The Big Ball

Okay, we finally know what this is. Sea-Based X-Banded Radar, a mobile radar system designed to operate in high winds and heavy seas. It's part of the US Defense Dept. Ballistic Missile Defense Syst. The radar is mounted on a Russian oil drilling platform. Those of you in the navy might under stand this-aegis uses S band, the Patriot uses a higher frequency C band, and this uses an even higher frequency X band. It can track a baseball in San Fransisco from the Chesapeake Bay. It moved here to HI because of the missiles being launched in North Korea. It just left port here to go toward NK.
I took this picture and the info off the web so no secrets were shared. It's amazing what one can find.

Summer Week Four

All morning this week we have had VBS. It is a super action packed, high paced week. We are learning about DNA and the body.
Each of the kids are on a team and I am leader of the Blue Genes.

loads of dancing and singing,

watching skits,

Evan isn't too into the dancing part,

a giant microscope,

woe, cool, somebody is checking us out.

Eating lunch between VBS and basketball camp.

Evan gets to do basketball camp this week. He has a nice shot.

Owen is enjoying this week more...maybe because Daddy has been picking them up and taking them to eat out afterwards! From last Friday until Wednesday of this week Erik had been working non-stop on a big job-a job that has never been done before in the Navy. So his team of divers were the first. He was pretty stressed and we didn't see much of him at all. Hopefully we will get to celebrate Father's Day this weekend.

Bestfriends

Double Rainbow

That was far prettier in real life.

White-rumped Shama

I should do a post on birds. We have some amazing birds here. This bird we heard on a very remote hike we did on Kauai. It is not a bird we commonly see-actually Kauai was the only time, so you can imagine how excited we were when we saw it in front of our house. It's considered one of the finest song birds. As a matter a fact I took a video of it singing on Kauai but I am having trouble getting it to load.

This is a picture I found on the web so you can get an idea of how it really looks.

Bible Study I am Working On

Thankful Thursday

Our church's VBS

the kids look forward to VBS all year

I get to help with VBS

my husband loves me

for my parents

my friend Traci

the Tour is starting soon!

Bible Study I am Working On

Friday's Flowers

Thankful Thursday

Erik is well

Erica delights in life

Owen makes me laugh

Evan persevered & did it

kind and understanding people

who are patient with my children

Michelle still calls me

Summer Week Three

This week the kids have had camps.
In the morning Erica and Owen go to soccer camp. Owen has been enjoying it.

Evan has been taking scuba.

In the afternoons Owen and Erica have basketball camp.

Oh Canada, this is the view from where the gym is for basketball. A Canadian ship is in port right now. The Battleship Missouri is in the background. The Big Ball loomed right behind it up until this morning.

The Big Ball Left HI

We were heading toward base this morning and Owen noticed the Big Ball was leaving. It's kind of sad, we'll miss seeing it all the time. It usually heads to Alaska for the summer.

How Did You Spend Your Saturday?

Erik has been sick the past two weeks. This is what he did all day Saturday so no hiking pictures this weekend either. He took today off of work.

Interesting Family History

Mentioning the Hiltons and their relationship to England and France, the Hilton line is directly traceable back to King John and if you go further back you go to France and King John’s parents were Henry II, King of England who was married to the famous Eleanor of Aquitaine, former wife of Louis VII, King of France,

taking it back one more generation it’s just as interesting because the parents of Henry II were Geoffrey V “Plantagenet”, Count of Anjou who was married to Princess Matilda of England, Dowager Empress of Germany, widow of Emperor Henry V of Germany,

taking it back another generation and you have King Henry I of England who was married to Matilda of Scotland,

the next generation was King William I of England who was married to Matilda of Flanders,

the next generation was Robert I “The Devil” Duke of Normandy, Crusader who I understand was somewhat of a devil during the crusades and he died fighting in Turkey during the Crusades

but his father strangely enough was Richard II “The Good”, Duke of Normandy who was married to Judith of Brittany,

from there it goes through more really interesting people all the way back to Charlemagne, King of France and Emperor of the West, I believe it was Charlemagne’s grandfather who defeated the Muslim invasion of Europe, so as you can see we come from a long line of “The Devil” and well as “The Good” something like the Clint Eastwood move “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” but we didn’t have any ancestors called “The Ugly” at least not officially anyway.

Friday's Flowers

Flowers from the koa wood tree (you can see the base admiral's house in the back ground),

close up of the flowers on the tree below,

these orange flowers are so beautiful, when they are all in bloom driving down this road is such a pleasure because the trees line both sides.

these flowers come in various shades of pink, peach, white, and cream...

this tree is spectacular, it is just "dripping" with long branches of beautiful white and pink flowers,

close up of the flowers.

Our "Camp" Fire

The kids love when we do a fire and cook dinner in it. It makes for the sweetest evening.
Evan starting the fire...

cooking hotdogs,

roasting marshmallows (the best part) then a few silly scary stories as the fire dies.

Thankful Thursday

Erica

always has a smile

sees the good in everything

has a heart for Jesus

reminds me to pray

very hard to be mad at

very loving

a total mess (it keeps me humble)

Fun Week

I just love summers. Our summer schedule is always so much fun. Week 2 is coming to a close.
Evan is getting ready to start his scuba class. I am really impressed with how serious he is taking it. They need to have their lessons done by Monday and he has been working pretty diligently on it.

Last day of morning swimming for the boys. Owen has discovered the thrills of going off the high dive.

Erica has been going off all week too. She says she feels like she is flying.

Remembering D-Day

I know, I am a couple days late. These are pictures I took in Normandy on my last trip to France. It was a pretty solemn experience. The area of Normandy is very beautiful.

My Dad (he totally needs to keep a blog) told me the coolest thing recently-his grandparents descend from Normans; the Mullinix's (yes, the spelling has been Anglicised) from Moulineaux, Normandy and the Hilton's who settled in England around 895. Evan, of course, is very happy to know that we are just a bunch of Barbarians.