The Pings: Jon, Jenny, Elton, Rafa and Charlotte

Today, we had a picnic BBQ at Bellows Air Force Station.  Jr graciously rented our family a cabin and we had a great day of fun at the beach.  The cabin itself was right on the beach, so we had a sweet view of the Mokulua’s.  Check out the surf crashing into our backyard!

After checking into the cabin, we hit the beach and took Jalvin and Jarrin boogie boarding.

A quick shower, and we were off to Janell’s game at Waimanalo Beach Park.  The softball field was off base, but only seven minutes away (Jr timed it, so they wouldn’t be late).  Janell is quite a pitcher and threw a no-hitter!

After the game, we waited for dinner by playing a game of mini-golf.

We feasted on a dinner of every meat imaginable-  steak, hotdogs, burgers, chicken, spicy sausage, spam- and then we were back to beach to go crabbing.  The kids loved catching the little crabs that come out at night.  They flash their flash light to stun them, and then scoop them out with a net.

And, at the end of our long day, we cleaned out our cabin and made our way home to rescue our pups.  I was so exhusted after swimming, cheering, putt-putting, eating and crabbing, that I went to bed as soon as I got home!

Today I took Aunty Helen and Charlotte to Cavalier King Charles of Hawaii meeting and playgroup at Kapiolani Park.  It was basically a potluck picnic, but there were at least 50 Cavaliers!

Charlotte loved running around with the boys.

It’s like “Where’s Waldo”, but with Rafa!

Like our garage, our front yard has been a work in progress.  When we first bought the house, there was green grass mixed in with a ton of nut weed and patches of dirt.

December 2007-  Looks better in the pictures…

We really neglected our front yard, and in the end, it got more weedy and dirty than anything else.

November 2008- No grass, just a lot of ugly dirt

I decided that we needed some plants, so dad gave us some of his ginger plants from his yard.  I planted them in the back to surround the palms and added a nice border.

June 2009- Red and pink ginger.  It looks really ratty now, but they’ll look beautiful when they grow up and fill in.  I think we’ll also add some ti-plants and other tropicals to make it look a little more green.

Today, we finally decided to fill in our yard.  We have black cinder on the side of the house and to match, we ordered a cubic yard of cinder off of Craigslist.

Today- 9:30 am.  Piles of black cinder!

We spread the cinder around….

Today- 11:00 am

It looks so much better!

Today- noon

Today, Jonathan, Rafa, Elton and I decided to hike the Maunawili Falls Trail.

It was a beautiful hike with five river crossings each way.  Elton was a super dog and had no problems crossing the river.  He definitely retained some of his Portland in him and loved playing in the mud.

Rafa loved the mud too.  We probably washed half the forest off of them when we got home!  Here’s a picture of our very, very muddy puppy at the end of the hike!

Rafa was a trooper but he was really scared of the river.  He doesn’t like water as much as Elton, so Jonathan had to carry him across.

It was a three mile hike, which is a lot for a puppy.  Rafa did a great job, tho, and only slowed down at the end.  Here’s a picture of Rafa taking a well deserved break!

Rafi checking out Jonathan’s grub…

Aunty Helen getting tangled by Rafi, Elton and Mahena…

Mahena chased Rafa around all day (“Puppy, puppy, puppy, puppy…”) and got stuck under the bench…

Happy Fourth of July!  We had a BBQ at Julie’s house.   Jonathan always gets a little nervous around the “fireworks” holidays (primarily New Years and the 4th of July).   The kids love playing with fireworks, and Jonathan’s afraid that something or someone will eventually catch on fire.

Unfortunately, his fears were right on, and Julie’s little plant mound was set ablaze….  The grass was dry, and the fire grew pretty quickly…

Grant running with the garden hose to put it out…

A little excitement for the night, but no harm done.  We did, however, enjoy the real fireworks show at Maunalua Bay.