To be honest the nights have not been that hot but any excuse to give Neil a little love. It has actually cooled off a bit. We are all snuggling into our single coverlet these days. We have gotten down into the mid 60s at night. Sounds ridiculous, we know, but after being acclimatized to a variance in temperatures of about 10 degrees anything under 74 is chilly. Karl and Pres claimed they were "freezing" and Alexa has required some extra bundling to keep the chill from waking her. Reg is pretty darn comfortable.
The second half of the month held birthday celebrations for Regs, Halloween festivities, our first parent-teacher conference and more of the work/school/weekend routine. Action packed!! Regs birthday was an understated affair, nothing big to report but the arrival of a much needed new BBQ. We still owe him his gift.
Halloween was a great time. We ended up in the lower neighborhood again with loads of other kiddos. It was a beautiful night and we had so much fun chatting up neighbors and loot gathering. Pres did great and even the haunted houses were fair game this year. Brave kiddo. He is pretty funny, he tells himself to be brave and that it is all make believe. Smarter than we were at that age...Karl was just a chicken and would avoid it at all costs. Overall a fun night and Pres was pleased with his haul. Alexa was along for the ride, just an evening stroll with the fam, in costume...no big!
Parent-teacher conference was a new experience. Karl went in apprehensive, certain that all parenting to date was flawed and we would be persecuted. Reg went in confident all was well. As is the norm when it comes to predictions, Reg was correct. Ms Ducoti could not say enough about what a great kid Preston was. Smart, happy and social. Perfect trifecta as far as we were concerned. She had asked that he worked on giving his friends personal space. She mentioned that he was lovey and was even caught smelling a girls hair. As far as improvement Ms Ducoti asked that Preston volunteer his ideas more. Apparently he is reluctant to raise his hand. She feels he always knows the answer or has a good idea but never shares. You could have knocked us over with a feather. We had assumed that he would follow in the steps of Karl and be a blurter/know-it-all/non stop talker. Always interesting to hear about your kids from other people's perspective. Being told we were good parents and very involved was just about the best compliment we have ever received.
Looking forward to the holidays. I am sure they are on their way as SBUX & Costco broke out the Christmas gear! The Borellas will be here this week and will be here through the 28th. We get to celebrate election day (thank God it is almost over!), Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and our 14th Anniversary with them. Will be a great time and look forward to the island touring. As for Christmas festivities we are headed to the Pacific Northwest. Spokane for 12 days may be extreme for our thinned skin, regardless we are so darn excited to see friends and family. Still a ways off but we have lots to keep us busy until then!
Prestonator is now a 5 year old! Nearly unbelievable that we have been a family for five years. It really does go by quickly. We are quite pleased with the person he has become. Nice to sit back and be able to watch him in action. The things he says are a mix of hysterical and amazing, a little sponge with a sense of humor. He learns so much at school (both good and bad) that we are left speechless when he answers questions, spouts out a fact or reads words we had no clue he knew. We were brought up short when he completed an activity, requiring that you match the word to the picture, without our help. There were six different marine animals that he drew a line from the picture to it's name. I was so impressed I said "Pres, I didn't know you learned the word 'lobster'". He looked at me a little silly and said "it was the only word that started with an 'L'". Over the moon impressed with his logic but pretty sure he doubts my brain capacity.
To celebrate we decided against a party and instead planned a weekend stay-cation at the Disney Aulani. As a family most of our trips have been to see family or friends. We rarely go unaccompanied anywhere. This was sort of a trial run for us. I found myself getting anxious about needing to be somewhere and had to remind myself that there was no schedule to adhere to. It worked out and was a well needed break. Reg and I decided we needed to do that more often. Just take the time to relax and enjoy each other! Preston's gift ended up being a treat for all of us. We didn't want to leave. The hotel had everything and went above and beyond to make Preston feel special. I could go on and on but I don't want to sound like an advertisement. If Pres decides he wants to duplicate the adventure every year, we will gladly accommodate him.
Alexa hit the 4 month mark and was rewarded with a check up and shots. She handled the shots well and the check up revealed she is 85th percentile for height and weight. Thankful for a healthy chunk! Alexa continues to be a joy, she is just so dang sweet. Loves to smile, blow bubbles and chat. Not always clear what she is trying to get across but certain she is full of passion. She is so much like Regan. It sounds goofy to say that about a 4 month old but she has all of his character. Laid back, happy to be around family and friends, happy from the first moment of the day. She is not demanding at all, eats and sleeps great. We are so lucky...so lucky!!
I have been thinking about how different Pres and I are from Reg and Alexa. There is no doubting that Pres and I are cut from the same cloth. Bossy, ill tempered, smart aleck, hilarious (of course!) and love being out and about doing things with others. Alexa and Reg are the perfect compliment as they are along for whatever ride we take them on. Safe to say we are the takers and they are the givers. So thankful for our givers. Wish I knew how it worked. Reg and Alexa are always happy from the start, really their mood is not broken unless something negative is imposed on them. Whereas Pres and I take on the mood of our surroundings. Reg and Alexa are like chocolate, while Pres and I are like zucchini or tofu. Makes for an interesting household.
Karl: burrppp
Pres: are you turning into a zombie?
Karl: No, why?
Pres: because you sound like it
Regan: *laughing*
Alexa: *bblllllllllllllppppppppphhhhhhhhhhhhttttttttt*
In May of 2000, Reg and I were scanning the classifieds as we routinely did in search of a Lab. Living in Tacoma we were in prime hunting lab territory, just a matter of finding the right pup. We had our eyes peeled for a AKC yellow lab, female, English style. The ad said they had black and yellow labs, males and females for a price well below our budget. We called to see what was wrong with the dogs that they were such a steal. There was a litter of 10, the yellow girls were gone but they had a few black. The following weekend we made the 110 mile drive to Chehalis, WA to meet the momma, poppa and their pups. Coulee was born on a beautiful farm to gorgeous parents. A tubby black male greeted us when we walked into an enclosure, he had just grabbed a mouthful of kibble and then waddled over to Regan and tumbled onto his feet. It was love at first sight, he had chosen us. We were told he was the runt and that they had bottle fed him to keep pace with his siblings. Safe to say he was never referred to as a runt again.
Coulee traveled with us to 6 different states via airplane and car. He went wherever we went until Preston came along. Once he had Pres, he kept a close eye. While Reg was deployed he gladly took on security chores and made sure to get as close as possible when I cried. He loved to chase a tennis ball, sleep on top of you, wrestle with the closest person or animal, provide loads of unconditional love and bark. There wasn't a day that went by that he didn't get in trouble for stepping, bumping or barking but always came back to heap on love. Really hard to write about him as he was the best companion we could have ever asked for. When we moved to Hawaii last year my parents took care of him for us. This last year he was showered with attention, we will never be able to thank my parents enough. 2 months ago we found out he had bone cancer, Friday it caught up with him. Hoping that when we get to Heaven he will be there to tumble at our feet once again. Love you dog-dog.
Coulee Cascade Halsted
March 13, 2000 - September 21, 2012
Otherwise, we are doing just fine. My mom went back to California on Saturday after being here for 5 weeks. She stuck around an extra couple of weekes to ensure Alexa transitioned in to daycare well and to attend grandparents day at Preston's school. Both events went over well. Check out the pictures to see our adventures and I have included some videos for some entertainment.
All is going well here at the Hawaiian Halsted Hacienda. We are supposedly getting into fall but very hard to tell with the weather and leaves not changing. Odd thing living here in paradise. We are relying on other cues to signal a change in seasons. School started, football is gearing up and days are getting a bit shorter. Summer must be over.
Kindergarten for Preston is going very well. We have taken a few opportunities to chat with his teacher to ensure he is comfortable with school, both in and out of the class. Great to see him do his homework and really grasp concepts. Pres has put gymnastics behind him, we are keeping up with karate and swim, soccer to start in January. He is also attending an after school program that he enjoys. Reg picked him up and he was sad to leave. We are not near as fun as herds of kids.
Alexa is coming up on 12 weeks. She is currently 13.3 lbs of fair-skinned, brunette, blue eyed beauty. She is spending a lot of time getting familiar with her hands, staring at her fists and fingering different textures. She has a great smile that comes so easy. She loves her family talking or singing to her. Lots of her day is spent lounging in her swing, bouncer, play mat or the jumper. Eating and sleeping are still her main priorities. Alexa celebrated Labor Day by hitting the sack at 9pm and sleeping until 7am. Glorius! Hoping she intends to make that part of her routine.
Reg and Karl are back to regular work weeks. Work having it's ups and downs for both. Reg is facing an under staffed office while Karl deals with a very long delay in construction.
With Karl back to work Alexa's care became a concern. We are on the wait list for a slot at the CDC. It was sounding like it would take another 1-2 months before it would become available. Karl started searching out interim alternative care. Not very pleased with the options we were going to have to settle for something. Luckily, while chatting with Bob, he volunteered Carol to come for another visit to look after Alexa! We are very blessed to have such supportive family. Nice to have peace of mind when we go off to work. Alexa and Grandma have done so well together. Grandma seems to be having a good time and Alexa continues to be a healthy, happy baby. Life is good. As of the 10th Alexa will start at the CDC. We have checked out the facility and are thrilled with the teachers, routine, facility and proximity to Regan. Grandma is going to stick around until the 22nd so she can partake in Grandparents day at Preston's school on the 21st. Lucky kiddo...not very often that a military brat gets to have grandparents on hand for these type of events. We sure will miss her when she gets to go back to her real life. Thanks again, Mom.
We are back to weekend adventures but are squad is now 5 rather than 3. Makes us pine for a van but we are having a great time. Love having us all together. Check out the pics if you get the chance.
Fall tv we are looking towards:
Football (house divided between college and NFL)
New Girl
Modern Family
Upcoming events:
Grandparents Day
Preston's 5th Birthday and Regan's 37th (man that guy is getting old...that would explain all that gray)
Halloween (we hear Spiderman will be making an appearance but who will be his sidekick?)
Big news is the little man started Kindergarten! We parents were a weepy mess. Pres hardly looked back. He was so excited to take his lunch, sit at a desk, learn to read and use his Mario backpack. Such a crack up. So hope the novelty doesn't wear off. Also hoping that he makes loads of friends. We worry about him as he is such a know it all/ bossy. However, Karls folks assure us that she made friends just fine...har har har!
In other news Alexa has been practicing with a bottle. Daddy finally
gets to feed her and mommy "gets" to pump. Daycare and work are fast
approaching for the ladies. We need to ensure that we have a good
stockpile built up for Alexa and that she can take a bottle without a
hitch. So far, so good!
Not much other to report besides Regan going TDY next week. Karl gets to try on single parenting...roll of the dice how that will work out. Stay tuned...
Update: Pres had a terrific day! Ms Ducote made them all pirates, she was the pirate captain, and they went on a treasure hunt. There was a map, clues and trip around the school. Good tool to teach routine, where things are located and teachers cues for stop, look & listen. Kiddos were rewarded with a gold coin and chocolate pudding. Preston was pleased with his haul. He loved school and was excited to do homework. He had reading homework and read US a book!! Great day, so proud of our little man. Even spoke with the teacher after class who raved about Pres's attitude, brains and said it was going to be a great year. We are looking forward to it.
Greetings all! Sorry that it's been so long since we last posted. Been a little busy but mostly have just neglected to write. So, as you probably already know, our new addition has arrived. Most of you more than likely have heard the birth story but I figured it would be good to document it, not only for those who have not heard it but also for us since at least one of us has a memory that fades immediately. So here it goes...
It was June 12th, and the day was starting as normal in Chateau Halsted, well, as normal as it goes with Karl being 9 months pregnant and miserable as all get out. Up to this point, I think we were being a little arrogant. We had been through birth before and it was crazy but "been there, done that". We knew what to expect. We had 2 weeks to go so it was time to start thinking about things but no rush. Keep in mind Pres was induced at 41 weeks, nature taking it's course was a foreign concept to us both. We had an idea of how we wanted things to go but had not ironed out any details. For example, we had an over night bag with most of the "needed" items but it was sitting in the dining room rather than in the car. That's the best place for it, right? We knew where we were going for the delivery, and by that I mean we knew where the hospital was, but we had not toured the joint nor did we know where labor and delivery were, other than the 10th floor. Can't be that hard to find, right? Anyway, as I was saying before, a typical pregnant Tuesday morning. Karley was feeling a bit anxious, a bit odd and was having some pains but chalked it up to Braxten Hicks. The fact that we were not taking preparations seriously started to weigh heavily on her and as 9 months pregnant women do, she started to get....emotional. Pres and I were gearing up to leave and I noticed that Karl was upset. So after she left for work, I figured it wouldn't hurt to throw the bag into the car with what other items I could find that we "needed". If nothing else, at least Karl would not have to worry about it. So we hop in the car and head off to the typical day.
Meanwhile, in the Bat-truck, Karl is experiencing "contractions" (I'm gonna continue with the "" because in our minds this was not happening although I'm sure you all can see where this is going). She made it in to work but the pains were getting worse and she started to time them. The pain was getting pretty severe and it was beginning to effect her work. She began to reflect the pain she was feeling into the closest objects, which in this case were coworkers in production meetings. Her supervisor was even impressed with her new found "aggressiveness". Snapping, cutting people short, you want more assertive employees? Put em to work 9+ months preggers! She sent me a text saying she thought she was in labor, feeling contractions, lots of pain and what not. I would never visibly do this, and I was doing my absolute best not to sound like I was doing it, but my eyes were rolling as I was telling her to calm down. "Just try to breathe and relax." She is just riding her crazy pregnant hormone wave from that morning and all will be fine. Nothing else came and back to "normal" things went. Karl was still in pain but was keeping that to herself. Her Mom was due in that day a little after noon and Karl even was just complaining that he house was not ready (clean enough) for her Mom and we had not bought groceries yet. Hormones. Then around 10AM I get a call from Karl saying that she wanted to go to the hospital, that she was in a lot of pain that felt like contractions. At least she could be checked out and it would make her feel better so (again with a lot of internal eye rolling) I agreed to come get her. I even told my boss that, yes, I was taking my pregnant wife to the hospital due to labor pains but they were not THE labor pains and I would more than likely be back later. To be honest, I don't think I even logged off my computer. To be SUPER honest (and I only just told Karley this right as I'm writing this) I even stopped to fill up my car with gas first. Silly Karley and her hormon-ees. At least I get out of work, right? So I cruise up to Karl's building and see her waddling over to the car closely by a man carrying her stuff. "Who is this guy?" So Karl hops in and is still in a lot of pain. "Hey Babe, this is Lorenzo." Who is Karley's boss. "Hey Regan!" he says "Congratulations!! Good luck guys!!" Uhhhhhh, what? What the crap is this guy talking about? That is the moment I decided that maybe things were a tiny bit more serious than I had previously thought. Throughout her day, Karl had been timing her contractions and fighting through pain as if nothing was wrong! She was at 4 min and in the middle of a meeting. She left the meeting to call me and the doc, who told her to get to the hospital. She then went back to the meeting ready to take notes. Thankfully, her coworkers could see the writing on the wall and sent her to her desk to await my arrival. So here we are in the car, Karl in tears from the pain and I am now starting to panic. Luckily, the hospital was literally 2 blocks away from her work so it did not take long to get there.
We roll up to the valet parking but there several cars in front of us and we are left waiting. "Do you want to go to the ER, Karl?" "No, I'm good" she says while crying. A valet lady is trying to shuffle people around to help with traffic so I yell at her that my wife is actively in labor and we need to get inside. Thankfully she pulls us up and off we go into the hospital....which we have NO IDEA how to navigate. I have 3 bags of crap over my shoulders, sweating, and Karl is in active labor, has refused a wheelchair and we are wandering. We know it's on the 10th floor so we find some elevators and hop in. I look to hit the 10th floor but the numbers only go to 5. What the hell!?!? SO, now we are wandering again, looking for different elevators. Karley is trying to hide the fact that she sobbing, and thankfully not
too well because a hospital employee happens to notice her weeping and
asks if she is 'Ok'. Of course, she says she is fine and I explain to the lady that she is in labor. She says we need to go to different elevators and can show us where they are located. She asks Karl if she wants a wheelchair and of course she declines, again. We finally make it to the right elevators.....with 20 people milling about in front of them, waiting. Apparently, some of the elevators were down for repairs and the ones that were running were ridiculously slow. Again we are saved by another random observant hospital employee, who sees our panic. This time it's a doctor who takes us to the patient elevators that are only used to transport patients. Instead of asking, he grabs a wheelchair and positions it for Karley to sit down and again she resists. I tell her to sit, for God's sake, SIT. Of course it didn't come out that way. SO, we finally make it to Labor and Delivery and they are clueless that we were coming. Of course they are going through their routine to check Karl in but I am screaming in my head to "HURRY THE *%@##$ UP AND GET HER IN THE ROOM!!!"
They get Karl in bed and start checking her over. The nurse checks to see how far dilated she is and she is at 7cm. "SHUT
UP!!!" Karl yells at her. Now I knew this was happening, like right
away. She explains that she wants an epidural but they say she has to wait until an IV can be started and fluids pumped in. Karl is not projecting that she is in a lot of pain so no one is really taking her seriously.....I am familiar with this now. The IV "team" is busy and the nurses are having trouble getting a vein. It was funny, one nurse even asked if she wanted to try and go natural since Karl was doing so well. "Heck NO!" So the nurse starts to check her arm where they were making attempts to stick her and says "Oh for Pete's sake, her palms are sweating she is in so much pain! Give me the needle, we can't wait anymore!" God bless that woman. So, an IV is at last in place and fluids are going. The nurse asks Karl at what level of pain she is at right now, 1-10 with 10 being the worst. "7, I think" she says. "At what level do you think you want the epidural?" the nurse asks. "10, I guess?" Karl responds. All I can think is "REALLY Karl??? You want to wait until the most excruciating pain imaginable before they start giving you the juice?" Fortunately we are able to convince her that she needs it now.
I start to think....Karley's Mom is about to land at the airport, no one is there to meet her....I have another child running around at daycare, not only is no one there to pick him up but I have not arranged with the daycare to allow someone other than Karl or I to pick him up.....this kind of sucks. Luckily, (I am saying that a lot but really it's a miracle this all worked out OK) I have some flexible and heroic coworkers that were willing to go to the airport and to Preston's daycare and ferry everyone to the hospital AND that the daycare folks were willing to accept my over-the-phone authorization to allow someone to pick up Preston.
So, back to the action, Karl gets her epidural in but the anesthesiologist seems MUCH more interested in talking to me for some reason than making sure that everything is working properly. Weirdo. At last, Karl is feeling some comfort. Things seem to be miraculously falling together. My coworker calls and she is at the hospital with Karley's Mom. I tell Karl that I'll be right back, and run down to grab Carol and her bags. As we back to the room I notice the nurse is down "in position" and Karley is like "Oh hey! We are going to try and start pushing!" Wow, Ok. I guess they just want to see where Karley is at so I take my place and the nurse tells Karl at the next contraction, give a push. So, I'm thinking, now comes the fun part of hours of telling Karl to push. The nurse says "Ok Karley, 3, 2, 1, Puuuu...Ok, I'm getting the doctor." and she runs out the door. Alrighty then, I guess this is happening! In comes the doctor and the room makes a strange transformation. The ceiling opens up and these crazy lights come down. The bottom of Karl's bed drops away and there is suddenly a lot of tarps and crap slapped everywhere. The doctor is pulling on hip waders and a full on face shield. I suddenly feel VERY under-dressed. I don't remember Preston making an EXPLOSIVE entrance. SO, once all the "gear" is set up and everyone has donned their Haz-Mat gear (except Carol and I)(which takes all of 30 seconds BTW) they tell Karl to push again at the next contraction. "3, 2, 1, PUSH!!" Apparently, Karl remembered some stuff from last time. I take a peek and there is a head!! "PUSH!!" POP!! And that's all she wrote, there in the doctors arms sits our new baby girl!! Alexa Kelani Halsted. Perfect as can be. So, we show up at the hospital around 11:00, Carol arrived at the airport at 12:47, she got to the hospital by 2:00 and Alexa makes her appearance at 2:05. How perfect is that! Karley was amazing. 3 pushes. Why do more?
Another coworker grabbed Preston from daycare and brought him to the hospital. He was so excited to meet his sister! Wanted to hold her from the get-go. We were moved over to a different room and settled in. This joint wanted us to stay for 2 days to make sure all was Ok. Painful as we wanted to get back to normal but glad they took care of us. It came time to get the visitors out of the hospital and back to the house. Since we were both at work, both cars were downtown and Karl's truck was still at her work in a garage that you can't stay overnight! So, rather than make Carol and Pres walk or have to drive, I walked back to her work in full uniform....in the early evening....in Hawaii....downtown.......hot. After I got the truck I took them home and came back downtown.
The next morning, I went back to get Pres to daycare and Carol came in to spend the day with us. I then went to the base to get Alexa all registered in the "system". I would rather light myself on fire. Something as simple as filling out some forms should not be that excruciating. What makes it even better is the portion of Hell I navigated to get her registered for insurance apparently didn't need to be done as early as they made it seem. Oh well. After cleaning my wounds from the self inflicted torture, I gathered up the boy and headed back to the hospital for a quick visit before I had to get the visitors back to the house. This time we decided we would get both cars home which sounds easy but ended up being.......fun. So, Karl had to stay another night at the hospital so she couldn't drive, that left Carol and me. Carol has no idea where to go. No problem, she can follow me. Well.....again, that sounds easy but there are a couple of big problems. #1, Honolulu is not fun to drive in during the early evening hours, especially during the work week. There is traffic. Well, more like a ridiculously enormous amount of traffic. Problem #2, Carol forgot her cell phone at the house. Ok, not the best situation but there are only a couple of turns to make until we are more or less home free. Just have to keep her behind me and we are good! No problem. So, we hop into the cars, Pres and I in one, Carol in the other. We drive down the hospital entrance and prepare to enter traffic. I make sure Carol is behind me and ready to go. Traffic is thick but they are EXTREMELY nice and will let you merge in no problem. I pull out, turn to make sure Carol is following and she is gone. Wait, what? You heard me, SHE IS GONE!! I panic. No idea what to do. I am in thick traffic, with a 4 year old asking me why I am crying, trying frantically to find my mother in law that I just lead to her doom. TOTALLY lost in downtown traffic where she has no idea where to go. I'm circling the blocks around the hospital hoping by some miracle she just stopped and pulled over. No such luck. I call Karl. "Uhhhh, I lost your Mom." Thank God Carol is a smart lady and did in fact pull over, used her gift of gab to borrow a cell phone from a nice passer by and called Karl's Dad, who Karl was already in contact with. After getting my number, we were able to hook up and get the rest of the way home without incident. We got enchiladas.
The rest of the story is pretty typical. Finally went home the next day after wasting money on "first portraits" with a scam artist lady. Alexa was perfect on her first ride home. I heard "don't drive like a crazy person" more than the standard 5 times but that was expected with the precious cargo. So there you have it, that is the birth story. All in all, it was a wild and crazy ride, I mean, more than I would expect from having a baby. Crazy how things fell into place. Even more crazy that we have a new beautiful baby girl adding to the chaos at the house. Would not want it any other way.
We enjoyed having Carol here a month, good help for us and lots of comfort for Karl. For the last ten days of her stay Bob & Christofer came over to meet Alexa and entertain the rest of us. Great to have them here. We were missing Chris and Tina but will take what we can get. Now we have an empty-ish house. The kids are keeping us busy. Alexa changes up routine everyday and Preston is gearing up to start Kindergarten! We have enough going on for now. Check back as we have other stories to share as our adventures continue. As always you are all welcome to come and visit paradise while getting to meet our new addition.
A new year is upon us and here we are sorting through heaps of pictures. Wanting to share but at the same time not overwhelm. So here is the abridged version of our fall, the Holidays and a few visits.
Mid October brought a visit from the Borella's for 2 weeks of touring the island. It was perfect timing as it was right before Pres returned to school and Karl started back to work. Poor Regan had to work but he was able to partake in weekend fun. Safe to say we saw most of the island save the northwest shore. There will be plenty of future visits to make sure they see it all. Great to have them around and test out the guest accommodations. We had thought that all the busy was causing Karl to be exhausted and all the driving was making her continuously car sick. So naive...the same day the parents flew out a pregnancy test revealed the reason for the odd symptoms. Baby #2 arrives in June!
We rounded out the rest of October with Halloween celebrations, celebrated Regs birthday at a great Italian restaurant and keeping up with the rest of our routine. The weather does not change with the seasons so it takes regular calendar checks to figure out what to plan for next. Gone are the days that cooler temps or even snow would trigger the need to prep for the holiday season. Heck, this was the first time Pres has trick or treated without his costume being bulked up for weather. So odd to be wearing shorts and slippers (not called flip flops here) during the months we are traditionally prepping for cabin fever. No need for the snow shovel this year, Yippee!!
In November, Pres returned back to school. He is in his last year of preschool and we were pleased to get him into a good class. He transitioned well and enjoys his new school. His facility is located along the water in Pearl Harbor. Daily, the kiddos see the comings and goings of the big ships. This ended a 3 month stint home with Karl, easily the hardest job she has ever had. Keeping up with Pres, entertaining him, trying to educate him when he requested learning and keeping on top of house work was no small task. If she would have had a performance review her supervisor would have suggested she pursue a different avenue. Thankfully for all those affected, Karl started her job with the Honolulu Transit Authority working on the new rail system. A very controversial project that has a lot of potential to help a severe traffic problem here on the island. So far the challenge and change of pace has been enjoyable, will be very rewarding once construction begins!
Just in time for Thanksgiving, Sean, Sarah, Ethan, Rileigh & Keelie arrived to ensure we didn't have to be on our own. We had a full house that Pres still misses. The kids had such a great time playing together. Unfortunate, that we were just starting into new positions which made time off hard to come by. Additionally, we hadn't broken the baby news so Karl was a bit of a downer with early bedtimes and constant nausea. Sorry Guys!! The SSHalsteds seemed to take it in stride and entertained themselves with regular visits to the beach and pool. They wrapped up their Hawaiian vacay with a hotel stay in Waikiki that was just perfect for accessibility to beach and pools. Always great to have family around.
December arrived and we began looking toward our Christmas trip to the mainland. Preston's elf arrived on his shelf and we checked in with Mall Santa. We also had to get winter clothes for our Cali trip...sounds backwards, right? Since arriving in Hawaii Pres had worn shorts everyday. None of his pants or jeans fit him plus he needed socks! Poor kid was confused about the need for socks again...slippers and Crocs are easy to get used to. From there it was a whirlwind of shopping, greeting cards, packing and jumping on a plane.
Christmas in California was a nice break. Reg was so glad to have crisp air, Karl & Pres just shivered in response to his glee. The fam spoiled us with delicious food, tons of loot and a great time. We were able to meet up with the Hornes, Clines, Dorios and Tischlers which made the trip near perfect. Too short as usual but just enough time for Pres to pick up some kind of belly bug. Just not a trip unless Pres throws up.
Back on island for the New Year and we kept it a private affair which allowed for recovery from the previous weekends trip. Nice to lay low and catch up on this blog ;)
