Kilaeau Volcano

NATURE....It's everywhere!

gift for Pele

Crater

ferns

Monk Seals

What an amazing place to live. We just happened upon these 2 on a beach on the Northern Shore of Oahu.

Derrick made a friend.

Tea with Grandma Chandler

They had sooo much fun. I think Grandma was in really enjoying her time with the girls (oh, and Christian!).

Miscellaneous pics from our Texas trip

Santa Land is this awesome drive thru park made of Christmas Lights!

Kassie

Isabelle, Derrick, Ian, Sofi, and Sydney

Derrick's Birthday X 3 - January 1st

Derrick hit the jackpot this year and was able to celebrate his birthday 3 times! That means he managed 3 Cakes out of the deal. Grandparents are the best!

Derrick's 1st shot

Derrick shooting out Grandpa and Grandma Berry's back door. Dad says he did great!

Drew's Promotion

A be-lated Congratulations to my wonderful husband, Drew on his promotion to Master Sergeant and new job as First Sergeant. We are so proud of you, Top!

3 little monkeys

More beach video.

The kids were facinated with this snail. It was huge- even bigger than our Italian snails!

Mamaw and Kiwini Poe's Visit

Papaw, Mamaw, Uncle Kendall and Auntie Robin

Mamaw and Aunt Robin catching some rays....

We really enjoyed our visit with Mamaw and Papaw (aka Kiwini Poe) and Uncle Kendall and Aunt Robin. We are so glad they could come and explore the island. In case you are wondering, Kiwini Poe is my dad's name in Hawaiian. Sofi loves her Kiwini Poe. Find your name in Hawaiian:

http://www.alohafriendsluau.com/names.html

Building a castle

My favorite things....

My treasures......How blessed I am!

Thought some of you might want to see the outside of our house. Don't ask me what the ugly tree in our yard is! I'm stuck with the landscaping since we are not allowed to plant at all. Only pots no more than 24 in diameter. At least the house is great!

Hawaii House

Downstairs 1/2 bath- Chocolate and Blue, I love it

View of Formal Living from loft

Loft with desk for kids for our homeschooling

Kitchen w/ eat in and desk (taken from family room)

Family room (taken from Kitchen)

Formal Living Area w/ 2 story ceiling (taken from Dining room/ hallway.)

Dining Room (yellow walls) I love this room! We also added the chandelier. This was my great buy at Home Depot- $12.30

Down to 2 weeks

We are down to 2 weeks as of tomorrow. I worked with Armin (Armin and Marion Tapestry) this weekend at the Primavera bazaar. Well, actually, I worked Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Drew worked for me on Sunday because it became obvious on Saturday that Sofia and I were sick. She ran a fever for 2 days. She is better today although still cranky. I will hopefully be better tomorrow. We will see. Armin was very glad it was Drew and not me on Sunday since Drew has the muscles and helped load all the tapesties back in the truck.

Derrick has informed everyday how many days he has left of school. 7 1/2 days. He is thrilled! They are also excited about my birthday this weekend b/c it means CAKE!We will be going to the winery, Bessich, down the street, this weekend. They are having their annual party. Glad we didn't plan a trip this weekend. I wouldn't have wanted to miss that! They throw a great party- complete with an Italian Country Western Band. Crazy as it sounds, they're not too bad.

For my friend, Liz

The bulbs I never thought would bloom...

Liz bought 6 iris bulbs at a local market here in Italy. I talked her into giving them to me b/c she didn't know where she would plant 6 bulbs. She had larger beds. I have been waiting and waiting while all the irises around me bloomed. I truly thought these weren't going to bloom before we left Italy. I was so excited to see them blooming yesterday morning! I even tried to talk Drew into letting me sneak the bulbs into my suitcase but he swears I will get busted and carted off to jail or something. Guess we'll see if I am feeling rebellious or not...you never know.

Grady's pansies...

When my friend Liz was leaving, we dug up her pansies and put the in a plastic grocery bag. Well, I forgot them overnight at her house and the next morning, we found pansies drug all over the yard by her very playful dog Grady. I expected them to die, but I planted them anyway. That was in November! These pansies have been blooming ever since in a bed I have not been able to grow anything in. Everytime I see them, I smile and think of Liz and Grady. Thanks Grady! You've got the touch!

Baptism

Here is the video from Derrick and Isabelle's baptism on Easter Sunday. What a joyful day in a parent's life. Yes, there were tears of pride and joy from momma.

Thank you

Thank you to my friends who helped me with Sofia during our move. You guys are awesome and I love you. It helped to make our packing days alot less stressful.

Our pack out went great. We had very professional and efficient movers (the same crew who packed up my friend Liz). I think they did a good job. We'll see on the other end. Apparently, the Army does not fly our stuff there, so it will go by slow boat to China (in this case, Hawaii) and we will see it sometime in August. Pray it comes faster since we did not hold out much for the kids to play with because we thought it would be there end of June (transportation office really gave us bad info!). Oh, well. We're going to Hawaii- can't complain too much, can we?