Monthly Archives: February 2013

Don’t let me out in public

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Another normal Thursday night, ran Mckenna to soccer practice and decided to take Omar for a quick haircut at the barber shop on base. School pictures tomorrow, don’t want him looking crazy.

Get to the barbershop in the mini mart, only a few people waiting, awesome. That never happens.

Time goes by, we are next in line, I am ready to shove Omar into the next unoccupied seat when the lady gestures at the guy sitting next to me.

I pipe up, ‘oh my son was next’ and the lady gestures to the Uniform Personnel Priority sign. Yeah, the guy sitting next to me was in uniform and was totally exercising his head of the line privilege. Something I am aware of. Something I encourage and see ALL of the time. 

I was mortified.

I apologized and told him to go ahead, I wasn’t thinking, I was so sorry, etc, etc… And then he was like go ahead, he’s on duty and was in no hurry to get back. In all honesty I just wanted to walk out of there because I was so embarrassed.

So Omar sat down and got his cut and the entire time my cheeks were FLAMING!

So. Yeah, hopefully I won’t be cutting in front of any active duty military in line any time soon…

 

Breakfast with a view…

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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!
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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!pose

 

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.fish

Anyways, get over to Wright Brothers, have some breakfast or lunch and enjoy the view and breeze!

 

 

 

We are halfway DONE!

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So this weekend we finally had our halfway party… For those not familiar with the Navy, this is a party that the FRG (Family Readiness Group) throws to celebrate the halfway point in a deployment. Basically keep your spirits up. Thankfully I have an absolutely awesome FRG board and we threw an incredible party for all of our spouses.

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I just need to give a huge shout out to Target for their clearance Valentine’s items. This decor ended up costing about $40 for everything!

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We also had a little backdrop set up in the corner where we were recording video messages to send to the ship! Some of them got a little emotional and I was tearing up a little!DSC_0003

 

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I was a little worried that we were not going to have enough food because the RSVP’s had been pouring in and this was going to be potluck style.DSC_0006

 

Well I did NOT need to worry! We had SO much food! Not an inch to spare on the counter!DSC_0009

 

 

Thank you to all of the wonderful families on our ship…. Seriously, if you are new to a sea command, find your FRG! Not all of them are full of drama and catty women!DSC_0036

 

And my board is full of wonderful women… Taking on this position was SO outside my comfort zone, but I have made such wonderful friends in the process. I couldn’t have asked for a better team!

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Aloha, Sushi!

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Our newest family member:

DSC_0243aAnd no illusions about this one… I’m already the only one feeding and changing the water.

 

Nu’uanu to Manoa Falls Ridgeline hike

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Okay, let me start this by saying that this is NOT the hike we intended to do! We were looking for the ruins trail, we accidentally started at the Judd Trail and said, eh, why not. (ed. note: When telling our husband about the day his comment was “This is how people die” lol.) Judd Trail is beautiful! There is a stream crossing at the beginning but we were all able to hop across keeping our feet dry.
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It’s amazing how quickly the trail changed, from bamboo, to forest, to jungle. The scenery was unbelievable.hike2

We met up with Nu’uanu trail and hiked that up to the ridgeline. That right there is a great hike. There is a nice little grassy spot where you can eat lunch (and try not to get blown off, it was crazy windy up there!) Also try to get a group picture at the bench!

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This was our big ol’ group of kids, and they all did awesome. Picture is crooked because Katie’s camera was hanging from a tree!
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At this point is where we REALLY should have turned back, but the though was that the trail would loop around (Again: “This is how people die”) So we kept going.

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Nice easy stretch going downhill, we connected up with a Paoa Flats trail that wound through a lovely bamboo forest… then we passed a guy who said we weren’t far from Manoa Falls. That didn’t sound right to our group as Manoa Falls is on the other end of Waikiki. hike5 hike6

Onward we forge with the trail getting more and more muddy and a bit of a pain, some Cuh-RAZY switchbacks downhill, GPS tells us that yes indeed we are headed to Manoa Falls. Sounds great, one more hike to cross off our list!
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Manoa Falls is STUNNING! Super high waterfall that people do swim in despite the WARNING/DANGER signs (30 Ton rockslide 10 years ago was enough to keep me outside of the roped area)

We continued our walk downhill toward the Monoa Falls trailhead, giving a call to a friend for a ride back to our cars. hike9

I highly recommend these trails separately but not together unless you want to do some serious hiking and you have a friend you can call to hook you back up with your car! With kids ranging from 3-11 this hike took us about 5 hours. One for the memory books for sure!

I also have this bad boy on order for future hikes:
Oahu Hikes: The Best Hikes and Walks on the Island (Lone Pine Guide)

We started out off of Nu’anu Pali Rd which is off Old Pali highway. You should see the trail head about a mile or two up the road on the right.

Valentine’s Day!

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First off, can I state that sitting with your kindergartner while he writes out 25 cards is not the best time ever. I was very, very tempted to drink at multiple times. But we got all of them done. (Also please note the “I dazzled at school today” wristband! Stellar student!
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Here is the breakfast set up, some fun goodies and balloons. I got the plates in the Target dollar section and I love them! I love divided plates!!
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And breakfast was pink heart pancakes, pink milk and the weirdest color watermelon I’ve ever seen. But hey, it fit the decor.
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Mckenna was all dudded up in her $5 Target tee, (Omar declined a Valentine tee… boys.) Cute heart shaped hairstyle is super easy to do and looks great. And of course her Valentine to me… So adorable!

mckennaI was spoiled by my mom (pretty flowers! I’ll take a picture when they open!) and my husband (VS gift card and a new Coach purse! Whoohoo!) It’s great to have one more holiday done and over with, that much closer to homecoming!