More Hawaii

We were not afraid to ask strangers to take pictures of the whole family. It's nice to have some shots with everyone.

So Nate did start off with the backpack but that lasted for less then 5 minutes. It was pretty heavy though so...good try Nate.

At the top. What a view. The breeze felt SO good. There wasn't much air moving on the hike up.

Chris and Nate at the top.

This hike was a great workout. Plus I carried the backpack. I was sweating by the time we reached the top.

Oh Look. Stairs.

Oh Look. More stairs.

Yes, We are hammin' it up.

Chris and Nate enjoying a shaved ice. It was very refreshing after our hike up Diamond Head.

Nate LOVES all things that involve war and history. The only other person I know who ever got this excited about WWII stuff was my brother Don.

I'm steering the Missouri.

So you have to have seen Night at the Museum 2 to appreciate this shot. Nate loves those movies. Anyway, there is a part of the movie where "Thinker" strikes a pose and says Fire Power. That is what Chris is doing with those huge guns (actual guns NOT his arms). We thought it was funny. I'm not sure the other people in our tour did though. They were probably thinking....Stupid Americans.

Some of the walkways on the ship. You wouldn't want to be too tall or else you'd knock your block off.

The Memorial for the USS Oklahoma.






There is a beach on Hickham AFB where you can sit watch the planes take off from Honolulu International Airport. This was our 1st day on the island and we were still fighting off jet lag. Well, Nate and I were. Chris does just fine because he sleeps on airplanes (when he's not flying them of course).

Hawaii

The beach was a short walk (5 minutes if that) from our hotel room. We had a private access beach on Waikiki. I saw the public access beaches and I was very glad we didn't have to hang out with the rest of the general population. Nate didn't want to see the sunset so Chris and I got to spend some adult time. This is our "money" shot meaning that the lady who took it totally lucked into this one since she didn't have a clue what she was doing.

Everybody always wants a swimsuit shot. I love Hawaii because rashguards are the fashion. Chris got burnt but I used my 90 and 100 spf sunscreen and was nice and dandy. For a white girl I actually got some color.

Nate practising his snorkeling. We bought him a mask/snorkel and rented some from outdoor rec for us. The water here wasn't great for snorkeling but it did give him the opportunity to get use to the breathing before we went to Huanuma Bay. I always get a little claustrophic the first little while and have to slow down my breathing.

Check it out

Chris has a new blog that's devoted to his picture taking life. He actually posted pictures and I'm not going to redo what he's already done.

www.stitchspictures.blogspot.com

Alfred Hitchcock

If you click on the picture you can see all these birds in the trees and overhead. Let me assure you we hear them all the time too.

The Birds

Snow Day Feb. 2010

This is how Thursday 2/11/10 looked about 3pm. The roads were just wet but the snow was starting to accumulate. We all went to school/work/activities Thursday night. By 8pm they had shut down I-220, I-49, and Highway 3132. Those all roads I take to get to work so I cancelled all classes for Friday morning and slept in. At least until 7:30am.






This is what we woke up too Friday morning. Luckily the kids went to school ALL day Thursday even though it was snowing all day. To appreciate the irony, they had cancelled school in anticipation of an ice storm that never arrived in January but they went to school when it was actually snowing. I will never understand how it works down here. I am SO greatful they went all day Thursday. With having Friday off for snow and Monday off for President's Day that's A LONG weekend.




We really didn't have great snow clothes for Nate. We bundled him up as best we could and he did really well. We stayed outside for 1.5 hours. He did have to switch out gloves but he never complained ONCE. Miracle of all miracles. We ran around and played but I made Chris and Nate walk all over the neighborhood with me. With gyms closed you have to get exercise in however you can. Chris did have to go in to work at 10am. I'll bet he'll be home early though.












The snow was so wet and heavy that it packed really well. Made for some really hard snowballs though. I had to have a talk with both husband and child about not drilling me with the rocks aka snowballs. I am making a snowman by the way. You wouldn't imagine it but that snow was heavy and awkward.






To know the Otis family is too truely appreciate this picture. I honestly don't know WHY but all Otis men really appreciate taking "butt" pictures. I have tons of wedding photos from behind (pun intended) that my father-in-law took. This was purely retribution.











See I told you. Behind shots.

Nate warming up his arm for the snowball fight.

I think the snowman turned out pretty well. We'll be lucky if it survives past lunch though. It's already getting much warmer.

Pack Meeting

We are so excited about what has happened to our cubscout program. Nathan use to be 1 of 3 boys that would show up. We've had this huge influx of new families and we have 12-15 boys who show up on a regular basis. Not to mention 4-5 that are Nathan's age. We have been praying for more families with boys to move into the ward. I personally find this VERY exciting because it means an 11 year old scouting program will happen. YEAH!!

Also congrats to Nate on earning his "family member" award. Now that he's an arrow of light/Weeblos he just get to have fun now.

Early morning sunrise and rainbow

I've said it before but if Chris is going to take all these pictures then I guess I better put them up on the blog. I have put my foot down twice now and told him he can't bring the camera on our walks. It's distracting to have him stop every 10 feet for another picture.