Playing Catch-up Again

Kierian and Kylee receiving their graduation certificates.

Haven't done a post for a while, so I guess I should do some catching up.

First thing is school is out for the summer and Kierian passed the 8th grade! YAY! It's so frustrating because he's so smart but he's so lazy and won't do his homework! UGH!

But in the end, he graduated and here is a picture of him AND Kylee at their 8th grade graduation. Now on to High School!

Kierian and Kylee @ their 8th grade graduation.

On June 6th we went to military appreciation day at the Honolulu Zoo. It was free to get in and the USO even provided us with a free lunch and ice cream. The MWR here on post even had a free bus that took us down to the zoo so we didn't have to worry about parking or traffic or anything. Kylee spent the night at a graduation party in Waiane with her friends so she wasn't with us, but we really had a lot of fun!

Andi near the flamingos

Andi and the chimps

Kierian, Dave and Andi...lost in the Hawaiian forest?

Kierian, Andi and Mom at the Honolulu Zoo

Dave looking lost and Andi looking silly

And finally Independence Day...the 4th of July!

The kids and I walked down to Sills Field for the 4th of July Spectacular. They had booths with games, food, drawings, vendors etc. It was a fun afternoon. Then we came back home and rested for a while before I started our special "All-American dinner" hehe We had hot dogs, corn on the cob, baked beans and jello salad. For dessert, we got out of smores maker and roasted marshmellow and made smores while we waited for the fireworks show to start. We also played a couple games of Apples to Apples which made for a lot of fun while we passed the time. Dave is currently in GA at school, but he went to Savannah with a friend, so I'm sure he had a lot of fun too:)
Here are some pics, enjoy!

Kierian climbing the rock wall

One of the units here on post had a great idea for a fund raiser. They brought in a couple of old cars and for $1 you could whack the car 3 times with a sledge hammer! Here is Andi taking her whacks. The "rule" was if you knocked something off the car you had to take it with you, so we saw a lot of people walking around with trim from the doors, mirrors and bumpers...haha. And as you can see in the next picture, Kierian ended up with a steering wheel!

Andi, Kierian (with a steering wheel on his head that he knocked off one of the cars with a sledge hammer) and Kylee.

Andi and Kylee rode on a ride they liked to call "The Spinning Bathtub of Death"! Andi started to get sick about half way through and Kylee wouldn't stop spinning it...Andi was cursing her the rest of the day...hahaha, just kidding. Here I'm not sure if they're having fun or if they were delirious or what!

Here we are towards the end of the day. Roasting marshmellows for smores while waiting for the fireworks to begin.

This and That

This past Saturday Dave and I attended our first luau here in Hawaii. It was a "Welcome back to Paradise" luau for his unit. Normally when a unit comes back from an overseas tour (as Dave's new unit just did) they have some kind of welcome back celebration for the whole battallion...sometimes even the whole brigade. This was just a battallion level event, but his Company had a formal ball a few weeks ago.

I'm not sure if I like the formal balls better or the casual setting better. Usually, the formal ones seem more structured and intimate. I guess because you are forced to sit in a certain place with certain people and you are served your meal by a waitstaff and there's dancing and everyone is in their uniforms and fancy dresses. You have a Keynote speaker usually. It's as formal as one can get with a bunch of drunk soldiers I guess.

Now the luau was something different. It was more relaxed obviously and my feet weren't killing me because I had to wear heels all night. It was entertaining as there was a hula show. They still had pictures as you can see here.

And of course there was still the mandatory drinking and acting stupid by most of the soldiers. Dave and I usually get a good laugh out of watching people getting silly drunk...as long as we know they have a ride home who ISN'T drinking.

The food at the luau left a little something to be desired though. But maybe that was just the venue...like I said, this was our first luau so who knows. It was served buffet style and I learned that poi is not very tasty at all! I know that you're not supposed to just eat it by itself so I even tried dipping my pulled pork in it, but it just made the pork taste nasty! I learned that purple sweet potatoes aren't bad, but would probably taste better warm rather than cold. I tried chicken long rice for the first time...it was ok, but kind of bland. I have also come to realize that the Hawaiians eat white rice with everything! Must be the Asian influence here in the islands.

Dessert was good though...I love haupia and haupia cake:)

Ok, enough rambling about the luau, here's a picture of Kierian on Memorial Day at the Schofield Barracks cemetary. His troop helped put the flags on the graves and then they performed the flag ceremony that morning. This is the only picture Dave got of him and his troop. (the girls and I stayed home). I know that he enjoys doing scout stuff, I just hope it continues and drives him to get that Eagle!

Middle School Showcase

Last night, Kylee and Kierian's school held a Student Showcase. Kierian had built a CO2 car and I think they will be racing them before the end of the school year. And personally, I think his red, white and blue car was the coolest car there! But then I might be a bit biased;) Unfortunately, I forgot to get a picture of it:( But I will take one when he races it.

Kylee's drama class put on a play that was really cute. It was about peer pressure and she played a cute "pink lady" pig:) You can watch her in the clip below. She is the one directly to the right of the main character (in case you couldn't tell;)

Other than this little song and dance, she was in one other scene. I tried to take pictures, but she was moving around a lot so they didn't turn out very well.

They were supposed to be at a party...notice the beer bottle and cigarette in her hands...eww! Dave was concerned that she acted a little TOO well during this scene...LOL

I think Kylee is going to be our performer. Maybe a cheerleader, dance team, drama, choir or maybe even just a softball star. She likes being involved and in the midst of it all.

All in all it was a fun night.

More Good News!

Yesterday we confirmed something we had already suspected, but Dave was "officially" on the list to be promoted! He is finally going to be a Sergeant First Class! YAY!

He is number 221 on the list, so it will be a few months before he is actually promoted, but at least now we know it's coming! We are so proud of him!

Dave receiving his Drill Sgt of the Cycle Award in 2007



Then today, we got some great news from Andi's school. The high school mailed her report card out and she got her first 4.0 GPA! All A's! Way to go Andi!

Silly mom made a deal with all three kids that if they EVER got a 4.0 GPA she would pay them $100...of course I was thinking it would probably never happen...LOL Not that I don't think my kids are capable of it, but let's face it, it's a lot of work to get straight A's, ya know?

We are very proud of Andi too:)

Andi next to one of the birthing stones near Wahiawa

Punchbowl

The first service member buried at Punchbowl. Notice he was killed during the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Yesterday our family took a trip to Punchbowl Cemetary. Technically it's call The National Cemetary of The Pacific, but it's in Punchbowl (or Puowaina in Hawaiian) crater.

It was a very humbling experience. I have yet to visit a National Cemetary and not feel in awe of the sacrifices made.

Punchbowl is no different. When you first drive in you are struck by the awesome sight of the Honolulu Memorial at the end of the bowl. We were also able to visit some notable grave sites.

Henry Hansen (One of the Marines in the famous flag raising on Iwo Jima)

Ernie Pyle (A Pulitzer Prize winning journalist during WWII)

Ellison Onizuka (One of the astronauts killed in the Challenger tragedy in 1986)

The mass grave of the Wake Island Defenders...really interesting story about how group of mostly civillians defended Wake Island against Japanese invaders.

We got some great pictures of the city from the look-out too.

The kids are now on Spring Break so we are looking forward to visiting more fun places here on Oahu:)

Honolulu with Diamond Head in the background.

Honolulu/Waikiki

Kierian at the base of the Courts of the Missing