First day of Preschool

Alex's first day of preschool was today! She will go 2 days a week which is perfect for both of us. She was excited to go....at first. Once in the classroom the realization that Mom was not staying hit & the crying began. No phone call yet so I assume all is well :-) How'd she get so big?!?!?

Happy on the way in!!

With a big cheesy smile ....BEFORE we got inside LOL

Halloween

We ended up going out with some friends and I forgot to take the camera along - opps! Fortunately I had already taken some pictures before we left for the night. Here are Ariel and Daphne :)

Ty was all ready to go.....

Alex had just woken up from a late nap and this was as close to a smile as I could get LOL

The look says it all - we are DONE with pictures for the moment! She did perk up greatly once we got around friends and she could actually start trick or treating!!

Ko' Olina Lagoons

Day at the beach with friends! Three moms and 7 kids between us hit the Ko Olina Lagoons for the morning. If you have heard of the new Disney Resort on Oahu then you have an idea of the location -lagoons are there as well (as is the Marriott)...It's on the west side of the island.

Alex still does not like the beach - or more specifically the waves/water. But given that there's grass and shade to play with, and others to keep her occupied, she was a happy camper this morning!

Ty & friends at the lagoons

Alexandra will finally play on the beach ;) but spent most her time on the grass picnic area.

Baby Q figuring out that sand really does not taste that good! The biggest, most squishable baby you'll ever meet! :)



Koko Head Crater Hike

Another beautiful day and we decide to get the kids out for a hike....which turned into a climb haha The hike in queston is Koko Head (Crater) hike. It's on the southeast side of the island close to Hawaii Kai. But a trail hike this is NOT! As you can see from the pictures below.

The are the "steps" to the top....it starts out as a little incline and goes almost vertical at the top!

About 1/2 to 2/3 of the way up Alex had had enough! She did well to make it that far and I was under no illusions about her making the vertical part. Ty on the other hand wanted to keep going - so she kept going with Dad :-)  She was amazing!  Men who were taking rest breaks on the way up (particularly near the top) were asking Sebastian how old she was...When they learned she had just turned 5 some were saying "You go girl!!" and others were more "Stoooop!! You're making us look bad" LMAO

But up she went with enough energy at the end to pose for pictures :-D

Dirty & dusty but made it!

                            Hawaii Kai                                                                              Hanauma Bay
                                                                                                                                                                                   

Top of the world with attitude :-)

On the way back down......

                                                                                    

   

Taking a well deserved break and enjoying the breeze!





Once we had re-grouped, cleaned off and gobbled down snacks it was off to the pool for a cool dip.....Needless to say the kids racked out for most of the afternoon once we go home!

Jane Sapper Day :-D

It was soooooo much fun :-D The spouses of the 65th Engineer BN had the opportunity to do some of the stuff our soldiers do. We hit 3 stations - some on foot, others by truck.



Our first station was room clearing using M16's (& blanks of course!) Unfortunately there weren't any shots of our squad in the mix (we were just too fast for them hahaha)

The next was the machine gun range where each of us got a chance to shoot (and YES I actually did hit the target - multiple times :-)

The last station for us was the LRC (leadership reaction course) where you problem solve as a squad to get the 'mission' done. This followed by the modified physical training test - push ups, sit ups and box jumps (instead of the run).

Considering how many hours we had been out there already, I think we all wished we had done the PT test first!! The push-ups and sit ups I only got beat by a few (yes they were counting all of us)..But the box jumps??? Damn there are some box-jumping mama's in our group LOL I got smoked on that part! Had no idea it was such a great but hard workout - something to add to the routine :)

Bumps, bruises, dirty and one lil ammo burn later and it was all done. It was a blast!!  For many of us the only question was, why can't we do this more than once a year?!?

1st Squad, 2nd Platoon!