Volcano people finally welcomed him home!

As you can see by the photo, Robert has found his real family.
There was talk for years about the volcano people coming to take him back home and he has finally arrived. They rolled out the red carpet and even named a special bus for his homecoming.
We were so happy to finally be in his homeland and are learning about his heritage. We hope to see the volcano where he was born, but aren't setting our expectations too high because he has been gone for a very long time. Now that we are here, it is like he was never really gone.
Wish us luck in our adventures.

Our Hawaiian HOME

We finally took a photo on our front porch. The inside is still under construction, but I promise to have some video

footage soon.

Thorin's birthday

Today was Thorin's birthday. It was a very successful day and relaxing too. The girls were out of school for a state holiday and all they had was swimming lessons. They hung out and watched movies, went to a special lunch with daddy and did everything Thorin wanted to do for the morning. I was worried she wasn't getting a cake until Saturday because I am still new to the oven that actually works. Our oven in Cali took forever to cook anything. I was thinking the shortest time allowed for the cake would be good. I burned 2 cakes last night and had nothing to put icing on this morning. I finally figured the baking times and quickly iced the cake when they were at lunch. It was a huge surprise for her tonight.
I am hoping the movie is fun in the morning and we can enjoy another weekend day together. They are so nice. Soon the days will run together and the holidays will be here again. I just saw our Christmas ornaments last week. I have a perfect place to put the tree this year. If anyone is interested, I will be making a short you-tube video of our house soon....I can send it your way.
Love to all

HAWAI'I

I know it has been a while since many have heard ANYTHING from us, but it has been a very bumpy road to get where we are today.
We left Fort Irwin on June 12th, a day earlier than planned. We took Sorenna to the Kung Fu Panda movie for her birthday celebration and was prompted rear-ended after the fun day. I am happy to say it looks ok, but $700 plus new car seats. OUCH!
We got to Hawai'i and fell totally in love with all the green, but I have not missed the humidity. I was immediately sweaty from walking down the terminal hall.
Cannon has been a wet, red-cheeked girl for a month now.
The housing situation threw us for a loop and after many prayers, resourcing and FIGHTING, we got the best house for our buck. It is really expensive here and I was not willing to pay double rent for 1500 square feet of space (or lack of it).
We had to work really hard, but teamwork and some really great army families got us a house. Our stuff arrives in its boxes and crates on Thursday and we will turn it into a home.
The girls are all sharing a room and have loved the idea so far. The house is HUGE!
The design, YES there is a design, is awesome. I love the chirping geckos and hope they get to work eating the bugs.
I would love to say I love Hawai'i, but every new place takes some time before you can truly appreciate it. Once I have the boxes, the schools and the schedule in place, I won't want to leave for a while. The neighborhood is amazing, our street is perfect and we have this super field for a back yard. We have NO air conditioning and have had all the windows open and sometimes ceiling fans on, but it is so comfortable in the house and this is the HOT season. We will get an AC unit in the girls' room and one in the main room for when we have guests, but it is so wonderful here. I haven't taken many photos because it rains a bit every day and we walk everywhere. I will take more photos once my computer is set up.
I will send a link to YouTUBE when I get all my stuff settled so you all can see the layout, the neighborhood and all the family.
Love to all!

Going Going GONE

Well, here we are finally moving from Fort Irwin. All things considered, I loved this place. I could run almost every day. We could play outside because it NEVER rained. We could see the brightest stars because there were few lights. The most beautiful sunsets were seen from my front yard over the mountain my girls climbed several times. I am just so grateful for all the wonderful adventures we had without ever getting in a car.
That said, MAN am I happy to be leaving.
I am looking forward to seeing a real Target without driving 3 hours. I am looking forward to the climbing, running and water adventures in waveless beaches! I am thrilled to be going to a place I can continue to wear my Birks every day and tank tops on most. I am looking forward to my girls all going to school at the SAME TIME (can I hear an AMEN sista??? if you have more than one kid in school at Fort Irwin you know my pain).
But the most exciting thing about moving to Hawaii
drumroll please
seeing my husband more than 15 nights a month.

It finally happened!

I started a blog. I constantly think how easy it would be for people to check on how we are and what our last adventure has been, but I have always enjoyed contacting people personally. We finally know where we are headed and are about to tell the familia. The thought of being ISOLATED at Fort Irwin for 4.5 years is crazy enough, but now we are headed to an island. I am so excited about the new adventures we will have and the things our girls will be exposed to, but I know we will see even less of our family.

SO ....the blog is to try and help everyone keep in touch.

Hope it works :)