The "Companzees"

Last time we went to the zoo, we decided to go ahead and get a zoo membership. We’ve been on numerous occasions and decided that the $30 membership would more than pay for itself in the long run. This past visit, the boys and I went with our friends Megan and ‘baby’ Luke. On this particular adventure, we finally discovered the chimpanzees. I'm not quite sure how we have missed them up until now. The boys like to refer to the chimpanzees as ‘companzees.’ I have a feeling this will now be their favorite exhibit. We have been enough times at this point that they know where to go and what animals we are going to see. Currently, they like the elephants, zebras, giraffes, and llamas. The zoo is in the process of building a new elephant exhibit, so it will be interesting to watch the progress over the next year.

I Want to Fly a Helicopter

Every now and then we try to take the boys up to the squadron to see the helicopters. Today, Luke had to have on his flight suit and take his camo backpack "to work" with him. It was so funny to see him walking up to the helicopters with his flight suit on. They both love getting on the helicopters and being able to sit in the seats and pretend to fly them.

Luke has to wear his sunglasses because according to him, pilots wear sunglasses. Because, you know, if a pilot has it, he needs it too. I have a feeling he's going to be a total gadget guy like someone else I know.

Brody likes to wear his sunglasses on his head like mommy and daddy.

I was trying to get Luke to wave at the camera. This makes me laugh because it's as if he's saying, "just one minute please, I'm busy."

I have no doubt that one day he will be running the place.

This is teamwork at it's finest. While it looks like they are solving the problems of the world, they wanted to play with the computer and the phone but couldn't really get either one to work!

And here you have it, a boy who wants to be like his daddy and a boy who wants to be with his daddy (look closely in the background). According to Luke, that is his helmet. He knows where daddy keeps it and goes straight to it whenever we are in the office. Brody, on the other hand, wants to sit in the chairs and swirl around and figure out a way to get in the candy on the table.

After spending a little time up at the squadron, we went and walked out on the pier at the marina. While the boys have no idea what fishing is, they all of a sudden wanted to go fishing because everyone else was fishing. Fickle fickle boys.

Great Aloha Run

This morning I completed the Great Aloha Run (8.15 miles) in one hour and forty six minutes. I have been running with two friends of mine in an effort to be able to run an entire 5k in March. We meet three days a week with strollers and complete a running program called "Couch to 5k." I must say, running without a hundred pounds of stroller and boys is so much easier than running with them! Today's race was completed with an interval of running three minutes and walking three minutes. We were able to maintain this pace for the entire race for an overall pace of a 13 minute mile. The race began at the Aloha Tower in downtown Honolulu, went along Nimitz Highway, and finished at the stadium. It was a flat course, which made it much easier to maintain our pace. Other than a sore left foot, which I am hoping is from having my shoes too tight, I feel great and am very proud of how we did considering we've been "training" together for just four weeks.



There were several military units who ran in the race. It was very motivating to see all of them. There were also numerous middle and high school bands playing along the course. Nothing beats the all out excitement of middle school girls screaming for you to keep running!



This picture was taken at the starting line right after the National Anthem. If you look closely, you can see Aloha Tower off in the distance. It looked much closer in person. My phone doesn't take the best pictures.



This is Aloha Tower at daybreak.