Happy Easter 2011

After our week in Alabama, we traveled down to Mississippi to spend Easter with Drew's family.  Andrew is still adjusting to the time change, so he was a little tired when he discovered what the Easter Bunny brought.

 He's a little more awake here, with a wheelbarrow full of loot from the Grammy Bunny!

 After church, we had a private easter egg hunt at Grammy and Granddad's.

 Ready, set, GO!

 Counting their findings

 We had time to sneak in some family photos before lunch at Grandma's house.

 Now, the egg hunt at Grandma's is pretty large.  There are 20-something grandkids and even more great-grandkids.  They hid over 700 eggs!

 His basket was overflowing!

 Alex checking out his loot.

 Andrew and Daddy counting eggs

 Hmmm...what to do with the confetti egg?

 Smash it on Uncle Alex's head, of course!

We haven't taken any more pictures on the rest of our visit.  But that doesn't mean we haven't been busy.  I mentioned in an earlier post that the Turner's were headed to Floriday.  We drove over and spent the night with them one night so the kids could play and the big kids could catch up!  There was also some pretty fun jet ski riding to be had!  You can check out more on Kim's blog.


Then, later in the week, Drew and I attended a conference in Mobile, so we drove back and forth everyday.  


Then we drove over to Pensacola to let Drew check in to his new job and check in with the builders.  (We've almost settled on a finalized version of the house plans.)


THEN, we got our car back! Hooray...just in time for Disney!  That's right, we're leaving on Mother's Day to go to Disney World, so stay tuned for those adventures!

Back in the Mainland...For Good This Time!

Well, we made our way back to this side of the Pacific on April 12 and after a couple of days worth of house hunting in Florida, we spent a week in Albertville with my family. I totally forgot to take a picture of the banner welcoming Drew home.  Guess I'll get a picture of that later.  Chiquita was SO excited to see Drew.  But it doesn't look like the feeling was mutual.

We had a great week.  There was lots of playing and even a day of fishing at my Grandaddy's house.  I caught 18 bass, while Drew only caught 2 We caught 20 bass!  Most of them were small so we only kept 6.  Once we had them cleaned we had over 3 1/2 lbs of meat.  Not bad for 6 little fishies! 

 Andrew came to watch the cleaning process.

 We saved the fish (along with some more fish from Catfish Cabin) for our big cookout on Friday night.  We invited a bunch of our friends over to welcome Drew home and wish my brother-in-law, Jefforey, a happy birthday.  I think, all in all, we had 13 kiddos running around.  Andrew and Shiloh took the mustang for a spin before our special guests arrived.

 Here they come...THE TURNERS stopped by Albertville on their way to Florida for their spring break!

 We were so excited to see them.  What a treat that they stopped by to see us.  Andrew was SO excited.  He talked about giving Trevor a big hug all day, so when he saw him, that's just what he did!

 My cousin, Jason, brought Raegan over.  I gave her a hula outfit for her birthday.  She, and all the other girls had to put it on and give us a show.

 While the girls were doing the hula, all the boys were running around shooting each other...typical. :)

 We had some more special guests to stop by that night...THE TRAMMELLS!  (They just got into town to visit Alan's parents.  So we had our own little Hawaii reunion.  (Sara and Julie...we missed you)

 Addi putting on a show :)

 After a country breakfast, we sent the Turner's on their way and spend the rest of the morning with my Dad's family.  They came into town to welcome Drew home!  As I was getting ready to leave, I looked out my window (on the 2nd floor) and what did I find? Uncle Adam in the tree!

 Before we left Andrew got an early Easter basket from Granna and Paw-Paw.

Then it was time to head south to MS to visit Drew's family.

Aloha Church Family

Up until this point, our goodbyes have not been so bad.  With the military community, I know I'll eventually see those people again, but with my church family, it's a little different.  I know I'll have to fly back to Hawaii to see these guys.  (Unless of course they take me up on my offer to come visit us in Florida!)  

We started going to Windward Christian Chruch (formerly First Baptist Windward) when I found out I was pregnant with Andrew.   From the moment we walked in the door, you could feel God's love in that place.  Those people love each other and most importantly, they love the Lord.  I made some very special friends at this church and I'll never forget them or their loving kindness to me and my family!  

Me and Robin

 The Ladners with Uncle Buddy (This man KNOWS how to play piano!)

 Me, Robin, Buddy

 Smooches from Grandma Ball

 I think of her every time someone says, "How are you?"  Because Grandma Ball's response is always, "Blessed."  As I was telling her goodbye I told her I didn't know when I'd get to see her again, to which she replied, "Oh sweetie, I'll see you in heaven." Very true, Grandma, but I hope it's before then! :)

 Me and Rose (Rose, I love your hair short!)

I hadn't cried until I had to say goodbye to my church ohana!  I love you guys and I hope to see you all again one day!

Car Critters!

Remember how I told you about the ants in the car?  Well it turns out, they're not the only critters living in our car... I noticed these little prints while Drew was washing the car...

 Can you see those little prints on the INSIDE of the windshield?  Any guesses as to what it might be?

Gecko footprints!  Maybe that's why the ants disappeared so quickly~

Friends Farewell @ Cinnamon's

Cinnamon's was our favorite breakfast place on Oahu.  They serve up specialty pancakes, french toast, eggs benedict, and omelets.  I had so many favorites here, it would be hard to pick just one.  (i.e. red velvet pancakes, chocolate haupia french toast, farmers omelette, eggs benedict super combo kalua pork...to name a few)  Today's special french toast: peach cobbler!

 Some of our friends got together and took us out for a final meal at Cinnamon's.  It was a great morning and I'm glad we got to hang out one last time.  

Attwoods

 Weavers

 (somehow Ben and the rest of the Cronkright clan along with the Lewis family missed out on group pics)

Allison(with Shaye), Krista, Me, Heather, Kristina(with a very hungry Grace)

Aloha ladies!  Thanks for all the memories.  I'll miss you all.  But luckily Marine Corps Aviation is a small family, so I'm sure I'll see you all again sometime down the road!  

Change of Command

Ok, so I'm only 11 days behind...that's no so bad, right?  (Look, we've been busy!)  So now, I take you back to Friday, April 9th to our change of command ceremony. 
Again, for those non-military readers out there:  A change of command is basically a ceremony where our current commanding officer gives the command over to the new and incoming commanding officer.  It's full of all the pomp and circumstance you'd expect from a military ceremony. (which means I LOVE IT)  The band plays, the colors are presented, the National Anthem played...all of the things that make me so proud of my husband and proud to be an American!

Drew and myself before the ceremony began

 Drew in action.  (He was the one who barked out the orders.)

 The actual "change of command" from Lt. Col Pecina to Lt. Col Oliver

 Our CO's wife, Deanna is covered in leis.

 What a great backdrop for a ceremony like this!

 After the ceremony was over, everyone headed into the hangar for the "reception"aka PARTY! There was food, a live band, and an awesome kids area complete with a kiddie sized buffet.  I wish I had taken a picture of it.  

 I managed to find all the babies.  Here I am with little Miss Grace Kelly Attwood!

 All the gals chattin' it up like we do best.  (oh look, I found another one!)

 Before heading home I took a picture of Drew with his commanding officer.  Thanks Lt Col Pecina for all of your hard work and leadership.  We'll miss you!

This ceremony was the last "official" event we had before saying goodbye.  Stay tuned for our last weekend on island.  
*Thanks Krista for the awesome pictures of Drew during the ceremony!