back home....in hawaii!!!

the last few days have been truly crazy! we spent a couple of days in southern ohio with Grandpa/Grandma Stickley (see the pics below!), then boarded the plane for the looooonnnngg trip to hawaii. Nova and Juneau have been telling random people "we don't live in colorado anymore, we live in HAWAII!!". Although Juneau has made it known that one day she thinks we should live in Vietnam :)
the trip went fairly smoothly...i guess as smoothly as traveling for 20 hours with 2 toddlers can go! We thought we had the Airport Security Check routine down to a science....until it all got messed up by Sweetie Baby. Our very first bag through the scanner was stopped, so i had to go with the TSA agent to have it searched. he searched, and searched and searched, and finally told me he was going to have to run it back through the scanner because he couldn't find what he was looking for. I couldn't imagine what he could be looking for....until i saw Sweetie Baby's head sticking out through the zipper. Sweetie Baby is filled with water to make her extra life-like (which unfortunately also means she is TSA contraband). I talked the agent into letting me empty her, rather than confiscating her, and after lots of stares from curious passengers (I'm sure people were wondering what exactly we were trying to smuggle inside a baby doll), we were on our merry way.
On to some pictures from the AMAZING pumpkin patch Mammaw Stickley took us to.
Yep, our kids definately ride the "Cool Bus".... so does Grandpa Stickley!

...and Mammaw!!!

It was awesome to spend the day with Aunt Donova. The girls had soooo much fun, and i must have heard them yell "Aunt D, Aunt D!" about 100 times!

Juneau spent a lot of time in the Corn Box....I'm still trying to convince grandpa to ship 30 or 40 bushels of corn to Hawaii to make Juneau her own Corn Box. I'm quite certain it would be the only one on the island!

Mammaw "horsin' around"

Lucky for Juneau and Nova, Aunt D was willing to give lots and lots of Shoulder Rides!

The entrance to the corn maze (or should i say the Maize Maze? ohhhh geez, i'm funny!) The first 2 or 3 acres of the maze were pretty fun...i think by Acre 5 we were definately ready to see the exit!

Everyone reading the clues to find the way out of the maze.

Cris found a little Corn Hole out in the middle of the field....(if you're not from Ohio then you may not know that Corn Hole is a popular version of a beanbag toss)

Juneau tried the over hand technique

Aunt Donova with the girls

Mammaw Nova, Aunt Donova, Nova, and Juneau

Lot of Stickleys...

Lets just say farmkids know how to have some fun...here is a makeshift zipline (which i am certain meets all the safety ordinances of a zipline)

not sure it qualifies as safe for a 2 year old....but Nova really wanted a solo flight

she loved it :)

and speaking of farm kid fun...this "Monster Slide" was a blast! a little rickety, but super fun!

Cris can always find a way to entertain himself... as you can see, we had lots and lots of fun with the fam. then we had the long trip (which was not lots and lots of fun!), and we finally made it to hawaii. We stepped off the airpline, and out into the island air and Juneau enthusiastically announced "It's AMAZING out here!" Yes, i think these girls are going to love it here. The next day i FINALLY got to see our new house in person. The beautiful view immediately won me over, and i fell in love with our new house. I can't wait until i get back from afghanistan and actually get to live in it!

We have been running all over the island trying to get some furnishings together for the house, buying a car, and trying to get everything situated before i leave on thursday. Since i am technically still stationed in Colorado, the Army will not move any of our furniture our household goods until i get orders to move to Hawaii (which will hopefully be next summer, after i get back from afghanistan). so, cris is living on the bare essentials for the next 6 months.

We are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Nelson and Katy (who just found out they will be having a baby of their own next summer!) on Monday.

There is lots and lots to do before Thursday rolls around.