Base Tour

Noah had fun showing Grandma J and Aunt CeCe around the base

Noah ran over to the missile and told me to take his picture :)

Posing with Aunt CeCe

 Noah plucked Sara's sunglasses right off her head!!

Taking a tour of Daddy's airplane

 

"Let's go guys!"

Pilot & Co-pilot

 I got him to smile but he was too busy checking out the plane  to look at me while doing it ;-)

"And this here is ***some kind of technical airplane mumbo jumbo...***"  ;-D

Grandma J & Aunt CeCe

We were recently blessed with a visit from Grandma J & Aunt CeCe!

Rockin' Grandma's sunglasses

 

 

Noah had a great time playing in the waves on the Barking Sands beach with Grandma J & Aunt CeCe!

 

Jerri & Sara



 

Grandma J, Noah & Aunt CeCe

Noah decided his clothes were too wet to wear ;-)

Noah & Daddy walking on the beach

 

 

Noah's favorite part of the beach: using the hose/shower afterward!



 

Palm Sunday

The weekend before Palm Sunday, during the church announcements at the end of mass, they "reminded" everyone to bring their palms for mass the next weekend...Palm Sunday on the mainland usually means walking into church and being handed a single palm leaf, there is no bring-from-home aspect involved!

Ely and I seriously wondered if they were kidding, but they were not! So before mass, Ely and Noah went out to one of the palm trees near our house and cut down some palm branches for us to take to church.

It was a really unique experience seeing all of the different palm branches (and olive branches!) that people brought. It was definitely not the single palm that we are used to on the mainland, everyone had massive branches! I think it added to the feeling of what it must have been like on the original Palm Sunday with Jesus.

While Mommy's away...

While I'm on the Big Island for a volleyball tournament, Ely is busy at home trying to control the little man.

These are the pictures I've been getting...

Monk Seals

In February (yes, I am a little behind on some of my blog posts...), Ely and Noah were out walking on our beach here on base when they spotted a monk seal! I've only seen a monk seal one other time when we were at Salt Pond beach and one swam up into the little reef area we had just been swimming in! 

Here's a little info on the importance of monk seals in Hawaii:

"Also known as ‘ilio holo i ka uaua, the Hawaiian Monk Seal is the official Hawaii State Mammal and one of only two endemic mammals found in the State the other being the Hawaiian Hoary bat. They are playful and curious with big round eyes and floppy whiskers. Adult seals range from 5-7ft in length and can weigh 400-600lbs.

...the Hawaiian Monk Seal is one of the most critically endangered animals in the world; only about 1100 individuals remain. It used to be that monk seals were rarely seen in the Main Hawaiian Islands, but now it is not uncommon to see seals hauled out on beaches all around Kauai. However, even with an increasing population in the Main Hawaiian Islands, their numbers have continued to decline in the Northwestern Hawaiians at a rate of 4.5% per year. It is estimated that their population may soon fall below 1000 individuals."

Because of this, if you spot one beached on the sand you are supposed to call the monk seal hotline (it really exists!) and stay 150ft away.

The one Ely and Noah found had already been called in and "roped off" although Ely said the cones didn't really deter Noah, and he came really close to committing a felony by petting the monk seal! (Noah is becoming quite the law breaker these days ;-)

Roommate Reunion Tour

Two weeks ago, my awesome college roommates decided to take a spur-of-the-moment trip to Kauai!  Elaine flew in from Omaha and Carrie flew all the way from New Zealand where she is currently spending the year using her doctor skills to save the Kiwis ;-)

One of our beach days

Carrie, Elaine & Heather @ Salt Pond

 

 

 The week they were here, my hiking group had our most challenging/most scenic hike to date.  We took the Honopu Ridge Trail (the outside of the Waimea Canyon)!

 On our way to the lookout

Carrie and I and two other girls decided to hike a little further along the trail to get a rare view of the Na Pali Coast!

 

 

 

Awesome view of several ridges of the Na Pali Coast

Honopu Ridge Trail 

Kalalau Lookout

Carrie & Elaine's first time stand-up paddle boarding

(They did, in fact, both manage to stand up!)

 

One last dinner at Shenanigans

For pure amusement, I found a photo of the three of us from our senior year of college (about 8 years ago!) and oddly enough, we are in the same pose :-D

FLASHBACK

Love you girls, thanks so much for visiting!!!

First time getting pulled over...

Well, it's official, Noah is not even 2 1/2 years old and he's already been "pulled over" by the cops!

A few weeks ago, we were out riding Noah's tricycle around the base (as we have been doing on a daily basis since he got it for Christmas...) and as we approached the gas pump one of the base (non-military) police officers pulled up next to us.  He gave us the 3rd degree on where we lived (it's a tiny base with only one section of houses...with the nearest town being 6ish miles away...and I was walking and Noah was on a tricycle...I'm not sure what kind of answer this guy expected...) and then he dropped the hammer and informed us that Noah has been breaking the law by not wearing a helmet while riding his TRICYCLE!

Apparently, anyone riding a bicycle on a military base must wear a helmet.  Not a big deal, but the police officer said that included children on tricycles! 

I really don't mind that much (better safe than sorry) except that we were a few blocks from our house and this guy seemed pretty serious, so I wasn't sure if we were going to get in further trouble as we turned back toward our house and Noah continued to ride his tricycle WITHOUT a helmet on (we didn't really have any other option...I wasn't about to carry the tricycle home!)

Don't call security, but since we live an hour away from any store that carries kids' bicycle helmets, Noah broke the law for about another week until we finally made it to Walmart ;-)

Rockin' his new helmet