Hawaii - Ocean Activities

Two pics of us on a snorkeling boat trip, then one at an east-side beach with much better waves. There's a pic of Ben and Sam at our hotel's beach (Hapuna Beach) where they could swim, and the one from a snorkeling beach called Kahalu'u Beach south of Kona. The boys took a little bit to warm up to snorkeling, but they did seem to like it and did it several times on our trip. Was hard for them to get used to the feeling of not being able to breath through your nose and also of depending on the snorkel for your breathing. Since the water was very clear, neither of the boys were afraid of stepping on a crab this time like they've been at other beaches in the past.

Hawaii - Volcano Adventures

In these pics you see two shots of Kilauea from our helicopter ride, one of a massive lava flow (cooled off) and one of the active smoking lava craters. Ben's hanging on binoculars at the main Kilauea caldera which also often has a lava lake, although it had receded while we were there. Another pic shows Sam and Ben standing in a hardened lava pit and checking out the cool rock formations, and in the last one Sam is looking at a steam vent -- there were holes in the ground that just had steam rising out of them! Ben and Sam were fascinated with the whole thing and brought back quite a few lava rocks. I'm surprised we had room for them in our baggage. At least they are pretty light since there's a lot of air in lava rock.

Hawaii - Exploring the Island

Catching up on posting! Here's the first set from our Hawaii trip. Sam's on our balcony (hotel: wow!) and again at the open air breakfast buffet overlooking terraced gardens and the ocean. The one of us together is in the open air lobby which was really cool, too. The weather was perfect - mid 70s to 80s. I also posted a picture of Sarah from a previous vacation, because she was always on my mind during this trip. Our first full day in Hawaii marked three months since we lost her, and I was very aware of who was missing at the breakfast table each morning. Even though I felt Sarah's absence constantly, I think Ben, Sam and I managed to have a lot of good adventures together as a new family of three, which is what I was hoping. I gave them a little more say in what we did than they've had in past vacations, so that kept them focused on the fun. I believe Sarah was with us in a different way, and keeping her on our minds and in our hearts during these days made me feel close to her in spirit.

13 Mar - Sam's Birthday Party

We had Sam's birthday party today at the Orbitz Skate Center together with his friend and classmate Anna. Everyone had fun - lots of skating, pizza and cake!

These pics also show Ben proudly putting on his new light-yellow karate belt for the first time. He's very excited about his advancement.

6 Mar - Derby and Belt Test

We think Ben's belt test went well, although we won't know for sure if he passed until this coming week. Pics show him doing the memorized moves called "Kata" and also the sparring demonstration.

Sam's car was a rough copy of a blue toy car that he likes. It won the first heat but then lost a few so we finished in the middle of the pack, which disappointed him. Going to have to work on setting expectations! :)

4 Mar - Sam's Birthday

Sam turned seven today. He was so excited! We did present opening and cake in the morning before school. I think it's the first year where he actually read the cards. :) He's really growing up. After school Sam wanted to go to the movie "Rango" instead of picking a birthday restaurant so we did that (we all liked the movie). The boys are doing well and we are keeping pretty busy, which helps. This weekend I'm doing the pinewood car derby with Sam and Ben is doing his karate belt test. Next weekend is Sam's birthday party for his friends and he's looking forward to that, too. "Moments" continue for me, but overall I'm doing ok. Tonight I was watching a music show on TV and Mariah Carey came on singing One Sweet Day. The line "I know you're shining down on me from heaven" got me going. I don't even like Mariah that much, but music just brings out the emotions for me.

28 Feb - Update

This past week and weekend we were busy with various smaller things but no big outings. We spent time with friends and went shopping. I got Ben to pose for a picture with me since it's hard to catch him smiling on camera! We went to our second family grief group meeting last week and that went well. In the coming week we have Sam's birthday, a pine-wood car derby and Ben's karate test to move up from white belt. Lots going on but Sarah is never far from my mind.