May

Wow, what a month! We're one month closer to Daddy coming home and we kept ourselves busy to make it go by faster.

We started off the month with a retreat at Ko Olina, which is an amazing resort on the west coast of Oahu.  It was a well needed rest for all of us.  Sorry, I don't have any pictures from that weekend, I was having too much fun relaxing and enjoying the resort.

That first Wednesday we had a big meeting with the rest of the spouses from Eric's brigade.  It was meant to inform us of the redeployment process and give us some insight into our husbands' returns.  It really didn't tell us much, of course.  They don't like to tell you much in the military because it always changes and then people would get disappointed or upset.  So, they just keep us in the dark and let us get surprised.

That Friday, we all went out to dinner for our friend Courtney's birthday.  She took this cute picture of Marcus.

On Mother's Day, we went to Outback with our friend Chantal.  We were planning to go to Ruby Tuesday, but the wait was over an hour and we decided we'd rather have steak anyway.  I also got this cool mug from Eric and the boys.  In case you can't tell, it's a heart made up of their three names.

The next weekend we all went down to the Baby Expo in downtown Honolulu.  We got a lot of free stuff and some good information.  We also went to the Pineapple Festival that weekend, which had a surprisingly small amount of pineapple but some really good jazz music.  One of the vendors thought Marcus was so cute she gave him a free bracelet; I see this becoming a problem later in life.

The next weekend found us attending another retreat.  This one was at the Hale Koa and I put both kids in the free childcare that was provided.  The childcare was easily the best part of the retreat.  It allowed me to have some much needed rest and relaxation.  They build in a lot of free time to these retreats while the kids are still being watched because they know with our husbands being gone for a year we really need the break.

The view of the ocean from our hotel room

My feet, relaxing by the side of the pool (without any kids)

Marcus enjoying his first tropical drink, the Shaka!
(Relax, it's just a strawberry smoothie)

Marcus checking out the city before bedtime

Sesame Street has a program that they do in combination with the USO for military children.  It's called Talk, Listen and Connect and they have shows about deployment as well as moving.  They brought their show to Hawaii this month and we got to go see it.  Marcus had a blast and got a cool Elmo light-up spinner.  It's nice for the parents because it's basically a free Sesame Street Live performance.

Marcus enjoying the show

He absolutely loves Elmo

Friday found me attending another event for spouses of deployed soldiers.  This month we attended ARTafterDark, which is a monthly party at the Honolulu Academy of Art.  It was fun, with lots of good food, and I even ran into a guy I used to work with in the Marines.  It really is a small world, I hadn't seen him in 10 years and ran into him and his family at the door.

On Memorial Day, military had free admission to the Hawaii State Fair, so we took the opportunity to check it out.  Marcus got to go on a helicopter ride, the ferris wheel, and the giant slide.  We also checked out the "backyard circus," which is basically a bunch of kids in costume doing silly acts.  We tried to sit and watch the European-style circus they had as well but the kids didn't want to cooperate so we left that early.  We did get to sit and listen to the 25th Infantry Division Home Front Brass Quintet as well as the Marine Forces Pacific party band.  It was a pretty good day.

Marcus flying a helicopter

The Ferris Wheel

Dominic enjoyed the fair too

Me and Marcus on the giant slide

Marcus peeking out of the Ferris Wheel

Marcus' prize from the Midway

The last day of the month was pretty rainy, and I found a cool program called KidsBowlFree that enables Marcus to bowl for free all summer, so we went to the bowling alley on post.  He had a good time and kept trying to take our turns too.

Getting ready to roll the first ball

Talking about the next shot while we wait for the ball to come back
(it was a split 8, so we had to pick which pin to go for)

Lining up the second ball

There it goes!!

 Marcus actually ended up with a combined score of 161 points between the two games.  Not bad considering the ramp wasn't stable at all and the ball only weighed 6 lbs.

Dominic trying out this bowling thing

I'll leave you with a few random pictures of us from around the house throughout the month.

Marcus reading to his little brother

Checking out the new pool

The first day it was actually sunny enough to use the pool
(it was a little chilly so he didn't spend much time in it, but we'll certainly be using it this summer)

I don't remember exactly what he was doing, but he fell in to his toy box and couldn't get out

Marcus holding his little brother (with Mommy's help of course)