Summer vacation whirlwind continues....

Yesterday we made treasure maps (tea stained and oiled to make them authentic, of course), treasure balls (with actual treasure inside!), had a string maze AND played Ninja Warrior (Japanese obstacle course). PHEW....I'm tired!

Logan trying to unravel the string maze for the prize at the end.

The prize was the treasure map!

Ninja warriors in action!

Break for a pose!

After a long day.....

Weird News Wednesday

Turkey flies into courthouse window, leaves turkey-shaped hole
This story refers to it as a "whole," but never mind that.... Christine Hernandez thought someone was firing at the building and began thinking about her kids and making it out of the building alive. Such drama in Lubbock, Texas!

http://www.lubbockonline.com/stories/052008/loc_280851390.shtml

When it rains, go hiking!

The boys and I were looking for something to do yesterday so we decided to go explore the base. There is a lot of nookies and crannies to find here and we took full advantage of it. First we went to the Sumay village cemetary. I explained to the boys what it was and we paid our respects to those who came before us. Then we decided to check out some of the caves left from the Japanese occupation. The Japanese used forced labor to build a series of four caves, all interlocking, in the side of a cliff. We started to climb up a rope to see into the cave but it started to rain pretty hard so we had to leave and save that for another day.
Next we drove towards the beach and I had intended on going to a cliff so the boys could look out across the ocean but the road was blocked. I pulled over just past the sign and started taking pictures of some chickens (It still cracks me up that there are chickens and boonie dogs on base!) when a white truck started towards us. He was driving by but I used it as my opportunity for yet another adventure....yes I do have a WILD imagination. I told the boys that they were coming after us to give me a ticket for going past the do not enter sign. I quickly jumped in the van and proceeded to drive quickly down the road...with the white truck "following". I took a short cut down a gravel path to the old flightline. A big blue mac truck was driving back and forth on the flightline so I told the boys that he was the boss of the person in the white truck knowing full well that he was at the end of the road and had to turn around (and follow us!). The boys totally ate this up. Once we got onto the real road I told them to be on the lookout for the white truck (for those of you that haven't been here, the white trucks are everywhere because they work for housing!). We saw several and each time the boys would start yelling "There he is!!!". It was a hilarious time for all of us.

We had fun painting some rocks.

Saturday Project

Before After

Did you know that there is now a spray paint for plastic? It's called Krylon Fusion. I think it's the greatest thing although I'm not particularly fond of spray paints. I'm a perfectionist and with spray paint it's very hard to get things exactly how you want them. I purchased this kitchen from a yard sale for $3! It's for Logan's school. They don't have a lot but my goal this summer is to change that. What I'm really looking for is a plastic slide because they don't have anything for the little kids to play on. I'm not all that thrilled with how this came out but I'm excited how well my hibiscus stencils look.

First day of summer vacation!

Logan's out of school now so I'm busy trying to find things to keep them out of trouble. The first thing that we did today was a blast. They took apart our old cordless phones! They spent almost two hours dissecting them. I've got to get to a thrift shop to buy some more old broken things for them to take apart.


After Chris came home we went to the Japanese dollar store and gave them each $5 to spend on whatever they wanted. The karate kids found what they were looking for.

Weird News Wednesday

Gold Toothpick-Earwax Spoon Found

The tiny grooming tool discovered on the sea floor off Key West, Florida, is just the latest treasure revealed during the hunt for the shipwrecked Spanish galleon Santa Margarita. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/05/080520-gold-toothpick.html

Can you say ewwwww? That's gross enough to make me gag. I mean, how much earwax can a person have to warrant a spoon???

The 3rd man to walk on water!

The first man was Jesus, the second was Peter the Apostle
and then came.....Jose.

Morrison Dance Party

See what you started Gunnar? Your little cousins just HAD to put a video response to your dance!

Kindergarten Graduation

Logan finally got his wish, he's now a First Grader! His graduation was today and I was a ball of emotions. If I'm emotional now I wonder how I'll be when he graduates from high school! I just can't believe how time flies. It seems like it was just yesterday that I was a scared new mom bringing him home. He was such a good baby and so inquisitive (and still is!). We are so very proud of how far he's come in the past year. He could barely spell his own name and now he's reading!

Here are some pictures of his day.

We tried to get the kids to cooperate for this picture but they had other plans. I guess the kids take the perfectionist right of you!

Virtual Me

This is hilarious! I was actually able to see what I look like 50lbs lighter! It was gross so I decided to love the real me and put her up here!

Hawaii Vacation **Part II**

On our trip up to the North shore we stopped a beach where people were jumping off of this huge rock. It looked a little scary to me but I'm afraid of heights!

The next day we all had fun shopping at the double decker NEX. Man, was that fun! For those of you that have been to Guam you'd understand...there aren't any choices here...pretty much what you see is what you get.

This is my favorite hotel in Waikiki. We didn't stay there because I'm sure it's waaaay out of our price range but I love the time period that it was built in. The garden area that this was taken from was so peaceful yet it was right in the middle of the bustling city.

Chris and I had the pleasure of going out (childless) with our good friends from Guam, Aaron and Jen Miller (they took this picture). Aaron had a conference at the same time that we were going and Jen decided to MAC over to HI to spend some time with Aaron and then fly on to CA. I had a really good time and regret that we didn't spend more time with them.

I love weird people. Who walks their dogs around in a baby stroller???
Apparently this guy...

This gives "Iron Chef" to a whole new meaning.

My mom met this man that told us about the best drive to see all of Waikiki. It was beautiful up there and I don't think that many people know about this place. There wasn't a single person there. Great place for a picnic if you ever get the chance to go there. The locals call it Tantalus Drive.

Best Buds

Germaine's Luau was great. We got to take pics with the entertainment before the show. Ryland got a big kick out of this guy, probably because he was so big! The boys decided at the last minute to jump into the picture. Logan was being all bashful because of the pretty girl.
This is our attempt of taking "professional" type pictures of all the kids. I took so many pictures and this is the only one that everyone is looking in the same direction.

Tyler and Logan winding down on our last night in Hawaii. Tyler kept saying "Look, no arms!" and Logan couldn't be outdone...he's missing a head!

Our vacation was a bit stressful at times because we had to coordinate with so many schedules but all in all I'm glad that we went. We were given a short time to see our families and it makes us miss them all the more. We will cherish our last year on Guam but anxiously look to the future when we move back to the states. If you'd like to see more photos check out the web album. I took 358!

We're Back!

We just returned from our trip to beautiful Oahu. I sure missed our island of Guam. The traffic is horrendous and road rage is out of control! I can't tell you how many times we were beeped at if we did not move immediately at a green light. Oh my gosh...and the roads are horrible! So many one ways....let's just say that I know Waikiki REAL well now.

Getting to Oahu was a bit of an adventure. We got up very early on Monday morning for a 5am roll call. There were 10 seats and we were the first on the list....lo and behold some active duty showed up with orders. Bumped from that flight. Next morning it was the same thing but we managed to get on the flight. Boy was it packed with cargo AND people! (I've got a few bad pics of our flight in the web album...we were actually not supposed to take pics while on the plane!)

Our greeting with Mamaw, PapPap, Aunt Shell Shell and Uncle Robb was a sweet one. It was their first time meeting our newest addition.

We HAD to hit up Chuck E Cheese while we were there. The kids had a blast! Logan is the master at air hockey now.

Next was our meeting with Grammy, RT, Auntie, Uncle Chris, cousin Ethan and another new addition to the family, Emerson...the first and only girl!

Can you tell I'm proud to meet her? I've got that kool-aid grin going!

The boys had a blast getting to know each other again. They haven't seen one another in almost two years!

Grammy with her babies.

Waiting for some ice cream.Dole Pineapple Plantation