Another one bites the dust

You may have noticed that I haven't been keeping up with the blog as much as normal. That is because our computer has officially crashed after giving us problems for 2 weeks. I am now sitting at my neighbor's computer...do you realize how much we (I mean me) depend on the internet!? Our computer's warranty expires on Nov. 14 so Joel has frantically been working with Sony to determine if it is a virus or hardware issue. As of now, it looks like a hardware (woo hoo) so we are shipping the computer in and keeping our fingers crossed that a new one will be coming back to us for FREE!! In the meantime, you might not be hearing from me very much. This is very sad because I am in picture overload!!! So I will just to explain the week's happenings as best I can for your imaginations. Buckle your seatbelts because this is going to be a long one!

MONDAY: Joel took the day off since it was Anna's actual birthday and we had a family day at the beach. We had such a good time. Asher snorkeled for the first time and Jesse went into the ocean for the first time...both thoroughly enjoyed their experiences. Jesse would splash the water into his face, suck his breath in from the cold, and do it again over and over.

TUESDAY: We carved our pumpkin and toasted pumpkin seeds. A word of wisdom to those who may be carving pumpkins in Hawaii in the future-DO NOT carve your pumpkin until the day before Halloween. As the week progressed, the fruit flies, mold, and smell grew...it was disgusting. Then I figured out that we never experienced this before because it is normally cold when we carve pumpkins. Our neighbor got a good chuckle when he told us he learned this lesson last year.
PLUS Jesse turned 6 months old. He is not sitting up yet but he is crawling. Yes, the boy is a mover, we can't believe it and nothing is out of his reach much to Anna's dimsay. Oh, we new she would get payback for messing up Asher's detailed car lines.

FRIDAY: Threw the moldy smelly pumpkin in the trash (in he morning) candle and all. Halloween is an issue for Joel and I in that we still have not figured out our footing on how to handle this holiday. We both grew up not celebrating so we don't think about it until it is on top of us...then we tend to avoid it until the next year. And soon we discovered it is impossible to avoid while living on base...the trick or treating and invitations to kids parties is mass mania. We had already decided to let the kids dress up and walk to a nearby carnival for the evening. So off we went with Spiderman and Sleeping Beauty, but it turned out to be trick or treat time so we let them hit a few houses on the way to the carnival and decided we will figure this out next year. The carnival was a blast. Asher rode everything and Anna only got brave at the end and rode a race car ride with Asher, which they both loved. I have a GREAT picture of then laughing and screaming as the race car whips them around the corner. We also got to see a flying trapeze act. The kids were mesmorized-it was awesome. And I love carnivals for one thing...FUNNEL CAKES!! We let them play a few games and Asher actually won a stuffed animal. We couldn't believe it.

SATURDAY: Asher's last soccer game and he scored 2 goals...WOO HOO!! Then coach Joel gave the boys trophies. I have a great picture of him with the team and their trophies. Asher carries his around and tried to sleep with it last night. He was so proud of himself. We also ran 17 miles as part of our marathon training. It was supposed to be 18 but Anna started screaming potty and we had to cut the last mile out. We were still pretty pleased with the accomplishment. We are over halfway through our training and have one super long run left (20 miles). Believe it or not-the kids do awesome on the run. We have all enjoyed the time together (and crashing afterwards). Asher and Anna took turns playing "Sleeping Booty" and kissing each other to wake up for an hour. It was adorable.

And lastly...we leave for the Big Island on Wednesday. Asher and Anna can't wait to go on the plane and see the volcano. We are staying for 4 nights. While planning this trip we realized that we have never been on a family vacation together-just us. It is usually spent visiting family or doing the trip with friends. We are all really looking foward to the trip. Plus it is supposed to be cold there this time of year. Yeah!! Break out the jeans and sweatshirts...it might actually feel like fall for a little while :).

So I hope you enjoyed the ride. I don't know when I will be back...probably sometime after the 9th and still without a computer. Boy, will I have a ton of pictures to post once we get there!!