Road To Hana

We did the road to Hana on Tuesday, August 14th. Joey, Lee, Ron and I rented a Jeep and put Ella in the car with Grandma, Grandad and Great-Grandma. It was the rainy side of the island so we didn't expect great weather but it rained most of the day once we got out to that side. Our first stop at Twin Falls was a nice little hike up the river. Grandma & Great-Grandma headed back to the car while we ventured ahead. It was beautiful and soon the boys were in the waterfall swinging from ropes. Ever the "practical" one, I took Ella and headed back; why get sopping wet at the first waterfall when there were six more to see?? I didn't make it half way back before getting stuck in a downpour. I ended up soaked anyway! LOL We got Ella into dry clothes and quickly tried to put the top on the jeep which was already soaked too. So now I'm wet and I have to sit on a wet seat too! I really should have jumped in that waterfall. :-) We ended up driving about halfway before turning around. The road was crazy and we wanted to see the volcano too before the end of the day. The rain just made the vegetation and landscape more beautiful and tropical. The volcano wasn't that exciting but Joey sure made the drive down so. Joey - you pull over for the locals, not keep up with them! LOL

West Maui Drive - August 11th

We spent Saturday driving around West Maui with Grandad, Grandma, Great-Grandma, Uncle Joey & Uncle Lee. Aunt Shirley, Uncle Lewis & cousin Ashely joined us for the spectacular scenery. We drove the crazy road northwest to the most beautiful cliff sides and then went to Iao Valley State Park in the middle of West Maui. It was a beautiful day!

Maui Family Reunion

Back From Maui

We arrived home last night after wonderful week in Maui. It was great to see Ron's family and finally meet the extended family of cousins, great aunts and uncles, and family friends. It was hectic with so many people but we did manage to see a lot of the island. Here are some pics from our last day, yesterday. I'll post some more of the trip soon.
We were unaffected by the hurricane, though we did get rained on during our drive along the road to Hana... but as it is the "wet" side of the island, we didn't expect a totally sunny experience. Now that we are home, they are talking about a tsunami warning due to the Peru earthquake, but we are high in the mountains, so nothing to worry about. Thanks Amy & Tara for thinking about us though. :-)

Happy Birthday

Dear Grandpa / Great-Grandpa,

We hope you have a wonderful birthday celebration. It was so nice to visit with you and have you stay with us for a week. Ella is enjoying her Elmo chair and has become very possessive with it. :-) We'll be thinking of you as we try and get ready for Maui tomorrow. Enjoy the day and know that we miss you and love you. Happy Birthday!!

Love,
Tracey, Ron & Ella

Great Friends

It is by far the hardest thing about being in the military thus far, saying goodbye to great friends. We met Katie and Eric back in the early spring and have enjoyed having dinners, BBQing and hanging out with them. Ella, I believe, has had her first crush on Eric. She's usually quite careful about who she'll go to, choosing to suss them out for a little bit before venturing over to them. However, once she decided Eric was okay, she has constantly tried to get his attention and is quick to reach to be picked up or will bring him her toys.
Tonight, in honor of Eric's promotion (go Sergeant!), Katie and Eric invited us over for a celebration BBQ and farwell with some of his platoon. He leaves for training in Cali, before being deployed to Iraq. We'll possible see them (Katie's going home for the duration) in the fall for a bit between Cali and Iraq but we're not sure. It's sad to say goodbye but we will see them when he comes back in something like 15 months... and of course there's always email, it's just never the same. Eric had picked up a keg, so it was also Ella's first official keg party!

Immigration

Aghhhhh immigration! It's coming up 2 years since I received my residency card but I am now required to file more paperwork to "prove" that my marriage is legit. 4 days before I am allowed to file, they more than doubled the fee so Ron and I are coughing up almost $600 for some paper pusher to review "evidence" that I didn't marry Ron to come to the US.

Hopefully the "child produced from the marriage" is enough proof that I did actually marry because I love Ron. Sometimes I want to just say, "Trust me, if I was going to marry someone for a passport, there are many places I'd rather live" (Europe or Australia for example). Though I don't think that would go over well with the immigration department. :)

Bangs and Bumps

Yesterday, I took the girls hiking up Kolekole Pass. It was a gorgeous day and an easy climb so it was fun. I had Ella on my back which was a bit more of a workout. When we got to the top we sat around and took a rest. It's so beautiful!

I don't have Lahrissa for the rest of the week because Ted's taken holidays so it was a very laid back morning. Really quiet without a 5-year-old's constant nattering and questioning. I bought Ella some headbands today but had no hope of having her wear one as she pulls out any clips, barrettes or elastics within minutes of putting them in. She wore her headband most of the afternoon and she looks so cute! :) I was shocked that she ignored it, though she is starting to push her hair out of her eyes so maybe she was relieved something kept her hair out of her face. Here she is playing and dancing with her bells musical instruments...

Ella runs every where around the house. Forget walking, she is so her father's child with all that hyper energy! Tonight as I was putting the dishes in the dishwasher, she flew into the kitchen and wiped out...I think she hit the open dishwasher door but I'm not sure. She screamed for a second spitting blood and I nearly had a heart attack. It also looked like she might have busted her thumb, but then she was giggling and trying to run back into the living room. Her thumb is moving fine, and she just bit her lip so it stopped bleeding quickly. Oi, that was a lesson for me...don't leave the dishwasher door down, it gets in the way of speeding toddlers. We've taught Ella a couple of tricks, but I'll post the videos when we get back from Maui, we want to surprise Great-Grandma, Grandma, Grandad, Uncle Joey and Uncle Lee with them!

Weekend Wrap

Dear Grandma,

Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you... I can't wait to see you in Maui soon. Only 10 more sleeps! :) There will be so much to do and so much to show you. I'm running around like mad now so you and Grandad will have a good workout. I'll show you everything I know about the beach... I'm an island girl now!

Hope you had a wonderful day.
I love you,
Ella xoxo

I can't believe another week has gone by and I have no pictures of Ella. Ron has gone back to regular working hours but after last week's training, he's landed the 5 to 1 shift. We're all extremely happy as he's a morning person anyway and unlike myself, he loves to get out of bed in the morning. It's much too early for me but to have him home all afternoon will be a treat.

Yesterday we went down to Pearl Harbor for a birthday party. Our neighbors just moved into a bigger house on Ford Island last month and we haven't had a chance to see it yet. It was so nice and new, with 3 bedrooms, 2.5 baths... we're so jealous! But we wouldn't trade our minuscule 2 bedroom 1 bath and the 5 minute commute for the traffic down in Pearl, it's a mess. We're happy up in the mountains where it's cooler and around the corner from Ron's work.

Aries turned 3 yesterday and Ella was excited to see him again. Maikou and her two kids used to come over to our pool and Ella would follow Aries around and giggle uncontrollably at his little boy antics (jumping head first into the water, dumping water over his baby sister, etc.) Aries of course loved the attention and would always call for Ella: "Come here, Ella"; "Look at this, Ella". Maikou said Ella's the only girl he'll play with! They're too cute.

We had good BBQ and Maikou's home made egg rolls yesterday and then today our neighbors cooked out and we had more BBQ and homemade lumpia (Filipino egg rolls). Yummy! I need to learn how to make them.

Elmo

Here is Ella's new Elmo chair. We all love it as Elmo has to be the cutest thing on Sesame Street. Ella loves to drag it around with her even if it means pulling it up on the couch. So we now have an Elmo chair, an Elmo doll, Elmo bibs and an Elmo puppet book... don't tell Ron but there's another Elmo plush and sing-along CD on it's way! Ella's "Canadian Girl" onsie still just fits but we might see if Auntie Erin can bring a larger one when she comes to visit in September... us Canadian girls have to represent here on an American military base ;)


p.s. and yes, Steph and Matt, Ella is still pounding away at her new xylophone though one of the sticks rolled under the stove but as you can see, that doesn't stop our little musician ... now we're just waiting for the other one to disappear! :) Hee hee!