Packer Family

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Ford Island Bridge 10K

Sterling ran the Ford Island Bridge 10 K on Saturday April 4th.

He did really well!

He finished in 47 minutes 30 seconds

running an average of 7 minutes 40 seconds per mile.

He finished 187 out of 2121 people that ran.

Great Job Sterling!

The kids and I went out at 7:15 am on Saturday to cheer for all the runners and walkers, we were there for every runner in the race. I had a lot of fun clapping and cheering for everyone. We stayed even for the last walker. There was a little boy, 3 years old walking it, lots of babies in strollers, a lady pushing triplets, many kids from 3-18, a lady 9 months pregnant trying to make herself go into labor, and amazing grandparents and some great grandparents doing it too! It was pretty inspiring. I think next year our whole family will take part, most of us will be walking, but in it none the less!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Honolulu Zoo

There are only 2 days left of Spring Break and we needed out of the house. So today I took the kids to the zoo for a while. We had a good time and the kids did great! Sophia thinks she can do everything the boys do, so she didn't spend much time in the stroller, but that is okay.

Daniel really loves his Phia.. they are so cute together..... most of the time!

Daniel really wanted to climb this giraffe. I tried to put Sophia on there too so I could take their pictures all together, but she didn't want anything to do with the big hard giraffe.

Sophia got this cute animal purse in the gift shop. She was so cute holding her hands and carrying her purse. She has turned into such a girl.. It is kind of fun!

This is Sophia telling me "NO". That is her favorite word!

It is so hard when she is SO cute!

Hickam Beach - Spring Break

We have 2 weeks of Spring Break here in Hawaii and we have been trying to take advantage of our mornings. I haven't been very good at getting pictures of things. Most days there is at least one water fight between the Packer boys and the Keith boys (our neighbors). James and Sterling have been on a few morning bike rides around Ford Island. We went swimming to show Sterling all the things the boys have learned in their swimming lessons. We went on the hike to the water fall and now to the beach. Yesterday we went to the beach in the morning before Sterling went to work. We were there for a little more than an hour, but the kids had a great time!

James doesn't love pictures, if it looks like I am choking him out, maybe I am!

My favorite thing is when people ask you if they can take a picture for you then they take one.. only one and say "that is great!" Then you get the chance to look at it. Since Sterling is the only one with his eyes open and looking at the camera.. it must be great!
Oh well.. it shows we were all there right!

I like this picture because it shows all of their personalities.

James wanted to play in the sand and not get wet, Daniel wanted to play in the waves and not get sandy, and Sophia didn't want anything to do with the water, just to be held.

Daniel "surfing"!

How fast can you dig before the waves get you?

Silly girl!

He is always doing something fun.

Sunday, March 29, 2009

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!