Day of excitement

Today was filled with activity. I took Hunter hiking the Koko crater, since I had promised to do it before school starts on Friday. It was thrilling and beautiful. He enjoyed the views and actually listened when I told him not to run down the mountain...."it was scary looking down", he said.

This evening was my last meeting as FRG Leader and it was bitter sweet. I have certainly learned a lot about people, the Army, resources, regulations, and myself; spent countless hours working my tail off and trying to solve problems. It has been an overall great experience and I was overwhelmed tonight when the ladies said their goodbyes. I had over 20 leis placed around my neck with hugs following...which was quite entertaining. I had to take them off just to eat my food and continue the meeting. Some really caring cards were sent my way, kind words were said and I felt so blessed and appreciated. They gave me some very nice gifts too! It was very sweet and thoughtful and they went to a lot of trouble to make it all happen. This was the best group of ladies that I have been stationed with and will miss being a part of their activities.

Carnival afternoon

This afternoon we checked out the little carnival that had come to town. We got free wrist bands to ride the rides through a special offer for deployed soldiers' families. There were only a few rides, but the kids had a good time. The lines were short too. Hunter rode the zipper twice; this was his favorite ride. We all rode the ferris wheel and poor Ashley just kept looking down at her feet. Hunter wanted to rock the basket and I thought Ashley was going to toss him overboard! She really doesn't like heights and especially in a swinging basket. She was really brave and it was confirmed that Hunter is just like his dad- NO FEAR! We ended the afternoon with cotton candy and smiles. We miss Dad and talked about him on every ride. We can't wait to get back to the mainland for some big coaster riding with the whole family!

Summer Days

Hunter was away at camp this week, so Ashley and I went with a friend to hike up the Koko crater. My nephew, Ian, had sent us a Flat Stanley, so the little guy hitched a ride to the top too. It's 1,048 steps to the top of the crater with a 1200 ft. elevation. The "stairs" are actually old railway tracks that were used during the WWII era. Soldiers would sit in a cart and ride to the top to work their shift at the radar installation. Ashley was having some issues because the hike was pretty demanding, but she made it! When we finally reached the summit, it was a gorgeous 360 view. On the way down my friend Michelle and I almost slipped, but ashley did fall a few steps on her butt. It left her with a few scrapes and a rock in her leg but she was brave. After we reached the bottom we went to Kona's Brewing Company and had lunch at the marina. So it was a packed day filled with excitement.

The beautiful bay in the background is the famous Hanauma Bay.

We took a break from the drive out to Kaena point to watch the kite surfers- super cool to watch them all; there were at least 20 out this day!

So, we've been very busy lately with Ashley's water polo and swimming and Hunter's soccer, but we made time to hang out with some friends. We went for a beautiful sunset picnic up on Kolekole pass. It was very relaxing. Hunter had bought some colored smoke bombs so we lit them up. All the kids went crazy over them. Hunter kept thinking a military helicopter would spot them and call him in to the MP's!