RACE RAGE & magic shows

These are just a few of the medals, crown, rewards I have collected this year in my crazy RACE RAGE...I promised to do at least one race a month during this year and in the heat of race season I did a half and full marathon as well as two 10Ks, a 5K and and 8.15 miler....looking forward to the next 8k, 5k and 10 miler....I wonder how many it will end up being once Robert returns...hmm?

Sorenna's birthday week/Easter

Easter Week was all about Sorenna...Since her birthday fell just days after Easter Sunday we lit up the cake early. They had given up all sweets so it was nice to have a really Yummy treat and celebration at the end of our 40+ days. They dressed up in some very original dresses. Each one geared to their personality...gone are the days of matching and color coordination...they look great in their own styles.

Sorenna is also turning into a great leader. She was the team leader on her robot team for the stacking section. AND they won a first place trophy for never giving up. She was in charge of the junior troop field trip to the Police station and led them in a tour, activities and the thank you card that followed. She is growing up so fast and becoming so motivated....and her sisters are her biggest cheerleaders. These girls light up my world and I would be lost without them.

geckos and opera and more

We have some very strange things that happen here in Hawaii but we roll with it. The geckos are one of those things. We see them all the time and love them but the one we saw in the bathroom was super cool and we had to have a photo. I have about 7 at any hour of the day hangin out in my room...but this one was much cooler than most. We also went on a nature hike with the girl scouts to finish some of our badge work before all the girls moved up to the next level and got new vests and badges.

As always Thorin got a cool adventure. SHe was chosen to perform with the opera at her school. She and a few friends dressed in a costume piece and acted out an original version of Little Mermaid. It was fun to watch. Cannon finished her year with a CHUCK E CHEESE day. I can say that I actually enjoyed the day there and can now say I did go to the CHEESE in every state we have lived in...took us 3 years to get in that one....not really a fan, but the happiness on all the girl scout faces was a great bonus.

Nene award

The nene award is a student generated honor. A list of books is submitted according to a list of criteria. The students read books off the list and vote for the one they enjoyed most. During the school year students submit voice threads, artwork and skits portraying a piece of the book they enjoyed or they wish had been a part of the story. Students who WIN the contest are treated to a day to listen to and view the winning entries as well as meet the author and eat lunch with them....THORIN won that chance and sat across from Margaret Haddox for her work on the book SENT. She also wrote for the 39 Clues series and many more. Thorin and Sorenna were also allowed to perform Hula for a special event at the school. The author visited 3 schools during her week on the island and since our school had so many winning entries she chose ours. Thorin really enjoyed her talk with Ms Haddox and was glowing for days after her luncheon.

HIKEs for fitness

I started hounding my girl friends to do some fun hikes instead of sitting around ...so we started a group of hikers. We did 2 at the end of the school year and plan to do some really serious ones when it starts back up....I am looking forward to some serious nature before the end of the year...we get some of the best photos too!

spring break 2011

Spring Break week was one of the best ever! We sold out of cookies for 2 troops in one weekend!....then we went to celebrate at a deployed spouses retreat. The chapel sponsored several families at the best hotel on the beach in Waikiki. It was an amazing weekend full of penguins, turtles, beach digging and people watching with one of my favorite battle buddies. It has been a blessing to have such fun friends. We also spent a few hours searching for Rick Springfield who was filming Hawaii 5-0 in town...and we accidently ran into the filming crew at the hotel....and enjoyed running into Scott Cahn (literally!) He looks so much like his dad...BUT MAN he is super hunky...and Alex is not hard to look at either...HOPING to get on the extras crew before leaving the island.

Halloween

Robert got to be home for Halloween and decided his "costume" was needing some more UMPH!
So he put more scales, bought a viking helmet and carried an ax. It was very "cute".

Thorin wanted to be the Jessie from Toy Story. The version she came up with was fun. Robert helped on her project.

Sorenna was the perfect cheerleader and Cannon looked so cute as a princess. I finally convinced her to be a sweet princess. She would only agree to be a princess if she could have wings!...really? OK!

2011 is finally BLOGGED!

This was a fun start to the year. We had a helo land in our backyard and after a few facebook photos posted we had an IN PERSON apology from the pilots ...it was inspiring to see someone take ownership of a wrongdoing..and the girls were impressed too.
They also took a cheerleading camp with the PRObowl cheerleaders to include the players and mascots. We got to attend the PRE PRObowl party with the mascots, cheerleaders and players. It was a great day.
BUT the biggest news was CANNON moved classrooms, got the BEST teacher ever who inspired her to LOVE school again and she got Student of the MONTH and lost her first tooth....BIG adventures for that little bug.