I seriously do not even know where to start filling everyone in on our last couple of months. On June 15th we sadly left our home of two years in Hawaii to move back to the mainland. We were sad to leave Hawaii and really sad to leave the friends we made there, but have been super excited for our next adventure which would be moving to Yakima, WA for Nate to start medical school. So we are now here in Yakima, getting to know the area and meeting new people etc. We found a 3 bedroom duplex that is super close to Nate's school and is surrounded by a lot of young families which is fun. So between getting into Idaho on June 15th and now, we have visited family in Idaho, visited Nate's sister Shauna and her family in La Grande, vistited my sister Amy and her family in Heppner, visited Nate's other sister Shelbey and her family in Pilot Rock (all those sisters live in Oregon), came to Yakima to find a house, back to Idaho to visit family and get our stuff, camped, moved to Yakima with the help of Nate's parents, Nate's mom had chest pains while helping us move and ended up having open heart 5-bypass surgery here in Yakima, so we got to have all the Hogg siblings visit our new home here, my sister Amy and her family also visited to help us try to get as moved in as possible before all the Hoggs got here, mother-in-law did 2 weeks of recovering in Yakima, then we all went back to Idaho, then back to WA, and Nate has just finished his first week of school which has been all orientation. He's definitely liked what he's seen and is ready to just get school started. Hopefully that was all understandable. Before we left Hawaii we spent a lot of time trying to get all the things done there that we loved to do and wanted to do one last time before we left and also trying to spend time with our friends that we knew we were going to miss. The last little bit before we left we got to do a beach day at Waimanalo with our friends and play volleyball which was so fun....like ususal. Our good friend Holly is a dolphin trainer at Kahala Resort near Waikiki and so we did a dolphin encounter and she was the trainer that did it for us which was super cool. Nate and I went on a date to the revolving restaurant in Waikiki called the Top of Waikiki and then walked on the beach and chilled for a bit. We hiked Koko Head a couple times and spent time at Ala Moana Beach Park. We ate yummy Asian and local/Hawaiian cuisine that we'll miss and walked around Waikiki and just hung out with friends. Our friends gave us an awesome going away party the night before we left and it was a lot of fun. We loved our time in Hawaii and all the awesome new things we got to experience because we lived there. We were so lucky to have made such awesome friends there that we'll hopefully be able to keep forever! Now pictures of it all...hopefully in some type of order! All the pictures are in the exact opposite order of how I wanted them. So if you start at the bottom and scroll up, then they will be in chronological order! =)
All the Hogg siblings with their mother the night before her surgery.
Cole, Stephen, Paco (dog), Nate, Zak and Jeff at Succor Creek
Zak couldn't wait to fish! Nate hates fishing but was excited to show Zak how.
Checking out the chicks with cousin Heston.
Flying with a 3 yr old was quite easy. Cheetos, apple juice and a movie all while he got to ride on a plane. He was one happy camper.
Cole's ride on the plane was quite different. These ladies took him from me and he continued to get passed all over the plane and was in multiple photos with all these Asian ladies.
Last night with his buddies. Teague, Kingston, Zak and Bentley
Mark and Holly Holland, Dan and Anne Moss with baby Issak, Becca holding Jackson, me holding Teague, Chandler, Nate holding Zak, Mike holding Bentley, Front: Olya with Holly's baby Mason, Heber with Holly's son Kingston, Joseph and Marlise Ahuna with my baby Cole. =)
Holly holding Kingston, me holding Teague (anne's son), Anne holding her baby Issak
Nate and Chandler. Chandler's wife, Lieren was in Utah and couldn't make it. =( We were thinking of her though! =)
Ala Moana Beach
Me with Kino and Bedi at Phucket Thai. Thanks for entertaining our boys while we were trying to get moved!
Yuck! Spit up ALL over me!
We couldn't stop cracking up. Waikiki
Top of Waikiki
Me, dolphin, Holly, Nate =)
Feeding lettuce to the sea turtle.
Nate 's boss, Yuki
Us with Nate's lab. Yuki, us, Hideki, Yuuki and the girl that was replacing Nate.
View from top of Koko Head
Top of Koko Head
Check the incline
Maybe halfway?
About to start...
Checking out the "princess"
Kept following the "princess"
Waimanalo
Kingston (in the back) with Bentley and Zak in Waikiki
Cole, Mason, and Jackson being beach bums in Waikiki
On Thursday, September 7th, Zak had his first day of preschool. He was super excited the days and night leading up to it...then the morning of, I couldn't get him out of bed. I kept telling him it was preschool day and he kept sleeping. Finally, I told him I was going to go to preschool without him and he shot up and out of bed. After he got ready he ran outside and yelled to the bigger kids who were walking to school or bus stops "Guys, I'm going to preschool today!" Very matter of fact- like. It was so cute how proud he was. The first day was just a one-hour day and parents got to stay. So we saw where his cubby would be and met other kids in the class, which quite a few we knew/recognized from church, and sang songs and explored the classroom and had cookies and juice. Zak is so excited to be going to school. I'm also quite excited for some free time for 2 hours 2 days a week! haha Although I can not believe I have a kid old enough to be in preschool!! We love this boy and I'm so excited for all the adventures/field trips and projects and things he'll learn in school!
I could not get this boy to just look at the camera and give me a nice smile. He's so over smiling for pictures so this was as good as it was going to get.
Top of Waikiki
