Happy Easter

This entry is not really about Easter, but since it is Easter today I thought I'd wish you a happy one. I am forever grateful for Christ's Atonement and Resurrection.

We're settling into our new home here in Davis, California!! Zeke has had a tough time. When we drove up to meet the moving truck he started crying and said he was scared. When I got him out of the car (trying to reassure him), he said he wanted to go back to Grandma & Grandpa Dugan's house. Once we showed him all around he seemed to be doing a little better, but he woke up several times in the middle of the night with bad dreams or something. Poor little guy! Today is our 4th day in the house and he seems much better. I think it helps that most of his toys are unpacked. Silas and Keilah are enjoying their new home.

I'll post pictures of the house as soon as we're a little more settled. The house is very conveniently located to everything! Silas's school is across the street... literally. They're on Spring Break this week, so his first day is on the 12th. Chris rode his bike to work this weekend to see how long of a commute it would be -- a little over a mile in 8 minutes! Nice commute! The freeway, shopping (grocery, Target, etc.), doctor office, and just about anything we need is very close (but not too close). Davis feels a lot like Berkeley without as many weirdos. :)

The house is 4-bedroom like we had in Kailua, but the living room and kitchen are bigger and we have a garage instead of a carport. Our furniture doesn't come close to filling the rooms, so it feels a little cavernous, which I don't mind. The back yard has a paved patio, a nice size lawn area in the middle surrounded by landscaping, and a tree house. The tree house is a little high for Zeke's liking, but Silas loves it.

That is MUCH more writing than I prefer to do in my blogs! The next one will much less wordy.

Target Practice

Grandpa Rauch got out Chris's old bb-gun and let the boys have a go. They loved it, and Silas even hit the can on his first try.

Zeke had a little help aiming.
Keilah tried to stay out of trouble with grandma.

Big Island trip

Before leaving Hawaii we decided to visit another island. When we landed in Kona on the big island of Hawaii I thought we were landing on the moon. We stayed in a 2 bedroom condo at the Hilton Grand Vacations and enjoyed the Hilton's pools, water slide, and dolphins.

We went on a hike and saw some interesting petroglyphs.

Basketball Team Photo

Here's Silas's basketball team photo. His final game is on Saturday, 3/27. I don't know if they actually keep track at his age, but if they do his team should be in the top 3. Regardless, he'll be getting a trophy, and he's had lots of fun learning a LOT about basketball.

Swamp Romp

Chris participated in the 16th Annual Swamp Romp at the Marine Corps Base in Kaneohe. There were over 400 teams of 6 that participated. The "race" included running through lots of swamp as well as obstacle courses. Here's his team before the race.

This is what part of the course looked like.
This is what they looked like after the race. Chris is the one in the middle that's covered with so much mud you can't recognize him. He did a cannon ball in the mud puddle at the end of the course - just for fun! He's still finding mud in his eyes and ears!

Maunawili Falls

For President's Day we took a hike up to Maunawili Falls. The trail was very muddy.

The Falls were very small. But we had fun and the surroundings were beautiful.
Keilah held on tight to her reins.

Diamond Head Crater

We visited Diamond Head Crater, and I was astonished at just how huge it is. They have a tunnel through which we could drive to the center of the crater. Then we took a LONG hike up a steep side to the highest point of the crater. The view was spectacular. As you can see from the high rises behind me, we were pretty high up. The kids were troopers, and we had a great time.