Major Break Through!

As many of you know, Braxton is TERRIFIED of fireworks. Even the word fireworks sends him into hysterics. For the past 3 or 4 years we have had to miss the Dalton's annual 3rd of July party in their cul-de-sac. Last year we parked, walked 2 blocks to the house and someone started a huge roll of black cats. Both of my kids went into panic mode. Hands on ears, screaming, shaking their heads. We promptly put them back in the wagon and walked back to the car to go home and sit in our basement. Chad loves the 4th! He loves fireworks so I always feel so bad that we miss them.

This year we decided to try a little "tough love". Braxton doesn't really know why he is afraid of fireworks. At first we thought it was the sound, but he loves airplanes and fire trucks so it wasn't the sound. We have tried to talk to him, to reason with him (as much as you can reason with a 5 year old!) and even bribe him. (last year I bought him his own MP3 player for the party so he couldn't hear the noise.)
After going to Grandma's house yesterday, we decided to go to Denton and get some quiet fireworks. We thought we could take the week and ease him into those. We bought some snaps, smoke balls, snakes, sparklers, and parachutes. I know the parachutes make noise, but those are for when he is more comfortable. *cross your fingers*

Later in the afternoon we were outside cleaning cars and I hear Braxton start screaming "I want to go inside!" and "I hate this!". Chad had brought out the snaps. We convinced Braxton to listen to one. It wasn't too bad. Then Chad threw another one, and it was OK. Chad showed him that they don't hurt at all! Finally, Braxton wanted to try one. He LOVED IT! By the end of the afternoon he had gone through 4 boxes of them. The whole time he would throw them and say "BOOM!" or "Watch out below!" It was such a welcome site! We tried the snakes and he loved them! He isn't so sure about the smoke balls, they smell funny!

Hopefully this will be the beginning of a fun 4th of July, but we will see! He is still asking to watch movies at Grandma's that night. That will be OK too, as long as we can stay at the party! Stay tuned to find out how he does.

Outdoor Work!

Braxton was helping pull weeds!

Lilly mowing the grass!

Lilly and Daddy mowing the lawn!

My day lillies are bigger than my roses.

This is from my grandmother's house, it is still growing!!! For the life of me, I cannot remember the name, but it will have blue flowers.

Out with the Old ~ In with the New!

It is that time in the Dalton household. The lease on our current minivan is almost up. We headed up to Omaha to get some car buying assistance from David. He gave us some great advice, and we headed out! We went to the Toyota dealership and got basically ZERO help so we headed to the Honda dealership. By the end of the night, we were the proud new owners (leasers?) of a 2009 honda odyssey. Of course the kids wanted to ride home in the new van, so Chad had to ride all alone! We havne't turned in our old van quite yet because we still have some miles to burn. Thanks so much Jodi and David for keeping the kids! It really made things easier! We owe you!

The old van. it served us well, but it is time to move on!

The new van...so pretty!

The middle windows roll down and have built in sun shades!

My favorite part, the mommy mirror. I can see the kids in the back without turning around!

It's T-Ball Season!

Braxton is playing T-Ball this season. he really seems to enjoy it! Most of the kids will be in kindergarten with him next year at Martyrs! He did a really great job. He throws pretty straight and catches 1 out of maybe every 5 balls. He has a great time all the time! This game he played the pitcher position. He was cheering on the guys and runnign after the ball. it is so much fun to watch!

Warming up!

Right to the middle of the field!

Run Brax! Run!

Lilly had fun playing in the fields!

Happy Birthday Lilly!!!

Happy Birthday Lillian Kay Dalton! Little did I know that when I picked your birthday, I picked National Donut Day. You're welcome! You have grown into such a beautiful little girl. You love your Littlest Pet Shop and Little Einsteins! You love all animals, real and pretend! You are a joy to have in our lives and we love you!

Hawaii Day 8 ~ USS Arizona and Heading Home

Warning~This post will be long~

Although this was our last day in Hawaii, it was one of my favorites. We started the day by checking out of our hotel. We stayed in the greatest hotel! It was the Waikiki Resort Hotel. It was about 1/2 block from Waikiki beach and it was awesome! They didn't even have a front door, it was just open!

The beds in our hotel, not made of course!

The view from our lanai. It didn't look to the beach, but instead behind us. =(

Standing at the front entrance of the hotel. See, no door!

The walk to the beach. Just across the next street was the Waikiki beach!

After we checked out of our hotel, we went to Cheeseburger in Paradise one more time. It was so yummy! Since my Aunt Sue had left us her receipts for the ABC store, we were able to get a free coffee mug, Thanks Aunt Sue! (You had to have $100 worth of receipts, you got a free mug.) Finally we left Waikiki for the last time (that trip anyway!)

We headed out to meet my family at Ko Olina. This was by far my favorite beach! It is located in a resort area. There was a guard house that we had to stop at and tell them where we were going (Lagoon 4) so they could kind of keep track of what people were doing. This was so beautiful! My dad was snorkling, so Chad decided to try it. It is amazing how much life is under the ocean that you don't even notice. I finally got brave enough to snorkle and I loved it! Next time we go to Hawaii (note the Next Time...) I would spend every day at Ko Olina and snorkle and swim. It was amazing!!! Thanks for sharing your special place with us Geneva!

Ko Olina!

Daddy Snorkling!

More Ko Olina

After the beach, Geneva headed to class and we headed to Jack in the Box. They are everywhere on the island, and I wanted to try one. If you have ever eaten at Hardee's, you have eaten at Jack in the Box. :) Next was the USS Arizona. What an interesting place! We had expected there to be a line, so we thought we would get tickets, head to the beach, then come back. (It is free, but they give you a ticket with a time on it to go out to the memorial). Much to our surprise, it wasn't busy and we were able to get right in. I didn't really know what the movie was going to be about that you watch first, and I didn't really prepare Braxton. Luckily I found out later that my mom did. Thanks Mom! Braxton was fascinated. I thought he would be scared, but he sat forward in his chair and soaked up every word. When we left to get on the boat he was talking about how these bad people came in and hurt us. I always wonder, what story do they tell the Japanese that come to the memorial? Does it have the same feel? Anyway, the memorial is very moving. You take a boat across to the actual ship. They have built a memorial over it. Parts of it still stick out of the water and 3-4 quarts of oil still seep out every day. After we left I talked to Braxton about why it is so important what Ralf and Geneva do in the military. They keep us safe from enemies. In case I haven't mentioned it, Ralf is an airplane mechanic in the Air Force and Geneva is Russian and Urdu linguist in the Navy. It was pretty interesting driving back into Hickam Airforce Base where they live, the entrance signs look almost exactly the same as they did on the day that Pearl Harbor was bombed. Ralf mentioned that there are still holes in some of the buildings from the attack. Talk about bringing history to life!

Part of the USS Arizona

After the Arizona we headed to Geneva's house, (got locked out, Thanks Ralf!) did some laundry and got ready to leave. We got some pizza from base, it was pretty good!

Leaving was maybe one of the hardest things I have ever done. It wasn't just leaving Hawaii, although the physical location was amazing! It was hard to leave my family. This was the first time that I had actually been a part of Geneva's "adult" life. I got to see where she lived, the car she drove, the places she went every day. I don't get to see my sister everyday, or sometimes every year. I wish we could live closer and be more involved in eachother's every day life, but I think we do a pretty good job for being over 3000 miles apart!

Around 9 o'clock we headed to the airport. I could not believe how long of a walk it was from security. It took us probably 10 minutes to walk to our gate! Once again, the kids were amazing! Braxton had a hard time getting comfortable and kept kicking the lady next to him in his sleep. Finally I took his seat belt off and held him on my lap so he could have a little more room! Lilly slept until Phoenix also! We had a short layover in Phoenix and then got on the plane for Omaha. Interestingly enough, it is a shorter trip from Phoenix to Omaha (2 hours) than it is from Omaha to Phoenix (3 hours). We did notice that nobody had on face masks. When we flew in there were a lot of people with face masks because of Swine Flu.

Coming into Omaha, they told us there would be turbulance. I mentioned to Braxton that it would be like driving a dirt bumpy road. When we really hit turbulance, he clapped and laughed. He loved it! Me, I almost wet myself! He is going to be my roller coaster kid. Lilly slept through the whole thing. We landed, rode to our van, and drove home. I think at this point everyone was exhausted! The next week our sleep schedules were all messed up! Nobody was tired at 10pm and everyone slept until 11am.

All in all it was a wonderful trip! I cannot wait to go back!