hickam beach

Summer is winding down, but it seems the weather hasn't quite gotten the memo.

It's the first day of school for Kela and Anna...and with Mitch's parents still here on the Island, we decided to enjoy what remains of the good weather as well as Grandma & Grandpa's military benefits.
Our one final trip to Hickam Beach, on Hickam Air Force base. 

 It really was a beautiful day for the beach!
Unfortunately, this day also happened to be quite a bit windy, with the waves a tad too strong for Jojo and Kaden to play in.  So, they played in the sand and (as you'll see later, the faucet by the cabanas) while Mitch and his Dad paddled and kayaked.
I, on the other hand, jogged.

Here's Mitch kayaking out into the water after his father (farther ahead on the yellow paddle board).

 Grandma, who doesn't like the beach or sun, stayed in the shade and helped keep the little ones occupied with buckets of water.  Water she got from the spigot behind the cabana, NOT from the ocean.

Like I said, the waves were a tad choppy and it was actually pretty windy this day...so Grandpa naturally had a bit of a difficult time standing up on the paddle board.

 See?

 And...here the kids are trying to rinse the sand off of them.

 Or, maybe just playing in the water.
(while wasting it and flooding the cabana area too, might I add)

 The water on this side of the island is SO clear and beautiful!
Of course, it also helps that this is a military beach so is far cleaner than the usual public beach. 
It is rarely tainted with rubbish and debris. 

Ahh. who needs the beach when you have a spigot of water, right?
At least I didn't have to chase him in the waves and worry about drowning!  :)

it's gr-eight to be 8!

I almost can't believe Kela is old enough to get baptized!!

It sounds cliche, I know...but it truly feels like it was just yesterday we were bringing her home from the hospital and being brand new parents for the first time!

And now, she's eight years-old and and ready to get baptized!

 Half way to the church for Kela's baptism, I realized that I forgot to pack the leis I made for her!

You can't go to a baptism without a lei, right?!

So, with my mad dash back to the house and than back to the church, I ended up being a tad late to Kela's baptismal service.  And since I was scheduled to give the opening prayer, I was really nervous that I wouldn't make it on time...but luck was on my side and I somehow managed to arrive right in the nick of time.

So, with all that hullabaloo, I missed the opportunity to snap some decent pictures of Kela before the baptism.

This was the only one I got...and it's a tad blurry, but at least I got it!

 Oh, and this one.  Which happens to be in the changing room right before she entered the font.

I'm pretty sure I was more nervous and excited than she was!

 The baptism was quick...but beautiful.

Mitch did a great job!  :)

  This is Sister Bell...her CTR teacher.  

She gave the talk, and did a wonderful job.  Kela loves her.

 Look at all those leis!

Kela was probably more excited about the presents and candy than the actual baptismal service!

Just kidding...

 Here was all the family that came out to her baptism.

The angle is a bit weird, I know...it's because there were cars parked right in front of us, and the sun was shining right above so we had to be a bit creative with the camera positioning.  

In retrospect, we probably should have rearranged ourselves to a better position.  

Or, moved to an entirely different location.

But oh well...at least you can see all of us!

We missed having Airi and her family with us on this day...she was still in the mainland with her family!

:(

Here we are with Grandpa and Grandma Seavey.

SO lucky that they were here for her baptism!

Me and Kela.
I'm so proud of her!!

Our family!!  ♥

After the baptismal service, we had a family dinner celebration at our house.

Sushi and chicken karaage.

My favorite.  I know...I probably should have made Kela's favorite food.  But in my defense, Kela also loves both sushi and chicken wings so I figure it's a win-win situation!

I mean, who doesn't like spicy tuna and california rolls, right?

In all seriousness, this was truly a great day!  And I can't begin to describe how happy I was to see Kela making the decision to get baptized and follow her Savior's example.  I know she has a testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  And I know that she knows that by entering the waters of baptism, she has made the choice to become a true disciple of Jesus Christ.

I am so proud of my girl!  

And feel so blessed to have an Eternal Family!  ♥

one last huzzah...at the zoo

School's almost back in session...and so as one last huzzah before school starts back up, we decided to hit the zoo.  I mean, we've been to the pool (too many times to count) and the beach (ditto) so we figure why not the zoo!  Plus, Mitch was working and if I don't have to worry about Kaden drowning or getting swept away by the sea, then I say it's a good day!

So, we hit the zoo with my good friend Noelle and my sister Elika.  Oh, and our respective kids, of course.

Let me just start off by saying it was a HOT day.

Little wind, and lots of sunshine.  

In retrospect, the pool or beach probably would have been a tad more refreshing, but like I said, we were all husband-less, and so staying on dry land was definitely the easier route.

 See?  Hot day, huh?

And since Kaden refused to sit still in the stroller, I had to plop him on top of the canopy while I strolled around the zoo.

 And...since I'm being honest, the reptiles and monkeys were the only animals we saw.

After the herpetarium, the kids were hungry so we headed to the playground/kiddie zoo area.

Where we ate our lunch.
Spam musubis, capri sun and grapes.  :)

Well...most of the kids ate lunch.

Kaden just ran away from me.  

Like always.

 At least when he wasn't holding his cousin's hand.

 Or, playing at the playground.

This particular circular disc-thingy was his favorite.

 So, we stayed at the playground...because the kids seemed to really enjoy it here.

 Kaden was in heaven.

He loves to slide...

 ...to climb on things...

 ...or hang on things...

 ...not to mention climb through things...

 ...and slide some more.

 He also wrestled an alligator...

 ...tried to pet a peacock...

 ...made friends with a koi fish...

 ...befriended a goat...

...and built a fort out of legos.

 Jojo played on the playground, too...

But mostly, she ran around with her favorite cousin, Justus.

These two are trouble whenever they get together!

Kela found a bar to hang from...

While Anna was pretty tame in simply wandering around with her juice.

And Knox...he LOVES slides.

I'd post more pictures of all the other animals we saw...except that we DIDN'T see any more animals!
No.  We stayed in the Keiki Zoo/Playground all day!
Oh well, at least the kids had fun and us parents didn't have to walk all around the entire zoo.
A successful day, if I do say so myself!  :)

fishin'

Well, it's still Summer.

And we've gone to the pool too many times for me to count!

With Mitch flying today, I really wasn't in the mood to head out to the beach all by myself... but the girls really wanted to get out and play with their cousins, so I packed up their bathing suits and their toothbrushes and headed out to the other side of the island.

We drove out to Hau'ula to spend the day with my sister Elika and her kids.

 

 The kids ran around while we got ready to head out to the beach...until it started to rain.

With our beach plans scrapped, the older kids occupied themselves by playing some Wii, while Kaden hung around on the porch to play in the rain.

While Jojo and Justus decided to dance in it.

But after a while, the sun blessed with its presence!  And so we chanced a trek across the street to the beach.

Once there, we realized that despite the sun being out, the wind was stronger than we thought...so instead of swimming in the water, the kids decided to go fishing instead.

 Usually, the water here connects with the ocean and has a constant ebb and flow of waves.  

However, the tide was a tad too low for that today, closing off this small pool of water and making for some excellent fishing conditions.  

The water wasn't too clear looking, but it was smooth enough to see a ton of little fish swimming around.

 These fancy goggles were NOT for swimming, but just for show.

 The only one lucky enough to get to sit in a chair!

 The kids caught a LOT of fish.

All were super tiny like this one...but the kids had a blast fishing them out with their little nets.

  More fishing...while Kaden looks on.

 Anna was our champion fisher today.

She caught the first, and probably the most fish out of everybody!

While these two were champion of making the biggest mess of themselves in the sand!

Yay!

Just goes to show that you don't have to swim in order to have a good time at the beach!