1. Family members will surprise and hurt you, learn and move on. [...]]]> I’m not sure what happened to 2011. I’m positive we had a lot to write about but I fell off the blogging wagon. So I found something that may inspire me to start writing again. Here’s to more publishing in 2012 and beyond.

1. Family members will surprise and hurt you, learn and move on.
2. Some friends are not really your friends…purge and find new ones.
3. You will go through some tough times, but you WILL survive.
4. Dogs are really a “man’s best friend”.. love them with all your heart.
5. When you least expect it, a very kind person will help you…be grateful & thankful for their kindness…one day you will repay them.
6. You will lose family and friends.. never forget them and remember the good times.
7. As your parents get older and more needy, understand they are still your parents.
8. Your children are the single biggest accomplishment in your life.. continue to teach and love them.
9. Regardless of religion, pray to GOD and be thankful for what you have.
10. It’s NOT all about you, be sensitive and caring to other people.
11. One day, it will all come together…be patient.

Happy 2012!

Ryan reached a milestone and started Kindergarten this year. [...]]]> The summer went by too quickly! Maybe it was because we went on our summer vacation earlier this year or because we had a lot of activities to keep us busy, either way, summer has come and gone and the school season is upon us.

Ryan reached a milestone and started Kindergarten this year. We were lucky to have Ryan get the same Kinder teacher that James had. She does a great job with the kids and they all really like her. Ryan is doing great so far. He likes finishing up his homework so he can turn it in at the end of the week. Ryan also enjoys reading his “gold-star” books to us. He’s made quite a few friends and has settled into the routine of Kindergarten really well. We’re so excited that he enjoys school now!

We were also lucky that James got the same teacher he had last year. Because his teacher taught a combo 2nd/3rd class last year, she kept the 2nd graders she had to stay with her for 3rd grade. James is used to her style of teaching and he works well in her class. He was reunited with a lot of the kids he’s had in K-2 grade and that always helps with his learning environment.

This year, James also turns in homework every day (instead of on Fridays) and that has helped with our homework struggles of last year. He does his homework immediately and also continues to enjoy reading. We hope to encourage him to keep this up throughout the year.

Monday – We took Hawaiian Airlines this time. Yay! After last year’s fiasco of taking United and having multiple flights with no food and having to take the red-eye back, [...]]]> OK, we’ve been in Hawaii for almost a whole week and I’m finally getting around to putting something up on our blog. Here’s the rundown.

Monday – We took Hawaiian Airlines this time. Yay! After last year’s fiasco of taking United and having multiple flights with no food and having to take the red-eye back, I just decided to pay the extra cost for the convenience. And it was well worth it! But we are only staying in Oahu this time so there was no extra inter-island flight necessary. There was the usual airline food served but at least we got fed. The flight took a little longer because of headwinds so we arrived a bit later than anticipated. But getting through the airport security was a breeze and we had a nice uneventful flight.

We picked up our car and did our normal routine of stopping at Zippy’s for lunch. After checking into the hotel, we went to Wal-Mart and Foodland to pick up snacks and groceries for the week. That’s one of the nice things with having a full kitchen on vacation. We can save a lot of money on breakfast and lunch by cooking in the room. We had an early dinner and called it a night since we were still on Pacific time.

Tuesday – Because we were still adjusting to the new time zone, I woke up at 5am and went for a quick run. I did a 4 mile loop along the beach and Kalakaua Ave. It was actually kind of rough because of the humidity. My shirt was drenched with sweat by the time I was done. I’m sure I offended some of the people riding up the elevator with me. The boys were already up when I got back so we headed out to the beach for some early morning swimming and sun worshiping.

After lunch in the room we decided to check out the pool in our building and it was perfect for Ryan. It was 3.5ft deep at most and had nice hot tub also. Ryan loved it. It is now one of his favorite pools besides the "pirate pool" at the Westin on Maui.

We went out to Kalakaua Ave. that night for dinner and ended up at the Korean restaurant we almost always go to. They had changed it up a bit and turned it into a "hot pot" sort of place. But we tried to order just our usual dishes anyways. They let us, but the cost of the food much higher than I remember. I’m not sure if we’ll be going back there the next time we visit. It was around 8:00pm when we finished and the boys were super tired. I had to carry Ryan back most of the way. James was a trooper and was able to soldier on with us as we stopped into a couple of other stores on our way back to our hotel room.