NYE to First day of school....

The adventure continues....

Things have been great! So much to catch up on...here is how the last week or so has gone down.

We spent NYE on the BEACH!!!! It was a fabulous 79 degrees and sunny (for most of the day) and we headed out to Bellows beach, which is part of the old Bellows Air Field, so you have to have and ID card to get to it. We hit the beach at around lunch time with our friends that our also living on the island. They are a great help showing us the ropes. :) We ate a picnic lunch, talked and watched the kids and boys play in the water, boogie board and run around like crazy people. No one got sunburned or stung by a PMOW or jellyfish so it was an awesome end to the year. Some days I still have to pinch myself that we are here! Here are a few pictures from NYE....

beach bum

beach beauty

We spent the first few days of the new year out and about exploring the island. We ventured out to North Shore to see the waves...only to realize that where we were in the North Shore waves were not. No big deal we had a great drive anyhow. We saw Dillingham Air Field where the do gliders. It was fun to watch the planes pull the gliders up and then let them go! We parked at a beach park and got out and walked around. The kids loved climbing on the rocks.

We have also gone out and explore Kaneohe Bay Marine Base so that S could try and find his old house. After some drooling over the amazing new houses the Marines have, not to mention the views! We found his old street....the houses that were there are gone and nice new ones put up, but it was the same street. He showed us how close to the beach, softball fields (even though as a kid he said they were on the other side of the base), and various play areas that he enjoyed as a kid in Hawaii. How the world comes full circle. Now he is back with his son in Hawaii at the same age. I know he has some great memories of living here and I hope we can give big A, the same experience.
After leaving Kaneohe we decided to try our luck in North Shore again. On the way we passed some beautiful views and also the Turtle Bay Resort. If you don't know about this place, watch the movie Forgetting Sarah Marshall...filmed on site and well I will stay there before we leave this island! Gorgeous! We found a beach to stop and watch the waves...only to find out that we were right next to the original spot from a few days earlier...the waves were not of epic proportion and personally didn't look any larger then what we see in California. Apparently we need to wait for a high surf warning and then go watch. The kids enjoyed it non the less and we saw some sea turtles as we walked on the rocks.

the scenery

our turtle friend

Now on to the first day of school...TODAY! It takes 2 full school days for the registration process. Don't ask why, I still don't understand it. We had to take a tour of the school which I understand, but that took 15 minutes. Oh well, big A has now started school and well it was a bit traumatic for him and me. Tears spilled over our cheeks as I said good-bye told him to be good and show them the smarts in his head. He looked at me with wet cheeks and said "ok" and then hid his head in his arm. S talked to him and little A gave him a hug and out the door we walked. I know he is fine (mainly cause I just called the school to check) and because he is more than prepared for this. As most of you (friends) know my concern with moving in the middle of the school year was that I didn't want him to be the new kid...well now he is. He will adapt and be taken into the group but still...that stigma is hard to get rid of sometimes. The good thing is that since it is a base school they are used to kids coming and going during the year. Doesn't make it easy on my heart or his though. I am now counting down the hours till I can go pick him up and see for myself that he is okay. Here is the pictures of his first day with the new "rainbow" plate.

Till the next post!
XO