Birthday Surprise!

So imagine being 3 months pregnant, asleep for an hour when you get a phone call from a friend (3 days before your birthday) asking you to come to your front door because she has something for you.

That is exactly what happened to me last month. I was thoroughly confused but crawled out of bed and headed to the door. I opened and and guess who was there!?

None other than my Momma!

Apparently this trip had been planned since last October! It ended up working out well cause not only was Gil gone but my Dad is in Germany so we got to keep each other company and celebrate my 25th birthday.

We really didn't do much. She helped/did a lot of the cleaning of my house which was very helpful and my house has never looked better. She helped deal with a housing situation we have been working on for a while now and we went out and celebrate my birthday with a few friends.

She got to meet a new friend of mine and get to know my friends a little better over dinner.

We started my birthday with a few presents and then went to dinner at my favorite restaurant, Framaggio's. My friends, Meredith, Pat, Genevieve & Lane joined us for dinner and we had a great time. After dinner we stopped by our favorite frozen yogurt place, YoGurt Momma's as dessert. It was a really great night and I got some great gifts from my friends.

Sadly the next day I got a really bad headache which didn't go away before my mom left so we just spend the time taking Kai on walks and hanging out in the sun outback.

It was a really great time and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect gift for my birthday. It will be a birthday to remember for sure!

This is a picture of my mom and I on my birthday after dinner

Lastly I would like to announce a new blog I have created just for Baby D. So if you are interested, check it out. I will try and be good about updating it. http://baby-desroches.blogspot.com

Hope you are all doing well. Come back later this week because we will be announcing the sex of our baby!

Maunawili Falls Trail

I apologize for not writing more about the holiday season. I wish there was a good reason but really it is just due to laziness. After all the family left (we just sent the last one home on Friday) we just needed to relax. I still plan to write more about Christmas because we did so much and it was nice to have all the family here but first...a quick post about our hike today.

I have been wanting to go on this hike for a while but never really knew where it was and Gil hasn't had the time. It is actually only 10/15 minutes from our house. It is very easy and takes roughly 40 minutes to get to the end. Once you arrive you are greeted by a icy swimming pool and waterfall.

We went early this morning and once there were very happy we did! There were only a few people at the waterfall when we first arrived and as we left there were crowds of people showing up.

We weren't sure if we were going to go in the water and once we got there I think we were even less likely to go in the water because of how cold it was. Finally though, I thought, we came all this way and we are in our bathing suits then we should do it.

Boy, was it COLD!

I can't remember the last time I was in water that cold. Gil even got me to jump off the rock...which I am never really prone to do. It was fun though and once you get on top of the waterfall you can see another smaller one above it...had I not decided to jump I would have never gotten to see the mini swimming hole/waterfall.



Lastly...here is footage of the two of us jumping into the swimming hole.

Hopefully soon I will take the time to sit in the office and finish the Christmas post. Hope you enjoyed our sunny hike with us.

O-H-I-O

We hung our flags (courtesy of Mom) next to the tv to represent.

The party was a blast and better yet Ohio beat Michigan 21-10! We had a full house starting at 7am till 6pm. The day was full of football, food and maybe just a little Wii Raving Rabbids! (I will explain that a little later.)

Our House Divided couple.

Both from Ohio but Sarah is an OSU fan and Carlton is a Michigan fan.

This was taken right after Michigan lost.

It was great to meet and get to know the guys that Gil just spent the last 6 months getting to know and for me it was even better to meet their wives and make some new friends. The McFarlands came over and brought Meka which was a life saver. The dogs were outside all day playing and it was one less thing to worry about. As an added bonus they were exhausted at the end of the day from their 10 hour play date!

Our Arizona fans, Meredith and Pat.

After a rough game to watch yet still a victory for Ohio we flipped

to a few other games but somehow during halftime of one of the games we ended up playing Wii. It was absolutely hilarious!

The beginning of wii halftime.

Don't worry we got plenty of pictures and even a little video.

Since the Ohio game was early in the morning I wasn't able to do the traditional Terry Taco's for the game so we saved those for lunch and the afternoon game. Everybody loved them and even a few wanted the recipe. Don't worry we did feed everyone who showed up for the morning game. We had a pretty nice spread of fruit and yogurt, eggs, potato casserole, scones and G'ma's banana nut bread.

All in all the day was a great success and I hope everyone had as much fun as we did. It was great to meet everyone and thank you for coming!

Fall Events

We have finally picked up the pace a bit and gotten away from ESPN. Now it seems like we are going nonstop.

This past weekend we were very excited to find a patio set on sale. All of our family is coming in for Christmas so we thought it would be nice to have a table and chairs so we can relax outside while grilling. It won't be long until everyone is here (less than a month.)

This Saturday we are hosting a football party. Ohio State vs. Michigan. We have gone so far as to buy jerseys of our favorite teams (me OSU of course and Gil has a Miami Hurricanes jersey.) Unfortunately the game is airing here at 7am but it hasn't deterred anyone from coming which is exciting. Instead of the traditional homemade Terry tacos we will be doing brunch instead and saving the tacos for the afternoon game. We are very excited to have everyone over and watch OSU slaughter Michigan. We do have one Michigan fan coming so it should be interesting!

Lastly, we had an amazing dinner with a college friend of Gil's this past week. Brent who was one of Gil's friends/suit mates freshman year of college lives here and his family invited us out to dinner to celebrate Gil's safe arrival home. We went to Ocean House at the Outrigger Hotel. We had amazing food and great conversation. The restaurant found out we were celebrating and gave us the royal treatment. The manager made sure we were treated well and they were so thankful to Gil for his service. It is nice to know what he does is appreciated. Thank you again to the Kakesako's for a great dinner.

Next up...Football Party!

Boating to the Sand Bar

Today the girls and I rented a boat on base and went out for the day on the water. It was the first time for many of us and boy have we been missing out. It was an absolute blast. We had the boat for 4 hours so we all brought food and drinks and relaxed at the sand bar for the afternoon. Thanks to Meredith W who reminded me of a wonderful drink they serve in Spain, (tinto de verano) I brought some great wine to make them; they are so refreshing. Amy made delicious tuna salad and Natalie brought lemon bars for dessert. The best part about it was it only cost us $7.50 a person. Such a great deal for an afternoon full of fun. I brought my camera today but forgot to take many pictures but here are a few.

This is us at the end of the day on our way back to the docks.

(from front left: Amy, Meredith M., Jenni, Natalie, Meredith W)

Natalie cooling off in the water

Meredith W.

Amy and Jenni. In the back you can see all the other boats and tarps. It was like spring break but in August.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Last Week with Mom

Finally one last post on my parents visit. After Dad left, Mom and I spent most of our days walking Kai and organizing my office. Thanks to her I finally have everything filed and organized.

Here I am on the floor with Kai putting the file cabinet together. I am surround by all the other organizational bins we bought.

I couldn't let my mom come to Hawaii and not take her to the beach so this is us on our way to the beach. This was on the 4th of July and I got a call from Gil on our walk to the beach. I think we might have gotten more sun there talking to Gil than when we were laying on the beach.
Proof that Mom actually owns a bathing suit and went to the beach!
While at the beach we picked up a few more coconuts for Kai because she had just finished off her last one.
Kai with her 4th of July bow and coconut. She sure does love her coconuts. I do too! Saves so much money on toys!
I must say I am not a master of the grill quit yet but I sure did master our Kailua burgers!
Mom and I having our 4th of July meal; burgers, salad and corn on the cob. It was delicious!
Waiting for the fireworks to start. We had a great seat. Now I know for next year to get there early to get a parking spot.
Sadly Mom had to go home. Lucky us though Bob will be getting married on August 1st and the whole family will be back together. I can't wait to head out to Washington and celebrate with the family.

See many of you soon!

Help Around the House

One thing I have needed to do for a very long time is build a gate closing off the car port so the yard would be fully fenced in. My Dad was nice enough to help me build it while he was visiting. It took a little longer than we thought it would but turned out great! Below are a few pictures from the day.

Before:

Perfectly Level!

Finished Product!

Kai has enjoyed immensely the freedom that she now has! Thanks Dad!

Jimmy Buffet & Chinatown

One of the things my parents and I all wanted to do during their stay was to visit some of the great markets we have here. The first was the Kailua market right where I live and the second was the market in Chinatown. It was very large (3 different buildings) and was full of food items I had never seen. They had everything from fresh fruit and vegetables to pigs heads and brains. It was quit an experience.

Their vegetables were gorgeous! They were so vibrant and abundant.

Even though is smelled of meat and fish there were some amazing looking fish. There was just so much color throughout the market. The prices were unbeatable too!
After Chinatown we headed to Waikiki. I had been waiting until my Dad got into town to try Jimmy Buffets new restaurant, The Beachcomber. It was really neat! The whole place looks like you are under the water or sitting on the beach looking out at the beach. They have booths that were under waves and palm trees all over the place. Of course it wouldn't be a Jimmy Buffet restaurant without some great music. Each booth had a t.v. showing music videos and every night they have live music. To top it all off they had great drinks and food!
This is the dessert that all three of us shared and we still weren't able to finish it!
After lunch we walked down the main strip and took a few touristy pictures.

Pearl Harbor

Finally more posts from my parents visit. Of course you can't come to Hawaii and not visit the U.S.S Arizona. Yet again, something I also hadn't done yet so it was fun for all of us. They have done a really great job making it educational yet still interesting. I learned a lot. They are in the process of rebuilding the whole visitors center. It is going to be really nice when they are all done. It is scheduled to be done this year on the anniversary.

On this day we also stopped by the highest point on our base. It has a really great view of the whole base and the mountain range. Here is a picture of my Dad and me. Mom couldn't get us and the background in the picture so we peaked around the corner to get in the shot.

Once we got to the memorial we got tickets and had some time to waste. Tickets for the U.S.S Arizona are free but they only have a certain amount for each day. Once you get your ticket you have to wait for the time of your tour. We had almost 2 hours to waste so we looked around at the subs and other Marine stuff they had. We also of course had some food. Pearl Harbor is officially (in my book) the cheapest touristy thing you can do here in Hawaii; tickets are free and food is less than 3 dollars!

After a very informative video about the day the U.S.S Arizona sank we got on a boat to ride out to the memorial. We had about 10 minuets to look around then we went back to the visitors center.

Everyone has always said that you can still see the oil leaking but it just doesn't seem real until you see it for yourself. It makes the whole event so much more real (at least to me.)

After Pearl Harbor we decided to grab some lunch at a local drive-in. They have traditional Hawaii food and they are always packed. It is also one of President Obama's favorite places to eat when he comes home. We had the mixed plate of meat which is always served with 2 scoops of rice and macaroni salad.

Next up Waikiki

Happy 4th of July!

Our 4th of July started off very special! We took Kai to the beach and got her to swim!!!! It is the first time she has gone swimming. I was so proud of her!!!

Here is some footage of her swimming and then a few pictures!!! The first photo is her with her 4th of July bow!

She is still a little freaked out by the waves but once she gets out there she doesn't seem to mind it.

Happy 4th of July!

North Shore

I have seen more of Hawaii in the past 4 days than I have in the 10 months that I have lived here. Gil and I decided that we would wait and do a lot of the touristy things when family came to visit. Which means Gil still hasn't seen any of it. When his parents came to visit he was working and now that my parents are here he is deployed. After these past few days though I realize we should have done it on our own as well, so that he experiences it as well. I think we just didn't realize how little time he would really have free to do what he wants. So once he gets home there will be no more of this waiting for visitors; we will do it with and without visitors from now on.

My parents arrived on Wednesday and we started off with a bang! Their first full day we got Mom's military id renewed! Woohoo! Actually, the first day we spent not only getting her id but also running a few errands. We ended the day at the local farmer's market though, which we were all excited for. Dad and I got some GREAT beignets (; mine was stuffed with chocolate and peanut butter. On top of having fresh produce, bread and flowers they also had food stands that sold homemade curry dishes and risotto balls. I think the farmer's market might be my new dinner spot for Thursday nights!

Friday we started the real fun, the North Shore! Our first stop was Giovanni's for lunch. All along the roads headed up north there are these shrimp trucks; fresh straight out of the water and onto your plate. Giovanni's is apparently the best and even though it is the only one I have stopped at, it was pretty freakin' amazing!

Next stop, was the sea turtle beach! I had been to this beach twice before, each time there were no turtles. All my friends had seen them but I still hadn't. Finally, third times the charm; they were out and in full force! When we got there they were just in the water. We spent maybe an hour or so on the rocks taking pictures and watching them wash up right to us.

They are absolutely amazing animals! They are so prehistoric and so incredibly massive! After we took about 100 photos of the sea turtles we headed up to Haliewa to the North Shore Marketplace. We first had to get some shaved ice. Our goal was to go to the famous Matsumoto's but once we got up there we forgot which one we were suppose to go to so we ended up at A shaved ice place but not THE shaved ice place. None the less it was still good. We then went to a few of the stores at the North Shore Marketplace and check out some local art.

We decided to go back the same way we came instead of going around the whole island. It would have been shorter at that point but we wanted to stop off at Ted's Bakery and see if the sea turtles were up on the sand yet. So we turned around and headed back to the sea turtles. Lucky us they were out of the water and on the sand. There were three with a forth waddling out of the water as we got there. Sadly my battery was dying and mom ran out of space on her memory card but we managed to get a few more pictures.

Our final stop was Ted's Bakery...

for their famous chocolate haupia pie. It is basically a chocolate and coconut cream pie. It was very good and very creamy!

We finally loaded back into the car with bellies full and headed back home. It was really great to finally hit up some of the local spots. I can't wait until Gil is home and we can experience it together.