Thursday, August 28, 2008

Too Sweet


Cute Little Feet!

"I see you over there, Mom!"

Goodnight Moon

I've had some fun times the last couple days reading books to Clara.



Q and A

To answer a few questions asked in comments left a couple posts back... yes we were in Hawaii for about two weeks. We left on the 10th and came home on the 22nd (Stephen) and 23rd (Clara and me). No, I'm not signed up for next year's trip yet... though if it worked out for me to go along again, it probably wouldn't break my heart! :-)

Memories, The Arizona, And the Botanical Gardens

Ok, I'm back with more pictures and memories!

Let me first share a couple memories that I don't have pictures of. Clara and I visited a huge flee market outside of the stadium. If you ever visit Oahu, that's a GREAT place to get souvenirs!

One of my favorite memories from the whole trip was the night Stephen took Clara and I to a little grill on Hickam Air Force Base. We sat on the deck right near the water on an absolutely LOVELY evening and ate salmon and mauhi mauhi (sp?). We have this on going competition of who can order the best dish. This particular night he beat me with his mauhi mauhi, but it was all good. The evening was beautiful, the food yummy, Clara was being a little sweetie and we were together. After eating we took a little walk down by the water to a small beach and I took my first walk into Hawaii water! Special memories.

Ok, here are a couple cute pictures of Clara in our room.

Toppling over... but happy anyway! :-)

Sleeping in the easy chair.



Clara and I were able to visit the Arizona memorial out in Pearl Harbor. The Arizona was sunk during the attack on Pearl Harbor and lies on the harbor floor, the tomb of men that died inside the ship that day. Parts of the ship stick up out of the water and some of it can be seen right below the water, an enduring reminder of a day that shall live in infamy.







I believe this flag pole has actually been attached to the ship so that the Arizona can again wave the flag of the United States of America!





Oil on the water








Another excursion that we ladies made while Daddy worked was a trip to the largest botanical gardens on Oahu. It was lovely there! It struck me as more like a tropical forest park then a highly cultivated botanical gardens.


Aren't these neat???!!!

Huge Leaves!

"Ummmm... Mom... how much longer am I going to have to be in this chair???"

Sorry this isn't really in focus.




"Seeing as it looks like this is going to take a while, I'll just take a snooze."


Another Mother-Daughter-self-portrait.

Had enough of the botanic garden! :-)

Clara could use one of those leaves as a blanket!!!


This nice gentleman we met at the botanical garden offered to make a bird for Clara. And here is his neat creation made out of coconut leaves.

Monday, August 25, 2008

Hawaii: The Adventure Continues

Hi all: I'm starting with pictures from the last part of our great trip. I'll plan to return later with more pictures from the first part. Enjoy!

Shots I took while at a botanical garden.





Watching TV! :-) We almost never watch TV at home. Clara was quite fascinated by it! :-)




Clara and the snail she was given from the lady who cleaned our room.







Daddy captured this cute shot!




This is Haunauma Bay, the scene of one of Stephen's and my biggest highlights of the trip. We went with some friends who brought their snorkeling gear and watched Clara while the two of us went snorkeling!! We had a blast out there swimming around and seeing so many fish up close! The fish were so brave and if it was legal we would have been able to reach out and touch some of them. The water was so nice and it was such fun...I could have stayed out there a long time!!!




This was Clara's first time to really get in the water. We'd been at the beach another night but she didn't really get much more then her feet wet that time. I'd already been snorkeling by this time so please excuse my disastrous hair! :-)







After our fun time with friends, our little family took a drive and took in some scenery and stopped a few times along the way and had some DELICIOUS shrimp, rice and shaved ice!!!! Yummy! Here are a couple scenery pictures.







Clara and Mommy



Sitting in the easy chair like a big girl!



Hanging out in our room in her cute pink shorts from Uncle Mark and Aunt Elizabeth.




On my little sweetie's third month birthday us girls made an excursion to the beach on our own while Daddy was at work. We got rather lost along the way! Oh well. Here's an adorable shot of little pumpkin. It's one of my very favorites from the trip.



Hanging out on the beach. We found a nice little shady spot to settle down for a while. I ate some lunch and snapped some pictures, then got her ready and we went down and played in the water for a little while.



This is our mother-daughter-self-portrait-on-the-beach!



This was above our spot on the beach!



Clara with the dear lady who cleaned our room. She and some of the others who worked there took a real liking to Clara! She gave Clara four stuffed animals! :-)


Clara and Mommy



On our last full day together (Stephen flew home on Friday and we ladies came home Saturday), we all went to the beach one more time and had some fun times!!! Here's some cute pictures of Stephen and Clara playing down by the water!





I GREATLY enjoyed the water in Hawaii!!! So different from the cold California coast water! It was extremely comfortable and in some places so beautifully clear! This place was kind of exciting with it's steep drop down to the water and the pretty good size waves coming in. For a while there I wasn't sure I wanted to go in, but in the end I did and had a fun time!

Well, there's a picture of some of our Hawaiian experiences! What a special treat the trip was! And what a blessing from LORD that Stephen probably won't have to go back to Iraq!