Once again, we experienced a deep sense of satisfaction as we roamed the neighborhoods begging for candy trick-or-treating and watched lightbulb after lightbulb go on over peoples' heads as they put two and two (and two) together and figured out we were all in costume cahoots together.  Halloween 2009 was a success (minus one hat and one wig which caused more drama - and laughter - than could have been expected).

The Campbell Crew, Toy Story style...



Mr. Potato Head and his Missus

 

Little green army man at least 1000x magnified...



Howdy howdy howdy.  I'm Woody.



To infinite...and beyond!



And Jessie the Yodeling Get-this-wig-and-hat-off-me Cowgirl

 

How sweet and cooperative she was the night before at our church's Trunk or Treat activity!  Like a completely different child.

 

You've got a friend in me...



Happy Halloween!

"This month is such a special one it's birthday time for..." Ben and Brady!  (If you're not singing a song right about now, maybe you should listen to THIS and you'll understand my little reference there hehehe.)  Brady turned EIGHT on October 5th and Ben turned TWELVE on October 9th.  These are really important milestone ages in our church so this has been a pretty exciting month for our family and especially our two birthday boys.

Here are a few pics from the boys' birthdays.  Yes, Brady's gifts are wrapped in leftover pink from Molly's birthday.  I assure you he was not the least bit offended.  In fact he requested it when I was pulling out wrapping paper. The boy heard the phrase "Tough guys wear pink" and latched onto it as his life mantra.  He calls it his favorite color, even.    For his birthday he got a scrapbook about him, age 6 (yeah yeah... I'm a bit behind), a High School Musical Dance game and mat (!!!!!) and some Pokemon cards, including a Charisard card he's been drooling over for months ( )  He was thrilled with his gifts, and delighted with his cake (must have sprinkles!)

   

Ben had asked for white cake with cookie dough ice cream.  I'd gotten off schedule on his birthday and hadn't picked up his ice cream or wrapped his presents, so I left the present wrapping in Grandma's capable hands (my folks were both here the week of the boys' birthdays!) while I bolted to the store to pick up ice cream.  As you can see from Ben's struggle, Grandma is much fancier with her ribbon tying than Mom is.  Ben got his scrapbook, age 10 (yeah yeah...), an XBox 360 game and a model airplane kit.  He was thrilled.  And for cake?  No sprinkles please! "I hate sprinkles!"  Yes, sir!  (Please no praise for my mad cake decorating skillz.  I already know how much I rock.  )

 

So the birthdays themselves were super fun and the kids enjoyed their gifts and treats and stuff.  But the really special day came for both of them on Sunday October 11th.  Ben graduated from the Primary program (children's group) at church and advanced to the Young Men group.  Age 12 is an important one for young men in our church.  "In the Church today, worthy male members may receive the Aaronic Priesthood beginning at age 12. These young men, typically ages 12–17, receive many opportunities to participate in sacred priesthood ordinances (like passing the sacrament) and give service. As they worthily fulfill their duties, they act in the name of the Lord to help others receive the blessings of the gospel."  (From www.mormon.org)  Ben was so excited to be ordained as a deacon, and was especially grateful that both of his grandpas were there to be part of his ordination.





Sunday was a very special day for Brady, as well.  In our church, we believe that children reach the age of accountability when they turn 8 years old, and at that time they can choose to be baptized as members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.  Brady had been looking forward to this time ever since Ben was baptized!  He was so excited that his special day had arrived.   We don't take pictures of the actual baptism, but it was very special.  He was baptized by Willy in a baptismal font at our church, where he was fully immersed in the water.  It was so special to see my second son choose to be baptized and then be confirmed a member of the church.  I can't believe I didn't get pictures of it, but I'd made Brady a white fuzzy yarn lei for him to wear.  It turned out beautifully (if I do say so myself!) despite being my first attempt at lei making.  I'll have to take pictures of it another time.  I was really pleased with myself, and he was really excited about it, too.

 

And if all that weren't enough...  Sunday was the first day Molly (who has hit 18 months old!) got to go to the children's nursery for the first time.  And she actually stayed there and didn't cry!!!!    LOL.  So it was a special and exciting day for 3 of our 4 kids (and one especially relaxing day for Willy who usually has to try to entertain Molly while listening to Sunday School lessons and such hehehe)

Still working on playing catch-up, but I didn't want to let this part of the last month get any farther behind.   It was a really neat family week!!  Thanks for peeking.

This is a blog entry I started about 6 weeks ago and never finished....d'oh.  Worth sharing some pictures though so here you have it.   Just a "bit" late!

My kids are off track already and so we've been looking for fun new things to do during their break from school.  Brady was fighting that ear infection so we haven't been able to spend time in the water like normal, so we really needed something different.  Enter letterboxing!  Letterboxing is like geocaching but without the GPS.  People hide a little treasure box and provide clues as to the box's location.  In the treasure box you find a stamp (often times hand created!) and a little notebook or pad of paper for you to log that you found the box and see how many others have found the box since it was "planted".  We've chosen two letterbox clues to follow so far and have been delighted by where the treasure hunts have taken us so I wanted to share a few pictures of our adventures!

Last week we were led to an AMAZING location on the island.  It's called Kukaniloko and is known also as "The Birthing Stones".  There is a cluster of dozens of large stones in the center of a small grove of trees, surrounded by farm fields and a protective circle of guardian boulders.  It's amazing.  It's where royal families as long ago as 800 years would send their women to give birth.  It's considered sacred land and absolutely felt amazing to be there.  The kids were very respectful and quiet while we were there, but were super excited when they found our first letterbox!  We had brought a little turtle stamp to stamp the booklet indicating we'd found the letterbox.  We wrote in the initials for our login name "Campbell Crew" with the date we found it.  It was really fun for the kids to treasure hunt and strike gold on the first try!


                  

The following week we were led to a letterbox in Portlock which is a wealthy part of the island near Hanauma Bay and Koko Marina.  We had to climb down a fairly treacherous, dark and steep path and then emerged onto this beautiful rock cliff overlooking the ocean.  I had all the kids with me but couldn't take Toby and Molly down the steep and slippery climb, so I left Ben with the littles in the car while Brady and I went hunting first, then once I knew where it was and knew we could get to it quickly, I left Brady with the littles and went back down with Ben to let him find it.  (My legs were BURNING after the climb!)  But once again, SUCCESS!  This one was much trickier to find which made it even more exciting!  (Although the first location is now one of my favorite places on the island...)

                    

The third week of the kids' off-track break, we attempted one more letterbox hunt.  Unfortunately we found the exact spot the clue led us to, but the box was no longer there.  Still a fun hunt in a place we really enjoy called Tracks Beach Park (Willy's favorite snorkeling hangout!)  We went there the day Willy took me out to a place referred to as the Turtle Cleaning Station where we saw 3 beautiful turtles lining up for the fish to eat algae and other growth off their shells.  It's an amazing place to visit and was a doozy of a swim.  I've never ever swam so far as I did that day, and I did great getting out there but pushed myself "a bit" too hard on the way back in and practically hyperventilated and had a panic attack.  Next time I take a boogie board FOR SURE so I can just float and relax when I need to instead of feeling the need to quickly get back to shore.  In any case, it was an AMAZING morning swimming with my hubby but disappointing for the boys to not find the letterbox.

   
 
This last pic is of something that cracked Willy and I up.  Someone must have found an abandoned mask and snorkel and dressed up this buoy with it.  Too fun!
 

So as promised... the beginning of some major catching up!  More later tonight or tomorrow!

I just heard some squawking coming from the kitchen.  I'd heard the large pantry cupboards being opened and closed repeatedly (a common pastime for Miss Molly).  I knew Toby had been in the kitchen with her, so I jumped to what I thought was the logical conclusion.

Me:  Toby!  Let Molly out of the cupboard!

Toby (in a muffled voice):  Molly's not in the cupboard.  I am.

Me:  Well why is she squawking?

Toby:  I won't let her come in.

Me:  Well let her go in the cupboard then!

Did I really just instruct my 4 year old to let my 17 month old into the cupboard?  I'm not sure if this is an example of negligent parenting or one of my super cool mom moments.  Either way, the squawking stopped. 

I can't remember if I mentioned, but Willy is currently working in the Phillipines.  The "Willa in Manila" has been gone for a full week now.  We've survived (the house... not so much) and have even mused about how quickly this last week has passed, but knowing we've got a whole week to go before Daddy gets home is making us all a little moody.  We had to get out of the house today so we wouldn't fall apart altogether.  So we took advantage of a nice hot day, put on our swim suits and headed to the water park.  We got there right when it opened and the big boys were able to ride Raging River twice and Island Racers once in about a total of 10 minutes.  That's the way we like it!  The crowds picked up pretty quickly since it's a Saturday, but we managed to enjoy a few more rides and pools.  I went on a ride that I hadn't been on before... and may not ride again.    It's called Flyin' Hawaiian and it's simply a short slide that lands with a bit of a free fall into a 12 foot deep pool.  No biggie, right?  I kid you not, it knocked the wind right out of me when I hit the water.  D'oh.  Better than the guy ahead of me, I guess, who got the wind knocked out of him when he slipped and literally tumbled down the whole metal flight of stairs leading up to the ride.  I'll take the wind knocked out of me over a broken rib or two and a big ol' bloody gash on my leg.  Poor guy.  Anyway, HERE is a pic of the ride I braved today.  I can say with absolute certainty and a fair dose of bitterness that my boobs are nowhere near as perky as the girl in the photo.  My face may have looked something like the guy's in the 4th photo down (although he's coolly flashing a shaka (hang loose) sign, so I'm guessing the face he's making is more of a "yeah man!" expression than the 'HOLY CRAP' look my face was expressing...)  They do take pics when you're flying off the slide and I had the option of buying a picture of myself looking like a complete spaz as I soared through the air, but again.  My boobs look nothing like the girl in the first photo.  So I refrained from buying the permanent reminder of that fact. 

Fun day.  Molly is getting braver and braver in the water.  I lost track of how many times she and I went down the water slides together.  Toby is wishy-washy.  Some days he's a total dare devil.  Other days he's content to stay in the kid area and do NOTHING outside his comfort zone.  Ben and Brady love going, and buying annual passes may very well have been the best money I've spent since moving here.  We all enjoy being there.  And cleaning up after a trip to the water park is significantly quicker and easier than cleaning up after a trip to the beach (albeit not nearly as therapeutic...)

This week we've done a few other things to keep our minds off the fact that Daddy is a day ahead (minus 6 hours) of us for a total of two weeks.  Ben finished reading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on Monday night (sweet moment when he came downstairs SOBBING as he'd read the dramatic last few chapters and needed some consoling) so I took him and Brady to see the movie on Tuesday.  Fun date night with the big boys, and they LOVED the movie.  (I did too!  Even though I'd seen it a few nights earlier with Willy.  )  I've taken the kids to eat at both IHOP and Denny's this week which is our special treat while Willy is gone since Willy's not much of a breakfast food eater but the rest of us love it.  (We've also made a pact that we will not be eating out this coming week at all, and if the kids don't request a trip to McD's or anything they'll be rewarded with a trip to get shave ice on Friday.  When we're not eating sandwiches or mac & cheese at home while Willy is gone, it's way too easy to "grab a quick bite" from a fast food joint. BAD habit.  So we're committed to working on that this week.) 

Next week should be busy enough to keep us from getting depressed about Willy being gone.  I'm in charge of Sharing Time and singing time tomorrow in Primary (with Molly by my side?  Should be interesting to say the least.)  I'm starting hula lessons on Tuesday (YAY!!!!).  Ben and Toby both have doctor's appointments to get doctor clearance forms signed (Toby so he can start preschool!!!! And Ben so he can start football!!!!!) and the kids have all the usual school and homework responsibilities.  Add to that the fact that I've got to get in control of our disaster-zone of a house and we've got plenty to keep us busy.  Wheeeeee.  Fun fun fun!