Back in the Swing

It's Labor Day weekend and our family has had many changes since my last post, oh, 17 months ago! Including our recent addition on June 4, 2015. Benedict Augustine Tretter is the latest addition to the Tretter clan!

He is growing like crazy and is already 13 weeks old!





The time just flies!

It is such a gift being able to raise these amazing kids. One special little girl and three awesome little boys.

More to come, I am just test driving my new iPad mini and the blogging app, hopefully with easy access to the blogging I might actually do it more!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

March in Review

What a big month for us!

March started out with a big "last call for winter" snowstorm on the day of our closing of our FIRST HOUSE - March 3rd.  So we actually didn't end up closing until March 4th.

Insert happy first-time homebuyer family picture in front of new home.  Oh right, didn't get to that one because of the FOOT of snow.  Well, eight inches or so, but who's counting.  They never even put that cool "sold" sign below the realtor sign in our yard.  But who needs a cheesy picture.

Speaking of pictures, I don't really have many.  I'm waiting for my house to not be embarrassing before I take pictures.  Don't hold your breath, people.

Seriously, though, I love our house.  And another seriously: we have the best…mothers…ever.  I really don't know how we would have survived this whole house buying/moving thing without our moms.  Between the snow, the three young, needy children, and B's being in the middle of his last (insert massive WHOO-HOOs from tired mom) master's course, I really don't think we could have managed a bit without Grandma Mary Ann and Grandma Pat.  Seriously, we need to clone these ladies.  B and I lucked out having the best mothers-in-law in the world.  We never complain about each others mom.  When does THAT happen?!

So yeah, close on the house on Tuesday (this pushed back our whole plan, and our plans are never pretty anyways).  Grandma Pat (my mom) goes to town with the painting.

Lets be honest: Phaedra is NOT a home decorator.  I'm like the polar opposite of my big sister (props to Heather here) who can seriously get a house and have the whole thing painted and decorated in an amazingly put-together and feng-shui sort of way, and I'm the kind of person who (if they even make it on the wall) has pictures of my kids hanging there that are 4 years old.  Poor 3-year-old Liam who has no pictures on the wall.  And painting?  *hysterical laughter*   *dead pan face*  Yeah right.

But my mom, angel she is, will have none of that.  We pick out beautiful colors for the living room, dining room, and master bedroom.  And she does it, despite having some major back issues while she's here.  Meanwhile, Grandma Mary Ann (B's mom), is the packing/unpacking/juggling kids/cleaning up the old house (my hero) queen.  Not only that, we got curtains up (I say we, I just provided some occasional manual labor).  Me!  Curtains!  Can you believe it?!  (If you know me well and have spent any longer than 5 minutes in my house, you probably can't)

My thing is having a mostly clean and relatively decluttered house while juggling kids.  You rarely see a dirty dish in the kitchen.  Can't stand them.  But curtains?  Paint?  Wow!  This is the kind of thing I love and appreciate in other people's houses, but have never figured out how to do in my own.

My goal this week is to post some pictures.  I have more March news (nothing terribly exciting), but since I've been attempting to write this post for about 3 weeks, I'd better just post it and add when I can.  Otherwise it will sit in my "drafts" for another month.  I really should have made a lenten promise to blog once a week, lol.

God bless!

Beaches

We've been having a great time hitting up the beaches the last several weeks. I live in an AMAZING neighborhood with some great families. We've all become pretty close, and our kids all play together. I feel SO blessed, and I know we're going to miss them a ton when we move. Well, the other moms and I have been trying to hit up a new beach every other week or so. It's been so great being able to enjoy Hawaii. What's the use of living in Hawaii if you don't take advantage of the beaches?

Our first beach trip was to laniakea, or "turtle beach". Up on the north shore, just northeast of Haleiwa (the surfing town), turtle beach is home to a large group of honu - the green sea turtle. There's always a volunteer watching the beach, since it is illegal to "harass" the turtles - they don't want anyone coming within six feet of the turtles. It was a overcast, wet day, so there was only one lone turtle at the beach. But despite that, the kids had a BLAST! It was so fun watching them play!

Garin and Joseph climbing on the rocks
Patricia pointing out the turtle to the kids
Liam chilling
The crew
Looking at the turtle
Garin and Joseph
You can see the turtle just under the water, behind the wave.

Me and my Lima-bean



Our next beach trip was to ko'olina. Ko'olina is a resort. I actually lived there in 2009 from March through June. I moved out of my sister's house in March after her husband redeployed from Iraq, but since there was still two months until my husband redeployed from Afghanistan, I needed a furnished place to stay, so Ko'olina it was. Located on the western side of the island, it's a beautiful area with grand resorts, including the new Disney resort. There are four man-made lagoons there. Perfect for the children because of the huge sandy beach and the sheltered, shallow lagoon - you can see the waves crashing, but the lagoon is peaceful. It was another fun-filled morning and the children had a great time.

Liam sacked out

Brianna hanging out on the beach

My beach boy
Happy kiddos
Friends enjoying the sun and sand



The next location on our beach tour was haunama bay. Haunama Bay is a nature preserve, because of the coral reef. Which makes it an EXCELLENT spot for snorkeling. Which I got to try out for the first time. What fun! Another great day at the beach! Liam obliged by dozing in the stroller while I snorkeled. The only down side - it's a STEEEP hike down to the bottom...and back up. Thank goodness I brought the B.O.B.! Brianna wasn't digging the sand that day, but she was really happy chilling out in the stroller and watching everyone play!

Garin and his friend, Colin, playing in the water

Beautiful Gina sporting some goggles

Action Garin
Fish in the reef

Garin and Colin playing in the sand

Laurianne, Colin, Garin, Brianna, Liam and I after a long morning at the beach!

Ready for the ride home (minus being buckled in, of course!)
Brianna is sacked out before we even started the car!





Our last beach trip was the largest. The ONC gang (Ohana Nui Circle - though just our small section of it) families gathered and convoyed down to Bellows Beach Park (a military-only beach). We had about 7 or 8 families, and it was a great time.

Our friend, Cleve and his son, Colin romping in the waves:

Brianna telling a story

Liam enjoying the sun
Cheeky grin from Brianna
Our friends' son, Jacob is tuckered out from a long morning in the sun
Jacob's sister, Jenni, boogie-boarding
Friend Helena and her beautiful children: Gina and Joseph
Garin and his buddy, Colin playing in the waves:
Helena testing the water with Gina and Joseph
Brianna's saying hello from the shade of the tent
Our spread
Jason playing with the kids in the sand
Garin and Colin playing in the water



Brianna and Liam hanging out in the shade


Jason and Lauren checking out the waves
Jason (a different one!) in the water with Sierra, Kyle, and Jenni

Tomo and Koko
Hello, Brianna!


Helping Brianna enjoy the beach