Our 9dd fell off her bike tonight and skidded on the pavement. She has bruises and scrapes on her rear right shoulder, front left shoulder blade, both elbows, left knee and right ankle. Her head hit the ground so hard when she fell that her helmet cracked completely through. I guess we will be buying her a new helmet, LOL.

I am so thankful that she is not seriously hurt. God is so good! Had she not been wearing her helmet, she would most likely be in the hospital right now.

I think I posted about this not too long ago, but I am not sure. My husband finally received his orders to be an instructor at Power school in Charleston, South Carolina. That means we will be leaving in September, just 14 months after our arrival. I have mixed emotions about this move.

I am definitely glad to be moving again as I really want to be back on the mainland. I miss Target, Chick-Fil-A, Olive Garden and regular sized parking spaces. I miss $2.50 milk. I miss having the option to get in my car and drive to see family or go camping. I miss being able to call my friends and family in the evening when my life slows down. I miss having a house big enough to have our school room separate from our living room. I miss having some semblance of a yard. I miss having a real driveway. Not many people will agree with me, but I miss the cooler weather in spring and fall.

I will, however, miss my good friends that I will be leaving behind. I will miss being able to go to the outdoor pool year-round. I will miss wearing flip-flops with every outfit, including to church. I will miss Bellows Air Force beach. Charleston is right on the ocean, but the beaches on the east coast are different than Hawaiian beaches. I will miss trying to pronounce a new street name, last name, restaurant, fish, etc. every day. Try these for kicks- Kalanianaole, Puuloa, Waiakamilo, Opakapaka, and Waianae. I will miss the beauty of the Ko'olau Mountains. The Ko'olau's are even more beautiful in person. The sides of the mountains are covered in so many different shades of green. They take my breath away every week when I see them. I will miss going to Cockroach Cove by the Blow Hole. A huge wave hit my dd the last time she was there (she was standing up on the rocks on the right) and she almost fell into the ocean below. Luckily my dh was there to grab her before she went over the side.

I told both of the kids today that they could each have their own blogs. There is one condition and that is that all blog work must come after school work. Dd is currently trying to come up with a name for her blog. We just did a random blog search to try to come up with some ideas. I am hoping this will give my son the incentive he needs to finish his school work in a timely manner. As of right now, it is 4:40PM and he is still doing schoolwork. We started at 9AM and had a pretty light day.

Dh called me from work on Friday to tell me his orders have been approved  to transfer to South Carolina in October. We will leave here sometime towards the beginning to middle of September. Our plan right now is to fly into Colorado and hopefully pick up our car, which we will then use to drive cross-country to see family, before arriving in South Carolina. We will see how that works out logistically. We might end up having to send the car to Colorado instead in order to hold all of our gear.

We will be bringing our dog, Milo, with us, which means hauling around his crate for bedtime. We are really looking forward to being back on the mainland again, though. I am anxious to be close to family.

We are debating on buying a house or renting. I have been avidly looking at houses in the Summerville area as we would like to be away from the center of activity. It is amazing to me how much house you can get for your money in SC compared to VA.

The kids of course do not want to leave their new friends here, but I am sure they will make many new friends in our new neighborhood. I am thankful that God has blessed us with the opportunity to stay in Hawaii for the 14 months that we will actually be here. We are planning to take advantage of our remaining time to see and do all the sights. Dh's dad and step-mom are coming out in April and we are planning a trip to the Big Island where we will, of course, see the volcano and get some fresh Kona coffee.

Today was the first day of dd's riding lessons. We got her weekly lessons for Christmas, but as she goes on Monday mornings, this was her first day. I found an equestrian center on the island with a covered practice arena, which is important for that area as it rains a lot. We were early today because I was not sure exactly how long it would take us to drive there. We waited for around 10 minutes for the instructor to show up, all the while enjoying the sound of birds and the absence of traffic noise.

Dd started out by grooming her horse, a pretty white female named Haley. She brushed her down and cleaned her feet and then learned how to put boots on the horse and the bridle and saddle. Dd is doing English riding so the saddle was light compared to a western saddle. She got Haley all ready and then they walked down to the arena. Dd's instructor got her up on the horse and they worked on posting, which is raising and lowering your body in rhythm with the horse's movements. Dd caught on quickly as she has had dance and gymnastics classes which have taught her how to isolate one part of her body and focus her energy there. She then of course finished by brushing Haley down and cleaning her feet again.

Putting on Haley's boots

What a great shot! Haley is such a gentle horse.

We were told that we are allowed to bring treats for the horses each week so we are adding those to our grocery list. Dd cannot wait to go back. I am hoping we will be able to financially afford this and she can stay with it throughout her school years.

Our ds received a new skateboard and grind rail for Christmas and was of course wanting to use them the day after Christmas. He decided to ride down a hill in a crouching position holding the grind rail. I see disaster written all over this scenario! He took a spill and scraped up the side of his face and arm and broke his little finger on his left hand.  He also broke the frames on his glasses, but we were lucky enough to be able to repair them. Unfortunately, this was the day my husband took the car to go golfing and my truck had just been towed in to the dealership for diagnostics (which is another story). God was looking out for us, however. My neighbor was outside as we were walking home from the "crash" site and she offered us the use of one of her cars to go to the emergency room. We spent the next 5 hours at the emergency room getting his finger looked at and finally set.

Ds freaked out when they brought out the needle to numb his finger.  He asked if we could just leave his finger broken. He was thankful, however, for the numbing agent when the doctor was pulling on his finger to set it. It looked really painful to me. He is now in a splint with an ace bandage wrapped around his hand. That will stay on for about two weeks. The doctor will determine at that point if the splint can come off.

I made this the other night and it has been the best chicken pie I have made. It is nice and creamy inside and flaky outside. Yum! I took this recipe from Fix-It and Enjoy-It!

Chicken Pie

4 T. butter

4 T. flour

½ t. salt

¼ t. thyme

1 c. chicken broth

¾ c. milk

2 c. cooked chicken or turkey

2 c. assorted cooked vegetables (potatoes, corn, peas, etc.)

1 unbaked double pie crust (see recipe following)

1.       Melt butter in medium saucepan. Add flour, salt, and thyme. Cook until bubbly.

2.       Add broth and milk. Heat to boiling, stirring constantly. Boil 1 minute.

3.       Stir in chicken and vegetables. Pour into pie crust.

4.       Place dough over top. Flute edges. Prick top of dough.

5.       Bake at 425° for 35-40 minutes.

2-Crust Pie

2 c. flour

1 t. salt

2/3 c. plus T. butter

4-5 T. cold water (I seemed to need about twice this)

1.       In large mixing bowl, stir together flour and salt.

2.       Cut in butter with a pastry cutter till crumbly.

3.       Stir in water with a fork. Mix until dough holds together.

4.       Roll out half the dough on a lightly floured surface. Fold dough over rolling pin; transfer to pie pan. Gently fold into place. Cut off excess

5.       Roll out other half of dough. Fold over rolling pin and place on top of filled pie pan.