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!