Last blog in Hawaii

We are deep into the process of moving and this will probably be the last blog for quite some time. Friday was our last day of work, which ended up being pretty sad for both of us. I know Sam is really going to miss Hawaii. Even though he's wanted to do a tour in Germany for awhile, he loves it here and it's hard for him to want to leave. We both were feeling sad about leaving Friday evening, but at this point we're just wanting to be done with it.
Yesterday and today we've been busy going through boxes getting things ready for the movers. We gave all the food to a neighbor and are finishing up bills and anything else needing to be done online. Tomorrow morning between 8-9 the movers will be here. I'm still playing with the idea of shipping the computer separately because otherwise we will be without it for 3 months. We have to check on prices yet.
Tuesday morning we have an appointment for Gabby. She has to get another microchip, German and American health certificates and a letter of acclimation to go on the plane. Poor little thing will be glad when this is over too. I'm really concerned about how well she is going to handle the trip, but she's probably more resilient than I think she is.
Thursday we leave for Fayetteville to spend a couple of days with Kristy and the kids. Then on Sunday we leave for Germany and are scheduled to get into Stuttgart at 9:00am Germany time on Monday morning. Well, I need to get busy again, but just wanted to let everyone know that there may not be any updates for awhile. This is a very stressful time for us, but hopefully once we get to Germany we can settled down and enjoy. Talk to you all later.

Our final week

Sam and I are getting so close to the end of our time here in Hawaii. It still seems surreal that we're actually going to Germany next week. This week has flown by. It's our last at work and we have so many things to finish up. We're slowly getting things checked off our list though.

We started the week off last Sunday by going to a party put on for Sam and his assistant director. The staff of HMR put it together and they really did a great job. There was so much food. It was a very nice time.

Today, the CYS leaders gave Sam a going away party at a local restaurant. I wasn't able to attend, but he said it was very nice. They gave him a signed football, Hawaii University jacket and hat. Since I wasn't at work last week for the going away party, Steve presented me with a plaque today during training. Of course he had me do a speech, but I kept it short and sweet. I really hate to be in front of a group of people. Well, that's about it for now. Here are a few pictures from today -

TAMC Workforce Management Division -
Steve, Rhi, Carmen, Me, Jeanne and Rhi's daughter, Maliya

Steve and Maliya

Lori, Me, Antrika and Sheryl

Mom's visit to Hawaii

Mom was here for the last week visiting us. She loves Hawaii and wanted to come for another visit before we were off to Germany. I'm really glad she was able to come. In reality we won't really be that much further away, but because it's not the United States somehow it seems further. She just went home Thursday night. We really enjoyed the visit, but it would have been more relaxing if we hadn't had so much going on. Just about every day we had to clean the house just in case someone wanted to come in with their realtor. It's getting very old living in a model home. I like to think we had a clean house anyhow, but knowing prospective buyers are coming in we feel an addition pressure to have it extra clean.

Mom was really tired when she got here so we didn't do much the first couple of days. We went to Dole Plantation several times. We love their Dole Whips :) I had never gone through the Dole maze either, so we did that on one of our trips there. We had some rain most of the afternoons, but the mornings were pretty nice. Everything is more fun when family is here to experience it with you. As much as I've not like Hawaii at times, I know I'm really going to miss it. There is a relaxed atmosphere here that you don't find other places. For as different as they are, Alaska and Hawaii are alike in that way.







Here's a silly picture of Mom as a hula pineapple girl

Mom and I enjoyed feeding these birds out back of Dole Plantation. Mom would hold out a piece of her waffle cone and they would hover like little hummingbirds and eat from her hand. They were so quick that I missed most of the pictures. This one finally caught it.

Of course Mom and I had plenty of beach time. Sam and I have been to many beaches on Oahu, but one of our favorites is called "Snails n Trails". This was the beach I took Mom to most often. It's very private and really beautiful.

The first day we went there, we laid out for awhile and then went down to the water to cool off. Some young guy came running over and asked us to go back up on the beach because they were filming a TV show further on down the beach and we were in their shot. Well, of course we didn't want to be on TV, so we complied. I asked which TV show and he said it was 'Lost'. Sam and I have seen several sets for 'Lost' around the islands, especially when it first started. I have to admit that I've never watched the show, although it probably would have been interesting seeing places we know on TV.
Driving around the island one day we saw three sea turtles (honu) on the beach. Volunteers come and put ropes out around turtles to distract people from getting too close and bothering them. It's pretty awsome to see them up close.

Another picture of the sea turtle. The volunteers know them all by name and the different characteristics they each have.






Mom and I spent a nice day at the North Shore in Haleiwa. We went to the beach that morning and then afterward got a shave ice at Matsumoto's. Here they put vanilla ice cream in the bottom of the paper cone then shave ice on top covered with your choice of syrup. Neither one of us like the shave ice that much, but it's a tradition and I thought Mom should have the experience. Mom bought some beautiful shells at this stand along the road. We didn't think we got too much sun at the beach, but then walking through town gave us a little burn. We really enjoyed the day though.

The last day Mom was here we went to a really private beach near Kahuku on the North Shore. You have to walk through some woods to get to the beach. Mom loved it.

There were lots of crabs on the beach. I crumbled some pretzels and threw out toward them. The crabs came right up close to get the food.

We found lots of coconuts in the woods. We took a few with us. I think a lot of the locals take the coconuts to sell by the road. So that is a brief look at our week with Mom. Of course it was too short. There's never enough time and so much more we could have done, but I'm glad we had the time we did. Here are a few more pictures of the week.

One day we stopped by a shrimp truck for lunch

Mom and I at an overlook on the Kolekole Pass. This road goes through the Waianae Range from Schofield Barracks to the west side.

Sam and his mom down by the ocean after having dinner at their place on Sunday

Snorkling at Hanauma Bay

The new Sherpa cat carrier we bought for Gabby. She'll be riding with us in the cabin on the way to Germany.