Thanks Whitesnake: Here I (we) go again

A couple things in the positive catergory:

1.  We've done this before so it's not such a shock
2.  no baby!!
3.  it's the second/busy half of the year so it should fly by (at least that's what we are planning on)

I do have picture of the "goodbye" but I forgot my camera so they are on Aaron's, which is now over international waters.  I'll throw some up if he can email them to me in good time.

We are good, just sad right now.

Oahu - also check out pictures of Kauai below

After a week in Kauai we said goodbye to the Burnhams and hello to Oahu.  We stayed at Bellows AF Station.  It's land that belongs to the Air Force and is the only private beach area in all of the islands.  We had a family beach cabin, 100 yds off the ocean.  You can't beat that!


In addition we visited the Dole Pineapple Plantation, the Polynesian Cultural Center, the Hawaii temple, Pearl Harbor, hiked Diamond Head, and of course swam in the ocean with the sea turtles.

one hot day of hiking!!

Polynesian Cultural Center luau

View from our back door

Waikiki from the top of Diamond Head

Sydney found a lizard

Aaron, Sydney and Camryn

The USS Utah memorial

Dole Pineapple Plantation

a red pineapple means it's young and not ripe

Ainsley at Pearl Harbor

Polynesian Cultural Center

And what trip to Oahu isn't complete without a tour of the Magnum PI sites.  Funny thing is, we weren't the only ones taking pictures!

TC's helipad

the Turtle Gates at the Robins Nest

 I'm not going to lie, I preferred Kauai.  A lot of the time it felt like I was in So Cal, but hey, still TONS better than South Dakota.

Goodbye Hawaii!!

Kauai

With Aaron getting ready to deploy again we thought we'd get some family time in with a vacation.  We also thought, what better way to vacation than in Hawaii.  Go big or go home right?!? We spent a week in Kauai with some friends from Ohio.  A great time was had by all!!

We hiked, swam, boogie boarded, ate and had a blast.  It was an actual vacation.

Brooklyn B, Paige B and Sydney before hula lessons

"I done (hiking)"

Ainsley loving the pool

Aaron boogie boarding

Ainsley, Camryn, Brooklyn B, Sydney and Paige B

Alex and Ainsley

Sydney, Camryn, Ainsley and Alex right off the plane

One of the wettest spots on Earth

Camryn and Barbie enjoying the sand

family picture

Amanda B and Camryn

the Hawaiian Grand Canyon

Disney World: Sans kids

So Aaron was part of a group from the clinic here at Ellsworth that got selected for "Customer Service Training" at Disney World.  It sounds kinda funny, but I also got a trip to Disney World while he was "learning".  Lucky for me Aaron's mom was willing to come out for some grandma time to make it all possible. 

We got there Monday afternoon.  We got to stay at the Disney Yacht  Club Resort.  I did not realize that Disney had so many resorts on the complex. 

Class started Tuesday evening so Tuesday-day we went to Blizzard Beach, home a super long lazy river and 120 ft drop water slide.  Water parks are fun with your kids, but being an adult on the loose in a water park is just awesome

I you look just behind us you can see the big slide. 

Wednesday Aaron, Lance and Darwin (the other two who went with Aaron) had class all day and I hung out at the pool and read the "Book Thief" (a MUST read!).  Aaron took a field trip to the laundry facility where Disney does 1.2 million pounds a month.  That evening we headed to Epcot.

Thursday was the same for me although I did buy the "never ending refill" mug at the pool and definitely got my money's worth.  Aaron took a back stage tour at the Magic kingdom.  That night we headed to Hollywood Studios and hit the Tower of Terror and I almost threw up on the Star Tours ride.

Darwin and Lance

 Friday Aaron graduated (again!) from the Disney School of Leadership Excellence.  We then headed to our last night at the Magic kingdom.  We got to see the new Rapunzel princess so that was cool. 

Graduation #7 since high school

I had to take the picture through a window since the line to see her was 2 hours!

I was a great vacation for Aaron and I, but I realized that I'm such a mom since by Thursday afternoon I was wishing the kids were with us.  There is definitely a magic at Disney. 

Dance recital 2012

 This year's ballet theme was "Musique Classique".  There was a featured composer and then a few dances.  Sydney's composer was Tchaikovsky and was a blue bird for a small excerpt of Swan Lake. 

Sydney (right) with her friend Annaliese

Sydney and the Tchaikosky poster

 The tap/jazz/modren recital was all "love songs".  Sydney danced to "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You).  Best part of the weekend was that dad was there this time!

Same sass!  Just a year older

Too quite and cheese-ball eyes

Apparently,  when Camryn and her friend Eliza are too quiet, it is a problem.

Eliza's mom calls this Ainsley's Barbie camouflage

Also, Camryn does this thing she calls "cheese ball eyes" where she will squeeze cheese balls with her eye lids giving her the look of having cheese ball eyes.  Simple enough.  The end product however looks like "cheese fungus eyes".  I gotta get her a new game.

Camryn: patient zero

To my fans in France

I would like to thank Blogger Dashboard for the new look.

I'm not going to lie - I had a field day looking at all the stats pages.  Did you know that they track from where people are looking at your blog?  I have two followers in France!  We're international baby.

This ones for you France!! 

**  Did you ever wonder what it would look like or feel like to go to Prom as an adult? 

Now that we are part of the bomb squadron (Go Tigers!) we got to participate in "Tiger Formal".  It's a fancy night of dinner, dancing, and dressing up.  It started with a guy who wanted to treat his lady to a fancy night out.  He got together with a couple of other guys and made a few rules 1. ladies had to be in formal wear  2. guys had to be in tuxes  3.  you will have a great time.

The first year they held it in his basement.  The next year a few more guys were added.  One thing leads to another, the squadron commander gets involved and wa-la "Tiger Formal" is born.

It was a fun night and a lot like Prom.... only the night ended a lot better this time.