Hokulani's 9th Birthday

June 8, 2011

Hokulani celebrated her 9th birthday by having friends over for a slumber party. She was so excited for her birthday to come and happy to have her two best friends celebrate with her.

Hokulani wanted to have potato boats (twice-baked potatoes) for dinner so that's what we ate.

We bought some cheap poppers at the store so the girls made a big BANG with them outside. Way to start a celebration!

Aren't presents always the best part? Well, Hokulani was excited to open her presents. Here she is opening one of them:

Hokulani got fake (press on) nails from her big sister, Anuhea. Just what she wanted!

Hokulani got books from her friend, Samantha Camarato. Yeah!

Books must be the theme, because she also got some from Haleigh Strickland. Yippee! (Thank goodness Hokulani likes reading.)

Daddy and Mommy gave Hokulani the following gifts...

American Girl kit to decorate and put together organizing pockets for her bedroom:

Water balloons (Hokulani loves them this summer):

A Whimzy pet (dog):

Hokulani asked for cupcakes. Apparently, she doesn't like cake (that has to be cut up).

Happy Birthday, Hokulani!

Our New House (hopefully)

Jason and I looked at many houses while we were in the San Diego area. We didn't actually look in San Diego, but about 1/2 hour away. First we checked out houses in San Marcos, and then we looked in Escondido, CA. We liked many of the houses we saw, but fell in love with this one in South Escondido. We made an offer, it was countered, and agreed upon. Now we just have to pray that all goes well with the rest of the process so that we can move into the house in August.

The house has 4 bedrooms, 2-1/2 baths, a den, living room with fireplace, family room, large kitchen, dining room, covered patio, nicely landscaped yard, built-in barbecue area, fire pot area, storage sheds, and it is almost 1 acre of property. We are so excited about this place!

Front of house:

Circular driveway (which I've always wanted!):

Entrance:

Covered patio:

Yard (with hammock that the sellers have agreed to leave):

We hope you'll visit us (and that this will be the house you'll visit us in)!

Trip to San Diego

Jason and I traveled to San Diego to look for a house to buy for when we move out there in August. We left the children with friends from church, and felt like honeymooners (not counting the house hunting part).

San Diego is beautiful! We are so excited to move there, and for the children to see what it is like there. There are so many things to do in the San Diego area, and we know we will be happy there.

Look at the view!

We watched some parasailers at Torrey Pines Gliderport. It was amazing! I think we'd be too scared to try it ourselves, especially since they're so high above the ocean, but it was wonderful to watch.

We also saw beautiful views of the coastline when we were at Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial. The memorial was a peaceful place to be, and there were pictures of so many soldiers.

The San Diego Temple is beautiful! We love the design and the grounds. We loved the spiritual feeling while we were there, and it was fun to see people dressed for a wedding that day. The Temple is right off of the freeway, and just jumps out at you as you pass by. Amazing!

A great place to visit is the Mormon Battalion Historic Site. It was right up the road from the hotel where we stayed. The Site also serves as a visitor's center for the Temple. We enjoyed the story of the Battalion, and the interactive tour. We even brought home some (fool's) gold for the children!

Our hotel was mainly used for sleeping. We spent so much time out of the hotel that we didn't need it for much else. We stayed at the Best Western Hacienda Hotel right in Old Town San Diego.

There's so much more to see and do. We can hardly wait! We also hope you will come and visit us after we've moved.

Sea World!

May 13, 2011

The 3rd graders at the elementary school Hokulani attends went on a field trip to Sea World. I went as a chaperone. It was very nice that the chaperones were per class. Being that the class sizes are relatively small, I only had 2 people in my group--Hokulani and Desmond.

We had a great time at Sea World. If only it hadn't been so hot and humid and long and. . .

Okay, I'm complaining, but only because I was SO tired at the end of the day. My feet were killing me and I had a headache.

We enjoyed the shows and rides at the park. Fortunately, some other chaperones were willing to go on the big rollercoaster, Kraken, because I did NOT want to go on it. I get motion sickness. Desmond wanted to ride the rollercoaster so he went with that group for the ride. Hokulani stayed with me.

The Shamu show was amazing! The whales were cute, even though they're so large. The chaperones sat higher up from the children so we wouldn't get wet (or as wet) as the children who sat on the bottom row. Yeah, right. The whales cleverly flapped their flippers so that everyone in the Splash Zone got soaked. I didn't realize we were still in the Splash Zone (we were on the top row of it). I had just enough time to cover my camera and then I could grab my towel from my backpack to dry my face, at least. Thankfully, we (adults) didn't get as wet as the children.

Hokulani and other classmates rode on the Swishy Fishies, which were like the teacups at Magic Kingdom, except that these "cups" rose up into the air.

We also went to the Sea Lion & Otter Stadium to watch "Clyde & Seamore Take Pirate Island". The show was kind of cheesy, but the sea lions and otters were cute.

Desmond loved the stingrays. At Stingray Lagoon you can touch the stingrays. You can also buy raw shrimp (crayfish) to feed the stingrays. ($5 for 4 or 5 pieces of shrimp!)

Baby ray!

We also went to the Manta Aquarium, Penguin Encounter (stinky), and Shark Encounter. Fun!

After the long trip, I was so glad to get home and rest. Did I mention that I get motion sickness? Well, I was feeling sick just on the bus ride TO Sea World. Thankfully, I fell asleep on the bus ride back to the school.

One of the other moms took a lot more pictures. I'm hoping to get some from her soon so I can add them here, especially with pictures of Hokulani.

Nalani's Final Concert

May 9, 2011

Nalani was so anxious for her final band concert at Lawton Chiles Middle School. She invited friends from church, and was happy that some could attend. (Thank you, Howard family and Hunter Winters, for attending!)

The Beginning Band (Nalani's in this one) and the Concert Band performed this evening. Each band took turns playing a number of songs.

Here's Nalani with her trombone:

The Beginning Band: