Our "PGA Tour"

Our Golfer!  Charlie is really enjoying going out and walking the course.  I love that he finally has some time to have a hobby.  He is a such a natural athlete! Last week Hope and I were able to go with him and take in the amazing Hawaiian weather.  I teased him that he was famous playing 9 holes with a photographer and caddy in tow.

Honu

Honu is the Hawaiian name for sea turtles.  Thanks to the Ocean Awareness Class we were able to go to a beach known as a resting place for Honu and learn all about them.  

It was fascinating!  I love being a beach bum in Hawaii with a camera!

The army offers marriage retreats to help strengthen relationships.  It is a great program to help compensate for the amount of time you are away.  Charlie and I were able to go on one this month and it was so wonderful!  A paid vacation with informative classes and child care.  Everyday Hope had a field trop to different parts of the island.  She had so much fun that she was sad to see it end.  Charlie and I enjoyed learning more about each other with the Myers-Briggs personality test.  Between that and the 5 love languages we had some great conversations.  We came to the realization that it is good to have similar love languages (but not necessary) and opposite personalities so you can balance each other out.  I remember when we were dating someone had told me that opposites attract.  I didn't believe them because I thought Charlie and I were so much alike.  Well, after almost 12 years of marriage and a Myer-Briggs test I found out that we are complete opposites.  Together we bring out the best in each other, by balancing our strengths and weaknesses.  My husband is an amazing man and I am so thankful for God bringing us together!   

¹¹ Again, if two lie down together, they will keep warm; 

      But how can one be warm alone?

       ¹² Though one may be overpowered by another, two can withstand him.   

And a threefold cord is not quickly broken.

Ecclesiastes 4:11-13

      These pictures were taken from our hotel room.  

I woke up early for the sunrise, JK I really went to search for whales!

Picture I took of our view before the whales showed up.

Whales!!!

Atlantis subs

Putting on a show for us on the last morning!

I think he won the cannon ball splash competition!

From Lost!

Yes this boat is from LOST!  While I was living in Florida all my family and friends got me hooked.  It is a show that leaves you wanting more (amazing writers), but you have to watch it from the beginning.  The Searcher is the boat that Penny rescued the Oceantic 6 on.  Great guess Angie!  Gilligan's Island was the most guessed.

Can you guess....

.....where we have seen this boat?

Once in a Life Time....

So Close we felt like we could touch them with our feet.

Mom and calf

I hope not once in a life time because this was AMAZING!  Our neighbors own a sailboat and invited us out for a morning sail.  A school of dolphins heading home from their night feeding decided to joins us as well.  About 8 of them swam right in front of the boat for a while including a mom and baby.  The rest of the school swam all around with occasional shows of jumps and spins.  THRILLING!!!!

We are taking a Creationist Class at our church as well as listening to Jonathan Park and taking an Ocean Awareness Class.  All this new information has given me a better appreciation of the handiwork of God.  How he carefully created everything and with a special purpose.  It saddens me when people can see the universe and its splendor and say that it happened by chance in an explosion.

Colossians 1:16

For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him.

Our back yard

Mom this is for you!

(some tomatoes that have eluded the Red-vented Bulbul)

Sunday morning we sat outside for a chocolate chip peanut butter pancake breakfast.  It had rained the night before and there were still rain drops on the flowers.  I thought I would share some of our Lord's amazing artwork.  

(The funny thing is that I tried to post them yesterday, but our internet was running slow.  Then this morning I checked Lisa's blog and she posted a blog on Hawaiian Hibiscus.  What are the chances?  or Great minds think alike!

So a couple weeks ago a new Costco opened up on the island.  This was a big deal!  People were waiting from 1:00am and  800 people were in the store in the first half hour.  Well we went that afternoon when it calmed down.  We had so much fun looking around and tasting the samples.  There were so many samples that it ended up being our lunch.  The next morning I was out at the whale count and Charlie came up behind me placing something in my hand.  It was a comic strip in the morning paper!  LoL

Lisa encourage me to do something I have been putting on the back burner for a long time,  learning how to use the manual settings on my digital.  She brought out some research on shortening the depth of field in your pictures that she had looked up after she saw my cheat picture.  So I pulled out my camera's manual and learned a lot in a short amount of time.  I am so looking forward to using my newly found knowledge on how to work my digital.  Thanks so much Lisa!  This will help a ton when I take the picture frame shots!

Living in Harmony...

I cheated on the picture below, because I didn't have one of the Red-vented Bulbul.  I found that one on the internet.  So today while we were relaxing by the pool I was able to capture one on film.  Not as good, but I thought I would add it.

Red-vented Bulbul

We have a Red-vented Bulbul that enjoys our lanai.  He likes this particular chair for his pirch while he eats the cherry tomatoes.  Well I love seeing the birds, but we all can't stand the poop on the chair.  So I put some tin foil on the chair and he decided he likes the shade under the chair better for his daily snack.  Now he still enjoys his meal and we can enjoy our chair.  PS... I didn't plant the tomatoes, they were hear when we moved in and the automatic sprinkler system keeps them alive.  For those of you who know me know I have a black thumb.

Best Cheesecake?

Thanks Dan and Amber for helping put on the Cheesecake tasting contest!  Charlie and Dan were sure that they could pick them all right and that the Cheesecake Factory would be the best.  Well, they both had 2 wrong and picked others as their favorite (Charlie's being the home made and Dan's Antie Pastas).  Hope on the other had picked where each one was from correctly and her favorite was the Cheesecake factory's.  She has some amazing taste buds!  No wonder she doesn't eat anything I cook!  JK

The winner with her prize!