Well, we are retiring to PA in June!  John is job searching.  I am househunting and we are cramming beach trips in every chance we get.  One more island hop, at least. We have to go to the Big Island and see the volcano. 

This happened very suddenly, but we are all very excited to be moving close to family and having a real home.  Please keep Johnnie in your prayers.  He is excited and nervous about entering the civilian sector and supporting his family.  I know he can do it!

This will still be my Ohana page to keep in touch with outlying friends, but maybe there won't be so many interesting things to see, in future.  Still, if you feel the need to see us, we will only be a click away.

Love,
Kathy

Today was the 66th anniversary of the attack at Pearl Harbor.  We have met a small handful of the survivors here and there.  They can tell some very heart-rending accounts of that day.  We went today to see the healing field and we met another survivor who came from San Diego to remember and to witness the opening of a new memorial on Ford Island.  The healing field is a field of flags in remembrance.  Each of the 2500 flags had a purple ribbon to recognize a fallen soldier from  the Pearl Harbor Attack.  We bought one for a soldier who died on the Arizona.  The money raised will support the Arizona Memorial Museum, which is sinking.  The field is a baseball field that our new survivor friend used to play on when off duty.  We all climbed the bleachers to look out across the sea of red, white, and blue.  It was an amazing tribute. 

Ethan and Morgan are celebrating their 10th and 6th birthdays this week.  Hard to believe!  Ethan is in 5th grade and taking Kung Fu.  Morgan is in 1st grade and taking Hula.  She is also doing Drama Club.

We went to visit the Bird-guy last week and he had a Sun Conure with a disability.  She had chewed her digits off one foot when she got tangled in a chewed up rope toy.  He commented that he would have to sell her very cheap, and I jumped on that bus in a hurry!  So, for an early birthday present, Johnnie bought me Coconut.  She still has her baby coloring, Fully grown, she will be very bright yellow, orange, green, and blue.  Ok, we call her she, but there is no way to know other than DNA testing.  We are having so much fun working with her.  Freedom has come around rather quickly, Rexi's nose is out of joint.  It doesn't help that they were the resident Dove catchers.  Yes, the Doves fly right in the house through the back door all the time.  No, we can't close the back door, due to the heat. No, there is no way to add a screen door since the door opens out.  Anyway, Rexi is having a hard time not "catching" Coconut when she flutters around. 

I still hate my house, but we all like going to the beach.  Unfortunately, the beach visits are not often enough to make me forget my house woes.  John's business is going well. We still don't know what we will do when we finish here.  He may stay in three more years and go to DC.  He may get out and take a job on the east coast until we can get his business well-established. 

I think that is it on this end for now...
Love
Kathy

Well, 3 and 1/2 months have gone by since we arrived.  It is hot and humid--not as hot as the east coast is experiencing, but we don't have any air conditioning.  It is usually 90 in the house, today the air conditioner cooled us from 90 to 88!!!!  Oh well!  Maybe in this sauna, I can lose the extra pounds I put on from sitting on my duff for 3 months. 

John is babysitting the young soldiers quite a bit.  I can't say he enjoys their stupidity.  He found time to go offroading again.  I will try to post some pics of that.  He and Ethan are now into Remote control rock crawlers.  John is building one for Ethan, after Ethan begged to have his own as Daddy was having trouble sharing.  Our yard is perfect for it.  We have little rock piles on the slope for them to climb.  John has taken over Ethan's scout troop.  This has everyone most excited.  Last year's leader was TDY often and it was difficult for the kids to earn badges. 

Morgan is enjoying her acting classes.  After her second week, she had an audtion with Disney.  They loved her and said to keep her in training.  The rumour was they were looking for teenagers to start a Hawaiian Sitcom on Disney.  We will see....  Everywhere we go, Morgan charms the people we meet.  At a second visit to a restaurant, the waiter remembered Morgan from the previous visit.  Today, at the botanical garden, two of the staff on two separate occasions stopped to comment on Morgan.  Well, I took advantage of their attention to ask questions about the plants.  Anyway, Morgan is one of those kids who can charm the pants off everyone she meets.  She is playing soccer this summer and getting excited about starting Kindergarten (at home with me). 

Ethan is maturing so much this summer.  He is so helpful around the house and really enjoys teaching and caring for Morgan.  Ethan is also playing soccer, and is not quite so excited about starting school in a few weeks as Morgan is.  He will also be homeschooled for 4th grade this year.  If it ain't broke...  Ethan's test scores were far above average, showing that he is thriving at home.  Don't worry, if you saw the calendar of events for the homeschool children here, you would see he will get plenty of socialization.

I am BORED out of my mind.  The house is small, so cleaning doesn't take as much time as it used to do.  I am not teaching, yet.  It is very hot during the day making me sluggish.  I have caught well up on my reading this summer.  It WAS nice to be lazy for a while, but I am ready to roll, now.  I am coaching Morgan's soccer team, and I am in charge of planning all the homeschool field trips.  The momentum is starting to pick up, but won't get going until mid-August or early-September.   Still, Johnnie and I are trying to find me a hobby.  Any ideas???

We are planning a local vacation, renting a little duplex at Bellows Beach.  We will do some daytripping, too.  John is planning a week off in August.  We are all excited about it. 

Some of the photos I  am loading are from Bellows Beach, Foster's Botanical Gardens, and a view of the city on the 4th from our neighbor's house.  Oh yeah!  Another neighbor, cut down her mango tree, it widened our own view wonderfully!

Well, blah, blah, blah!  That is enough for now!

Love Kathy 

I have come to realize I am back in the real Army again. After 9 years of living near Washington DC and working in the Pentagon and for the White House things have changed in the Army. When we arrived in Hawaii, I was told that our unit was going to Deploy to PTA in May of this year.

On 18 May I left the Island of Oahu on an airplane to the Big Island of Hawaii. I didn't know what to expect, and all I was told was that we were going to PTA which is in between the mountains of Moana Kea and Moana Loa at an elevation of about 6500 feet. Later that day after a 2 hour ride from the town of Kona on a back country rode we enter a small Army Base built in the early 40's. It is situated in the middle of nowhere with nothing to do and nothing to see except Lava and shrubs for miles. The nearest town is 30 miles away.

My job there was tiled "Battalion Battle NCO." Basically I sat at a desk, and kept track of where all the companies movements and where they were located at all times. I worked from 6:00 AM until approximately 9:00 PM every day from 20 May - 2 June. a far cry from the 9:00 to 5:00 jobs of the last years.

I enjoyed the scenery there and there are a couple of Pics in the photo albums section.