Polynesian Cultural Center

The Tuesday after Christmas the wonderful Addington family watched our kids so we could go to the PCC.  The military was having a special on tickets for the buffet and show.  I am so glad we went.  Next time I definitely want to go to the Luau and Island tours but "Ha-Breath of Life" was amazing!  The show is all about the cycle of life while showing the complete Polynesian culture.  I cried like a baby during the first few scenes.  I am still going to blame this all on hormones!  We loved the show and can't wait to go back and do it again!

Look at the HOT guy I got to take a picture with!  Too bad some shirtless dude was in it too.

Christmas 2010

As the kids get older, Christmas gets more and more exciting.  Santa also has to work a lot harder to keep from being seen!  Every year we have the kids sleep in our room (only the ones not in a crib).  Basically we want to make sure the kids don’t go down stairs without us.  This year since our bed is on the floor and we don’t have the kid’s sleeping bags, we put all the beds in our room.  We had wall to wall mattresses and by morning they were in our bed anyway.

Christmas morning we all came downstairs to see what Santa brought and opened presents from Grandparents.  By the time we were done, I was exhausted.  Brandon let me take a nap but I unfortunately woke up with a head cold.  Luckily, it only lasted a couple of days.

The day after Christmas I still wasn’t feeling well and didn’t want to get anyone at church sick.  But, I still desperately wanted to get out of the house.  We decided to load the kids in the car and drive to the Temple.  It was so fun to see how excited the kids were about being at the Temple.  In Maryland we would see Temple a lot and I’m glad they know there is one here too.  The drive is really pretty and we did a big loop.  We stopped at North Shore on the way home and watched the crazy surfers, and believe me they are crazy!

Fun in the Sun

We have been able to test out two of the beaches here and look forward to trying all of them.  We have been to the Hickam Beach, which is small but close to home and the Bellows AFB beach.  Bellows is by far our favorite of the two.  It is much bigger and has great boogie boarding waves.  All of our kids love going to beach but the hardest one to control is Peyton.  His entire mission is to get to the water at all costs.  I never knew his chunky little self could move that fast!  He gets knocked down by waves and just laughs.  Zoe likes the water but had a bit of a scare.  One wave knocked her down while the other wave went over her.  I pulled her up and everything was fine, but she was more interested in building sand castles for the rest of the day.  Jacob loves everything about the beach.  He went boogie boarding a few times with Brandon.  He loved it but his white knuckle grip on the boogie board tells me he was a little nervous about it.  I caught a great wave on my first time out but got swallowed by a wave after that.  I got hit pretty hard again on the very next wave.  I hung up the towel after that.  A pregnant woman can only take so much.  Brandon is a boogie boarding natural.  We need to go to the beach on a date without the kids so we can spend more time playing in the water than chasing Peyton. 

Another plus about Bellows is Keneke’s Shaved Ice.  I have found a new addiction.  Everywhere we go, I scope out the shaved ice.  We have had some at the mall and at the stadium swap meet but these don’t compare to Matsumoto’s and Keneke’s.  I will have to do more research to figure out which one is my favorite.  While Matsumoto’s has more flavors, Keneke’s is literally on our favorite beach.  Having shaved ice after a day at the beach is what it is all about!

Naika helped us keep tabs on our little maniac.

No Longer Homeless

Now that the car was taken care of, we just had to wait to find out if/when we got a house.  In the meantime, we were living in a hotel for an undetermined amount of time.  While in the hotel Laundromat, I got to talk to some of the other women there.  I found out some pretty scary news.  There had been families living in the hotel for months waiting for a house on Hickam.  This was not good news.  We had a meeting with the housing office on Monday morning and I was terrified of what they would tell us.  Again, things went so much more smoothly than I had expected.  They offered us a house and we were able to “move in” on Thursday.  As soon as we accepted the house, they sent us to another building to borrow furniture, then to the Lending Closet to borrow everything else.  Between the Airman’s Attic, borrowing furniture, and the Lending Closet, we had a functional house for free!  This is the first Air Force base we have lived on and I have to say, I’m impressed!  We have beach style patio furniture and everyone has a bed and dresser.  We were able to get a Christmas tree, TV and VCR from the Airman’s Attic…for free.  I’m amazed.

Now that we have a house, and are trying to settle in, the kids are realizing that this isn’t our stuff.  The excitement has worn off and now they are getting homesick.  Everyday we talk about all of our stuff being on a boat and we pray to Heavenly Father that the boat will go faster.  The kids are usually fine during the day but at night they want their beds and their blankets.  Zoe asks me just about everyday where her play dough is and when it will be here.  Right now, we think everything should be here by the end of January.  That gives us a few short weeks to get everything situated before Maci  gets here.  Our van got here the Monday before Christmas and I have never been so excited to drive that van!  Having all three carseats in the back of the Jetta is not fun for anyone except Peyton.  Jacob and Zoe were excited to see the van too.  They thought it was on the same boat as all of our household goods.  We had to explain that while it is exciting that our van is here, we still have to wait for a different boat for everything else.  Over all the kids are doing really well with the whole move but at times it is tough for all of us.

Papa's got a "Brand New" Car

The day after we got here, we bought a car.  We spent the whole day driving around checking out the dealerships and test driving cars.  We really didn’t think we would actually find a car and buy it in one day, but we did.  We got a 2007 Volks Wagon Jetta.  I LOVE this car.  This is the newest car we have ever had.  After driving the rented minivans and Brandon getting a new car, I got spoiled.  Now I want a new minivan with all the bells and whistles instead of a suburban.  That will have to wait for awhile though.

Our Move to Hawaii

Our move to Hawaii started on December 6^th and is ongoing.  The movers packed up our entire house on Monday and loaded it into the crates on Tuesday.  On Wednesday the cleaning began.  The cleaning really wasn’t the hard part.  It was all of the last minute appointments and errands that had to be run.  Luckily, we had some wonderful friends that watched the kids for us on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  We moved into a hotel on Wednesday night and that made life a little rough.  I think Charlie might have eaten some stale dog food that was behind the fridge because she was sick for three days.  Having all the kids and a dog that is throwing up stuck in a hotel room was interesting to say the least.

Friday, December 10^th was the big day.  This was the day we moved to Hawaii and were officially homeless.  We got to the Airport at 5:45 AM so we would have time to check all of our 13 bags and Charlie.  This day went surprisingly well.  The kids did great!  Everyone around us was impressed with how well the kids behaved on two 5-6 hour flights.  I on the other hand I had a rough time.  Hormones!  I mean seriously!  One of the flight attendants was pretty rude to me and I broke down into tears.  On any other day this wouldn’t have phased me, but once I started crying, I couldn’t stop.  It was pretty embarrassing.  By the end, I think I was crying because I was upset with how hormonal I was being.

Everything that day and since we got here has gone so incredibly smoothly it is amazing.  Brandon’s military sponsor, James and the Addington’s have made this move really smooth.

Bedtime in the hotel

Sleeping on the plane.  It didn't last long!