Oahu Adventure and more

It has been busy since the holidays. It seems like every weekend we have some event to go to. The 1st weekend in February was no different. On Saturday we went over to Phoenix's friend's house, Caitlin for dinner. It was such a fun night of play. I did not get any pictures of the evening, but the girls put on a dance show and the boys built a Lego set. 

The following day Phoenix went to her friend, Violet's birthday party. Here is Phoenix next to one of her BFFs Kyla. 

 Violet's parents went all out and the party ended with a unicorn pinate. Phoenix came home with one of the unicorn's legs full of candy.

Later that day we had the Gunion's over to watch the Super Bowl and for a BBQ. They had a blast learning more about American football as they are from Australia. Here is a picture of the kids all watching for a moment in between playing a new game Phoenix received for her birthday. 

 On February 6th Axel left school a few minutes early to get two more teeth extracted. He had permanent teeth roots that were starting to become eroded from other permanent teeth coming in diagonally. The hope of the dentist and orthodontist is that by removing the two baby teeth the permanent teeth will "reroute" and find their way more in a downward fashion, rather than the diagonal fashion that they are currently in. The teeth will have to be watched for the next 6 months. If they don't start changing their direction then they will have to be forced down into the correct space. Axel is such a trooper and managed the whole thing quite well.

 He enjoyed a soft diet for 24 hours and occupied his mind by reading, of course!

 On February 7th, the first graders had a Valentine's day breakfast event. Daddy went to the Kindergarten Christmas breakfast, so I went to this years. Here Phoenix is in her favorite new hat the her great Aunt Lois and Uncle Paulie sent from Canada. She absolutely loves her pig princess hat and the awesome books she received.

 We read stories together, played games and enjoyed a waffle and strawberry breakfast together.

 Here she is with her home room teacher, Mrs. Wallace and her good friend Evan.

 The next day, Feb. 8th we left bright and early for SFO where we departed to Honolulu, HI. We arrived just after noon and were at our hotel before 3pm. We explored Waikiki and happened to come upon an awesome Lunar New Year celebration at the mall. This was the beginning of a dragon dance that we saw.

 We then got to see the Lion's dance from "beginners". They did their dance up and down from this step.

 We all enjoyed watching it.

 Rubix had the privilege of catching a Mandarin orange which is considered good luck.

 The show ended with a Lion dance from "advanced" Kung Fu students, which was nerve racking and amazing all at once. They did their amazing dance on these poles. The Lion has two people that make up the front and back and they have to coordinate every move together on these poles. Truly amazing!

 The next day we went on the Pillbox hike and then played at Lanikai beach for a few hours in the afternoon. 

 The kids did amazing going up the steep climb.

Here we are at the top. We were so incredibly proud of the kids. 

 The view was amazing.

 The beach was clear and the kids has a blast playing in the sand.

 They even played in the water a bit. I had come down with a cold the Wednesday before leaving and was still not feeling top notch at this point so I took pictures and rested on the beach, which was a nice treat for me.

 After dinner that night we checked out a desert shop that served banana and acai ice cream. Let's say it wasn't exactly a hit, but we did have fun walking home!

 The next day was a rainy day off and on so we headed to Pearl Harbor and the Aviation Museum.

 This was the second hanger that housed planes from Pearl Harbor.

 We even got to go inside one.

 Very cool!

 The best part of the day was playing inside the interactive dome. We flew like birds and flew fighter jets.

 On Tuesday we went to Waimea Valley and falls. It was another day that was off on rain, but we got lucky with two downpours right before and right after our 3 hours walking through the beautiful tropical forest.

 We loved the peacocks.

 Here is a map of all of the great side trails that we were able to explore on our way toward the 30 foot water fall.

 You can see how beautiful it was there.

 Breathtaking, isn't it?

 Daddy loves banana trees!

 We love to climb up rocks and steps!

 The waterfall.

 We even got to make a ringlet or small Lei.

On the way home we stopped by the Pineapple plantation. We really wanted to do the Pineapple Maze, but it was closed because of  all the rain. We decided to have some pineapple whip and ride the pineapple express. 

 On Wednesday we climbed Diamond head. The kids were a little disappointed in the ease of the gradual climb after having completed the Pillbox hike. Axel counted only 513 stairs, which included the way up and down. There was no view the entire way up until we got to the top, which was also a bit disappointing as the Pillbox hike gave you a view the entire way up.

 The view from the top was awfully pretty though.

 That afternoon/evening was more hours of beach play and watching the sun set at 6:27 pm.

 Mommy and Daddy trying to take a selfie of us at Sunset.

 Daddy lost his credit card and he was pretty sure it was at the Pineapple Plantation so when we drove to Manoa Falls to see it was closed we headed back to the plantation. We got extra lucky as they had Daddy's credit card in lost and found and we got to enjoy the world's largest pineapple maze.

 Rubix hadn't had a formal nap the entire time, but we got lucky with all of the kids taking a quick 30 minute snooze on the way back to Waikiki.

 Yes, you guessed it. Another afternoon and evening of beach play we in store for Thursday.

 Rubix loved the ocean the most and did the most swimming and playing with daddy in the ocean each evening.

 Phoenix and Axel love to create and thus played and build in the sand with very little swimming each day.

 Thursday night we had our first meal out. We went to the mall to Mahaloha Burgers. The kids scarfed their burgers and fries and we were all so full we could hardly eat breakfast the next morning. Instead of going out to breakfast for Valentine's day like we did last year, we had breakfast at 2pm after exercising at the YMCA.

 Here Phoenix has fully enjoyed the Valentine's day chocolate pancakes at Eggs and Things. I had a delicious Ahi tuna and egg breakfast and Keith had a yummy Hawaiian eggs benedict. The boys had their usual chocolate chip pancakes and scrambled eggs.

 After our 2 pm "breakfast", which we deemed as Linner (for lunch and dinner), we went shopping for the first time. We found these great Hawaiian outfits and because the price was right, I got my wish of having matching outfits for the first time! It was so much fun taking pictures on the beach.

 The kids stayed and played on the beach one last time.

 We also watched the sun set one last time before heading in for showers.

 We were all showered and ready to watch the fireworks before heading off to bed. We had a lovely time together and we discovered the kids new found maturity in adventures with hiking and exploring the great outdoors. We still have some obstacles with food and behavior, but our very hopeful in more exploring, maybe even outside our country in the next few years.

Now we are back to the grind and looking forward to school and work. I am approaching my last couple of weeks before my big exam. I will be missing in action until March 6th. After my exam we are looking forward to the boy's birthdays and some fun spring cleaning. Our next post is most likely for Rubix's birthday in mid March. Please pray that I will rely on God's strength, wisdom and peace during this very stressful time for me. I know I can do anything through Christ Jesus's strength and it is he who has opened all of these doors for me. I am learning to trust! God Bless!

Rainy days, birthdays, Rubix's first day of school, Phoenix turns 7, Axel gets reading glasses

California had another wonderful couple of months of rain. It seemed like we had more rainy days than non rain days. We tried our best to embrace it and enjoy the weather. Rubix actually got use to wearing a rain jacket and boots. 

 We had way too many birthday parties the past few weeks. We had two Pump it up parties in a row in December. Rubix got to enjoy his party first and then Phoenix got to enjoy her friends party directly afterward.

 Although Phoenix had plenty of energy for Vishak's party, Rubix was very tired and hardly played and fell asleep on the way to our 3rd party/garthering.

 Our 3rd gathering was a fun evening at Eileen's house where we were able to see the beautiful lights that their neighborhood has every year.

 Phoenix had her holiday performance before break.

 I think I mentioned it before. She was one of 6 children in her grade that were asked to do a special dance. I was so proud of her. She was energetic and knew all of the dance moves and all of the words to the 10 Christmas songs that she sang.

 After the break Rubix started preschool at Challenger. Here he is bright and early on January 6th. Daddy traveled to CES and left the night before so it was an extra early day and long week for the kids.

 Here he is in front of the school ready to go in for his first day. He absolutely loves school. He has officially completed 3 weeks. He has made several friends, he is learning the days of the week and months of the year. He can now recognize most of the alphabet. He can write his name. He is learning to draw. I will have to remember to take a picture of his dragon that he brought home. They teach step by step drawing and it is amazing what they come home with. He has also eating like a champ. He is the only child that eats his entire lunch every day. I pack a little bit bigger lunch for him than I do for Phoenix. He eats an entire 2 bread sandwich, 1-3 fruits and some veggies. AMAZING!

 This was a park visit during the 2 week break.

 Rubix was on the big kid swing and Phoenix convinced him to go on the little swing so she could push him.

 Here is Rubix on picture day morning! It was quite the big deal to have his first school picture. Proud boy and proud parent.

 It has been a very cold and wet winter. We have had thirties for the lows. Rubix decided one morning that he wanted to wear pants to school. I was extremely proud of him. He has worn pants now about 5 total days. According to Rubix, pants are great for pockets!!!!

 Last weekend the kids went to Aisha's birthday party. She is a Christmas baby, but the parents waited to have her party. They moved in down the street from us this summer and having another friend in the neighborhood is such a treat. It is amazing how they grew up together the first 4 years of their lives and even though they had almost 2 years apart they still get along great. Here is Rubix in the jump house.

 I did not get any pictures of Phoenix because she was too fast to capture.

 On Sunday we had Phoenix's party. She had Ashley, Kyla, Nicole, Caitlyn and Aisha over.

 Caitlyn and Nicole's little brothers were here as well. The kids painted picture frames and trays, they made bracelets and jumped in the jump house.

 Phoenix thoroughly enjoyed herself.

 The party lasted for nearly 5 hours. The girls really got along well.

 Monday Keith stayed home with the kids while I worked, which was such a blessing for me. On Tuesday I took the day off in order to go to Phoenix's school to celebrate her birthday. Here she is with her birthday hat and sticker. 

 She wanted me to bring in ice cream sandwiches. Instead I brought in ice cream bars because they are gluten free and her teacher and a classmate are gluten free. Here is a super cute picture with Caitlyn, Ashley and Kyla. None of her closest friends are in her homeroom, hence why they are not eating the ice cream sandwich. I just love how much they I enjoy each other and that they still wanted to hang out with Phoenix even though they were not allowed to have her birthday treat with her.

Mrs. Wallace, Phoenix's teacher was thoughtful and asked if I would like a picture with her. It was one of those times where you know that the 30 minutes I was at Phoenix's school was well worth the entire day off of work. Moments like this are priceless. She knows how much we care and love her because of the small things like being present. 

 Here is the birthday girl before bed. She is exhausted.

 One last photo with just daddy and our now 7 year old.

 While we were having fun celebrating Phoenix, Axel was having fun with his friends. Carmen picked up Kristin and Axel and took them to her sister's beach home in Watsonville. You might notice that Axel finally got glasses. His eyes haven't changed, but he was squinting more and more. He first failed the eye exam at 6 years old. The glasses really help his eye fatigue that he was getting with all of the reading and screen time that he does with his school work and of course, his 2 hours he gets to play Minecraft on the weekend.

 Axel and Kristin had a blast.

 They played all day on Saturday on the beach. Both kiddos were sore on Sunday from all of the digging they did.

 Here is Axel with his glasses in Language arts class. Mrs. Guarino was the one who finally said that Axel is squinting all of the time and really needs to go to the eye doctor.

On Sunday, Axel spent the entire day with his buddy Joel. He had a fun filled weekend despite not being with us. It was actually really nice to be able to focus on Phoenix and the younger two.

Axel has his 5th grade show next week. He will be doing 4 performances. He also has to pick his language and electives by the end of next week. He already submitted his elections. He hopes to do Japanese for his language. His top 2 choices for electives are Tech Theater and Speech and Debate. His back up is ceramics. I think they don't find out until a few days before school starts in the fall on what classes they actually get. Axel was invited to a special math summer school that is only offered to the P3 5th grade students. It is not required right now, but if he stays on this very accelerated program, summer school will be required as many of the classes offered are advanced placement and need the summer months to complete the entire year of curriculum. To give you an idea we found out that Axel will be completing Calculus BC his Junior year and then we think his senior year he will be taking a class similar to differential equations.

Phoenix is rocking math herself and has not only caught up with all of her math facts for addition and subtraction she is now working her way through the multiplication table. She is also being introduced to division. She will have to have her entire times table memorized up to 12 x 12 next year. I don't think that will be a problem as she has 0-5 up to 12 nearly down and she has all of her 9's down thanks to daddy's fun math tricks.