Our Whirlwind World

Last Thursday these brand new homes transformed from merely standing empty and void of laughter, tears, and shouts of glee and frustration. Life was breathed into these homes as moving vans made their way down the lane and we all began to move in. Kids are riding on bikes, dogs are barking in yards, and shouts of joy are heard when the last box is cleared from the house. Lanais are coming to life as families sit down to meals and transform the sounds of the night into clinks of glasses and are later followed by the sound of shutting doors as we all head in for the night.

Our clan always seems to find ways to keep us busier than one armed paper hangers. Usually I'm secretly begging for a quiet, meditative life, but quickly realize that the life we lead will never get me that so I have embraced the chaos and know that for me I live off projects. This week has certainly taken the cake as being full of a whirlwind carnival atmosphere and within it hidden gems of "firsts" that have helped this brand new house evolve into our Hawaii home sweet home.


The neighborhood already is crawling with kids around HS's age. It seems to be the unwritten rule of military kids that they be friendly, outgoing, and easily adaptable. Within hours of the moving trucks departing for the day the pack of kids, who would soon become friends, began the route down the lane and then in front of the houses on their bikes. Some of them stopped for HS and asked if he wanted to ride. Only problem: he still rode on training wheels and the realization that they were his age and without training wheels has inspired him to get rid of them and he quickly learned to ride without. We chalk the success to abandoned runways with plenty of room to learn balance, karate which has made him used to dealing with balance of his rather awkward body, and peer pressure. Regardless, bye-bye kiddy training wheels...hello bike rider!


LD could not let HS be the only one to do something for the first time. She has decided that baby food is not good enough for her princess palate. At a moment of exasperation that she was reaching for everything but what I was trying to feed her, I let her try chopped up baked spaghetti thinking all the while there is no way an 8 month old is going to want something with olives, mushrooms, beef, and bell pepper. Slowly I placed a morsel of it into her awaiting mouth...her eyes went wide, her arms reached out, and her chubby fingers grasped for the spoon...give me MORE she seemed to say. More she was given and now she is a mad girl on a mission...FOOD! Dinner is now table food mashed, chopped, or smashed and she adores that she is sitting with us, proudly eating and chatting with her little family. What a delight she is!

Finally, we were one of the shouts of glee heard throughout the new neighborhood as we placed our last moving box outside. The moving company came yesterday to get our boxes and now our house is shaping up after only a week. Yee-haw! Although HH and I feel like work horses and every muscle in my back is screaming for me to halt whatever it is that I think I'm doing to them, I feel great that we can see the end to the "where does it go" fiasco of moving in.


There you have it, our whirlwind world. It's time for me to enjoy that glass of champagne I wrote about in my previous post so I'll leave you with one last thought. If you listen carefully to the breeze blowing outside your window you may be able to hear us calling for you to come visit our B&B nested in paradise...we're almost open for business!