More Christmas Break!

We had the opportunity to all (22 of us) open our Christmas Presents together Christmas morning. We emailed Santa ahead of time to let him know that we would be Santa Clara this year and that we would need him to drop off our presents at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Sarah and Miah and their family slept at our house and at about 6 am all of the kids woke us up and we hopped in the car and drove to see what Santa left us.

The kids waiting at the top of the stairs to come down. I think that this was the first time that we have ever had Christmas downstairs.

The kids all love having to stop and take a picture with all of their christmas presents :)

After we open all of our presents we then go to breakfast with all of my dads family. This year it was at my Uncle Doug and Aunt Helen's. It was a lot of fun, but of course I forgot to take any pictures. It is always good to see all of my cousins and their kids. We also got to go up to Pine Valley to see Mary Esther and Howard it was so cold outside but nice and warm inside. After our visit in Pine Valley we all went to the movie to see Yogi Bear. It was such a wonderful Christmas and one that had a lot of great memories!

Christmas Break 2010!!

We were lucky enough to be able to fly home for Christmas. Austin, McKenna, Alyssa and I left early on the 10th. We had an great flight we got to fly in the Airbus which everyone has their own TV to watch and play whatever they want. It was so fun and once we got in the air we had just figured out make the TVs work and they paused Alyssa's show to give instruction on how to get it work and we all (and those in the seats around us) got a good chuckle when she announced that "we already freakin know this." She is quite a character. Nate and Brock had to stay a little longer to finish up school and then joined us on the 16th. We had a wonderful time visiting with family and friends it feels like we were going to have a lot of time but still felt rushed right up to the end to fit it all in.

Anyway we had a wonderful Christmas! Everyone was there. Eric and Heidi came after us with their new baby Kinley. She is such a cute baby and she was so good to for all of the craziness! I even volunteered them to be in the Staheli Farms Nativity with my kids (boys were thrilled).

Sarah, Miah their family was next to arrive on the 23rd, and Darci, Dan and their boys were able to make out earlier than expected and arrived in time for Christmas Eve dinner and all of the festivities. (somehow my camera missed out on a picture of the big big kids table, but they were there and having fun too :)

After dinner we had our nativity with the kids acting out the parts. This year Brock was the Inn Keeper, Austin was Joseph (he was thrilled), and McKenna and Alyssa were Angels.

All the kids in their costumes

In their Christmas Eve Jammies

Beatty's

A couple of weeks after the Dellamas's we had Mark, Shannan & kids come and visit. We had a great time with them as well. They even found a fun excursion for all of us to go on. We all went swimming with the wild Dolphins. It was so fun and we even had the Dolphins swimming along side our boat playing with the kids and splashing them. It was so much fun.

All the girls boogie boarding

This is how the kids got to travel and watch the Dolphins swimming under them. One would even turn over on it's back and the splash the kids with it's tail. They said that they had never seen them do it to the boat before. We all had good energy!

Dolphins swimming right next to the boat.

Mark and Shannan also made it here for the Laie Hawaii Temple open house. It was a lot fun and a great experience being able to take them and also our kids through the Temple. It is SO Beautiful!

Swimming at Waimea Falls the water was cold but the kids had a great time.

Dellamas's

I decided that it would be easiest to just go back to the last few weeks and put in a few highlights of our visitors. First we had Sarah, Miah and the boys come to visit. They came in October and we had a fun time showing them around the island. And they loved all of the new beaches that we have found that were less crowded. The kids had a blast and we are always sad to see our guests have to go home.

Boogie Boarding

Surfing

Throwing spears at the PCC (Mason was the champion at Hawaiian Bowling 12-0)

A hike that over looks Kaneohe Bay.

It's a dark picture but this is all of us at the Haunted Lagoon at the PCC.

Countdown created by Brock

This countdown is created by Brock. The date is not set but at least to this date i hope. Mom doesn't talk about me on this blog much but i am doing terrific, I am in the 7th grade if you guys didn't know and I am the first child, I am also a boy. I was Lutheran League MVP for my school Saint Mark Lutheran. This is my greatest accomplishment ever (Sarcasm). It was fun playing volleyball and I had fun playing all-stars. I am now playing basketball for St. Mark. We are going to win the lutheran teams championship and we are going undefeated. St. Mark is going great different for me because it is lutheran but it is great. I am playing baseball right now for Hawaii United. I play every saturday and miss the sunday games. I turned a double play and striked out (well the ump didn't call it but it was a strikeout) the kid who pitched against Japan in the Little League World Series. I played All Stars for Ko'olau baseball club which is pony and we won Oahu and played on the Big Island in July where I through my famous no-no(no hitter) I pitched it against Maui where Shane Victorino is from who plays on the Phillies. To tell you the secret on throwing a no-no against people from Maui is to throw mostly knuckleballs. If you haven' noticed Victorino can't hit knuckleballs either. That is just a little bit of what has happened in my life. I will tell more about my life if my parents don't, later.

All-Stars

Wow I have a lot to catch up on!! This post may actually take a few times to bring up to speed, but I will start by doing a little back tracking. I got a new MacBook and now I have all of the pictures on my computer so no excuses.

I guess that we had better start with the boys playing All-Stars. Austin made the Kahalu'u 10 year old Little League All-Star team. He played really well had a great time and they made it to the Championship game, but lost a close one. It was the first time that a team from this age group in Kahalu'u had ever made it this far in the Tournament. Austin did a great job!! He pitched and played catcher most of the time but also spent time at Shortstop, Turd base (how the Hawaiians say third) and outfield. Even had the coach tell us that Austin does such a great job catching that they wish that they could have had him catch for himself when he was pitching. The coaches all loved coaching Austin and were always complimenting him on how good of a player and teammate he was. He is such a great example on his team of a kid who comes and works hard, is very coachable and never complains. He is a lot of fun to watch too.

Brock also made the All-Star team for the 12 year old Koolau Warrior Pony League team. His team did really well playing here on Oahu and earned a spot to the next level of play that was played in Hilo on the Big Island. He flew over with the team Thursday for the game on Friday and then Austin and I flew in early Sat. morning to see the Saturday game. He played really well, but they lost the Friday game and he was the starting pitcher for Saturdays game. It was a really good game and he ended up pitching the whole 6 innings and and they 10 runned the other team. The surprise turned out that he was honored for pitching a No Hitter for the game.

He too is a great example and is really admired by his teammates and coaches.

We are so proud of the boys for their examples and being able to stand up for what they believe as they had to make the decision not to play on Sundays. They were both respected by their coaches and it was a testament to them and the good boys that they are that even though the coaches knew that they wouldn't play on Sundays they were still kept on the All-Star teams.

MAY DAY IN HAWAII

We recently had the opportunity to attend Ahuimanu Elementary May Day celebration. The kids learned a tremendous amount of Hawaiian culture and history. It was a fun time for them to learn more about this beautiful island and partake in its rich culture.





Instead of weaving the May pole they each performed Hula with their classes. We were proud of them and their willingness to experience something new. I (Nate) am proud of them because the boys kept that wonderful Staheli attitude and didn't want people to know how much they really enjoyed it. Austin about cracked but he made it through without to big of smile.





Thanks to our kids for doing this. My counsel to them is always, "Someday, you will realize the great experiences you had while living here!" However, they don't always buy it.

HULA IN HONOLULU

Our little McKenna was a hit as she performed her hula dances in Honolulu this afternoon. She is part of a Halau in Kaneohe. Auntie Puah is her teacher and does a fabulous job. McKenna was a little nervous as there were many "tourists" who gathered around to watch the group perform this afternoon. They performed on the grass by the pool at the Waikiki Sheraton. We are so proud of our "little brown girl".

NEED WE SAY MORE

Things are well here in Hawaii. Da' boyz went to Canoes to do a little surfin'.

Aloha to all!!!

Christmas Break

We had a really fun time during Christmas Break. We were lucky enough to have my parents come over and visit. It was so nice to have them come and we did a lot of fun things, toured the island and just had fun being with them!! They were able to go to Waikiki and watch the kids surf and enjoy all of the tourist, then Kailua Beach (that is where Pres. Obama was staying and you could see all of the beefed up security), then Pearl Harbor, and the PCC. We also took them to eat at Kua'aina (great burger joint) to the Northshore to body surf and eat a Matsomoto's shaved ice. The worst part about having people come and visit is that we have to let them go back home. Standing on the Bowfin Sub at Pearl Harbor

This picture was taken Sunday after noon with all of us in our backyard. It was a very special day. Brock was ordained and given the Priesthood. Boy how time flies!!

At the Hawaii Temple. Can't wait until it is open

At the Pali Lookout this overlooks Kaneohe

The Punchbowl is a beautiful veterans cemetery that overlooks Honolulu.

Thank You!!

This is the view from the top of the USS Arizona Memorial. Being here really makes you so GRATEFULL for those who sacrifice their time and even their lives to defend us so that we may live in this free country.

Halloween

We had a really fun Halloween. We had two families, The Alexanders and The Guthries, over to have a spooky dinner and pumpkin carving. I really wanted to make homemade rootbeer, but they don't carry the rootbeer flavoring or dry ice in the grocery stores. I guess that you have to go to some speciality store to get the dry ice and no one that I asked had ever heard of the rootbeer flavoring. We had a good time. The pumpkin contest wasn't quite as loud as the competition that we have with the Staheli's but it was fun to bring that tradition over here with us. For Halloween night our ward had a ward party. They went all out and had a spook alley and games to play and sloppy joes. Then people decorated rooms in the church for the kids to come to and trick-or-treat. They don't just give out a couple pieces of candy almost everyone had made little treat bags with 5 or 6 pieces of candy in them to had out. It was really fun!!
Brock left on his flag football uniform. Austin was Derek Jeter, we have some big time Yankee's fans in our ward and they have adopted Austin. They gave him an extra Derek Jeter christmas ornament that they had and even ordered him a championship t-shirt. McKenna was Hannah Montana. And Alyssa wore the Belle dress. They all looked so cute!

The final product!

Everyone busy carving.

Visitors

-We were lucky enough to have Mary Esther and Howard come over and visit. We had the got to show them around the island a little and here are just a few of the pictures from our adventures. We went to the Temple Visitor Center and the new director is Mark Eubank and his wife. We felt like we knew him personally since we were able to watch him on TV giving the weather reports. We did put his weather knowledge to good use asking him what the difference in rain fall is here. St. George averages 8-9 " of rain a year and Kaneohe averages 75" of rain.

Enjoying the view from the Pali Lookout. This is our side of the Island.

Picture before the show at the PCC.
At the monument for the USS Arizona. A Battleship that was sunk during the attack on Pearl Harbor it still lies on the floor of the ocean. It still is the final resting place for most of the men that went down with it.

Surfing

We finally figured out how to upload this video. Brock wanted something fun so he created this video. Great video, enjoy.

Day at Bellows

This movie is about our day at Bellows (airforce base). Mckenna and Brock wanted something fun to do so they made this. Enjoy

SURFING

Yesterday we were able to go to Waikiki with the Guthrie's (some of our good friends in our ward). Shane is a good surfer and and even better instuctor. Nate, Brock and Austin went with Shane at 5 am, so they would be able to surf with out too many people around. The girls and I showed up about 9 and we had a great time. Everyone was able to get up, except me, I only tried a couple of times and couldn't get past my knees. Next time I will put in a little more time and stand up, it really was fun.
Even Nate was able to surf. Living on an island has made him enjoy the water a lot more, and he as been such a good sport. Brock was able to get up and ride better on the smaller board, which is supposed to be a lot harder for beginners.

Austing making it look easy.

McKenna gets the award for the best form.

KING FOR A MINUTE

Our family went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. Nate had the chance to be King and pose with McKenna and Alyssa. The PCC is a beautiful place with a lot of amazing sites. There is a lot of history to learn about the polynesian culture and its islands.

We are kama'aina (locals) now and have the ability to visit the center as often as we like. It is fun to go and hang out.

The Thunderbirds

Last Saturday we went down to Hickam Air Force Base to our first air show. Two other families from our ward joined us. They had been before and knew just were to sit for the good seats we were right on the front row, very nice since the kids were able to see everything. It was an amazing show, lots of flying upside down, near misses and super loud. Everyone had a great time and it renewed Brock's love of airplanes. He went right out to the book store and bought a book about all of the airplanes to study and learn about each of them. Besides the Thunderbirds there were alot of planes and helicopters out that you could walk through. Everyone really enjoyed it and the boys especially were in heaven and considering joining the Air Force. (Good incentive for getting good grades right.)