Water Slide and a Surprise!

Here are a few pictures of Austin going down the little slide today....and the last picture is of a surprise that we saw in the sky tonight....it was so pretty that pictures just don't do it justice!

Do you see that it is a double rainbow as well as it repeats the colors a few times in the main rainbow? My neighbor (Stephanie) and I just LOVED seeing it and I ran to get my camera before it disappeared.

Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park

We went to Hawaiian Waters again today. Austin had a blast and didn't have a second thought about the pools at all! Soooo much different than the time he went back in June! We were in the water all day (yes, we remembered the sunscreen!) and left about 45 minutes before they closed. Austin even went down a couple of water slides. One of them he started going down last time we were there, but the other one, he hadn't gone down before. He went down three times before he said he didn't want to do it anymore....and I think that is because it just wasn't his idea to go again. He had fun, but just said no anytime we asked him if he wanted to go again. So, I don't have any pictures of that slide. Sorry! Anyway, here's a sample of what I did get today!

Do you see the look on his face? I wonder what that was for!!!

Anna going down the "orang" slide....wonder why we called it that!?!

Nate having fun in the water!

Austin running from the water fountains.

Bath Time Fun

Austin LOVES taking a bath....especially with BUBBLES! Here are a few pictures I took a couple of days ago!

What did you do?!?!?

Seriously, do you always have to take pictures?

Bowling

We went bowling today since there was a special going on.... 75 cents per game, shoes included. Paula and the kids came over to my house and we walked up the street to the Bowling Center. Austin had a blast as did Nathan and Anna. Here are a few pictures from our game!

Using the ramp to bowl....pretty cool contraption!

Get them...come on...know them down!!!

Ok, so look closely at the second frame for Austin....YES, that is a STRIKE that he got! Of course, his Momma beat them all! Austin even beat Aunt "Paul" (he refuses to say the 'a' at the end of her name!).

Ko 'Olina Beach

Yes, ANOTHER day at the beach...I mean, we DO live in Hawaii! We went with our neighbor and some of her friends to Ko'Olina, a resort on the Leeward side of the island (the west side). The resort has 4 man-made "lagoons and is AWESOME for kids since the waves don't get very big at all! We had a lot of fun!

Mom, are you sure it's ok?

Austin with Kaleb (he's 9 months old and has SLIMMED down some

since getting on solids! He was a 100% breastfed baby!

Do we have a future surfer??? Waiting on the "waves!"

What a cutie!

One of those "let's hold the camera and take our own picture" pictures!

Look Mom! I'm swimming!

A Yard Sale find....

Yes, even though I had my own yard sale, I still got to buy something! Our FRG was having a yard sale the same day I was, so I went over the day before to make sure that the person hosting it was doing ok and see if she needed any help with anything. Well, there was this blow up thing that I thought was a pool. Well, we got it unfolded and it turned out to be a mini jumper toy. She blew it up after I left and I had told her that if she didn't want it that I would take it for Austin. I asked her how much she was going to price it for and she said $5. So, I got it later that night. I didn't get to blow it up until today because it has been raining on and off since Saturday. Well, while Austin was taking his nap, I got the pump and blew it up. When he got up from his nap we were supposed to go to Circuit City, but I knew if we left right then that we would get stuck in rush hour traffic on the way back, so I let him play in it for a while. He LOVED it....and was so sweaty by the time we had to go back inside!!! Here are a few pictures:

A package from Daddy....

Austin got a package today from Daddy.....

What is it?

I LOVE IT! I'll just give it a hug!
Camel with a new hat....

Another hug....

AND a kiss!!!

If you couldn't tell what it was, it's a camel from Iraq...the hat says "Camp Speicher Iraq." Austin absolutely loves it....and even slept with it last night. Thanks Daddy!!!

Our Yard Sale...

We had a yard sale yesterday....yes, we actually got up at the crack of dawn and put stuff out. Paula and the kids spent the night and we got up at 5:45am to start putting stuff outside. You wanna know what time our first customer came by? 6:30am!!!!! Yes, a bit early and we weren't anywhere near done putting stuff out there. There are some serious yard salers out there people!!!

Anyway, Austin saw all his things out on the yard and thought it was just a fun way to play! Of course, the old shoes that don't fit him anymore were the first things he put up and took away....too bad Mommy found them again!

Overall, we did really well. There weren't as many people driving around as I thought there would be, but we managed to bring in a little bit of money. I have already set aside some cash for our Disney World Trip in November. We ended up with 4 families selling stuff in my yard....so, that alone brought people to the sale. Overall, it was an EXHAUSTING, but productive day.

Our November Trip is PLANNED!!!

For all of you who don't know, Brian will be back sometime around his birthday. So, that means that we will be going on leave in November. We know this already because Brian has to be back in Hawaii at the beginning of December to inventory the equipment when it gets back from Iraq. So, with the approval of some people in the unit, Brian was able to coordinate with me and we set dates that we wanted to go to Disney World, Missouri, and Arkansas.

I'm so excited....we have everything BOOKED!!! Even our Disney World Trip is done with reservations for a restaurant already!

Here are the dates we will be visiting each place...

11-17 November - Disney World
17-23 November - Missouri
23-28 November - Arkansas

Can't wait to see everyone again!!!!

4th of July....Iraq Style

Brian sent some pictures to me, so I thought I'd post them here. All of these pictures are from the 4th of July. The guy in two of the pictures with him is his friend, Randy.

Austin's new pool

Austin got to get his own kiddie pool last week. We had one at the house in Mililani, but it wasn't very deep and it took up a LOT more space than this new one. Plus, it had a hole in it and I couldn't find where it was, so I threw it away.

I bought this pool before our party on Saturday so that we would have something for the kids to do while everyone was outside having fun and eating. I set the pool up a couple days early though so Austin could take a dip a time or two before sharing it. He LOVES this pool. Here are a few pics of just him and a couple of pictures at the party (I didn't get ANY of the party since I was so busy grilling and then eating and having fun!).






I empty the pool out each night (for two reasons: post regulations and it's just too nasty at the end of the day to keep it filled!) and in the morning, Austin goes to the door and looks out and says, "MY POOL! Where's my POOL!!!!" It was pretty funny the first morning because he thought that he would be able to go swimming at 6:30am when he got up.

Sparklers...

Yes, I may be a bad mom for doing this, but I let my 2 year old hold some sparklers. He had fun and was REALLY good with them though!!! Notice he's sitting down and holding by the VERY end! He loved it and had a lot of fun....he wanted to do more, but it was late and I told him that there were no more (yeah, I fibbed a little!). So off to bed he went...a happy little pyro just like his mother!

Fireworks!!!

Here are some pictures of the fireworks...Austin loved them and called them "stars."

The blue on his face is from a ring pop....at least it's blue and goes

with the patriotic theme of the day!!!

I got some tips on Yahoo! about how to take photos of the fireworks. So, I figured I would try it out a little....I think it works a LOT better than last years photos!

Eveyone in AWE....and maybe a little tired???

Happy 4th of July!!!

Today is a big day for most military families. We know first hand the sacrifices it took to make this day what it actually is. Deployments make this day even more meaningful.....as our loved ones are actually doing what their jobs entail.....directly or indirectly, they are keeping America free. Personally, while I would LOVE for Brian to be home, I am proud of the job he has and wouldn't go back to change a bit of it!

Speaking of, Brian told me a little about his day....they had a day of fun and relaxation over there (not everyone, but missions are 24/7 over there!). Brian got to compete in a horseshoes tournament with his friend Randy where they placed second. Then they were in a hamburger eating contest. I think Brian threw that competition! He got to IM with me a little bit this morning and he sounded good. He's a little bummed that he's not home to celebrate the 4th....it's one of his favorite days of the year. He's doing well though and is looking forward to coming home (maybe in time for his birthday????) and going on leave!

Austin and I spent the morning doing yard work (we are having a get together on Saturday with our neighbor and some friends) and then after Austin's nap, we went to Schofield Barrack's 4th of July Spectacular. It was a fun time....a little stressful at times with the crowd and a very fast 2 year old, but fun nonetheless! The fireworks were in a weird place, so we had to move to see them, but the kids had fun watching them! That's all that really matters!!! Here are some pictures of the fun before the fireworks!!!