Mind Your Mummy!

I saw these cute little Mummy pizzas on a recipe website the other day. We whipped them up for dinner tonight and they were a hit with the little ones! The recipe called for homemade dough and sauce, but I went the easy route and we made them with bottle spaghetti sauce, pita bread and sliced string cheese. We make "pita pizzas" as we call them quite often, but they aren't usually this cute! For those who like meat on their pizza, I added the meat underneath the cheese. Happy Hallow-eating!

What A Party!

We had some friends who's daughter turned 1 yesterday. In Hawaii, the 1 year birthday is a huge deal! I was told that many years ago a lot of the children didn't make it until age 1 - so if they did make it, their 1st birthday was a huge celebration. I was also told that these parties were also held to show who will support the child throughout their life. We had the opportunity to attend her party yesterday and let me tell you, it was the biggest party I had ever seen. The cultural hall at the church was completely filled with people, bouncy houses, and food. They had Luau style food, a chocolate fountain (our kids favorite), shaved ice, and too many cakes (I only had 3 different kinds :)).;

There was also a clown at the party that was awesome! He had a clown show where he would have a couple of children compete, the winner received one of his amazing balloons he had made. Cole won a balloon ball and Madison and Steve (they were a team) won a balloon truck (made with 54 balloons). I wish I would have had my camera so that I could have taken a picture of all of the balloons he made - they were incredible. He made balls, octopus, dragon, truck, motorcycle, etc. - these were not small either, the dragon was 15 feet long and you can see in the picture how big the truck is.

The flower arrangements lined the stage and I wish I could have brought them all home with me they were gorgeous. Anyway, what a great party!

At the party, testing out the new ride.

Taken the next day, a little deflated, but you get the picture

Cole's balloon ball (also taken next day). The winner of the game received a large balloon prize, Cole took 2nd place so his ball was smaller, it was about the size of a kick ball.

Obama Wants Extended School Hours = Hawaii Schools Go To 4-Day School Week???

This was taken from a CNN news article -

President Barack Obama said Tuesday that American children should go to school longer – either stay later in the day or into the summer – if they're going to have any chance of competing for jobs and paychecks against foreign kids.

"We can no longer afford an academic calendar designed when America was a nation of farmers who needed their children at home plowing the land at the end of each day," Obama said, adding U.S. education to his already crowded list of top priorities.

"That calendar may have once made sense, but today, it puts us at a competitive disadvantage. Our children spend over a month less in school than children in South Korea. That is no way to prepare them for a 21st century economy."

He urged administrators to "rethink the school day" to add more class time.

His proposal for added school hours was part of a broader effort to improve U.S. schools that he said are falling behind foreign competitors.

So this week we have been notified that Hawaii schools will begin a 4-day school week, because of budget cuts they can't afford to pay their teachers - thus teachers will be required to take 17 days furlough. I am all for my children getting the best education possible - if we can't afford to pay our teachers now, how are we going to pay for extended hours? Maybe the government should focus on coming up with enough money to get our kids back into school 5 days a week! I am so frustrated with all of this and worry about how my children will transition back into the mainland schools.

Thunderbirds

This past weekend we had the opportunity to go watch the Thunderbirds fly - we have seen their show a few times, but each time it is great! After the show, we walked around the grounds and toured the planes and helicopters...this is probably Cole's favorite thing! He loves to be able to get inside and play with all of the gadgets.

It's a race!Havyn doesn't want a picture, she just wants a snack

There Is a First Time For Everything

I am proud to report that I changed my first flat tire today - all by myself! I was on my way to pick up Havyn from school when I noticed the car was pulling pretty hard, at the next light I opened the door and leaned out and sure enough - flat tire. I still had quite a ways to go until I got to preschool...what do I do now? Well I kept driving, pulled into the shade at preschool, and retrieved Havyn from class...at this point I called Steve in a bit of a panic. He told me he could rush over during his lunch hour or that I could call USAA and they would send someone. It was tempting, but no way was I going to call someone to come change it for me....it actually ended up being pretty easy and I had it done in about 20 minutes. I am feeling quite proud of myself if you can't tell and can now check that "first" off of my list.

My Little Swimmer

Havyn has taken a few sessions of swim lessons, and has learned to swim pretty well for a 3 year old. She loves the water, and would go to the pool everyday if we would allow. Good job little fish!

She can actually swim much further than this, but its the only video I had


Havyn going off of the diving board

It's A Rough Life

Cole has been begging to go fishing for a while now, so this weekend we finally loaded everyone up and went. I do have to say that it was a mighty relaxing few hours....all I did was sit under my umbrella and enjoy the ocean breeze. It's a rough life. We weren't very successful, but we weren't completely skunked either. Cole caught one fish - we aren't sure what it was, we just returned it to its home. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the fish - like I said I was sitting under my umbrella. :)

Olomana Hike

We ventured out on a new hike today. Supposedly it is 3 miles round trip (but we all concur that it felt much longer). It was a great hike with amazing views. There were quite a few areas that were pretty intense, but the kids were troopers and we all came home safe...but man are my legs tired! I love pictures and I can't seem to narrow them down when I sit down to blog....so you get to see lots of them. Enjoy!

Yes, that would be the peak to which we are hiking!

Oh man we still have so far to go!

Still smiling
This shows how steep some of the areas were
Love the banyan trees

We got a little side tracked playing on the vines

One of the areas that probably wasn't the best for kids :)
This is a video showing one of the steep areas, this wasn't the steepest though

Just a gorgeous shot

Finally at the top! I included this one because I think Havyn has the pose down

Views of Kailua and Enchanted Lake area

We had some snacks, re-energized, and are on our way back down.

Soccer season

The soccer season has come to an end. This was really the first time our kids have played. By the end of the season they had improved so much and were tearing it up. I love youth sports, but really wish that I could be out there playing! Great job kids!

Havyn on her way to the game. Just like a real mom, she brings everything in the house.