Week 4 of too many

Monday:

Today is Labor Day, and I am thankful to have an extra day with my wonderful hubby.  Most people hate Mondays because they have to go to work, I hate Mondays because Justin has to go to work.  Being out here is lonely so I long for the weekends to get here so I have an adult to be with and spend some time with.  So, yes, I am thankful for Labor Day because it gives me another day with Justin.

Tuesday:

Moving Day!!!  I can't tell you how excited I was to get out of the hotel and into a real house.  I had been waiting several weeks for this day to come.  I couldn't wait to see our furniture, clothing, shoes, dishes, rugs and more importantly the computer!  I seriously wanted to hug everything as it came in the door.  We had last seen our things July 25th.  That was the day they started packing everything into boxes.  A day that I did not want to see the final product.  Just walking through my home with nothing in it was tough.  Anyways, the movers arrived at the new house around 10 a.m. and were finished around 4 p.m.  They set up all the beds, brought in all the heavy furniture and boxes, and set up remaining boxes in the garage that we probably wouldn't open the whole time we are here.  They were really helpful with all this as I knew what my max deadlift was and these boxes and furniture were too much of a competition.

Here are some pictures after the movers left.

       

 

It is chaos and we are slowing try to put it altogether again.  I hate it.  Too many boxes, too much stuff, too little of a house.

Wednesday:
Gracie and I took a break from unpacking to go play with some new friends.  We went swimming at a pool with a few moms and their little kiddos.  We have met all of the moms and kids before so it was nice to see them all again.  They are so sweet and so inviting...definitely makes me feel a bit better about being here.

Thursday and Friday:
Can't remember much of it so I'm assuming we spent those days unpacking.  I think the unpacking and trying to get all settled as quickly as possible is starting to affect Gracie a bit.  I just have to remember that not everything will get unpacked, I can't do it all in one day, and to remember to stop and play with my babe for a while.  She needs me, not half of me, but all of me.

Saturday:
Justin's Kiewit group had a get-together in Kailua, complete with food and dodgeball.  Needless to say, I did not want to show off my incredible dodgeball skills so I sat out with Gracie.  From the moment we got there, she went straight to the bounce house anyways, and we had a tough time getting her out of there.  She loves those things. Seriously.  She bounced while I watched her and Justin played dodgeball.  After we ate some lunch, which for Gracie consisted of cheetos, fruit juice, pb&j sandwich, grapes, goldfish and a cookie (most things we rarely have in our kitchen), we went over the little hill to hit the beach.  Absolutely beautiful!  It is a must-do when we have visitors.  Plus, the drive from Kapolei to Kailua is awesome!  I wish I had taken pictures to help you see the beauty of it.  Our mountains on this side of the island are a bit dry looking, the mountains to Kailua are lush and green and breathtaking.  Apparently, somewhere along that mountain range you can hike 3 peaks but they are dangerous.  They recently had people fall to their death. :( yikes, I won't be doing that hike or any if you really know me.  So, back to the beach.  Gracie had a blast!  She loves the waves and if she was taller and older she would have walked out further into the ocean.  She makes me so nervous!  She swallowed enough ocean water to make her choke multiple times and vomit once.  She does this really funny thing when she gets water in her mouth.  She scream/grunts until it is all out then cracks up hysterically.  She is such a goofball! Did I mention that she makes me nervous?  Eventually, we packed up and headed home in hopes to get the cable/internet working.

Speaking of which, the work ethic out here is a bit different than the mainlands.  From my perspective, they do everything at their own pace, when they want to, and they will only come back to help if it is convenient for them (which it never is).  So therefore, we did not get cable/internet fixed and missed another weekend of football...sad people.

Sunday:
Another uneventful day, so uneventful I don't remember any of it.  Plus, we didn't have cable/internet to do much else.  I think we went shopping or something or maybe that was Saturday night.  Since my full-time job is watching the little "I love to see my mom scared"Gracie, my days all run into each other.  I'm surprised I remembered any of this information actually :)

Until next time kids...

Week 3 of 150ish

Aww another week gone...that much closer to moving in.  Last week was pretty uneventful but I'll just fill you in on the "eventful" items.

Monday, we received the news that Justin's Great-Grandma A had passed away.  She lived a youthful 91 years.  Pretty amazing woman.  We were able to see her and spend some time with her before we left Omaha and feel very fortunate for that time.  Gracie may not remember her, but we will definitely remind her of what a sweet, fun, loving woman she was.

Tuesday, Gracie and I ventured out to Aiea to find the "DMV" type of place to register our Accord and to find the "bounce house" place.  I think we drove around for 15 minutes trying to find the dang DMV when I thought maybe this place was inside the super large mall and not its own little office space.  Sure enough, Justin was able to find the DMV and the bounce house inside the mall right next door to each other.  Perfect!  So Gracie jumped in the bounce houses for 45 minutes or so, and then we went over to register the car.  Holy long line!  There was a line down a hallway then it looked like a roller coaster line going side to side.  I gave up didn't even attempt to stand in line for what probably would have been 5 hours with my tired 2 year old.  So as of today (9-5-11), we have yet to register the car.  I am praying that I do not get pulled over by the cops.

We also did our 2nd load of laundry which cost us a total of around $20 for 3 washers and 3 dryers.  Seriously?  I thought doing your laundry at a laundromat was supposed to be cheap!  Maybe that is cheap, and I just don't know it.  The crappy part of all that was that even with the $20 spent, some of our clothes were still a little damp because it was closing time.  Thanks laundromat lady for the extra push to get out.

Wednesday, Justin worked the longest day here yet.  Didn't get to the hotel till 7:30 p.m. because traffic sucks here.  We ordered pizza for dinner and stayed in.

Thursday, we met some more new friends.  A couple that Justin works with, invited us over for dinner Thursday night.  They relocated here (just moved in their house 2 weeks ago) and are also working on the rail project.  They have 2 young daughters (ages 4 and 18 months).  We also got to meet another family with 2 kiddos (ages 9 and 4).  There dad works for Kiewit as well and on the same project as Justin.  It was so nice to have some adult time while Gracie got to have kid time.  She is seriously starting to get stuck like glue to me.  After Justin left the laundromat with her Wednesday night, she cried the whole way back to the hotel.  So, needless to say, her and I both needed the age appropriate time with others.  It was a great night, and I'm sure we will be doing it again.

Friday, Gracie and I just hung out at the hotel.  One unfortunate thing did happen that day.  Her little mini Jessie doll lost her head, literally!  She said, "Uh oh, Mommy Jessie head.  Mommy fix it."  Since we do not have our things yet, I don't have my super glue that I used to glue the original Jessie's leg back into place, or Bullseye's broken leg, or Buzz's space wings.  We searched for a new one all weekend but couldn't find one that matched what she had.  I'll be trying Target this week.  Target is my savior for many things anyways, so maybe I'll strike gold there.

Every Friday night, in Waikiki, they have a firework show.  Last week, Gracie and I missed out, so this week, we made sure we were in the hotel.  They were pretty cool.  Gracie loved watching them.  She talked about it until she went to bed.  I video'd it on my phone, and she loves replaying it to watch the fireworks over and over.

Saturday, we ran some errands in the morning and afternoon.  Not an eventful day whatsoever.  We did get another fireworks show that night which was a total surprise to us.  Gracie was so excited to go out on the balcony watch them again.

Sunday, we were invited by the Adams Family for a Labor Day BBQ and movie.  I feel so blessed to have met Karena because she has really helped me feel like a part of something here.  I got to see some familiar faces from the Scentsy party Karena had the week before and we also got to meet some new people.  Everyone is so friendly!  Meeting new people who are so kind and friendly will make this a great experience while we are here.  Gracie had a blast playing with her new friends as well!  They had "Finding Nemo" playing outside for the kids to sit and watch.  It was a beautiful night and perfect for the outside movie.

It's now Monday again, and we are getting ready to pack shhtuff up to get out of here!  We are absolutely excited to get out of the hotel and into our house.  So next time, I blog, I'll be sitting in our new house typing away to fill you all in again with some happenings from our island life.