Preschool at Home

 

 I have been teaching Erik preschool stuff at home this year. To send him away to preschool (or Kindy/Kindergarten as they call it here) is ridiculously expensive plus its just not necessary. I know it's so common place in todays world but not needed. While I definitely have my days where I would love to be able to drop him off for a couple of hours for the benefit of both of us, I have come to get used to teaching him at home and coming up with fun things. And we do so many other social things, he is balanced just fine.

This day we worked on fine motor skills and put dry spaghetti into homemade playdough and it was extra special because I got a small box of fruit loops and let him put them on the noodles and of course snack on a few. It was a major hit.

 There are numerous websites that have so many amazing printables and great ideas for preschool and other home school grades out there. I use those sometimes and this day we worked on gluing fun pieces onto a superhero.

 I also started writing in a journal with him. I write whatever he wants and he draws a picture. Behind him you can see a board, its a day of the week and calendar/season/weather board that are not perfect at updating but he really likes it. He now knows that days of the week by their assigned color. So he knows the order of the colors but doesn't always know the name. Its funny, he also knows that if Daddy is in town that he will get to be home on purple day (Saturday) and he LOVES purple day for that reason.

Singapore and Malaysia with the RAAF

It has been quite a process for Lindsay to get all the approval he needs from so many different people and offices to get to go on any of the overseas trips other than back to America. But he finally had all the stars align and earlier this year he was able to go to Singapore and Malaysia (I think that is where he was, seriously he has been gone almost half the year this year). They went to this restaurant where you get meat on a stick. The challenge is to eat 100 of them.

 As you can tell the group was a large group. The man who owned the shop let them order in sets of 10 I think. To give himself time to cook and to see how many would really be ordered. The group told Lin to break his sticks after eating off of them otherwise they will get re-used (so gross!). So they got to somewhere around 75-ish. I am so bad to be blogging this so late, cause now all the details are foggy. Anyhow, the man ended up cutting them all off and saying no more. He didn't run out of food but wanted to save some for other customers. I thought it was funny!

 This was a random market shop along the street where you could buy a variety of different seafood products.

 And some more military style pictures. Couldn't tell you any real details about these.

We do live a "normal" life....really

While this year truly has been the year of travel for our family....and we are not finished. We do live a pretty normal (well for a military family) life. Here is some evidence of that...

 

A sweet little face in a funny winter hat, that he loves because it has a little pocket that he can hide a gold coin (worth one or two dollars) in.

 One lazy day, when we pretty much did nothing majorly productive but enjoyed time together as a family. Erik stayed in his pj's and Lin and I had been watching tv, I went in my room to see what Erik was up to, and he was listening to music on the ipod. He is such a little adult sometimes. You can see he had been playing with his airplanes and destroyed the bedding but was thoroughly enjoying his tunes.

 Then we decided to try our hand at frozen hot chocolate. Erik loves loves loves to help in the kitchen. I have control issues though and I am trying to curb that and let him help more. He often requests to make muffins, or something that we bake.

 He really doesn't like loud noises at the moment. I guess the ninja doing its job was just too much for him.

Mmmm, those were yummy and sometimes those low key days are so soothing. Today for example, Erik got dressed but I didn't. I have put up a fort for him and read to him and am trying to get over a case of the grumpies. I told Erik last night when I put him to bed a certain code phrase, or question rather to ask me today when he thought I was being a bit mean to help remind me to change my attitude. I sadly admit, he has used that code question about 4 times. Sad, but true, I am trying and I am so glad that I have a little boy who is so much more patient with me than I with him. I am so blessed to have him around. It will be so sad next year when he starts school. I am glad that he has been such a good reminder boy for me today. I definitely need it.

Reunited!

A week after we got back from Hawaii we had the fortunate event of having Alex and Haley come out with their kiddos to visit. Unfortunately this post is not going to serve the trip well as all the pics are on our iPad which is currently on a trip with Lindsay but there are a couple here from the trip. I picked them up on my own, so that we could all fit in our one car (plus Lindsay was out of town the first couple of days they were here).

 These two silly goofballs pick up right where they left off which was so nice and Little Landon even just fit into it all. It was such a great time and creative with sleeping but it was like one big slumber party basically for the time they were here.

 We exchanged Christmas gifts when they came so you can see Zoey with her Bon Bon hat on.

 And I think this bottom picture is one of my favorite random pics from the trip. We were headed to the beach and the kids were ready and we were finishing getting everything packed that we needed. I love it because Zoey's hair is all done nice and uniform-similar to her personality, and Eriks is absolutely crazy (we had put a bunch of sunscreen through it to protect his scalp)- also like his fun loving personality. They both are similar in a lot of ways and so different by the same token.

We packed in so much while they were here, we were all completely exhausted each and every night. Alex and Haley tried their hardest to stay up to 10 pm each night, but unless I am mistaken -- I don't think they ever made it. We had lots of sushi, made a couple of different beach runs, had a yum-cha dinner in China town where 200+ young adults came in for a birthday party that turned the place into an eabsolute mad house. Seriously almost every person who walked in had a bottle of alcohol in their arms and the drinking age here is 18, it was so crazy! The look on the staff's face was priceless. I am so glad that I didn't work there that night. We also went to the Koala sanctuary, went to New Farm park for the markets, the playground, and for Lindsay and Haley to do a 5k run. We rode on the city cat, did a little shopping, went down to our favorite fish market, and spent a day at South Bank among other things. It was so fun to share our life with some of our family. I took Haley grocery shopping with me to show her how different it was here and we all just had a blast. We are so happy they came!

North Shore with Nana and Papa

For the week with the Moon's we spent the morning getting breakfast in the harbor and then headed up to the North Shore where we rented a home.

 Erik had already been a fish since we came to Hawaii while in the midst of our Aussie summer. While Grandpa Pooper was in town he really worked a lot with Erik in the pool and actually pretty much taught him to swim with no float aids and on his own. Thank you Grandpa! So then the last week we found Erik a snorkel and mask and he loved practicing in the bath tub before trying it in the ocean!

 Playing pretend with Nana on the back veranda. This home was awesome! It was a home split into apartments and on the side of the house was a half pipe. All the apartments had small kids and so when we were around Erik had kids his age to play with which he was sorely missing by that point. They would ride their scooters up and down and slide from the top to the bottom. It was awesome.

 One day we went to walk and enjoy the beach without swimming. And there was this young man selling raw coconuts that would cut up with his machete for you. First he would cut it so you could drink the water, then he would cut it open and give you spoon to eat the raw flesh. 

 Erik really liked it, and this was him explaining, what you do, and how good it is...

 Playing with papa in the sand

 this is Erik having a think about something. Trying to decide if he likes it.

Sadly those were some of the few pictures we got with Nana and papa. Our time spent with them was so relaxing and more on the low key side of things. I think by the end of the trip we were over pulling out the camera for every detail and just went into complete holiday mode. We went to turtle bay, a Budhist temple (if I remember right) and had many a long discussions and enjoyed each others company. The whole trip in general, although stressful in some ways, was so rejuvenating and great. And without realizing it, it started off the year full of adventures for us. This year has been jam packed with trips where we have traveled, people have come to us and it's not over. I think it will go down in the record books as biggest travel adventures!

NCO Academy Graduation

The night before Lindsay's graduation from the NCO academy his parents flew in to meet up with us. It was fun to get ready for a fancier event with his mum, it felt like we were teenagers getting ready for a stake dance or something. So fun. Erik was milling around so excited that he was going to get a babysitter. He asks all the time if he can have a babysitter, that social little boy.

 Lindsay with some of his fellow classmates. Alex was the one next to Lindsay and was from the Singapore Air Force, it was fun getting to know him and another from his force while we were there.

 This is Lindsay and I with Seiler who was his supervisor at the time and his wife. It was fun to have someone we were familiar with at the graduation. And Erik was at their house that evening playing with their son of similar age, it all worked out so well.

 Lindsay took on a lot with this trip. Juggling us and his studies and family and fun. He missed out on a lot of the fun to study and he ended up winning the "Distinguished Graduate" award. He is so humble though I had to toot his horn for him!

 Getting his graduation certificate

 With one of the previous Generals that oversaw all the Air Force.

This academy that he attended was the whole reason he went to Hawaii and the whole reason we ended up deciding to meet up with him there. It seemed to go by fast and yet drag on at the same time, its a good thing we had so much good company while we were there!

A bit of Patriotism and some sealife

It was such a nice experience spending part of our time on base. This trip was a bit stressful for me in way of accommodation. Reservations got all confused and Erik and I kind of bounced around between off base and on base for a bit, even staying at one of Lin's nice and kind classmate's home for a couple nights. But staying on base and having down time with Erik allowed us to talk to him more about our country and some of our history. One day Lindsay took us into the PACAF headquarters. We had showed him pock marks while driving from the attack on pearl harbor. But at this building he could walk up to them and touch them.

 It was humbling for me and nice to speak openly as a family about such a large and historic even that had affected so many things. At this point in the trip we had already seen a lot of the Pearly Harbor museum which he absorbed completely and fully. He had many pertinent questions that were beyond his years and he really seemed to grasp some things. It was great.

 THat was another favorite  moment for me. There were so many, but that one was almost spiritual.

One weekend while I took the morning to get pampered, Lindsay and Erik and some of Lindsay's classmates went hiking. I was sad that they went without me, but truly enjoyed getting myself a little bit of girly time. Erik loved riding in Jones' jeep with the top off. He was such a cool cat.

 And then one day while there was no family in town and Lin was in class I took Erik into Waikiki and we went to the aquarium. It was a fun little get away. Especially for the $5 admission with a military discount. I loved how many military discounts there were there! It was so amazing, and I forgot how many businesses support the Armed Forces in that way.

 Erik's favorite part was holding this little hermit crab.