Just the beginning...

Okay, so I've been in Hawaii for over a month now. I didn't post about Hawaii at first because I honestly hated it! I had "island fever" - where you realize just how far away Hawaii is from the rest of the United States and how long it takes to get back to the continental side and you kind of freak out about how small the island is and you feel claustrophobic. I'm so glad I got here before George got back so that I could go through that without his watchful eyes. I miss my friends, but they all know that I love them, no matter how infrequently we get to talk now.

I'm truly appreciating all Hawaii has to offer. I'm on the island of Oahu, which is also where the capital, Honolulu, is located. There are so many things to do here that it's really your own fault if you're bored. There are hundreds of different beaches to go to and explore. Our favorite is at Ko'Olina. There are gorgeous lagoons with rocks to break hard waves. Brady does really well there. He's just fine when we're in the water, but he does not like the gentle waves coming up to his toes or tummy when we sit on the sand. Even better, Ko'Olina has a grassy area surrounding the sand which is perfect for Brady since he just learned to crawl!

Brady only started crawling on October 18, and he's already mastered it. Now, nothing is safe if it is left on the floor! We have to barracade our important papers and bills, our printer, and Brady is absolutely FASCINATED with electrical cords. Of course! Baby proofing is much harder than I thought. We're still searching for baby gates and for a specific playyard...I hate seeing something I really like and then not being able to find it! We're also looking for a toy chest that will look decent with our living room furniture. It's probably going to end up costing us a fortune. Target won't ship the one I want to Hawaii, so I may end up having to ship it elsewhere and then asking the post office to ship it for me. SO EXPENSIVE. Shoot me now. <-- There you go - the only negative thing I have to say about Hawaii. Shipping charges BLOW.

I'm turning out to be a pretty decent cook! I've cooked chicken successfully TWICE now and made some things from scratch. My best two were a portobello mushroom lasagna (OMG, YUMMY!) and chicken with rice. I'm learning that I can pretty much cook anything if I have a recipe or an idea in my head of how I want it to taste, but I am still trying to expand my choices. I would be just fine having chicken 4 times a week, but I know George would get SUPER sick of that. We're good about keeping a good rotation, but he wants me to find something other than pasta and rice to make with main dishes. I'm all over foodnetwork.com for this. Watching Rachael Ray for the last 2 years has to start paying off, right?

George was picked up for promotion last week. It's so exciting! He has worked so hard and put so much time into being promoted. He was so excited, he was dancing and jumping through our kitchen, front hall, and living room. I was so happy and so proud of him, I nearly cried happy tears. It means so much for us to have the promotion finally go through - I can stay at home with Brady and we have the opportunity to save money for baby #2 so that we're ready (financially!) when we decide to have another. It's still "scheduled" for May of 2010. That will be right around the time he returns from his second deployment. We are considering trying earlier on his R&R break during the second deployment, but only if we are fairly certain that he'll be back for the delivery and the first few months. He missed so much with Brady and I don't know if I could mentally do the first few months by myself again WITH a 3 year old! I know Whitney and my mother would come out if George wouldn't be here (hell, they'll probably come out regardless!), but I would really like for the birth of our second child to be something we get to share together. It's fun to think about now, but just thinking. We're enjoying just being the three of us for the time being.

Whitney and I have decided that our goal is to run the Honolulu Marathon in 2008! I think it will be hard to train alone, but I know she'll be my rock when I hit training road blocks and on marathon day, she'll kick my ass! It will just feel good, knowing that I CAN finish and that I can finish FASTER than I did in Miami in 2006. I'm looking forward to having a big goal like that again and to getting back into major shape. I'm tired of being soft and "squishy." Time to firm things up and get back to feeling how I WANT to feel. I'm sure George will be thrilled to hear me stop bitching! :)