Get Your Own Mom

parmesan fondue

2012-01-26T03:07:00.000-07:00

Fondue is a happy meal. Not the McD's type. Gross. But a real happy meal. It means family is gathering. It means a long meal full of conversation with friends. You never eat fondue by yourself, and you never eat and run a fondue meal. You just don't. Ahhh, many a fond fondue memories (couldn't resist, sorry). We used to have a fondue party every year when we lived in Chicago. Everyone brought something to dip. So fun. We just had one because a friend is leaving the island. Fun party. Sad reason. It is sort of a valentines tradition for my little (okay, five feels big right now) family right now. Looking back at this year, this year, this year, and this year, I thought a bunch of things... my kids have grown a ton and though I love them now so much, it really made me miss their tiny selves so bad. I also realized we have been doing this v-day tradition for a long time.

So, just in time for v-day...

Parmesan Fondue

1 c. chicken broth (or 1 c. water plus bullion or whatever you like to use)

1/2 c. milk

1 8 oz block cream cheese (or neufchatel cheese)

2/3 c. grated parmesan cheese

1/2 t garlic salt (or real garlic if you have time)

I usually add 1/4 t nutmeg but I didn't have it in my island stash :)

Boil broth. Add milk. Once it reaches boiling point, turn down heat and add cream cheese. Stir until heated through. Add parmesan, garlic salt, and any other spices you want. Stir until parmesan cheese is melted. Put in fondue pot or crock pot on low. If too thick, add milk or broth. Can substitute swiss or cheddar cheese for parmesan.

Ideas for dipping: French bread, apples, pretzels, potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, mini pickles, mushroom, bell peppers, crackers... be creative.

Every year we pull this out for valentines day. As a family. The kids love it and it is a stress free, casual way to celebrate the holiday. From my family to yours... just in time to celebrate valentines day.

carpe this

2012-01-20T04:00:00.001-07:00

I read this article and kept feeling like she was expressing my thoughts exactly. Just had to share:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/glennon-melton/dont-carpe-diem_b_1206346.html

I just love honest people.

And I love those Kairos moments...

These babies sure have grown.

Enjoying himself on top of the Empire State Building.

good at the good times

2012-01-17T05:36:00.001-07:00

Karl's mom took this photo. Along with a bunch of others. We have a lot of hair.

I keep waiting for "things" to return to "normal" and now I am starting to realize that I may be waiting a long long loooooong time.

It's a new year. And like every year, I want to start out fresh, organized, on time, and better.

Good times. We are good at having those. We can go from one good time to another. Something sound fun? Sign us up! It doesn't make sense? No matter! What we're not so good at? The necessities. Car needs to be registered? Lawn needs to be mowed? Suitcases unpacked? Naaaa. We'd rather go swimming.

A little family photo of our tradition of going to Nickelmania. We stay til it closes. Fun.

Got back from a great trip to spend New Years with my family and found out I would be speaking in church in a branch about 60 minutes north of my house.

And this is how it went:

Worried all week about it.

Felt completely inadequate to be saying much of anything in front a lot of people that I have never met before.

Finally sat down to work on the talk while kids fended for themselves.

Stayed up too late finishing talk.

Woke up and got clothes ready for kids.

Got ready.

Left 10 minutes later than I meant to.

But in reality, I should have left 35 minutes earlier.

15 minutes from my house, the gas light comes on.

Called husband. He assured me it would be fine.

Then I drove and drove.

Called husband and he called them to let them know how late I would be.

Then I kinda got lost.

And if you know that the island has only one highway, that's funny.

And if you know that this building is on the main highway and that I have passed this building over 1/2 dozen times before, well, that's even more amusing.

Called husband and he reminded me how to get there.

Found the building 25 minutes late.

There isn't a single parking space.

Double parked. Tried to find some cars that weren't tourists but I couldn't sort out the shiny rental Jeeps from the local pickup trucks. So I just parked.

Walk in, and have to go all the way up the front because that is where the speakers sit.

And the man that was going to speak after me, is speaking.

When it is my turn, I let everyone know that no one can sneak out without hearing my talk because I trapped everyone in and hopefully I have enough gas to get out of the parking lot because I just drove an hour with my gas light on.

Talk went well. I didn't faint or say anything ridiculous.

After the meeting so many nice people wanted to help me with my empty gas tank.

Nice people.

Someone ends up following me to the nearest gas station.

I pass the gas station and they have to show me how to turn around.

I paid $4.79/ gallon for gas.

And then I drove home.

And it felt so good to have that over with.

So so so good.

And somehow the view of the ocean on the way home was so much better than when I was on the way there.

Made it back to my church meeting to catch the tail end.

Took a snapshot of this dreamy photo of all the kids in the ward. But, there is one kid that has another kid in a headlock of sorts. Who is that? What kid does that?

Oh, he must be from a family that is all about having a good time.

without pictures

2012-01-07T03:30:00.003-07:00

I'll admit it. I like the books with pictures.

And sometimes when there aren't pictures, I have to pull out the big bowl of effort to get me through.

Sometimes. Not always.

But sometimes the most important things don't get a picture. Like the little things that my kids do, like say, "Can I go get him?" when they hear Maximus wake up. I can't get that in a pictures. But it is precious and sweet and really makes me happy.

Or how about the crappy things that happen? Like when Samuel broke the door handle off the car 9 minutes after they handed over the keys. There is no way I could have captured him flying backwards when the handle gave and the shocked look in his face when he saw the dangling handle. But that event definitely makes it onto our funny story playlist.

Some things just don't get a picture.

I have recently moved to a far away land where I did not know a soul. Meeting people is actually really hard for me, and sometimes I wish I could just fast forward to the part where we are old friends and we can laugh and connect and help each other. I have a tendency to re-evaluate everything I do or say. And the evaluation doesn't come out so hot when it feels like my mind doesn't move as fast as the opportunities for my mouth to move come up. More often than not, I walk away thinking, "I wish I would have said..." or even worse, "I wish I wouldn't have said... ." I love new friends, don't get me wrong, but we meet new friends because we want them to become old friends, right? I want to get past the try-outs and get to the part where I just am and where I can contribute.

You know what I love? Really really really love? Is when I am with people that I feel so comfortable with that I don't have to worry about what I say. I don't even have to use my mind. My heart does most of the work.

You know what's best about old friends? They don't judge you because they KNOW you. They know that when you say something really really idiotic, it doesn't mean you actually are an idiot.

So, old friends. As in, I met them two decades ago. This trip the stars were aligned and we were able to get together more than I would have ever expected. You see, together we take care of 19 kids, 6 households, school stuff, family stuff, work stuff, we are busy people. The topics we covered in our little heart to hearts back then, sure have changed. Topics of drivers licenses, prom, summer jobs, boyfriends, zits, and new outfits, have evolved into recipes, organization, health, kids' chores, dealing with kids' lying, nursing, and communicating with our spouses. Sure, my insecurities of those younger days are gone. But only to be replaced with new ones of today. And somehow I was able to bring my heavy bag of worries to the table and I walked away with a clear mind and my load gone. They helped me do that. It's like they took my bag, pulled out each worry, addressed it, chucked it, and we laughed as it floated away.

So, in the midst of celebrating the New Year, and playing games, and lunching, and driving, and dining, and doting over a new baby, and going to the temple, these people, effortlessly helped me. No fakeys, no flattery, no insincerity. And just thinking about it makes me kind of teary. Because I feel so lucky to have that. I feel so glad to have my load lighter. I feel so grateful that tied in with the laughs, and food, and games, and celebrating, there was real stuff, heart stuff.

And that? That doesn't get a picture, does it?

our 2011 christmas card

2012-01-04T01:28:00.001-07:00

There are neighbor friends, church friends, family friends, school friends, friends we have met while traveling, friends we have met when we lived in one of our bajillion moves, Facebook friends, blog friends, friends that we have known for a few months, and friends that we have known for decades. And of those friends, some of those friends have become Christmas card friends.

I love those Christmas card friends. I just love the whole idea of putting the card together (even if the simple card takes me way longer than it should) and thinking about each person. I love getting a cards and seeing how the family is doing and how they have changed. I love taping the cards up and recalling the memories that I have made with the different people. I hate taking them down because I love looking at them as I walk by. I am a sentimental junkie and this is a tradition that I hope never dies.

I think it is so fun to read the 2011 recaps and accomplishments. This year I joked that I should make a list of all our blunders in numbers and send them with our card. You know, just to keep it real. Like how many times one of our kids got sent to the principal's office, or how many times I forgot to pick up the kids on early release day, or how many flights we almost missed... you know awesome stuff like that. Let's be honest, you know that would make a lot of people feel really good. People like to know they aren't the only ones screwing up, right?

Whatever kind of friend you are, I hope you had a memorable Christmas.

i just heard that people read my blog

2012-01-03T00:29:00.001-07:00

I stopped. The thrill of blogging got overshadowed by the instant gratification of Facebook and Pinterest. Blogging took time and I had about a billion things going on this year. Didn't think anyone would notice and thought the year was so crazy that I would for sure remember all that went on.

But I guess I was wrong. I can't remember a thing. My brain is all mush. And I am sad about that.

December somehow happened. 2011 somehow happened.

My resolution for 2011.

Record more.

And forgive myself if I happen to not record more.

What I want to know is where did november go?

2011-12-01T13:42:00.000-07:00

halloween 2011: samuel, jack-o-lanterns, decorations

2011-11-06T01:16:00.000-07:00

I found myself saying this to Samuel:

When you get older, you are going to have less pictures than Eva and Maximus and it is your fault because you won't hold still.

He wanted to be a Red Transformer again. Perhaps fond memories of this amazing costume that his dad pulled together with duct tape and cardboard two years ago:

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His dad had a lot to live up to. But pulling together a Transformer motorcycle a couple of hours before (and a half hour in the bathroom during) the party apparently doesn't produce the same great results. But it was red. It was a Transformer. So he seemed pleased. Just not pleased enough to want to wear it without a little bit of coercion. Okay, okay, full on threats. Something like, "Your dad spent all this time making it, you better put it on." or, "You can't go trick or treating in just your regular clothes," or "I am going to take away ALL your candy that you got yesterday if you don't put it on." Something like that. It worked. Look, I got two whole photos out of it.

And maybe someone thought Samuel made it himself. And they thought that was a lot sweeter than going out and buying it at the store. Dad just responded, "He, he, ya."

Jack-O-Lanterns.

This was a milestone year as far as Jack-O-Lanterns go. What usually happens is that the kids start out all excited. Scrape out the goo, draw the face, and then take off. And then Karl spends the next couple of hours carving some insane sculpture.

But this year. The kids actually finished their own. This year Samuel was repulsed by the pumpkin guts so he needed some assistance on that one but other than that they used the little carving knives (that I love. I have said it before, but if you haven't converted, please spend the $1.25 and get the gimmicky-looking knives made for pumpkin carving. They work a bajillion times better than a knife. Especially for kids).

In true Samuel fashion, he was done in a flash and was off looking for lights and finding a dark room to check out his work.

Eva took her time creating an island-esque beauty.

And here is Maximus, with his hair all ready to wow the judges, holding his pumpkin and just being content.

Karl's is on the right, Eva's in the middle and Samuel's is on the left. The hibiscus and the cannibalistic pumpkin won prizes. The judges didn't know they were from the same family or I am sure they wouldn't have chosen both. We were kind of prize hoggers that night.

A couple days later, Karl sat down and carved the tiki-o-lantern. It was a sculpture. I am kicking myself that I didn't get a close up photo of it. I know if I did something like that, and I remembered to, I would take a bajillion photos of it.

Some jack-o-lantern friends came for a visit, sat on the railing together, posed for a few photos, and talked story for a while. Samuel cracks me up.

The decorations:

My sorry attempt at wheatgrass hasn't been doing much as far as making me healthy, but at least it looks cute holding the little pumpkins.

Eva made this Halloween fence with kitties. This was post Maxzilla attack but it still held up.

I pinned up some string, covered it with web, and hung it with the Halloween photo ornaments I made a couple of years ago. It was fun to look at the kids at all the of the Halloweens of the past. Samuel made the giant spider. He is the one that wanted the decorations. He tricked me. He gets me to do it, he makes something that takes him .2 seconds, and then he takes off and I am stuck with the project.

A couple of years ago I made some Christmas ornaments that I saw on this blog and loved the technique. I turned the ornaments into hearts for Valentines and for this season, I whipped up some pumpkins.

I really got into the Halloween spirit this year.
Next up: Eva and our spooky halloween meals.

samuel is 7

2011-11-01T17:43:00.002-06:00

Once upon what seems like forever ago, you looked like this:

and this:

Full of spunk, and wonder, and determination. Daring, always speedy, and oh so sweet.

And today, though you are much much bigger...

You are still full of spunk...

(that's you in the childrens' museum play store, on the shelf, yelling, "Buy me! Buy me!")

and wonder...

(that's a dead crab on your head)

full of determination...

(you got up your first time water skiing and stayed up forever)

still daring...

(your first surfing accident, got sliced by the fin)

and speedy...

(in the coconut gathering race at the ward luau)

and sweet...

Oh so very very sweet.

Happy 7th birthday, Samuel!

In so many ways, you haven't changed one bit.

Halloween 2011: Maximus

2011-10-31T04:29:00.000-06:00

I have an idea. I think that Halloween should be on the last Friday of October. Kind of like the Thanksgiving thing. That way, the kids celebrate at school, go to the parties, and do trick or treating all in one night.

What do you think?

Instead, it has been like Halloween/Hanukah, Hallonukuh, or Hanukween. In the sense that it has lasted for DAYS. And the thing is, it still isn't even over. Today our family busted out in an impromptu Halloween version of the Twelve Days of Christmas.

But it is all fun stuff.

I had no idea one little costume could be so fun. And when I say little, I mean just about as little as it gets. I had this idea for months and I have been so excited because it was just perfect for him and his squishy/sturdy little body and his waddling/ walking ways.

Baby Sumo.

Here is a close up of his top knot. Made from grosgrain ribbon.

Here is the front view, complete

And the best view.

And the proper sumo stance.

Another shot of the stance.

Little Baby Moosey lit up the room when he entered. People started pulling out their cameras, some would fake wrestle with him, feeding him (no, really, people were giving him food right and left) and he was just cracking us up how he wandered around and waddled in true sumo fashion. At our church, he got the prize and got a $5 gift card to McD's...

And then the next night we went to the church next door because that is where Samuel goes to Tiger Cubs. And Maximus may have taken the prize there, too. $10 cash. I was a little embarrassed to be taking the prize. Again.

If you look closely, you can see he is sporting his big money.

I felt kind of like a pageant mom. I can see how they can get hooked. I was ready to hit some more costume contests, hee hee. And isn't it going to be a great story that we can tell Maximus that we started his college fund with money that he won at a costume contest?

big stuff in ten short days

2011-10-24T06:51:00.001-06:00

Tired. If life allowed, I would sleep for days.

Just ten days ago we were in the company of lots of doting grandparents, fun cousins, great shopping, yummy favorite restaurants, dear old friends, and a touch of a true fall season.

Then we hopped back on a plane and headed back to another kind of paradise. It amazes me how both kind of paradises make it worth it to go through the trouble of packing, loading, getting rides, going through security (my least favorite part when I have kids with me), almost missing our plane (because it seems like we almost always do), hauling our circus down the narrow isle (where the tiny space and my big family suddenly makes me feel like Duggars), somehow surviving the ten plus hour journey (where kids that are incapable of sitting anywhere for longer than five minutes are required to sit for five hours)...

A little star (anyone that has anything to do with SYTYCD is a star to me) sighting helps make the trip a little more exciting. Can't help but laugh at how we were trying to be discreet while taking a photo.

Not too long after we landed, we were joined by my in-laws. And once again, my kids were in the company of doting grandparents.

and great-grandparents.

We had to get some beach time.

We also had parent teacher conferences. And there it was crazy how much Karl and I's strengths and weaknesses were magnified and shown through our kids.

Along the way, Baby Maximus turned one.

And since we already did a big Maximus celebration in UT, we kept it simple with dinner at Bubba Burger and our favorite pie (Lilikoi chiffon from Hamura's).

And it just may be Maximus's favorite pie, too.

There were also church meetings, hula lessons and soccer practice.

We also decided not to buy a fixer upper. We will call this one Husband's Hawaiian Jungle Farm Dream. It was too much work. One of the many projects that we would have to tackle is to get some cupboards that I could see into. They were hung way above my head and the fact that I would be using a ladder or a periscope and a grabby thing to get my dishes every time I needed them was not the only reason why we pulled out. There were many.

Just as soon as we decided not to buy the Jungle Farm Dream, we found a house on sale. I love sales. This was the first time that we have found a move in ready house that was in our budget. I have started calling this My House. This is so different from the Husband's Jungle Dream. But we take turns. The last one was his and the next one can be his. This one is mine. So, to add to our crazy week, we dropped a house (I still feel so rude about that), found a house and made an offer on it. Two other people made offers on the house, too. Because it was on sale :). But we were the first.

And after we stopped over and bought a house, it was time to get ready for Eva's ho'ike (hula recital). The preparation was INSANE. We had to pick enough yellow plumeria (which are hard to find) for two leis, two wrist bands, two ankle bands, and three rosettes. This meant driving around calling to find the right trees. This meant climbing trees, being bombed with poisonous white stuff that oozes from the flowers, breaking branches, and then driving around for more trees. Whenever I think about it, I chuckle at what we went through.

And then we had/got to make all the stuff.

It took about 120 flowers per girl.

After all the flower nonsense, grandparents were so nice and took the kids and we had our first nice dinner our with just the two of us, in months. These two ravioli were amazing.

Early the next morning Samuel had his last soccer game. He is wearing the goalie uniform here. I get all immature when he wears it because it is so stinkin' cute. When he is goalie, I keep thinking, "He looks so cute in his little striped costume." And Eva had school choir practice.

Come ho'ike time, turns out all that work was so the the girls on first row would look good. We got a couple of glimpses of Eva. She is in the very middle of this photo. She is dancing to Puka Puka Pants. Puka means hole. That's what the patches on their pant are for.

There she is!

Look carefully enough and you can see here in this one, too. The girls in front have danced for years. Eva has only danced for 9 months. I wonder how long it will be before we feel like we actually got to see Eva dance. With all this complaining, I do have to say it was a lot of fun. And Eva was adorable.

The day following the big performance was an even bigger day for Eva. For that big day she wanted to make chocolate dipped bananas. And when I had agreed to this, I had no idea how crazy the week would be. But with two grandmas here, we pulled it off.

Here is princess Eva, freshly baptized, well celebrated on quite possible the biggest day in her life so far.

Here is the crew that enjoyed and experienced and survived this week together.

All of this in ten days. Ten days! So many great things in so few days.

Good night.

moosey baby, you're one!

2011-10-18T14:00:00.003-06:00

Not so long ago, it felt like our family was getting a tiny itty bitty bit calm. And, well, it's not on purpose, but we don't choose calm.

So, we decided it was time for you to join our family.

You were fuzzy and sweet and you looked like this (at least when the photographer posed you that way).

You were tiny but sturdy.

And one year later, you have over tripled in size. 25 pounds and a head in the 98th percentile.

And while you did seem to add some excitement to our family...

lot's and lot's of excitement. First with your smile, then your laughs, then rolling, then sitting, then standing, then walking then dancing, and maybe even when you just sit there and make everyone happy.

I would say that you brought even more calm to this world. You are content and you bring peace and smiles. Maximus Moosey, for one year you have been making our world better.

Thank you, thank you, thank you so much.

pierced ears, ready to surf, door shutting, cute in his floatie, parent prom...

2011-10-01T20:31:00.000-06:00

... you know, all the usual goings on.

Eva has been wanting her ears pierced but was afraid of the pain. She held off for a few years and then all of the sudden she decided she could do it.

Baby Maximus was standing on the surf board in just the right stance. No steps yet.

His latest (and not so greatest) form of entertainment is to go into a room shut the door, cry to be let out, and then whoever rescues him is greeted with a massive cheesy smile.

This little floatie cracks us up every time. Maybe it's because it's a little bit cartoony, maybe because it's a tiny bit girly, or maybe... okay, okay, it's probably just because we are completely enamored with every thing Maximus.

Parent prom? Yes. Parent prom at the church. They set up babysitting, they arranged the potluck, they decorated the place to the nines, all we had to do is dress up a little and show up. Awesome, right? I had an idea in mind for my outfit for a couple weeks. Seriously, four hours before the dance I went and bought the Chuck Taylors and got home in time to rip apart my bed sheet and sew my skirt. We had a blast. It was general consensus that parent prom was better than real prom, the one that took place ages ago for most of us. No self consciousness, no worries about who your date will be, no worries.

And after all that work and excitement, this is the only photo we got before the big event. Baby formula in Karl's hand, messy house in the back ground, scary eyes, bad lighting... I guess that's what really makes the difference between parent prom and real prom.

baby maximus can stand!

2011-09-22T00:39:00.000-06:00

*which may not seem like a big deal considering he is 11 months and his brother was walking at 10 months. But looking at this photo, I think with the size of that noggin it is amazing that he can even lift his head off the ground :).

skipping to now... salt pond beach

2011-09-14T02:26:00.000-06:00

I almost can't remember the whirlwind summer that we had. Catching up is feeling like work. So I keep avoiding it. The now is so much more fun.

I just ordered a gigantic canvas of this photo of Samuel. It is so very very Samuel.

And so is this one. He's showing me a crab. I have to play it cool with these things and say, "That is awesome Samuel" instead of, "That is so gross." If I show any alarm, I run the risk of him chasing me with it. When that happens I have this involuntary laugh that makes it hard for him to know that I am really really serious that I want him to stop.

And this one just might be the most Samuel. Feet not even on the ground, happy as can be, a million miles an hour.

Okay, okay, maybe this one is the most Samuel. Total monkey, right? He is using his feet to play in the sand.

This is Eva. And this photo is very much her. Pondering on the shore, light ocean breeze, soft billow clouds in the back ground... definitely Eva. I love this one.

But Iordered this one gigantic because she is looking at the camera. I kind of regret it. But regretting is kind of an annoying hobby of mine (but not as annoying as the involuntary laugh when I am really scared.)

This one is also Eva. Relaxing in the water with her dad. Kicking back, not a care in the world.

Little Moosey loves the beach. He crawls around, tastes things, crawls around some more, sits, tastes some more, and crawls around.

Here he is sampling what the beach sand has to offer. Can you believe the scenery?

Just another of him really feasting. Don't worry, he usually just spits it out after a while.

And in every stage I think to myself, "This is the cutest stage. I love it. I don't want him to change." I always miss the stage once he moves on, but I seem to fall in love with the one that comes next soon enough.

The beach. Bringing out the best in all the kiddos. Letting them roam and not having to worry about the messes. Because at the beach, your supposed to get messy.

van's dance hall, topaz, and one seriously gross hotel

2011-08-29T01:19:00.000-06:00

Want to see a temple on top of a revolving disco ball? How about one that also has train tracks and a train that goes around it? Drive through Delta and you will pass by one of the coolest places ever and not even know it. I never would have guessed this crazy dance hall would be nestled in the middle of this town. The history of the this place and the guy who dreamt this place up is interesting to say the least. It would have been so much fun to see this place when it was up and running.

Cute cousins in the dance hall.

We stopped and learned about the Japanese internment camp in Topaz. Growing up, I always felt a little uncomfortable when people would talk about these kind of things. The topic would inevitably bring some unwanted and awkward attention to me. Then people don't really know what to say and instead of saying nothing they kind of let me know how bad they think it was. Then I kind of end up trying to make it less awkward by saying something but usually make it more awkward. So, though this trip was more about learning about history and less about me, I couldn't help but feel that same awkwardness. And let me just get this out... One lady had the nerve bring up how she had heard about the horrible things that some of the Japanese people did during the war and so she doesn't really feel bad that these Japanese Americans were put into Topaz. It made me sad to think people actually think this way. All day, I just tried to come up with reasons (admittedly most of them were mean and the word ignoramus came into my thoughts more than once) why she would feel okay with taking everything from a person because someone of their same race did something horrible. I think the thing that hurt the most was that in those situations when I felt so awkward when WWII came up, I would give myself pep talks so I wouldn't worry about what people thought. Most of the pep talks included something about how people aren't that ignorant anymore. And here she was proving me wrong.

Sadly, there isn't much to see out there anymore. Not much of a memorial, not much of a monument, not much of a museum. A few people have made an effort, but it takes money, And to get money, it has to be popular. And, well, the topic just isn't that popular these days.

Later that day we took a tour through the Lehman caves. They were cool and very... cavey.

Beautiful in a dark, damp, creepy sort of way, I kept thinking of the Dark Crystal. Does anyone else remember that show. I need to watch it again. All I remember is being scared and confused.

And to think, people used to go through these caves without tour guides, without flashlights, without cement paths...

This little cave feature was cave bacon. After 90 minutes in a cave, something silly like cave bacon all the sudden seems super clever and totally interesting.

My compliments to the snack stand there for having great chocolate ice cream. I would know, I had two.

And after seeing Topaz and feeling so grateful that I was born when I was, I still couldn't be grateful for our single wide of a motel. Just remembering that place makes me want to cringe and go put my flip flops on.

My kids didn't mind. That is because it had a TV. They were happy as can be. Even the baby was pleased. This picture makes me want to kiss those little fresh-outta-bed bed head kids (and check to make sure nothing is touching those gross floors).

On this part of the trip I learned:

-That a sleepy little town can have an quirky awesome place like Van's Dance Hall.

-That maybe it's just human nature to not want to remember the bad. But maybe we don't learn from it if we don't remember it.

-I am glad I am not a cave person.

-That I should never take comfort when I hear the phrase, "It's the nicest hotel in town."

-A good chocolate ice cream cone can drown out many a sorrows.

Trip to Topaz and Lehman caves... recorded.

fossil hunting in delta

2011-08-23T01:58:00.001-06:00

Summer adventure started out with a trip to Delta. Adventure and Delta in the same sentence. Ha. Actually, my kids probably had as much fun here as they do anywhere. You wouldn't think that summer and puffy coats went together either but the weather was crazy. Spring was basically non-existent. It was kind of like winter over stayed and then slammed into the middle of the summer heat.

I love road trips less than I like flying with three kids. If you haven't read my previous post, let me fill you in. I hate them. But a little In-N-Out and a Dunford Donut helped ease the pain.

This is a shoe tree. This tree shoes how boring the road is. Someone threw shoes up in a tree for entertainment.

We checked into the nicest hotel in town. *Insert comment about the world's tallest midget here*. What I didn't know was that this hotel was going to feel like the Grand Hyatt compared to the place that we were staying the next night.

My older two kids love to hold my giant baby. It looks so funny and always makes me a little nervous. It makes other people even more nervous. I know because I see them fighting the urge to step in and help my kids. They fight the urge then look at me like I am careless. Maybe I kind of am. I tell them my kids hold him all the time and it is okay and I pretend like I'm not nervous.

Samuel packed his backpack for the hunt. A grabby thing, a Curious George notebook (which soon fell apart because I bought it at the dollar spot at Target), a pencil and some other stuff that I can't remember. Kicking myself for waiting so long to post because now I can't remember what else he had. All I can remember is that it was funny and I never wanted to forget how cute it was.

The kids and the men went trilobite hunting. They had a blast. Big mountain, sharp rocks, pointy hammer things to split the rocks to expose the fossils... who wouldn't have a blast, right?

I remember saying a lot of, "Samuel, don't go too high!"s and...

"Careful when you throw stuff so you don't hurt anyone!"s

But mostly I tried my best to let them have a good time because beside falling down a mountain and hurting themselves on all the sharp rocks, not much could happen. Funny funny.

They found some cool stuff.

And I applaud their patience (and mine and my mom's for holding Maximus and keeping him safe the hold time all while trying to get comfy on the piles of sharp rocks).

Their reward? Cool fossils. My reward? Good Mexican food. Kauai doesn't have much of that.

If you are a fan of finding fossils (you may find this hard to believe but not everyone is), or maybe just enjoy splitting rocks, then I suggest you head over to good old Delta, Utah and find yourself a trilobite.

flying with the end in mind

2011-08-22T03:44:00.000-06:00

There was a time in my life when I really looked forward to flying on an airplane. The snacks, the window seat, the books that I could read, the magazines I could flip through, the naps, the excitement of seeing somewhere new...

Then September 11 happened. Security check felt like we were waiting in line to enter a prison camp, we had to pay more for less, and we couldn't even carry in a bottle of water anymore.

Then kids happened. Strollers, taking a sleeping baby out of the stroller to go through security, figuring out how to get the car seat/luggage/kid from point A to point B, getting all nervous that my kids are bugging all the other passengers, being worried I will forget one of the 382 items that it takes to raise a baby these days, kids asking, "are we going to have to run again?" because their parents are inevitably and annoyingly late every single time they fly, running out of entertainment for the kids, running out of threats so the kids will listen, being amazed at how a kid can stay awake the entire red eye flight only to pass out 15 minutes before we land, having to decide if it feels worse to be hungry or to feel disgusting after eating all the stuff in the $15 box of processed snacks, kids crying, kids throwing up, me wanting to cry, me wanting to throw up, and on and on and on...

We deal with it. Sometimes we enjoy it. Sometimes husband and I look at each other and one of us mouths, "Some body shoot me now." Sometimes I swear that I will never ever ever never fly again. But just like childbirth, I kind of forget the misery and I do it all over again.

And maybe it's because we are met with sweet welcomes and lots of family time.

Or maybe it's because I think it is worth flying over the ocean to have one of my mom's home cooked meals.

My mom's korokke and gyoza are my two all time favorite comfort foods. The korokke was waiting for us as soon as we landed. And here is a little random culture lesson... I grew up with Japanese parents in America. The two cultures express love in very different ways. This meal, my friends, is worth a bajillion verbal "I love you"s.

Even when I think I am doing it just like my mom, my cooking is never as good. But most of the time, I don't even think that I am doing it just like my mom :). I am too impatient and I don't have the skills or the artistic touch. After being away for awhile, I also appreciate how much vegetables she uses. One meal almost always has at least 5-6 different vegetables in it. All tasty, all beautiful.

Okay, okay, and it's not all about the food. It's about the shopping, too. Just kidding, we made a ton of great memories, most of them with family.

We fly because we know (or at least hope) the destination is worth it.

So, here's to remembering summer. One of the fastest summers of my life...

how quickly they learn

2011-08-19T03:02:00.000-06:00

Fact is, they let just about anyone have kids these days.

Fact is, most of the time we have no idea what we are are doing.

First kid, you are so careful with everything that goes into their mouth.

Third kid? Well, apparently, things start to ease up around these parts.

We have relaxed big time.

We have enjoyed the baby stage so much more.

And though I know that ice cream is most definitely not the best for this little guy, I also know that this tiny bit isn't going to hurt him.

And in this case, we were also going for the entertainment factor.

The whole birth order thing fascinates me. And, well, third kids learn how much they like ice cream much earlier than first kids.

back to the beach

2011-08-09T11:35:00.002-06:00

We made it. School, lessons, the beach... back to our daily grind.
And as a reward to myself for completing the horrible unpacking process (on top of the usual housekeeping, if you can even call it that), I will do a proper post. Until then, this will have to do.
Do you ever try and trick yourself into getting unappealing things done?

mongolia... bumpy roads, mare's milk, mutton, gers, and wide open spaces

2011-07-25T03:21:00.002-06:00

I am in Mongolia right now. In an internet cafe.

It is big here. It is unbelievably big and beautiful here.

We left our kids with my parents and I miss them. Especially Baby Maximus. I hadn't been away from him for more that a few hours before this trip.

Samuel has called us 9 times. $4.99 a minute. I keep answering and checking voice mails thinking there might be an emergency but he just wants us to know he misses us. Or maybe less sweet things like wanting my nephew to talk to us or wondering where his passport is. Oh, Samuel. When I asked to talk to Eva she said she was a little bit busy changing Maximus' diaper. What? Wow. Sounds like Eva is maturing and life goes on without us.

This place is huge. Huge and beautiful. We have probably driven over a thousand miles meeting different governors and seeing different towns. I am learning how much I love paved roads. At every town we can be guaranteed to be greeted with vodka or fermented mare's milk or mare's milk cheese or dried mare's milk yogurt stuff or all of the above. I am learning how naturally ungracious I am. We mostly sleep in gers (Mongolian for yurt) and I am learning how much I love houses and hotels (and the toilets that go along with them). We mostly eat mutton, bread, cabbage, cheese, and more mutton. I am learning how much more I love my mom's cooking. This has been a chance of a lifetime. And maybe there have been moments where I am glad that this sort of chance only comes up once in a lifetime.

My e-mail has been hacked. Everyone got a link. Hackers are stupid. I feel pretty helpless about that. I am learning just how addicted to the internet I am.

The summer schedule looked like this: Kauai, Salt Lake, Delta, Salt Lake, Logan, Salt Lake, Logan, Salt Lake, New York, Salt Lake, Mongolia, Salt Lake, Kauai. We will get back to Utah on Friday and fly to Kauai early the next morning. The kids start school in one week and it feels like a whole world away.

This summer has been a whirl wind of travel and family and friends. In the thick of it, I am sure I have aged 10 years and am ready for a boring life. But I know that this will be a summer that I will always remember.

how to make a plumeria rosette

2011-07-08T00:10:00.001-06:00

This summer has flown by but when I think of how much we have packed in so far, it feels like we haven't been in Hawaii for such a long time.

So, a long long time ago, Eva was in her school talent show with her hula halau (school). To perform with the group, there were strict instructions on how the hair was supposed to worn... tight low bun (hair too short, whoops!), with two yellow plumeria rosettes. I thought it was super picky especially since we had so many white plumeria growing around us. Turns out yellow are the strongest and waxiest so stay fresh the longest.

And these are the crazy things a mom does for a daughter's dance performance...

I start putting yellow plumerias on my radar for the weeks leading up to big day, looking where ever we go, asking around, yellow plumeria on the brain.

Spot some at a park while house hunting in the neighboring town.

The day before (they have to be fresh so we can't get them too soon) the big day, friend picks me up and we drive to the park.

Turns out the tree is in someone's yard, so we go find the homeowner and get permission.

Together we pick over 40 plumeria.

We put them in our coolers with ice to keep them fresh.

We meet an experienced mom at the school where she shows us how to make them.

Keep your flowers in a baggie in the fridge.

Each rosette takes one tooth pick and seven flowers. Line up the flowers with the biggest and fullest in the middle.

Skewer the flowers onto the toothpick. The center flower will keep all its petals. Peel on petal off each of the side flowers so it can be super snug next to the other flowers.

It will look like this underneath.

Two rosettes.

She had to have them pinned to the left side of her bun.

All of this for a 70 second dance that I couldn't even see because I was on the wrong side of the stage.

happy fathers day 2011

2011-06-19T05:23:00.001-06:00

... to the fun parent

(because we all know there can only be one)

and to my dad

crafty again... painted onesies

2011-06-09T01:08:00.000-06:00

We are back on the mainland (as they/we call it) for the summer. Already a week has flown by and I am afraid this summer is going to be one of the fastest ever. We only have two months and these two months are jam packed.

A while back on a warm night (that was obviously in Kauai since we haven't had any of those here, yet) I went to get baby's pajamas and thought a onesie would be just about right for the temperature. I totally fell in love with his squishy legs showing and ever since then I have put him in just a onesie as much as the weather will allow.

And since I just can't seem to let things be, I followed this handy dandy tutorial by Simply Modern Mom and decorated his little t-shirt. He was actually lucky to get these. What usually happens is that I make things for other people and then run out of steam to make stuff for my own kids.

My friend just had a baby named Max so I made one with Max just like this one. I felt bad for my Max so I made him one, too.

Now, I think my favorite outfit for the little guy is a just a simple onesie. I get to see his squishy yummy legs, I can be creative without being committal (it's just a matter of weeks before they grow out of it or stain it), and if you see him in one that means that the weather is just perfect.

luau, farmers market, spam, beach, shave ice, friday...

2011-05-31T04:04:00.000-06:00

We went to the obligatory luau. We just went to the show part of the luau. Samuel wasn't so interested but during the show I saw him perk up and start pointing at his punch. A caterpillar was climbing up his drink. And then that kept him entertained. If I was ever worried about reaching for a drink in a dark, jungle-y, nature-y place, now I am super worried. Ew.

Eva wanted her picture taken with one of the hula dancers.

Those cousins again. Sporting their ti leaf head bands.

Spam. We got Karl's nieces and nephews to eat Spam musubi, a favorite snack on the islands. Here's the thing about Spam. It's a "When in Rome" type of thing. Stuff that you would never consider eating at home, becomes comfortable and even tasty when everyone around you feasting on the stuff. That is how things like tripe, oxtail, pig ear, jelly fish, etc. have all passed my lips. People around me eat were eating it and making it look delicious. And in the situation, it is delicious. Same goes for Spam. That square can looks hideous in my home town, but out here, nom nom nom...

Maximus at the farmers market.

The kids get excited for the farmers market because they can usually talk us into getting them a coconut and a chocolate frozen banana. We are suckers.

This dude needed to wear protective gear, he had all sorts of gashes on him, I am assuming fro the coconut hacking. Ew. We still bought one from him.

My kids got a punch card for the bananas. For the longest time they thought it meant they get free bananas. When we would say we weren't buying them a banana they would reply, "But we have a punch card." It took us about 4 trips for us to explain that it didn't help us to have a punch card.

After the farmers market, and a stop at a souvenir shop (and Burns stopped and bought a paring knife so he could cut his fruit at the beach like the goat farm guy), we headed to the beach so their family could get one last bit of beach.

Samuel mostly played in the sand under a tree, far away from us.

Maximus hung out, then took a nap.

And at Daniel's request, though no one argued, we stopped for some shave ice.

You know when a song is annoying but you can't stop singing because it is so catchy, and then you sing it because it is funny? Uh, well we do. The song is Friday and it ended up being kind of our theme song for the visit. I could pull it up on Youtube on my phone, hook it up to my transmitter thing and then they could hear it in their car, too. They could also hear anything else we played for them on Pandora or from my ipod. It was pretty fun.

We never knew who would end up in which van. Sometimes we would have a car full of little kids, sometimes boys, sometimes girls, sometimes a couple of big a couple of little, sometimes it was whoever would put up with Maximus crying the in the evening, sometimes it was whoever wanted to eat what Karl and I were eating... it was different every time. I should have taken photos of all the different configurations.

Having visitors made it feel like we were on vacation, too. So, Burns and Brenda and family, thanks for coming out, and thanks for the vacation.

bike ride, water spout, hula, movie, all in one day

2011-05-29T03:28:00.000-06:00

When family visits, it gives us an excuse to try out all the touristy things. This day was jam packed. We went up to Kapaa and rented bikes and rode up the coast. For $5 a bike, this is one of the cheapest adventures we have found.

I am sure we are breaking all kinds of rules here, but looks, he was totally happy sitting next to his cousin Ashley.

The family stopping for a break.

The view on this bike ride was amazing. If I ever decided to live on the east side, it would be because of this path. The ocean views went on forever and we even saw some whales breaching.

Sweet little Maximus only fussed for a minute, and that was because he was trying to fall asleep.

We had to rent the bikes from a couple of different places because the cheap place didn't have enough for us. So, we dropped off a few of the bikes at one place and I waited with a few of the kids for Karl to come get us. After what felt like forever, but was probably only about 15 minutes, I called him. The were all watching this ocean tornado thing called a water spout. Pretty cool. Thanks for the photo, Brenda.

Eva's halao (hula school) has a rule that parents can't watch unless there are visitors from out of town. We all wanted to sit in on Eva's class. Traffic was horrible and Eva only made it for the last bit of class but we still got to see her dance a little. It was so cute.

And after hula class, we grabbed some fast food and raced to the Waimea movie theater to see Rango. It's a little one show theater about 20 minutes away. And I know I use the word cute a lot, but it is, well, cute. It doesn't really matter what the movie is (unless it is scary), my family just loves the whole movie experience. I can do without it, but they are crazy about it.

remembering a couple of beaches: poipu and ke'e

2011-05-27T02:51:00.001-06:00

Here's the thing. These things all happened a long time ago. But I feel compelled to record this. The sad thing is, we are kind of getting used to the beach. So much that the kids kind of whine when it's time to go... "We want to go to the pool," or "I don't want to get sand in my swimsuit." Can you believe it?

I love it when this monk seal is at the beach. He is there a lot. It makes it so exciting. So Sea World meets real world.

Kids in front of the monk seal.

Cute cousins, again. Eva and Sarah must be together a lot, I have a ton of photos of the two of them.

Their "shave ice."

Looking for creatures.

One of the sand crabs that they found.

Another day, we headed up north to Ke'e beach. We tried Hanalei first but it wasn't super exciting that day so we went further to Ke'e.

I never get tired of photos of Samuel decked out in snorkel gear. Things I remember about this trip but didn't take photos of: The guys selling coconuts, one of them holding a piglet, a cave that is formed from tree roots on the beach, and the rain, that kept us from hiking and eventually cut our beach trip short.

We stopped at Banana Joes on the way home. But we just call it the banana stand and then giggle because it reminds us of Arrested Development. They freeze apple bananas and then send them through a juicer. That's it. It makes a great little smoothie. Max was a fan. He wanted more and more.

remembering the Kilauea Lighthouse

2011-05-26T02:42:00.000-06:00

The goat farm was not far from the lighthouse, so that was the next stop. It is a bird refuge and very beautiful. Though I didn't really notice it while we were there, apparently it was very windy.

One of the few family photos that we have. Samuel isn't even looking but I thought our hair was awesome.

This one was better. But we are covering up the lighthouse. It was under construction anyway. If Karl would have held Maximus up a little higher he would have wings.

Cute cousins.

We went to the Kilauea Fish Market for lunch, ordered a bunch of stuff, waited forever and then ate some of my favorite food on the island. I already talked about the wrap, but seriously, it was so good. Every I hear someone talk about that town, in my head I secretly start thinking about the wrap. Okay, and to keep us occupied and a little giddy while we were waiting for our food was Pearce Brosnan and his wife, also there to enjoy the wrap. We didn't actually say anything to them, we were just dorks and kept taking secret pictures of him. This one looks like someone is grabbing his head and Samuel looks like he is pulling that face that Michelle Kwan pulled for most of her olympic photos.

And here is the crew. Thanks for the photo, Brenda. Samuel has the awesome wrap. It's the size of his head and he ate almost all of it. I wanted to take it from him but I hate taking semi-nutritious food from that skinny kid.

remembering our visit to the kaui kunana goat dairy

2011-05-19T01:37:00.002-06:00

I should be putting laundry away. I bribe myself to do it by saving all the good Hulu shows for this purpose. But, I am all caught up on Hulu and so I can't get myself to face the piles of clean clothes (I don't mind the washing and drying, it's just the putting away that I can't stand. I don't get it, either). So, until there are new shows, I will blog and the family with still have to pull their clothes out of out of the piles...

Karl's brother and his family visited a while back and we packed in so many great activities. 10 days somehow flew by and we still had things on our list of things we wanted to do (eat more shave ice, cookout on the beach, kayak the river, eat more shave ice...).

I had wanted to take the Kauai Kunana Goat Dairy tour for a while but it is while the kids are in school and to be honest, I was a little nervous about dragging 11 people up there (waking up early and driving 45 minutes) and not having them like it. We had planned on letting the kids miss one day of school so they could hang with their cousins and thought this was a good excuse to miss school.

As soon as we got there, we loaded up on mosquito repellent (Burt's Bees makes one that smells so good) because that area of the island is mosquito-ville and Samuel took off to start feeding the goats. They had a tray of just baked organic treats and fresh squeezed lemonade ready for us. I think a peanut butter and chocolate chip cookie and an oatmeal raisin cookie (the best I have ever had) and a slice of banana bread is a great way to start your morning. At least this morning. The couple that gave us the tour was all healthy and fit and nature-y looking. Like they just stepped out of Sunset Magazine. Sarah, makes all the baked goods and sells them online and at farmers markets around the island.

They brought out the goat babies and let us hold them.

The cousins and the kids minus Samuel and Maximus. Thanks for this photo, Brenda!

They were very friendly. In fact, they take the babies away from their mommies right after they are born so they don't bond. They want the babies to bond with humans. I guess they are more tame that way.

After the goat holding came the farm tour. First stop, the star apple (or cream apple) tree. They call it a star apple because when you cut it open crosswise you can see a star shape. The taste and texture was kind of like a lychee, at least in my opinion.

Then they showed us where they kept the honey bees and let us sample some. Samuel would have slurped down the whole bottle if they would have let him.

See these fermenting blobs that look like brain experiments? Ever heard of noni juice? I guess it has a ton of health benefits. They pick the noni fruit, put it in a jar, set it in the sun, after a while a juice starts seeping out, then they let it ferment, then the bottle it and sell the lovely rotted stuff. Yum, sign me up for that MLM.

They had a bunch of different kinds of goats. And they told us all about them. All very interesting, I am sure. But while they were explaining all this, I just watched this silly goat.

Then we moved on to more tasting of their amazing produce. I started paying attention again. Eva got to eat a flower.

And we got to see how heavy a bunch of apple bananas are. They pick their while they are green because the birds get them as soon as they are yellow. These yellow ones had already been attacked. Apple bananas deserve a post of their own. My family eats a ton of them (including the baby. He LOVES them).

And this little guy was one of the most delicious things I have ever tasted and so I was sure that I would never forget the name of it but a little google and I got the whole thing settled. In Hawaii they call it a poha. We got to try some other stuff like grapefruit, orange, and katuk, a leaf that contains protein. We ended at the dairy section of the farms where they showed us where the milk the goats and make the chevre. We got to sample their different flavors of chevre like artichoke heart and lilikoi (passion fruit). They also had some tasty pesto made with mac nuts. So tasty that Daniel ordered a jar of pesto and a spoon. His mom didn't let him, but it was that good.

The farm was so picturesque and the couple made it sound so easy. The farm boy in Karl was loving it. And with every question that he asked, I got that much more nervous that he will seriously want to live on farm one day. I kept telling them to tell Karl how hard it was.

It turns out, we all loved this little tour. It was great to see where our food comes from or most can only hope that their food comes from such a lovely place. So maybe saying, "I went to Kauai and I toured a goat farm" doesn't sound as cool as "I went to Kauai and I learned to surf" but let me tell you, it was totally worth it. Sound cool? Maybe not. Great memories and a lasting impact? Very much so.

The kids also learned about a bijillion times more than they would have in the classroom that day.

yummers mcyummerson

2011-05-17T02:00:00.002-06:00

Maximus, Maximoose, Moose, Moosey, Yummy Baby, Yummers, Yummers McYummerson, Grabby Baby

He sits, he smiles, he grabs everything he sees. Somehow, with some arching, rolling, pulling, kicking, and using his head, he gets from here to there. Not so fragile anymore, and is quite patient while adoring brother and sister play with him. He eats poi, avacado, cheerios, and bananas. And sometimes he makes these noises while he is eating that make it sound so delicious. Fussing is reserved for hungry times, sleepy times, and when we make the ride home from town. Wise and content, and just about the sweetest thing I have ever seen.

may day 101

2011-05-14T03:37:00.002-06:00

We moved her almost four months ago and almost right away the kids started talking about how they are learning a hula dance at school. Eva also said that she was making a turtle necklace in class. I thought it was great but I had no idea what they were for. Come to find out, the May Day production at school is a huge deal in HI (okay, and at risk of sharing how, um, special I can be, I was picturing a May pole and kids holding ribbons and dancing around it). Luckily, the last few weeks I started following the tweets of two girls that used to live in HI, Salty Pineapple and Simply Modern Mom. I say luckily because at the beginning of the month they started posting about May Day traditions. Thanks to them, when the note came home two days before the program saying that they would need aloha wear and leis, I was prepared.

Friends all said to arrive early. So we did. That's kind of a miracle for us. We chatted with friends and snapped a few photos while we waited for the program.

Sweet Samuel in his aloha shirt. Karl put him in this shirt a couple of weeks ago for church. I said that we needed to save it for May Day. That comment sounded dumb, even to me. But they humored my bossiness and put a different shirt on him. Samuel came home from church with his shirt ripped all the way up the front. I hate it when my being controlling pays off. Look at his hair. I am glad my mom isn't here with her scissors.

Here he is with is with his classmates. I had to laugh when I saw this photo. Look at the boy behind Samuel. You might say, "How does a kid rip his shirt all the way up the front?" This might be one way.

To start the program, this girl did a hula dance. She is some sort of hula champion. Did you know they have hula champions? Me neither. Good thing I'm here to enlighten you on these matters.

Then these boys ran out and blew conches (and reminded me of Lord of the Flies, but then I tried to shake the thought out of my head because that book is gross), to announce the royalty.

A girl and boy with good citizenship and grades were chosen from each grade. It used to be a popularity contest, but now it is just randomly picked out of all that qualified. The kindergarteners were so cute.

Each couple represented a Hawaiian Island. Then there was a king and queen.

After they were all announced. Each grade performed. First, they would bow to the royalty, then they would let parents take photos, and then they would dance. I was so glad that they got Samuel to dance. He has the hardest time performing. Samuel was quite proud of his uli uli with red feathers, his favorite color.

Here is his dad giving him a thumbs up. Seriously, we always hold our breath and when we know it is time for Samuel to do stuff like this. Samuel did an awesome job. No arm crossing, no scowls, no sitting on the floor, no tears. He actually seemed to be enjoying it. I couldn't get a video of him, he was in the very back. I will try and get a copy from a friend.

Here is Eva's class bowing to the royalty

Eva held her beginning position the whole time we took photos. Even when her dad was giving her encouragement.

She amazed us with her hula skills. Hula really seems to suit Eva's personality.

So today, I experienced something that I didn't even know existed. I like that. My kids LOVED it. Thanks to garage sales, I spent about $4 to gear up the kids in aloha wear, including Maximus. I wore a shirty dress thing, too. Even though the lady that sold it to me was probably there. Karl talked me into it, then agreed with me when I made fun of myself. Which is just as bad as making fun of me. I don't really like dressing up (looking in my closet, it looks like that means wearing anything that isn't plain, gray, or orange) and I don't like performing. Maybe Samuel gets it from me.

May Day appealed to my crafty self. Eva's dress was actually a size 10 so I brought the sides in a little. I also made a couple of different kinds of leis. A candy one and a ribbon one. They sell tube-y netting specially made for leis. I filled them with Hi-Chews (I remember when we could only get these in Japan, now Costco has them. Hooray!) and lemon head candy (um, recycled from Easter, or maybe even v-day). To tie them, I used red netting to make a bow and some yellow ribbon. I was going for the hibiscus with a yellow pistol look. The kids didn't care, though. They just saw candy. Karl said, "Samuel is in his room singing, 'Hi-Chew lei, Lemonhead lei, Hi-Chew lei...'" The ribbon leis, I saw in the museum gift shop, did the google, and before I knew it, Eva was finishing one up. My friend was so kind to give Eva a flower lei because at the last minute she decided she wanted one.

This May Day program was so awesome, it almost made up for some of these rainy days. Almost.

bucket list: scuba diving, check

2011-05-09T05:07:00.000-06:00

The conversation went kind of like this.

Someone who just moved from Maui and said they like it there better: I like Maui better. It rains too much here.

Me: Oh, really? I haven't thought it was that bad.

That was a dumb thing to say. But I only realize that after the fifth straight day of pouring rain.

So, tonight, I am looking back (fondly) on some not so rainy days.

I didn't realize I wanted to scuba until the opportunity came up. And, to be honest, it wasn't like I was dying to do it. I just wanted to do it and get it over with. Does anyone else do stuff for this reason?

It started with a lesson from a man who is 25 years older than me and, well, in 25 times better shape than me. He told us the rules, the hand signals, and some general tips like, "If it feels like you are getting stabbed with ice picks in your ears, then it is time to pop your ears." It was then that I realized that I have never ever popped my ears. He also told me to stop looking so scared.

They loaded us up with some super heavy gear. This is when it gets super obvious that I hadn't really done much of any sort of exercise for about a year. I think we all look like super heros.

The walk into the water felt like it was a mile. But it was more like 20 feet.

I spent a lot of time not knowing what I was supposed to be doing and waiting for someone to tell me what to do. I also worried about my wedding ring that I forgot to take off (I've only had it since Christmas, I lost the original years ago). But other than that, it wasn't so bad. I'd even go as far as saying it was pretty neat. I didn't see a whole lot of sea life and I was kind of worried about bothering the coral (I really listened during the video at Hanauma Bay in Oahu years ago), so I was mostly trying to dodge stuff. I saw a sea turtle, some spiky things, some bumpy things, some fish... it was kind of pretty. And only just a little bit creepy. And it looks like I am not going to be landing any scuba endorsements anytime soon. I think I'm okay with that.

And afterwards, I slept for three hours. I am glad I did it, I really am. And the way it looks, it may never stop raining again so I may never have another chance to do such lovely outdoor activities on this island. (Drama, I know, but this rain is starting to bug).

easter 2011: finishing up with matchy matchy outfits

2011-05-03T13:35:00.002-06:00

Samuel woke us up to tell us that the Easter bunny didn't come.

Eva told us she cried twice already when she saw that he didn't come.

I must admit. I don't ever actually remember ever believing (my parents are from Japan) in the magical bunny myself. I didn't realize it would be such a big deal to them.

Lucky for them, the Easter bunny had no problem missing the last bit of church and hiding the eggs around the house for them to find when they got home. What a nice bunny to sacrifice his time like that. (And yes, I do see the irony in this).

Eva, all excited to see that he finally came.

The kids checking out their collection. Unfortunately, they are getting older so we couldn't just recycle the candy in our cupboards (tee hee, for the most part).

Baby Maximus and his giant hands palms the egg and tries to put it in his mouth, which was already occupied.

This is the get-everyone-outside-for-a-photo-to-remember-our-nice-day-come-back-here-and-sit-or-you'll-lose-all-your-candy photo.

The baby was the easiest one to get to look at the camera, BTW.

There are so many reasons why I love this age. Just one more reason, I can put him in an outfit with smocking and embroidered bunnies on the front and he doesn't complain.

The outfits came together easier than I thought they would. Maximus is sporting a hand-me-down. I love hand-me-downs with all my heart. Eva's dress was a K-mart special. On an island where our shopping choices are seriously limited (I'm not complaining. It's like I'm at fat camp. Only for shoppers. I am at shop camp) good ol' K-mart pulled through. I mentioned earlier that I had a goal not to buy clothes for a while. I have done really well. This was my first non-garage sale clothing purchase. You're welcome, landfills :). I actually don't really like the dress much at all. But it matched, the price was right, and it came with a matching doll dress. I shortened the sleeves on the cardigan (we hardly ever need long sleeves here and I wanted her to wear it) and turned the sleeves into ruffles. I also moved the bow to the side and turned that headlight of a rose into her headband. It went from about a 2 to a 7. Oh, and Samuel's shirt? It showed up in the mail, thanks to Grandma, the day before Easter. We didn't even know she was sending clothes. Opened it up and it was a matchy shirt! Lucky. So, if this no buying clothes thing is for the budget, I am happy to report that I only spent $11.99 on this whole shabang (and that is including an outfit for the doll. Hooray! Even the doll matches!).

the dress before I chopped it up

Sadly, we didn't have any ties to tie dye eggs like the last couple of years. I am sure the kids were grateful. They get sick of it after about 2 minutes because it feels more like work (heaven forbid). And we also missed rolling (throwing, chasing, smashing) eggs down Old Main Hill like years in the past. I also missed my family, terribly, but I already said that.

But there was plenty of scavenging for candy, dying boiled eggs fluorescent colors (plus glitter this year), eating eggs with said colors on them wondering if it's really okay, taking away candy from kids that choose not to have their ears work, sticky melted candy since we haven't learned how to deal with the humidity, Easter bunny letdowns and redemptions, and, of course, matchy matchy outfits.

may day

2011-05-01T14:19:00.000-06:00

I had no idea before but May Day is kind of a big deal here in Hawaii. So, happy May Day!

so samuel: showing our Hawaiian life

2011-04-27T01:04:00.002-06:00

During lunch today (he stayed home from school
with a cough. Unfortunately, kids get sick in paradise) I got a chance to catch up with Samuel.

Me: What are you going to be when you grow up?

S: Good

Me: What are you going to do for your job?

S: Sweep the floor

Me: How are you going to make money?

S: I am going to do chores for people

It looks like a lesson on careers is in order. He used to say that he was going to be a red Power Ranger. I wonder what happened to that?

Here is a little slice of our Hawaiian life through photos of Samuel:

We go to garage sales a lot. Moving sales are the best. Most of what we have is from people leaving the island. It has been a great way to pick up essentials and some not so essentials. This is Samuel with his new cell phone (minus the SIM card). My favorite part? The case attached to his basketball shorts.

Japanese class. Once a week, and maybe a tiny not geared towards little kids. This where I saw that Samuel must have over 200 ways to sit in a chair. He did about 75 of them during this class. And I counted to 10 about that same amount trying not to interfere.

We go to the pool a lot. It is a beautiful pool, with amazing views and hardly anyone uses it. The kids like to take a ton of stuff (and then want whatever someone else has) when we go. This was the snorkel gear (or snorkelers as Samuel calls them) phase. (We feed him, I swear. But at the potluck lunch yesterday, he took some carrots, celery, cucumbers, and crackers. He went back for more celery. He also had a piece of cake. He didn't finish the cake.)

He has two speeds, a million miles an hour, or asleep. This is on the way to the beach after an already full day.

Since we have moved here, the kids have made the switch from tub to shower. Seems like a milestone. I asked him to hang the towels up. This is what I got.

to my heart

2011-04-25T17:48:00.002-06:00

The posed, matchy, happy photos. Yes, I love them. My eye are always drawn towards them. But my heart? My heart likes the candid shots. The ones that remind me how our life really is.

Like this one. Reminds me how I had big plans for the kids' day off of school. A playgroup to do Easter eggs, lunch at the beach... but Eva woke up with a fever so this is what they did all day.

This one Maximus was super hungry (which is the case ever 120 minutes, I need to do something about that). He doesn't usually complain much so when he is hungry or tired it is pretty easy to tell. We could all learn a lesson from that :). So, nice Auntie was trying to help Maximus find some eggs and he was so sad. I love that sad face.

And this one will help me remember the day that we went to the easter egg hunt and before they let the kids find the eggs, they had a show. It had puppets, some hip hop, a play... all about Jesus. Then someone came out and asked who wanted to be born again. All the kids stepped forward, including mine.

At the same event, after my kids got saved, they let them find eggs. My friend, Ani, snapped a family photo for me. Samuel is checking out his stash and gets inside his bag to do it. One day, he just might get all mature and actually look at a camera without me threatening to take a toy or candy away if he doesn't. But, for now, this one shows the real us. Oh, and I just realized he isn't wearing shoes. Now, I am wondering if he wore shoes at all at this event. We are adjusting to HI just fine, aren't we?

And this one. This is a meal that KARL made. Okay, the ugly deviled eggs are my fault, but everything else Karl did. Honey baked ham, herb roasted potatoes, spinich salad with candied macadamia nuts (he candied them). I told him I was sad and was missing my family, and maybe we should move back. I went and delivered some easter treats, came back and this was all in the works. Later, he said he thought I was going to cry so he wanted to do something. It totally worked. The fancy food seriously cheered me up. Or more that he thought to do this. Good food and acts of kindness are totally the way to my heart. And it looks like we will be staying in Kauai a while longer.

Matchy matchy easter outfits and posed photos coming soon...

stalking you, stalking me, you're a fan

2011-04-22T00:41:00.004-06:00

I wanted to fix one of the settings on the blog and so I started clicking around. Stumbled across one of the things that lets you know how many times a page has been viewed and what not. "Wow," I thought, "A lot of people are interested in my family snowboarding." Like, over 1400 people. After clicking around I figured out that most of the people that have viewed my blog are SERIOUS David Archuleta fans and were linking from his fan sites. All gushing over the photo of him and Eva. Someone even went as far as to make the photo of little Eva and David Archuleta her screen saver because the photo makes her happy. That's okay with me, photos of Eva make me happy, too. And I can't help but figure that David Archuleta fans have got to be the most harmless people out there, if anything, just a bit motherly (looks like my photo caused some scolding to him via twitter for not wearing a helmet. Sorry David).

So, there you have it. My blog is a hit (among David Archuleta fans).

Here's a little experiment.

Let's see if this awesome photo of Karl and Pierce Brosnan gets any attention:

I mean, he and Karl look they are practically BFFs eating lunch together, right? That with my awesome iphone caption skills, I am pretty sure any true Pierce Brosnan fan would want this as a screen saver. But I'm kind of thinking his fans probably aren't as sweet as David's.

And since I'm on the subject of being a fan. I am a fan of that huge Ahi Wrap from the Kilauea Fish Market that Samuel is holding. It was so good. I didn't get a good photo of it (gasp! I am really letting my inner self go) but any photo wouldn't even do this wrap justice. Even if I wasn't on an island where food is mostly kind of, meh, this wrap would still be delicious. Just ask Samuel, he ate practically the whole thing. Eva is eating the burrito, it was about half as good.

So, I'm thinking this photo of the Ahi wrap might generate the most action. It was that good.

Looks like I will never fix my blog. Too easily distracted.

*Oh, and this is also a little lesson on not putting stuff on line that I don't want spread around, right?

baby gear i love: for the first six months

2011-04-20T06:52:00.004-06:00

I went back and read this and realize that I could have gotten my point across in about a tenth of the words. Oh well, that would just be too simple, I guess.

I am pretty sure my interest in stuff/ things is above average. So, when baby #3 was on his way, I did some major research on baby stuff. Baby #2 had come six years earlier and so I had given away all my gear and in replacing it all, I found that stuff had come a long long long way. And, luckily, so have we. I'd like to think we are a little smarter. And if not smarter we at least can say we had a few more years of parenting experience under our belts. We also weren't living on student loans anymore. So I was looking at things through different eyes.

After all my research and then actually trying stuff out, here are a few of my "can't live withouts."

Aden and Anais Muslin Swaddles are worth all the hype. Pronounced AY-DEN and A-Nay or Ah Na ISe, I had heard about them from hip mommies all over. The bamboo ones are super super silky and the the cotton ones hold a swaddle like no other. Both have their place. It leaves the tiny flannel baby blankets in the dust. I use them to wipe spit up (they are thin and don't take up much room in the wash), cover the car seat for shade or privacy when sleeping, nursing cover stays home now so ones less thing to clutter the diaper bag (tie two corners together and it will stay on even when baby is doing gymnastics while eating), I can cover the baby when I am carrying him in my front carrier, I can even throw it over my shoulders when I am chilly (the cream bamboo one actually looks like a shawl), oh, and it is a great swaddler. And while looking for photos of Maximus with his blankets when he was so young (I found a ton, especially from when he was a newborn and always swaddled) my heart ached a little as I miss that newborn baby. They make a great gift, I know because I love the ones that I received. I have used them everyday and it reminds of the loved ones that gave them to me. One of the girls that I gave one to just stopped me and told me that they wash it several times a week because they use it so much.

And while the swaddling blanket has its place, the swaddler had its place in the middle of the night. In the fresh from the hospital, middle of the night fog, the last thing I could focus on was getting a great swaddle. These swaddlers kept baby in a sturdy burrito, no matter how much I fumbledl I used a couple of them, this one and this one. Both worked great. He only fit in them for a few weeks but they were so handy for those crucial foggy days.

With all the plastic scares and what nots I thought that it might be better to get glass bottles. Some sights even said that freezing milk in plastic containers or bags will leech nutrients from the milk. And I know that people have been using plastic and been just fine, but with so many weird health issues out there, I just wanted to play it safe. Most of the glass bottles are expensive. But Evenflo Classic Glass Bottles are actually really affordable. The classic shape is really cute and they are cheap enough to buy them to store frozen milk. The best part? They fit with all the Medela and Ameda pump and feeding accessories. So I can pump right into these glass gems and I'm good to go (out to dinner with husband or to book club or whatever while someone else takes a turn to feed baby. Awesome). Maximus is six months now and the 4 oz. size is all I have needed so far. But I have some 8 oz. ones ready for when he needs more.

The pump that has worked the best for me is the Ameda hand pump that they gave me at the hospital. It looks kind of funny but the simple design makes it so much easier to use than the Medela and Avent ones that I used before. No weird handles that stick out and get in the way and a few less pieces to wash or get chewed up in the disposal (am I the only one that does that?). And since I remember a time when the mention of a breast pump might have embarrassed me, I'll spare y'all the picture.

Oh while I am on the TMI track, my favorite nursing bra is this one from Target. I have alway thought that even if I was for some awesome reason I was a kajillionaire, I would still like a good deal. So, price still holds a lot of weight when I am factoring in awesomeness but this one did its job just as well as the ones that cost 5 times as much.

So, nature is amazing. I believe that with all my heart. But I will have to argue with the part where I get stretched out enough to carry a full human being and then I deliver the baby and then I am supposed to lift my shirt to feed him. I can handle the sight but I don't want other people to have to handle it. Enter the nursing tank. They are amazing for this purpose. Target helped me out here, too. I have a one fancy one and two from Target. The fancy one has clasps that take two hands to do and undo. Um, baby in one arm means I don't have any extra hands. Those belly band things are also handy for this purpose too. You know, just keeping the back warm, hiding the gushy belly, it's all good.

Newborns are a little bit confusing for me. Okay, a lot a bit. There are two things that helped me understand him (and if I had a nickel for every time I wish I had this knowledge with my first two I could buy, um, something awesome). One is the concept from Dunstan Baby Language and one is from Tracy Hogg in Secrets of the Baby Whisperer. From Dunstan I took just two things, when he is making the "N" sound he is hungry and when he is making the "E" sound he is gassy. I just checked the videos out at that library. There are a few short clips online, too. It has been pretty accurate and very helpful. From Hogg I learned the pattern eat, activity, sleep, your time or "E.A.S.Y." That pattern has helped me refrain from just feeding or bouncing the baby when he is sad. I can usually figure out what he needs just from this pattern. Invaluable bits of info for me.

I spent a lot of time researching baby carriers. I ended up with this Ergo and it has been great. It hurts my back a lot less than a Baby Bjorn and it is supposedly better for the baby's hips. It has a little head cover that is attached and stores in the front pocket. I used a couple of different slings when he was too small for the Ergo. And maybe because it was designed by a mom in Maui, but this one is supposedly less hot than others. I will forever have fond memories that include this thing because this is usually what I use at the beach. The first time Karl tried it on with Maximus, baby cried. Now Karl won't wear it. He would rather use the hiking backpack or just carry him in the car seat or his arms.

It's easy to get enticed by all the shiny, plasticky, loud toys out there. But it turns out that babies don't need all that. I got this Swish at Gap Kids on black friday for like a billion percent off. Baby was able to hold it and play with it (with his hands AND feet) early on. Okay, so maybe I could live without this one, but as far as baby toys go, this one is a winner.

Baby gear takes up a lot of space. It is so easy for a house to get overrun with baby gear. A couple of things that I am sure that I could do without but have loved having are the Bumbo and an exersaucer. I don't know that I would really buy a Bumbo, but someone actually gave us one when we got to the island. I have loved having it. It was especially great before Maximus could sit up. He would sit for a little while and play with his left foot. Yes, always his left foot. And now, when I don't get in the shower when he is asleep, I strip him down and stick him in the bumbo. He sits in the shower with me, out of the stream of water. I wash up, then when I am all squeaky clean, I pick him up and wash him. Then, I stick him back in the Bumbo so I can dry off. For now, it totally works.

Another thing that is helpful but I was willing to go without if I couldn't borrow one or find a used one is an exersaucer type thing. I think that every group of friends or family just needs one of these. The kids only use it for a little while and they take up SO much room. They come in handy when no one can hold the baby and he is bored of just laying there.

Oh, and the thing that has helped me the most with this baby (besides a super helpful 8 year old daughter, but I can't really count that as gear, now can i?) is my iphone. In the middle of the night, while unsuccessfully trying to remember which side I started nursing on the last time, I thought, "There has to be an app for this." When they said, "There is an app for that," they meant it. I checked and sure enough, there were several. The one I chose was called Milk Monitor for there are fancier ones that keep track of dr. appointments, diapers, etc.. I just needed something simple. Another thing the phone has helped me with is sitting still. I actually don't do it well. And nursing requires that. I had tried watching TV (disturbs the rest of the family, baby only takes 5 minutes and that isn't enough time to watch a whole show, too much work to walk over to the TV), reading (books are cumbersome when trying to hold a baby), just being still and enjoying the peace (I am just incapable, I start thinking of all the things I need to get done and I start feeling antsy), and none of those held me still very well. But the iphone is the perfect size to hold in my hand and multitask while holding very still. I can blog, FB, tweet, make grocery lists, look on Craigslist, shop... oh and it is so handy to have the camera and video features at my fingertips all the time. I love technology.

I will remember more stuff later but all of these have been floating in my head. Since I spent so much time researching these things, I am hoping I can save someone a little bit of time. I could also do a few post on things I have wasted my money on, but this one took me six months to finally write. I have thoroughly enjoyed this little guy. And I am pretty sure all the gear that has helped me enjoy him.

cute faces mean good parenting, right?

2011-04-15T03:53:00.003-06:00

I had one of those days. One of those days where I kept asking Karl, "Why do they just let people have kids?" And let me be clear. It wasn't because of what my kids were doing. It was because of my parenting skills. Or I should say, lack of parenting skills. The morning starting with, amidst the usual chaos, overhearing Samuel ask loudly (most questions he asks are loud. It's an unfortunate fact that the louder you say something in this family, the higher the chance of you getting any sort of response), "When is Easter Egg day?" In his six year old honesty, his single question let me know how well I had taught my son the meaning of Easter. Not much more than days of coloring eggs, eating egg-shaped candy, and chucking eggs down big hills. Awesome parenting.

So then, the day goes on and and we go with a realtor to look at houses. Phone rings around 1:15. Instead of, "Hi Mom," sweet little Eva greets me with, "Mom, it's Wednesday." Which means it's short day and I am 45 minutes late. We rush to pick them up. I send Karl into the office because the last time I went in, they scolded me for not having a local phone number. We still don't. It's on our list.

Oh, just so no one tries to tell me that forgetting to pick your kids up early on early day doesn't make you a bad mom... how about the fact that this is the second time. The last time this happened, I made sure to be on time the next day. And the cute little Japanese crossing guard that always has the kids "give him five" when they cross, says to my kids, "Mommy no forget you today?"

So, back to this bad parenting day...

Samuel starts to tell us about his awesome day on his field trip to the fire station. That is when I remember the note that they sent home telling us about it. And the mental note (which is as good as, well, I might as well write it on an Etch A Sketch. And as soon as I start walking, it starts to disappear) I made to myself to remember to send Samuel in shoes. Seriously, they put it in bold to send the kids in shoes on field trip days. But my Etch-A-Sketch head sent Samuel to school in flip flops (or "slippers" as they call them here) as usual. Poor Samuel was the ONLY kid with slippers on. He said he was embarrassed. Bad parenting.

On top of that, Eva had to pull a card. She never has to pull cards. She didn't do her homework. I take the blame. Maybe just because I was already having a bad parenting day but I think the real reason was because I scheduled the day super heavy (Japanese class, Hula class, and then a church activity) and Eva had zero down time that day. Um, teacher? Eva couldn't do her homework because her mom was too busy overscheduling her.

I wish I had an excuse. Like, we are trying to figure out where we are going to live in August and that means a lot of decisions and decisions exhaust me. I have some sort of self diagnosed decision induced narcolepsy or something. But, I am afraid that this might me kind of normal for me and this day I cared that I am this way.

As to not make this post entirely negative, I inserted a few photos that have been making me smile, lately. Samuel, with his mouth wide open for the photo? Normal. Maximus with his mouth wide open for the photo? This was a first. Samuel taught him well, right? We laughed pretty hard at this one. And the last one? This was taken with my phone. My phone! I stuck matching T-shirts in Eva and Samuel's Wednesday slot (they don't have much matchy stuff, Eva's is from our Chicago trip years ago and Samuel's is from Dillard's awesome clearance sale) and they came bouncing in after they got dressed. We hurried and dressed Max in his (this one is from my awesome sister in law) and snapped a shot. Bed head, puffy sleepy eyes, sitting on my bed, camera phone, and they look like a million bucks.

Please judge my parenting skills by how cute my kids are. Thanks.

hiking for beginners

2011-04-11T05:00:00.000-06:00

Hiking. Like camping, when I hear the word I think, "work." Like our camping trip, this was short and sweet and the gratification outweighed the work. The red rocks, the tropical plants, the canyon view, and the misty clouds all made the scenery so beautiful it almost seemed unreal.

So, tell me, why does it seem like I sometime lug my "real" camera around at times when I don't want to take that many photos and then l come here and I leave it in the car? I am amazed at and grateful the quality of the camera phone and how far they have come.

Karl's brother and his family just visited and we played non-stop. Even with a ten day visit, we didn't get to do everything we wanted to. Who knew that an island I knew nothing about just months ago would have so much to offer?

beach camping beginners

2011-04-05T14:10:00.001-06:00

And let me start off this post with a photo of Maximus because, well, that is just what I do.

Picked up this hiking backpack at a garage sale (they have awesome garage sales here) and though we are not hikers it makes the perfect spot to set a non sitting up yet, non sleepy baby on the beach.

When I hear the word camping I think of 1) mosquito bites 2) cold at night 3) dirty everything 4) good times. Well, it just so happens that numbers 1-3 are from my days of MOUNTAIN camping. That is all I have done, really. But on the beach it was different. Loved it. Yes, there was the massive amounts of preparing and packing (and it seems like one more kid means we need 6 times more stuff). Yes, I did stress out because my idea of getting ready (planning for days ahead) and the husband's idea of getting ready (throwing stuff in the car 10 minutes after we were supposed to leave). Those things weren't any different. And neither were the good times that we had.

Kids happily playing in the sand, beautiful ocean scenery, and a rainbow.

A sunset so pretty, I had to post two shots of it.

Splashing and boogie boarding until it's time to grill some dinner (why does food taste so good when you're camping?), roasting marshmallows, figuring out how to get the baby to sleep in a tent, sitting around the campfire and getting to know your friends a little better, playing some games, the kids running around until they are exhausted and crawl in the tent and fall asleep (without us telling them to go to bed!)... serious happy times.

So let me tell you how the five of us ended up in this two man tent. Remember how I said that the husband and I prepare differently? One of those ways, I won't say which, is totally lame and stressful and ends up forgetting important things like tents. So then a cute young couple was so sweet and slept under a tarp so we could use their tent. The tent forgetter, I won't say who it is, wanted to sleep under the stars anyway. One of us fell asleep as the tent forgetter was telling his findings on Google Sky (or something like that). And it worked out that tent forgetter is the heaviest sleeper ever because he didn't even noticed when it rained on him.

So, here's the thing. We lived minutes away from the mouth of two awesome canyons for FIVE years and camped up there once. ONCE. Lame.

Let's hope we don't be that lame with beach camping. Ha, and then maybe we'll have a chance to use our tent.

happy birthday to karl

2011-04-03T04:09:00.001-06:00

Karl's birthday was last week.

I asked Samuel what kind of party we should have for Dad and he said, "An AWESOME party." So awesome we did.

To make the morning special I made a crepe breakfast. To make it even more special I made everyone personalized "awesome" hats. I got the hat template from here, she is a party genius. We thought the baby looked so cute in his mini hat. But then again, we think everything about Maximus is cute. He is showing off his tongue tied-ness here. That is as far as he can stick it out and it pulls in the middle to make a little heart shape. Oh, wait, this post is about Karl?

Crepes, Nutella, strawberries, berries, real maple syrup, bananas, strawberry cream cheese, peanut butter, and Karl entertaining the kids...

Seems to me that breakfast is sometimes a way to just pack in a bunch of sugar in the morning. But, hey, it was a celebration.

To make the afternoon special, we headed to Grind Cafe for some local food for lunch

and stopped at Glass Beach. The beach is actually full of little pebbles of smooth beach glass. I guess once upon a time it was a glass dump. Or something like that.

I couldn't be there for the evening but to make it special I set up a big ol junk food and movie fest for them. I bought all the junk food that Karl has ever shown interest in, popcorn, pizza rolls, nachos, root beer, M & Ms, Robin Eggs, Fritos...and set up a laptop so they could watch a movie and have a party while I was gone. And I was gone so I didn't have to witness Samuel having Red Vines and Hi-Chews for dinner.

We did cake the next day. You know, to drag out the celebration. Just kidding, we ran out of hours on the birthday clock and we kind of forgot. This photo shows the mess, that Eva still wasn't done with dinner, Karl's excellent candle extinguishing skills, and just how surprised Maximus looks half the time.

Celebrating without extended family puts a lot of pressure on the immediate family. The plus side is that we can wing it and do whatever. And we are very good at that.

happy april, fools!

2011-04-01T11:17:00.002-06:00

... and that's about as crazy as we're going to get. Oh, and we told the kids they weren't going to school today or ever. Samuel was a little too excited. Eva was worried about missing her spelling test.

remembering the new

2011-03-30T16:01:00.000-06:00

I went to help with "Measurement Day" in Eva's class today. I made note of a few things that, when we first arrived, stood out to me because they were so different than what I am used to.

The kids keep their bags outside and then bring their work in. They remove their shoes before going in the classroom. When the kids were saying the Pledge of Allegiance I noticed that Eva was one of many dark haired kids, not just the only one. Although she is the only girl with short hair. And on the playground is the grandest tree I have ever seen.

It didn't take us long to get used to the new ways and new things. But today I was trying to remember all the things that stood out when we first arrived, I realized how easily things become normal to us. So here's to hoping that blue skies, beach days, outdoor adventures, lovely produce, a fun loving culture, and all the other beauties of Kauai... as they become normal to us, stay appreciated.

i just can't stop watching this video

2011-03-27T04:05:00.001-06:00

Karl some serious stubble. Watch Baby Max's face and hands when Karl rubs his hand on his chin. The best part is that he would just continue to smile when Karl would stop.

food find: star fruit and soursop

2011-03-25T00:00:00.001-06:00

Where I come from, the star fruit gets to be more of a cute garnish. Wanting to love the aesthetically pleasing cross section, I always tried it. Only to find it sour and boring. But here, they are cute AND delicious.

Soursop. Not so cute. If the soursop was in a tween movie, it would so be jealous of the cute little starfruit. But this ugly fruit is supposed to be some sort of anti-cancer nutritional powerhouse. Get past the spikes and the inside is not so bad, quite lovely, in fact. There is a soursop in every tween movie, right? I have given this guy two chances. The first time it was crunchy, sweet, and delicious. We ate some of it and threw the rest into our smoothies. The second one, I let it ripen more and so it was soft and sour and, well, yucky. I think I was just freaked out by the texture change. It really didn't taste bad.

Cute little starfruit and big ugly soursop. I will buy them both again. The starfruit because it is so much fun and the soursop because it is so good for me. And in that fruity tween world? Looks like starfruit wears high heels and soursop wears sneakers :).

another idea: outfit sorter

2011-03-23T00:46:00.001-06:00

One of the things I like to do is pick out the kids' outfits. A chore for some, but it's fun for me. I know that the day will come all too soon when they will want to do it themselves. For now, I will enjoy it.

The thing is, mornings aren't my thing. And laundry isn't my thing. These are not fun for me and these things I consider a chore. I used to put the kids' outfit on hangers and then use day dividers on the bar that held the clothes but I wanted a change, and I didn't bring all the day dividers. I brought some, but not all. Annoying, huh? I needed a new solution. I had heard of using a shoe divider. The challenge. Finding a shoe divider on the island. We have been going to a lot of garage sales. The thing about garage sales is sometimes you take what you can get, like the rainbow shelving. I don't like the way it looks, but it it doing a good job holding clothes and it was free. So the shoe holder wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but turns out it is working perfectly.

And so I share.

I took my 50 cent shoe divider, washed it, inserted two sturdier hangers, labeled the days (I come to paradise and one of my first garage sale purchases is a label maker. That's right, in my paradise, everything is labeled), and hung it up. Each day holds two outfits perfectly. I roll them up and it helps with wrinkles (my paradise does not include lots of ironing). There are 8 pockets and so there enough pockets for each day of the week and then an "any day" pocket, which happens to be the most useful pocket yet. Seems like we always need an extra outfit.

I used a lot of words, didn't I. I guess could have just said, "Use a shoe holder to organize a week's worth of outfits for the kids. It works great." But that wouldn't be me, I guess.

i'm a whale watcher

2011-03-21T08:00:00.001-06:00

I can't believe this is where I live.

Karl and the kids have spotted whales several times since we moved into this house. I haven't seen any. Too impatient to wait for them to come up, I guess.

We were scheduled to go on a whale watching ride for my birthday. But sickness and then later, a much bigger deal, the tsunami warnings kept us home.

The following Monday the conditions were perfect and we went. My friend, Ani, was so sweet and offered to watch little (well, ok, big) Maximus. In fact, she made the whole day possible. Like, I said, sweet, right?

Though this photo may not show the excitement, my kids had a blast. They look a little sleepy here because we had to get up at six to get there and the ride was six hours. I love this candid shot of my family. And it shows my jacket that my sister sent me for my birthday. I love it. I didn't have a light jacket so I had been sporting this grey cardigan sweater to the beach.

All of these photos were taken by the on board camera guy/crew man/entertainment, Erik. Imagine having Ray Romano on board. It was like that, except he took photos, served snacks, kept us safe, AND knew all about the ocean. The captain, Chris, who very much looked like Easy Rider, made finding whales and dolphins seems so simple.

We rode on a Zodiac raft, the kind that the coast guard uses. Almost immediately we were surrounded by dolphins. The captain knew just how to play up every dream that anyone might have about being surrounded by these beautiful creatures and put on some Sarah McLachlan.

The Napali Coast was beautiful. And the history was so interesting.

These birds are called Boobies. And the happy old guy in the back corner of the boat was so thrilled to tell Samuel, "Now you can say you've seen some Boobies!" as his wife threw him dirty looks.

It seems that there were many mommy and baby whales that day. Funny, it made me miss Maximus.

If there is one word I would use to describe these whales it would be majestic.

If, by chance, you come to Kauai, I totally recommend Napali Riders. It is something that my family will remember forever.

Here are some of the snapshots that we took:

Samuel, while making all of us nervous, was very comfortable on the boat.

And Eva is one very lucky girl, if for any reason, just because she got to do the back float in the middle of the ocean with her daddy.

This ended up being a beautiful day and a beautiful adventure, tucked into my file of beautiful memories...

food find: winged bean

2011-03-18T03:57:00.000-06:00

The island is a true melting pot. With all the countries of origin, come all the different accents. The dialogue went like this:

-what's this?

-a wing bean.

-a what?

-a wing bean.

-? (It was more of a face, nor really words. Were they saying string bean?)

-(flapping her arms to show us) like an angel. WING bean.

-(feeling stupid) Ohhhh, a WING bean.

We asked how you eat them. She said boil them and eat them like a bean. I am sure there was more to it but she probably didn't want to have to repeat herself three times and then act it out.

Here are our wing beans or winged beans. I ended up throwing them in our miso soup.

I can't find any miso soup bowls on the island. It is bugging me. Maybe after you drink miso soup out of a certain kind of bowl for thirty something years, it just doesn't feel right to use anything else.

It worked and they made it on my "buy again someday" list. They passed the family test. Maybe it's the light crunch and the mild flavor but I think it is the cool cross section that won the kids over. Who ever said looks don't matter, didn't have kids.

old day

2011-03-14T05:36:00.002-06:00

I woke up on my birthday like six times. Each time grouchier than the previous.

My poor family.

The day before my birthday I got mastitis. Sorry if that's TMI but it's a part of my life. It's a part of nursing (though I didn't know it with my first two). The first time I got it I told Karl and his face lit up like I just said a funny joke. That is because in his younger days he worked on a dairy farm and he would treat cows for such a thing. And for his wife to tell him that she had the same thing as those cows, well, amusing, right? Um, if you have had it, you know there is nothing amusing about it. Nothing. Achy, fever, chills, you kind of want to die but you know that would be bad because you obviously have a baby to take care of. And mentally, getting this stresses me out big time because the biggest remedy is rest and forcing people to let me rest is a very non restful feat.

So, I had that to deal with. And then, sweet baby Maximus decides that he needs to wake up more in the night and be a little less content during awake time (please let it just be teething, please let it just be teething, please...).

And THEN, there is a tsunami watch. I found out because mother-in-law texted me. We don't have a TV and I had no idea. It didn't end up being a huge deal here, especially for us because we live about 500 ft above the ocean level. People closer to the water did have to evacuate but we didn't. I did throw some clothes, a flashlight and some food into a bag just in case.

So the waking up (at least) six times was because baby was sad or hungry, or because I was all fevery( and then chilly and then fevery again), or because the tsunami sirens were blaring, or because I was worried we would need supplies, or... I kind of felt like I was just wandering all night.

I woke up (the last time) to birthday wishes from my family and on Facebook (feels weird, I am blogging about Facebook) were birthday wishes/ I hope you're okays. People were worried and I didn't realize it.

But then I started worrying about the people in Japan. Um, my people in Japan. My aunts, my uncle, my cousins, their kids...

It turns out, everyone is accounted for and okay. My cousin, who we are the closest to happened to be out of town for work. His wife was visiting his mother and his daughter was in Guam for vacation. His home is on the 15th floor. And the insides were like a giant picked it up and shook it. Dishes, bottles, TV, piano, everything broken. No one was home, no one was hurt.

I keep wondering about my friends there. Some of them have checked in on Facebook, and when they do, I give a sigh of relief. But then I keep wondering about the other ones.

And then how about the people that I don't know? I keep thinking about how cold it is up in Sendai. I hate being cold. People that once had everything they needed had everything washed away in seconds. And now, since kids are my business right now, I think about the kids there. Little baby Maximus' that need food and shelter.

So, um, that was my birthday. It was a lot to process in my (pounding) head. We did celebrate. We went to dinner. Karl and the kids (with the help of that oh so nice Betty Crocker) built me a cake with 35 candles (to humor Samuel) on it. I said I wanted cards from the kids and I got them. Eva went on Youtube and learned how to make some lilies and a star basket to put them in. She kept exclaiming how technology is amazing.

Karl may be able to come up with some grouchier birthdays of the past but this one my take the (birthday) cake (ha, ha).

As time goes on and I see more and more coverage of the devastation in Japan, it seems to sink in more. I remember where I was when 9-11 happened. We were in Chicago and I was a teacher. I will always remember that day. Sprinkled with celebration, but with a sad, somber undertone, I think my 35th birthday will also fit into that file.

This is the cake that Karl and the kids built for me. The kids were excited to put so many candles on it. I was so focused on blowing out the candles in one breath (which I did very very fast) that I blew them out and Samuel said, "You didn't make a wish." He was totally right. Like I said. Old.

food find: lilikoi

2011-03-11T04:06:00.001-07:00

Our first experience with the lilikoi was in pie form for dessert at a popular noodle place called Hamuras. It is a merengue pie and because of its springiness, we call it "boingy pie." It is so light, it kind of melts in your mouth. Not all lilikoi pies are created equal. We have been to two places that claim to have the best. This one is the winner in our book.

The actual fruit it a type of passion fruit. We picked one to at the farmers market and tried it to realize that there is a reason that people mostly use the fruit to flavor things rather than eat it straight. Too seedy, tart, and slimy.

blurry photo of the lilikoi

So the name "passion fruit" is kind a misnomer for this guy. At least for me. But the pie is something to be passionate about.

Just ask Eva. She loves lilikoi pie. So much so, that we got her one to celebrate her birthday.

And speaking of birthdays. It's mine today. And my wish is to have this cake.

I saw it a few days ago on this blog and I can't stop thinking about it.

Will somebody please build me this cake?

every once in a while i get a great idea: giant white board

2011-03-10T03:21:00.001-07:00

I spent a lot of time wishing I didn't do things. Just the way I am. But sometimes I come up with something that I am really glad I did. It's time I share...

We came to the island two weeks before Eva's birthday. I was trying to think of something that would make it special and make up for the fact that she would be away from friends, family, and any toys that didn't make the nine suitcase cut.

I actually planned ahead on this one.

Back when I was getting my teaching degree, I remember some experienced elementary teachers giving us some pointers on how to come up with teaching materials on a very very small budget (insert speech on how it is dumb how little that budget is). One of the ideas was to go to Home Depot and get what they call shower wall and cut it up into small boards to make a small white board for each student. Fact is, white boards are fun for kids and it makes math, spelling, writing all that more exciting. So I thought, if small is good, big is better, right?

I figured we would have hardly any toys and lots of blank wall space and so I started thinking...

I made sure there was a Home Depot in Kauai. Then I made three dry erase markers out of old socks and packed a set of markers that I have had since my teaching days.

A few days before Eva's birthday we went to Home Depot and picked up the shower wall. They knew what I was talking about but turns out it is called white panel board. Thrifty white panel board, even better. We also picked up some things to put around the edges. It was right by the board. It took two of those.

Karl and the Home Depot guy loading it in our 1998 mini van. It was a miracle, like the van was built to carry thrifty white panel board. See that gecko? Cute, huh? Don't get attached. I'll tell you why later.

And for just over $20, Eva got a giant white board for her birthday. The ideal kind of present to me, no batteries, uses her imagination, isn't a big plastic eyesore...

She woke up on her birthday, saw it, and got started right away.

I would love to mount it, but we are in a month to month rental and so it's not worth it right now. Eva just bought a big set of dry erase markers at Costco for $10 to use on the board.

I do feel a pang of guilt every time I see the board because when we first got it, I was moving it to get to just the right position to project movie onto it. After the movie, we moved it back to see that I totally squished a little gecko into the wall. So sad, right?

The giant white board, easy on the budget (ahem, if we had one), useful, and encourages creativity, and weeks later is still being played with (because we all know that isn't always the case with a lot of birthday gifts), this one was a winner.

food find: rambuton

2011-03-04T01:34:00.000-07:00

Funny how once the newness wears off, you kind of forget how extraordinary something once was. Thanks to the almost daily farmers/sunshine markets that they have on different parts of the island, we have been trying so many different types of fruits of veggies. Some we love and put it on our regular list of things to pick up. Some, well, not so much. We have also tried a lot of local dishes.

And I can't believe I haven't been blogging it. Food was, after all, one of my first blog loves.

The perfect food to start is absolutely beautiful when fresh, frightening when not, delicious, sweet and looks like it came straight out of a Dr. Suess book:

The rambutan. Sounds like the name of a dance, doesn't it? I had these once before on the mainland. My sister in law ordered them from somewhere and sent us home with a few when we visited. I remembered how good they were so I was excited to see them at the farmers market. Grows on a tree and we can buy them by the bag, the bunch on a branch, or sometimes 3 for a $1 or something around that. The first time I bought them the lady was kind of a pusher and somehow I also ended up with a bunch of bananas she told me to buy for my kids. Karl saw the whole thing happen and was laughing.

They taste kind of like the most delicious grape ever and the kids love them. They are similar to their less flamboyant looking cousin the lychee and their homely looking cousin the longan. Don't know those guys? Maybe I should introduce them, too. And maybe because these look the craziest, and maybe because they are new and most unique, I think these taste the best.

Come to Kauai, and I will buy you (and peel for you, it's kind of tricky at first) a rambuton.

so long, survival mode

2011-03-03T03:52:00.002-07:00

Maybe it's a conversation starter. Maybe it's because they genuinely want to know. Maybe it's because we have an eight year old, a six year old, and a 4 month old. But the first thing they ask is why we are in Kauai.

Our answer is always a version of the same thing. We sold our house, didn't know where to go next, thought Hawaii sounded like fun...

To some it makes perfect sense. To some it doesn't make sense at all.

To be honest, some days it makes perfect sense to me. And some days it doesn't make sense at all.

The days it makes sense go like this:

The view of the sunrise from the back porch, or lanai as they call it here, is breathtaking.

Karl gets done with work (he starts and finishes earlier here since we are in a different time zone than most of his clients), we load up the car with boogie boards, swimsuits and towels, and a few snacks, and we pick the kids up from school at two. They hop in and do their homework while we drive to the beach. There we have a few hours of beach time. The kids play in the sand, splash, boogie board, dig, run, all the things that kids love to do. Baby and I sit on the blanket, sit on the chair, eat, nap, all the things that mommies and babies like to do. Karl switches between activities. When the sun goes down, we pack up, grab some dinner and head home. Those are the days that I know that it makes so much sense that we moved here.

The days that it doesn't make sense go like this:

I wake up on the futon (not the couch kind, the real kind on the floor, because that is what we have chosen to sleep on until we figure out a more permanent living situation. Moving mattresses is the biggest pain ever) and I get to choose from one of the few outfits that I am already sick of. I spend the morning vacuuming ants and every crumb that could possible attract ants (one mass e-mail to everyone I know on the island about what I should do about unwanted creatures, one trip from Expert Exterminators and $175 later those are taken care of). On top of that, I jump at anything that moves, there are a lot more creatures here in Kauai and I am afraid of most of them. Then Maximus does something adorable and I start to feel sad that my family at home is missing it (sometimes taking a video and sending it helps). Then I start missing my family. Then I start wishing I could go to lunch with my friends that I miss. Then the counselor from the school calls to let me know that Samuel got sent to the office again and while they ask me if I have gotten a local phone number yet. I kind of didn't want to and they scold me and I feel like I am Samuel, in trouble by the school. Then I start feeling like our minimalist ways are more like camping and I start resenting it and I start missing my stuff that we left behind. Then I feel bad for resenting and missing. And you know how when you get back from a family vacation, you are somehow exhausted?

And, well, you get the picture. Cry me a river (in paradise), I know.

The good thing is that things are starting to settle down. I am getting more organized and silly necessities like registering our car, getting local drivers licenses, getting dishes, kitchen knives, and things like that have been taken care of.

And that is why I say, "So long, survival mode!"

Maybe that's wishful thinking. Maybe our chaotic, spontaneous ways will always keep me in survival mode. But tonight, I am going to pretend like I planned all this out.

We have had more family time than ever, the people here are seriously so so so nice, sunshine is so good for me, and Eva is adorable in her hula class. Those are not words of someone in survival mode, now, are they? And look, this is a real blog post, not from my phone. Though easier and faster, a real post looks so much better and SOOO not survival mode...

play gym... yes or no?

2011-03-01T03:44:00.003-07:00

I love stuff.

There. I said it.

But I am kind of on a stuff diet. No, it's not a diet. It's a lifestyle change. Tee hee.

I keep coming up with new things that Baby Maximus needs. I have tried to keep it minimum but somehow I still finding myself walking around the Bumbo (free), pushing aside the portable Bobby swing (craigslist), and moving the folding chair/highchair/miracle chair (it's dumb, I bought it on a whim and it took up half a suitcase. Lame. I probably should have packed the play gym that my sweet sister in law offered me, instead) whenever I need to vacuum. And while I am confessing... I somehow have an extra vacuum, an extra car seat, a set of dishes, a blender, a coffee maker (huh? We don't even drink coffee), a set of knives, and a bunch of other stuff that I don't need. I could already have a mini garage sale and I have been here just six weeks. I haven't given up on the less waste thing. I am just a slow learner. Skinny people don't need diets.

But as my baby lays there playing with nothing but his left foot (again. The left one is his favorite) I can't help but wonder if I am not helping him living up to his potential. It's the same feeling I get when Samuel does flips into the pool and I wonder if he needs to be in gymnastics or some other class. What if he could be a genius if only he had toys dangling above his head?

I kind of think it would be fun to make one. Or, rather, have Karl make one. But, woodworking tools didn't make the cut when we were packing for Kauai.

It's all so silly. I saw the movie Babies. I saw that the moms didn't need giant plastic toys to have healthy smart happy babies. But they didn't need an Ergo, or a baby blanket, or diapers, or a floor either. Those things are on my need list.

So, do I add a play gym to the "need" list?

What are your thoughts? Did your babies use them enough for it to be worth the money, space in your house, and eventually landfill space?

Is there something you thought your baby needed but didn't end up using?

What about something you used more than you thought you would?

valentines day our island way

2011-02-23T16:37:00.000-07:00

We celebrated. We made about a billion of these cats. Karl was grumbling something about being able to go to K-mart and buying some but the kids wanted to make these kitties and well, you know me, if I can spend more time and money making it, then go for it.

The kids enjoyed the valentine packages from grandparents. Grandparents know how to dote all the way across the ocean so nice of them.

And though not as fancy and lovely (okay, and I'll admit, not as delicious. Samuel couldn't stand it at all) as when I have all my pots and dishes and ingredients, we had our annual Valentine fondue.

I guess the the day was about comfort. Making stuff, giving stuff, getting stuff, traditions... Like a heart themed Christmas.

Merry Valentines Day!