Goodbye to Luis and the girls

Going going gone

Aloooooohaaaaa!

I've mentioned before that we live right next to a luau called Paradise Cove luau. Every night we hear the show, some nights better than other nights depending on whether trade winds are blowing the sounds out to sea or kona winds are blowing them straight into our living room. I don't mind the music and drums so much but the announcers are straight out of Vegas. "Any newlyweds in the house?" "Let's make some noise!!!" Luis and I went to the luau in November when my older brother, Doug, and his family were in town. It was what you might expect with flashy shows and mediocre food.

We decided to take the girls while they were here thinking that they would enjoy it since there are lots of games in addition to the show. Olivia loved every second while Caroline was more reserved in her appreciation of the show. She was falling asleep before the end and asked to go home while Olivia was running back and forth to the front to take photos.

A day at lagoon 1

Sea Life Park

When the girls were here over Christmas break, we visited Sea Life Park, a small Seaworld type of park on the southeast coast. Olivia and Luis did an interactive encounter with dolphins that they really enjoyed. Olivia was determined to return to the park and do a sea lion encounter on this trip. Not to be left behind, Caroline wanted to get in the water with the dolphins. I put aside my misgivings about wild animals being used as playthings by humans and enjoyed the day.

Walker and Robin

Since this is the third trip to Hawaii to visit us, the girls have pretty much grown jaded about just going to beaches. The highlight of this trip seems to be the horses, Walker and Robin. Luis' boss and his wife, LTC Martin and Stacy, bought a couple of horses for their daughters to ride while they are here. Both girls got to groom then ride the horses.

Farewell to El Fuego

As part of the pomp and circumstance of Luis' departure from the 25th Infantry Division, Luis was given a medal, a flag in a frame, and a lunch at a restaurant called The Shack. We started the event on the same lawn where he had his promotion ceremony and the same cast of characters presided and attended. The only difference was the addition of the girls. They were both proud and embarrassed about all the attention. About halfway through the medal ceremony, Caroline decided that standing still was for losers so I was focused almost entirely on curtailing her windmill arms. She is an army of one.

Happy anniversary to us

Last year:















This year:

The floating head of the stepmother will grant you three wishes

The post party

After the other kids went home, Sherri and Blake joined us for some additional playtime. Blake enjoyed a hotdog served on a coffee filter, Blake and Caroline played with the remote control helicopter and pretended to be dogs named Buster and Betsy, and everyone had a good time.

Day two with the girls

On Sunday, we made it Caroline's birthday since her real birthday was June 20 and we missed it. So we gave her a remote control boat. We had to try it out immediately in one of the lagoons and it worked great for about 20 minutes. The batteries either died or were corroded by sea water. After reading the instructions, it turns out you aren't supposed to use it in the ocean. Later we had a pool party.