A trip to the beach...

It's been a couple of weeks since my last post. Work has been crazy for Jon and me both these past 2 weeks, and we've gotten behind on the unpacking. I will attach a picture in a couple of days so you can see, it is better but not completely done.

So, Jon is away for a couple of weeks (Army business), and I decided on Sunday that we'd worked hard enough all week at home and for IBM, and doggone it we were going to go to the beach. Mind you, the weather here on Sunday was less than desireable. We have hardly gotten anything except beautiful skies and sunshine in Kapolei since we've been here, but Sunday was on-again, off-again misty rain. I didn't care. I needed a mental-health check, and I wanted to spend it at the beach.

The girls at the entrance to Lagoon 2 at Ko Olina.

The great thing about O'ahu is that you can drive a mile or 2 down the road and find totally different weather, so that's what we did. We live about 5 miles from Ko Olina Resort by Marriott. (http://www.koolina.com/) It is a beautiful, expensive, fancy resort (and timeshare) on the ocean. However, the beach in their area doesn't have sand or beachfront, it is almost all coral and rocks. So, Ko Olina has built 4 man-made lagoons so that you can enjoy the ocean while staying at their resort. And, since all beaches are public in Hawaii, anyone can go to the lagoons and swim even if you aren't staying there.

So, we went. And, it wasn't raining there. (It did eventually, but we got a good hour of fun in before it started.) That hour was all I needed to recharge after a really rough week. You can see in the pictures that the rain was coming, but I didn't care.

We plan to visit the beach again this weekend, and hopefully enjoy better weather. In the meantime, enjoy the beautiful pictures!

Making Progress (slowly)...

Ok, we made it through the weekend. We spent most of the weekend unpacking. I took another picture of the living room so you can witness the progress:





To the untrained eye, it may still look a bit messy. But, when you have 17,000 pounds of "stuff" to unpack, reorganize, move from room to room, and then argue about where to put it, it takes a longer time than one would expect. This is actually the fastest that we have ever unpacked, and we're only about 3/4 done, as you can tell. I attribute some of that to the fact that Alissa and Alex are older and unpacked a lot of their own stuff. And, when they weren't helping, they were paying attention to Abby (which took a huge load off of Jon and me.)


The other part I attribute to Jon and me. We just decided that we didn't want to let the boxes sit around like we did in Tennessee. It took us a LOT longer to unpack there, and in Ohio. I think we lived without our stuff so long here that we were just so darn glad to see it. That made unpacking less of a chore.


Plus, we bought ceiling fans for the living/dining area and the 4 bedrooms, and Jon put up 2 of them over the weekend. (With the high cost of energy here, it will help keep our electric bill in check.) He did a great job! (I mostly just handed him tools and picked up the trash after him...) You can see one of them in the picture above.


So, more unpacking to do, but we've made great progress. And, the convertible gets fixed later today. It's sunny here and everyone is healthy and happy. And, living in Hawaii is less scary and more adventurous now. We're getting used to it. We've met some great neighbors, and went to a fantastic neighborhood cookout. So, life is good. We are blessed.


This weekend will bring a trip to Bellows Beach, on east O'ahu. According to my hilarious and very kind Canadian neighbor, it is "...the most beautiful beach on O'ahu." It is supposed to be a must-see. We'll bring along the meat tenderizer to combat any man-of-war stings. (Alex has been researching dangerous sea life, and she found out a lot about these man-of-war.) We're told there are some at Bellows, and they are very small baby ones. The sting isn't dangerous per se, but painful without meat tenderizer!!


We'll keep you posted on the beach, and hopefully have some more great pics. Have a great Valentine's week!


Tiffany

Our stuff arrived yesterday...

So, the movers called us at 5:00 pm on Monday and say, "Your shipment is here. When do you want it?" Jon says, jokingly, "Can we have it tomorrow (Feb 5)?" They say, "Sure, we'll be there at 8:00 am."

Yay!!!

The moving team was here at 7:55, ready to go. By 1:00 pm, all our stuff was in the house. Yes, it's a mess. See below for before and after pictures of the living room.

"Before" - Taken Feb 4th

"After" - taken Feb 6th

But actually, we're making big progress - the picture may not look like it to most, but I can tell. (I suppose after 6 moves you figure out a system of unpacking that you can stick with.) The kitchen is almost fully unpacked and put away. Everyone's beds are put together, even Alex's (and if you've seen her bed you know it is a project in itself just to get that bed assembled.)

We'll get there. Actually, we may be mostly unpacked by Monday. (Since the Pro Bowl plays here on Sunday, we won't dare leave the house for fear of being trapped on the freeway!) Now that Alissa and Alex are older, they have been unpacking their own rooms.

So after work, gotta get back to the unpacking. Anyone want to come and help?

The van is here!!!

Thank goodness. The van is here! We found out yesterday morning and had it picked up by noon. Needless to say, I am thrilled. I actually teared up a little when I saw it at the dock.

Unless you have moved across an ocean and have lived in an empty house, driving a convertible in the rain (that you can't put the top up on because it's still damaged), you can't understand the level of joy I felt yesterday. At one point, Abby (the 4-year old), actually said to me, "Mom, get over it - it is just a van!". She obviously doesn't understand my joy either.

I guess the simplest way to explain it is - our lives are finally getting back to a more "normal" state. Now that the van is here, and the kids have started back to school, all that's left is to receive our furniture. It's not here yet, but has been promised by Feb. 8 - so, only 1 more week! Actually, it hasn't been that bad. Those canvas lawn chairs and Coleman air mattresses have been surprisingly comfortable!

Speaking of school, Alissa and Alex started back this past Monday when their "track" resumed. Kapolei schools operate on a staggered schedule, as I mentioned in a previous post. That means that the kids are separated into 4 teams, or "tracks" - green, red, yellow, and blue. At any given time during the school year, only 3 tracks are in session. Each child still gets a full year of education, but this lessens the overcrowding burden the schools face as Kapolei's rapid growth continues.

Anyway, I guess we were all a little nervous - not sure why, I guess because it's the middle of the school year. We've heard that Hawaiians are welcoming of newcomers, but there's still always that "new person" worry. I know the girls felt it - we all had trouble sleeping on Sunday night. But, Monday I drove them both to school and kissed them goodbye (not so anyone else could see, of course - that would be embarrassing!). I prayed as I left for them to be safe and to have a great first day and to find someone nice to eat lunch with.

Well, imagine my surprise and delight when Alex emerged after school with the biggest smile on her face! She had already made 5 friends, and is excited about learning Hawaiian and Japanese every day (an ongoing curriculum at the Elementary school). She continues to be excited about school, which makes Mom feel so much more at ease. (Note the picture below in her "uniform" - Kapolei t-shirts and Skechers!)

Alissa was less forthcoming about her first day - she answered "I guess" to every question I asked. I think she was still missing her friends in TN, who tell her all the time that she is missed. However, as the evening wore on, I managed to find out that she also made a couple of friends, and was invited to sit with a whole group for lunch, and that she is actually going to be OK at middle school. Yesterday she talked about the same group from the day before, and when I picked her up I noticed her walking from the school to the car with a group of girls and they were giggling like teenagers do. Thank Goodness!!

I know I can't protect them forever, but I want them to be happy, and I want people to be nice to them. And, I don't want them to feel like "the new kid" for too long. Looks like they both inherited their dad's charm, and have escaped the "new kid" syndrome. I am proud, thrilled, and relieved.

Looks like things are on their way to becoming "normal" here. I will keep you posted....

Tiffany

It's been a week!

Well, we've survived a week in the house with no furniture (well, except for some air mattresses, a few lawn chairs, and a folding table.) We've made it into a "home", at least until the rest of our things arrive. Our small shipment arrived on Tuesday, so now we have towels, blankets, a second TV and a few more kitchen items.

When the shipment arrived, the girls were so excited! Back in Clarksville, I gave each of them one Rubbermaid bucket and told them that they could put whatever they wanted in it. When they opened those buckets this week, it was like Christmas all over again! They spent hours in their rooms going through those buckets. It made me happy and sad at the same time. I was happy that they are starting to feel at home here - and as materialistic as it sounds, having your stuff helps you feel at home.

The sadness came when it dawned on me that this move has been hard on all of us, the kids included. We moved during a crappy time of year, our stuff has taken FOREVER to get here, and we're starting over (again). For Jon and me, this is the 6th move we've made together with the Army in our almost 14 years together. In my opinion, it has also been the hardest by far. Part of it is that the girls are older, so we have school, and them missing their old friends, etc., but there is something else, too. I can't pinpoint it, but it's just been harder.

And, this weekend our convertible was broken into. Dang!! Apparently there is a pretty high property theft problem here on O'ahu. We learned that lesson the hard way. The thief cut open the back of the roof, basically peeling away the window so they could crawl in. The funny thing was that they took only a pair of sunglasses, and left the stereo with removable face plate intact!! It was a weird event. (Luckily, my wonderful husband has the foresight to remove things from the car when he gets out. I don't always remember to do that. I will now!)

But, no one was hurt, it happened during the night. We've since found out that convertibles are targets and if you just keep your top down all the time (and remember to take your stuff with you when you're not in the car), you will be fine. A friend of Jon's drives a Jeep and said that he hasn't put the top on it in a couple of years! So, we were upset about it but it's OK now. Luckily we have great insurance.

The girls head back to school on Monday. The schools here are on a staggered schedule in order to combat the growing population and the issue of overcrowding. So, wish them luck as they make new friends and get back into the school/life routine.

Everyone please stay in touch...We've only been here a month, and things are slowly getting back to "normal", but we're still new here and it's easy to feel disconnected from those you love.

Have a great day!

Tiffany

Some pictures from Hawaii

So, I thought I would post some of the pictures we've taken since we've been here. Though the transition from Tennessee to Hawaii has been crazy, we have managed to see some really great things in Hawaii so far.

To start out, here is the view from the first hotel we stayed at (yes, there was more than one, but not by choice...):
We were in awe. I couldn't believe we were here. Seems like 100 years ago since we found out so long ago that we were going to Hawaii, so actually being here on the island is a big deal to us. (And, moving during the holidays stinks. I don't care what anyone says, we've moved at Christmastime twice and it is so much harder to move than in the summer.)

As of yesterday (the 16th), we are finally in our house:

No furniture yet, but we have a great friend here on the island who loaned us some of the basics. And, there's a park directly across the street, which the girls already love. Our van arrives soon, and then our furniture and other stuff should be here at the beginning of February (God willing).

This past weekend we visited Pearl Harbor and Ford Island. I'm sure many of you know the basics of the Pearl Harbor raid. I personally only knew the date and the most basic details. But, I have learned a lot more. The USS Utah sits in the water at Ford Island, turned on its side since 1941. Approximately 60 men lost their lives on that ship, one of the lesser known tragedies of that day. And certainly least visited. It is on a guarded part of Ford Island, and you can only get to it with permission. It is beautiful and somber and sad. In the picture below, you can see the side of the USS Utah sitting above the water.

One of the better known memorials is the USS Arizona, where 1,177 men lost their lives, and over 900 of them are still entombed in the remains of the ship. You can catch a boat out to the memorial and see the ship sitting directly underneath. It is a constant reminder of the sacrific those innocent souls made that day - a sacrifice that forever changed US History.

It is also a site and a moment in time that I hope my children will remember. Though they seemed mildly interested in parts of the day, I know that some of the images were important enough to impact them, because all 3 still talk about it, even Abby. She doesn't understand the meaning of the memorials, but she knows they are important.

And underneath the memorial lay the remains of the ship:

Remember Pearl Harbor and those who gave their lives that day.

Our first post since moving to O'ahu...

This the view from our hotel on Ford Island (adjacent to Pearl Harbor)

Here goes my first attempt at blogging. My friend Christy started a blog recently (http://www.isitnineoclockyet.blogspot.com/) and I thought to myself, "what a great way to keep in contact with everyone on the mainland while we start our new life in Hawaii."

With the 4 or 5 hour time difference, it's been difficult to call home to friends and family, and we always seem a day behind (because our day is only half over when most of you are going to bed!) Hopefully this will allow us all to stay in touch. And, when we journey somewhere new on the island, or find something amazing, we can share it with all of you.

Welcome to our Hawaiian adventure. Stay tuned!

Tiffany