Pre-School Christmas party

Anne was quite the performer at her pre-school christmas party. They sang "Rudolph" and a very jazy verson of "Santa Clause is Comin to Town"

"Then one foggy Christmas eve..."

I I love my brother!

I asked Anne if she enjoyed sitting on Santa's lap and she said, and I quote..."Santa is so hansom!"

Dinosaur Fieldtrip

Today was Anne's school fieldtrip to Bishop's Museum. She has been learning about Dinosaurs at school and today got go and see them live! Ok not live but they were so real looking that Andrew insisted on me holding him the whole time - for those of you who know Andrew you would know that this is really unusual. I didn't post the picuture of the most scary of the dinosaurs because of the grafic content...Andrew made me wait outside with him when Anne went into that room. It was one huge dinosaur eating another....quite bloody. We also got yet another chance to visit the volcano. The kids always love walking down the wildlife in Hawaii hallway as seen above. All in all a great fieldtrip!

Happy Christmas from the Turners!

Happy Christmas!

Thanksgiving at the Turners

As you can see the kids and I had lots of fun on Thanksgiving...as we didn't cook our own turkey we made our own flock of turkey! Almost too cute to eat.

The day after Thanksgiving I always like to set up the Christmas tree...its the only way to get into the spirit of Christmas when it is 80 degrees out!

As you can see I had lots of help this year. Andrew thought we were building him a tree to climb, so I had to sit him down and tell him the rules of the Christmas tree. So far so good...last year the tree fell down three times beacuse I had little hands pulling and tugging!

Big shoes to fill...

The kids found their dad's uniform boots today and were taking turns marching around...got to love the attitude pose!

Anne's Thanksgiving Feast

Anne was a pilgrim this year for her pre-school program. Isn't she cute!

All aboard the Mayflower!

Ok this is such a bad picture but Anne was singing and dancing so well that I just had to put it up. Today was Anne's pre-school Thanksgiving Feast. The kids have been cooking in class to make all and I mean all the food. Ok they didn't do the turkey - we had chicken nuggets. Everything was was really good too! They sang songs and did a little program. Anne was so sad because she forgot to stand in line but I told her that is ok I could see you. It was so much fun. We got a huge surprise too...Zac said he wasn't going to make it because he had patients to see but just before the program started who should walk through the door? Dadddy! We were so happy to see him.

Hawaii Sunset

Tonight we had a picnic at the beach. Believe it or not but this is my first sunset in Hawaii. This is one of those times when I know my Heavenly Father loves me. Beautiful isn't it?

Ko'olina

Anne didn't have school Monday so we took off to the beach. The kids had so much fun. Both kids are now to the point where they can both go out into the water all by themselves and totally enjoy eachother's company. Of course Anne and Andrew always make new friends when we go to the beach.

Learning about Indians

This month Anne is learning about the first Thanksgiving. On Wednesday they learned about the indians who helped the pilgrims. Anne was very excited to have a indian dress up outfit.

We're off to see the Wizard...

The Turner Family at the ward Truck-or-Treat activity.

Carving Pumpkins...

One of our favorite Halloween traditions. What luck that the day before Halloween fell on a Monday! For all those who don't know...you can't carve your pumpkin here in Hawaii until almost a day before Halloween. Last year we learned the hard way. We carved our pumpkins two days before and by Halloween night the trick-or-treaters were scared away by what was growing on our jack-o-laterns. This year we played it safe and waited until Monday to carve then we stored them in the fridge until the appointed hour for trick-or-treating. They were only outside for two hours and when Zac went out to throw them out they were already growing a colony of something I would rather not mention here.

Pumpkin Patch

Well we made our yearly trek to the pumpkin patch...this year all the pumpkins were so small. I guess there was some kind of pumpkin sickness that went around...didn't know there was such a thing, did you? Anyway we went on a hay ride - pulled by a tractor...Andrew was in heaven, and the kids and I went on a ride similar to the tea cup ride at disneyland. I think Anne and I had fun, Andrew on the other hand has inherited his dad's queasy stomach - we were lucky he didn't loose his breakfast! All in all a very fun day...

Visit from Grandma Darlin

On sunday we had our primary program. It was wonderful but I was tired so I lay down for a short nap before the baptism of one of my primary kids. While I was sleeping Anne and Grandma played beauty parlor. Isn't Anne's hair awesome! They used every single hair clip we own.
Dad came home from Japan today! He was gone 10 days...so Grandma and Anne made his favorite sugar cookies. Anne is getting to be quite the helper.

Today we went to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. We rode the Pineapple Express and fed the fish and of course had the yummy pineapple icecream...my personal favorite!

Come rain or shine...

My new favorite picture of Anne! She just discovered today how much more she can see under water with goggles on.
Look at her go!
As you can see the rain does not keep Anne away from her swimming lessons. She had so much fun going under water and looking up at the rain coming down. We are lucky here in Hawaii to be able to take swimming lessons all year round. Anne's teacher is wonderful. She is very patient with the kids. I can't believe how much Anne has improved in just a year. A year ago she was afraid to put her head all the way under the water and now she is diving in and getting rings off the bottom all by her self. She also can swim half the length of the pool on both her back and stomach! She is getting to be quite the fish.

First Day of School

Today was Anne's first day of Pre-School. She has been on the wait list for the Iroquois Point Pre-School and finally got a spot. She was so excited to start and had a wonderful time. She even got to take something today to share with the class. They also learned about scarecrows and the letter H. Her teacher Mrs. Moreen said she did wonderful and made a few new friends today. This makes me feel good since Anne has been worried about this very thing. My little girl is growing up!

Flower Garden

I had the most beautiful day in my garden and thought I would share it. The yellow and orange flowers are hibiscus, the fushia and light pink are plumeria trees. I have been waiting for a year and a half for the plumeria trees to bloom. It was worth the wait.

Rumble and Tumbles...

We had an unusual Sunday here in Hawaii. My bed literally shook me awake about 7am this morning. At first I though Zac was shaking the bed to wake me up. I quickly remembered he was at work. Then I realized that the voice on my radio/alarm was shaking. We were having an earthquake. I jumped out of bed and ran to the kids room. They both were laying on the bed with big eyes. Anne looked at me and said, "Mom my bed is rumbling and tumbling!"

We are all ok. The power was out all day...it only turned on about an hour ago. We spent the day trying in vain to keep cool. At one point though I did discover that if I lay upside down on my recliner in my room I caught quit a good breeze from the window behind it...you laugh now but it was really hot and humid. Some good friends invited us over to play games in the candle light while our kids ran around trying to catch the light their flashlights made on the walls. I will always remember this day as the day my bed rumbled and tumbled.

Big Big Ouch!

I guess I can say I have been pretty lucky so far. I have two very active children who are either running up and down the stairs, jumping on their beds or jumping from the couch to all the cushions. Well finally today my luck ran out. Just as Andrew was climbing into his booster seat for breakfast he slipped and fell knocking his head on the table as he went. Well I thought this was just another bonk on the head until I picked him up and blood gushed all over his face. He had a slice right at the corner of his eye. I gave Zac a 911 page and then rushed him and Anne to the hospital.
Now let me just say this was probably the first time I have been truely grateful that Zac is a doctor. He met me at the front of the hospital and took him right in to the peds clinic. By the time Anne and I found a parking spot and trudged up the hill and into the hospital Zac and Dr. Jim had already put a nice little bandage on Andrew's eye. Zac said I was lucky to have missed it. So there you have it...never think your kids are amune from being hurt. Don't worry Andrew is fine. Before we got home he was singing and laughing in the car...what a kid!

Zoo Day

Zac had the day off today so we too a field trip to the Honolulu Zoo. The kids love the palce. Today we had a hard time just getting past the elephants (they are the first animal we got to). This is Andrew current favorite animal for us to draw on his magnadoodle. They have a wonderful Keiki Zoo as well. The kids can pet the animals and crawl in all the tunnels and caves they have made for them - I wish they would make the adult size!

Bellows Beach

This is one of our favorite beaches here in Hawaii. It is on Bellows Air Force Base and beautiful! As you can see the water is blue and the sand just about white. We finally broke down and got our own boogie board last night just for the trip. I had so much fun...I haven't boogie-boarded since 8th grade! As you can see the kids also had a blast trying the board out in the shallow water. Anne also had tons of fun practicing swimming under water. Just a year ago she would even stick her head in salt water - now I have a fish for a daughter.