Hawaii Day 2 - Pearl Harbor

We left the Coconut Waikiki hotel after enjoying our breakfast. We are still very much on Iowa time so no sleeping in for us. Our timed entry tickets to Pearl Harbor were at 11:00 am so we explored a bit by hitting up the nearest city beach. 

 I think we mentioned don't get wet, but apparently it was irresistible. It also lightly rained while we were there, which led to the following picture.

 First all out cry-fest in paradise. Dallas was wet up to his undies, mad at us because he was wet, not wanting to walk back to the car (where we could fix the fact that he was wet) and then it was raining so he would get wet if we walked to the car.  Clearly all Robert and I could do was laugh about this. I guess you still have to parent on vacation. We left temptation and headed for Pearl Harbor

Visiting the site is free, but you can request timed entry (ie, don't have to wait in line) two months before the date. This feature cost $3/person and then I added on the audio tour. We had heard the night before on the HI news that the Arizona was closed for pedestrians because the Navy had noticed a crack a few days prior and they were still determining the safety of the Memorial. I knew there was a chance we would not be able to go on the Arizona Memorial and had prepped everyone for that. The Navy controls the boats to and from and it is completely weather dependent. We were able to take the boats out, but not dock and be allowed to step on the Memorial. Weeks later I guess they decided the cracks were quite substantial and the Memorial is closed until they find a fix. 

 There are a few ships in the Harbor today. We didn't tour The tour explained where each ship was at the time of the surprise attack.
The attack began at 7:55 am, there were 8 US battleships in Harbor lined up on battleship row. By complete luck none of our aircraft carriers were in harbor even though 3 were assigned to be there. The Japanese attacked with 353 planes in two waves aiming for the ships at the Naval base and planes at Hickman Airfield. No subs or oil storage areas were harmed. Six of the battleships returned to service and helped with WWII. The Arizona was sunk in large because a bomb reached the ammunition room and it exploded.

During the attack, the Nevada left its berth in Battleship Row and tried to make it to the harbor entrance. After being repeatedly attacked on its way, the Nevada beached itself as to not block the entry way to the channel, this boosted moral.  .I found this amazing!!!

2,343 men were killed, 1,272 were wounded and 960 left missing. A total of 2,335 U.S. servicemen were killed and 1,143 were wounded. Sixty-eight civilians were also killed and 35 were wounded

We also learned the we did see the Japanese coming on radar. The first lieutenant on duty (on the North part of the island, not at Pearl Harbor)  indicated he saw a large blip 132 miles away and fast approaching. They decided not to worry about it, thinking it was a batch of US B-17 bombers due in from California. In reality it was the first batch of 180 planes launched Japanese carriers out in the Pacific. 

Dallas is extra interested in Pearl Harbor as he shares a his birthday with this "day that lives in infamy" If you have ever been to the islands you will notice that many Asian people vacation there. I would say we were part of the 10% Caucasian people touring that morning. After watching a 15 minute documentary that put the country of Japan in a dismal light, Dallas asked me how all they (the Asian, which might not have been Japanese) could come here and see this and if they felt sorry. It was an insightful question, and we are not at war with Japan, and they have been our Allies for many years.

 This was the speech the President gave to the nation. I loved the mark-ups. 

 This is enormous in real life

I could go on and on, it was fascinating. We only did the Arizona and Harbor tour. We didn't take time to go to Ford Island or board the battleship Missouri, or the Bowfin submarine or the Pacific Aviation Museum. Time is literally money when you are on Hawaii. I knew Robert would especially like to see the Aviation Museum, but he has likely seen most of those aircraft at other times, and we have all been on a couple battleships, so I planned only a brief visit. We could have spent 12 hours seeing it all. The beach calls!!!

Hawaii Day 1

Robert and I always set goals each year, they usually include travel and big milestone type stuff.  Did you know if you don't set goals, you don't achieve them.  I have always dreamed of Hawaii, lots of our college friends have gone and enjoy the islands. When goal planning we discussed my 40th birthday and I told Robert I would like to be at the beach, preferably a salt water beach. I would have taken Florida, but Robert doesn't work that way. So a year ago he set his mind on Hawaii, and I love him for it.  Also everyone thought I was crazy for wanted the kids to come along, but it was really great experiencing this with them.  

We spent our entire week on Oahu, if we ever go back I think I would try Maui.

 Airplane travel means unlimited electronics for bour kids. Robert found super cheap flights, the catch was flying out of Omaha and connecting several times. It was really perfect though, it was all day travel, but gave us a chance to get off planes, walk, eat to break things up. We left Ames at 6 am, drove to Omaha for our noon flight. The Omaha to Denver flight was smooth although we were notified through the United App that our Denver to San Fran flight was delayed which was worrisome for our connecting Honolulu flight. Robert worked his magic and got us on a Denver to LAX flight instead, which proved benificial because eventually the San Fran flight was canceled. All in all we got to Honolulu the same time 7:30 pm (island time) so we had been traveling 20 hours...

 My goal was to see each HI sunset. This was sunset #1 I caught from the plane as we were landing

 I had planned one hotel stay in Honolulu just to sleep so we could tour Pearl Harbor first thing in the morning. Our first stay was at Coconut Waikiki Hotel. It was dark by the time we arrived. We settled in and Robert walked down to the corner store and got us some snacks for dinner.

 The hotel did have a complementary "American" breakfast. We didn't use the pool or play the giant chess game but it looked fun. 

Here we are well rested and ready to find Pearl Harbor

May 2018

 A little coffee shop date with Noelle to make school a bit fun on a Thursday

 Selfies I find on my phone

 Dallas participated in Junk Box Wars. A team event, the group of three get a box of "junk" and a problem to solve. This was his teams bridge they had to drive a truck with a load across.

 Emily had a gift card from a teacher she received at Christmas for helping in class. She finally traded it in on this sugar bomb.  I suggested she at least get decaf!

 The girls made homemade facial treatment. 

 I like to visit Reiman gardens multiple times during the tulip bloom

 This picture is about perfect

 Emily's Spring band concert featured Mickey

 And of course we had to get ice cream afterward. The 8th grade band instructor actually announced at the end of the concert that each student worked hard all year long and deserved ice cream.

 End of the year awards at Awana. Noelle completed and reviewed her book, memorizing 46 verses.

 Dallas did the same, although often each of his passages were 2-3 verses long. He doesn't enjoy the stress of memorizing, but he gets it done and is actually quite quick and skilled. 

 Dugout shenanigans, I guess he came prepared and had a stocking hat in his backpack.  

 These kids are dear friends to Dallas, all homeschooled, they are such good buddies, and I am grateful for them. 

 Emily at soccer, she seemed to be the designated person for throw-ins. (she didn't pick up her leg when throwing in, so she didn't foul)

 Emily made me an apple pie for Mother's Day

 Murphy is warming up to van rides

 We took a 6 month break from piano while our instructor had maternity leave.  Now when we go and and all three kids are in lessons so it is a 1.5 hour ordeal we get to play with her baby! Oscar loves Emily!

Dallas doing a throw-in at soccer, dragging that back foot like the pro he is. He really loved playing soccer and wants to play again in the Spring. He has no desire to ever play baseball again, and would love to do Fall soccer, but has decided he didn't like playing two sports at once. He will play Fall flag football.

Spring 2018

 Sleeping beauty 

 Baseball in Iowa often includes snow

 Emily after she scored a goal

 Volunteering, assembling meals for Haiti

 Home projects, or in our case repairing what the dog ate the previous Spring

 Spring, when you are ready to be outside but it requires blankets

 Church was "iced" out so we watched the sermon online complete with a coffee cake Emily made (it contained 3 cups of brown sugar and 2.5 sticks of butter!)

 I had my hair dyed for the first time ever, an early birthday present to myself. I might not do it again for a long time, it took 4 hours (I don't have time for that)

Dallas won Honorable Mention in the 3rd grade category in our community Art contest

Spring Break 2018 The End

One of the best parts of our Spring break road trip for me was a stop off in Pawhuska, OK. Home of the Pioneer Woman.  I have been following Ree for years, when she first started her blog, I found her through a homeschooling forum. She started out online to have more connection at the start of her homeschooling journey. Her site and now brand has really evolved!!!

 We didn't see Ree, but we saw her husband. He actually came and got us from the line waiting for food at the restaurant. He apologized about the long wait and asked if we wanted a private-early tour of the hotel rooms they were remodeling (now open) The Boarding house. It was fun to see them. I was asked not to take any pictures as they were not public (internet) at that time.

We ended up not eating at her restaurant. Sometimes things are not worth the wait when you have kids in tow! We shopped at the Mercantile (Em and I shopped) and Robert and Dallas went to the upstairs of the Merc and grabbed me an iced-coffee and some treats. They had bakery type pastries and a full coffee bar. We happened to be visiting one of the days that they also had the Lodge open so we grabbed directions and our treats and drove out to the ranch. The lodge is on Drummond Ranch and is a real place! The Pioneer Woman films her cooking show for the Food Network, I was delighted to see that it was not a set, but a real working kitchen. She also has several rooms that the crew and guests can stay in.  The back of the Lodge has an industrial kitchen which I gather the prep/behind the scenes magic happens.

 Noelle sitting at a farm table at the Lodge

The back deck on the Lodge overlooking the ranch. 

 The long line to eat. Pawhuska is a small town. I can imagine her popularity it doing wonders for its economy.

 Robert in the back kitchen of the Lodge

Walter, one of their Basset Hounds was at the Lodge hanging on the couch. 

We ended the trip on a sour note. Dallas figured out he had lost "puppy" his stuffed dog (favorite) at our hotel in Wichita. He had likely had gone missing earlier, although we did have him the previous night. He usually rides along in Dallas backpack and goes into the hotel with us for the nights. We opened the van door 10-20 times that day at various stops so we could have lost him anywhere. It was very tragic. Puppy had been with Dallas since the beginning, so many tears. Their are moments in parenthood where you will do anything to "fix" and this was one of them. I called all hotels, left our information, description of the dog ect. Then I started figuring out how I could replace him. I knew he was from Cabella's so we hit up the Kansas City store on our way home and got the new version. It's not the same, and Dallas still cries occasionally about puppy and if someone found him. But Puppy 2.0 is fitting into the family well.  I did write my phone number on his tag!