The Four BUSY Campers

Noah - is doing well on his own at the "old" school - doesn't seem the least bit phased that Jack isn't around. He's adjusting to a MUCH heavier workload this year - homework every night and "real" tests. He aced his very first test - Science - and was so proud. Just finished a big project on the state of Alaska. He's back in piano lessons and shows a gift for it - I hope he continues to enjoy it, he's so fun to listen to - and is also taking a drawing class. Playing soccer and flag football, but is having a bout with some form of tendonitis in his feet, so we're having to watch it and take it easy until that heals.

Jack - is doing VERY well at his new school - he truly amazes me. He's so independent!! I'm so impressed with the kids in his class - they are so friendly and nice to him, which is a huge relief to me. He's got a much bigger workload this year too - amazing the difference between 2nd and 3rd grade. He had FOUR tests today - the poor dude was so tired at bedtime tonight he had a good old-fashioned meltdown I'll post about later. :) He got braces a month ago and is so stinking cute, but I totally hate all this orthodontic stuff. It's a pain in the neck. I don't recommend it at this age. He's in soccer and flag football too, but quit piano, which is fine with us since he wasn't enjoying it all that much.

Mark - blew out his knee again a few weeks ago. :( Probably will never run on it again, but is currently in physical therapy to gain enough strength and mobility to stay active. For those of you who know how competitive and athletic he is, you know what a big deal this has been for him - really hard for him to accept! The boy is getting old. :) Work is going well, though, and for that we are so incredibly thankful. Every night the boys pray and thank God for daddy's job. Amen.

Murphy - is now 1 year old and disabled. Found out a month ago he's got two bad knees - they pop out of joint. :( Vet says it's hereditary, and no more fetch, no more running, no more stairs. Very difficult news for our very active family and we're still trying to decide what to do. It's so hard for him to not roughhouse with the boys, so we're debating finding him a quieter home (older couple, no stairs?) but that's easier said than done. Meanwhile, he's getting fat from no excercise. Uggh!

Me - Have become so crazy busy my head spins. It always amuses me that some people think us stay-at-home moms have nothing to do all day. Ha. Monday mornings I'm doing a Beth Moore study at church - Esther - which I love love love but it involves a fair amount of homework. Tuesday and Wednesday mornings are filled with BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) where I'm a group leader again - and actually involves another 10+ hours of work each week aside from Tues. and Wed. Then Thurs. and Fri. are my days in which I feebly attempt to do everything else (housework, laundry, bills, grocery shopping, church projects, etc.). After entering our fall schedule kicking and screaming, I've found peace with it and am so grateful to God that I have been blessed with normalcy in my life - raising a family I adore and learning and growing in Jesus. I can't ask for anything more.

Now you're up to speed. Kindof. But that's all I got in me at the moment - my comfy bed is calling . . . .

This is AWESOME. Read it.

"Live. And Live Well. BREATHE. Breathe in and Breathe deeply. Be PRESENT. Do not be past. Do not be future. Be now. On a crystal clear, breezy 70 degree day, roll down the windows and FEEL the wind against your skin. Feel the warmth of the sun. If you run, then allow those first few breaths on a cool Autumn day to FREEZE your lungs and do not just be alarmed, be ALIVE. Get knee-deep in a novel and LOSE track of time. If you bike, pedal HARD… and if you crash then crash well. Feel the SATISFACTION of a job well done—a paper well-written, a project thoroughly completed, a play well-performed. If you must wipe the snot from your 3-year old’s nose, don’t be disgusted if the Kleenex didn’t catch it all… because soon he’ll be wiping his own. If you’ve recently experienced loss, then GRIEVE. And grieve well. At the table with friends and family, LAUGH. If you’re eating and laughing at the same time, then might as well laugh until you puke. And if you eat, then SMELL. The aromas are not impediments to your day. Steak on the grill, coffee beans freshly ground, cookies in the oven. And TASTE. Taste every ounce of flavor. Taste every ounce of friendship. Taste every ounce of Life. Because-it-is-most-definitely-a-Gift.”

Be PRESENT.


Kyle Lake (1972-2005)
University Baptist Church
Waco, TX

Yes we do have another child and yes he DID start school.

Good grief. I can't believe we are already so busy I haven't even had time to put a post up about JACK'S first day of school. Uggh.

Anyway, he ventured off into a new world a little over a week ago. He's so brave. So determined. And yet so calm.

And his mama is totally inspired by him.

It's like he just KNOWS this new school is where he's supposed to be. I totally believe I am watching the hand of God at work in his life. The whole situation is too far-out to NOT believe that. I mean, really - when you think about it, how many 9 year old kids ASK to go to a new school? It still blows me away.

At bedtime after the first day he expressed some concern that no one would ever get to know him but that was IT in terms of fears or concerns. The next morning when I dropped him off, he ran right out onto the playground into the group of boys in his class. And, thanks be to God, they are accepting him. Now a week into it, he now has some new buddies. :)

I'm 29 years older than him and I wish so much I could be as fearless and independent. What lessons you can learn from your children . . . .

Let's get this over with, shall we?

Back to our originally scheduled Hawaiian programming.


Keep in mind, I'm doing this for the sake of the family scrapbook, not to bore you even more than you were already before you clicked on this blog. :)


This post should wrap things up and then I can start carrying on about how depressed I am that school is starting and summer is so OVER and my babies are in 3rd grade and where does time go and sunrise, sunset and oh the sadness of it all. (Seriously, have you EVER looked at the lyrics to that song?!? Oh my word.) So enjoy some happy island pictures before things go seriously downhill on the Four Happy Campers.


Here's our beach. The kids LOVED the beach. They've never experienced WARM bright blue/turquoise ocean water and just had a ball soaking it all in.

This was a huge lagoon on the resort property the kids could swim in as well.

Learning how to snorkel in the pool -

We learned pretty quickly you do NOT eat on Hilton property unless you plan on taking out a 2nd mortgage on the house so we had fun trekking to the tourist spots like Senor Frogs and Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville.

Before our Luau (and yes, the men really wear the leis and beads to luaus).

Here's that snorkeling place I mentioned before - headed there in the middle of the week. It was AMAZING. 450+ different species of tropical fish and we probably saw 100 of them. The kids did awesome - snorkeled for an hour and a half straight before we made them hit the beach for a break.

Here's a view of our beach from our tower -

And a view of the main pool -

And the beach looking the other direction. You so cannot capture the color of the water in megapixels. Not with my camera, anyway.

Lastly, here are the resort's resident penguins. Right outside the doors of our tower. In Honolulu, Hawaii. Where it's 80-85 all year round. ?? Go figure. They sure were fun to watch, though.

And that wraps up Mark's 40th birthday bash. It was a huge success and something we'll remember forever. Actually I do have about 100 other pictures I could post. But I won't. Unless I'm lacking blog material in the dead of winter.

We interrupt our Hawaiian programming . . .

. . . . to bring you this special report:

One of my sweet boys started 3rd grade today.

My other sweet boy starts next Tuesday.

Oh my aching heart.

Hawaii . . . Part 2

So after our Hawaiian lunch, we continued on our tour and unexpectedly stumbled upon the Pirates of the Caribbean movie set.
They weren't filming at the moment, but we saw their trucks, tents, crane and equipment and . . .

Yep - Jack Sparrow's ship, THE Black Pearl. It was awesome.

We then headed up a mountain for some spectacular views . . .

Then down to a couple more beaches . . .

We could tell this area is popular with Hollywood because then we ran into the Hawaii 5-0 set (starting Sept. 20 on CBS) . . . .

If you can see people out on those rocks, that's them filming.

We then saw this AWESOME bay, which as it turns out is the nation's #1 snorkeling beach. We went back later in the week . . .

And then our 10 hour tour came to a close, much to Jack and Noah's relief, and they headed STRAIGHT for the water.

Sheer joy.

Hawaii . . . . Part 1

So, in celebration of Mark's 40th birthday coming up this fall, we took a vacation to Honolulu, Hawaii. He preferred this instead of a big party, and if you know Mark, you know he doesn't hunt or fish or even golf much (and therefore doesn't sink his finances into those "toys") - his favorite hobby is TRAVELING. So, lucky for us, that's how he chose to commemorate his bday. We couldn't go in the fall due to school and work, and Hawaii's temp is the same all year, so this worked out perfectly.

Disclaimer: Our family uses this blog as a family journal (I have it printed into a book format), so the details that follow about this trip may prove to be boring for y'all. If so, I apologize, but to be honest I'm recording this more for US than YOU. :) Just sayin' . . . .

Day one was happily spent lounging at the pool and beach, trying to adjust to the 4-hour time difference. The kids were up, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 4:30 a.m. (which is 8:30 a.m. at home). :( Each day got a little better, thankfully! We ended the day with dinner at the Cheesecake Factory (yummmmm) with our NEIGHBORS of all crazy things. They live across the street from us, and we've chatted on occasion but in 5 years have never done anything socially with them. It took a trip 4000 miles away for that to happen! Isn't life funny that way? It just turned out they were there at the same time (go figure?), so we got together a couple times during the week.

On day two, we took a TEN HOUR tour (the kids had to keep reminding us it was a TEN HOUR TOUR), which included stops at Pearl Harbor, the Dole Plantation, some magnificent beaches, and basically allowed us to see 75% of the coast of Oahu. Really captivating for Mark and I, but for the boys . . . well . . . it was a TEN HOUR TOUR.

We ALL found Pearl Harbor fascinating and wished we would have reserved an entire day for it. I was so thankful the boys were enthralled with it and now Noah has a newfound interest in WWII. Here they are with the anchor of the USS Arizona, which sank the day we were attacked.
We took a ferry out to the USS Arizona Memorial - very sobering experience. I didn't understand this is a mass gravesite - the bodies were left with the ship. It was interesting how quiet, solemn and respectful everyone was upon approaching it and getting off the ferry.

A portion of the ship, sticking out of the water -

This is a picture of oil sitting on the water - the ship is STILL leaking oil - it has ever since it sank. They say it will continue to leak oil for another 20 years or so.

More of the ship from a "viewing hole" in the floor of the memorial -

A list of those who died on the Arizona -

The bright white part of the map is the white memorial we were standing in above the ship - and then a map of the ship sitting underwater.

Afterwards, we headed to the Dole Plantation where they grow pineapples - although not the kind you buy canned at the grocery store. These are distributed fresh, mainly just in Hawaii. And oh. my. word. People. This is my new addiction. This pineapple is UNBELIEVABLE - we were totally hooked. You can actually order it and have it shipped to you, which I am totally doing. We won't get into the cost (Mark reads this blog). But SOOOO worth it.

I had no idea this is how pineapple grows - aren't they cute??

Then we were off to tour beaches. GORGEOUS beaches. If we did this trip again, we would not stay at Waikiki Beach, but would stay somewhere more secluded, rent a car, and hit all of these beaches. Obviously, as is the case with many things, it's hard to capture on camera. The color of the water was just spectacular.

This was about 6 hours in to our TEN HOUR TOUR and they were desperately wanting to JUMP IN.

That mountainous area over yonder is where portions of "LOST" were filmed. How cool is that?? It was BEAUTIFUL, but again, the picture doesn't do it justice.

We ate a traditional Hawaiian lunch at this little place. It was good, but all I cared about was that I got more PINEAPPLE. :)

After lunch, we were all in for a surprise, and Jack and Noah were rewarded for their patience with this TEN HOUR TOUR. More on that in the next post . . .