Rachie Roo turns 5!

All the kiddos over for Aloha Friday It was also our friend Kimberly's birthday

The birthday girl choppin' down on some dinner.

Our latest Update!

Hello everyone!

School has started and the kids are loving their teachers. I have also returned to working full time. Wow! Going from 7 years as a stay-at-home mom to full time teaching is wearing me out. :) The kids have worked hard and have been real troopers while I have transitioned. Deryck has done a wonderful job of picking up some of the household chores to help out. He has also applied for a new position at work. Deryck is heading to the mainland in October for some training. We will meet up with him in Arkansas at Christmas time. He will go back to the northeast to continue training and then return in March to Hawaii. I have posted quite a few posts tonight, so please scroll through and enjoy!

Shan

More Summer Pics

The Parks and Richardsons


E, Rae, and Sela being super silly!

The Richardson family visited us in July for a month and the Orr family just left this past Friday. We got 9 days with them in Aug/Sept. It is always a joy to have friends and family from the mainland.

School Starts

Rachel started Pre-K at Navy Hale Keiki private school this year.

Ethan started the 2nd grade at Hickam Elementary.

Summer has come and gone!

Hello Family and Friends, I have been a huge blog slacker! This summer was short, but filled with lots of friends and fun. The kids got out of school at the end of May. We spent June playing with friends and preparing for company. The Richardson family from Little Rock joined us at the end of June and stayed until August 2nd! It was great having them here for a whole month and wonderful to see Neil for his two-week R & R the Air Force gave him in paradise! The next few posts will have pics from this summer. Enjoy!

Summer has come and gone!

Rachel and Ethan mastered the high dive this summer. They have become little fish.

Summer has come and gone!

All the kids! Rae and her friend AJ

Me and my girls E, Rae, and the BFF's

Rae and Addie

Banana Man Run 2011

This morning Ethan and Rachel ran the Jamba Juice Banana Man Chase (500 meters). They both did it without stopping! Our little Rachel was a natural on her first ever run! We are thinking that next year Ethan might be able to do the 5k with one of us...we shall see.

AWANA!!

Sunday afternoons for us in Hawaii mean AWANA! AWANA stands for Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed. Each Sunday, Ethan and Rachel arrive to play, learn, and recite their Bible verses (D and I arrive to work also!). It has been amazing to watch Ethan and Rae grow in the Lord this year and hide His word in their hearts. Ethan completed two books, each containing approximately 30-something Bible verses and all the new and old testament book names. He did two years worth of work in 1 year!!! Rachel completed her book in her Cubbie's class. She memorized one bible verse each week. We are so proud of them both! The pictures above are from the awards ceremony this past Sunday.

Beautiful Sunsets...

Even though we don't live directly on the coast, we still get beautiful sunsets. I loved this one from a couple days ago. Enjoy!

Easter in Hawaii!

Easter anywhere is a special occasion, the fact that Jesus died on a cross for my sins is beyond my comprehension. None of us deserve it, but He did it anyway which shows just how much He loves me and you. So thank you Jesus for the price you paid and thank you that we got to spend it again in such a beautiful place!

We spent Easter morning at church (sans Deryck who was finishing his scuba diving certification) and then we all went to Hickam beach with friends to potluck, swim, and egg hunt. God has blessed us with a wonderful group of friends here and it was an honor to celebrate with them.

P.S. And yes that is me in my hat and long sleeve shirt in the group picture! I recently spent some more time in my dermatologist's office and she has me doing a new treatment to work on some pre-cancerous spots that requires me to get very little, really no, sun exposure. In her words "Shannon, you don't belong in Hawaii". :(

The Inevitable Happens...

Well, we knew this day would come. So when it did, we laughed and laughed (which is a lot better than crying!) Rachel got a hold of a pair of sissors I left out and decided to "trim" her bangs. The "trim" ended with us trying not to laugh in her face (which didn't work very well), a trip to Target for some wide headbands, and suped-up diet of extra proteins so that the hair would grow back quickly! It hasn't, but she doesn't even care anymore and it just looks normal to us now. :)

The Other Parks Come to Visit!

Spring break was a pretty big deal around here! The other wonderful Parks family came to visit! Deryck's little brother, Nathan, his precious wife (and one of my dearest friends/sisters) Leah, and their three sweet kiddos came to Oahu to spend over a week with us. We spent countless hours at the beach, the boys went camping on the ocean, and we spent time seeing everything from the botanical gardens to eating pineapple ice cream! Their time here came to an end WAY to soon also. We made a million memories with them and were so glad they spent their week away with us!

Swamp Romp 2011

Well this year Deryck sat out of the Swamp Romp and I got to go through the mud pits! It was one of the most fun, yet disgusting things I have ever done...and I can't wait to do it again next year! Check out the difference in the sock color in the before and after pics! Yuck!

Beautiful Kauai in December

Oh blog how I have missed you (and my sweet Grandmother too...sorry Gubbie). So here are some MAJOR updates!

Over the Christmas holiday we were blessed with the best gift ever. My sister, Courtney, and her family joined us for a couple weeks. We absolutely love her and my brother-in-law Joe, sweet Jack, and crazy Josie. We spent a week tearing up the Oahu beaches (with one awful wipeout, huh Court?) and then moved on to short trip to Kauai. The Dads did some major hiking while Court and I spent many hours by the fun pool and beach at our oceanside hotel. To say that the kids LOVED the waterslide and pool at the Poipu Beach Sheraton is an understatement! Our time with the Ghormley's was wonderful and ended tooooooo soon. We can't wait for them to come back and soak up some more Hawaiian sun with us!

1st and probably last marathon ever!

On December 12th, Deryck and I ran our first marathon. It was 26.2 miles of hurt, but the accomplishment of completing something so hard was wonderful. My Mom and Dad came to the island to take care of the kiddos and cheer us on. The picture of the three girls are my running buddies, Kelly and Dena!