I received word from a fellow military spouse about Air Force Captain Reid Nishizuka who, along with three others, was killed in a plane crash in Afghanistan. Nishizuka was a local boy from Kailua and would be coming back to the island to be laid to rest at Punchbowl.
My friend and I took our kids and lined up along with hundreds of others to welcome him home and to thank him for the ultimate sacrifice.
While I was going through my hard drive I kept finding tons of old pictures that I would love to post from our years in Spain. We did a few different sherry tours while we lived there but this was the very first one we ever did.
Gonzalez Byass includes such brands as Tio Pepe and Croft, and has a beautiful location right in downtown Jerez de la Frontera. They offer tours in English as well as Spanish and German, double check for the updated times.
First of all, this particular area of Spain is pretty much the premium place that sherry is made, all due to this chalky, white soil and the proximity to the ocean. It affects how the grapes grow as well as the ageing process in the barrels. 
And if you are ever in the area you have to go just so you can see things like this…
And oh my gosh, talk about the cutest little boy in the world! Here is Omar at almost one year, what a cutie pie. 
Mckenna and a very large bottle of sherry. She is quite the baby here herself!
Me and my girl, man do I get skinny after I have kids, then it ALL creeps back on. Look at how short Mckenna is! Now she is almost as tall as I am!
Age makes a difference.
I miss this, at the bodega as well as any large event there will be sherry pourers. Now I am sure there is a name for it but I am too lazy to look it up. (lie: He is known as a Venenciador, love it!) He opens a barrel and uses this long handled scoop to dramatically (what? drama in Spain?) pour the wine into the sherry glasses.
I don’t love sherry but I will gladly take a hand scooped glass!
There are many, many bodegas in Southern Spain, if you find yourself there, do yourself a favor and hit it up. They are all very different in atmosphere. Many offer tapas after the tour as well.
I miss Spain!
This has been the LONGEST break ever! And we have kept up our insanely busy days. It is keeping us busy and we are having a lot of fun, but I am not gonna lie, I am going to enjoy Wednesday when they go back to school. (For two days! Then they are off AGAIN for Good Friday!)
So weekend recap… Saturday was a crazy fun day. It started out with a Deployed Spouse Appreciation Day put on by the Pearl Harbor Chapel. They had a great day set up with breakfast, lunch and classes for us to attend. I was pleasantly surprised because the photography session I had signed up I thought was some photography pointers and ended up being a free photo session. Hooray! I am really looking forward to seeing how the pictures turned out!
Anyways, my first session was pie making, which I didn’t really NEED to take since I already make a pretty bomb-ass pie. However, if there is food involved, I am signing up for it! My friend Cat happened to finish her photo session and was watching us so I dragged her into our class and made her make a pie with me.
Then I had my great photo session with the kids. I can’t wait to see how they turned out! When I finished with that I poked around a bit and spied on some of my favorite ladies while they were in their sessions.
And then we all got to enjoy lunch together with our kids… We were able to eat the pies we had made earlier in the day… I may have snagged the pie that Cat and I had made and brought it to our table… Hey I know that one wasn’t made with licked fingers or anything!
We decided that our weekend wouldn’t be complete without a hike thrown in… Off for our THIRD time to try to find the King Kamehameha’s Summer Palace ruins… And what do you know? We actually found them! I am going to put those pictures in a separate post because it is a pretty awesome hike! Unfortunately we hiked it in the rain, which was pretty fun for me, but the kids were not pleased!
After all the rain we made a quick pit stop at Starbucks for some hot chocolate and coffee to warm us up.
Then off to football practice. Three hours of football practice. I almost died. Our coach FINALLY decided to wrap it up and we all got together at a teammates house for a potluck. The kids had fun playing together, us ladies all had fun hanging out together, it was an all around good time. Had to finally call it a night because we had a scrimmage the next day, Sunday, and wanted to get together to warm up before that. So more football! We warmed up a bit then drove up to Wahaiwa for our scrimmage… that we lost. Again. I swear we are the Bad News Bears! But we had a great time playing in the rain and the mud, the other team was a bit rough and I am covered in bruises! Yes this is FLAG football!
Post game muddiness… I LOVE these girls!
Omar had soccer pictures on Saturday morning over on Hickam, when he was done we had some time to kill before his game so we popped over to Wright Brothers for some breakfast. I LOVE eating here, it is priced really well ($3.25 for a kids plate and that includes a drink) the food is good and it comes out quick. Also the view is pretty great, right across the entrance to Pearl harbor. The outdoor seating is really beautiful although hard to come by, I was stalking tables waiting for someone to leave!
It’s a great spot to take pictures (which is why soccer pictures are done here I assume!) Lots of pretty trees and a lovely backdrop. I’ll have to bring them back in something other than soccer uniforms!
There is also a seawall right by the restaurant that allows some great fish watching, lots of FAT fish from all of the bread people feed them. I even saw some yellow tangs which is crazy because we haven’t seen them ONCE while snorkeling.
Anyways, get over to Wright Brothers, have some breakfast or lunch and enjoy the view and breeze!
This past weekend this kids officially started their soccer season.
Omar was crazy excited, this boy LOVES to play soccer!
Kickoff time… Even though he only had one practice he still did awesome out there. He just loves being on that field.
There was a point in the game where his cleat came off his foot… he picked that bad boy up and went running after the ball. The coach had to blow a whistle and take a minute to get him to stop playing. I love it.
He sat out the third quarter and was PACING the sidelines to get back into the game. Someone got tired so back in he went… and proceeded to tie up the game! Goooooooooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllll!
Mckenna had her first game as well… MUCH bigger field!
Mckenna played left forward and did pretty well, it’s been awhile since she played so I don’t know that she was 100% ready for the speed of the game again! Her team is coming together though!
(Remind me to get her some bigger shin guards, those look ridiculous!)
On the sidelines we weren’t as prepared as some (no tents, coolers or umbrellas for us!) but we did have Safeway donuts!
Then she got put in as goalie which drove me crazy because she has NEVER played or even practiced as goalie. She did a good job and stopped quite a few shots. I think only one got past her.
It’s going to be a crazy season for me… MANY of their games overlap so I am going to have to ask for help from other parents to make it work. No one is happy with that but it’s the best I can do!
One of the cool things about living in Hawaii is the fact that we get to host the Pro Bowl. While we weren’t planning on going to the Pro Bowl itself, we did go to the practice that took place on Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam. We braved the rain and mud and left with NO Redskins signatures! We had a good time anyways!
We had FOUR Redskins players to be chosen for the Pro Bowl (curse you RGIII for getting hurt!) London Fletcher was the big draw for us but we just could not get close enough for an autograph (planning on stalking him until he leaves the island though!)
It was pretty cool to watch them practice although it looked pretty half-hearted. I mean I think they practice for real at one of the local high schools, this was more a publicity we heart our military thing. The kids did get up close and personal with a bunch of players but didn’t get any signatures because they were waiting for the Redskins players to come their way.
I will say I was not prepared for the crowds that turned out! I got there about an hour and a half before the start time and it was already packed. Also everyone came ready with chair, coolers and duffel bags FULL of stuff to get signed! So next year I’ve already decided I’ll be getting there at the crack of dawn to stake out a spot at the fence on the 50 yard line.
