Easter Party at Haleiwa Beach Park

We had our FRG Easter party today at the Haleiwa Beach Park. BBQ hamburgers and hotdogs, chips, candy, games, pix with the Easter Bunny (whom Evelyn eyed and told me "Mom, there's a person in there! I see brown hair in the back of it's head!"--those pix to come), playing on the beach....it was some serious fun today!

We weren't quite sure how many eggs to prepare for the hunt. So we put together over 900, thinking that each child would get around 12. Uh--then we had less than 30 kids come. They all totally banked on eggs! Julia is here with her friend, Avery, and they are going through their loot.

One woman made a dozen confetti eggs. She said that tradition/folklore has it that if you get one, then you are to crack it open on your head. Every time you do, you supposedly will get one year of good luck. Julia snagged 3-4 of those things and had a hay day.

There were tons of Easter themed tatoos. Julia's getting some help applying one on her arm.


Um, who says that sack races are just for kids? And who knew my hair could get that high? :) I'm racing the FRG leader (who totally cheated but still lost--ha, Courtney!)

Marcus LOVED jumping around in a sack! The kids raced in several different age groups (and did it multiple times--it was a real hit among the kids). There was a also an egg in a spoon race that the kids played. Every time they played a game, they were able to pick out a piece of candy as a reward. The actual winners of the games received toys or egg coloring kits.

We had an arts and crafts table set up with lots of Easter coloring pages, tatoos, and designs so that the kids could make bunny masks. Evelyn's new favorite hobby is coloring. She made a beautiful Easter egg for Daddy when he gets home this week.

Hey, it's Haleiwa--so of course there's gonna be turtles! The kids still enjoyed seeing them. This one was right up on the beach and there were about 3-4 more swimming right there in the water. This particular one was working on burying itself in the sand (we think it was making a hole to lay its eggs in).

What Ry's been up to

Check out Ry's new home. Just a little squished, eh? He's not in the pic, but his medic is.

Here's another angle of his home.

Are their cots close enough?!

Ry had the lovely job of inspecting--he had to make sure that all their equipment and belongings arrived. In case you can't tell, he's the dude on the far right with his back to us.

Never ending job. He's right in the middle here.

They've been practicing what they've been training so long for--route clearance.

Earlier this week they also trained at the shooting range. They had two days to qualify. Ry qualified on the first day. :) In the pic below, he's the tallest of the bunch. :)

Out on the range.

It doesn't really look like it, but it's been averaging about 40 degreest there. Those poor guys are freezing! During one mission, they got stuck in a blizzard. Quite a wake up call since they're so used to constant warm weather. But they're keeping their spirits up and getting the training and missions done that they need to.

Ry personally is doing well. We get to talk to him on the phone almost every day. It REALLY helps the kiddos (well, and me, too) to be able to hear his voice so often. I think it's probably the hardest on little Evelyn having him gone. She really looks forward to his phone calls. We also are able to send pictures in text messages to him each day. That in itself really helps Ryan. I was able to send him pictures of Jacob's first Blue and Gold ceremony for scouts (sorry--no pics for the blog because my camera batteries died that night and I didn't have any spare on me), the kids eating green eggs and ham this morning at school (in celebration of Dr. Suess's birthday), and just other little things. It all helps keep his spirits up.