Miranda's 9th Birthday Celebration

Miranda turned 9 on the 21st and when asked about what kind of party she wanted, she immediately said a High School Musical sleepover. I was hesitant about the sleepover thing, but agreed to the idea. Did I really know what I was getting myself into? Now that it is over, I would have to say, no I didn't really know what I was getting myself into. I figured with six girls coming it would be okay to send Duane and Ryan out camping. I didn't think about how difficult it might be to keep an eye on Olivia, referee the girls, supervise the games and crafts, bring out the cake, serve it with ice cream and try to take pictures would be by myself. Hmmmm, next time I will make Duane stay and lend a hand. Duane and Ryan actually ended up coming back from their campout early because neither one of them could sleep in the humidity. They walked in at about 12:30pm and the party was still in full swing, in fact little did I know it was far from over. I knew the girls would be up late watching both High School Musical movies, but at 9 I thought they would eventually go to sleep. Well, I was wrong and I ended up turning the last movie off at 3:30am!! All I could hear was my Miranda singing and after looking at the clock, I knew it was time to force some shut eye. Miranda wanted to stay up all night, but I told her it was 3:30am and she hadn't figured out that there were others trying to sleep, not to mention the neighbors on either side of us. After staying up late the previous night until 2am baking for a prayer breakfast for Duane's unit, I was not in the mood to negotiate. Anyway, I am not anxious for a repeat of Friday any time soon, but the everyone had a good time and managed to get a couple hours of sleep.
Each girl got to decorate their own Wildcat pennant to hang in their rooms. They turned out great!
Yes, Miranda is obsessed with High School Musical and Troy and Gabriella are her favorite characters. Here she is kissing the picture of Troy. Isn't she a little young for this?!
Miranda loved her cake and spotted her favorite guy on the cake.
After a game of find the lipgloss cellphone, Miranda's friends decided to give her a makeover to get ready for a date with Troy. Hmmmmm, did someone say that they 80's look was coming back?! She's got the punk rock look going on.

Taking Command

Well, the day finally arrived and Duane is now the Commander of the 14th Maintenance Company. He is very excited about the opportunity to command and I know he'll do a great job. We're both looking forward to getting to know the soldiers and their families over the next year.
Duane taking the company guidon from the acting Battalion Commander.

Duane giving his speech as the incoming Commander.

Adventure on the High Seas

Duane went deep sea fishing with some people that he works with. He got up at 3am and met the crew for day out at sea, hoping he would come home with something. I'm surprised Duane isn't the one sleeping considering how early he was up!
As you can see, there were plenty of fish to catch. They caught 55 fish and everyone took some home. You may notice that Duane is on the phone and he is actually talking to me and trying to give me directions on how to get to the dock. When I arrived I was greeted with a plate of fresh tuna that had just been grilled with garlic. It was scrumptious! We invited some friends over last night and Duane grilled up the remainder of the fish. He is anxious to go out again and maybe catch something more than just tuna.

Dress Up Anyone?

On Saturday the kids decided to play dress up. Ryan came running down the stairs with his cape flying behind him and a pair of underwear perched on his head, calling himself Mr. Underwear. I couldn't resist snapping a picture that will be used as blackmail!

Ryan at the Bat

Ryan started the baseball season and is excited to be a Los Angeles Dodger. He has now started tracking how the real Dodgers are doing in the sports section of the newspaper. He loves that Duane can take him to the practices and I love that I get to stay home! Ryan's pregame stretching.
Ryan has moved up an age group, so he has graduated from a t-ball stand to coach pitched. With practice he'll eventually be able to hit the ball.
The team who was waiting to start their game was stretching and Olivia decided she would help their coach demonstrate the stretches.

4th of July at Ikei Island

We spent July 4th at Mammasan/Oodamari Beach on Ikei Island with some friends. Duane went diving with a friend and the rest of us snorkeled. Yes, we all took up snorkeling a couple of weeks ago and we love it. Miranda and Ryan really enjoyed seeing all of the sea life, especially the fish under the water. We will have a lot more Saturdays filled with snorkeling fun. We had a great day with beautiful weather and will definitely be back to visit Ikei Island.
Olivia is our little beach bunny. She loves going to the beach and whenever she sees the ocean, which is often, she asks to go to the beach. She loves to build sandcastles and play in the water.

The kids and I were surprised to see this tree with what looks like pineapples growing on it.

Miranda and Ryan struck a pose in front of this barrier for waves. We all tried to convince Olivia to join the picture, but surprisingly she wanted nothing to do with it.

Wow, what a beautiful picture of the pacific ocean!! These pictures make it look like we really do live in paradise.

Summer Blast

Our neighborhood put on a summer blast to celebrate the beginning of the summer. It was a lot of fun for everyone. We all pitched in to rent a dunk tank, snow cone machine, and blow-up slip 'n slide to make the day extra special.

Ryan tried his hand at four square and got very frustrated because he couldn't get out of the first square. He hasn't quite learned that some things take practice and you can't be good at everything all the time.

Olivia loves all animals, especially dogs. She loved playing with this dog and thought he was hungry, so she found him a stick to eat.

Miranda's favorite activity of the day was the dunk tank. She loved being dunked over and over again. Olivia spent hours going down the slide into the swimming pool that was set up for the little ones.