our week in a post

Normally, I'm not too fond of lumping a bunch of random pictures and events into one post...but with everything happening so fast these days, I caved.
A lumped post is better than NO post, right?
Ergo, prepare yourself for a long one.

This past week, I discovered a GEM right here on the island.
Sure, it's on Schofield Barracks (an ARMY base)...but since they are gracious enough to allow us peons, er, I mean, civilians on without a sponsor or military ID, I decided to check it out.
What did I check out, you ask?

THIS!

Ok, so you Mainland people are probably asking what the heck is so great about a splash park.
Well, it's the ONLY one on Oahu (that I know of...).

Jolee LOVED it!

Don't ask me what she's doing here...
Although if you've ever been to a splash park, I ask you-Have you ever seen a child NOT do this?
I didn't think so.
Oh, and right next to the splash area is this great big playground.
With tons of tunnels to play around in...


And hippos to crawl through...

And not to mention pirate ships to peek out of.
Jolee had a blast.


Also this past week, Jolee did some painting at her preschool class.

While Kaden crawled around...

Jolee showing off her painting skills.
...or, maybe just her paint brush...


Every week, Kela has soccer practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
When Mitch is home, it falls on him to take Kela so I could stay at home and rest or prepare dinner in peace and quiet.
When he's flying, however, I end up having to take the whole troupe and hang out at the park for an hour.
Needless to say, I looked forward to those days when Mitch was home.

AND then Mitch, bless his heart, saw that there wasn't an assistant coach for the team...so decided to volunteer to help out at the practices as a semi-assistant coach.

So, on his days off of work, he spends his Tuesday and Thursday evenings helping out Kela's team, rather than watching the younger ones...and since the girls seem to want to get out of the house these days (I know, bless their little overactive souls!) I end up tagging along to the park to tend to the younger ones while Kela kicks the ball around with her teammates.


And that's how my Tuesday/Thursday evening breaks flew out the window.
So, when do I fix dinner on Tuesdays and Thursdays, you ask?
Sometimes before, sometimes after...and sometimes I simply let Pizza Hut or Zippy's do the cooking for me.

Here's Anna trying to pass the time away by doing some drawing on the basketball court.


And then a little cat-n-mouse game with Jolee's trike.

My daughter the artist.
You will ALWAYS (and I mean, ALWAYS) see a rainbow in one of Anna's drawings.

Have I mentioned that Kaden crawls everywhere?
He does.
But mostly under tables and/or chairs...
And toward the stairs.
Thankfully, he hasn't yet learned the art of climbing UP those stairs yet...

AND then...since Jolee enjoyed the splash park SO very much, I decided to take the rest of the gang as well.
This was on the girls' half-day at school.
I picked them up after school and headed straight up.
Still takes me a good 1/2 hour or so to get there...which is FAR for an island bumpkin like me...but I must say it was worth it!
HOT.
But worth it.

On this day, I brought with me their cousin, Luke.
And some SPAM musubis.
And we met up with my sister Elika and her kids.
I do believe they all had a blast!
In the water...

...and at the park...

The END.