Aboard the "Mighty Mo"

On Thursday night, Mikaela spent the night on the USS Missouri with our homeschool group. She had so much fun! She learned a lot about the history of the ship and WWII. Activities included; historians told them tales, they played games, sunset and sunrise colors, dinner and breakfast, and they were able to see parts of the ship you are not able to see on a regular tour.

She was so nervous before I dropped her off. I kept telling her it was going to be fun. She said to me," Where are we going to sleep?" I said, " In a bed." We have toured the ship before, so she said,"We'll probably sleep in that room with the couches and everything." I had to laugh because the room she was talking about was the Captain's room.

When I picked her up she was just smiling and so excited to tell me all about it. She told me...." It was so dark at night-pitch black. They just shut the lights off and that was it." I giggled and asked her,"What they didn't come in and tell you goodnight and to have sweet dreams?" She laughed.

I am glad she had the opportunity to experience a little piece of history.
For more info on the USS Missouri visit http://www.ussmissouri.com/visitor-information/interesting-facts

Mikaela at the Barber Shop.

Mikaela and her friend locked in the Brig.

This was her rack. They are stacked three bunks high. She said there was only enough room for one, maybe two people to be in the aisle at a time.

Colors

The Missouri secured its place in history as the site of Japan’s unconditional surrender to the Allied Forces on Sept. 2, 1945, ending World War II. The ceremony for the signing of the Formal Instrument of Surrender was conducted by Supreme Allied Commander, General Douglas A. MacArthur. This marker is where the treaty with Japan was signed.

Sketch Tuesday-Van Gogh's Olive Trees

This weeks assignment:

You can sketch the whole painting or just a part of it for this assignment. If you would like to print out the painting, you can right click, save the image, and then print it out on your color printer. Here is a link to see the painting larger:Wikipedia: Van Gogh: Olive Trees with the Alpilles in the BackgroundTake some time to really look at the painting with your child. Have them view the painting for a few minutes and then have them tell you about the painting. This will help them to begin to really see all the details that Van Gogh used to accomplish this masterpiece. All ages of children are capable of completing this assignment so let them give it a try.Here is a child friendly link for Van Gogh:http://www.geocities.com/ljacoby_2000/vangogh.html

Mikaela's painting Blake's painting

This assignment was fun. The kids enjoyed using paint and playing with the colors. It is always more of a challenge to copy a painting ,but I love to see how they turn out.

House Guests

We have had two very interesting house guests this past week. An African Grey named Sisco and a Sun Conure named Sunny. It was kind of a trade off with one of my husbands co-workers; they watched our dogs when we went on vacation and we are watching their birds while they flew back to the mainland. Sisco is a lot of fun. He talks and imitates everything you say. He kept saying things like they had meaning and my husband was reading they are very intelligent animals. They are considered to be as intelligent as a human toddler, a dolphin, or a chimpanzee. This past week my daughter has taught him to say her name. So ,every time she passes his cage he says....Mikaela..hey buddy. He has learned to imitate Ethan's temper tantrum scream and the barking/whining sound Wally makes when we leave the house. He was also imitating the garbage truck this morning. He is a lot of fun. Sunny on the other hand is so loud. He screeches, especially when my husband walks into the room. Let me just say....two more weeks to go. Sisco will tell him to shut up. Not very nice but still funny and he always has perfect timing.

Sports Rituals

It is a known fact that many sports players and fans have rituals. Blake has developed his own ritual. Every game during half time, he dumps water on his head and spikes his hair. Another one, after he makes a goal he does this crazy dance. His team is undefeated and he leads in goals, so maybe it is working.

Team Edward, wrapping it up

Well, Mikaela's first soccer season is coming to an end. She has learned a lot from a great team and a great coach. Her team was so much fun to watch. They communicated with each other, used skills they learned in practice, and really encompassed the team spirit. She is looking forward to playing again next season. Go Team Edward!!

Happy Easter

Our eggs.... Ethan was having so much fun dying eggs. Sometimes he would have three or four eggs in a cup at a time. He didn't want it to be over.

Mikaela and Blake were trying to keep up with him.

Do You Feel Inferior?

Do you feel inferior?
This is a question I was asked recently.
Our neighbors invited us over for a barbecue. They are both active duty serving in the US Army. We were sitting around talking when my neighbor expressed to me she was thinking about getting out of the Army to be a stay at home mom. She said it is killing her to have to leave her children.
She was asking me all kinds of questions...Do you get bored? Do you want to hand over the kids and run out the door when your husband gets home? I tried to be honest with all of my answers. The one question that kind of surprised me....Do you feel inferior? It kind of shocked me, I guess because I can't remember feeling that way. I actually had to ask, what do you mean? She said I mean your contribution to the family. My response was being a mother and a homemaker is my role in the family...no ,I don't feel inferior. Then my husband said, " If anything I am the who feels inferior. She does so much for our family and I don't know how she does it." I looked at him and almost cried because I didn't know he felt that way. She looked at the both of us and said I guess that answers my question.
I really began to think about that question though....
Why is it our society has given women the idea that staying at home to raise your children is an inferior role? We should be raising our daughters to know that motherhood is the most honorable and important job they will ever have. We should be raising our daughters to know that motherhood is not inferior but superior.

Our Last Day

Well it is our last day on Kauai. We had such a wonderful time. We enjoyed so many things on this vacation, but the best thing was to be with family. We only get a dose every now and then and it is always sad to see them go home.

We had a great time though......laughter, kayaking, hiking, swimming, a luau, sunbathing, bonfires on the beach, movies, board games, delicious food(thanks dan), shopping, bbqing, memory bracelet making, long drives in a small car(AHHHH, I appreciated my mini van), mornings w/ Great Grandma(from the kids), reading, bike riding, sight seeing, walks on the beach, sunrise and sunset, collecting shells, roosters in the morning(afternoon and evening), and great memories.

So today we just hung out at the house and packed. We tried to take a walk but a big storm rolled in from the ocean and we had to run home. So, what do you do in a six bedroom 4,500 sq ft house? Play hide and seek of course; FUN!

Then we went into the town of Kapa'a to the fair. We went into this shop and bought Red Dirt Shirts. I had never heard of it but I loved the story behind the shirts. Talk about when life gives you lemons make lemonade. On September 11, 1992 the flooding of hurricane Iniki damaged so many shirts at Paradise Sportswear..they were on the verge of financial ruin. To save the shirts and the company, they developed a dirt dyeing process using Hawaiian red dirt. The shirts are manually dyed by the people of Kauai. Of course it didn't hurt that they gave us a 50 % discount because we are military. We bought four shirts.
Mikaela's has a picture of a rooster on it and says"Kauai's bird of paradise-not endangered". Ethan's shirt says " Red dirt squirt". Dad's shirt says "Life's short, play dirty". My shirt has the Red Dirt Rules on the back which says:
1. When the "One Great Scorer" comes to mark beside your name, It matters not whether you won or lost, but how you played the game.
2. No one stands so tall as when they stoop to help a child.
3. The Lord will not give you a burden you cannot carry, when Life is hard, it shows He knows your strength.
4. Success is a journey, not a Destination.
5. Love is not put in your heart to stay, Love is not Love till you give it away.
6. The harder you work, the luckier you get.
7. Morality is what you do when nobody is looking.
8. Yesterday is gone, Tomorrow never comes, so make Today count.
9. Red Dirt Ethic: Voluntary Commitment to a Higher Standard.
10. How do you eat an Elephant? One bite at a time.

Some good advice on the back of that Red Dirt Shirt! http://www.dirtshirt.com/

The Family

My Three Beach Bums

What Can We Find Today?

This guy got a little to much sun!

Just about everyday we would take a walk on the beach. Here are some photos of different critters we found along the way. Except the spider, he took up residence on the front porch.

Flowers, Plants, and Trees