What the Hawk??

What the Hawk??

June 19, 2011

We have this nest on our drain pipe. The babies hatched recently and we have been watching them grow and the mommy feeding them. Yesterday, this giant hawk (or falcon or whatever it was) dive bombed it and knocked it off to try and get the babies. The babies went flying to the ground. While the mommy and daddy continued attacking and dive bombing the head of the hawk, we got the nest (over the fence at the neighbors) and picked up the 3 babies, and carefully placed them back in the nest. When the hawk finally left, we prayed hard that the mommy and daddy would find the nest on our grill platform (since there was no way we could secure it back on the drain pipe). Thank goodness they came back. When I woke up this morning, I found that the nest had flipped over. Babies were ok, so I flipped it back and moved them in a bit to make it more secure. All are doing well. Whew!

(I actually caught the little mom attacking his head)

Stake Conference

Richard G Scott came for an unexpected stake conference today. It was wonderful and the girls stayed to shake his hand.

Getting back on our feet

The carpet guys showed up Thursday morning and were done only 6 hours later and it looks amazing. We spent the next few days taking the nails out of baseboards, putting the baseboards back up, and trying to get the rooms put back together.

We are all exhausted but its coming along. We are preparing to do the garage sale next weekend.

(yes, this is where she actually fell asleep!)

Home Sweet…Home?

Home Sweet…Home?

We made it home, even if it was to not ideal circumstances. Our sump pump malfunctioned while we were gone and flooded our basement. Our friends gathered together, cleared out the basement, saved what they could, took out the smelly carpet and started drying out the floors and drywall right away.

More people came today and helped us get ready for the carpet people coming tomorrow and we have an inspector coming as well to make sure everything is dry. Its exciting to get new carpet, but sort of a nightmare otherwise.

(Exercise room)

(living room)

(Girls room)

(Tylers room)

Thanks to the Alands and Hansens!!!! We came home to an amazing Hawaiian Stew and dessert as well as groceries in the fridge!

My heart is so full of gratitude for the friends we have here that took care of our home while we were gone and took care of us when we came home! We are truly touched by your kindness and generosity!

Remember the hours I spent spring cleaning and organizing?  The next week will be full of fun…

The Final Day

The Final Day

June 14, 2011

We checked out of our house (boohoo!) We took the scenic highway through the beautiful mountains. It has quite a view from the top.

Pearl Harbor Part Deux

Our biggest goal was to get back to Pearl Harbor and take the ferry out to the USS Arizona Memorial. We went through this wonderful museum and it was so fun for me to see my children excited about history. Kayla was particularly interested. I always hope that we have been able to teach them to respect what has happened in our history and respect those who have served and who do serve in the military to protect us.

(Using the code breaker machine)

(Torpedo wreckage found in the 1990s when they dredged the harbor)

(A piece of wreckage from the USS Arizona)

The tour starts out with a very informational movie which really explains why the Japanese attacked and included real footage which I always find fascinating. Then we took a ferry ride out to the USS Arizona. The memorial is beautiful and touching as you can see the actual ship beneath you. It is humbling to think of all the soldiers entombed there and see the thousands of names engraved on the wall. We were able to see the USS Missouri from a distance as well.

(The view if you look up from the memorial)

We also hit Walmart for some awesome souvenir shopping and I even broke down and got a sarong and Marisa got the ukulele she has been wanting.

We made it Home!

Our plane left Honolulu at 6:40PM and we had a long, bumpy flight that arrived in Dallas at 7:00AM. Our flight to Cedar Rapids was delayed, but we made it home safely. We were all a little home sick and happy to be home again. But we miss Hawaii terribly!

The FINAL Beach Day

The FINAL Beach Day

Sharks Cove

We knew we had to live it up on the final day! First, we went snorkeling at Sharks Cove. Tyler and I went exploring into some pretty deep places and saw the most amazing things including a sea urchin about the size of my head and a grouper about the size of Tyler- which made me freak out, panic, and scatter to safety! I probably scared him more than he scared me. We saw trumpet fish, silver fish, clown fish, and they all swam super close so we could almost touch them. It was incredible!! Alayna even learned to snorkel and she loved being able to swim next to so many fish! I wish I had an underwater camera so we could have shared the experience with you!

(See the cool bird that was pecking fish up out of the water?)

(You cant tell but that’s me and Tyler)

Bob, Kayla, and Alayna crossed over to the other side of Sharks Cove and discovered the most amazing toilet bowls (when the ocean rushes in and out). It was beautiful and Kayla with some of her amazing camera work was able to capture some of the beauty we were able to see.

By the time we left, it was pouring rain. We tried Goat Island but the waves were too high to try and cross. So, we went home and had lunch.

Pounders Beach and “I have a Coconut in my butt!”

The afternoon was gorgeous! It was sunny so we headed to pounders which had KILLER waves and I am NOT kidding when I say I now know why they call it “Pounders”! The waves were GINORMOUS, but I am proud to say Tyler, Bob, and I braved it and it was exhilarating. The waves would lift you up and practically drill you into the sand like a fencepost. I was pretty proud, especially when I caught the big ones and didn’t die or lose my swimsuit!

The waves were so strong that at one point Alayna turned to Kayla and said, “I think I have a huge pile of sand in my butt” and then she pulled out this giant coconut that had gotten shoved into her swimsuit. So funny!

We went back to Hukilau beach with the softer waves for the rest of the girls to Boogie Board. I wish my camera could have captured even half of the beauty.

We finished off the night with lots more Lost! So fun to actually see where they filmed. Only 2 episodes left to finish off the 1^st season with the kids.