3 Down, 10 to Go!

Fall break.  Already.  Although I enjoy the break in driving, lunch packing and home-working, it seems like we JUST got into a routine and now we are treated to a 13 day break.  That should be just the right amount of time to screw it all up.

This is where I spent my last day before break.  I know you have seen my photos of the Diamond Head Lighthouse before, but it bears repeating because, well, because. We were treated to a beautiful day, great food and some great history about lighthouses in general and on the island of Oahu.       

Ok, back to break and what to do.  As those of you with kids know, the secret to happiness always includes tape, glue, scissors, and glitter.  Always.  

Mix a few of those together with a drop or two of dish soap (not sure why) and you can make your own window gel clings!  Happiness for hours.

Paint the glue mixture onto a clear plastic paper protector, let dry and voila!   Peel and stick

Like I said, fun for hours.  Cept we don't have hours - we have days.  Hmmm.  For my next trick I took a walk with a friend and came upon the cutest little kitten.  (Is there any other kind?)

Now before you think I am the dumbest mom in the world - I made SURE my friend was going to adopt this little peanut before ever showing her to Emily.  SURE.  100%

We just babysat while she went to the store to get supplies.  We figure she is about 4-5 weeks old, very alert, very tiny and very hungry.  

They fell in love within minutes.  No fear of this little one not taking to humans.  Pure joy.  

Until the reminder that she wasn't ours.  The goodbye was hard but we accompanied the little peanut to her new home and got her all settled with the promise that Emily could visit anytime.  Her bags are packed :)

So yes, I still have another child.  She isn't lucky enough to have a fall break but could probably use one!  Her days are long and challenging.  We are very proud of how she is making the transition.  Not sure I could've handled all this at her age.  

We were at her school last night for her induction into National Junior Honor Society.  Thought you might like to see some photos of her school (and the reason you won't be getting Christmas gifts from us this year)

Way to go Mom!  $1500 of camera equipment and this is the shot I get...grrrr

Well she looked beautiful.  

Most Exciting Day!

Olivia is really enjoying her digital art course.  Her first assignment was to animate an interview segment about an exciting day memory.

For those of you who know me well, you are giggling at the fact that her most exciting day had anything at ALL to do with St. Patricks Day.  Glad they enjoyed that at school, that's one holiday where my overachiever muscles don't get any exercise :)

Turtle Time

To start...I did NOT take these photos.  I wish I could say I did, but they are so cool I figured I would share them with you.  They were taken by Lava Light Galleries - an amazing group of photographers.   Here is a link to their blog if you have some time to look.  BEAUTIFUL!

http://lavalightgalleries.blogspot.com

It's an amazing world isn't it?  

I did take this shot...started my day with a beautiful morning paddle.  It was quiet and still and peaceful...till this big, giant, warship named USS Lake Erie went cruising by!  She looked awesome - sorry no photo, I was on my board :)  

Korean Cinderella

It's back to school and that means one two things; paperwork and field trips.  

I won't go on about the paperwork, you know the drill...sign this, initial that, read this, return that, sign up for that, pay this...endless.  In the midst of all that was the permission slip for the first field trip of the year - a theater production of Korean Cinderella.  What? Chaperone...sure, I'm in.

I had no idea what to expect, but given the name I figured: slightly culturally adjusted version of the Disney gig.  

There are no words to describe the actual experience so I'll let my horrible iPhone videos do the talking (or singing...or whatever the K Pop version of all that is called)  By all means, turn up your volume.

  

Told ya!  I don't know what I was expecting...but it wasn't that!  This is one of those times where you look at the other moms and simply agree that this is another "only in Hawaii" moment.  

In case you are on the edge of your seat...she did accept the Mayor's proposal to go to the big dance but after that she was leaving him to become a K Pop star determined to make it on her own.  Good luck Gongi, we are all rooting for you.  I think.

My chaperoning days are numbered :)

Hangin with our buds!

Hard to believe it's been 4 years since we saw the Chapmans!  Like any time with good friends we picked up right where we left off (minus the obligatory talk of how big our kids have gotten) and didn't miss a beat.

Sharon could be my sister (except no family could take THAT much organization) so it's cool that we were separated at birth ;)  Between the two of us, we managed to pack in a few fun things in 10 days.

In no particular order, and in various groupings, we managed to....

Go on an 8 hour fishing charter.  (Which turned into a 12 hour fishing charter where Jack caught the only fish!)  This is an Ono fish, better known as a Wahoo.  Cool right?  Tasted delicious too!

Set sail for an awesome sunset catamaran ride

Hit the waters for a shark experience (or a walk on sea glass beach and some shopping if you are a sane person).

Hike Diamond Head and Koko Head

Koko Head was a strenuous hike (so they said, I was occupied with first day of school stuff) but totally worth it at the top!

Make sure to click on this photo to get the full panorama of their view!!

Create one very fancy, super blingy, one of a kind water bottle and head off to the first day of 3rd grade!!!  (Nope, I can't believe it either)  We do so enjoy pushing the limits of our Catholic School uniform ;)  Notice the belt has glitter stars on the sides too.  Rules are for sissies!

We also found time to lounge around on at least 4 beaches, but the "look at me so I can take your photo" shot was out of my grasp.  Teenagers. 

These two were much more cooperative!

We had nearly perfect weather the entire time 

I guess the only bad part was that these two didn't really hit it off ;)

Oh well, guess you can't force it!

Ok, back to our itinerary...

Paddleboarding

Jumping

And eating.  You name it, we ate it!  

There was also about 5 or 6 rounds of golf, a trip to the Arizona Memorial, shopping at Ala Moana, and of course a few hours at swap meet. 

A hui hou kakou...until we meet again!

Aloha Summer!

I have no idea where the time went!  

The good news is that we have long-time friends arriving tonight for a 10 day visit. The bad news is that when I pulled out my camera to charge it for all the upcoming fun we are about to have...it didn't have a single photo on it.  No photos = no blogging (I know you come here for the photos, not my witty banter.)

I don't know where July went.  David went to work, Olivia went to summer school, and Emily went out to play!

Sadly, July included the unavoidable round of goodbyes.  Two of these cuties have moved on to their next adventure as Navy kids.  Blach - that never, ever gets easier.

Neighborhood play old style!  This was the kiddos selling lemonade and lollypops on the street.  Giving it away is more accurate, but some folks were generous tippers ;) 

Yes, they are as sunburned as they look.  Bad Mommies.

More of the same...

Hard to believe Emily starts school on Monday!  Harder to believe she will be in 3rd grade.  

Even harder still is that I have a high-schooler.  AGGGG, I'm getting older as I type!  Look Ma...no braces!

Off to get my end of summer pedi - fabulous photos of our next 10 days to come :)

The Circle of Life

Remember these little guys?

They turned into these little guys!  I think this was when they were only hours old.  Not too cute yet, but this was as good as it got.  A few days later there was only one little guy - he was much fluffier and cuter by then, and standing on the edge of the nest.  I peeked over the lanai railing and scared him right out of the nest!  He tried to fly but just sort of flapped to the ground and hopped under the house.  

This is where I like to believe he was safe from all predators, made himself a nice home and had all the bugs and worms he could eat until he learned to fly and took off to start his wonderful life.

OR...as my husband put it "well he's dead."

Half full, half empty, tomato, tomato.  

Egg number 3 never did hatch and just sits there now...mocking me.

Not to leave the fish out of the picture - we are having issues there too.  Gunther has been attacking the other fish and took a big bite out of Angel last week.  She is now off enjoying the great beyond with my little bird.  Gunther has been moved to a "time out tank" so he doesn't do the same to Mickey or Scooter.  Fish drama - gonna be the death of me folks.  Warning, I am very attached to Scooter who is the only remaining baby of our original 4.  He is still very small and cute and well - you see where this is going.   

Good news...the nasty smell in Emily's closet which we figured to be a dead bird or rodent in the crawl space above turned out to be neither.  Just a forgotten snack in the soccer bag from camp a few weeks ago.  Yep, that's disgusting but better than a dead animal so all and all I'm ok with it.

My little brown girls had a fun 4th.  We started at a soccer game and ended up meeting neighbors at the beach for the rest of the day.  I won't bore you with photos of puffy white clouds, bright blue skies and teal green water (the perfect temperature of course) because I spent my time in said water and not fussing with my camera!  It was relaxing, fun, and beautiful.   

Thanks to budget cuts, no fireworks for us this year ;(

This was as crazy as we got...girls smashing pop caps on the cement.  Woo Hoo...happy 4th!

Olivia got in a small spat with the paddle board.  They are much like chain saws in that they almost always win.  Notice the smallish lump on the left side of her forehead.  We laugh at how many photos I have of her with lumps on her head.  I could make a book!

You'll be happy to know I'm not killing everything...my orchids are in beautiful bloom at the moment.  They seem to thrive in spite of me but I never get tired of looking at them.

Aloha!!