Washington Part 2

So Erik go ta huge scrape on his fave just before Lindsay came to join us unexectedly on this trip.....and it was all my fault! I was pulling him on that fun scooter and he face planted as I was trying to pull him up over the lip of the curb, whoops. Poor kid-I gave him a bloody nose and all. 

Good thing Grandpa Pooper has cool things like BB guns to distract from owies. 

 Erik loved loved loved that he was able to shoot a real gun and took all of the advice very seriously. He did pretty well at safety too. We had to remind a couple of times of different things but he was so excited to be shooting targets in the back yard!

 Getting great advice from Grandpa about how to aim. Love these pics. I grew up with guns in the house. My dad was very serious about talking about safety of them, and where they were, what purpose they served, how they were put together. He let us touch them and handle them while they were taken apart for cleaning and we were very much aware of the courtesies of talking about them. It was great to start passing that on to Erik. WHile in Australia (where guns are illegal) we cant help him learn those types of things so this was a big thing for our entire family.

 We shot the lid of a plastic take away container. That small thing on the first tier of the garden bed.

 And I had to take a crack at it. I tell you. I am ok with a pistol but I am horrible aiming with a big gun. I just dont get the whole aiming mechanics. I am sure Erik will be better than me by the time he is 10.

 WHile spending time with my parents we took a weekend and went camping and it was so so sooooooo amazing to be back at the lake, on my parents boat, and just back to where I was familiar being in the summer time.  I love the ocean and the beach but I think my heart belongs to lakes. It was the first time I had been to the lake and boat since before Erik was born since we normally have travelled home in the winter for the holidays. It was lovely!

 Once we got to the campground, we immediately went to the lake beach and Erik and Grandpa went exploring.

 My parents brought up some canoes and so that was a fun activity to do.

 And we met up with other people who camped in a site with their RV and brought this amazingly nice and sweet dog that Erik was obsessed with.

 Their little girl cuddle with me one morning while she was waking up and it was fun. She let me do her hair as well which was super fun!

 We fed ducks off the boat..

 did some fishing

 And acted like super cool cats..

....It was such a nice weekend. A perfect rejuvenation from or typical day to day lives and since the lake has been such a part of my life since I can remember it fed my soul. It really just gave me a good push and helped fill my cup. Its amazing how small things like that can do it. Just basking in such a familiar and beautiful place, watching the sun set, my senses were not overstimulated by newness they were revived by tradition. I do think it feel great to get out and explore new things, take risks, and get newness around you but I love having that home base. And I am so glad that Lin was there to share it with!

Dole

So before I get too far ahead of myself with this post. For the next little while it is going to seem like our family vacationed for about 3-4 months straight and well it kind of was like that but not totally. So after Christmas fun we had together as a family before Lindsay was going to be gone for 7 weeks....in Hawaii! And what do you do when your husband goes to Hawaii for over a month, you join along of course at some point, and not only that but you have family come meet you there and party with you. Poor Lindsay missed out on a lot of fun doing his course he was in but we enjoyed the fruits of his labors.

Now Erik and I went to Hawaii for 4 of those weeks. And while we took a lot of pictures we didnt take as many as I would have imagined purely because I didnt want to lug the camera around all the time. My parents and our family friends came first and we had a week before they showed up. Erik and I spent a lot of time playing at playgrounds on the base and he enjoyed having interaction with other children there. I also took him to the waikiki zoo on my own that week. Our accommodations were not real organized upon us arriving back in the states (wahoo!) so we spent our first week hopping from the base, to a hotel, to even spending a couple of nights with one of Lindsay's classmates at his home. Then things kind of ironed themselves out and we stayed on the base and then at the end we rented a house up on the north shore.

Before I get to far ahead of myself. The first big thing we did while my side of the family was there (and our friends just get thrown into that family category) was go to the Dole pineapple plantation.

 Erik and Grandpa whom quickly earned the name Grandpa Pooper Scooper (although he is still trying to rectify this by asking Erik to call him El Magnificent), hit it off right away. It was fun, because this was the first trip for Erik to really have any memories from. He has spent plenty of time with our families but he is old enough to start having actual memories so it was a great trip.

 we rode on the train to tour the fields. Coming from the middle of our Aussie summer, we Moon people were a bit chilled with the breeze and shade of the tram, but of course our parents coming from the dead of winter were loving the sun and the warm temps. It was fun to see this difference our entire trip.

 Erik and Pooper looking at the colorful bark of this beautiful tree.

That was the frist excursion and it was so fun. We of course did other things there but were busy catching up and enjoying everything to take too many pics. Actually there were way more pics taken as well but everyone had cameras so I only had the small portion from our camera.

But honestly as I catch up with the first portion of our 2013, please remember that our life is not one big vacation, ok it sort of has been, but to justify it- I still have done plenty of laundry, organizing things, planning things, taking care of my church responsibilities, cooked, etc.

back on the bandwagon

So I don't have much for you all today. But I know that I need to start blogging regularly again, otherwise I will just fade out. Which would be sad because then it would be hard for family and friends to keep up with us and I wouldn't be able to print out our blog and have our family scrapbook so easily accessible.

Currently our little family is on a big adventure in the Rainbow state of Hawaii. There has been lots of moon family tales to tell since the last time I posted. Since we are in Hawaii I have no access to our pictures from the last two months I will just try to get into updating what we are up to now and upon our arrival back home do highlights from around October on to now that way everything is documented and everyone can be in the loop.

With it being the summer in Oz we have spent lots of time outside in the water and have made extra effort to spend more time at the beach this year. Christmas was so fun and EJ really got into the magic of Christmas making it the most fun one yet with him. Mr. Moon received skydiving tickets from me and that brought on adventure for us all.

New years was quiet and then Mr. Moon set off a few days later to Hawaii. EJ and I joined him a few weeks later and we have been enjoying the escape from the heat, the lower prices and the blessings of having a military base at our disposal. My parents and family friends came and we had the fun of enjoying their company for a week and this next week Mr. Moon's parents are coming for his graduation from the NCO (Non Commissioned Officer) Academy and some vacation time.

Then its back to Oz to welcome some more Moon's for our first family visit since living down under. We can't wait!

This year will go by super fast for us I think. It's the year of company, the year of finding out our next assignment in the military, our last year in Oz. Being here in Hawaii I have realized just how many things I miss from living in the states, but also how many incredible things I am going to miss of Australia, a piece of my heart will always belong there even with all the rough stuff.

So folks, here's to updating more. Getting pics up when we get access to them, and to updating less on facebook. To me it's so hard to update everywhere, it seems to be one or the other for me. More people seem to see things on facebook, but I can't get as detailed-print as easy-and I can easily update here and still see what my friends are up to on facebook. Problem is to stop taking so many phone pics and more with our actual camera.

Basically this year is back on track with blogging. I don't know how often, but it will for sure be more consistent. We did get a new computer afterall that is so much easier and nicer to work with than our tiny netbook that got the job done but was so little it got frustrating.

Cheers mates, see ya real soon!

Determined...maybe crazy

Last year we went to the beach a few times but we made it a goal to go way more from here on out and really take advantage of it while we live to so close to such a amazing beaches. With Mr. Moons work and both our respponsibilites at church, and general life and social activities sometimes its hard to fit in such activities. But we have found a solution.

 A semi-crazy one in my eyes.....one to my husbands delight as he seems to get a bit irritated when anyone sleeps past 0730 in this house.....we leave the house around 0600 or 0630 spend a few hours at the beach and then come home with plenty of time to go to scheduled activities, get work done, run errands, what have you. It's hard to get up and out the door but honestly it has been great! And with us trying out our hands at surfing the surf is better that early in the norming.

 This day we were at the Gold Coast and a 'Nippers' class was going. Here it is common to get into this program where you become a super strong swimmer and learn how to read the surf, learn lifeguard skills among other things. If we lived here for good or when Ej was older I think we would totally get him started in this program!

 Thought this life guard shack was cool

 The Mister

 Moi

 Our set up. HOnestly this sun shade has been one of the best purchases/gift. We got it right before we moved here. THe blanket is seperate but it has been superb for shade, and retreat from sun and surf, it folds up easy and has gotten so much good use. My mom had bought us a gift for Christmas before we moved and I had ended up returning it and getting this sun shade along with the fold up picnic blanket, both have proven to be gems!

 Our friend Keegan obliging Ej in a little sand castle building

And our little surfer dude. Such a stud. He has since gotten his hair cut stay tuned for that post. I kind of miss his surfer locks, but his hair isnt quite thick enough yet. Anyway I could on for a while about his lovely blond locks so I will save it for the hair cut post.

Rocks Riverside

Mr. Moon traveled a lot in the last couple months which gave EJ and I extra time (and the car) to go spend some time in fun places. So we went to yet another park. This one we have been to a fair bit, but it's a good one for a nice warm day.

 There is a small lazy river with some pools near the top, normal playground area, a flying fox, a wading pool, bbqs and soon you will see an area where I think they are building something fantastic!

 EJ making his way to the top of the 'river'

 There is a bike path that winds up and down and around that seems like a blast. Every time we head there I always wish I had remembered to bring Ej's scooter for him but am usually preoccupied making sure I have all the sun and water gear.

 This is the area that they are building, it looks like it will be a bunch of different rock climbing style equipment. I hope it doesnt take too long too finish, so fun! We really are so spoiled here with fun places to play.

 Ej's classic head tilt that he does when you want to take a picture of him.

 walking along the top where the water comes out.

 And althought it was a warm day, it was just cool enough and with the unheated water, he had to take breaks and sit on the side to warm up. Smart cookie!

 the wading pool

 Another really cool feature at this park is this swing. It's for people who are wheelchair bound. They can ride their chair onto this and it will lock their chair on and then they can swing!

And it was the perfect day for the ice cream truck to park itself right near the entrance. We certainly partook of it's yumminess and enjoyed a sweet treat before heading home.

It is the time of year now where I start seeing all the fall decorations and cold weather things appear on everyone else's blogs. And it will bring a twinge of jealousy because fall had started becoming my favorite time of year before moving to Australia and then all the holidays ramp up and I miss my family. And as our weather here heats up you will see us in more water and beach things...so maybe it balances out? I missed out on all the Fourth of July festivities and fun summer back home so now it's my turn to play. It's a good thing I have friends here to help keep homesickness at bay! I am doing pretty good right now with that and it helps that we have a trip after the new year to meet up with family and have some visitors coming next year .... so much to look forward to!

Natural Bridge

 A while back I talked to Lindsay about a free saturday that we had and how I would like to explore the region a bit more. So we headed south and went to a place call the Natural Bridge and also happens to have a glo worm cave. Since we went during the day we could not actually see the glo worms but it was so fun nonetheless.

 we got to go on a bit of bushwalk

 to keep Ej interested and moving along the path we told him that we should look for dragon's footprints and see if there were any traces of the dragon in the cave. He loves the movie, 'How to train your dragon' and so it was so fun for him to watch. In the end we found some 'prints' and had fun making up a story about where the dragon had flown off to and what he was doing.

 Ej using his pretend binoculars to look for the dragon.

 There was also a ginormous vine a la tarzan and we couldn't resist taking a swing on it. It was crazy but cool.

 Below is the top of the falls that starts the natural bridge. An actual bridge of stone (ou cant walk across it, just stay on the paths around it.

 and the falls

 me and my handsome little guy.

 Inside the cave. I am pretty sure that the reflection spots you see are the glo worms. It was not splash from the falls, so that is my guess. Pretty cool!

 we took the opporunity to take some casual family pics. I sure do love my little motor body boy. He keeps us in chuckles and always on our toes

 And what's a family portrait without someone making a silly face? EJ's personality to a T.