Day #3
I am thankful for the Navy. Now, I don’t always love the Navy (especially right now) I am thankful that my husband has a pretty stable job and that we can live comfortably on what he makes. I am also thankful that the Navy sends us on 3-4 year vacations at some of the nicest spots in the world!
Mckenna: I am thankful that we live in Hawaii.
Omar: I’m thankful that we both won our things. (A reference to him winning his soccer game and Mckenna placing in her Robotics competition!)
We have officially hit four months of living in Hawaii.
And I am in love with this state.
Hawaii can be a difficult place to live. It is so very different than living on the mainland. It can be hard to not have every store and restaurant you are used to having around the corner. (No Olive Garden, Michael’s or Chik-fil-a!) Living here means that you are living far from family, at least a 5 hour plane ride away. It can be expensive, housing is expensive, food is expensive, we are on an island so you will pay more for everything. We are lucky to be able to shop at the commissary and exchange which offer a huge savings over shopping on the local economy.
But with all that it is still magical to live here. I will be driving and then all of a sudden see a gorgeous rainbow, a vibrant green volcanic range, or a stunning sunset over the beach.
We did come here with a bit of an advantage. After living in Spain for four years we learned to live without many of the American conveniences that people complain about not having here. Plus we’ve been living far from family. So when we moved from Rota to Pearl Harbor it was awesome for us! We had Target and Starbucks and T-mobile…
It is like most places for me, it depends on what you make of it. If you spend your time here complaining about how much you hate it, you’ll end up hating it.
We’ve had a great time getting out and exploring the island, learning about the culture and customs and eating!
Don’t get me wrong it’s far from perfect here, the DMV is a nightmare, the traffic is the worst, and the bugs are out of control. There are shady parts of the island, it sucks being 6 hours behind all my friends and family on the east coast (especially when your husband deploys!)
I have found some fun friends by stepping outside my comfort zone and playing football, volunteering with the PTA and getting together a FRG for the Paul Hamilton.
The only thing that would make it better would be if my husband were still here to explore the island with me!
Day #2
I am thankful for my husband. This man is the perfect man for me. Without pause he makes sacrifices that will keep our family safe. I have never met a funnier person. My husband is my best friend. My partner. Being away from him is one of those bittersweet thing, I realize just how much I love him and need him in my day.
Mckenna: I am thankful that we have a house.
Omar: I’m thankful I have a soccer game tomorrow.
So a couple of weeks ago I got to go on a field trip with Omar’s class to the pumpkin patch. I was pretty surprised that there was even a pumpkin patch on the island but it was a really nice local farm that also grown watermelon, corn, onions, bananas, eggplant and sunflowers.
Listening to our speaker tell us all about the produce they grow as well as how to properly pick a pumpkin. {Twist, twist, pull!}
The hayride was great, we got to tour the farm and see the variety of produce they grow. Also? Carpet over the hay? Genius, especially since we were all wearing shorts!
What does your pumpkin patch not also grow bananas?
Sweet corn… I couldn’t resist buying farm fresh corn!
“My” kids…
I don’t know how I ended up with such a great group of kids. They all stayed with me. And listened! I wish it was because the teacher loves me but it was totally random and I was assigned the 5 kids standing closest to me!
Now off to picking. I have never been to a pumpkin patch where you actually got to pick your pumpkin off the vine. It was a really cool experience. Except the fact that I was with a very particular bunch of kids. It took us the longest to get our pumpkins!
Success!
One quick pic with mama to prove I was there!
The sunflowers reminded me of Spain. There are a million sunflower fields in bloom around where we lived. So then I was all sad and nostalgic and missing Spain. But I do love it here so very much.
After everyone had a pumpkin in hand we rounded them all back onto the bus and went to the park for lunch. It was beautiful and peaceful and quiet (well it was until our school got there…)
And can I put a PSA out there from all teachers and field trip chaperones? For God’s sake, don’t send lunchables on field trips unless your kid can open them! We spend 10 minutes just opening those!
We also got to feed some koi. It was a bit insane but the kids loved it.
And this just because. If this picture doesn’t accurately describe my son I don’t know what does…
So this has been popping around Facebook for awhile and I wanted to participate as well, basically you just make a post or status every day from today through Thanksgiving with something for which you are thankful. As busy as we can be I want to be able to sit back and really think about how lucky and blessed we are as a family. So. To start my month:
I am thankful for my family. For my happy, healthy, ridiculous family. While we drive each other crazy we are the perfect mix to balance each other out. Both my immediate and my extended family is wonderful and I love them all!
Mckenna: I am thankful for food.
Omar: I’m thankful we are going to California.
We had a GREAT Halloween this year… It was Omar’s first Halloween in America. Wait I lied, he did have one before when he was a month old. We did celebrate in Spain on base but it was not quite the same. So this year he was SUPER excited. He dressed as Darth Vader and then decided the mask was too annoying to wear the entire night but at least I got a picture with it on.
Mckenna was a dark fairy. This is our homemade costume this year, I had a lot of fun making it and she loved it.
I also tried my best with her makeup. I am NOT artistic or good with makeup but she thought it looked great and that’s all that matters!
Although I did it a few hours prior and it did get smudged and had to be fixed before we headed out.
Me, I was pretty boring this year and did a cop out with a witch had and some awesome feathery eyelashes…
And then was irritated because the breeze kept blowing my hat the whole time we were out, AND I carried a light saber that SOMEONE just couldn’t carry.
I can’t post the aftermath sorting of candy because Omar stripped as soon as we walked in the door and sorted in his underwear. Sounds about right.
Also? People are getting WAY too stingy with the chocolate. Keep your Laffy Taffy and Twizzlers, mama wants Snickers and Reese’s!
Oh I had to go snooping for pictures from Halloween past. I can’t believe how much my babies have grown over the past few years!
Sink Or Swim 