With Love, From Hawai'i Day 6

What do you do on the 1 hour boat ride out to Molokini?

Fish. Of course.

So we finally make it to the crater. Looked as gorgeous as all those postcards portrayed it as being. If you were to see it from above, it would be a large "u" shape, with the open end towards the inlet. This position protects everything inside from the majority of winds; and because there is no beach, the waves crashing at the base of the crater do not stir up muck, reducing visibility. Before unleashing all of us into the water, our Captain accurately described this experience as,

"Snorkeling in an Aquarium"

Want more good advice from Yanaj ... Bring a water noodle.

Mom, Lisa, and My Finger in Molokini crater

I was astounded by the beautifully clear turquoise water. It was the perfect temperature, and although all the active and flashy fish were playing at the base of the crater, I could only get myself to fin my way so close before turning and paddling like mad away...before the surf pounded me into those sharp looking rocks.

Soon I peeked above the water to see where my party was. There I was bobbing in the water, when I realized something. My stomach was beginning to roll a bit...that mango and pineapple I had for breakfast that morning wasn't sitting so well anymore. We had been told that if we felt ourselves getting sea sick on the trip here, that we should make it as quickly as possible to the nearest railing and go for distance. Fine with me, until I am the one floating IN THE WATER. Thus, distance or not, this was an unoption.

Who ever thought of becoming sea sick IN the water?

Needless to say, I slowly finned my way back to the boat, arriving just as the Captain came over the loudspeaker to call everyone back. Apparently we were leaving to our 2nd location because the wind and waves had arrived, making Molokini dangerous once again. Thankfully as we sailed away I sipped on some ginger ale and began to feel better.

On the way we slowed to a stop and were treated to a visit from a friendly Bottlenose Dolphin!

This was our morning! A good way to begin rounding out our vacation.

Note to self: I would actually consider paying to swim with dolphins! The one we met appeared friendly and playful (and very cute!), as he swam to check out the passengers on each of the 3 boats that had slowed to a stop to say "Hi".

With Love, From Hawai'i Day 5

This morning we drove to Kihei to meet up with our Molokini and Turtle Town snorkel tour. It was comforting to know that we were going to be going with a small group. Some of our party had to drug up in order to prevent some motion sickness...until we were told that the 10:15 am trip to Molokini would not be happening. Apparently in the late morning to early afternoon, winds kick up around the edges of the crescent shaped crater and make it dangerous to go snorkeling there. We were given the option of going elsewhere right then, or be given a refund (book another time/tour). Because we had our hearts set on the Molokini crater, we opted to change to another time and date. This left us with so much time (we had awoken fairly early to make it to Kihei on time) and no set plans.

So while in Kihei, we followed Yanaj's advice and hit up the Big Wave Cafe.

Product recommendation? One MUST try the Macadamia Nut pancakes with coconut syrup! More a dessert than breakfast, but that is why you share with everyone at your table.

So driving back to Kahana, we stop in Lahaina and The Banyan Tree on Front Street. Did you know that there was such a tree as the "Upside Down" tree? My fourth graders did. We read Amazing Plants and discovered that the roots drops from the branches and attempt to plant from skyward down.

All the hanging vines are actually the Banyan Tree's roots!

P.S. Lisa, Mom, and I all took turns attempting to swing upon the Banyan Tree roots. Just like the little kids everywhere.

Until we came upon the "Do Not..." sign, afterwards, oops!

Overall it was a pretty quiet day, especially after our Oahu adventure (all done in exactly 24 hours!) We took today to sit back and visit yet another beach. Many more people and much more wind. We didn't last nearly as long. Just enough to maintain the beautiful tan we were all accumulating. And what was going to be the Number 1 thing to set Mom apart from all her Seattle-tonian counterparts.

With Love, From Hawai'i Day 4

Here we are on one of the most beautiful islands in the world...beaches galore. Yet we spend hours...yes hours...over the past week trying to find this beach that the locals say is perfabulous.a.must.see. After asking workers at the Maui Dive Shop (and by workers I mean at least 3 different guys at different times and different days) the last one put it simply and honestly:

"Just drive north on that road out there until you reach...uh...well...I mean I've been going there so long its just natural to turn at the road on the left."

Note to Maui Dive worker- of course there are roads to the left; left is the way to the beach, all roads lead to the beach on Maui.

But perseverance pays off on Day 4.



We found it. Once again, very quiet, very few people. I spent time attempting to use a body board (unsuccessfully). But I did successfully spend time watching the Kite Surfer. He was incredible to watch. Riding the waves and flipping in the air when the wind caught his kite. In the above picture you can see the crescent kite in the mid-left.

We settled in to spend some of the daylight hours relaxing on this windy beach. Soon, I was covered with layers of sand- sticking to me AND to all my stuff. Eventually we tossed in the towel (literally) and packed it in back to our condo. Where I napped, and Mom and Lisa checked out our pool and beach front view.

My next trip to Maui will include surfing lessons.period.

With Love, From Hawai'i Day 3

So this was most decidedly our busiest day. It was agreed that for a $114 ticket, we could island hop to Oahu in order to see Pearl Harbor and the Polynesian Cultural Center. This was where I was going to get in a little bit of US History and Hawaiian culture (aka My Luau). We once again woke early and went through our quickest airport security check we have ever had to date...we told an airport worker the flight we were taking and to where, when he personally walked us up to the pilot. The pilot then took roll and told us to take a seat, we would be leaving shortly.

Ha on them! Until our pilot walked us out to this:

...and if you are curious, No, that is not our pilot.

Rather he was the very very friendly gentleman who was

interested in picking up some peoples in our party.

His pickup line?

"Are you the same older ladies who hired some of my construction workers last night, and then had them arrested for being too friendly?"

Note Sir- never refer to ANYONE as older anything.

My view from our lovely 8-seater plane.

8 seats in which I was able to watch our pilot

for the entire flight, fly us into Oahu.

Our wheels.

Worth the upgrade (Thanks Lisa!)
Trying to be a cautious driver, I kept double checking the blind spot...
...before reminding myself each time...there is no blind spot!

First stop on our itinerary: Pearl Harbor

The most reverent portion of the trip, we spent some time looking and reading about that fateful day in December, 1941. On this memorial spot, there is a museum both on the "main island" and floating over the sunken ruins of the USS Arizona.

Second Itinerary Stop: Polynesian Cultural Center

Activity 1: Parade of Canoes; once we entered the 7 villages we were able to watch each of the island countries represented by a canoe of dancers. One of my favorites was from the island country of Tonga. Truthfully I kept waiting for someone to fall into the water!

But after the Parade of Canoes; we saw this ;)

who was telling us how to harvest a coconut tree.

Activity 2: That evening I attended my very first luau.

We were leid with luscious purple orchids.

Which- behind the right ear- "I'm Available!"

Note for next time- (in a ponytail on the back..."Follow Me")

And after some entertainment we watched the Kahlua pig

(ie guest of honor)

make his appearance.

The most delicious drink...who cares about the carbs right??

Mango smoothie. Don't worry Garretts...it was a virgin mango!

Taro roll- anything purple was made from taro plant...and although poi was tried, it did not make it onto my plate. Everything else was sooo tasty!

Activity 3: Horizons Night Show

Can you guess which drummer caught my eye?

And the toast of the evening...the Fire Dancer!

And of course a tribute to Bone Junior.

To whom I cannot forget no matter what vacation I take.

Rock-a-hula Bone!

The beauty of Oahu...

One of the most popular flowers to wear: freesia


Hawai'i's state flower: Hibiscus


Hawai'i's state pastime: surfing (our view of Waikiki Beach from our hotel room)

With Love, From Hawai'i Day 2

...who knew that the sun rises at 5:32 am? Or that some one's cell phone receives sufficient reception to ring soon after? Not me. I will say that very little sleeping in actually occurred.

Which wasn't bad. It just made sure that I did not waste any time getting to a beach. Our first excursion after renting our snorkel gear was to find the #1 Beach in Maui. Only 15 minutes north of Kahana we found one incredible and secluded bit o' sand. With only 15 other people on the beach, we put on our fabulous fins, goggles, and snorkel tubes and attempted to see sea creatures. Note to others (as my Mom soon found out- it otherwise makes for quite the show) it is best to put snorkel fins on AFTER you get into the water and it is best to take fins off BEFORE you try to walk up on shore.

The best part of this 1st snorkel trip? Yes, yes, besides the Mom Show.

As we were finning our way around, enjoying the clear view; another snorkel-er surfaced and shouted out with a pointed finger,

"TURTLE!"

After working up quite the appetite snorkeling, we headed back to our condo to wash the salt water from our hair and decide where to eat in paradise. Rumor-mongers will say that on Maui (and in Hawai'i overall) food is expensive. Well, sometimes rumors should be heeded, because let me tell you. Maui restaurants are expensive. According to a Maui book that Lisa brought, the Hula Grill was moderately priced, with good food variety and Hawaiian ambience. Well, all I can say is, we made the recommended reservations (yet still had to wait 30 minutes AFTER the reserved time to get a table), and the one "reasonably" priced item was all out by the time we sat to eat. Oh well. At least they had an amazing bread and olive oil-pepper dipping sauce...which by the way we filled up on, that and water. I'm pretty sure I waitress was thrilled at our outrageos ordering.

Suffice it to say, my first full day in Maui was filled with salt water, frog spit (google it!), and ambience-priced food.

Note: At this point still concerned with wearing make-up and "doing my hair"

With Love, From Hawai'i Day 1

...of a trip that I am looking forward to making again. I've decided that I am going to catalog my trip through pictures. But don't worry, I will make sure to add some witty commentary to enhance the picture looking experience. Because as we all know, looking at other people's vacation pictures and videos usually is not what we call an enjoyable experience.

* * * * *

My Mom and I had a 3 pm flight from Seattle to Maui, Hawai'i. Conveniently, the airline had somehow decided that unlike our reservation said, we DID NOT want to sit next to each other for the 6 hour flight there. No. Instead we wanted to simply sit in the same row. Well, thankfully we were able to finagle seats next to each other by exchanging my window seat for an aisle one. I thought this was great, until a mere 2 hours into the flight, my mom was bored and continued asking, "Are we there yet?", while I was trying to finish my book. But soon the answer to her question was "Yes, and because of the time zone change, it is only 6 pm!" After renting our car we made the drive to Kahana and discovered this beautiful view from our lanai:

*Sigh*

A sound machine of waves crashing onto a beach was not a machine...I slept with the lanai door wide open all night long.

I was in Hawai'i.

Summer Vacation

As a start to Summer Vacation 2008, I flew to Seattle at the beginning of June. The plan was to spend a few days at home with my family before my Mom and I left for Hawai'i. While some may say it is overkill, I fly Ronald home with me each time. When comparing the price of a ticket for him to the price of a "Pet Hotel" it is ridiculously cheaper to bring him along. Especially considering that Ronald loves to venture through the Seattle home and attempt to wrestle with

The Uncles.

Being the well taken care of cat he is, Ronald had a full service salad bar on my parents' back porch thanks to Nana Jana. His second favorite activity to do (right after eating the lettuce)...

Obviously I felt comfortable enjoying myself on vacation when I knew that Ronald was happily keeping himself busy around the Ol' Homestead.

A 4-Star Bed & Breakfast.

Feel Safe...or fail safe?

The other night around 11pm I was sitting in my front room reading before going to bed. Everything was quiet, until someone began pounding on my door. Then it was my heart doing the pounding. I did not know what to do. How badly did I want to know who it was? Did I need to know? I got up and went to my door- and made a decision and called out, "Hello? Who is it?" And yet got no response. I was hoping that it was Bone Junior or Yanaj simply playing an ill-chosen trick on me, which has been known to happen. So I quietly tip toed to my room and pressed "4" on my speed dial. "Yeah," I whispered, "hi Yanaj, are you at home right now?" Unfortunately, she did not give me the response I was hoping for... "Yup, whats up?" So I proceeded to explain the situation. I was grateful for Yanaj's calm response. She asked if I wanted her to stay on the phone while I answered to door to see who it was, or at least until I was sure they were gone. Well, as it turned out, I simply talked on the phone for a few more minutes, turned out the lights and looked out my front window. No one seemed to be there. So I have no idea who came knocking at such a late hour. But I knew what to do next.

The following morning I called my manager and asked if he would consider putting a peep hole in my otherwise peep-hole-less door. I am now the proud owner of this view...and NO it is not bars on my windows.

I was excited to use it for the first time too.

but apparently you can see the flash through the peep hole...

P.S. Summer Vacation Approaches

As the school year slowly winds down to a close (p.s. 3 hours left), I have been trying to plan special activities that will interest my 4th graders during this short week.

Tuesday's Special Activity: I was excited that after reading Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks as a class, we were given permission to watch an edited version of the movie. To make sure it was educational...we discussed the similarities and differences between the movie and the book- (p.s. I was hoping that they would "come to the conclusion" -on their own of course- that often the book is MUCH better than the movie) and especially remember that over the summer (p.s. is that teacher-y enough?)

Best part- we got to eat popcorn and otter pops while watching our movie.

Wednesday's Special Activity: a 4th Grade Water Party. Intrigued? (P.S. So was I.) A Water Party, is exactly what it sounds like. Water activities outside. 1) Sponge Tag (p.s. large buckets of water are used to soak sponges and then toss those wet sponges at opponents...the point being you try to get everyone else as wet as possible), 2) Bucket Relay (p.s. teams carry water in a dixie cup across the field to fill up the gallon bucket at the other end), and the famous 3) Water Balloon Toss (p.s. need an explanation for this one...really?).

Best Part- one of my students smuggled in a left over water balloon into the classroom after the party. Obviously if I would have seen it, I would have told him to bring it back outside. As it turned out, as he was trying to sit down and put it into his otherwise empty desk, it burst all over his lap. As it goes, most 4th graders have a highly developed sense of "fairness", so when the other kids yelped to tattle, he turned a guilty guilty face up to me and I BURST out laughing. (p.s. I decided right then and there that it was consequence enough for him to stand up with his pants conspicuously wet from the broken water balloon and go to the boys' bathroom to towel off as best as possible) How is that for the punishment fitting the crime?

Thursday's Special Activity: This is already the 1/2 day...last day of school. Not enough? Well, we are preparing the Miss HPLuvr's 4th Grade Class Talent Show. On the stage with microphones and everything. I'll keep you posted as to what Talent I will be sharing.

Best Part- did I not mention that this is the LAST.DAY.OF.SCHOOL?

We all need a Friend

I have been slowly crocheting a blanket over the past...well...little while. Ronald has been attempting to get my attention and stop me. I simply think this yarn is irresitable.

But when I wasn't looking: a friend found Ronald. One Saturday morning, I was startled to see a pair of eyes looking back at me from my front windows, as I think Ronald was too!

Meet Harry Potter.

Top 10 Reasons Why I Love My Mom

10. She is one of the few people who has been willing to help me move, many times. Whether it was to move to college (about 5 or so different times), or across the country to Houston to teach- she has been there in the thick of things. Especially when it means that she is running circles around the moving man, she is Super Woman. And even surviving the night at our "fancy" $30/night motel- where she was insistent about looking through our luggage for night clothes in the dark 3am parking lot.

9. She seems to enjoy our daily chats, even when the time change makes my morning phone calls her wake up calls at 6:45 am. In fact, many times she is the one who is more awake and ready to start the day than I am to teach my 4th grade kiddos. This call is something that I look forward to every morning.

8. Has a crazy wicked sense of humor and is always willing to laugh. I do believe she is one of the few people that I know who has more than once been accused (i.e. pulled over) of being drunk. Instead she had to convince those people that she was in fact NOT drunk, but instead was just laughing. Albeit laughing hard enough that she was swerving between lanes on the freeway and stumbling around 7-11's looking for a treat. Oh- and the random bouts of giggling, when asked why are you laughing...her response "I was thinking about something from The Office last night." ...or requesting a picture of the cockroach I found interloping under my front door and into my Houston apartment.

7. She has always supported me- Rain City Volleyball Team, school sports, typing school assignments late into the night, playing hookey from school together, keeping Snicket's personality alive to banter with Ronald's, helping me decorate new apartments and classrooms, and keeping my spirits up when dealing with my teaching soul in Texas.

6. Spending spring break, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and summer holidays with me. Coming to visit me in Houston and traveling to New Orleans together (surviving exiting off the wrong exit in downtown New Orleans). Willing to celebrate a picnic Thanksgiving in 75 degree weather with me and my Dad.

5. Our shared Hobby Lobby and LOST obsession. Enough said.

4. Loves spending time with those she cares about (or wrangling the team): my Dad, my Sister, her close friends, Snickets, Weebo, and me.

3. She is an amazing gift giver. Knows what I need even before I do sometimes. Like a two month food supply. Who knew how great *giggle* my food supply would look and work as a side table in my living room?

2. Going to see the movie Dick and Jane, taking a gulp of soda, laughing and almost immediately having said soda come shooting out of her mouth and nose.

1. I couldn't imagine life without her. Not many people care about the people around them as much as she does.

April Showers Bring May Flowers?

Yeah...sure. We certainly have been experiencing some odd weather. My mom was recently in town visiting for my Spring Break. Prior to her visit, we were involved in one of our Daily Chats when she asked for my opinion about what type of clothes she should bring.

"Well," I told her with a sigh, "Definitely plan for layers. I think that we will have some warm spring weather interspersed between cold and windy days. Does that help much?"

Thankfully she fully planned with her shoe wardrobe. Thankfully also that I decided to purchase my first washer and dryer set, because come to find out, Mom had packed enough shoes, but somehow forgot the rest of her clothes. By this I mean she was already recycling tops and/or borrowing from me around the 3rd day of her visit.

As for the weather front: as I was driving home today in my very optimistic capris and sandals-

Toodles says it all...yup...it was snowing on my drive home and still no improvements.

Oldies but Goodies

I know that the past few posts have not been about some crazy goin' ons...Hey what can I say? Sometimes life is more normal than I give it credit for. Well- maybe not so normal, but a little less blog-able. This is another one of those posts. I was online trying to find some information about an old show that my younger sister and I used to LOVE watching. That is until the cable was cut off and we no longer were able to call "1, 2, 3 I'm....". I wonder what kind of shows other people watched years and years ago...here are a few with some fond memories:

• Hey Dude
• Gummi Bears
• David the Gnome
• Alvin and the Chipmunks
• Carebears
• Ducktales
• Jem
• My Little Ponies
• She-ra and He-man
• Smurfs
• Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers
• Talespin
• Just the Ten of Us

But the epitome of my childhood: TGIF. I still love watching some of those shows. Can you name all of them from this clip?? I remember watching all but one of them.

Happy Easter!

Is this what they mean by a Peep Show?

Just Make Sure You're In the Bat Mobile.

Do you think

Batman is ticked?

How to REALLY Enjoy...

a Root Beer Float ... or orange ... or cola ... or raspberry ... or that infamous "Graveyard" float.

My kiddos had been working all year towards a class party. Last Wednesday, they finally earned one. We did the very official "Put your head down and raise your hand to vote for your favorite party idea" vote. The final decision was that on Friday after lunch we would all enjoy a Rootbeer Float party. The kids were very grateful, even the trio of gentlemen that requested, very specifically, that I needed to purchase the largest "pitchers" possible for them to have their treats in.

For those of you that are curious, it takes 4-2 liter bottles of soda and a 1 gallon + 1 quart container of vanilla ice cream to satisfy the "pitcher" requirement for 19 fourth grade students.

A B C's of Me

A - Attached or Single: o-so-single
B - Best Friend: Harry Potter. Oh all right, Ronald Weasley.
C - Cake or Pie: cake...especially if it is carrot k-ache.
D - Day of Choice: Thursday. Wait...wait...let me explain. By Thursday, Wednesday is over, Friday is still something to look forward to, and it isn't yet Saturday night where I am mourning the almost end of the weekend.
E - Essential Item: My snooze button. What would I do in the morning without it?
F - Favorite Color: Red. Hot red.
G - Gummi Bears or Worms: Its all about the gummi bears and the fried worms.
H - Hometown: Bothell, Washington.
I - Indulgence(s): Red Robin french fries and buying new non-sale clothes.
J - January or July: Absolutely January. The more the clothes the better. Its all about the winter fashions.
K - Kids: 84 at last count. (All 4th grade age about now)
L - Life is Incomplete Without: my mom and dad.
M - Marriage Date: November 21st 20...oh, yeah, how about the groom?
N - Number of Siblings: 1 younger sis
O - Oranges or Apples: Is this even a question for a Washing-tonian?...apples baby.
P - Phobias or Fears: Biting into something so hard that I break my teeth....or falling down face first down a flight of stairs (and breaking my front teeth!)
Q - Quote(s): "Hey friends? You want to go to a graduation barbecue?"
R - Reason to Smile: Do I need a reason?
S - Season: Fall. Perfect weather and excited to begin a new school year (with new school supplies)
T - Tag Seven: Both Hairy Happening-ers, Zoe, Kirstin, Amber, Emma, hey friends...?
U - Unknown Fact About Me: I wore short-short (at least 8" above the knee) spandex shorts in public, weekly. Come on people, it was all for the love of the game *cough cough* yup, volleyball. Although I never believed their excuse of "we just don't want your shorts brushing the net" really? really? Say- why couldn't I have the basketball shorts that that guy has? His aren't touching the net! As if I could jump that high to have my shorts risking touching the net.
V - Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: An avid Texas BBQ-er
W - Worst Habit: procrastinating...even as I type this.
X - X-Rays or Ultrasounds: Had both. Although they didn't have to keep asking me to swallow for my x-ray.
Y - Your Favorite Food: Parmesan Chicken.
Z - Zodiac: Sagittarius

TV My Way

After months of inner debates, falling asleep 10 minutes BEFORE my LOST episode begins, and gazing enviously at my friend's TiVOs (i.e. El Paco or Pablo or Pedro...something like that)- I bit the bullet and began researching one all for my own. First place I looked was of course online at their easy to use website. Once I was armed with all of the pricing information, I headed off to Best Buy (just to compare prices and ask some in depth questions). The powers to be combined and I walked out a happy camper- TiVo box in hand- with an offer to "help me out to my car with my purchase".

I was assured that all I needed to hook up my TiVo was included :)

I got home and unloaded all my purchases onto my bed. Okay. So TiVo wasn't the only purchase I made... Retail Therapy people! But it was the big one. Anyway, I opened the box and there staring up at me was the most beautiful piece of electronics that I have laid eyes on in awhile. Although, gazing at all those cords, I was secretly hoping that the setup instructions were easy to decipher.

In no time at all I was sitting on my bedroom floor, surrounded by cords and wires, plastic wrappers, twisty ties, and empty boxes...attempting to fend off Ronald (he loved the empty boxes- thought that was the best part of the purchase)...and p.s. why do they make it so difficult to feed cords around in entertainment centers? I felt like I had things under control, but it was a puzzler at times.

The red cord goes IN the TiVo to the OUT on the DVD player, which in turn has another red cord going from the OUT to the IN on the TV. But hey at least it is all color coded for people like me! I soon discovered that in fact I did NOT have all the necessary equipment to fully set up my TiVo. I needed one more ethernet cord! Frustrating, but easily remedied with a trip to Wally World the next day.

One hour, two phone calls, and 17 attempts to program my new remote control and I was enjoying the benefits of my TiVo,

now affectionately dubbed Sayid.

With that first

"boop boop"

I was hooked.

What a wonderful invention- and as they mention multiple times on their website finally

"TV my way".

The Writers Strike is NO more!

Thank goodness. I was getting nervous about what was going to happen to all of my favorite shows...or more acurately...worried about how long I was going to have to wait to see a NEW episode!

Hot House M.D.

Previously on ...

Not to even touch the movie situation. I'm curiously looking towards the future to see how this all pans out. What will the consequences of this oh so long strike will be?