I think pretty much everyone has gotten our Christmas cards so I can share some of the pictures I took. The kids did GREAT for me (especially Mckenna, she does love a photo shoot) and Omar only took minimal yelling at to keep in line! I love, love, love these pictures.
Sorry, I win for cutest kids on the planet!
Yay, it’s my birthday!
So I had no plans for my day, was just hanging out at home, but my mom would hear none of that!
She told me to get my booty outta the house and get some alone time in at the beach. I hemmed and hawed but finally got into gear and was off.
All I have to say is: Thanks, Mom. Genius plan.
I also stopped to grab myself some birthday lunch (T-dragon roll for the win). All in all not a bad birthday if I do say so myself.
Came home to some surprises left on my doorstep! Nothing like flowers to make a girl feel a little better about getting older!
From my darling husband. Man I love me some tulips! They are just starting to open and are beautiful.
Also got some sweets:
Mckenna was confused by the box. It said on the side: ‘contents may disappear after opening’.
From my mom I got some fabulously fragrant lilies.
Every time I have fresh flowers in my house I ask myself why I don’t have fresh flowers more often. (And then of course realize it’s because they are way too expensive!)
So even though it just ended up being me and the kids for my birthday, it was a pretty good day. Looking forward to next year when I’ll have my husband home to celebrate with.
One of the first things you learn when you move to Oahu is how the island is divided. Down the center of the island runs a mountain range (gotta love all that volcanic activity!). The north eastern side of the divide is the windward side, it gets all of the winds and moisture. The southwestern side (where we live) is the leeward side, not as cool and much drier. This becomes very apparent when you go from one side to another. I LOVE the windward side! It is so lush and green and every time I see it I feel like I am in Jurassic Park (because it was filmed here!)
This is the tunnel that cuts through the mountains, it is fairly new and is much easier than having to drive all the way around or over! And when you pop out of the tunnel this is what greets you:
The hills all have those distinct ridges due to erosion, all of the rain has carved the rock.
We were looking for someplace to snorkel over on the Marine Corps base at Kaneohe Bay but there wasn’t really anything suitable so we headed to Pyramid Rock Beach. It was a beautiful breezy day but the surf was really rough and we were advised by the lifeguard to stay shallow and keep our kids close.
Yes, I know it is all beach and ocean pictures all the time but seriously, this has been my life! We have spent a disgusting amount of time at the beach, but isn’t that what you are supposed to do when you live in Hawaii?
My gorgeous girl. This was the only picture I have where she isn’t posing like she’s trying out for America’s Next Top Model.
Oh this boy, he melts my heart.
Pyramid Rock, I wanted to go see if we could hike up the stairs but as you can see it’s REALLY far away and I am incredibly lazy. I bet the view from up there is great! 
Super crowded beach, I don’t know how we deal with the masses of people. Seriously though, I love going to beaches on base.
We also stalked a crab… cutest thing ever.
And the weirdo dog that was happy as hell to eat the leftover ice from the ice chest. Also please ignore my dirt back yard. My gardening stuff isn’t here yet, give me a couple of months and it will be beautiful!
We had a fun weekend, took the dog to the beach, went to feria in Jerez, then out to dinner for Mother’s Day at Blanca Paloma, aka my happy place.
My kidlets were threatened that they better be on their best behavior so I could enjoy my favorite dinner, the beautiful day, and the sunshine. They did great, iPods and Nintendo DS’s helped.
Me and crazy pants. He demanded a silly photo.
The salad of my dreams. Fresh mozzarella, fresh pesto, sun-dried tomatoes. So, so good. I also had some bruchetta with tomato, provolone and feta. No pictures of that because it was inhaled.
Happy Mom’s Day to me! I swear I don’t always have bitch face!
On our way out, the beach was PACKED when we got there and empty by the time we left. It was a beautiful day!
On Saturday a friend of mine and I took our boxers to the beach. This whole area is under water at high tide but at low tide there is a TON of room for them to run. Swimming isn’t allowed so it stays empty and we can let the dogs run and they don’t bother anyone.
Bowser decided to cool off and get into the water. He’s never done this before, but once he realized how much it cooled him off he didn’t want to get out! I don’t even know if he can swim! We’ll have to see this summer!
All three puppies! Bowser loves his buddies!
In the amount of time that we were there (maybe an hour total walking) I got sunburned! This Spanish sun is NO JOKE!
Pretty laid back week around here although we have been awfully busy at work. I’m finally feeling comfortable in my new position and have been rearranging closets and shredding outdated paperwork all week. I’ve been going through closets and toys at home as well. I went to housing and picked up the key for the other half of our duplex and we are going to use their storage to start sorting through all of our keep/sell/toss stuff so we can move with only stuff we want/need.
Onto my little things to be thankful for:
We went out with my friend Sheree to a quick dinner. Sunset on the beach, it was perfect timing. Chilly though! I cannot WAIT until summer!
Strongbow cider. My friend Dana introduced me to this at ol’ Molly Malone’s, our local Irish pub. It is delicious! While it’s better on tap I was super excited to find it in cans!
One of my FAVORITE things, a three-day weekend! All of us are off on Monday and we are looking forward to relaxing all weekend long! Hope everyone is enjoying their weekends as well!
Linking up with Aisle to Aloha’s
