Mother's Day

This Mother's Day I got up and Kyle told me to get ready because we were all gonna go out.  He gave absolutely no details as to where we were going however.  The weather was rainy and dreary, and Hawaii rarity, so I knew the beach was out of the question.  The kids and I got ready while Kyle got his hair cut and then we headed out to my Mother's Day surprise.  We drove down the Pali Highway but that didn't expose any details since we take that highway to go pretty much anywhere in Honolulu.  I continued to wonder where we were going until Alec yelled out that he had seen the one of the places where he had gone on a field trip.  That's when I realized where were going for the day...the Waikiki Aquarium!  I had wanted to go to this aquarium since we had been to the one in North Carolina several times while living there and I imagined that this one must be exponentially better than the river fish in those tanks.  This aquarium came with hand held speakers that were like your own personal tour guide.  We could just punch in a number to the display we were looking at if we wanted to know more about the fish and voila, tour guide on demand!  I just completed a paper on coral reefs a couple weeks ago so I found I already knew a lot of the information given for the coral in the displays but it was still neat to see what I did so much research on.  It was amazing how much a movie like Finding Nemo could influence what the kids recognized in the tanks.  While they didn't know the actual types of fish, "Nemo", "Marlin", "Dory", "Gill" and "Bloat" were all in attendance at the aquarium. 

"Nemo" and "Marlin" in their sea anemone

"Dory"

All four of us enjoyed roaming around the exhibits and learning facts about the fish that live in the ocean around us.  Hailey really loved the jellyfish.  I think it had something to do with the fact that they were glowing purple in the tank.

When we got to the shark tank I was shocked to see one of the biggest fish I had ever seen!  This fish was as big as the kids and just floated in one spot in the tank in front of them.  No wonder it was in the same tank with the fish because there is no way those sharks would mess with these fish!

We made it through the indoor exhibits and thankfully it had stopped raining long enough for us to enjoy the outdoor ones.  This is where the best fish in the world resides, the fantastic, humuhumunukunukuapua'a.  This is the Hawaii state fish and much smaller than I had pictured in my head.  Its name means triggerfish with a snout like a pig which makes it even better in my eyes.  After my favorite fish we watched a lonely Hawaiian monk seal swim laps in its pool by itself.  We actually got lucky enough to see it swim around because before we walked over it had been hanging out by the side of the tank.

Humuhumunukunukuapua'a

It wasn't the biggest aquarium we have ever been to but because we live in the middle of the Pacific Ocean it has some pretty cool fish and sea creatures.  We even got a new family photo taken. 

After the aquarium we went to Chili's for lunch.  All in all I would have to say that it was a wonderful Mother's Day spent with the family and Kyle did a wonderful job at surprising me (as usual).

Homecoming Happiness

Moving to Hawaii 9 months ago had more benefits then just getting to live in paradise.  Kyle's best friend from high school, affectionately called Gumpy since his name is also Kyle, has been stationed here for the last 6 years.  They had been separated by more than 5000 miles and five time zones since high school.  Needless to say it was difficult to get ahold of one another at a reasonable time for both of them.  Our excitement was short lasted though because he got deployed less than a month after we moved here.  The kids spent the next seven months asking when Uncle Gumpy was going to be back.  We were finally able to give them an exact date a couple of weeks ago.  After weather postponed the homecoming twice, Gumpy was finally scheduled to come back on April 30th.  The kids made some welcome home banners and we made a sign to take with us to the homecoming.  Our only experience with homecomings came three years earlier when Kyle came home from Iraq, but Hailey was still a baby and Alec was still a little too young to remember.  We got up early and headed over to the hanger and waited for the plane to land.  The hanger was decorated with tons of signs and there were even bouncy houses for the kids.  They had music playing and coffee, water, and food set up for everyone waiting.  They had a red carpet set up for all of the Marines to walk up and meet their familes.  It was a really nice setup for everyone waiting.

Our attention grabber sign

This was one of my favorite signs

Trying to see over the crowd

We got to see the plane land directly on the runway in front of the hanger door.  It taxied around and stopped in front of the hanger. 

Everyone anxiously awaited the door of the airplane to open.  There was a roar of cheers from the crowd the moment it finally did open.  After a few more minutes the first people started exiting the plane.  I heard that the first guys to exit the plane were new fathers that were going to meet their babies for the first time.  I'm not sure if it is true or not but it sure makes for a touching story.  We stood on chairs searching in the sea of camoflage for our friend.  We had to look hard and try to find him before he slipped away because he didn't know we were coming.  After what seemed like forever we finally caught sight of him trying to make it through the crowd.  Kyle jumped off the chair next to me and made his way over to Gumpy to surprise him.  It was awesome to see his face when he realized we had made it to his homecoming.

Kyle made his way through the crowd to say 'Welcome Home'

After getting welcomed back by the Kyle, the kids ran over to show him the sign and give him a big hug.  The moment I captured with Gumpy and Hailey was really sweet.

It was such a happy day and it was more than just having a friend come home, it was having family come home.  The rest of the day consisted of the kids talking Gumpy to death and getting everything setup for him.  It was a wonderful experience for all of us and I'm so glad we were able to be here to welcome him home.

Easter Eggstravaganza!

For the kids, Easter is almost on the same level as Christmas when it comes to excitement.  They have a difficult time sleeping and get up way too early for me.  This year they both got up earlier than they did Christmas morning!  We started the holiday off by coloring eggs the night before.  This was the first year that both of the kids truly knew how to color the eggs and were careful and not drop the eggs into the cups.  They were both creative in what they wanted to draw on the eggs and the color experiments they wanted to try.  We all had a good time.

That night the Easter Bunny hid the Easter eggs around the living room and dining room.  The kids couldn't wait to search for all of the hidden eggs.  The had both found all of the eggs in record time! 

On the hunt

Basket full of eggs

The kids also got to check out what the Easter bunny brought them.  Alec got the next four books in his Captain Underpants series and some glow in the dark stars for his room.  Hailey got a couple princess books, some dress up shoes, and glow in the dark stars as well.  They were both over the moon with their new stuff.  And of course we can't leave out the fact that they got candy.  Both of them got to work on reading their new books. 

My little bookworms

 Easter was a huge success and I think it lived up to the kids expectations.  Luckily there is a little bit of time before the next big holiday.

Family Fun Part Two

So again it has taken me too long to update our blog.  Hopefully once I get current with it I will be able to get back to updating more often. 
After our busy first weekend back in Illinois, Kyle headed back to Missouri to go to his course.  The kids and I worked our way from house to house trying to spend as much time as possible with everyone in the family.  One of our first trips was over to my mom's.  We all had  great time.

Enjoying some video game time

All of us girls managed to get in the same photo

The Wednesday after we got there, Kyle's mom, Lori, surprised the the family by flying in to visit for the week as well.  We knew she was coming but most of the rest of the family did not.  It was nice to have another surprise homecoming take place while we were there.  While she was in town, Pam, a friend of the family and her daughter, Brooklynn, for the weekend as well.  Let's just say that Krystal had a full house.  There was a lot of screaming from the kids playing but there was a huge amount of fun that was had.  We also had a big family dinner that Saturday as well.  There were several generations of family there and it was nice to see everyone together.

Playin after dinner

Eatin at Chevy's

 This trip was also the first time Alec and Hailey have met two of their cousins.  Both Logan and Xander are close to Alec's age (Xander's only a day younger than Alec), but I think he would have been excited no matter what their age simply because he was no longer the only boy in the house.  It took an extended photo session to try and get 5 kids under the age of 8 to sit still long enough for a photo.  After about 9 attempts, I finally got a good picture of all of them. 

All five of them finally looked at me and smiled...well sort of

One night we went to listen to a story teller at Mina and Dylan's school and then we made cupcake sundaes.  I think the sundaes were their favorite part. 

Before dinner at Chet and Lisa's the kids flew kites with Jordan, Sydnee, and Kassi.  Some kites flew more successfully than others.  Alec had some trouble with the one he had chosen but luckily Jordan helped him fly hers.  What we thought would be a wonderful windy day for flying kites turned out to be a little too much wind.  The kids had a good time even though the wind was a little harsh.

This is about as high as his kite ever got

Luckily it was Aunt Jordan to the rescue!

We continued to travel every day to spend as much time as possible, with as many people as possible in the little time we had.  Kyle was able to come down on the weekend while he was off school so we all visited various places as a family.  It was a wonderful but exhausting trip...but worth every second.  I tried to get as many photos as possible and visit as many places as possible because we don't know when we will be able to come out and visit again. 
Once the trip was over and we had to head back to the airport, mother nature decided to throw us a curveball.  She decided that snow would be an appropriate send-off for the girl who lives in tropical paradise.  Luckily we managed to get the rental car returned before the snow started to fall.  I guess I should be thankful for that.  We got on the plane and it was delayed almost an hour because of the snow.  We started to taxi out and came back to the gate so they could put a more effective de-icer on the planes wings.  After the second coat of de-icer was on we were headed down the runway and the copilot came down the aisle to look out the window at the wing.  He informed us that they wanted to make sure the de-icer was doing the job.  I tried to stay as calm as possible for the kids (and myself) and thankfully we managed to take off without a hitch.  The rest of the flights went off without a hitch.  Though we miss the family, I was thankful to make it back to more Brandi-appropriate weather.  All together it was a wonderful trip with a ton of memories.

Alec and Louis

Just hangin around

Hangin out at Nan and Pap's

Definitely his father's son

Alec and Grandpa...love this picture!

Kyle playin with the coolest cat around, Louis