Amelia's first swim meet. She has been on the swim team for 6 months and swam in 3 events at the meet. She was so confident and did everything correctly. Gwen and George are also on the swim team, but they did not swim at the meet.

Na Pali Coast.

To see this beautiful coastline in Kauai you need to take helicopter or catamaran. I'm scared of helicopters, so we took this 5 hour boat ride out. It was gorgeous, and we saw whales, dolphins, and turtles. The captain drove right up to a waterfall and put the boat under it. The kids got wet. On the way home we hit lots of big waves and were drenched with salty ocean water. We thought jumping over the big waves was the best part. All of us were laughing when the kids flew a foot into the air after we hit a wave. The captain asked everyone to go sit down after that.

Kauai, HI. For a week we stayed on a very private beach, Barking Sands. We walked 40 minutes along the beach and didn't see a soul, but we did see one dead shark full of maggots, the kids had fun with that. The Navy cabins were really clean, modern, and well priced. The kids had such a good time playing in the sand. We didn't swim because there was a big danger sign that said, "Warning you could die!" Maybe I'm exaggerating, but a warning sign is enough for me. I am way too overly cautious sometimes.

After I cut Goerge's hair, Amelia thought of gluing the left over hair that was on the floor onto Alex's face. So these are real chops and a small beard made out of George's hair. Alex said, "I need an electirc guitar,"

Gwen and Amelia's birthday parties. Age 7 &11

The Place of refuge on the Big Island of Hawaii. This is a place that the Royals lived. Just behind a big wall was a place that if you could swim or run to you could be free from any crime you committed; even if you were an enemy. If you could get to the place of refuge you were safe. Don't take my explantation as fact, this is just as I interpreted the pamphlet.

A very big loss to us has been the closing of the Liea, HI temple. It is being remodeled for 18 months. It was a relaxing drive up the coast along the water once a month. We will most likely relocate to the Mainland before it opens again. The island hasn't been the same since. This is a picture of the temple with all of the paint taken off and its all gray and has scaffolding around it. It was built in the early 1900's, like around 1912, I think. So now we have to fly to the Big Island of Hawaii to go the the Kona temple. Aaron and I took a trip out there a couple months ago. These are the other pictures.

Saint Patrick's day. They are not only wearing green they are green. George started pinching Alex as he got out of bath because he had no green on or anything else. Don't be around for April fools' day you will be hiding, it gets pretty competative.

Study, study, and study. I may be the hardest teacher on the planet. Poor kids? lucky kids!!!



Amelia and Gwen dance once a week. Their teacher, Ms. D, danced for Juliard.

We are part of a home school coop which offers P.E., dance classes, standardized testing, holiday parties, educational classes, field trips and more. This is an inspiring field trip at Windward Community College where a Japanese bell ringers choir performed. The kids did so well in school this year. We attend a school called k12. I think the name is terrible because it is so uncreative, but it is the best school that we have found having a strong emphasis on history, science, music, and art. This year our nationally normed standardized test were administered by a professional tester from Virginia. I learned that my kids were well above grade level in every area. I was very pleased. I learned so much this year especially in grammar and history. I really enjoy this experience that I am able to have with my children. These pictures are more of our home school year.

Besides going to the beaches, our favorite thing to do in Oahu is hike in the beautiful mountains. Most of the time the destination is a waterfall or outlook. Just a short distance from our house you can find many different trails. Amazing that so much nature can be just outside a major U.S. City.