Atlantis

I know that I'm really blessed to have a husband who agrees with me on continuing to work on our marriage.  We have always made a point of having regular date nights.  We've had some who balk, and some who are surprised, and even some who were a bit envious.  We have a date night EVERY Friday night and I love it.  

Last night's date was at a new restaurant in downtown Waikiki.  We so love to try new things and I love to try new restaurants, especially new places without the kids. This one is called Atlantis and is right next door to one of our favorite places, Jimmy Buffet's.

It seemed casual, but the food was so much better than just casual.  It was more along the lines of gourmet and we loved every bite.  We got beautiful drinks, crab cakes and coconut shrimp for an appetizer, and I finally tried the Mahi Mahi.  Of course it was macadamia nut encrusted, coconut Mahi Mahi so it was amazing!  Chris' dinner was good too.

So anyway, fun date night!  Love my honey.

 not my best picture, but I'll go with it

Our Night Off

One of the nicest things about having parents in town is when they offer to watch your kids.  To have them not only offer to watch them, but to send you to their reserved condo for the night, yeah, that's love.

So as I gleefully, but lovingly kissed all my kids goodbye, we headed out to an action flick and dinner.  We ate at a local favorite called Zippy's.  Not so high on my list of places to eat, but it did make a great mushroom burger.  Anyway so we go to our movie and enjoy not having to rush back.  We drove over to the "condo" and find it's like a hotel room built on the side of a local's home.  She rents it out regularly to help pay the bills.  I thought it a very inventive way to take care of yourself.  It was lovely, actually.  Big, comfy bed, cable, a kitchen and a nice bath with linens.  I would pay to stay there any time.

We fell asleep quickly and then slept in the next morning.  Such a luxury for parents with five children under 8.  Eventually we decided to get up and go to breakfast.  We found a great little restaurant.  I mean it was really tiny.  We were all scrunched in there, but the food was so worth it.  

Then we hit the beach, just the two of us.  It was wonderful and so relaxing.  People assume that we're at the beach all the time because we live on island, but honestly the beach is quite a trip with all our kids, their stuff, and all the safety/behavior issues that are possibly around the corner.  The chance to go to the beach like other adults do was so nice.  I got to read a book (I know!) and lay in the sun (again, I know!).  Then we took a swim just in time for me to discover that I just can't stand on anything that's not an obvious rock or sand.  Chris on the other hand doesn't seem to care and thinks my squeals of ickiness are hilarious.  I'm sure everyone watching thought we were being so cute and romantic, but I was actually in Chris' arms because he kept threatening to put me down on something I knew was not sand!  I haven't seen him laugh so hard in a long time.  

It was great and a little hard to go home.  The reception our kids gave us when we got home was worth the effort it was to say goodbye to our time off.  Love my kids so much!

Thanks mom and dad for a great night off.  Anytime you want to do it again, we are ready!

The Fosburgs Come to See Us

We love having visitors. I just want to put that out there for everyone.  We so enjoy showing people around where we live and getting to enjoy with someone new what we get to do.  

The Fosburgs have become regular guests in our home since joining the Air Force.  We love that they like our family enough to visit.  This time they came down for about two weeks or so.

One of the first things they always do when they come is hit the beach.  Thankfully, we have a beach on base here so they don't have to go very far.  Chris loves to take people to the O club.  Ok, well we hardly ever actually go to the club, we usually just walk behind it.  It's right on the harbor (Pearl) and the sun sets back there.  It is fun and beautiful and we love to walk it with the family.  One thing I personally enjoy about being on base is that the historical aspects are highlighted.

As you can see Ally is so loving the walk!

So we got everyone settled and in quickly and then we fleshed out our plans for the next week or so.  We did lots of fun things, but it's rare to get to do something brand new for all of us.  One of these new experiences was going to a luau at the PCC.  

Chris was recognized for his service.  That's why he's wearing the funny headband.

After the luau, we went to the show.  "Ha the breath of life" was so beautiful and fun.  We really enjoyed it, though Chris really would have appreciated some better seats.  As usual, I was happy to be there with him and enjoy the show at all.  

First Date Night in Waikiki

So we have officially been in our house like maybe two weeks or so.  Enough time to realize how much we need a date night.

Chris has been having a hard time with the fact that we live in the amazing place and he can't even tell we live here while he's at work.  He has no window in his space and the one in the office doesn't even show palm trees, or so I'm told.  

So since we have a sitter and it's time to go out, he's dying to go downtown to Waikiki.  

We found this great place called "Duke's".  They have an inside area for the regular fare, and an on-the-beach section that's more burgers and fries.  It was so much fun.  Chris especially liked watching the sun go down over the ocean while we waited for our food.  The beach is literally just beyond the little wall that separates us in the restaurant from the beach goers near the shoreline.  We even watched a catamaran come ashore.  It was great.  Chris is a fan of the tiki torches and so he took this picture.

He wants to get tikis for our backyard, but all I had to do was mention all the ways the kids could get into trouble with fire so close at hand and he was kind enough to let it go for the evening.

So silly!

Our very first date in Hawaii!

Oh how wonderful are the parents!  So we've been her in town only a little while and guess who comes to help us out?  The Fosburgs!  Originally they had planned to help when Vaughn was born, but I was able to convince them to come visit us in Hawaii and set up house!  I'm so glad they agreed.

After 6 long weeks in a hotel on island and finally getting a house and then getting all our HHG (stuff), I have to admit I was a bit (or a lot) overwhelmed with the idea of organizing and putting together a whole new home.  Plus somewhere in there I'm supposed to mother.  It's been difficult to say the least.  The worst part?  Chris has been a bit depressed with his new job.  His last job was very high demand on his time and his skills while he doesn't really have a job here so the difference is stark.  They are readjusting his department and don't know where they want him yet.  Not so good.  He's even more unhappy due to the fact that he can't even tell that he's on an island because he can't see the beach from the house or his office.

Anyway, so when Mike and Ronda came down we were all very happy.  Something familiar in a sea of unfamiliarity has really helped us calm down and start slow on all the work that needs to be done to get the new place up and running.  One of the best things about my in-laws is that they are so much more than that.  They are a major support and great friends.  So when they saw how frazzled and overwhelmed I was, and how sad and depressed Chris was, they encouraged Chris to surprise me with our first moment of alone time in a while!  Chris took me to THE BEST snorkeling spot on our new island.  We went to Hanauma Bay.

Hanauma Bay is the best for a reason.  It's a wildlife preserve so there are extra steps to visiting.  We were let in free because we are military and then we had to watch a video about proper conduct while in the water and on the beach.  It is so impressive right from the first view!  Absolutely gorgeous!

We had such a great time.  I loved all the fish.  I even saw the state fish, Humuhumunukunukuapaua'a! Yes that's it's name.  It is beautiful.  We saw so many different kinds of fish and coral and all by ourselves.  It was amazing.  I even got to lay on the beach for a while and get my token Hawaiian sunburn.  (I don't tan, just to remind you!)  I also got to enjoy the little beach birds.  I had a small snack which several tried to steal!  It cracked me up!

What a great surprise.  I got my husband, a beach, and a time to be a young woman in Hawaii.  What more could a girl ask for?  More time, maybe?  Ok fine, I'll come home.

Thank you Chris.  Thank you Mom and Dad.  So many wonderful people who love me!

Date Night Extraordinaire!!!

Recently Chris and I went on a fantastic date that I wanted to share. For those of you who don't know, date night is sacred in our house. It's not because of what you're thinking, I didn't start it. Chris did. He decided that it was important to date his wife every week. Yes, every week!! So, every Friday night we have a date. Sometimes it's video games we like, sometimes a new dessert recipe we want to try (his idea), sometimes it's a video rental or going out to a movie we want to see. We even do mundane things like go on walks, watch our favorite tv show, or work on a project like creating quiet books for our little ones (again, his idea). I really like the more elaborate date nights like when we find a sitter and go out to dinner or go to Columbia to hang out in the giant Barnes and Noble to find new books. Well Chris blew all those dates out of the water with help from our new friends the Horns.

Mike and Emily Horn

This last weekend we went camping with the Horns and the Heaps. It was just over night, but something we haven't done since Evie was born five years ago. We love to camp so it was a lot of fun. Then we went repelling. Originally we were going to rock climb too, but so many of us had never done the repelling before that we chose to stick with going down first.

Us at the top of the "mountain"- Mt. Pilot, NC

It was so much fun!!! We all slept in a giant tent together, except Mike Horn of course who slept in his super neat jungle hammock. Don't know what that is? Neither did I. It's like sleeping inside a mosquito net attached to a hammock that zips up with a poncho-type thing over it. Confused? Check it out online. It's quite cool.

Anyway, so we camped, ate tinfoil dinners (my first time making it), and ate s'mores. Yummy! The girls and I talked a lot and had a lot of fun. We sure enjoyed the sleeping under the stars thing. It was great. Not putting the kids to bed....even better! I love my kids, but I rarely leave them over night so this was special.

The next morning was beautiful! We ate breakfast and then packed up and drove up the mountain-like summit. I say it that way because after the Cascades from home this mountain was about the size of the "mountains" surrounding Spokane Valley. Basically, little mountains. Anyway, the cliffs were sheer enough and high enough to make repelling challenging and fun.

Colton and Venus Heaps (she's so little!)

I actually have repelled before this date. When I was a teen I dated a great guy that knew I enjoyed this kind of thing and took me out. I loved it then, and I loved it now. It was so fun. It was still a bit intimidating, but once over the edge, smooth and fun. The view is always amazing!

After Mike taught us about safety basics and set up the lines, Colton Heaps was the first one down. He decided to be the belayer. (I'm not sure if that's the right title, but he is the guy that stands at the bottom, holds the rope, and watches in case you need to be stopped. That way you don't go sailing into the ground and break something....like him!)

Anyway, after a little debating about who was gonna go first, I jumped up and decided to go! It was one of those things that I knew I wanted to do, was fun, and I was going to like. I also knew if I waited too long, I would've gotten scared for no reason and then it would've been impossible to go. So, off I went. Mike gave me some instruction (most of it was a reminder for me. Hey, 12 years is a long time) and checked my gear (you wear a harness and gloves) and then double and triple checked to make sure I understood how to do the repelling safely.

So Mike gave me some last instructions and then let me go, being super reassuring as I went. Of course, as I slipped and slid and did funny things he totally laughed at me, but I made it down and had a fantastic time doing it. I sure had missed doing things like that.

My trip over the edge!

Soon others in our group went, Chris and then Venus. It was amazing to see them dangling in mid air and then sweep down to the bottom. I love having friends who like to do things that I like to do. It makes all the activities we do together so much fun!

that tree was sooooo annoying!!!

So after going up and down, up the super long and steep trail and down the rock face, several times we packed up and headed to a great restaurant, PF Chang's, for dinner. The food was amazing. No wonder it's Mike's favorite place.

Of all the things we did that day, one of the most memorable was actually on the way home. We had several hours of driving to kill from NC to Sumter, SC.

In the last 10 yrs of marriage we've changed a lot, but our friendship continues to be one of the real strengths of our relationship. One of the things I like best about Chris is versatility. Our trip home from this amazing date just highlighted this quality for us both.

I had brought along my current reading material and he encouraged me to read some of it to him. So I read several chapters of "Last of the Mohicans" by James Fenimore Cooper out loud.

We later listened to and discussed a podcast on IGN about a video game that's coming out called "Assassin's Creed: Revelations" which we are both super excited to play. Yes, BOTH of us. The preview alone is fantastic! We watched E3 that week. (Gaming conference)

Then we caught up on our national political scene by listening to several of our favorite sources (Bill O'Reilly and John Batchelor just to name two). We discussed, debated, and basically really enjoyed each other's opinions. Don't laugh, I'm being serious! We actually do these things, just not usually all in the same circumstance. This was rare.




After that we talked about lots of random things while listening to one of our favorite play lists. It contains the soundtracks from movies we've seen. I love it. (Just one of the many below.)

Like I said, I got all of my favorite things about our relationship all at the same time. Then we got to come home to our adorable little ones and some amazing friends who had watched them for us, the Kirby's! I sure love my family. It was a unique and amazingly wonderful weekend for us.