March 2024

Jane has really enjoyed soccer this season. Her team, Myna Birds, is really good! It is with the AYSO, so the scored is not kept at games. But we are pretty sure they have never lost a game (maybe a tie?). Look at the beautiful background we get to sit in while we watch her play!

Hanging out with some of my co-workers from MIS Hawaii.

Hanging out at Kahanamoku Beach with Kristi! My girls absolutely love that they have an auntie here.

I LOVE this picture of Kate with all her freckles! Pretty sure she did get in the water with Koko and Jesse. 

Jane and her friend Jordana. We are so lucky she lives just a few houses down from us!

Egg drop: Third grade rite of passage. Jane worked really hard on this project and her egg was successfully dropped without breaking!

Kate with some of her good friends from school posing right next to her.

Checking out Sweetland Farm in Waialua. They had 2-week-old goats! The goat cheese and gelato were super yummy.

Completing the pineapple maze at the Dole Plantation. Trying to check off some of the touristy things so we know what to tell our guests when they visit. 

Bryan left for Washington D.C. to complete Iron Major Week. And what a perfect time to go- cherry blossom seasons! Unfortunately, this was during the girls' spring break, and I was in charge of trying to make it fun and memorable while still working...yikes! 

One day we hiked the Koko Head Botanical Garden with friends. 

Another day we hike the Aiea Loop trail with Howie.

Another day we went to the mall and tried out the Razor park.

During the end of our Spring Break, Kim and her younger kids came to visit. The first day of their arrival, I lost the keys to the Jeep and had a little panic attack. Turns out, they were inside the piano! We finally made it to Kailua beach and forgot all about the crazy morning. 

Electric Beach: So much fun for the adults and kids. We saw monk seals, sea turtles, and dolphins!

Bellows: A necessary stop as Kim and I both grew up boogie boarding on this beach for 6 years!

Another necessary stop.

 

March 2022

    March became a busy month juggling clinical instructor for the CTC students and working the other 3-4 days (plus call) in the surgery department. I think all of us were looking forward to Spring Break!

    Jane has been practicing piano with Mrs. Christie for two years now and shows great progress. She finished another level and had a little celebration with the teacher!

Bryan traveled to Washington D.C. to shake hands with someone important for winning The Best Medic Competition. He got to sleep in a fancy hotel next to the National Mall. He ended up running around 13 miles taking pictures in front of all the memorials. He got to meet up with his teammate as well.

Ever since Jane's new 1st grade teacher Mrs. Oster arrived in January, I've noticed Jane coming home with more arts and craft projects. This makes me happy because I feel like they may be missing out on a few things being in the private school system (especially now as I write this they are in a public school in Kansas with lots of special programs like gym, art, TEAMS, music, and library). NSBA just didn't have enough students or faculty to have specific programs. 

The girls also didn't have the opportunity to dress up for holidays like Halloween, Valentine's Day, or St. Patrick's Day. Both Kate and Jane LOVE celebrating the holidays, even if it is a t-shirt or some kind of fancy socks!

Bryan's mother hasn't been doing well over the last 3-4 months. She was diagnosed with cancer during the summer of 2021. We knew we needed to visit as often as possible because she wasn't showing signs of getting better. We visited after Christmas and decided to ski in Utah for Spring Break, which would allow us to visit with Debbie one last time. I am grateful my girls were able to see her during those two different visits to Utah. They noticed a difference in her appearance and health status from January to March. They were able to see and understand the destruction the cancer was causing to Debbie's body. They noticed her speech was different and she had trouble coming up with words. This brought a lot of questions from both Kate and Jane regarding death and disease and sometimes, I wasn't able to answer their questions. Watching them figure out life is hard, but also rewarding. 

Even though the visit was hard, it was nice to be able to visit with aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents and friends.

Spring Break: We skied at Park City and Canyons,

we went bowling and played laser tag at Jack & Jill's,

the girls hot tubbed at the Linford's, 

and smothered the cats too!

Then we had to drive back to Texas. Our second trip this year. Lots of miles. And we knew we would be coming back again, but not exactly sure when...

We had a tornado scare in the Bell County area. Jane was very traumatized by the event. Art therapy seemed to be one way for her to express her anxiety. She did a great job with this picture, in my opinion.

We traveled up to Dallas for a job interview for Bryan. On the way up, I saw there was a tulip festival in Waxahachie. I made the family stop on the way home because I just LOVE tulips. The girls got to pick a few and pet some animals in the little pig pen. The best part was seeing a monkey at the petting area!