Tag Archives: sink or swim

And so it begins…

Posted on by

1

Soccer season that is. It has already been a little bit crazy just to get him on the team.

I’d been looking into the MWR sports that are put on for the military kids but the only sports they had were flag football and volleyball (for Mckenna) and they were full. So I am searching the internet trying to find something, anything to put my kids into for fall.

I finally find AYSO and see that registration has already ended but I don’t care, I am going to be THAT parent who wants to register their kids late. Through multiple emails back and forth with the lady in charge of registration, I am finally able to meet up with her and get him registered. Mckenna is on a wait list and probably won’t make a team which really sucks. But at least this is a two season per year league so she’ll be able to play in January.  Anyways, while I am registering him I ask if he can get moved up an age group. The U5 group that he is in is that whole “kick the ball around the field with daddy” thing. Been there, done that, he was bored when he had to do it LAST year, I didn’t want him to suffer through it again! This boy loves soccer, plays ALL the time and just wants to get in a game!  So the registrar tells me she’ll get back to me as she has to get approval from whoever.

Luckily she emailed me the next day letting me know he was good to go for the older U6 league and that they had a team that was short and needed him.  We got a call from the coach last night saying there was a game today, could we make it since two kids had dropped out and Omar made the 4th kid on the team! So at 7:45 we run out to the exchange to but cleats and shin guards (why can’t our stuff get here already so I can stop buying multiples of everything?)

We get to the field and find out coach, change Omar into his uniform and get him on the field to warm up. (NO time for cute poses with the ball in his adorable uniform!)

He even picked number 4 because he is four (for two more weeks anyways).

Oh, and his team name? The Incredible Hulks. I could die.

Running laps around the field.

Kick it in, baby!

Water break!

Taking a break

halftime snack

Boys are weird.

They ended up winning 5-3 and Omar scored TWO goals! Visions of World Cups are dancing in our heads! But really, he had a great time out there and his coach seems like a really nice guy. I actually had to cut out early due to this mutt:

I brought him to soccer because we (he) had his first obedience class and I didn’t want to have to run home. Well he was horrible at soccer, not wanting to sit still or lay down and wasn’t much better at class. I had no less than 5 people suggest putting a pinch or prong collar on him. I don’t know how he can be so wonderful IN the house (seriously, obeys EVERY command, perfect sit/stay/recall) and is just terrible on a leash! I don’t know how many more dog classes I am going to be able to make because most of Omar’s soccer games overlap and I really don’t want to miss out on those.

Anyways, so we had a great morning (besides my ill-behaved dog {which I know is all my fault}) and we are getting ready to go see ‘Diary of a Wimpy Kid’ with the kiddos!

Kaneohe Bay – Pyramid Rock Beach

Posted on by

4

 

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!

 

Our house… at the moment.

Posted on by

15

So I know before moving into this neighborhood I was dying to find out what the inside of the houses looked like. At the moment we still have our loaner furniture, we have hardly any of our own stuff at all and it’s pretty much empty. But! It’s better than a hotel room!

So here are some pictures:

Front of house

 

Side of house, and tiny yard

 

Back of house, garage (two car!)

Dining room and kitchen

 

 

Den, forgot to take a picture of the living room but it’s the same size as this and is open plan to the dining room and kitchen

 

Entry way, front door, coat closet, bathroom, storage under the stairs

 

Looking toward front door, standing in living room, stairs up to second floor

 

Top of stairs, cabinet thing (linens, I don’t even know?) in the hallway next to kids bathroom

Top of stairs, we’ll be sticking a desk here for the kids, also a nice big storage room.

Mckenna’s room

 

Omar’s room

 

Master, please note that the kids bed’s were made and mine isn’t. Wonderful.

 

Master bath

 

Master closet, it’s actually off the bathroom which is nice. LOTS of space.

 

 

So there it is, can’t wait to actually get our stuff so we can make this house our own. I’ve been meaning to get some paint for the kids rooms and get that done before all of our stuff gets here.  It’s nice to go from under a thousand square feet to over 1,700. Lots more room to stretch out!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Waikiki Aquarium

Posted on by

1

Okay hawaii. So far I am digging it here but you have GOT to step it up when it comes to the only aquarium on Oahu!  I knew before coming that it was small, but it’s not small it’s tiny! Do NOT come with visions of Monterey Bay Aquarium, Baltimore Aquarium or Shedd Aquarium in your mind (three of the best I’ve been to!)

One thing you can’t fault is the location, right on the water at the east end of Waikiki. Parking is a little crazy, we parked in our favorite cheapo military lot and meandered through Waikiki. It’s about a mile and a half walk and not too bad if you stop for lunch. Which we didn’t do because none of us could agree so we ended up at the aquarium hot and crabby. Fun times!

On with it!

 

 

What is wrong with this boy? Seriously, he can not take a normal picture anymore.

 

And since the posts have been so snorkel heavy I’ll just try to throw some of my favorite fish into a collage so you don’t have to scroll past them. Sorry, I love me some fish!

 

See that wasn’t so bad. So yeah the aquarium is small but they have some of the most beautiful display tanks I’ve ever seen, huge clams, a carpet anemone that was 2 feet wide, a mangrove tank, a tank outside, really beautiful.

 

 

 

The kiddos held some hermit crabs and pet some urchins, touch tanks are always a big hit.
The clam propagation tank outside. Some seriously stunning clams in there. They also have their coral growing tank outside as well. Really cool and makes me want to volunteer so I can play, too!

Walking right out of the aquarium you are right at the seawall along the water, tried again and again to get a good splash but I kept missing it…

 

 

 

 

So out we walked onto the breakwater where Omar (jr.) ended up getting soaked by a wave. Whoops!

 

 

 

 

 

So aquarium, nice but probably an hour tops for most people. There is a discount if you are a local and the tour includes a talking speaker tour dealy to give you details about all of the exhibits.  Make it part of your day in Waikiki and walk around (it’s also right near the zoo so you can make it a twofer).

 

Back to School!

Posted on by

2

(Please ignore Omar’s pained expression, he’s going through that I-can’t-smile-like-a-normal-person phase)

School starts early here, ridiculously early in my opinion. Mckenna went back to school on July 30th, Omar had an orientation on Friday and started for realz this Monday. So this week I officially have two school age kids.

 

(This is Mckenna’s for real first day pic, but it was when we were still in the hotel room of doom…)

 

Since we are done (really I mean it, DONE!) having more babies, I feel like a chapter in our lives is over. I’ve had a kid in tow for the last 10 years, and now they are both in school!  Now I am child-less for 6 hours a day and it feels SO bizarre.

Part of it was a realization at just how quickly time has flown. When Mckenna started kindergarten 5 years ago, I was hugely pregnant with Omar and ended up having him 3 weeks later. Now that baby is going into school, too. I wish I had my hard drive so I could pull up some photos of Mckenna’s first day.

Oh here is one I dug up from my facebook page of the month Mckenna started kindergarten and Omar was born:

 

Look at her! She is a baby! (and Omar REALLY is a baby) It still stuns me just how quickly the past 5 years have flown by. We moved to Spain, then to Hawaii. It’s just crazy how much your life can change in a few years.

One thing that is great about having two kids in school is the fact that my husband is on leave right now! While we are still running around like crazy with all of the errands we are still having to get done, we are also hanging out together. Just us! It’s been really nice, even though he has been dragging me to the gym most days after we drop off the kids. Today we actually went and saw a movie while the kids were at school. (The Watch, stupid funny, but then again I love all the cast members).

So bittersweet. There is my adjective for school starting. Both my kids love it so far. I miss my babies but am also enjoying these free hours I have.

Eating Our Way Through the North Shore

Posted on by

2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This weekend we headed back up to the North Shore. I am falling in love with this view as we crest over the hill and head down to the shore… When you actually see it in person you can hardly tell where the sky ends and the water begins. Also if you go earlyish in the morning you won’t sit in hideous traffic like we had to last time!

 

We made a quick detour to Turtle Beach since we had such good luck last time we were there.  Gorgeous water, beautiful coastline. I can’t wait to do more exploring up here. It’s just so, so different than Honolulu.

 

 

No luck this time. I don’t know if we were just too early or what. Not a turtle in sight. Insert sad trombone… Mckenna was really bummed, so was I. We had actually brought our snorkeling gear with us so we could snorkel with the turtles.  Omar on the other hand was thrilled because he was NOT in the mood to be at the beach. Weirdo.

 

Onward! We made our way over to Hale’iwa to poke around town and find something to eat. Please note Mckenna doing her best to look like my little Hawaiian girl by throwing a shaka! I may have made my poor husband pull over at both signs on the road (actually I made him pull over for the first one, he pulled over for me before I even had a chance to ask for the second!)

 

First stop on the agenda: Masumoto’s Shave Ice.  A Hawaiian must do. Everyone and there mother will tell you that you have to go to this place so there is usually a huge line.  I grabbed this shot as we were leaving. When we got there we only had a few people in front of us, almost zero wait. Also it gave us time to look at the CRAZY menu!

 

 

 

 

Below is the menu. It was VERY hard to narrow it down to 3 flavors! You can also get ice cream on the bottom of your snow cone sorry, shave ice, and/or condensed milk drizzled over the top. So far I have been a purist and haven’t tried it but I am going to have to start experimenting! Oh and they have a specific way they want you to order… how many, size, cup or bowl, etc…

 

 

This machine is an ice shaving beast. And the girl was crazy fast scooping and making the perfect scoop shape (and also clearly thrilled I am taking her picture.)

 

Yummy shave ice! What is not shown is that Omar dropped his shave ice about 30 seconds after sitting on a bench outside. There were tears. But he then got to share with all of us, and pose with my cherry/watermelon shave ice.

 

 

Verdict: All shave ice pretty much tastes the same to me. Stop by if you are there, otherwise go to one of the other million stands on the island.

 

 

 

After our shave ice we decided to get dessert. What? This day had no rhyme or reason to our eating schedule!

 

Just ended up grabbing a photo op and some cookies. We were a little disappointed by the baked goods selection for a bakery, but they do also bake their own bread and have a nice little lunch menu. Service, hmmm. Our order taker was friendly but literally stopped us 3-4 times in the middle of our order to deliver food/talk to other people. Super cute little place though. $1 cookies!

 

 

 

 

$1 cookie display. My walnut chocolate chip was really good. And Omar didn’t drop his!

Right across the parking lot is this trailer with dozens of chickens on it. You cannot miss the smell, it is divine.  We had other plans for lunch so we decided to pick up a chicken for dinner. $9 for a chicken ($9.50 if you want it cut up). We also picked up some pineapple cole slaw. Yes I know, I was dubious too. But it is really good.

 

 

Grab a 1/2 or whole chicken and sit at a table and eat it. When we ate it for dinner there was only a backbone left in the serving dish, my kids picked the chicken clean. Great sauce or rub or whatever it is that they put on it.  And when you are done you can wash your hands in the cutest sink ever. I love beach towns.

 

 

Next stop: Giovanni’s Shrimp Truck another must do according to every guide book, friend and tv show.

 

 

 

Super simple menu makes it easy to order.

 

 

While you wait grab a Sharpie and sign your name. Good luck finding a spot!

 

 

 

 

Omar got the spicy shrimp which weren’t that spicy to him because he has a ridiculous scale of spiciness from eating habaneros every single day. They were wicked spicy, I couldn’t handle them.

 

 

I got the scampi which were good. Both of our shrimp may have been a smidge overcooked. Good but we are also lazy and don’t like peeling our shrimp. (first world problems I know…)

 

 

 

So great day eating and trying lots of must try things. If you haven’t gotten up there yet, DO IT!