I LOVED attending the Joint Spouse Conference last year when it was hosted by the Navy on Ford Island. I wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity to go to this one either. It is always a super bargain for … Continue reading
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!
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.
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!
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!
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.
Well I did NOT need to worry! We had SO much food! Not an inch to spare on the counter!
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!
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!
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!
So yesterday morning we had the ideal get ready for school morning. I mean perfect. The best one since school started. I don’t know how it happened or if we will every be able to repeat the performance!
I was actually pretty worried because our ‘schedule’ over the past two weeks has been laughable. It’s pretty much stay up as late as you want, sleep in as late as you want. We were a mess. I tried getting the kids to go to sleep earlyish on Tuesday but didn’t really have any luck. So last night I put Omar to bed a little early because I figured he would have trouble going to sleep, nope. Right to sleep by 8:30. Mckenna on the other hand could not fall asleep! I don’t know if it was a combination of excitement and lack of a set bedtime lately but she was awake until about 10. So I was extra worried. I did have them pick out clothes before going to bed because that is always a crazy last minute “I don’t have matching socks, where is my other croc?” disaster in the morning.
So I’m getting some internet time in after the kids go to bed and see this crockpot oatmeal recipe on pinterest. I love love love my crockpot but I have always been a little nervous about cooking overnight with it. I know they are safe but I just always feel like I am going to burn my house down while I am sleeping. But apple cinnamon oatmeal ready and waiting in the morning just was too tempting to resist and I had all the ingredients on hand! Amazing!
So around 11 I am making oatmeal crossing my fingers that it is going to turn out okay and I hear the pitter pat of little feet on the stairs. Now Omar is up. Seriously? So I tell him to go back to bed I am going to bed myself in a minute. Well I go upstairs and the little bugger is in my bed. At this point I don’t care, just want to try and get some sleep myself before the alarm goes off (I had drugged myself with NyQuil and was just waiting for it to kick in. What? I needed to sleep!)
Come 3 or 4 in the morning little miss Mckenna feels the need to wake me up to tell me she can’t get back to sleep. Really? Pretty sure I mumble-yelled for her to go back to bed. These kids are killing me!
Then at 6:18 she is back in my room exclaiming that she just got ready in 3 minutes, isn’t that great and now she is going downstairs for breakfast. I tell her there is oatmeal but then get up myself so I can go see how it turned out. Omar hears us but snuggles in for a few more minutes.
Mckenna tells me its good, then proceeds to tell me she didn’t really care for it. Why does she do this?! If you don’t like it, it’s fine! I liked it, I would just make it with less water next time so it is a little thicker. I like to add a lot of milk but this was already pretty soupy so too much mil would have been a disaster. I pop upstairs to tell Omar I have oatmeal ready and he is awake. And cheerful. That NEVER happens. This boy is my grumpy teenager in the morning who is the WORST to wake up. So he gets up and eats a bowl of oatmeal (and actually likes it) and brushes his teeth with no prompting.
At this point I am kind of feeling like I am in the Twilight Zone. But hey, I am going to go with it! Lunches are packed, hair is styled and we are out the door a few minutes early.
Then, I actually managed to leave the house in workout clothes so I go to my community gym and actually exercise! What in the world! Ran a mile straight plus warm up and cool down it was almost a mile and a half. I was super proud of myself and am going to stick with it. There is no reason I can’t go to the gym that is 1/4 mile from my house and run for 15 minutes 3-5 times a week.
So yeah. Best morning ever. I even am working on cleaning out my house. I didn’t just clean and stick stuff in closets. I cleaned SO much stuff out. My garbage can was full tonight when we took it out. Filed, sorted, and have a massive stash of stuff that needs to go to Goodwill.
Now let’s see how this morning goes, I have to say I am kinda digging a two day school week!
Sink Or Swim 
