Yesterday our little man celebrated his 4th birthday. Our miracle kiddo continues to surprise us everyday, we are still amazed and feel incredibly blessed that we get to have a child. Thanks for the last 4 years Bubbs. Preston was thrilled with his impromptu party celebrated with Lacey, Eric and the McPhersons, as well as, all the loot (thanks everyone!!).
All is going great in our neck of the woods...er...sea. We are getting more and more settled everyday. Some of the wall hangings are up, the movers have picked up the paper & boxes and we don't use the gps for every outing. Our adventures have included some biking, hiking, the beach, gymnastics, swim lessons and a guided tour of the island via bus. Check out the pics!
In other news, Karl was offered a position working in Honolulu on the light rail design-build. Should be a very exciting challenge.
We are looking towards a visit this month from the Borellas, celebrating Regan's birthday and Halloween. Hope all is well with everyone, if you happen to need a break our guest room is calling your name.
Momma: Do you feel different now that you are four? Preston: I can jump higher and run faster.
This video is awesome and totally works!!! How did we not know this sooner?
Trying to keep the pics and blog at a manageable level so no one has to dedicate hours to keep up (us) or to catch up (you). Hoping more biweekly posts rather than weekly but then we would have to keep adventures and picture taking to a minimum. If only we could find a good balance. Hard when we live in Awesometown and Karl & Pres have so much time for exploring. We keep on expecting for the vacation to come to an end. This is not taking a chance to brag it is just to say that we still cannot believe we get to live here. It is gorgeous, the weather is great, loads to see and plenty to do. It has been just over a month and there is no trace of island fever or boredom.
Preston started his new gymnastics class at a place called My Gym. We had not heard about this facility but apparently it is a chain. Reminded us of Gymboree but geared toward fitness, tumbling and good behavior. Loads of fun and wore him out!! Pres also attended a new play group at Hickam that is play & crafts with a bunch of other youngsters. Swim lessons start back up in October and he is signed up for AYSO U5 in December. Just picking and choosing till we find something that sticks, as long as he is having fun and learning something we call it a win. We finally made a visit to the Sea Life park and we really enjoyed ourselves. Another season pass to add to the stack.
Regan made two attempts to climb the Haiku Stairs. The first led them the wrong way through a bamboo forest and made it too late to the stairway. The second time they knew exactly what to expect and successfully reached the top. The weather wasn't ideal as they were socked in with clouds and it was a bit rainy. He was still quite pleased with the hike, anxious to take anyone interested up. Be warned it is called the stairway to heaven because you ascend up the severe jungle slope via 3,922 stairs. Additionally, you have to start the trek at roughly 3am to ensure you get beyond the guard before he arrives for work. The stairs are closed to the public. Besides being a deviant he is busy with work and has pitched in helping the McPhersons install some flooring.
Karl is job hunting in between pretending like she is on an extended vacation at the beach. Not much to complain about but would like to get back to normal. Hard to feel like she is contributing to the household when Pres is smarter than she is and Reg takes care of everything. Maybe she should use this time to beef up her FF team. (No mention who she got whooped by this weekend)
Sending love, thoughts and prayers to Jan on her trip to Thailand and Mandi & Kai who is arriving by c-section as this is typed. Missing the girls, all going through so much right now and would love to help.
It has been a long time, thankfully not much has been going on. Would be horrendous to take care of this post if we had to wade through 3,000 photos, recall memories from family vacations or have just moved off of the mainland...wait.... Suffice to say this post will not do our adventures justice. (I apologize to future us that looks at these posts to 'remember when', I promise it was fun/scary/exciting/sad.)
We finished out spring in SoDak wrapping up cool temps, tee ball and swim class. We rolled into summer with our annual road trip to spend a week in Spokane. The trip was made extra special since it also served as a family reunion as Regan's brothers and their families were in town. We kicked off a week of festivities with all 4 families, the Parentals and Aunt Cindee who were on hand to celebrate Omi's 90th with yummy salmon and cupcakes, followed by the golf cart parade celebrating 4th of July. After that is was a blur of fun with Brown, Benz and Dentlers watching fireworks, visiting a trampoline gym, Riverfront park exploring and lots of hanging out. We popped back and forth between Spokane and Twin Lakes to maximize friend and family time. Twin Lakes held all kinds of water play in the lake, pool and slip & sliding. So much fun, we were in a daze by the time we finished playing. Can't even remember the road trip home.
The following 3 weeks spent in SoDak were unforgettable. We had lots of lasts that tugged at the heart; last day of daycare/work, last bbq with friends, last gymnastics class, last trip for pottery & froyo and last book club. We were so blessed to have such great friends who made us love SoDak and made leaving harder that we would have ever expected. Pritchards threw a bbq, Rise took Karl to a concert, Ortegas and Bond on hand for Summer Nights celebrating and a luau themed book club Monica put together to spoil Karl. Saying goodbye was tough, many tears were shed. Thankfully, with those kind of friends, we know we will see them again (Bond in 3 weeks!!!). Packing up the house was painless thanks to movers. We moved into a hotel downtown for our last week. Coulee got to be a City Dog, Karl walked him before work, lunch and after work was spent playing at the park. Nice send off all around.
Reg had dropped off the Subaru in St Louis right after returning from Spokane. This ensured that a car would be waiting for us in Hawaii and also made the drive from Rapid to Los Angeles that much easier because we were all in one car. Once in CA we took advantage of our proximity to Disneyland, Magic Mountain and the bounce house. Lots of fun with the Borellas, Hornes and Klines. Ten days of fun which was a mini vacation before we flew one way to Honolulu, HI and start our new assignment.
Hawaii has been great so far. The weather is amazing staying between 72 and 84 ALL THE TIME. We have already heard reports of Rapid going into the 30s at night, we are not missing those temps yet. A little concerned Reg will have Fall withdraws, he loves the crisp air and leaves changing. Nothing crisp about our new air...think tropical! There is nice breeze to keep you cool and the island is gorgeous.
Upon arrival we were able to stay at the Hale Koa resort in Waikiki as base lodging was full...darn it!! (that was sarcasm) Full access to beach, pool, shopping and restaurants. We took full advantage. Karl scoured ads for homes and we found a great house in the Windward side of the island which is known for cooler temps, less traffic and gorgeous beaches. After 2 weeks in the hotel we signed the lease on a Wednesday and our furniture was delivered on Thursday. Great timing, eh? We couldn't be happier with our location in a quiet neighborhood that backs up to the jungle and mountains. The house has a guest room so plan your trip, we would love to share!
We are doing well and settling in to our new routine. Reg started working right away and enjoys his new group. He is working for Pacific Head Quarters which has some unique challenges. He is now the guy all AF gets to call to resolve your finance travel issues, something new everyday. We attended the HQ picnic and it was amazing to see how big of a group he belongs to. Not to mention the ratio of enlisted to officers is swapped as compared to what he is used to. A 3 star general commands the group and was on hand to chat up the group. We were star struck, indeed! Pres and Karl are paling around until she finds a new engineering gig. Not a whole lot to chose from on an island but she will find something. In the meantime she and Pres have enjoyed exploring. Karl is trying to make sure to keep up with preschool curriculum, teacher is not her favorite hat to wear but hopefully she doesn't stunt Pres too badly. Pres is missing his school and friends but is adapting well. He starts his new playgroup and gymnastics soon which should fill in the socializing gap he has been missing.
Sorry again for the macro wrap up, we will work on keeping this thing current. Missing everyone in between enjoying our new locale. You are always welcome to visit!
Check out the videos below and the 6 new albums uploaded.
For those of us who don't speak Hawaiian, Happy Father's Day to our favorite daddies! You know who you are. We are thankful for all you do for your family.
Why in Hawaiian, you ask? Well, the Halsted's are headed to Joint Base Pearl Harbor Hickam (JBPHH) on Oahu! We are so excited and hoping to share it with everyone. A super opportunity to see some other cultures, explore the islands and skip out on snow shoveling for 3 years! The coolest part of this assignment is that Reg was selected. There is a freeze on all techs and masters with 7-level (read:Reg was not going anywhere for at least 18 months). Once the folks at headquarters (JBPHH) decided they wanted Reg for the position they started going through the higher ups until they could get him released. When all was said and done, the Pentagon and some 2-stars were involved. Reg had no idea this was going on, you could imagine his surprise when he got the notice of PCS. This ordeal caused quite the stir at the Center, even resulting in briefings so that folks knew that it would not be allowed for anyone else. Thankfully his bosses are very supportive and happy for him. No sour grapes. Hard to be upset with the nice guy that does his job well.
Things are going to start moving very fast. TMO is preliminarily set up for July 25th, Reg is sorting out all of his out-processing (he has 20+ copies of his orders if you need one too), Karl is working on getting her Hawaiian PE license and finding a job, while checking out housing options daily. On base we would only qualify for a 2-bedroom, small unit. We would rather get something comfortable and suitable for visitors. Additionally, we are looking towards being on the 'windward" side of the island and closer to the Catholic school Pres will eventually attend. With kindergarten a little more than a year away we were scoping out school options. Apparently, the public schools are very under funded and that seems worrisome. Luckily we have been paying for daycare and the cost of private schooling is very comparable. Lots of planning which Karl really enjoys. We will see how this all works out.
Aug 1 (yikes! only 6 weeks away) we start our trek to LA to visit the Borellas and ship the cars. After a short visit we will fly over and get started on our new adventure! Very thankful that our old cronies, the McPhersons, just PCS'd to Hickam. We already are getting great advice and can look towards getting to see them often.
One of the appointments that was required prior to issuance of orders was a meeting with the Family Advocacy Board. Karl & Pres met with them privately to ensure they didn't have any special needs to be accommodated or that they were being taken to Hawaii against their will. As you could imagine this meeting was smooth sailing. When asked if he wanted to move to Hawaii, Pres responded "yes, yes, yes". When asked what he would do there, he informed them he " would go to the beach and build sandcastles everyday". Safe to say we will try our best to accommodate him!
Besides prepping for our move we have been staying busy. Warm temps have kept us outside enjoying the weather. The Borellas were in town for a week. They are passing through on their month long 5th-wheel expedition. Retirement is finally working for both of them. We are attending festivals, birthday parties and any other event we come across. This included the air show (plenty of pics for you Sean), Owen's 5th birthday party, Library summer read kick off, school field trips (Karl chaperoned), all the while keeping up with weekly swim, gymnastics and tee ball.
In 2 weeks we are headed to Spokane to celebrate Omi's 90th, Sarah & Mandi's Birthdays and 4th of July. Should be a great time with loads of folks in town to visit with including Clark & fam, Dan & Fam, Adam & Orianna, Traci and the boys and Jess moved home! Also looking forward to seeing the Idaho Halsteds and Dentlers. Pres loves his cousins and his friends. Woohoo!!
Until the next time we need to wade through 900 pics ;) xoxo
Funny Pres Story: Reg was shaving with his electric razor. Pres walks by and states, "I love that thing". Reg questions, "which thing". Pres says "when I grow up to be a daddy I am gonna get one of those things to take off the pricklies".
The great thing about the new camera is that we can take loads of pictures worth actually looking at. The problem is that once you start taking snapshots of every second of every day the shear number of pictures to wade through becomes overwhelming. Safe to say this blog has been put off for some time as a result of there being 1,953 pictures to filter through and post. We broke them down into bite size morsels. One album is the everyday ho-hum of around SoDakia, another is the trip down to SoCal and finally the visit from our favorite Dentlers!
Spring here is an odd mix of fall and winter weather. The chirping birds and blooming plants are trying their best to make believe that it is spring but the low temps are keeping us mostly indoors. We have been lucky to get a few nice days to take advantage of. Today included a bike ride to the air museum (yes Sean...it only took 3 years, 2 months and 8 days), the park and commissary. So nice to get out on the bikes. We fastened Pres's bike to the chariot so he could use it once we got to the destinations. Worked out really well, Pres loves his bike. Old standbys are also taking up our time, no change in library, gymnastics, swim and t-ball.
The trip to Southern California was far too short and WAY too much fun. Wishing the visits weren't so few and the stretches between weren't so long. While there we took advantage of play dates with Tucker & Asher, some shopping, Disneyland for 2 days, hiking, Rio!, In & Out, Griffith Park Observatory, Date night with the Clines, Tichlers & Horne and lots of excellent Borella time. Pres asks after his cousin Christofer and Uncle Chris pretty regularly. Sure sign of a great time. Can't wait for Christmas to do it all again.
The Dentlers popped in for a visit this past weekend. They jetted over for a long weekend in their new minivan. So fun to all pile in the same car to jaunt around the Black Hills. So nice to have some besties to share Sodakia with. Much like seeing our friends from CA, the Washingtonians are a reminder of what great friends we have. We always manage to pick up right where we have left off, silence is comfortable and they know us better than anyone else. Good times at Rushmore, playgrounds, grubbing and games.
We are looking towards a trip to Denver for Memorial Day weekend, a visit from Jessica in 2 weeks and of course getting to Spokane for the week of 4th of July. Derek is staying with us until early June when he deploys to the desert. His family is in WA, tough for the whole crew missing each other. Hopefully, we can distract him enough to make the next few weeks fly by. Unfortunate that he is bunking in the "toy room". We finally got all the furniture we have been waiting/saving for. Getting grown up dining room meant that all Pres's toys had to go somewhere. We got rid of the office and dedicated a rec room to Pres. We are very happy with the new living room and bedroom as well. I guess being here this long required a change of view since orders seem to be eluding us.
Lots of love to you and yours, until next time....here is an amazing video! (*warning* this railman has a potty mouth)
Karl doesn't get sick often, but when she does, she makes it good! None of this fakey cough-cough-sniff stuff. She finds that if you are gonna miss 4 days of work it better mean that you are so dehydrated you need an IV, that said IV requires 4 failed attempts with bruising to prove it, 106F temp and so much distraction to the med staff that you have to go back the next day because they overlooked the sickness all together. That, in a nutshell, was the week.
Instead of gearing up for Spring, Karl picked up strep throat some where. The weather was equally as confused by the term 'spring' since it is still snowing. Reg and Pres were ready for it! They were hoping for warmer temps so they could get out and give Pres's two-wheeler+trainers a chance to set more land speed records. Instead they made do with bagels, swimming, the library and Jordon's birthday party while Karl remained quarantined.
The previous weekend was a lot more spring-like with Pres doing a little tree climbing and a visit to the playground. Karl and Reg did a bit of yard work. Nice to be outside and get fresh air without the need of multiple layers, scarves, hats, gloves and snow boots. Additionally, the previously mentioned bike actually got ridden. It was nice...sigh.
Here are some pics. Looking towards CA in 3 weeks! Hope the robin's are singing and buds are peaking in your neighborhood.
So we are trying to adapt to a new routine here in Sodak. Life moves on so we lean into the curves and enjoy the ride. What's new with us? Well, lets start with the on-going saga of Regan. We have met with the board and been returned to duty and have been impatiently waiting for his personnel records to catch up with the results. The military has put a "limitation code" on his record that somewhat limits what bases we can be assigned too. Basically it says we can go to any stateside base, Hawaii, Alaska, and certain overseas bases with the medical facilities to support us. Who knows how long this will be on his record but we are hoping it doesn't keep us from going overseas. Anyway, we are pretty pleased as it could have come out much worse. Nothing new to report health wise. He's been scanned yet again with negative results and will not be seen again until May. We are happy with no news there. We are pretty sad as we have had to say "goodbye" to our friends the Ingles. Derek will be deploying here soon and while he is away, rather than keep his family here, they have decided to move back home to Washington to be near family. Hopefully by the time he comes back, they will have orders somewhere else and the family will hook back up. Besides losing great friends to have adventures with here in Sodak, we have had to break up the dynamic duo of Preston and Kenz. It will suck not having them around since we could get Pres to do anything as long as Kenz was there. So far it has not been too bad so I think with them only being three and with some video-chats, we'll be able to pull through. We had the pleasure of having Derek stay with us since their house was packed up. He will kick it with us for a while after he returns from training while he waits to deploy. Should be fun. Regan has traveled around a bit. He had to go to Indianapolis for a week for some training and quickly followed that with a long drive up to Puyallup, WA to help the Ingles move. Pres was kept busy with loads of adventures including birthday parties, school carnival, Mongolian grill with chopsticks and a little momma time. Poor Karl was left having to live as a single parent so Regan is in debt to her for some personal time. She has regained some of her sanity with some nights out with friends for Book Club or Bunco (which was a new adventure for her and she loved it). Karley also has recently upgraded her office at work so has spent some time relocating her stuff and doing a little decorating. She is glad for daylight. Preston continues to grow. He is still quite the handful and keeps us on our toes. Swim class has started up again and he is quite pleased with it. He has taken to the water (sans parent) much quicker than we thought he would. He appears to be fearless of it which is both cool and terrifying at the same time. He will jump to Reg in the deep water without hesitation but is not yet keen on keeping himself afloat. Needless to say, non class trips to the pool are equally exhausting for both child and parents. As usual he never ceases to amaze us with things he says or does. For example, he blew us away the other day during his bath when he grabbed his bath crayons and proceeded to write his name....all by himself. Thank goodness for a great daycare! I know there is more I should be writing about but I can't really think of anything else at the moment. We have a trip to Cali coming up here soon that we are looking forward to and also some visits from friends back home. The weather is starting to turn bearable so we are hoping to get out and about soon and also hoping it will attract visitors. Coulee turns 11 tomorrow, but I don't think he knows it. Poor dog still thinks he is 3. The cats are still here......... Hope all is well with all of you. Check out the pics and we hope to hear from you soon. Take care!
This is the first weekend we have slowed down and taken the opportunity to get caught up and prep for Valentines day for Pres's school chums. Good thing too as we were behind in thank you's, correspondence, shopping, laundry and the blog. Unfortunate that the slow down is a result of Pres getting some kind of belly bug. No fun, Reg and I have not been sleep deprived like this in years. Hoping the sickness passes and all returns to normal in a hurry. Pres is no worse for the wear, in between his visits to the restroom or using his "choking bucket" he is his normal plucky self. He does sick so much better than his parents.
Football season ending has also freed up some time. We will take full advantage once winter gives way to spring. Really hoping Mother Nature and the Groundhog are on the same page.
All else is going great. CT scan last week revealed Reg is still clear and doing fantastic. Reg has moved to disbursing. He has training in Indianapolis at the end of the month followed by a road trip to WA to help the Dingles move :( Reg gets to take advantage with a visit to the Dentlers, too bad the Halsteds will be out of town. Karl staying busy with work, approaching the construction season so she will certainly be even busier.
Looking towards being in CA April 16-24th, will be home for Chris's birthday for the first time in 17 years. Can you think of a better place to celebrate than at Disneyland!?
Check out the video below, new pics and for fun here is a hilarious blog.
Hilarious that Karl felt bad that he only hit 1 pin and says "awww" as Pres celebrates, he was pleased no matter the outcome. Considered it a victory if the ball didn't loose umph midway down the alley (yeah...that happened twice).
Making memories, enjoying good company and seeing new sites are our favorite pass-times.The year started out on a high that carried us through mid March. Lots of anticipation to cheer on our very own Olympian! Sean fared well and we had a great time with family in Vacouver, BC. As if that couldn’t be enough we were also able to squeeze in a Seattle trip to hang out with friends.
As most of you know in March we were hit with the biggest low in our 16 year history. Regan noticed a hefty lump in his underarm which was later identified as Malignant Melanoma. We aggressively pursued the right course of action and were hooked up with the folks at MD Anderson in Houston, TX. Reg underwent quite a few surgeries to remove skin, lymphnodes, moles, bumps, lumps and even a little plastic surgery to restore his handsome face. Poor guy was like Swiss Cheese. Not that he complained, not pleased with the hand he was dealt but never backed down from following all advice. We are pleased to report he is still Cancer Free and back to 100%. He will be monitored regularly to ensure there is nothing else that needs to be dealt with.
In between loads of doc appointments and hospital visits, we squeezed in a few more trips to Spokane, Seattle, Columbia, SC and California. We were able to witness Adam’s wedding and Grayson’s baptism, great memories with family and friends! Thanksgiving included Pres's first Disneyland visit and some much needed catching up with friends. Finally, we wrapped up 2010 with a trip to Spokane/Rathdrum for the Christmas & New Year holidays.
Not sorry to turn my back on 2010 as I have high hopes for 2011. Reg was recommended to return to active duty in the first week of the year, so we must be off to a great start!
Through all the craziness Pres still continues to thrive. Active, smart kiddo who challenges us as much as we attempt to challenge him. We are pleased with the big boy he has turned into. Loves adventure, activity, good food and friends...he couldn't be more perfect for us.
