Manoa Falls Hike

Left to right, James (6), Mckenzie(5), Gavin(4), Jayden(12), Staci, Sophia(18 mon), Daniel(3), Caitlyn(7), Philip(5), and Paul(3).

The only child not in the picture was Patrick(9 mon), who was on Cat's back.

We went with my neighbor, Cat and her 3 kids, and my friend Kim and her 4 kids, and us with our 3 kids. Sterling was the only husband there because Cat's husband is in Iraq and Kim's husbands is deployed to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. A lady very politely said "Are you a family?", asking if we were polygamist I guess. It was very funny. Sterling was there with 3 women and 10 kids. We were all wearing long pants to ward off the mosquitoes, but I am sure looked a little funny to all those in flip flops and shorts and swim gear.

Kim, Gavin, Philip, Jayden, Mckenzie, James, Caitlyn, Paul, Cat, and Patrick. Daniel was up there too, but behind everyone, but we didn't notice until too late!
I didn't do a very good jog of getting the tree into the picture. It was really cool with branches reaching everywhere and it build a tunnel to go through. This part was very dark because it was so overgrown with trees like a rain forest. It was very hot and humid.

Daniel couldn't stop drinking his Gatorade for the picture.

I carried Sophia most of the hike. Sterling got the privilege of rotating 3 and 4 year olds on his shoulders. Sterling was such a trooper to carry kids almost the entire hike. The little boys did a pretty good job. The hike was about 1 1/2 miles in, so 3 miles round trip, and even the 3 and 4 year olds hiked most of it. It was tricky in spots but they did pretty well. We were all covered in mud by the end, but we had a good time!

Sterling and I at the falls

Not all of the trail was like this, most of it was really muddy and slick. These medal slats got pretty slippery too. We all really had a good time. It was a beautiful day, a little overcast and perfect for a hike! It was really humid, where we were was like a rain forest. At times it was so humid it would fog up my glasses. On the way down the kids did really well at keeping together and staying on the path. They all did really well.

There was so much more to see, but after hiking to the falls we were all pretty exhausted. We will have to go back to see the rest of Lyon Arboretum.

Strawberry Update!

The strawberries are doing well. Sterling had to build net cages around them to keep the birds from eating them. Every time a strawberry would turn red at all the birds would eat the red part and only the red part. After the nets were put up the strawberries were ours. James comes in every day to tell me how many red ones there are and wants to eat them. James is the strawberry man! He has eaten the majority of the strawberries. James is just like Grandpa Packer, he loves to eat fruit all of the time! James will choose strawberries and pears and whatever fruit he can get over chocolate any day!

Yummy Strawberries!

Sophia's 18 month pictures

Here are Sophia's 18 month pictures! There were so many that were cute that I am afraid I went a little overboard. Oh well.. she is only little once!

Sophia's check-up!

Sophia just had her 18 month check up!

She is 22 lbs 11 oz (25th Percentile)

She is 32 1/4 inches (50th Percentile)

Her head is 48 cm (50th Percentile)

+

She wears size 4 diapers and Size 6 shoes!

She is a little lady! We love her so much!

Both my boys were so big it is very different to have such a dainty one!

These are the words she can say:

Baby, mommy, daddy, Lady (our dog), bye-bye, Me, done, Ow, hi, Meow, woof-woof, Please, No, bubble, Cheese, and "weesh" for fish.

Ward Campout!

On Friday after we dropped Steve and Kristal at the Airport we went back home and got things packed up for the Camping trip. I was pretty tired and decided that it would be a great Father and Sons camping trip so I helped them pack up and Sophia and I stayed home. In hind sight we are so glad we did. It rained, no maybe poured is a better word, the whole night!

The boys had so much fun, even in the rain. Daniel slept in his tent inside Daddy's tent and James slept on the air mattress by Sterling. They stayed dry ~ mostly!

The ward had all kinds of things planned for Saturday Morning, but most people had already packed up and left by the time the boys got up around 7:00am. Sterling said people started packing up around 4:00am because it was just too wet and sleeping was pretty difficult. Daniel and James had a great time playing in the water and puddles!

If there is a stick to be found.. Daniel will find it!

The boys were home before 9:00am and the house was littered with drying sleeping bags and the garage was the drying place for the monster tent!

Next time we will be sure to check the weather forecast BEFORE the campout!

This is a view of all the waterfalls as Sterling drove home on H3!



It looks pretty amazing with all the waterfalls. There were over 100 waterfalls!

Pretty amazing!

Steve and Kristal came to visit!

We were so excited for Steve and Kristal to come and visit us. We picked James up from school and went to get them. James had made them both a Lei. So James had leis for them and we got Daniel some flowers and Kukui Nut Leis to give them. Steve taught the kids all kinds of things while he was here. Sophia learned to say "Teef" for Steve, she learned to do knuckles {where you bump fists}, and she says "weesh" for fish. It was a great time.

Sophia loves Steve!

Every morning first thing she wanted to know where Steve was and wanted to be with him.

Steve and Kristal went to Swimming Lessons to see my kids swim. Steve got my boys to be brave enough to go down the slide for the first time. They both did it to show Steve how cool they were. Good job Daniel and James, and Thanks Steve for the encouragement.

We got to do a lot of fun things and have some history leasons from Steve. We went to the Battleship Missouri while James was in school. This is the only picture of me we got with Steve. I guess that is the downfall of always being the photographer.

This is in the Missouri in the Combat Control Room. We were all looking at the things and Daniel.....

...was ready to take control of the ship.

He climbed up into the Captains chair and was ready to set sail. We had a private tour with just the six of us and our tour guide was so great with Daniel.

Daniel's Story:

Daniel has to go potty a lot. He drinks a lot and what goes in must come out! The tour was a little more than an hour and for a three year old, that is a long time! We had him go potty before the tour, but about 15 minutes before it ended he is doing the potty dance. I was really tempted to have him just pee over the side of the boat into the harbor but the tour guide didn't think that was such a good idea. Earlier in the tour we had established that we were all Mormon and so was she. So we keep going for a little bit and she tells us that she is a Sunbeam teacher and she works with 3 year olds and knows he can't hold it much longer. She says she will let him use the "special" bathroom. Daniel and Sterling got to go inside the ship for him to go potty and just about got lost trying to find their way back out. Steve was so jealous. A part of the ship he had never seen, Daniel the Pee King got to see! Go Daniel!

Steve got to hoist his own flag on the Missouri.

There it is on the way up!

Steve and Sterling folding it up after it has flown!

Pretty cool!

We had a great time! I learned a lot and Steve only had to help the tour guide with her facts a few times. Sterling and Steve stuck around and walked around the ship for about 90 minutes more while Kristal, the kids, and I went back to our house. That is one benefit of living on Ford Island, the boys can walk home and the kids can have naps!

The USS Arizona Memorial

Our picnic by the USS Utah Memorial just before Steve and Kristal left.

Daniel cried so hard when Steve left. They became such pals while Steve was here. We really had a great time with Kristal and Steve. We played Settlers a few times, hung out lots, went out to dinner, and went to the Arizona, the Utah, and the Missouri. Sterling and Steve went on the Historic Boat tour and went on the quick tour of Ft Shafter. It was a short 3 days but we fit a lot in! We had such a great time!

Thanks for coming Steve and Rick!

We love you lots!

Funny kids!

This is "scary teeth". She sticks out her bottom jaw and shows her bottom teeth and growls. It is really funny and very cute! She will only do it if she knows the audience pretty well, but she is getting to be quite the performer!

These pictures were taken on her 18 month 'birthday'. She is getting so big! She has her doctors appointment on Thursday and I will post her height and weight and her percentages then! She is tall and skinny just like James and Sterling!

She still doesn't have much hair. I can put the little bit she has on the crown of her head into a pony tail, but the rest isn't long enough. It is still baby fine and not growing very quickly.

If the camera comes off the shelf, Daniel comes out of hiding and has a deep need to perform. Because I was trying to get Sophia to do scary teeth and take her picture, he needed to have his picture taken too! I couldn't resist. He is such a cute little guy!

A born entertainer!