Rachel and Cameron couldn't wait to get to the water on Waikiki. Reb and I sunned a little bit while they played.

After the beach we went and cleaned up and headed to the International Market Place so they could get the Henna Tattoo's they wanted. It took forever to get all of them done!
First Rebecca.
Of course then Cameron
Last but not least Rachel and the tattoo that was twice the size she thought that it would be.
It was so hot while we waited that we went into Payless to cool down and see if I could find a pair of sandals that were black. We had a lot of fun trying on shoes, the crazier the better.
After Kerry got off of work we walked down to the beach to decide where we were going for dinner. Friday afternoons are always a Regatta just off of Waikiki.
Oops cut the head off of the statue.
As we walked down Waikiki we discovered that on Waikiki that night was the Pan Pacific Festival. The street was closed down with all kinds of vendors and entertainment we wandered and found what we wanted for dinner. It was a terrific place to people watch some of the outfits were unbelievable.

The only bad thing about the festival was that the regular sidewalk people were not out doing the things that we love to watch normally. The living statues are one of my favorite things to go and watch.

We walked down to watch the fireworks from the Hilton Hawaiian. We were on the pier and I looked back and saw the moon directly over Diamond Head, the picture actually turned out better than I thought it would.

As we walked back we went past this vendor with these two huge woks the food they were preparing smelled so good. They could feed huge crowds with these woks.

I'm always in for a fireworks display!!!

A walk along the beach on the way back to the Hotel.

I love these quiet moments.

The last picture of the night, it didn't turn out quite a well as the other but it is pretty interesting.

It goes to show that while we are all taking our turns at seeing the sights of Oahu' there are always different and fun things to do.

Aloha Rachel and Cameron

One of the best things about Kerry traveling to Hawaii is having the ability to have each of the kids come to spend time on the Island with us. Rebecca is the exception because she has already been there twice and she was able to come again. Rachel finished school last week and so they decided to celebrate by taking a their to Honolulu. Even though they technically arrived before us we were still able to present them with a lei.

Rachel and Rebecca decided that we didn't celebrate Kerry's birthday with quite enough style so they planned to decorate his office and give him a cake. It was up to me to arrange for him to be out of the office long enough for them to decorate it. I had no phone number or email address for some of the people there so I had to spend a little time figuring things out. Once I finally got things worked out we went to meet him for lunch and get things set up. He was expecting us for lunch just nothing beyond that. I had arranged to put things inside of a door and wait to make sure he was in a meeting in another office. When we got there he walked around the corner just as we walked in, we had to punt very quickly, thanks to Julia we were able to do so. Rebecca came up with a plan to get Kerry to go to the offices below looking for a paper trimmer. We told him that we would be down after we all had a restroom break. As soon as they left the room we began a race to blow up balloons and hang streamers. Rachel assembled a Ho Ho cake and then we went to meet them.

He was actually surprised when he came back in. He was quite amused by the whole thing. There were several people from the office came to take a peek at what was going on.
The Ho Ho cake was one of the first things he saw when he went in to the office.

It's funny to see this picture in the picture he really laughed at the card.

Blowing out the candles (we forgot the matches!)

While the girls finished decorating Kerry tried to get some work done.

The silly string was really weird and the longer it stayed on the more difficult it was to get it off of the wall. In fact Kerry could still see an imprint in the paint as he cleaned it off.

Kerry was looking at the can and then all of a sudden he and Rebecca had a mini silly string fight. Which surprised me more than anything that day. It was really fun to be there with him for awhile.

On our way back to the Hotel we stopped to the Alamona Mall and wandered around a little and then down Waikiki. Later that night we went to "Teddy's" for burgers. A really fun place that Kerry found. Of course we knew that Cameron would like this place.

We tried to get tickets to the PCC for Saturday but they were all sold out we had to rearrange our plans a little bit.

A Quick Birthday for Kerry

As birthday's go this was a very uneventful day for Kerry. Things have been so hectic with everything going on we just didn't get a proper party planned for him. One of these days we will have a minute or two to breathe! I just want Kerry to know how much I love him. It is difficult on both of us to be apart so much but the time we do have together is very sweet. We didn't get to do our Ireland trip this year because of so many family events but I still look forward to that trip one day. You are the love of my life, my best friend, and support, thanks for being the wonderful man that you are. Happy (belated) birthday. I love you with all my heart.

We got home from Kansas at 11:00 the night before Kerry's birthday so we were not to eager to get moving that day. Jessica was having some medical tests done so we got to have the boys with us for the morning. I had been promising the boys that we would make some chocolate frogs to fill up the jar again. (I had made chocolate frogs for a cooking class at Macey's when I did a Harry Potter class, they loved them so much they are a permanent treat at our house)

His face is kissable anyway but extra sweet today.

Too cute

After cleaning up it was time to build the train track with Grandpa.

Later that night we went to dinner at Tepanyaki for Kerry's birthday dinner. It is fun to watch every one's response to the Chef, particularly the boys.

The noise from the grill seems to make the boys a little timid.

This volcano actually worked.

By the time we were through with dinner Jessica was finally beginning to wake up from the test earlier in the day. She was so groggy when we first got there I felt bad for her.

It was great to be together even if it was for a short time. Happy Birthday Kerry.

Coming Home--Going Home

We were so excited to see Nora Rose come home. I was like a kid at Christmas time watching for them to pull up to the house.

Even as big as she was she looked so tiny in her car seat!
Charlie was so excited to see Cydney but couldn't figure out what that thing was and why she couldn't get to Cyd or "it."
We are so enamoured by this little girl. Cydney couldn't wait to start trying the cute clothes and bows on her.
Charlie really hung on to Rebecca every time she sat or laid on the couch she was right there.

This was the response Charlie had to Nora when she was allowed to get close her.

Just some of my favorite pictures that we crammed in with the short time we had with her.

Kerry made Briques for lunch one afternoon.

Charlie finally got some time with Cyd on her own.

A family picture including Charlie.

The night before we left to come home we took family pictures.

Ken got the opportunity to show her off just a little bit, it was fun to watch.

It was so hard to leave to come home even though we would be coming back in a month for her blessing. It's so hard to believe my baby has a beautiful baby girl.