Thursday, August 26, 2010

Ian's SuperHero Party

For Ian's 3rd Birthday I wanted to do a Superhero theme since he was always running around saying "Superhero, to the rescue!".  So my ideas just grew and grew, and the accumulation of it all was pretty awesome and fun.  We had a Superhero boot camp so to speak.  I set up an obstacle course to test their endurance.  Then set up swinging pendulums with a bad guy punching bag for their agility.  Last I had a whole bunch of water balloon 'bombs' with a moving target 'Shaun' to test their marksmanship.  Once they completed the course they became official Superhero and I had capes and masks ready for them.
Then we fought the Evil Eye (pinata), and had Superhero cake and ice cream.  It was a complete blast.  Ian loved it.  We especially had such good friends to share it all with too.
I completely ran out of time.  Its supposed to be covered in blue sky icing, with the cupcakes in white icing so that it looked liked superman was flying in the sky.  Oh well.  It tasted really good though.
Here he is, 3 years old!  He's wearing his dinosaur shirt that Gma Chelle & Gpa Bill got for him.  He wore this for three days straight till I convinced him to let me wash it.  He ask for it by the dino's name "I want my Triceratops shirt!"

Monday, August 23, 2010

Like, the best day EVER!

First let me say that according to Shaun this took months of planning, and a trip to Saipan solely for the purpose of getting the money to pay for all this.  And because of all the hard work he did, I had an AMAZING 31st birthday yesterday.
The layout of the 21st of August, my birthday:
Woke up early at 6:30am so we could be up at the North Shore area for my first Skydive.
Flew up at 9am to over 15000 ft!  Normally they only fly up to 14000 but Shaun said nobody was complaining so why not go higher. (by the way I was gripping my knees the whole way and trying to remind myself to breathe!  The anticipation is always the worst part of it)
After 15mins of flying they popped the door open and out we went.  It was intense, and fun at the same time.  I honestly think I could do it again.
Once we landed it took me a long time for my body to stop shaking from the nerves and adrenaline rush.  Also felt sick to my stomach the longer I was on ground.  My fault because I was too nervous to eat much of a breakfast.
Ate at a Mexican restaurant to calm down my stomach and reminisce how no matter where you go you'll never find as good of Mexican food as when we lived in El Paso.  Oh, it was so good there.
Of course we had to get one of the local shaved ice cones.  Its soooo good with the ice cream mixed in there.
Next we hit the beach, Pupekea to be exact.  Ian fell asleep so I opted to relax and read my book while Isabel and Shaun went snorkeling.
We then hurried home to get ready in time before the babysitter shows up at 3:30pm.
Shaun and I arrive at the Aloha Tower and walk to Pier 6 and surprised me with tickets to go on a Sunset Dinner Cruise!  Such a wonderful husband!  I absolutely LOVED it!
We had a five course meal of :
Cocktail shrimp
Salad
Lobster
Beef tenderloin w/ veggies and mashed potatoes
Chocolate cake
We could walk around on the decks anytime we felt like it to enjoy the view of the Island and the ocean.  They even had hula dancers and a Hawaiian singer playing throughout the whole cruise.  It was so romantic and just perfect ending to an already amazing day. 
Thank You Shaun!

This is my Skydive instructor John.  He was awesome.  He helped feel calm, and excited about my first time.
The photographer was Dan, he made it really easy for me to smile.  Pretty cool guy as well.
Whoo Hoo!
Boarding my first romantic Sunset Dinner Cruise!  Isn't Shaun amazing!?

We had access to the fore and aft deck anytime we wanted while we were cruising.
So excited to be doing this.  Always wanted to for years.
The lobster was a bit hard to crack, but still good.  Seriously though, does anybody eat the meat that's in the main part of the body?  Anything that looked that mushy and a bit green tinted is not going in my mouth.
Handsome fellow isn't he?  That's Diamond Head behind him.
And this was the Sunset part.  It was perfect.
After church we went to the beach to and took a bunch of fun pictures.
Shaun felt completely at peace.
First Shaun tried it.....
....then I had to try it too.  I was laughing so hard I couldn't do it!  I'm such a wuss.
Beautiful Isabel
Precious Ian

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Isabel's First Day of Kindergarten

Isabel started her official first day of Kindergarten on August 9th!  We had a parent orientation on the 2nd and then half-days on the 4th and 6th, but the following Monday August 9th was her first full day.  I am super pleased with her school.  They are very top notched about providing the best education for the children that they possibly can.  They even were awarded Best Public School of the Year.  Part of it is the parents.  They really push the parents to be 100% involved in their children's education.   I love it!
For the record her teacher's name is Ms. Ino


Monday, August 16, 2010

1st Newtown Ward Campout July 26-30

Our little family attended an annual Ward Campout at a place called Camp Bellows AFB. It was an week long optional campout where people from our ward could come and go and stay however long they wanted. Shaun luckily was able to get the whole week off so on July 26th to the 30th we had a blast camping and beaching everyday. Our ward is chock full of such fabulous people.



The first four pictures were taken from my facebook, that's why they are so small.

Ian and I running around on the beach.
If Shaun had his way he would be at the beach from sun up to sundown, he loved being out there.


We had a ward event each night. Family skits, Charades, night time crab hunting, and this pic was of Karaoke night.

We also had a paintball session set up on one of the days. This here is our group shot.


I went jogging every morning with a very good friend of mine Trang Lafitaga. On one of the mornings they shut down the road to allow these huge hoover crafts on to the base to load and unload equipment and troops. It was awesome! They let us go up in one that wasn't being used.

Shaun taking Trang's daughter Jazmina out snorkeling.


Ian loved to lay down on the warm sand. Strangely, he is not a big fan of the ocean. Likes to be on the beach more than in the water.


Cute pic of Jazmina
















This is a video of Shaun's first fish caught with a spear.




















Ian really amazes me. I had to keep from cringing as I watched him, but its just so gross seeing him play with a dead fish! But he was purely fascinated by it.

My fabulous friend Trang.

There were a lot of little kids running around. Here they are all taking a nap together.

Jen Ta'a would give her boy a bath in the tub when it got too hot. I thought it was hilarious!

Just some of the kids and their sea snails.














Now for the paintball. Shaun of course sprained his ankle, which bruised and swelled up for days after.
That's Shaun dead center in the white shirt. You can imagine what Shaun was thinking, about all the rules he had to listen too.

He wasn't too happy about how expensive it was.

Guess how Ian got this mess on his face? All he did was press his face up against the mesh fence surrounding the paintball field. The thing was filthy.


Deuces!
Despite the rules and the money he still had fun.

I forgot, there was also a card game night. The game was called 'Trump'. They taught it to Shaun who told me it was a very complicated game. Notice the hang loose hand sign? People still do that here, everywhere, anytime the want.
We had a lot of fun and cant wait to do it again.