Mama On The Move

Impressive, isn't it?

Kerry was only on the island for six weeks before he deployed. We went to a few beaches and museums before he left, but most of our explorations and discoveries have taken place since then. With his joyful return to the island we set out to show him the beautiful beaches, majestic mountains, and rich cultural heritage of Hawaii. So, of course, our first stop was the water park . Hawaiian Waters was recently bought out by Wet 'N Wild. It's a small water park but has some truly fabulous rides. I hear they are planning to expand into the surrounding eight acres but haven't officially confirmed it, so don't quote me. One of the first things we tried was the FlowRider. It shoots out jets of water that you can surf or boogie board on. There are many, many people who clearly spend a large portion of their lives on this ride. We watched in awe as young men surfed back and forth across the waves, tilting their boards so that they zoomed from one side to the other, spraying all t...

We decided to play a round of Cranium one night since Kerry is home. Katie and I were on a team together and Kerry and Emily were on a team together. Katie had drawn a card which said she had to sculpt a molar out of playdoh. I had to guess what it was. The only clue I had was that it was a thing . We had done this same type of thing earlier in the game when Katie had to sculpt a pizza and I guessed it correctly. My clue that time had been food . So this time I at least knew that the thing would not be a food . So Katie pulled off a hunk of playdoh and starts molding it into a small blob. I couldn't tell what it was. It was small and oval-ish and she was making little points on top of it and I wasn't getting it. I started calling out random small round objects. "Pebble!" "Jelly Bean!" "BOOGER!" "No!" Emily yelled helpfully. "It's not a food!"

Dogs don't really have a sense of time. They don't know it's been over six months since they've seen him. They only know it's been a long time, and boy have they missed him!

Well...I finally made it home after 31 hours on a plane! The trip was long and exhausting...but I am finally here enjoying the Hawaii that I have been hearing so much about while I have been gone. (Remember...I was only here for 6 weeks before I deployed). I was scheduled to leave on a Saturday and a large group of us arrived for our briefing/flight information and were informed that our flight had been cancelled. Not delayed. Cancelled. Not a good thing to hear. Actually, the airman who told us asked us if we wanted to good news or the bad news first. We said the bad news and he told us that the flight was cancelled. He then smugly informed us that the good news was that there was always tomorrow. I would have chosen another method of delivery because this poor airman was almost mugged on the spot. We finally left our base and flew four hours to Kuwait. There we waited a total of 28 hours in a sweltering tent with no phones or Internet until we finally boarded a contracted airline for...

We've been counting the months, the weeks, the days and the hours and finally , R&R has arrived! It wasn't easy though. Soldiers do not just get on a plane and fly home for a two week vacation. They have to take a series of flights because they are coming from so far away and in some areas there are no operating airlines. They must rely on military aircraft part of the way. For security purposes, they are not told their flight schedule until the last possible minute. We had a rough idea of when he might be arriving, but nothing specific. And by "rough idea" I don't mean we weren't sure if he was arriving at 3:00 or 4:00. I mean we had a five day window in which we knew he should probably arrive. The first setback came when he called to say his first flight was cancelled. Not delayed. Cancelled . He was still at his home base and had to go on into work since he was there anyway. Then, hallelujah, he called a day later to say he was on his way and he knew e...

Ben is at the upper left in the white tee shirt. The moms were having a meeting and the kids just decided to make their own entertainment.