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Swim Meet and Grammy and Grandfather Come to Town

2013-05-07T09:00:00.000-06:00

Grammy and Grandfather came to visit a few weeks ago, ending our long and glorious stretch of visitors that has lasted almost non stop since October. We love visitors, so it is somewhat sad to think we have no more coming until after summer vacation.

Ricky and Linda were only here for about five days, so we made sure to pack it in. We spent much time at the beach, of course, and then we dragged them to a swim meet out in Lahaina. I just read somewhere that Lahaina means, "Land of the merciless sun" or something like that, and I believe it, but it is still such a great place. There are places on earth that are alive, breathing and teaming with history and from the after shadows of some many souls living in such a small area. For me, the greatest and richest place like this is Jerusalem. London is another... well, actually, most of Europe fits the bill. Boston... New York... New Orleans almost audibly breathes, its so alive with history--it's even sticky with history. And luckily so close, there is Lahaina. It's charming and hot and dense with humanity all at the same time. And yet it's just a small little town. I love it. I would also especially love it if I wasn't constantly sweating, but no great historically rich city has great weather. Seriously. Humans don't like to make history when the weather is perfect.

Anyway, the kids did well in their meet. They aren't the top of their age groups, but they both improved their times and had a fun day, so that's a success in my book.

Po is a little flushed in the heat, can you tell? She's probably especially flushed from all the running she does at swim meets, trying to escape me and giving me aneurysms with all of her near fall-ins. Seriously. How much longer until she can swim too?!

Coach is giving Cam some pointers.

Cam ready for backstroke.

Ana's favorite stroke is the fly.

Afterwards, we walked up and down Front Street where I think Ricky and Linda explored every single shop. The kids were in heaven. They know where all the best samples are, but they had never gone down Front Street with someone who actually bought anything! They all ended up with a multitude of treasures thanks to Grammy and Grandfather's generosity.

And their whole stay was incredibly generous. We've never eaten out at so many great restaurants in such a short amount of time. Many great talks too. We were all nourished both mind and body. We were sad to see them leave, but I'm 100% positive that they will be back soon. I'm actually surprised they don't just move here for the winters. Come on... you know you want to!

And finally, here is Ana capping off our Lahaina adventure with a leap from the Black Rock beach cliffs.

We love you G&G. Come back soon!

Easters

2013-05-06T09:00:00.000-06:00

I'm not the most creative mom when it comes to cool holiday traditions. I love great traditions, but honestly, I just dont' have the energy to pull it off most of the time. I would love to have an Easter Week that is centered on the Savior and is the spiritual highlight of the season and culminates in the great symbolic Easter dinner with the kids all talking about everything they learned... but it has never happened. Thankfully, Jonah comes in where I fall short, and he does much to help us all focus on the significance of the holiday by reading scriptures and passages from Jesus the Christ by James Talmage to us during the week.

We have been trying for a couple of years to do all the Easter egg hunts and basket hoopla on Saturday, but we've had packed Easter Saturday schedules for the last few years and haven't been able to do it... yet. But for now, we at least managed to have a calm and simple Easter celebration, keeping with a few traditions we've picked up over the years.

For example, the Easter Bunny leaves a yarn tied to your bedpost and tangled in a web all over the house, leading you to your Easter basket. It's pretty crazy if you get up in the night to use the bathroom. You have to be very very careful. It's like Mission: Impossible-style ducking under the laser beams.

Ana was happy to get some candy and a new leotard in her basket.

Elsie gave Jonah and I a card. I love that the speech bubbles have many hearts in them, which means, according to Elsie, "You and I always talk about how much we love each other!". Jonah is the little bunny on the left side of the page.

The kids had an outdoor Easter egg hunt after church. We have a great yard for egg hunts...

But the chickens were not amused.

Here are our eggs. Jonah put some scripture references on one of the eggs, which we read through after the egg hunt.

And then Jonah completed my favorite Easter tradition... making deviled eggs. Actually, my favorite traditions is eating deviled eggs. Jonah did all the hard work in order for the rest of us to enjoy the tradition.

We went to our friends' house for dinner and a nice reading of the Easter story through discovering the meaning of many of the Easter symbols. (Can you tell that Ana loves Po?)

It was a nice Easter after all. Some year we will get around to trying some more in-depth activities, but for now, I guess our main tradition is simplicity.

Crazy Hair Day

2013-05-05T09:00:00.000-06:00

The kids had Crazy Hair Day at school. Even the two bookend kids who don't go to that school decided to participate. I found the idea above on Pinterest... post from non other than my sister-in-law Shawni's blog. Jonah and I always tease that we are going to make her a bumper sticker that says, "I'm famous on Pinterest".

Anyway, Elsie loved her hair do, and it stayed in all day... even through PE... thanks to my 1980s hairspray skills. Since she is only one of five or six ultra-blonds at her school, she especially stood out, and she loved it. She also loved that I told her to keep the method of the hairdo a secret... She loved having such a valuable secret all day.

Po's Crazy Hair Day-- no hairspray required.

Crazy Face Day!

Cam opted for the "Kind Of Crazy, but Still Cool" hair do.

And I don't think Ana released that this is how I wore my hair every day in 5th grade. Well, except with a scrunchie instead of a bow. Oh, and we had big poofy bangs back then too.

We are already making big plans for next year.

Hoshmonger Comes to Visit

2013-05-04T09:00:00.000-06:00

Jonah has some funny nicknames for his siblings. He calls his older brother Hoshmonger Shrine. His other brothers are Tam, Nobie, and Piglet. His sisters are Sabrina, Shas, and Licker of Chesternuts. I'll have to have him explain some time.

Anyway, Hoshmonger came to visit! Josh is a school teacher in Arizona, so he doesn't have a lot of free time to travel, so we were so happy that he decided to come see us for spring break! He doesn't have any kids of his own, but he makes up for it by being the best uncle he can be. The kids climbed all over him, pestered him, played with him and learned from him every single moment of the day, and they still couldn't get enough. He has amazing patience and really gets along well with kids... which are great traits for a teacher!

Our friends came over and Josh helped all the kids reach some amazing heights on the trampoline.

The kids were also on spring break, so we spent much time at the beach, in Lahaina, diving, hiking and exploring the island. We all went ont he Bamboo Hike, but the little girls and I stayed back at the second waterfall so the older kids and Jonah and Josh could do the rest of the hike more quickly. While there, we carved some ginger root dolls and made them a river rock house.

After the hike, we enjoyed some of our new favorite treat, peanut butter and carrots. Mmmmm.

Unfortunately, my memory card in my camera got corrupted, so I lost the rest of the photos from Josh's stay, but I have to say that we were very sad to see him go. We tried and tried to get him to move here, but he's got a great thing going in AZ, so it was a lost cause. Hopefully we at least convinced him to visit more often!

When Josh left, we realized that in the last five months, we had had seven of Jonah's nine siblings come visit, plus his parents! It's great to live on Maui.

And just because I have no where else to post them, here is a photo from Cam's Cub Scout banquet. He was the clock in the skit. You have to love those cute Cub Scout skits.

And here is Elsie's lovely little PlayDoh mermaid that she made me keep in a ziplock bag for a few weeks before I smashed the Doh back into the cans. Wow. She loves mermaids, doesn't she?!

Mores of Daily Life

2013-05-03T09:00:00.000-06:00

Cam was taking a belly slap for fame. In an attempt to reenact Po's favorite scene from Nacho Libre, he ended up with a stinging midsection. Go Cam!

We do put forth much effort to tend, entertain, and teach Po. She is quite fortunate to have five people living with her who are all devoted to her well-being. And good thing, too. She's more two-year-old than we've ever have, so we need all the help we can get!

We have learned that Po stays out of trouble when she's actively involved in a good cause. So, we have been trying to get her involved in the daily chores. We've tried to teach her to unload the silverware, for example.

She still has some work to do, but at least they are all in the drawer.

What she really wants to do is help me feed the chickens and help ana collect eggs, but after finding huge piles of expensive chicken feed scattered around the yard, or hearing, "Oops! I dropped a egg!", we are moving away from assigning her those specific tasks.

She's also been trying to learn to brush her own hair...

Baby steps, Po. Eventually you will be knee-deep in chores like the rest of them, with no time for any more trouble making.

The Big Dance

2013-05-02T09:00:00.000-06:00

The Big Dance. And no, I don't mean the playoffs.

Last year, Ana watched Elsie's performance in the Peter Pan ballet with a local dance studio, and she resolved to be in the performance the following year. She signed up to clean the studio in exchange for dance classes and signed up for one of the new jazz classes since she decided she wasn't ready for the time commitment needed for ballet. Finally, the weekend after I got back from California, they performance took place. (Fortunately, it wasn't in Lahaina like last year... that was quite the drive back and forth... it was at a private school only three minutes drive).

Ana's class performed a number from the musical Cats, if you can't tell by her outfit. I have to say, I was fairly impressed with Ana-- she went from being a 100% non-dancer to being the star of her number (partly from her dancing skills, partly from the age-old trick I taught her of smiling big enough that no one notices if you mess up).

Po only got to watch the dress rehearsal, but she loved it so much that she tucked her dress into her undies. Whoops. She really does love pretending to dance ballet and loves watching the ballerinas ("bayawyinaws" as she says).

Since I was out of town for the photo day, Ana managed to get her makeup and hair done by a friend. She stayed in character for the whole photo shoot...

And while backstage...

And finally stopped being a cat when her friend Johnny brought her flowers.

What a star! We were so pleased with her hard worked and all she put into the performance. She loved it (and hopes someday to be running the show... she saw some real room for efficiency improvement...)

And then there's Elsie...

Elsie Elsie Elsie Elsie....

She's been dancing for a couple of years now...

And she is as cute as can be.

I think she really catches the drama of the dance...

And loves being on stage...

But maybe doesn't pay attention in class so well.

But whenever there is free dance...

Or a solo part...

She really shines!

And Mom and Dad breathed a long, joyous sigh of relief when the performance was over. I really respect you parents who keep your kids in dance for years... it's incredibly expensive and time-consuming, but we can see why it is worth it. Girls are meant to dance!

California! Knows How to Party

2013-05-01T09:00:00.000-06:00

Okay, this is awesome. Once a year my mother-in-law uses some of the proceeds of the sale of her parents' farm to bring all of her daughters and daughters-in-law to one place for one weekend to have a mothers' conference calle MFME. (Those who aren't mothers yet come as "future mothers"). Since Jonah has four sisters and three sisters-in-law, this is quite a group! I love these sisters so much and we always have the most interesting, thought-provoking, ennobling, and hilarious discussions.

Jonah's mom usually asks us to read a mothering-themed book for discussions, and this year we shared favorite mothering articles that we read for other discussions. We laugh, we cry, we get really really tired (well, not me, but you others know who you are)... and we eat. We make sure that we eat three full meals, plus snacks and desserts, every day. Because, when you are a mother, you often miss out on a meal or two. AND, we talk about the meals the whole time we are eating the meals. This is a very important tradition of the MFME retreats.

Only nursing infants get to join the crew, so we all have this enlightening sense of freedom the whole time. It's a much needed boost of goodness to help us all go back into the "trenches" as better moms and better women.

For a few years, California has been the most central location, so we have gathered there. This year, Linda found the most ecclectic luxury eco-home to rent right in Laguna Beach. The weather was heavenly and the whole weekend went by too quickly.

There's the crowd in our usual "waiting for a table" discussion postures.

For some better photos and much better and more complete synopses of the weekend, I suggest you click over to my sister-in-laws' blogs on the subject. *But I have to add that they did not cover one of my most memorable points of the trip, which was when I shared with them the dream Elsie had just had. Elsie had dreamt happily that my breasts were so large/long that the reached around and encompassed the whole world. I love that she shared that dream with me. Isn't that true motherhood in a nutshell? Don't we all want to not only nourish our own children but to let our maternity nourish the whole of humankind? We have a new acronym: BAW... breasts around the world.

Linda (Jonah's mom): http://eyrealm.blogspot.com/2013/03/plugging-in-to-mothers-and-future.html

Saren: http://looslifamily.blogspot.com/2013/03/mfme-2013.html

Shawni: http://www.71toes.com/search/label/MFME

Saydi: http://bostonshumways.blogspot.com/2013/03/mfme-2013.html

Charity: http://drippingwithpassion.blogspot.com/2013/03/eyre-girls-hit-laguna-beach.html

I don't think any of the sisters-in-law-in-law did any blog posts, but they are pretty much the most awesome ladies in the history of the world because they are married to my husband's brothers, which means they have impeccable taste in men.

Here we are after church at my mom's ward (congregation), where a good friend from New Zealand is serving a mission!!! I think he was a tad embarrassed when I made him take a photo with all the pretty ladies. Love you Elder Armstrong!!

And here's a little video I made... mwah ha ha ha.

Since we were having the MFME conference about ten minutes away from my mom's condo in Dana Point, I used a companion pass to bring Elsie along on the trip, where she stayed with my mom and her husband Ken for the four days I was at the MFME retreat. She was ostensibly ecstatic, to say the least.

We had a horrible flight over the Pacific, but she didn't even notice with all over her overflowing excitement. She even got to see her cousin Lyla in San Diego before we headed north. By the time I got back to my mom's on Sunday, she was refreshed and full of joy. Jonah and I had decided to let her go because she has seemed to be having a little bit of a hard time lately. She just seems a little isolated in the family, so this was a good time to help her recharge. Plus, we've taken the two older kids on trips during their year in Kindergarten, so we solidified it as a tradition.

I was lucky enough to have three days at my mom's house. She introduced us to a cool, gigantic, addicting store called Hobby Lobby. Look at this (silk) rose!

Then, just to make my week extra perfect, my sister came over from Las Vegas! She brought her three kids and then I was truly in heaven. Finally, I got to meet, hold and love my new nephew Luke. Your sister's kids are like your own, don't you think?! It was breaking my heart to only see and talk to Luke over FaceTime. When I finally held him, my soul felt complete. It was like I had a child I had never met! He and I bonded instantly of course.

It was equally heavenly to be with Ruthie and Reggie too. I love those kids and love to be with my sister and mom. There are no words to describe it.

My mom had some free tickets for the Santa Ana Zoo, so we had a fun day there, although the weather had suddenly turned frigid. What the heck!?

Elsie and Ruthie, after years of nearly aggravating each other, have finally learned to get along and be buddies (I think it helped that Ruthie's idol Cam was not around to compete for her attention).

Here's my cute mom doing some dancing with the girls.

And here is five-month-old Luke. He's the apple of my eye.

I was understandably sad to leave all these people I love so much, but it was okay because I was heading home to happy, healthy and well-cared for kids thanks to my dear husband who not only held down the fort, but did it with grace and aplomb. Thank you Jonah for spoling your wife once again! And thank you Linda and Mom for the memorable week.

Cub Scouts

2013-04-30T09:00:00.000-06:00

Somehow, someway, I didn't take a photo of Cam's Cub Scout Pinewood Derby Car this year! Will someone slap me in the face please?!? Sheesh. Here is the pre-finished wood-carving pinewood derby. Cam had a hard time deciding how to paint it, but since the theme this year was "Racing Through Time", I showed him how to to a Delorian-style tin foil with "modge podge" skin on the car and whala! no paint needed.

He took fourth (?) in his pack and was right in the middle of the 200 cars raced at the whole island Cub Scout Jamboree. Jonah was a big part of setting up the immensely complicated derby track, so in the hours he spent on that, I think we both forgot to take a photo of the fancy car.

But, man, are we grateful for Cub Scouts. What a great program!

Random February Shots

2013-04-29T09:00:00.000-06:00

Here are some random shots from February.

Po sometimes loves her "beach time". Other times she begs, "No beach time! No beach time!" We try to take her to the beach at least once a week. She's so spoiled.

Ana and Cam have begun tennis lessons with an excellent coach. The coach was a protege of Billie Jean King! She's able to get more into their weekly 30 minutes lesson than other coaches did in four. We are glad we've found her-- Jonah's siblings and parents are tennis nuts, so we work hard to make sure we fit in. Jonah has been great about taking the kids to practice throughout the week too. I need to get my practice in as well!

The kids and Jonah helped clean our chapel on the Saturday I was out of town. I think Cam liked the leaf blower someone let him borrow. I'd love to have one of those too! Think of how quickly I could dry my hair!

The chickens are finally consistent with their egg laying, so I sold about half of them (I'm down to 20 from 50) and the others make enough eggs that we have plenty to sell to pay for their expensive feed. I have to admit, they generally drive me crazy, but I still can't NOT keep chickens. What is my problem!?

I'm gearing up to send them all to babysitters over the summer while we are off island. I hope they all do well. It has not been fun raising baby chickens on Maui (actually, I don't know if it's fun anywhere), so I'm glad to be past that stage with them and would hate to have to start over.

Somehow I missed out on this "beach time", but this is a fairly impressive fort, don't you think? Maui sand is so incredible.

Paper Masks

2013-04-28T21:21:00.000-06:00

(Not shown: dorsal fin on back)

Every few days, Elsie surprises us by coming out of school in a new form. She is obsessed with art and drawing... and she especially loves making paper costumes in school. Sometimes she makes costumes for the other kids in her class so she doesn't have time to do it for herself. I just have to say that her teacher is a saint, giving up all the tape and straws and paper needed to fulfill Elsie's creative demands.

I especially liked the full length mermaid costume and a giraffe costume she did, but I can't find the photos presently. For now, enjoy the dolphin (above) and the cat and bunny below.

(not shown: fluffy tail)

(check out the claws!)

Cam has recognized Elsie's ability to communicate through art, and has taken a different approach and has been attempting to get her to understand him through drawings. The other day, during an argument in which Elsie could not understand why he wanted her to give him some privacy, he took out paper and drew four comics of how what she was doing was affecting him. The first drawing was very angry, but as he drew, he calmed down. (I'll have to find those photos, too) Not surprisingly, after she studied his drawings, she drew a comic back showing how she really just wanted to be with him because he is a fun brother. He studied her drawing, they stopped arguing, and they worked out a compromise. Good job Cam!

Here's a drawing Cam did to try and show the different emotions he faces:

And while we are on the subject of artistic expression, here was Ana's sweet Valentine's Day "Heart Attack" that she put up to surprise us for V Day. XOXO

Ana the Boss

2013-04-27T09:37:00.000-06:00

Ana is destined for a great future in telling people what to do. I don't know how I can tell... but I just can. It just comes so naturally for her. With her current videography and photography obsession, I think she might aspire to be a movie director some day. Here are some storyboards from her recent work... titled something that has to do with Breyer horses and trying to make it sound suspenseful..

The Brothers Come to Town

2013-04-26T09:16:00.000-06:00

We were so excited and blessed to have three of Jonah's four brothers come to visit for a week in February. First, his youngest brother Eli and his wife Julie and brand new baby Zara (only 5-6 weeks) came for a few days before the crowd. They live in Washington D.C. Needless to say, we were beside ourselves with delight.

We went on many walks and a few mild adventures...

And Jonah and Eli made some delicious fresh POG juice (pineapple-orange-guava).

Julie and Eli are the most natural new parents I've ever encountered. It helps that they have such a wonderful baby, but even perfect babies can frazzle new parents, and they didn't seem to have one single moment of unfrazzling. Wow!

After a few days, Jonah's next younger brother Tal showed up with his wife. They live in Manhattan. They left their one year old daughter with Jonah's parents in Utah on their way here, so they were enjoying their first time away without baby. We met up with some mutual friends who were also on island, and we all went on a forest walk on Sunday afternoon.

I'm pretending that Leo is a cute little baby like Zara, but he's the furthest (furriest) thing from. But, he thinks he's a baby, so there you are.

Then, Noah and Kristi showed up, straight from San Diego! They were just here in November, so they only stayed one night before all three brothers and wives went to their five day work conference over in Lahaina. We took the liberty of coming over on Friday night and camping out in their plush hotel rooms for one night. We put the kids in Tal's room and Jonah and I slept on the floor in Noah and Kristi's. We loved using the pool and acting like we were tourists for a day.

Jonah's cousins Ben (San Jose) and Sam (North Carolina) also work for the same company, so we were so lucky to get to hang out with them and their wives too! We all went out to dinner on Friday night. It was quite a tall group of guys!

Then, late that night, Jonah got all the brothers and cousin Ben to do a night dive at 1am. It was quite funny because it took them about two hours to finally head out, even though they all already rented scuba gear and everything. But, they finally made it out and had a great time, besides the fact there there were only two flashlights for five of them....

Elsie's favorite part of the whole hotel-crash was when she got to go to the buffet. I think buffets are my kids' favorite things the in the whole world. (I must admit, I love them too... it's my Vegas upbringing I guess). Elsie found the vat of freshly made whipped cream and slathered it on everything, even her bacon. It was a morning she will never forget.

We were also fortunate that Eli and Julie decided to bless baby Zara while there were here. Eli chose to perform the blessing up on this great road in Keokea. We call it the Oprah Road because it cuts through Oprah Winfrey's ranch and goes right past her homes.

Can you tell how thick the grass is? Such a beautiful spot.

And a beautiful baby, so lucky to have all these great uncles.

We were incredibly sad when everybody left. Truly. It was a perfectly wonderful week and a half. We wish we all lived closed... but I think they need to move here if we want to make that happen.

Nine Years of Cambo and Luvy Comes to Town

2013-04-25T19:58:00.000-06:00

Ana is getting a little shortchanged in the blog of late since her birthday is way back in August, so I just want to give a shout out and say that she is an incredible daughter and is getting to be a good surfer too!

One of the things she does that helps me so much is she folds the laundry... and not only that... she folds it into the neatest piles you have ever seen. Hooray!

Another thing I really appreciate is how she takes care of Po with total patience, kindness and adoration. She always offers to help Po whenever she needs it and even lets Po sleep in her bed and helps her say her prayers at night. She is an angel.

Cam got to be on the "Morning Broadcast" one morning because he had done an exceptional job on teaching kids in his class how to clarify words, so he was asked to present his method to the school. I peaked into Elsie's kindergarten class to watch him. He did a great job... but he didn't get Elsie's incredibly loud voice, so it was just a little bit hard to hear him, but he looked very knowledgeable.

Right before Cam turned nine, my mom came to the island!! Then to top it off, our old friend Mark came to visit too! it was a little packed having them both here at the same time, but Jonah and I gave our room to my mom and the guest room to Mark, and we enjoyed our super comfortable hideabed in the living room.

We dragged Mark and my mom to the school events...

And enjoyed Luvy's help in reading to Po (she can't be satiated...)

But every time my mom comes to visit, I feel bad that we aren't more adventurous. It's just so relaxing having her here. She gets my house in tip top shape, instantly turns all the kids happy, and just gathers us all like a hen under her wings. So sorry Mom. I hope you had a fun time. We just love to hang out and gaze at your beauty and marvel at your efficiency. But man oh man do we love having her here.

Cam's birthday was a little less exciting than in year's past, but I think he had a good time with a chocolate sheet cake with a Lego guy on top. He also got some nice presents. He chose to have a birthday party this year, but we haven't had a free weekend since he turned nine, so we have yet to have his party yet... but when we do, it'll be epic! (BTW, just so you know how bad I am, I make my kids plan their own parties. Cam just couldn't decide what he wanted to do in addition to every weekend being booked, so I've just waited until he took the initiative, which he finally has, and he's planning one for the week after next).

I used to have a photo here of my mom eating a Dorito! She made me take it down and replace it with this one. But that's okay. She has a reputation to maintain.

We were so sad when Luvy and Mark (or Chocolate Mark as my kids named him) had to leave. We did spend a monumental amount of time at the beach and we went on some great walks and Jonah and Mark did some crazy stuff... but, alas, no photos.

But here is a photo of Elsie's homemade kite!

And here is a photo of Elsie with a monarch butterfly that she caught in the garden.

(She released it later, don't worry.)

Elsie is Six?!

2013-04-24T09:00:00.000-06:00

Out of the frying pan, and into the fire! From Christmas, we go right into two January birthdays back to back. Will the celebrations ever end?!

(I lament, but there are actually no more than three days in January that do not have a birthday of either Jonah's family or my extended family. Whoa! Springtime... But we love all you January-borns)

Well, it is hard to believe that little bobbly-head baby Elsie is actually six! Even after a few months, I still forget that she isn't five. Elsie may be perennially five though. She still fits all the descriptions and personality of a five year old... except that she can read and skip now... so I may have her in my mind as a five year old forever.

On her actual birthday, she got to go to ballet class, which is one of her favorite things in the world.

Then we had noodles for dinner and a chocolate "mermaid" cake. She was as pleased as could be.

Elsie elected to have a birthday party this year (we give them a choice-- birthday party or adventure/trip with a parent or the family), and she was very specific about what she wanted to do: go to the Maui Ocean Center aquarium with her best friend Sophie and her siblings, with both she and Sophie wearing mermaid costumes, with Elsie wearing a crown. Sophie's mom was so nice and actually made Sophie a mermaid costume just for the occasion. (Elsie has three or four, so she just chose the one that was the most comfortable).

You would think with all the incredible snorkeling and diving around her that the aquarium would be a let down, but it was actually really cool! I learned a ton and only wish I had been there without kids so I could have taken my time and read all the information and more slowly watched all of the fish. Maybe I'll take myself there on a date one of these days...

Happy Birthday Elsie!

The Life of Po

2013-04-23T09:00:00.000-06:00

It's not too rough being Po. She is adored by everyone, always has her needs met, can even communicate fairly well. She gets to do fun things like jump on the trampoline and go paddleboarding. Her biggest problem every day is maybe having to take a nap. I hope she appreciates how easy life can be when you are two...

She insists that she needs the iPad Mini when she "has to go poopoo yeally (really) bad".

She and Leo are pretty tight. She's the only one that listens to him when he mews to be fed (he's got a bottomless stomach) and dutifully goes outs and feeds him every time.

She's quite the eater (if you can't tell), and she'll open the freezer and get chocolate chips, climb up and grab the peanut butter, or sneak into the kids' stashes of holiday treats. Luckily her favorite foods are still avocados, strawberries, celery and apples, so we know she is getting her nutrients...

Happy Po. She's a great kid. And Leo is a great cat to love her so much.

Skate Park!

2013-04-22T18:34:00.000-06:00

I have some great friends here on Maui. Sometimes they will text me and say things like, "We are going down to the skate park tonight. Can I take your kids with?" And then they will even text me photos of the fun. I love it!! I need to be better about returning the favor...

This was back in January. It's a great skate park on the beach in Kihei with a skateboard park and playground in the same complex. And it's free if you bring your own skates!

Hana and New Years

2013-04-20T09:00:00.000-06:00

After Christmas, we decided to join some friends on their annual post-Christmas Hana Camping Trip. Well, except by the time we got our act together and called the campground to make a reservation, they were filled up. So we made a reservation for the next night and tried to make the drive quickly to catch up with them the next morning before they left, but we didn't. It was okay though, because it ended up being great just camping with our family at Wainapanapa State Park right on the water there on near side of Hana. We went for some hikes in the lava fields, played on the black sand beach, and had an especially fun time exploring the freshwater caves. Jonah tried some fishing, but wasn't successful, so we had some tasty hot dogs for dinner and made some new friends in the campground who shared some of the 25 pounds of steak they accidentally brought.

There's the mermaid tail! The tourists were excited to see a mermaid swimming around in the underwater caves...

Hana is so unbelievable gorgeous. I'm tempted to make the drive every month, except that I think our car would go on strike.

We also hiked down into a Red Sand beach that was also (as we found out as we came round the corner) a nudist beach. Awesome. Too bad most nudists are not very attractive.

We took the long way round on our drive back and loved the drive, as usual. I love how secluded it is. The kids made some dams and waterways on this deserted rock beach halfway through our drive home.

We stopped at the White Church. Back when you were allowed to camp here, Ana got a centipede bite on the head when she was only three months old!

Here's Rusty Rust. We were quite proud of the car for making the curvy drive with aplomb.

Jonah trying to catch a fish again. All the fish were on Christmas vacation.

And we made it back in time for a rest before the festive New Year's Eve party up at our friends Malia' and Nalu's property up the volcano. They had fireworks, a four wheeler, and some ono grinds. It was a great way to ring in the great new year! Happy 2013!

Christmas Morning

2013-04-19T08:00:00.000-06:00

I love two and three years olds at Christmas. They are still somewhat oblivious to what is going on... but man do they catch on quickly!

Po was somewhat naughty this year, so Santa just gave her a thing of M&Ms. She seemed pleased as punch! (I'm mad I don't have a photo fo the great Hawaiian fabric stockings Ana made this year. Darn!)

Elsie got some lovely little gitfs, like these mermaids from Ana and a [used] bike from Santa!

Ana loves Breyer!! (That's an understatement actually).

The kids were happily enjoying the little gifts Santa brought, until they were told to go outside and see the BIG gift that Santa somehow set up in the middle of the night on the front lawn!! Then they started freaking out.

Po didn't really know what all the screaming was about, so she stayed behind and had a moment with Leo.

Jonah had the kids come in to open presents before we lost the whole day on the trampoline. He loves the present Ana got so that he could play Breyer Horses with her.

Cam is still going strong on Legos!

Po absolutely adored (and adores) her Yo Gabba Gabba! stuffed dolls from Papa and Dodie!

Luvy and Ken really knew the way to Ana's heart with yet some more horsey stuff....

I think it will be a gift that gives years after year after year.

When the presents were opened and spread around the house, we let the kids go back outside to jump out their candy-induced craziness.

Gagnam Style!

Elsie always has one specific gift that she is hoping for, and luckily Papa and Dodie came through with her very own working mermaid tail. She's been able to use it in the pool and the ocean and I think she may actually be a real mermaid.

Po was just delighted by the whole day. So were we all. I love simple, quiet Christmas mornings.

Oh Christmas Stick, oh Christmas Stick! Why don't you have some branches!!??

(We cut this tree out of our yard the same day we were meant to get a Christmas tree, and we though... eh, why not?)

Christmas Talent Show

2013-04-18T13:00:00.000-06:00

Oh man, I love a good fun talent show. My family's tradition was to have a talent show every Christmas Eve. Since we couldn't be with extended family this year, we roped our "island family" into doing a talent show with us. My sweet friend Rachelle offered to have it at her house, even though she is in the middle of a major remodel. But since I'm in a remodel too, she figured her larger living room was a better choice.

Ana decided to put on a Nativity at the talent show and, as usual, prepared every detail beforehand. She even took photos of Cam wearing the costumes so she would make sure to have everything ready for the special night.

Nice job Ana! It was lovely.

We had a Cafe Rio theme potluck (Mmmmmmm) and the adults even did some talents. My favorite was when S.R. and Troy did a fabulous bagpipe-drum "duet". Seriously. What cool friends!

Some Cute Kids

2013-04-17T13:33:00.000-06:00

I'm biased, but seriously, these are some cute kids.

I'll keep them, goofy faces, buck teeth and all!

Random Musings

2013-04-16T13:00:00.000-06:00

December, as usual, was a wild mixture of parties, events, school, and endless running to and fro to get everything ready. The only time I've had a restful December was in 2010 when Po was born... I had meticulously got everything ready in advance since I didn't know when the baby would come. I should remember how good it felt to be on top of things!

Anyway, here are some of the random photos I found that tell a little bit about our month. Above is a pen-drawn portrait by the worker at our favorite yogurt shop, Orange Leaf (Orange Leaf has since closed down, by no fault of ours). I think she looks a little Disney.

It is always hard to be away from extended family during the holidays, but photos like this of my gorgeous niece Riley just make my day. She's my brother Tyler's daughter and I'm pretty sure that is the real Santa.

Photos like this also make my YEAR! These are Sonna's boys, and the photo needs no commentary.

Speaking of little brothers, here is my crazy brother Tyler at the Hobbit premier in Vegas. I take full credit for the sword on his back, though I'm still wondering how he made it into a movie with a full sized sword on his back.

We al went and saw the Hobbit here on Maui too. I finished reading it to the kids in November and we were all holding our breath for the movie to come out. I remember reading it as a kid, and then that dumb cartoon movie was all I had to watch to fill in the gaps of my imagination. Peter Jackson did a much better job... plus, we love the New Zealand scenery/eye candy of his films.

The best part of the movie was when Elsie would note how things were the same or different from her imagination. When the eagles swooped in, she said in her large Elsie voice, "You were right mom! The eagles ARE as big as a room!"

Thankfully the world didn't end on December 21st. I've noticed that usually "end of the world" predictions fall on the 21st of the month. I was born on a 21st. I can't figure out the significance.

I spent some time working to get some more house projects done. This photo makes me sad though, because I lost those glasses in a surfing "accident" a week after I took this self portrait. They were some awesome 25cent garage sale glasses.

The kids always find interesting ways to amuse themselves, like making a very warm blanket mountain.

Makes me wonder why they get any Christmas presents at all... it's not like they need them!

Here was a festive thing that has never happened to me before: tomatoes in December! My vines finally started to ripen their tomatoes, and they came on strong for about three months non-stop! I love gardening in Hawaii!

And another self-portrait of my house project uniforms. Don't mock my shower cap... it comes in handy more often than you can imagine.

Mel and Adam Come to Visit

2013-04-15T16:41:00.003-06:00

Just when you thought I would never blog again, my mom guilted me into going again. PLUS, my younger sister is way ahead of me on her blog, which never happens, so I've got a reputation to regain.

So, I'm going to go back to December and work my way to the present. I should be able to get a post up a day, so feel free to check back often!

After our many visitors in November, we were luckily still in the mode to have some more guests. Jonah's adopted uncle, Adam, and his beautiful wife Melanie and two of their boys came to visit for about four days. Melanie and I had a blast scoping out the local thrift stores... even though she's a world class model and was even Miss Universe (or Miss International) back in her teens, she's got the thrift store sickness even worse than I do, so she shopped me under a table!

Ana was too young to remember the last time they came to visit back when she and Abraham were two, but everyone quickly fell into an easy familiarity and played hard together the whole timet hey were here. Adam and Cam especially hit it off and it took us a few days to recover from their adventures.

Here we are at Polo Beach, one of my favorite beaches:

Adam was working on a business school class while he was here, so this is how we saw him most of the time.

Po and Melanie really got along, especially because Melanie had many cool games and movies on her iPhone!

This is the mark of true friendship!

Here are the boys and my kids under the freshly decorated Christmas "stick".

It was great fun having Mel and Adam come visit. We hope they come more often!

December Party-time

2013-01-27T23:52:00.001-07:00

But wait, before we get to December, In my rush to catch up with updating the blog last week, I totally overlooked some awesome photos from my iPhone that tell about some poignant parts of our life back in October and November. They must have been lost in between the hundreds of PhotoBooth photos of stretched faces and dozens of cute baby animal pics that one of my kids feels like need to be saved in my photo album.

First of all, I think it was in the fall that Po became completely obsessed with Nacho Libre. I know how she feels… I think I watched it four times in two days when I visited my dad in New Orleans last year. But she has taken it to a whole new level… she can nearly say the whole movie while she watches it… and she can’t even hold a conversation in real life. She also pats her large belly and says, “Nacho.” I need to take it off of my phone one of these days, but I keep forgetting and if I’m not hyper-vigilant, she’ll steal my phone and sneak into a room and watch a few minutes of Nacho here and there.

One of my kids took screen shots of the movie so they could show them to Po when she is periodically grounded from watching the actual movie.

There is a self serve yogurt place called Orange Leaf that we really like, and they’ve had a special for about six months where you could pay $3 and fill up a kiddie cup as much as you want with toppings and yogurt and the weight didn’t matter. Here’s Ana with some Nuttery Buttery flavor and probably some Nutella flavor too. We were really excited for the Christmas flavors like Egg Nog and peppermint, but when they finally came in a couple of days before Christmas, we realized we like the old Nutter Butter and taro flavors even better.

But then we got shot down when they stopped doing the $3 kiddie cups.

I think Ana may have had something to do with that:

Every time she left the worker would say, “Wow, she knows how to do it!”

Po drew all over herself and then took pictures of herself…. can’t figure out her emotions here.

We had a little surprise visit from Shawni and Dave in early November when they came to Maui for a little weekend getaway. We had them come scuba dive one morning by their hotel. They also spent an afternoon/evening up here the night their flight left. The kids were in heaven showing them around our house and having Shawni help with the nightly routine. We love those guys! Now we just need the whole family….

We also did some scuba diving, though I am still not very comfortable doing it. Jonah has been going since he was born, and now he has Ana scuba diving, and she’s a natural too. I just don’t know if I can ever just be calm. I’ve been certified for five years now. I’m hoping more practice will do the trick.

We took Po to the mall for her first time. She was amazed by the mannequins! Gigantic dollies!

Po likes to help me in the garden every morning.

And here is a photo that Jonah’s mom took of Cam’s Scout award.

And now on to December!!

Our town hosts fun town parties throughout the year, including a great Christmas party. Free pony rides even!

I love this Santa. He was there last year too. Ana’s teeth are fake in case you are wondering… and Po was too scared. Cam is usually too scared too, but I talked him into it. I probably had to bribe him with a candy cane.

And Santa also came to the church party!

Po loves all the parties because she loves an excuse to don her “party dress”.

Our neighbor’s plumeria tree was blooming all fall, so we made many leis.

Po’s birthday!!! She actually asked for a “Nacho cake”. So here is my funky version of Nacho Libre. I do not have future in cake making, and that’s okay because I don’t love cake. And this looked a little more delicious in real life. And most importantly, Po loved it!

We had a nice relaxing day and gave her all of her favorite foods. Then, we invited a few families over for dessert on the night of her birthday. She was pleased as punch about her little presents too. She’s been singing “Happy Birthday to Po Po” ever since.

Visitors from Another Land

2013-01-25T02:06:00.000-07:00

We were so lucky to have a big fun group of visitors in November. Seriously. It was so fun. First came Noah and Kristi and their four kids. Noah and Kristi are wonderful guests. They are up for anything (except for one thing you will see later) and everything and are so appreciative and cheerful. Plus our kids adore each other (except for brief moments between Cub and Po)…

Cam and McKay are two years apart, but are more like twins.

Bennett doesn’t have a counterpart in our family, so I guess he and Ana should have been buds. He really enjoyed the sand. He’s from San Diego, so I’m sure he wanted to compare the taste of sand on both sides of the Pacific.

A few days after Noah and Kristi got here, Jonah’s youngest sister Charity arrived, and everyone cheered!

Jonah and Noah spent some good time preparing the imu pit for our Hawaiian traditionally cooked turkeys. Above is a photo of the banana tree they picked up from a friend’s compost pile.

Here are the rocks that were heated from a fire that burned all night in the pit. They are surrounding the two turkeys.

Charity and Kristi helped everyone dress their parts.

Jonah and Noah did some speedy and quality work to get the lanai done enough that we could eat on it by that afternoon. It was like when the polygamists would come frame houses in Saint George. Poof! There’s a house.

We went and watched some massive waves at Hookipa while the turkey cooked in the pit there under that copper cap.

Here they are unearthing the turkeys wrapped in foil, wrapped in banana leaves, covered by puka rocks, covered by dirt, covered by more banana leaves to keep in the steam, covered by a few bed sheets, covered by plastic, covered by dirt, capped by the copper cap (from our fire pit).

Was it worth it?!

Oh heck ya! It was DELICIOUSIOSO!!!

We got everything else cooked and a nice table sat.

These girls could never pass as Wampanoags, so they were Pilgrims.

I love Thanksgiving, and I love Thanksgiving food. It makes me want to go make the whole meal right now.

We had 16 people over for dinner. It might be a new record…

After Thanksgiving, we tried to work off all the food by taking all eight kids and five adults on the infamous Bamboo Hike.

Don’t let these photos fool you into thinking its less than anything but SPECTACULAR! Also, don’t let the photos fool you into thinking that it is in any way a great idea to take eight kids on this hike. They were all troopers and all survived with smiles on their faces, but it was a little bit that side of crazy.

The beginning of the hike is through some think bamboo forest, hence the hike’s name.

Miles of river bed boulder scrambling (okay, maybe not miles, but at least a mile).

Don’t forget the freezing cold muddy swims, with an infant and two toddlers too.

But at the end we reached a waterfall fed secluded pool surrounded by tall cliffs and virgin Hawaiian jungle.

Everytime I’ve done this hike I have a little coronary thrombosis when we have to climb up old ropes to surmount a twenty foot cliff. Jonah knew I’d stop there and not take the toddlers past that part of the hike, so he and Noah snuck ahead and took all the little kids up the cliff before I got there. Sneaky.

Elsie usually has a hard time with long hikes like this, but she did so well! She just kept on truckin’, through mud as deep as her knees, swimming through freezing water, and even climbing over all those river bed boulders. I was fairly impressed but also mad that she usually complains so much, because now I know she can handle it better than she lets on. That’s my girl…

On the way back we stopped at one of the lower pools to let the kids swim and jump off the low cliffs.

We had a great time, but I think everyone was fairly excited to get to the end and have a Thanksgiving leftovers picnic in the bamboo.

We didn’t really bring any food on the 6 hour hike , so it was well received (a.k.a. feeding frenzy)

The happy hikers!

After the hike, Jonah took us out to a fishing spot on the road to Hana. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring any bait, so we just played on the shore instead. We found these cool sea creatures, like a cross between a mussel and a sea anemone. I should figure out what they were, huh?

On the way back, Noah and Kristi’s car had a bad bout of car sickness, darn it.

Then, Noah and Kristi had planned to go stay at a resort that night while we watched their kids. But we needed to keep their mini-van to be able to fit all the kids, so they tried to take our Maui cruiser. Unfortunately, Kristi is not incredibly fond of cockroaches, and our car has some cockroaches. She got a black plastic bag from Home Depot and tried to calm her roachphobia, but it didn’t work and they came back to our house instead of going to the resort. We were glad to have them back so soon, but darn, that’s not a fun way to spend the night.

The next day we spent at the beaches in Lahaina and followed up with a dinner at Cheeseburger in Paradise.

(Did we eat our way through the week? I think so.)

And here we are trying to recreate the infamous Awkward Family Photo from Jonah’s family on the tree limb.

Charity and I were kind of bummed that the Lahaina Banyan tree didn’t have Christmas lights yet, but it was still magical. The kids even broke all the rules and did some major Tarzan swings.

I think the Noah and Kristi family was adequately worn out by the time they left. The week went by so fast though… I think they just need to move here permanently.

The night before Noah and Kristi family left, Jonah’s parents showed up! We had 15 people sleeping here that one night. and everyone had a bed! (Except some kids had to share).

Charity was leaving soon, so we took a surprisingly warm trip up Haleakala and marveled at the view and majesty of the place.

We also went with Jonah’s parents to meet up with his aunt and cousins (they were having an adults-only family reunion at a resort in Kaanapali) at Tommy Bahamas in Wailea. It was so fun to see all those relatives here together on Maui.

Once Rick and Linda were our only visitors, we sadly had to get back to a semblance of every day life. We sent the kids to school. Here is Elsie with one of her daily art creations, a Santa Suit!

Jonah helped put on his first Den Meeting as a Cub Scout leader.

I took the youth from church down to the beach front outdoor roller skating rink in Kihei. I didn’t bring my own kids, so I had to whoop up on some other ones.

Po slept for about two weeks straight in our bed. My only complaint about having visitors is having to switch Po’s sleeping location around. This is what I dealt with every night:

But I would totally put up with it for such great visitors. I mean seriously, don’t I have the greatest in-laws?

Hopefully we have them convinced to visit more often!

We were very sad to see everyone go. We didn’t know what to do with ourselves!

Well, Po did. She went right back to ruling the house.

Paper Clutter

2013-01-24T00:01:00.000-07:00

I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing, but I actually throw away everything made of paper. After the fire last summer, I’ve realize how futile it is to try and hold onto anything so fragile to time, so I’ve redoubled my efforts towards our goal of being completely paperless (not meaning we avoid paper, just that we don’t keep paper). I hope that the world doesn’t lose all electrical power, because then my digital files would be useless. But really, if that happens, I probably won’t be longing for my kids’ art projects. Well maybe I would if we ran out of toilet paper. Seriously. Have you run out of TP before? It’s bad.

Anyway, I still relish and love their creativity and artistic pursuits, so we photograph it all and store it digitally. We have done the same since Ana was four. But we always took photos of just their work. This year, I started taking photos of them holding their work. If it is something written, I also take a video of them reading what they wrote. I’ve also taken videos of them explaining their artwork to me. I really like this way better. The photo isn’t as good of the artwork as it was when I just laid it on a table and photographed, but I love seeing the kids at that moment in time, holding their work.

To be honest, I saved everything from when I was a kid. I’d have to go through everything every year and sort it out. Then sort it the next year, then the next year. It was fun but burdensome. I hope my kids appreciate that I want to keep the fun, but diminish the burden.

Here was Elsie’s entry for the Alaska Airlines Paint the Plane competition. She didn’t win, but I thought she did a pretty incredible job, don’t you? (Ana and Cam also did a good job).