thanksgiving 2012

This year was a unique yet fabulous Thanksgiving. Since Will is deployed my Grandma and cousin were kind enough to come all the way out to Hawaii to celebrate Thanksgiving with Harps and I! It was so nice to have some family and friendly faces being thousands of miles away; we were very thankful for that.  We also shared the day with some our Hawaiian Ohana and had an amazing combo of cuisines (I love combining family traditions!). It was a wonderful dinner and Harps really showcased her true toddler sass. A new typical Caffery holiday tradition... meltdown mode.

aloha Grandma and Missy!!!

 turkey time.

thanksgiving dress!

running beach baby... 

Macedonian Nut Farm!

and the best picture of the bunch... cool beach lady!

I have not taken nearly enough pictures of their wonderful visit! I have some photography work these last couple of days... We have done some beautiful beach hopping, went to the Macadamia Nut Farm, tried some local cuisine, some garden hopping, Pearl Harbor, Swap meet, surf watching... phew, lots of adventuring and we still have more to do!!! Mahalo to Grandma and Missy for spending the last week with Harpy and I! We have felt so forunate to have you here. 

xoxo,

allie

(another) blogger break

Phew, that was quite the hiatus.. in my defense, I have been busy playing Hawaiian tour guide and I had some technical difficulties but I have tons to catch up on...

1. We were so lucky to have one of my best friends from college visit this past week! Anne visited before Thanksgiving and we had tons of fun showing her everything. Harps and I are so lucky that people are willing to travel all the way out to Hawaii to see us! We recognize that it costs both time and money.... Anyway, we had a fabulous time with Anne! I believe the pictures do the talking..

some snorkeling...

dole plantation! 

sweet girl at park.. 

ka'ena point hike!

and the sweetest girl loving on a dog. 

These are just a couple of snap shots of her trip! I, unfortunately, did not do the best job photographing our adventures.  Anne we loved every moment of your visit and can't wait to see you again! Thank you for being so patient and loving with the Harper toddler, climber! We miss you already!!

xoxo,

allie

ps. next post is Thanksgiving and then my Grandma and Cousin's visit!!!!

Happy Veterans Day!

Happy Veterans Day to our favorite soldier (and to all of those who have served generations ago and are serving). We are so fortunate to be part of the Army Family right now and Veterans Day is an important day to take a moment and remember all of those who have fight for the rights we take for granted each and everyday. 

and... iPhone dump. I take so many photos on my phone and quickly email them to Will!

(sweet girl after church)

(daily park time)

ha, I put this in to showcase H shopping. She really wanted a toy and threw the biggest fit when I said no; I have a feeling this is the beginning of many toy, candy, shopping fits. 

and we took our Christmas Card Pictures last week.... Here are some of them... 

(with her Christmas Tree)

We love our little girl!!!

xoxo,

allie

Double Feature- Children's Museum and Color Run!

Happy Election Day. Can you believe it is already November 6th? That means Harps is almost 14 months old (craziness!), Will is redeploying in 6, 7, 8 (?) weeks!!, the Holiday season of visitors has officially begun, and finally the political ads are over. I can't not stand how negative politics have become... although only 25, and in the beginning of my voting life, I hate the year of continually negativity. I have Facebook friends from Connecticut, University of Wisconsin, and the military (aka both parties strongly represented) and today I was mortified by people's status! You have every right to state your opinion and should (it is a right!) but commenting on the race of a candidate or their religion or whatever crazy thing people came up with... you better Google some solid facts on their campaign platforms and post those. It is so embarrassing for our generation and frankly, really unconvincing. We need to be better than that for future generations; we need to set the example. Okay, onward we go! The election season is over and Harps and I had a fantastic day at the Honolulu Children's Museum.

Harps is the perfect age for the Children's Museum. They have different room that cater to ages 0-10 and three stories to explore! We were lucky enough to meet two of Harp's favorite friends there.  Harps loved the rainforest room that was very tot friendly but also adored the "bigger" kids little fake town section. I have a feeling we have many more trips in our future!

(Hi Ray!)

(this is her newest face, she is trying to act very "strong" and move the display in the pineapple farm)

(hi Teddy!)

and this Saturday we did the Color Run. The Color Run is a 5k were you run through different "colors"'; basically volunteers throw colors at you and at the end you are basically a color mess. Fun right? No worries, the colors are just cornstarch and completely non toxic (although my hair has a slight orange tint still, ugh!). Harps joined me with a rain cover and she seemed to have tons of fun. Honestly, I would say it is a one time experience.... very messy but fun.

(i am not sure I am a cape type of girl, 

but everyone was dressed crazy and it was perfect for the event! Yes, lots of orange all over me)

Google "color run" for some more crazy pictures... These honestly don't do it justice!

Phew, did you survive this long post?!

xoxo,
allie

bake sale

Today our FRG had a redeployment bake sale outside of the PX... the combination of delicious baked goods, the word redeployment, and some stellar saleswomen brought in over 500.00 dollars. I was honestly shocked but so thrilled. Who knew cookies, banana bread, and brownies would raise so much money?  We are two months (ish) away from redeployment and spirits are starting to rise... Since all of the soldiers are coming back around the Christmas time frame, we will be very busy creating some "Christmas cheer" in the single soldier barracks. Exciting, exciting.

and of course the little lady girl. Busy all the time.

Every night we have been going to the playground for an hour... Harps adores that hour. She runs, climbs, explores, and slides the whole time. We are so lucky to be outside in October enjoying the warm 70 degrees.

xoxo,
allie

trick or treat 2012

Although this is Harps second Halloween, this was the first year she could actually go trick or treating. Since she is only 13 months old, we only went "trick or treating" on two blocks but boy, she was excited and towards the end understood the concept of getting candy at each house. She also adored her costume... (This morning when she woke up she went and got it to put back on).  She was the sweetest Hawaiian flower. Mama even splurged and let her have her first candy bar last night... chocolate overload. I think Halloween is such an exciting time for little kids and it marks the beginning of a fabulous Holiday season! We are so excited it is November... only two more months (ish) of deployment!!

xoxo,
allie