2009 Dive Competition

Christmas 2008

Happy Valentine's Day

I know, I know, it's been forever since I have written, and promised I would post every month! So, get comfy, and prepare yourself for a long read.

Skyler turned 9 in December and it wasn't the momentous event I hoped. I was expecting him to wake and magically be different (only a little)! He has been difficult lately, lying, getting into trouble at school, not having any friends, the only upside was his diving. He and his only friend then, was his diving partner Max..... two firecrakers they were! Unfortunately, diving was taken away with a new law passed, and HALO took over with an abundance. Chase and Skyler can be found playing for hours on end if we let them. After Skyler's b-day, Jeff informed me that his plane was flying to FTW, Tx for a couple days then a turn-around home 2 days before Christmas, did me and the boys want to go? Hell Yeah! After an awful longgggggggggg flight we got into fort woth after midnight in temperatures below freezing, and us three barely dressed past aloha wear. BBBBBRRRRRRRRR.

We enjoyed the whole next day with Miranda, David and Devon, Jason was spending Christmas with his mom unfortunately. The boys also got to see their old BFF's from our neighborhood, and Jeff and I had a moment of longing as we passed our home. It was a very short trip that was priceless, after not having seen my daughter in 2 years, I would have still done it for only 15 minutes! Christmas came and went very easily, and we spent New Year's hiking on what turned out to be the first clear and sunny day in months, and months to come in the near future. We hiked up to the lighthouse, and then drove around the island, we stopped at the Old Pali Lookout, and walked it for awhile. The views are incredible. On the first weekend in January, Skyler was able to complete his diving competition that he had been training 6 months for. His partner Max took gold in the 1 meter dives, and Skyler took silver. Skye took gold in 3 meter dives and Max took silver. It was an outstanding day, we were oh so proud. The month went by uneventful. We are now in February and we celebrated Chase's 11th b-day. He asked some of his friends to the bowling alley and then they camped out in the garage and played Halo all night. Jeff left the next day and has been in Georgia ever since. He sent me a lovely bouquet of roses and carnations, a balloon and chocolate...he certainly surprised me!

I have really condensed the past three months for you, and I hope it hasn't been too bad. We are trying to absorb as much of the good there is here in Hawaii before our time runs out, but really there hasn't been much to say. The boys are both well, getting good grades, and both were accepted for their school's fitness team. This is Chase's 3rd year and Skye's first. I will keep you updated on their upcoming meets. We only have about 3 months remaining here, and our future is still uncertain. I wish I had news to give, but as of yet we still do not know where we are going. Rest assured, we won't stay here!!!! Well that brings me to date. Please scroll through, for I have added new pictures, and video of Skye's diving meet, and Chase's school performance on his birthday.

Happy Birthday goes out to:

Jonathan Gastin Dec. 1

Skyler & Ryan Miller Dec. 6th

Gareth Gastin Jan. 1

Scott Croucher Jan. 4

Carol Miller Jan. 25

Chase Miller Feb. 10

Patsy Mann (my mom) Feb. 11

Michael Frantzen Feb. 11

Jaden Miller Feb.28 (I think??)

Thanksgiving in Paradise!!!!!

Happy Turkey Day,

We hope everyone had a wonderful day spent with someone or someones' they love. We spent the day quietly as a family and prepared an awesome dinner with 3 different kinds of dessert. It was a relatively quick month and now we are staring at Christmas before we know it. Jeff (crazy!!!) went out about 3 am to get with the masses waiting for the doors for stores to open at 5. He didn't find anything, but felt he had to stick with tradition. Christmas will be tight as we are trying to save for retirement, which is in 7 months.....woohoo! I don't believe there were any birthdays this month, but I will give a shout-out to my mom & Archie for celebrating 9 yr anniversay.

Love and miss everyone.

Happy Halloween

Happy Fall everyone~

Fall has come quickly and with it it has brought Hawaii's version of fall weather....rain, rain, and more rain. The boys got their first report cards of this school year and Boy! was it an eye opener for me!! Both boys were struggling and I had no idea,Chase is barely passing in Science, that didn't go over well with Jeff who has a degree in it, but unfortunately Jeff was away when this was going on. Skyler was moved into a new 3rd grade class, created due to too many third graders this year. Well during this whole transition and then after, he decided that writing down homework assignments and then doing them was TOO much, and thus chose not to. Let me just say it was 2 very LONG days off doing nothing but homework, those were the longest 8 hours of my life. Skyler went on his 1 of 2 field trips to have pumpkin farm, and I actually got to go to as an EA for another 3rd grade class. It was kind of cool seeing pumpkins and watermelons growing in Hawaii. Skyler is still diving and he amazes me with how far he has advanced, he and a fellow dive student (Max) are learning the steps to put a back somersault together.... the boys are working hard to prepare for a series of dive meets starting Jan 3, 2009. Chase is still being a bum, but that is due to Mokapu Elementary dropping the ball again and not getting their fitness team up as of yet, all other schools that we will compete against next spring have been in practice for over a month. Jeff was gone for Halloween, hopefully the last one he will have to miss. The boys had a great time, Chase was the comical version of the villain from Scream, and Skyler was a demented Jester. The neighborhood we live in now rolls out the red carpet for this holiday and at 5:59 there was packs of kids waiting to knock on doors. I ran out of candy after an hour and fifteen minutes in, WOW there were sooooooo many kids! During the long 4 day weekend, we went to my favorite spot on the island, bellows beach and the boys played sand snow ball fights, quite amusing.

Big Island Vacation

We arrived on the big island Saturday afternoon around 4 pm and drove our rental 4X4 Trailblazer up to the camp where we were staying, elevation 4,000'. After getting our 2 bedroom with a fireplace cabin, we decided to tour the camp ground. We checked out the rec room filled with video games, pool tables, a mini theater and a mini bowling alley. We ate dinner at the cafeteria, and saw a movie that night. Sunday morning we drove back down to Hilo which is where we flew into, a lovely 45 minute drive to eat breakfast and go to the zoo. The zoo was very small and took us less than an hour to tour, but in that time we came face-to-face with some neat animals. I had an instant love affair with Zoe the blue macaw. We left the zoo and decided to visit two unique beaches, one black and the other green. Reaching these beaches we had to first drive on highway 11 through some serious volcanic wastelands...it got old fast. Black sand beach was very easy to find and it being a Sunday very popular with the locals and tourists. The beach was littered here and there with green sea turtles just snoozing away. We left there feeling fine and ventured on. Now reaching green sand beach proved to be more challenging, but a memory filled one. We passed our turn and ended up at the end of the road (Literally), which happens to be the most southern point in the USA, from there we did some off-roading to reach the parking area to the beach. I don't know what came over Jeff and I, I can only describe it as a total Griswald experience. To reach this beautiful experience we had to hike 2-1/2 miles over lava rock and scrub terrain. Sounds relatively easy right? No water, no lunch, improper footwear and wet sand covered clothing made it the walk from hell, that took almost 5 hours to complete, barely making it back before dark. Yeah, laugh all you want, but I'm still having nightmares!

Monday we drove to location of the most recent lava flow, to reach it you drive over a lava field that goes on for miles. Shockingly there were homes being built, and land for sale, the For sale by owner sign cracked me up. From there we drove on a one lane roller coaster road along the coast to reach a natural volcanically heated pool, the temp was about 91, blissful bathwater. The local bathers was a little scary at times. After lunch time we drove to Rainbow falls, and while the boys (all 3 of them) climbed to the top, I stayed below and listened to ukulele music. Late afternoon we drove back to the crater our camp is located in and from there viewed a huge active volcano vent. Tuesday was our day for driving, as we wanted to drive to the top of Mauna Kea (white mountain) which is over 13,000' above sea level and from Dec-Mar is covered in snow. At the top there are observatories that study astronomy. It was actually really BORING at the top, but the drive up and down (4X4 only) was AMAZING. My favorite thing of all was the sign posted cautioning: Beware Invisible Cows! Truly, I am not pulling your leg. From the mountain we drove around saddle road towards Parker Ranch, a 225,000 acre working ranch, the size of which is equal to 2/3 of Ohua...WOW! We visited another water fall - Akaka Falls. We drove back to where the lava has been flowing and walked the mile long route of lava rock to the water, but luck wasn't with us...no lava flow that day. Disappointed and road weary (9 hours worth of driving) we went up to the crater to do some exploring. We did a very easy and pleasant hike up to Thurstan Lava tubes and that was cool and scary knowing you were under ground in a cave that was formed by lava flow. After dinner that night we went back to see the active vent at night, and it was frightening to see it lit up like a huge bonfire. Wednesday, our last day we spent the last couple hours before our flight driving down crater rim road, stopping at different craters and lava areas that have occurred at different times in the past. At the very end of this road it is blocked off and deserted, signs telling you to not stop and to just turn around. Oh hell no, not the Griswalds, we park get out and hike over dangerous lava rock with deep fissures to peer over the edge at a part of the island that's not there anymore, it crumbled in during an earthquake. But, interestingly enough off to the right we could see "Laze" (lava + water) this was the active lava flow entering the ocean that at that time was only visible from air. Our vacation ended with a 40 minute flight back to our island, where we literally ran to our Jeep, through luggage in back and sped off to get the dogs from their vacation at Nalowinds kennel before they closed. Please enjoy the photos I have added, and know we love and miss everyone!

Happy Birthday Princess "Bling-Bling"

Happy Birthday goes out to our granddaughter Devon, she is 2 today! I also want to send a shout-out to Katelyn Renee Croucher born Aug 28 th to Scott & Pam Croucher, happy birth-day to my lil' southern Belle!!!! On a sadder, yet positive note, ask any and all that read my blog to all send out a prayer of fast recovery to my dear father-in-law Bob, he suffered a heart attack on friday, Aug 29th, he is slowly but surely recovering in ICU, and is surrounded my his loving wife Carol and his 3 sons, Danny, Jeff & Ryan and their families. Myself and the boys are unable to be there and it hurts that we can't. Bob, I love you and I wish in so many different ways that I could be there even if for nothing more than touching your hand. Carol, I love you, and I admire you tremendously, you are a brave & strong woman, and surrounded by the sons you gave birth to and raised, you have every reason to be proud. My heart is with you all in spirit, and everyday my prayers go out to you.

The boys have finished their first month of school and doing great, they fill me with pride at how smart they are. Skyler is starting back to dive practice twice a week again, and his coach sat him down and told him he was going to start training him on a more advanced level, he will be learning dives that would be taught to 10-11 yr olds. There is a dive meet next spring that Skyler will compete in 3 different age/skill groups. Pray for him as well, for patience and listening, for he is still an 8 yr old boy!! Chase is going out for the track/fitness team for the 3rd year, and this year Skyler is old enough to tryout too! We will most likely stay in Hawaii until the boys have finished their school year, so that means they will both be able to go to all the meets and competitions for their prospective sports. As much as I HATE Hawaii, my boys come first, and I believe sports are as important as school.