D's Baptism

A family picture on the way to little D's baptism.

Eight is a special birthday where we are eligible for baptism into our church. All of our children have chosen to be baptized when they turned eight, and all occasions were special days. D's special day was no different, except that we live in paradise and got to spend the morning at the beach. Here are a few pictures from the baptism.

Just before the baptism

Hawaiian tradition is to give a lei on special occasions. D especially appreciated

that many of these leis were made of candy. SWEET!

Grammy Joan flew out to celebrate this special day with D.

A rare moment of bonding

Used, abused, beat up, stung.... and going back for more!

Don't ever get tired of this... (insert sigh of content)

Saturday morning we took Grammy Joan to Bellows AFS for a rockin' day of Boogie Boarding. We were seriously beat up by the ocean, but despite our nasal/brain salt water enemas, our pulled muscles, and repeated attempts by the ocean to toss us out, we had an amazing morning. Because the waves were so huge and strong, when we did actually manage to 'catch' one, the ride was awesome! Grammy Joan put up a good fight and enjoyed her first attempt at boogie boarding. She and I were the only that emerged from the ocean unscathed by jellyfish. Supposedly, it hurts like the dickens, but the pain subsides after 20 minutes or so. I'll let you know when my turn comes.

D's poor little leg after the jellyfish stings. Both legs were stung, but he's a real trooper.

A got stung on the hand, but eventually got back in the water

Dave & Grammy Joan preparing their attack strategy

D's 8th Big Day

Happy 8th Birthday Little D!

When did THIS happen? When did my baby grow up to be 8 years old? Anyway, the big day is Thursday, the 24th of September. D has been a real joy in our family, with a fantastic smile, ridiculously long eyelashes, and a witty sense of humor beyond his years. His happy demeanor is evidence to me that God doesn't give us more than we can handle. We celebrated with Grammy Joan who flew out here to be with us, and even ate dinner at the historically significant (at least in my family) Farrell's Ice Cream Parlor for dinner and more importantly dessert.

The happy boy reading a birthday card

Dessert at Farrell's

Wings Over the Pacific

"Z"-22

Prime seats

Surfing - the 1st

Anticipation

Saturday was Dave's weekly "board meeting", rescheduled from his usual Friday afternoons, so he invited us to join him. I don't know if he was breaking any official work protocol, but we had a great time. The kids are now very enthusiastic about surfing, and I anticipate spending a wad of cash on surf boards and paraphernalia. I opted to stay dry and be the offical photographer for this first outing, but I WILL learn to surf while we are here... so WATCH OUT! For more pics, check out here.

Dave almost there

B's first attempt. She succeeded in standing up on her first day.

Z helping D get situated with the boogie board. You can't really tell by the pictures, but the surf was really pounding.

WIPEOUT! Look at Z's face.

Z almost up

And... he's up!

A very rare moment in sibling helpfulness

Success is sweet! A on her knees

Hanauma Bay - the 1st

Beautiful panoramic, click to enlarge

Last Saturday we took the kids to Hanauma Bay for a fantabulistic snorkeling excursion. This is a beautiful underwater nature preserve situated in a quiet bay with reportedly the highest concentration of fish around the island for your viewing pleasure. It's a bit crowded, but the perfect place for a day of snorkeling, especially with the kiddos. We didn't have an underwater camera, so the pics will not include the awesome fish we saw, but the bay itself is pretty spectacular even without the fish.

Gearing up for another run

Growing up WAY too fast

Proof that I was there

Operation Hele On

Can you see A with bullet injury on her leg?

I do believe I am as up to date on the blog as I'll get, so I'm going to go ahead and start posting more current/relavant family adventures. Last Friday was Statehood Day. It is held the 3rd Friday in August each year to commemorate Hawaii's statehood. This year marks 50 years. The kids were happily off school, and Dave was off work. We had signed the oldest three up for Operation Hele On, an all-day mock deployment held at Hickam AFB so children can appreciate a little more what their deployed parents might have to do. As you can imagine, Z was a little less than enthusiastic about it at first, but they all seemed to enjoy themselves regardless.

They were probably around 150 kids, give or take, ages 9-14, that participated and were divided into 8 'squardons' complete with TIs sporting their wide brimmed hats and barking orders. The kids marched in formation chanting 'jodies' to keep cadence, competed against each other as squadrons, toured tanks, handled rifles, watched military dogs take down a few guys in 'fat suits', and engaged in mock battles, complete with mock injuries. Z had a lovely looking bullet wound on his arm.

The awards ceremony

Z was proud of his injury