The time has come

The time has come to get back to blogging. The jackets, socks/shoes, and no air conditioning make it crystal clear that summer is officially over.  We are getting into our fall routine and enjoying every minute of it.  BUT before we jump into fall, I need to recap some summer events.

Look for some posts in the next few days and if you are reading in Google Reader or one of those other blog reading services, click here to see our new blog header. 

p.s. You can thank my sweet friend Sarah for prompting me to get back into the swing of things!

It's Complicated

Dear all ten blog readers out there,

First, let me say that I've missed you.  Second, in case you didn't know, we are back home in Tennessee.  Our whole family together and loving life in our little corner of the world.  So much has changed since my last post, but most of it isn't really for the blog world, so let's just keep it at - it's complicated. We made some wonderful memories in Hawaii this year, but we are looking forward to what the Lord has in store for us. Jake is working and the Lord is providing all that we need. Thankful for challenging times in life, to reorient priorities & grow our love for the Lord. 

The boys are CRAZY EXCITED about being home and seeing our family and friends.  Unfortunately since our whirlwind return (over 30 hours of travel with two kiddos & two VERY tired parents), we have fought some crazy sicknesses in our house! But I am declaring us officially better & praying that no one ends up with a fever, cough or throwing up before the day ends! We actually made it out of the house today and did some swimming with sweet friends. 

Hoping to get some more posts up this week.  Haven't even posted about Henry's birthday!! This is no excuse, but I've been slacking in my computer usage, since a certain someone decided to remove the "p" & "b" buttons from the laptop.  That same certain someone would be purchasing a new keyboard but he just paid all his quarters & pennies to Mrs. Margaret, our sweet librarian, for an Arthur cassette tape, that somehow "unwound" all by itself.  :) Fun times! I love my life!

Fun with Daddy

Being away from Jake for two months, was so hard for Jack & Henry.  They did enjoy lots of time with grandparents, aunts/uncles, & sweet friends while we were home, but nothing replaces time with daddy!

I have some fun pictures of the boys at the park with Jake, but they are on my phone.  Here are a few from around the house!

"Fishing" (casting into the pool)

Playing ball

A little Wii Sports in the tv room

Three month hiatus and new rental house

By some time next week it will be THREE months since I have blogged!  I have a tiny excuse, but really I could've probably done it if I had made it a priority.  The first week of March, the boys and I headed back to Ooltewah for a couple months to visit family/friends.  It was refreshing and fabulous to be home! BUT, Jake was still here in Hawaii, which cause me to be a solo parent for two months.  Although we had tons of fun while we were home I barely even thought about getting the camera out.  Blogging had to go on the back burner for awhile.  So here we are back in Hawaii again and hoping to keep you guys updated on our lives!

While I was gone, Jake moved rental houses with Art & Becky.  It's still fairly close to the other house, so that has helped me still be familiar with the roads/stores in this area.  Here is a little peek at where we will be staying until the end of June. 

 Our room, bathroom and closet

Overlooking part of the downstairs living area - sorry it's so dark!  I know it's hard to believe but I actually took a little photography class while I was home....guess I should've taken more notes!

This is the boys' play area. 

The boys' room - note Henry is sleeping in a Big boy bed!  He barely made it the first night sleeping in the pack-n-play.  We didn't want to spend every night putting him back in, so we just moved on to the twin! Jack has really liked having a roommate! (Yes I do put sheets on their beds, but this was an impromptu nap one afternoon.  Those are pretty common when you are making a 6 hour time change!)

Kitchen

Part of the patio

Pool

I left out pictures of Will's room, Frank's room, Mr. Miller's room, two laundry rooms, several bathrooms, sitting areas, and the front of the house. I am already tired after looking at these pictures so I didn't think you'd want to see it all in one post!



Miss and love

My sweet friend Kristen is a missionary in PNG and recently posted a list that got me thinking.  Here goes on some thankfulness......

Things I miss at home:

our family and friends

cheap groceries

our house

beloved sewing/embroidery machine

our church community

backyard swingset

Chickfila

kids' consignment sales

Things I've grown to LOVE (and be so thankful for) in Hawaii:

sunny 70s every day

teaming up with Becky for daily chores (dishes, cleaning, laundry, etc...)

coffee with fat free creamer & spray can whipped cream

slow-paced driving (crazy, but I don't mind it at all!)

running...crazy, huh?  (It actually should go on the "like" list, not "love" list.)

fruit smoothies

Watching Art's dad, Mr. Miller with my boys - so sweet

drying clothes on a line outside

Costco

memorizing Scripture

being with my boys

internet access (had this at home, but probably took it for granted most days)

Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving; let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise!  - Psalm 95:2

Backyard Maze

After the shipment came in, Mr. Miller (Art's dad), thoughtfully saved the boxes and stayed up late cutting holes in each one to create a maze/fort for the boys.  The boys have spent a little time in it already, but I know they will be spending hours playing and making memories together.  Thanks Mr. Miller!  We appreciate YOU!

Daddy's work

The security company purchased a shipment of Segways recently and they arrived from the Mainland this week.  Jack was THRILLED that we were going to have "enough segways for everyone on the planet."  Jake and Will stayed up late getting them all put together.  One perk to working in Hawaii - you can always be multi-tasking:  working, getting a tan, enjoying the beautiful weather, etc...

Snips and snails

As we saw with the frog, Hawaii has no shortage of things boys LOVE!  One morning Uncle Will found a huge snail and of course shared it with Jack and Henry.  Jack wanted to keep it as a pet but Henry wanted to use it as a baseball.....he is now back to his comfortable habitat.

Look what has happened AGAIN!

Last night Jack came in the kitchen and said, "Something is missing!"  He had somehow lost his SECOND tooth since Christmas, but didn't even know when or where.  We searched and searched but it was never found.  A short note was left for the tooth fairy, so all is well.

Dole Plantation

Another local tourist attraction here on Oahu is the Dole Plantation, where miles and miles of pineapples are grown to ship all over the world.  A train ride, HUGE maze, and yummy! snacks are all part of the experience! 

The boys, of course, loved the train ride!  When the train returned to the 'station,' Jack immediately said, "This isn't right.  We are at the same station.  The engineer is lost."  He was sure that when you ride a train you should always end at a new destination. 

The Dole Whip (pineapple ice cream/yogurt/goodness in a cup!) was a big hit too!  I wasn't fast enough to get a picture of it before it was consumed by two hungry boys.

We plan to go back at some point and go through the maze.  It looked like a lot of fun but I wasn't up for doing it without Jake. 

Visitor!

Unfortunately I didn't get many pictures of Hannah's (Jake's sister) visit to Oahu & then the next week I didn't get too many with Jenny (BFF) when she was in town! But we had a blast with her and were even able to go out on the town one evening!  Thanks Jake for making that possible!

haircut

Self portrait, Jack, age 4

Even though we are in somewhat of "vacation mode," regular life things still happen and tasks still have to be accomplished.  As much I love my long-haired boy, things were getting a bit out of control - couldn't see his eyes, taking too long to wash, etc...

At first I took a shot at cutting it myself, thankfully there are no pictures to document the mullet style that resulted in my cutting attempts!  So we set out to find a barber/salon.  The local Fantastic Sam's isn't far away so we thought we'd try it. 

Please know that I have taught ESL classes before and actually LOVE internationals, but getting a haircut from someone who speaks VERY little English is quite challenging.  I think my "not too short," came across as "the shorter the better!" Oh well.....Jack likes it so I guess that's what matters most!

post-haircut with Ms. Becky!

belated.....Valentine's Day

Happy belated Valentine's Day from the Spann family!



Hanauma Bay

Just around the corner is a beautiful marine life conservation park, well-known for amazing snorkeling & views.  It's so popular that if you aren't in the parking lot by 10am there is a big chance you won't make it into the park that day, due to the daily limit of visitors imposed by the park staff. 

I have never snorkeled before but I would love to try it out at this park.  Even just standing at the water's edge you are able to see all kinds of sea life! The boys really enjoyed being able to actually go in the water without getting trampled by a wave or pulled in by the undertow.

The snacks ran out at one point, so I rode a small shuttle up the hill to get some food for the boys.  While I was away Jenny, Becky & the boys had some fun with the birds.  About the time things started getting a little out of hand, the park staff reminded them NOT to feed the animals. Glad to have some pics of the funny moment!

Henry loves the sand so much and his favorite thing to do is to be a bulldozer, essentially belly crawling with his hands out front all over the sand.  So much fun......and SO much clean up!

Just another day in paradise....

Jack was "going to work" the other morning & I asked him if he needed anything else.  He replied, "No Mom, I have my snacks so I'm all set."  Yes, that's a headlamp and a hat, what every guy needs! :)



Someone else wanted his picture made too!

Cake

Art (Becky's husband & Jake's business partner) recently had a birthday which of course gave us a reason to have CAKE!  Jack insisted on making cupcakes with Becky, so we all enjoyed vanilla & chocolate cupcakes for several days. They were good but I am thankful there were a lot of people here to help gobble them up! 

Our Hawaii Home

Lots of catching up to do on the blog!  I have the pictures on the computer so I'll work on posts over the next few days, but for now I thought you might be interested to see our home away from home, or our "Hawaii Home" as Jack calls it.

Picture taken from the front sidewalk.  The homes aren't connected but they are definitely like patio homes, being very close to one another. 

Down our street

This is how the front entrance of every home looks - shoes, shoes, shoes!  Everyone takes off their shoes before they enter a home.  The boys are great at remembering.

This container was totally worth the baggage fees to get it here! We love having our toys!

Enjoying a little TV & library book time!

The side lanai (porch), also known as the drying rack!

Kitchen/Office/Grand Central Station

Our room, plus our sweet Henry gets to sleep in his PackNPlay.

Jack & Will's room

There is also a super large master bedroom.bath, where Becky & Art or other houseguests sleep, so I didn't want to post other people's stuff laying around. Now you've had the grand tour of our humble abode!  Every night I think of the window treatments and bed coverings that could go in this place, and then I remember that I won't be here forever & it's just right for what we need!