The Children's Discover Center

David only had 2 more days of his 10 days off of work for moving into our house, so finally, we made an effort to have a play day. We decided to go to the Children's Discover Center. We briefly discussed getting a year membership, but decide we should probably go play there first and see if we thought we would go back. The kids had fun, and they might want to go again, but I can't see spending $300 for it. It cost us $40 to all get in with the military discount. That would mean we would have to go 9 more times to make it worth it. I just don't see that happening.

We started in the Rain Forrest room. It was a new exhibit, and it closed an hour before the center closed, so we thought we should do that first. There was this whole water table/mountain set up thing that the kids got to play with, and half of the room was dedicated to under 3 year olds. So Jocelyn and I went in there. She wasn't very interested in doing anything. I think she was still tired from her nap on the way there.

Jocelyn in the Rain Forrest Room

After that, all the areas were all together, so the kids just took off playing.

Donovan brushes some teeth

Donovan writing on a giant glow board

Kyron and Porter listening to the heart beat of different animals

Porter attempting to navigate in a wheelchair

Now it's Kyron's turn to try!

Jocelyn and Daddy looking in a mirror

Donovan compares his feet to Phylicia Rashad

Judge Porter demands "Order in the Court!"

Donovan drives a car around town

Donovan learns about eye protection while playing baseball. He didn't learn the lesson that well, as he didn't wear the eye protection or the helmet!

Porter learned the lesson a bit better. He at least put the helmet on!

Jocelyn found the Crawler Pool! Ahh, a place just for crawling babies. No walkers allowed!

Kyron, Porter, and Donovan dance on stage

Awesome wooden train. All aboard!!

It was now lunch time, and the Discover Center was closing. Where to eat?! Why, The Cheesecake Factory of course! Yum!

Jocelyn got a plate of bread slices and banana slices. She was so happy!

They brought Porter and Donovan a bread and banana plate as well. Kyron just ate bread from the basket

Donovan is still a little sick, and so he's been taking a lot of naps. He seems to think this is an appropriate time to nap.

Porter got a club sandwich. It was huge!

Jocelyn enjoyed some of Daddy's asparagus

Kyron got the LUNCH SIZED Caesar salad and cheese pizza. That's a lot of food!!!

Donovan also got a cheese pizza. I got a chicken chipotle pasta. Yum! And David got the filet mignon. Needless to say, we had leftovers for dinner that night! And, being as how this was the Cheesecake Factory, we couldn't leave without getting some cheesecake. Kyron and Porter shared a Snicker's one, and between me, David and Donovan, we had a Chocolate cake cheesecake and a lemon raspberry cake cheesecake.

After lunch, the day turned into "Mommy's Day". There was an Apple store just down the street, so we went to talk about setting up our Time Capsule that we just bought correctly. Also, a few weeks ago, I pulled my iPhone out of my purse only to discover that a Hershey's Kiss had melted in it. So my phone and headphone port were covered in chocolate. Ever since then, my speakerphone and microphone wouldn't work. So I was hoping they could clean it and maybe get it working again. I was able to get an appointment with someone right then. But she couldn't fix it, and determined that the issue had nothing to do with the chocolate. Yay! We walked away, quite some time later, with a new iPhone for me, all under warranty, for free! We had to do an update to my cloud, and then restore it all onto my new phone, and it was taking a long time. So David stayed in the store and I walked a little ways down to the Sephora store to check out the make up. I got my eyes and lips done, and David bought me what the lady suggested. It turns out not to be the best look for my eyes. But it was a pallet with other colors that I think will work well. I like the lipstick color, though. I also got some new brushes. I have some really good ones, but I haven't seen them in years, so there's no telling what happened to them. Now I need to find some eyeliner and mascara. But I'm more than happy to get something from Walgreens for that.

We got home and it was already time for dinner. So we reheated our lunch. It was still good!

Moving Day!

It was just days before we were supposed to move into our house. I drove by to take a look again. This time the previous occupants no longer lived there, and the curtains had been taken down. So I was able to get a good look inside. David and some of his coworkers came by and we discovered that the sliding door was unlocked. So we went inside to look. Shhhhh!!!  We drove away and went to eat lunch, and I cried. The house was so bad! Two days later we went to the Navy housing office and applied there to see what they had available for us. It wasn't perfect, but they had a 3 bedroom home they could show us ready to move in next week. This was a Friday, so they gave us the address for us to drive by and take a look. On Monday we got to see inside of it. Yes, it was only three bedrooms, and everyone would have to share a room, but it was new, had a two car garage, central A/C, and it had more square footage than the 5 bedroom house. We took it. It may be crowded, but I just felt happy when I was inside it. I felt like I was home.

We were able to keep our moving day at the same time as the last one. So on Tuesday, May 10th, we got the keys to our new house! We slept on the floor that day, and the movers arrived the next morning with all our stuff. Yay!! It's been a long week of unpacking and sorting and organizing, and we're still not done. But it's looking like a home inside now, and that's good. To have the inside finished, we still need to get the shelves up in the living room, empty the under stair storage room and turn it into the toy closet, put together Jocelyn's crib, and then put away all the little things scattered throughout the house that need a home. After that, it's just going to be a slow process of bringing in a box at a time from the garage and unpacking it.

So, now the fun part...pictures!

Back of the house, garage, and side yard

Front of the house

The kitchen

The living room

Before

After - still in progress

         
The dining room

Before

After

The office

Laundry Room - it came with the washer and dryer. They are so much nicer than our own, that ours now reside in the garage with the wrapping from the move still on them.

This is on the other side of the duplex attached to us. It's just an open green field where the kids love to play, there is a playground just beyond that they all like to go to as well.

Dole Pineapple Plantation

This Saturday we took a trip up to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. It was going to be a short day, either the train ride or the pineapple maze. First, go inside the store and browse around. On our way in, the pearl lady got Kyron and Porter to draw a piece of paper out of a basket to see what kind of discount they could get for us. Kyron got 40% off, and Porter 60%. Yay Porter! David had never seen a pearl come out of an oyster before, so we decided to do it. We let Donovan pic the oyster. Out came a beautiful pink pearl! She cleaned it and drill it half way through for us. Then showed us all the different pendants that it could go on. I thought it would be neat to make it a necklace that I would wear for now, and then give to Jocelyn. But the prices were just so expensive! We decided just to take the pearl and find something else to put in on some other day. I need to remember to take a picture of it!

We walked through the free garden area and learned about the different kinds of pineapples, and then watched a pineapple cutting demonstration. Oh that pineapple was so good!! We all loved it, even Jocelyn. We went to the pond and a nice lady gave the boys two quarters to get some fish food. The boys really enjoyed that! Jocelyn enjoyed watching the fish as well.

Now for the hard part...the maze or the train? Kyron and I wanted to do the maze. Porter, Donovan, and Dad wanted to do the train. So the train won. Look at Kyron as he hides from the camera to pout...

The train was full, so we had to sit and wait for the next ride.

Donovan is making fun of Kyron and pretending to cry and pout.

Yay, we're on the train! We all had a good time, and the breeze felt great!

After the train ride, I bought a Dole Whip and a Macadamia Nut Pineapple Cheesecake for us to all share. It was gone VERY fast! And we promised Kyron, next time we come here, we'll do the maze.

Date Night

David and I sent the kids to the sitter, including Jocelyn, and we went out on a date. We decided to try something new that neither of us had ever experienced before. The location chosen? La Mer. A fancy French restaurant on the beach in Waikiki. Before our date, I was sent out for a little pampering. I got a new hair do! Go me!! It's short in the back, and long in the front. We did an overall color or dark brown/almost black to cover up all my gray, and then we did some light brown highlight streaks. Cute!!

We arrived at the hotel and found the restaurant. It was very nice! Suit jacket and tie were required to dine here. I requested a table by the window so that we could watch the sunset over the ocean, and we got one. Yay!! Here's a picture of David at our table.

They offered us complimentary champagne as we sat down. We said no thanks, and our waiter was a little thrown off. Then he seemed to gather his wits about him as a light bulb went off and he asked, "Would you like a non-alcoholic beverage?" He brought us Martineli's. Yum!

We knew when we picked this restaurant, that nothing on the menu would be a "safe" choice. But this was what we were hoping for. So now, I'll share photos and explanations (as best as I can remember) of our food.

Here is David's first course. Smoked salmon wrapped in leeks. Quail eggs, sea urchin, and tiny morel mushrooms. He said the salmon was some of the best he'd ever had, and even I have to admit it wasn't bad. The quail egg was fun, but it was just a tiny egg, nothing special. The sea urchin was quite spicy, and not that good. David thought it was horrid.

Saumon Fumé laqué aux

Aromes de Poireaux,

Jeunes Poireaux acidulés,

Oeufs de Cailles et Langues d’Oursins

Smoked Salmon Lacquered with Leek Puree,

with Poached Quail Eggs, Baby Leeks,

Sea Urchin and Lemon Olive Oil

For myself, I chose the prime beef tartare (that's raw beef if you didn't know) with caviar. Oooh! If you know me, you know I don't like seafood. But, I had to try! Also with it were some bread wafers and mini morel mushrooms. All around it was a watercress sauce. Eh, it was okay. The caviar was fishy - what can I expect? - and the beef was good as well as the sauce. I didn't really like it, but after seeing how small the first course was - and we were only doing two courses and a dessert - I decided I needed to eat all my food!

Tartare de Bœuf aux Grains de Caviar

Velouté de Cresson 

Prime Beef Tartare and Aquitaine Caviar

Served with Watercress Velouté and Bread Chips

For the second course, David chose the lamb. His was surrounded by phyllo dough. But it wasn't sheets, it was more like straw. Kind of fun! The long yellow things are edible flowers on top of crispy fried plantains. The white stuff is a shallot potato puree, and then you can kind of see the green one in the back, they call it eggplant caviar. David said the lamb was very good. He liked all of it! I agree. It was yummy!!

Canon d’Agneau au Kadaïf, Soubise à la Citronnelle,

Jus au Thym Citron

Kadaïf Crusted Lamb Loin with Eggplant Caviar,

Lemon Scented Onion and Thyme Jus

I chose the duck, done medium well. It came with an orange sauce and and butternut squash puree. Then there was some pieces or daikon and oranges. It looked pretty on the plate, but wow!, there was hardly any food there! The butternut squash puree was a bit bland. But I really enjoyed the duck! What little of it there was!

Canard à l’Orange, Cylindre de Navet glacé,

Purée de Courge à la Cardamum

Roasted Duck Breast with Glazed Daikon,

Butternut Squash Cardamom Puree and Orange Jus

Next up...Dessert!! Yum-o! David chose the chocolate mousse with ginger cotton candy. Under the cotton candy was the mousse and some pieces of pineapple. The green things to the side were a pistachio sponge cake. He said it was the best thing he'd eaten in a long time. It was getting dark, so I had to use the flash to take these pictures. 

Mousse de Chocolat et Ananas, 

Barbe à Papa au Gingembre 

 Chocolate Mousse with Ginger Cotton Candy, Pineapple,

 Yogurt Ravioli and Pistachio Sponge

I chose the Apricot Sorbet. It was very delicious! I first took a bite of what I thought was a slice of peach on top. Turns out that that was the sorbet! Wow! The white stuff all around it is a jasmine foam. That was an experience! It was similar to getting a spoonful of bubbles while eating a root beer float. Under the foam was a Maui sugar sponge cake. The purple speckled egg looking things were black currant pearls. They were fun. It's like there were freeze dried. Kind of powdery and melt in your mouth! Edible flower for me, too! The green thing on top is three spun sugar art leaves. So cool!

Sorbet Abricot au Nuage de Jasmin, 

Biscuit de Maui aux Perles de Cassis

Apricot Sorbet and Maui Sugar Sponge

with Jasmine Foam, Black Currant Pearls, Peach Jus

Here is a picture of our view. 

Then, just as we were about to leave, they brought over one more small dessert tray. There were dark chocolate hazelnut wafers, green tea cake, and a strawberry marshmallow. Chocolate was okay. It was dark chocolate, and I'm not the biggest fan of dark. David like it. We each took a bite of the green tea cake, but didn't like it. But we both loved the strawberry marshmallow. It was a sweet strawberry inside, with a bitter strawberry powder on the outside. Awesome!

It was a night and experience I'll never forget. But one that I probably wont do again. The food was okay, the portions small, but the beauty and experience of it was amazing!