Check it out

While we're here in StL. enjoying some cold/warm weather and some rain, back on the island people are without power. Apparently they had a big thunderstorm and the whole island of Ohau lost power for a while...slowly its coming back. Check out the article if you like. Looks like we missed the weather there, but we still get to experience the rain here in StL.

Whew....

Today is the day that came to fast and we never thought would come -- the last day of school before winter break! 3 whole weeks! The kids got out at 11, so yesterday was our last day of therapy, but we had lots to do. Right now the school is being renovated a few rooms at a time. The time for us to move out of our room for a few weeks falls right around when break ends. So we had to be ready to go. Black writing on labels of boxes going into storage and red writing on the labels of the boxes going with us into our "temporary classroom". a.k.a. the library -- with a few other programs...school based behavioral health, primary school adjustment project and I think the school wellness program. This is going to be....interesting? Especially when there's only one key to the library and we have 24 boxes going with us (yeah, we're high maintenance). But, 24 out of over a 100 isn't bad...yes, we have speech/language related items and "stuff" galore!

And, now its the mad rush to pack to go to St.Louis for Christmas. We'll see what winter clothes we can dig up. Oh -- and we've found out we're staying in Hawaii till 2011 (feb.). So, we'll be sticking around here a little longer than initially anticipated. And yes, its in writing! This means another deployment in '09. We still have to move as well...that'll be fun...but I think we've found another place.

Below are photos from Nov./Dec. In no particular order:

Part of our room near the end of packing, labeling and taping

Our Pre-k's putting on their winter program. Most of them we claim as speech kids.
You know, we have 7 preschool classrooms...

After all the rain we had...this is what part of the area around the golf course
looked like. What was usually dry, turned into a lake.

Self-portrait before the ball

During Kathy's visit in November.

We're Finishers!

Today was THE BIG DAY a.k.a. MARATHON RACE DAY

We were out the door a little past three and made it downtown by 3:45. We met up with others from scott's work around 4:30 and walked to the start. We started together at 5, but everyone ran their own race so we didn't all finish together.

For the first 10 miles, it rained. It wasn't a fun experience trying to see where I was going with my glasses on; we were soaked. That wasn't all bad once the sun came out -- we did stay a little cooler and the clouds helped give us some cover from direct sun.

We stopped at every water stop and walked through them, which was a nice break. We met some more of Scott's fellow 3/25 members between 17 & 18 and they had food/water for us -- it was nice to see a familiar face.

We did pretty well from mile 10-20. We stayed motivated and steady. Mile 20 is where it started to get challenging. My legs were on fire and by mile 23 Scott was miserable too with leg cramps. At that point it was only 3 miles left, but it was a LONG 3 miles -- especially considering we had to go back up diamond head before heading to the finish.

The last mile was a killer -- we could see the finish as we went around Kapiolani park, but it felt like it took forever. We ran it out to the finish and finished in 5:21 according to my watch.

We ran the whole way, which was pretty impressive. Hard to believe that we actually did it!

We hung around this afternoon; alternating sleeping and eating. I don't know how we'll feel tomorrow, but if today is any indication it may be a bit rough being mobile at work tomorrow.

It was a good experience; people cheered, bands played, and we ran with 25,000 of our closest friends. And the t-shirt: the most important part.

Rain, rain, rain!!!

Today is crazy weather day around here!

Rain has been coming down since last night. It was so heavy we couldn't really see the other condo buildings around us and rain was blowing in our windows b/c of the wind. This morning Scott and I drove to work together -- though that isn't the norm. His report time was pushed back so he was going to drop me off at school and then go to work. We left the house a little before 6:30 and got a little ways before we ran into traffic. Eventually we found out that school was canceled for the day and his report time was pushed back even further. So, we were back at the house by 9. Today was a good day to have a jeep -- there were some big puddles!

So, now we're under a flash flooding warning, several streets have been closed, some schools are closed, several areas are without power (not us thank goodness!) and its just a mess. So much for paradise today! Hopefully we'll have good conditions for the marathon on Sunday.

October revisited

A few from October when Tim visited. Better late than never!

Long time no see

We know we haven't posted in awhile (for the 5 people that read this), but its been really busy. There's the whole work thing and then training for the upcoming marathon has taken up quite a bit of time. Yes, marathon. I'm not sure what we were thinking either when we signed up.

Last night was the "single soldier and family holiday party" a.k.a. "the ball" and as you can see we got dressed up and spent the evening down at a hotel in waikiki. I do have a few more pictures to share, but they're still on my camera. Actually -- I've got quite a few pictures to share, not just the ball. But anyways....we got stuck in traffic (not as bad as others though), got ready in less than an hour, waited around for it to start, ate/drank, watched videos from every company and then the formalities ended and music began. Today we're hanging out a bit and gearing up for our last 12 mile run before THE BIG RACE next weekend.

Happy weekend!

He he he....

We are in trouble...

The population of this country is 300 million.

160 million are retired.

That leaves 140 million to do the work.

There are 85 million in school.

Which leaves 55 million to do the work.

Of this there are 35 million employed by the federal government.

Leaving 15 million to do the work.

2.8 million are in the armed forces preoccupied with killing Osama

Bin-Laden.

Which leaves 12.2 million to do the work.

Take from that total the 10.8 million people who work for state and

city

Governments. And that leaves 1.4 million to do the work.

At any given time there are 188,000 people in hospitals.

Leaving 1,212,000 to do the work.

Now, there are 1,211,998 people in prisons.

That leaves just two people to do the work.

You and me.

And there you are,

sitting on your butt,

at your computer, reading blogs.

Nice. Real nice

Field trip

A few pictures from Scott's flight to the Big Island and Maui the past week...

The Big Island, Part 4 (without photoshop)

And they just keep coming...I told you I had a lot! All of these are from Mauna Kea -- pretty close but not all the way to the top (which is a little over 13,000 ft.). That night we stayed up there for the sunset and then drove down to the visitors center and checked out some stars/planets they had set up on telescopes. Scott may not have looked cold but he stayed in the car for most of the time we were hanging out. He just got out to chase a receipt that blew out of the car when I opened the door. We aren't fans of littering -- on the sidewalk or a mountain!

The Big Island, Part 3 (and photoshop part 2)

9.24.2008

Happy National Punctuation Day!! Let's whoop it up!!!

The Big Island

She's Legit

Emily just found out that she passed the bar exam -- Congratulations!!!! She's now official! Go Emily!!!!

9.11.2001

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