One Fabulous Year in Hawaii

On November 7th we celebrated our one year anniversary on Oahu, Hawaii. Here are some pictures of all the fun we've had since we've been here.

Sunset photo taken the day we arrived in paradise

My first Mai Tai. It was a bit bigger than I had anticipated

Unfortunately shortly after we arrived Matt flew out to meet up with his ship, the USS Reuben James, in Saipan. The ship returned to port a week before Christmas and all the men and women aboard looked so very handsome in their working whites and orchid leis.

A few snap shots of our favorite hike to Keana Point. The first picture of Matt standing in the sand you can see both the Northshore and Waianae coasts of the island at the same time. It's a really beautiful hike that makes you feel like you are at the very end of the world.

We've gone to the Honolulu Zoo a few times. Matt's favorite animal is the elephant, I like the giraffes.

We went to Maui over my birthday weekend last March. The beach on the left is beautiful Napili Bay where we stayed. On the left is us at the summit of extinct volcano Haleakala at 10,023 feet above sea level.

Sheila, who I worked with at WECU, visited me in April. Unfortunately it rained quite a bit while she was here, but we were able to hit the beach on a couple of nice days.

We love hitting up the Northshore for a much needed break from school and work. We like eating at Haleiwa Joes, on the left. We ordered another unexpectedly large drink once again, it must be a Hawaiian thing. Of course no trip to the Northshore is complete without a stop at Matsumoto's for some delicious Hawaiian shave ice. Matt likes his with ice cream at the bottom. Matt's enjoying his shave ice with our good friend Luis.

Another beautiful location of Oahu is the Pali Lookout. Here you can see beautiful views of the windward side of the island, including the charming town of Kailua. The photo of the road was the old Pali highway, it is now a short trail you can take a leisurely stroll on.

Over the summer we went on a short hike to Manoa falls. It started out really nice, but about half way up the rain started pouring down like it only can in Hawaii. By the time we got to the top Matt, Emma, and I were completely soaking wet through and through and covered in mud. It was quite an adventure.

We visited the Laie Temple in Laie near the Northshore. It was under renovation so we weren't able to tour the inside of the temple, but the temple exterior and grounds were unbelievably gorgeous.

Hickam Air Force Base recently hosted 'Wings over the Pacific', an airshow featuring The Thunderbirds. Here we are posing with a MiG 17.

Matt and I attended our first Navy Birthday Ball. It was held at the Hilton Hawaiian Village in Waikiki. It was a lot of fun to get all dressed up for an evening.

Of course we can't forget one of our favorite members of our family, Emma. She's not as big a fan of the beach as Matt and I, but she especially loves the dog park in our neighborhood. As Matt says, "The world would be a better place if everyone had an Emma."

Finally I'll leave you with some pictures of a few of the beautiful beaches we have had the privilege to visit during our stay in Hawaii so far.

Waimea Bay Beach Park

Turtle Bay Resort

Kualoa Regional Park with a view of Chinaman's Hat Island.

Bellows Beach Air Force Recreational Area

Mokuleia

Finally, world famous Waikiki beach.

Living in Hawaii has been an unbelievable experience for us. It must be the closest you can get to living in a different country without leaving the U.S. We are looking forward to moving back to the mainland in the future, but we will definitely miss the islands when it comes time to leave.

Too much stuff!

Believe it or not, this is going to be the nursery for our baby. Obviously this room is going to need lot of work before baby comes home. When we moved in, all of the stuff we didn't know what to do with ended up in the third bedroom. We haven't really needed the space for anything other than storage till now, so I'm going to have to figure out what to do  with all this stuff. The biggest road block in completing this task is going to be the lack of any storage place whatsoever in our circa 1944 plantation style home. Apparently back then they didn't own any possessions.

 I think I may have to get some type of room divider or screen to hide things like the vacuum cleaner and a few other things that have no hall closet or laundry room to be stored in and then bring out a dozen garbage bags and say Aloha to a bunch of the junk I haven't looked at in over a year. Obviously if it hasn't made it's way out of this room in the past year, I can probably say good buy to it. Maybe we'll have a yard sale. Well, it's going to be a project. It's one that I've known about since we moved in, but since this bedroom has a door like most do, it's been very easy to ignore the mess. This mess is turning into a problem now because the baby needs a bedroom, and it is going to be here in 25.5 weeks so I better get started.

And Baby Makes Three.

The two of us were delighted to find out in August of this year that we are expecting. We could not be happier. Unfortunately the timing was not perfect as Matt has a lot of work to do on his ship through January, at which point they will be leaving for deployment and he won't be able to be here for the birth of his first son/daughter. I guess that's all a part of the military life. Lucky for me, another wife from the ship and a good friend, will be helping me prepare for the baby as well as coach me through labor and delivery.

We had our first ultrasound on October 6. There is just one baby in there and the doctor said he/she is looking great and is the right size for his gestational age. We couldn't believe how active our little blueberry is already. He was jumping all around in there!

Besides the impending bundle of joy, life at the Felton household has been very busy. I am going to school and taking more than a full loads worth of credits. It has been quite difficult for me this session with all the first trimester symptoms I had. I just started my second trimester this week and I can already say that I am feeling so much better. Taking care of our three bedroom 1944 home is a bit more work than taking care of our 1.5 bedroom apartment in Washington, but we love the uniqueness of our Hawaiian style plantation home. To top it off for me at home, Emma has more energy than Matt and I combined and she requires a lot of attention, but she is the most loving dog ever and makes every naughty moment worth it. Matt on the other hand is very busy at work. He has had many short underways in the past few months and when they aren't underway they have been working 12-14 hour days to get ready for the big inserv inspection they will be having later this year. Needless to say we haven't been seeing as much of each other as we would like, and unfortunately other than time off during the holiday season I don't think we will be getting as much time together as we would like until late next summer.

Moving to Hawaii

Well, it is day three in Hawaii. We arrived Friday very early in the afternoon. That was quite interesting as we almost forgot Matt's garment bag with his dress uniforms on the bag carousel, then we realized that we had forgotten to get cash for a taxi. So Matt ran all over the airport looking for an ATM while I waited on the curb with all our bags, the only worldly possessions that we had until our household goods arrived in about a month or two. This was going to be interesting. We hopped into the taxi and had him take us to the Vehicle Processing Center to pick up the mustang, which we had shipped in advance, so it would be here waiting for us. That went very smoothly. While Matt was inspecting the car, I got a wonderful call from the Navy saying our household goods shipment had arrived and was ready for delivery. What? We weren't expecting all our things for quite some time. Only problem was that we didn't even know how to get to our hotel let alone have a permanent home. So, we had them put it in storage until we secured a place to live. Matt and I stayed at the Navy Lodge on historic Ford Island for the next 10 days at which point we moved into an old plantation style home in military housing at Pearl City. That same day we decided we had lived to long together without a puppy of our own and we welcomed Emma into our family. She has made life very exciting for us.

I Love Strawberries!

Sometimes I just don't know what to have for lunch. Sometimes I have a craving for something cool and fresh. Sometimes I have visions of strawberry shortcake. It's during these these times that a big bowl of strawberries is the perfect treat. How do I make them extra delicious you might ask? Well first I clean my berries then I remove the green tops and slice them into large bite size pieces. Sprinkle with a few teaspoons of sugar and a splash of Grand Mariner and let them macerate for at least ten minutes. While the strawberries are getting extra yummy get out your high speed beaters and start whipping up some fresh heavy whipping cream. It really has surprised me that so many people that I know don't know how to make fresh whipped cream, and they just use cool whip or 'stuff' out of the can. Its SO EASY! Be sure to start out with clean, dry bowl and beaters. If they have been chilled in the freezer for a bit first that will make it even easier. Whipping cream will double in volume from start to finish so you should measure out 50% of the amount you want to end up with. Then all you have to do is beat till it becomes light and fluffy. When it looks almost done add powdered sugar to it, a tablespoon at a time until it reaches your desired sweetness. All that's left is putting it together. Pick out a pretty bowl, put the strawberries and all the yummy juices in first, top with whipped cream, and sprinkle with cinnamon. Then dig in. It's up to you if you want to share.
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