Pictures

We haven't been doing much lately. We had a busy month of visitors so the past week or so we've just been relaxing and catching up on to-do list stuff. Here's some pictures of Ella playing dress up and painting on the lanai...

Waimea Bay

We went out to Dillingham Airfield on the North Shore to watch Trevor skydive... very cool and I will be doing that before we leave the islands in a few years! Then it was off to Waimea Bay to body surf some crazy waves. It was much too dangerous for Ella with the riptide so she played in the sand. Once in the water it was fun to body surf and ride the swells. Trevor and Christin probably took home half the beach with them with all the sand in their suits and hair...

Christin & Trevor: Have a safe flight home, the house just isn't the same without good friends to share in it. Hope to see you back again soon :)

Waikiki

We headed into Waikiki to meet Trevor and Christin for dinner at Red Lobster. Our waitress brought over a lobster for Ella to look at and touch - gross!

Haircut

Christin gave Ella a trim the other night, only the second she's had...

North Shore

Yesterday we headed to Turtle Bay, far up on the North Shore. Christin had found an old Hawaiian sacrificial temple that overlooked Waimea Bay. The site is now rubble and stone, but the little hike to the cliff edge gave us the most amazing view of the beach. At Turtle Bay, Christin and Trevor did a bit of snorkeling and we had lunch at the barefoot bar on the beach. We then headed back to Shark's Cove so they could do some more snorkeling. Ella and I watched the surf and found shells for her new collecting hobby. Here are some pics from yesterday...

Beach Days

Christin and Trevor arrived on Wednesday night and we headed to Hanauma Bay on Thursday for some snorkeling and then spent the day at Hickam Beach yesterday. We are toasty but it just means more sunscreen for us Canadians today. :) Here are some pictures from the last couple of days.On a health note, I pulled a muscle or something in my side (what I thought was my hip) from the treadmill back in January. I self-diagnosed and gave it lots of rest, ice, etc. but to no avail. I finally went to the doctor and it seems to be my lower back, lack of core strength, and the muscles that run from the lower back around to the the top of the pelvis bone on my side where it meets my hip.

Prescription: physical therapy, massage therapy, hot/cold treatments, personal trainer, physio therapy and ultrasound. I go up the street to the rehab clinic where I have a therapist put a giant hot pack on my back for 15 minutes (during which I try not to fall asleep), then I have 30 minutes with a personal trainer who guides me through stretches, core exercises and teaches me the proper technique and makes sure I'm doing it at an intensity that will see results.

Then I have a massage for 30 minutes. The first one was the best massage ever. It's a technique designed by a German surgeon to break up scar tissue after surgery. I've never been a fan of massages but this was the best thing I've ever had - it's AMAZING! I'll have to clarify the massage, but I think it's called the Hoppa and is only taught in Germany by one school. The doctor at this practice went there to train and taught some of his massage therapists the technique. If I forgot to mention - it's AMAZING:)

Anyway, the moral of this story - don't self-diagnose! Especially when you can get all this AND a massage for free... twice a week :)

Happy Easter

Disney Breakfast

The base put on a Disney breakfast this morning so I took Ella to meet some of her favorite characters. I'm not kidding but when I bought the tickets, the lady at the army office said, "You know they are just people dressed up, like in costume, not the real characters right?" I'm sorry, are you telling me Tinkerbell isn't real and Aladdin isn't going to take us for a magic carpet ride?! The funniest thing is she was dead serious so you know someone must have asked her if the "real" characters were going to be there. Even at Disneyland, it's real people in costume. Com'on people, it's the army, it's not Disney flying in their actors. And if you had any doubt, Tinkerbell today was Asian, as was Snow White, not to mention Hawaiian Jasmin, Belle, and Pocohantas. :)

Easter Eggs and Cupcakes

Emmi and Christina came over today and we made Easter eggs and decorated cupcakes. Ella had so much fun and was so happy to see Emmi again. With busy schedules, visitors, vacations and such we haven't spent any time with Christina and Emmi (outside Ella's birthday party) in months! Ella is always asking for Emmi to come over and play and seeing them hyped up on sugar you could tell they really missed each other.

Geckos

The morning of the day Erin arrived, Ella and I were snuggled up in my bed while Ron was showering for work. I heard what I thought was him wiping out in the shower, followed by a scream and finally bouts of laughter. When Ella and I got up to investigate ("oh no! Daddy hurt" Ella says) we found that a gecko had fallen onto Ron's arm while he was mid lather. He didn't actually wipe out and by his laughter I knew he was fine, but Ella is a nosey little momma who must know exactly what's going on at all times. Ella had words for the gecko so I grabbed the video camera...