Camden: "Mom, there is grass on my bread."
Mom: "No, that is parsley on your garlic bread."
Noah: "I went to Kindergarten 4 times this week. Tomorrow is my last day."
Mom & Dad: Thinking to ourselves: "If you only knew!"
Camden & Mom were having a random conversation that didn't make much sense.
Mom to Camden: "Huh, I wasn't aware of that."
Camden to Mom: "That's not surprising!"
Mom: "Alrighty then."
Hope you had a good week.
What a day!!! Noah had a FANTASTIC first day at Kindergarten. When asked how his day was, his response was "Great!!!". His favorite thing today was "the lunch room" and pretty much the only other thing he is talking about is going to the gym. Today may have been a bit overwhelming for him and he is just taking it all in and when he feels comfortable he will begin to talk more.
He has been ready to go to K since he was 2. No joking! After meeting his teacher on Friday afternoon, he asked me if I was going to walk him to class. "Of course I will, until you are comfortable to go by yourself". He thought for a second and then said, "Mom, I will be fine by myself, I don't need you to walk me to my class." I did walk him to class this morning and he was right, he would have been just fine by himself. He walked right in, put his back-pack and lunch box in his locker and then went around exploring and making new friends. I just stood there and realized there was nothing for me to do, so I left (a moment that was hard to swallow). I am SO VERY PROUD of the confident big guy he has become!
The rest of the day held a few surprises for me. I knew that Camden would be affected by all of this, I just did not know how it would manifest itself. The easy going, free-spirited child that I know was replaced by a little boy who was struggling with fear. He was afraid to go any place in the house by himself today. He also had to play literally right under my feet and I had to be his playmate continually. I knew some of this would occur but not to the extent it did today. He would not engage in free play on his own, since his brother was gone. He also had to wake up much earlier than usual, which threw his whole eating and nap pattern into a tisey! I enjoyed spending wonderful one-on-one time today with Camden, something he has never really had. This will be an adjustment for him, I believe a good one.
P.S. I have no idea how I got the underline on, I can't seem to get it to go away! I don't see an underline button as a choice. Any suggestions?
Hurricane Flossie cancelled our trip to the Big Island on Tuesday, so we ventured over to see the 8-10 foot waves she was generating on Oahu. What a sight!!! I just sat in awe of the body surfers and boogie board riders being churned like the inside of a washing machine in the waves.
This picture is an incredible picture of a man body surfing inside the wave. As you can see Brian was ready to go in the waves. After seeing a 5 year old with her surf-board in the waves he was no longer sitting on the beach. The waves were powerful and it felt like you were going to be pulled out to sea. An experience I will never forget.
Does anyone recognize this picture with the beach and the rocks? It is from the movie "From Here to Eternity" and the opening scene from "Grease" was filmed here as well.
We are grateful to our families who made this trip possible for Brian and I. Thank you for taking such wonderful care of Noah, Camden and Gracie while we were away. We love you... Mahalo!!!
Friday, we headed to the world famous North Shore which is known for it's large waves in the winter. After navigating down through some fairly large rocks we reached Shark's Cove. We spent the morning snorkeling and watching the beautiful fish swim below us. The vibrant blues, yellows, reds and orange colors we saw are simply not possible to put into words.
Later that evening, we spent the evening on a 40 something foot sailboat watching the above sunrise.
Brian played two rounds of golf while on vacation. He played at the Ko' Olau Golf Club, one of the hardest course in the U.S. on Saturday and did very well with an 81.
Sunday after church, Brian and I headed over to the North Shore to take a hike in the mountains. After driving for about 45 minutes we arrived in the parking lot where I just didn't feel right about hiking. After some discussion we left. We drove to a North Shore beach where the endangered Green Sea Turtles (see pictures) swim in the surf and beach themselves to eat algae. We watched the turtle and listened to a volunteer talk about the turtle and learned that if you wear a bathing suit that is green you need to keep your distance from the turtle because they think you are food. Well, I am sure you can guess, I was wearing a bathing suit with lots of green on it. We snorkelled cautiously with the turtles and then headed back to Shark's Cove for more snorkeling.
Later that afternoon after swimming at Waimea Bay,
we noticed smoke in the direction we were driving. When we arrived home, we found out that 3,000 acres were burning due to a brush fire and the mountain we were going to hike on had been closed due to the fires burning. Several days later, the wildfire had spread to 7,000 acres and was still not under control.
We are back and still trying to catch up on sleep. We had a wonderful 10 days on Oahu and came back relaxed and ready to tackle the coming school year. This first picture is our first night on the Island. We headed to the beach to drink a few Mai Tai's and watch the sunset with Sharon and Ross.
The second day we headed to a Luau to celebrate my 35th birthday. We had front row seats (it is all about who you know, and we thank Sharon and Ross for their connections) and were treated to the best Luau on the Island. Fia Fia, was incredible!!! The fire dancers were dazzling and 
our night was topped off with a tattoo and the singing of Happy 
Birthday to Sharon in Samoan.
Brian, Sharon and Tutu headed out the next day to the other side of the Island to Tropical Farms a.k.a. Macadamia Nut farm where we learned more about the Hawaiian culture. At this location we saw where several movie have been filmed. The pier is from Fantasy Island where he would stand and shout "de plane" and the building in the other picture has been used as the restaurant in 50 First Dates as well as scenes from E.R., Jurassic Park, Lost and several others. Next we headed over to the shrimp trucks and some of the best Kahuku Shrimp on the planet!!!! I have waited 2 years for this shrimp and I was not disappointed. To top it off we then drove to the Dole Plantation and had a Pineapple Whippee!!!! Yippee!!!! Once again, we were not disappointed.
This past week was Vacation Bible school at our church. It was a wonderful time spent having fun and learning about Jesus. Noah had a smile on his face from the time he walked in the front door of the church until he fell asleep each night. He knows all about each bible story and doesn't forget all the little details that he learned. Camden had an equally fantastic time and came home asking some great questions about Jesus' death. Wow, it is amazing what a three year old can process! I had a blast doing pre-school crafts each night with the kiddos, but am really exhausted!! Thank you Kerrie W. for some of the wonderful pictures above.
I am going to take a break from blogging for the next 10 days and just sit on the beach in Hawaii. The kids are going to have a fabulous vacation here at home with the extended family. Until then, Aloha.
