pm and still NO ACCIDENTS! Now the real test...a run to walmart. Before we left we went potty and I put him in a pull up just in case. He hadn't taken a nap at this point and I knew he'd fall asleep in the car and I didn't want to deal with washing that seat!

He fell asleep in the car, walked around walmart, got a sprite on the way out for being such a good boy, and drank the sprite all the way home. We ran to the post office and got stuck in traffic, so we made it home at 6:30. I took him straight to the potty, but expecting to see a wet pull up. And what to my surprise.....IT WAS DRY AS A BONE! I have never been so proud! (After all it's the small victories right?)

However, it can't all be perfect. Around 7, we were outside pulling more weeds from the yard, (A task that I'll be doing for quite some time) when I heard a familiar grunting sound. *Uh oh! I tried my hardest to get him to the potty, but it was too late! We had our first accident 11 hours into the day. But I knew it was coming b/c he NEVER and I mean NEVER goes #2 in the potty. When we can master that one, I'll know we're in business!

Anyway, it was such an awesome day that I had to share with all of you! Maybe potty training will be like when he started walking. He had been "walking" by holding one of my fingers for MONTHS and then one day he just took off! I'm hoping that's how it is with this. We've had the potty (per Andrew's request) since he was 15 months old. He'll go....SOMETIMES but never consistently. Maybe today was the day!

I'll keep you posted.

Too Much Fun

From the moment Paw-Paw comes home from work, he and lil man are busy busy busy. They ride the 4 wheeler, check on the cows, feed the chickens, get the mail, ride the mustang, go see Granny and Papa, pick blackberries, and whatever else they can possibly think of. Needless to say, they're pretty tired when they come inside. But it doesn't stop there. After bath time Andrew has Paw-Paw up in his "classroom" building trains and putting together puzzles or maybe having a wrestling match. They play HARD. Things finally got quiet one night so I went in to check on the boys and this is how I found them...

I'm The Boss

And he is...

So when Granna found this shirt, she just had to buy it for the boss. :)
And he's very hands on. When he sees someone doing something, he has to try it no matter what it is. For example, my Granddaddy has these "grabbers" as Andrew calls them and he uses them to pick up hard to reach things. One day Andrew dropped a small toy behind the couch and Granddaddy used the "grabbers" to pick it up. Well the boss had to try it for himself.
And like most things...he can do it! He was so proud of himself. Now he drops things on purpose just so he can use the "grabbers."

Lunch With the Zebras

That's right...ZEBRAS! There's a farm in Blount County that has about 6 or 8 zebras roaming around. So one day, we packed a picnic lunch and met Paw-Paw for a fun hour.

I need to do some research on this farm to see why and how they have zebras. It's not every day you see zoo animals...especially in Blount County!
When we started our picnic the zebras were pretty far away, but we hung out by the fence and sparked their curiosity.
They ended up pretty close. It was neat and Andrew really enjoyed himself. He didn't want to leave.

Pool Time!

Today was a fun day. My friends Kim and Kristina brought the kids over to swim in our pool. They all had a blast! And since 1) I'm still playing "catch up" with my blog and 2) I didn't take my camera today, I'll just let you venture over to Kim's blog to see all the fun.

Go HERE!

Weekend in Atlanta

For Jefforey's birthday/graduation present, I gave him tickets to a Braves game and the Atlanta aquarium. (The catch: he had to take me and Andrew along for the trip). We got to Atlanta on a Sunday afternoon in the rain. Rain+Baseball= No good! This was Andrew's first pro baseball game. Gracie and Uncle were very excited to take him to his first game. She even made a big poster that read "Aloha! I came all the way from Hawaii to see my first Braves game." Annah has all of these pictures on her camera. *Note to Gracie...send me those please* Long story short, the game was rained out. Andrew was sad. He was really disappointed that he didn't get to watch the game. As we were leaving he said, "But I wanted to watch baseball!"

Then we went and checked in to the hotel to dry off. Uncle and Andrew were watching TV together and I just had to take a picture. I watched as Andrew climbed up on the couch, studied Uncle for a while, and then copied his position on the couch. Monkey see, monkey do!

This was his face when he realized he had been caught!

That night we went to the Varsity to eat with Memorie and her hubby Josh. I hadn't seen her since my wedding which meant that she had never even seen Andrew. It was great to get to catch up with them even for such a short amount of time. Andrew wasn't much of a chatter box. He fell asleep at the table before we even got our food! He woke up in the car on the way back to the hotel, just in time to sneak in a little swimming before bed.

But on our drive home we drove past the ORIGINAL Dwarf House. Jefforey was so excited that I had to take his picture at the entrance.
History Lesson: Dwarf House was the name of what is now Chick-fil-a.

The next morning we went to the Georgia Aquarium. After a small parking fiasco that resulted in us walking 1.5 miles, we finally made it there to meet my friend Jonathan. He is one of my very dear friends from my freshman year at Auburn. He and I lived in the same dorm and he was one of the first people I met there. He now lives in Atlanta and he was kind enough to take the day off to hang at the aquarium with us!
Thanks to him I have some pictures of me and Andrew together. I'm always behind the camera and with Drew being gone I rarely get any pictures of the two of us.

Andrew was amazed at all the fish!

Here we are watching the beluga whales. I could have sat there all day. They're so graceful!



Andrew (and Mommy) in the tunnel. We had to go through twice!
Gracie took this picture of Andrew in one of the viewing bubbles.
We got to the touch tank just in time for the 15 minute "animals at rest" period, so we waited....and waited. (I love Annah's face in this one)
Finally....my favorite part of the day! I LOVE stingrays.
Andrew thought they were slimy!
We finished our day at the children's play area. Andrew had the big tube all to himself.
After the aquarium, we walked over to the CNN center food court for a quick lunch before we said our goodbyes. (where Andrew fell asleep...AGAIN) JK, thanks for coming with us. We had a lot of fun.