Family Pictures

While Eric was home on R&R we had our friend Melissa Jensen take some family pictures. They turned out SO good and I was so happy. Thanks Melissa; you did a GREAT job!

What a special treat.....

There is a program put on by the Armed Forces YMCA that makes quilts for kids aged 6 and under and a pillow for kids aged 6 and up who has a parent that is deployed. All you do is fill out a form and send in your pictures and a quilt is hand made by a volunteer who wants to make things a little easier for kids. I love it, and little Eric loves it; I'm so thankful for people out there who are willing to give of their time to help kids out. It is never easy having a loved one deployed; I'm so thankful for programs like this to help our separation be a little easier.

Fun Hawaiian Things

While on the whale watching cruise they had fun activities to do to learn more about the Hawaiian culture. Two of the things to do was learn how to make Leis and learn to play the ukelele. It was fun to learn how to make a lei; Eric didn't learn how to play the ukelele but sure did have fun playing it.

Eric's R&R - Whale Watching Cruise

One of the things we wanted to do while Eric was home was go on a whale watching cruise. The tickets and tours place on post had discount tickets so we did it. It was awesome. The whole time we followed (or they followed a mama whale and her baby. It was pretty neat to see them so close up. Hopefully we can take another one before we leave the island.
The first 2 pictures were taken while we waited to take off; the rest are of the mama whale and her baby that we followed.

Eric's R&R - Waikiki Beach

We had seen this down in Waikiki before and always talked about doing it. While Eric was home on R&R we did it and had alot of fun. It really isn't made for 3 people so I didn't do it for long but my boys had a blast.

Eric's R&R - Underwater Submarine Tour

For little Eric's birthday one of his friends bought him (and us) tickets to go on the Underwater Submarine. Little Eric and I had done this before but it was fun to be able to go again with big Eric. Here are some pictures of what we saw.

 

heading out to the submarine

 there is the submarine we are getting on

 a string ray that we saw

 if you look close there is a turtle

Eric's R&R - Kaena Point

One thing that I really wanted to do while Eric was home was go hike Kaena Point. It is on the North Shore of the island and I heard it was also a very pretty hike. Some of my friends who had hiked it during this whale season had said that they had seen whales. My back was feeling better so we decided to go for it. The hike didn't disappoint; it was SO pretty. The waves were amazing that day and the water was just beautiful. We didn't do the whole hike but at the half way point where we turned around (or at least what we thought was the half way point) we did see whales out in the water. It was a great day!

Ice Skating on R&R

One day while Eric was home on his R&R we decided to go ice skating. Unfortunately I had hurt my back so I wasn't able to skate but my boys had a great time!

Why You Shouldn't.......

put dish soap in the dishwasher. 

This is what will happen

Big Eric was a dear and did the dishes when he was home on R&R but forgot what was supposed to go into the dishwasher.