By for Now, Hawaii and Daddy

We spent our last weekend together at the Hale Koa hotel for a 'staycation'. It was so nice that we didnt have a thing to do with the house, not a worry in the world, other than the looming dark cloud of departure. We were so excited to spend three days with daddy at the beach and pool!

Gunnar with Sadie and Bear at the Hale Koa. He takes those two everywhere.
Eating his special treat and posing for the camera.

Loving on daddy.

The smiles look oddly similiar??? No?

Our last family picture together for a while.

He was getting so brave and going into the baby pool all by himself.

Daddy and Gunnar swimming together.

In the pool alone!!!! :0) don't worry we were sitting right there ready to jump in.

Aloha for now Daddy. We love you and miss you more than you will ever know. Stay Safe and God Speed you home. xoxo

Happy Birthday

We were so blessed to be able to spend his birthday this year with family. Daddy has been deployed both birthdays, but has been able to skype each birthday with him, so we thank God for that as well. Gunnar felt so special for three days! On Friday we took him to the fair and let him ride rides, pet the animals, play games, ride on the tractors and get a milk shake. We came home and he got a cupcake with two candles and sang to him; he loved getting sung to so much that he asked us to do it 5 more times! Finally, I recorded it and just let him play it over and over. He kept telling us it was Gunnar's special day because it was his birthday. :0)

I am so thankful that I have such great friends that I have grown up with that were willing to brave the hurricane and come over for a small birthday party for him on Saturday. He felt so special and kept telling everyone that it was his birthday party. He asked multiple times for RoRo, Aunti Lisa, Ellie and PJ and I had to explain that they were still at home and couldnt make it to this years birthday party. He then told me he wanted to go home and see them. :0( Broke my heart.

Gunnar letting Gabby (Dabby) help him open his presents!

Gunnar and Mommy reading a book.

Gunnar going for a ride in his truck from Ms. Maureen and Mr. Ed.

Gunnar blowing out his candles!

Trying to get him to smile with me for a picture. He was WAY to interested in his truck.

Eating his 'dirty cake'.

It warmed my heart to know how excited he was during the whole weekend. On Sunday Uncle Neal came over and help set up the train set that Daddy got for Gunnar. We sang to him and let him blow out more candles today. He loved having a weekend for his birthday, I suppose I shouldn't start weekend long birthdays, but if it makes him happy then I am okay with it.

Time Flies

I know, I haven't blogged in a while. We have been so busy enjoying Daddy and what little time we have left with both him and this Island. We have approximately 4 weeks left with both :0( We are sad to see Daddy leave so soon on another deployment, but know that it is making us stronger and closer. It makes us enjoy his time home so much more and appreciate, so much, the things he does and the man he is.

It is amazing how fast time flies. We have been on island for 2.5 years. Gunnar is almost 2 years. WOW. I remember the first day we moved here I thought it would never be time to leave and here it is in the blink of an eye. So we are FINALLY taking the time to enjoy all that this island has to offer- it only took s 2.5 years and two deployments to do it.

We are feverishly packing the house, organizing, purging and collecting momentos from our time here.

So while I might not post for a little while, I will have a lot to say when I get back into my 'groove', whenever that may be!

So for now, a picture of Daddy and Gunnar doing one of the many things they love to do (well Gunnar loves it and Daddy doesnt- so he makes up stories and skips pages, but hey it's still reading)- READ!

Oh how I love my two most handsomest (as I would say to Gunnar) men! ;0)

1,000 up and 1,000 down

We decided (when I say we I mean Jared) that we were going to climb Koko head crater. It is approximately 1000 stairs up, meaning 1000 stairs back down.

It took us about two hours round trip- with a break at the top to take pictures and breathe ;0)

Here are a few pictures from the top- we didn't take any on the way up.

Gunnar was extremely tired from riding on daddy's back the whole way!!!

Bunkers from WWII were at the top.

Lions and Tigers and Bears, OH MY!

We went to the San Francisco Zoo while we were there- it was a rainy day and the zoo was practically empty, so we got to roam around without the crowds! There weren't many animals out though, but we saw enough to keep Gunnar happy!


I asked him what he was going to do that day and this was his responce (add a HMMMM in there too).

In the children's zoo there were animals and food for the animals- and he found the tractor! Mimi pushed him around a little bit and I got a picture- but she'd probably hurt me if i posted it. ;0)

Gunnar had a BLAST brushing the goats- he must have brushed them for 20 minutes. He loved it-- pet goat?

All the goats got the idea and started coming over for some good brushing. They were scaring me because they had horns and were all starting to crowd around him.

I went to buy some food and the goats started crowding around me and I got scared- They had horns and teeth and Mimi hid behind me and wow, I threw that food and grabbed Gunnar and ran... but Gunnar went right back up to them with his brush and they were nice to him.

Same thing happened with the sheep too- EEk. I am not a farm animal whisperer.

When you break the rules you go to Alcatraz

Eeekkk.... Don't break the rules! Or else you go to Alctraz.
When we went to San Francisco we went to see Alcatraz. It was very interesting and fun. I love learning the history behind events; and actually getting to go there and see everything was surreal- it's like that person actually lived here, or this REALLY was a prison. It's almost hard to believe that it was a fully functioning Army post and then a Military Prison and then a Federal Prison... so much history! It was fun.
Gunnar on the way to Alcatraz.

We saw howitzers!!!!!! So fun to see how much they have changed since the 1800's. Here is a preview of how military equipment has changed over the years. But this is for you Daddy! xoxo

The O'Club. WOW... when I saw this condemned building, there were no walls, no two stories, nothing, it was crazy to know that they had Officers' Clubs back then too. Wonderful reading the board about all of the things that they did there.




Gunnar checking things out in the 'in-processing' room. I don't think he liked what he saw- I kept telling him don't break the rules or you end up in prison.

Looking up at 'bubba' making sure everything was alright. I think he was nervous.

Checking out the cell- scary.

Inside the cell. Wohhhoooo.

Saying Byebye to Alcatraz.

It was such a fun day to go to Alcatraz - Thank you Mimi and Bubba for the fun trip and day!

Airplanes Fly

We recently went on a trip to San Francisco... Gunnar was so excited because he has been so interested in airplanes and flying recently... so we waited in the airport and watched them load and unload the plane. We watched them gas the plane up and the food truck come and lift up and load up the plane. He was so happy to just sit there and watch the plane! I loved watching him enjoy this experience.


Gunnar is such a big helper; he always wants to help mommy do everything, which is so nice and overjoys my heart to have such a sweet baby boy. He wheeled that thing through the whole airport! I love my baby!