Last days of Hawaii and less than 24 hours in Portland...

Riding public transportation.  Big THRILL!!

OMSI museum: Jackson using an air hose to shoot balls at me.  :)

With much Aloha.

More Hawaii

This is a good photo because it gives perspective.  Max is about to jump off a 6 foot ledge.  That's Jackson in the background.  

Hawaii --So Far

Robert and Jackson: synchronized insanity.  

After completing this daring jump, Max told me he was on level 5 now.  

Are you sick of hearing about my trip to Hawaii yet?

Listen, I know you think I'm spoiled or maybe lucky because I just spent three weeks in Hawaii. But this is the real story behind the glamorous photos (read with dramatic voice):

1) The kids snorkeled for the first time.

2) I got in a car accident. In a rental car. The other car was driven by a teenager. She had a foul mouth. And a mother. Hawaii is a no fault state. It may or may not have been my fault. We are still alive.

3) My kids are tough. Really tough. They climbed down the side of a mountain holding onto a rope. I prayed.

4) Robert missed the Fourth of July. He spent it in Washington, DC at the White House. He missed 4 days of our vacation. 5 if you count the day after he got back and was so jet lagged he couldn't remember my name.

5) Lilikoi aka Passion fruit. My favorite fruit ever and it is obeying the commandment to multiply and replenish. I put it in everything...pancakes, smoothies, biscuits, muffins, toothpaste...just kidding.

6) Surfer-dudes that live on your property like to eat. ALOT. All the time. They may also think that you are their cook and they are invited to dinner and lunch every night. They don't do dishes.

7) Fresh fish, garden grown tomatoes, purple sweet potato, coconuts, pineapple,papaya, garlic-chives.

8) 5lbs. Seriously. Every TIME?!

9) Hana Branch. Way better than regular church. The pianist jazzes up the hymns. Sketchy doctrine is occasionally preached. Lessons about which tribe is better: Ephraim or Manasseh. (Manasseh, was in the lead.)

10) I saw my very first shooting star. I've been wanting to see one since I was a little girl. So this pretty much rocked.

11) Bosses that don't care if you are on vacation and don't understand the 3 hour time difference.

12) My kids like to cliff jump?! This amuses and terrifies me at the same time.

13) The beach, the pool and just hanging with the kiddies while reading depressing books and listening to them argue over goggles. Hint: Never go on vacation without enough goggles for every child.

14) Max took a vacation from potty training.

15) So much beauty everywhere--it feels surreal.

16) The most amazing, vivid rainbow I have ever seen. I was to awestruck to even take a picture. I think my clever sister-in-law had her wits about her and took one though. Can I have a copy Sarah?

17) Good company.

18) Max decided that it is more fun to yell at the top of his lungs to get my attention then to just say, "mamma." He decided to try this new thing out on our 6 hour plane ride home. I am deaf in one ear and hated by all the passengers on our flight. Let's just say that no one stopped us to tell us what well behaved children we have. I knew I was in for it when he said two hour into our flight, " All done plane, Mamma. ALL DONE!"

19) Realizing I have the best family. Ever.

20) Realizing that the humidity makes me break out. I love feeling fat and pimply while living in a swimsuit with lots of tanned, toned, gorgeous people.

21)Mosquitos. Evil. If I could do one thing for our world (forget world peace) I'd eradicate all mosquitos and cockroaches. Maybe even spiders, too. It depends on how many wishes I get.

Is it bad to post this without pictures? I am too tired tonight to hunt down the camera and load all the pictures onto the computer, etc. I'll do it when I've finished unpacking so...maybe never.

Happy 4th of July!

I know it's still the 3rd but I am working on my personal righteousness and I've decided that blogging on Sunday is EVIL. So, after some serious self-reflection and a few virgin margaritas, I have decided to seek more glory, eh, righteousness by not blogging on the most Holy of days. Don't cry, we'll see each other again on terrestrial Monday and I'll be back at my blog, diet coke in hand, ignoring my children to inform you about the important details of my fascinating journey. (In all seriousness, do you not LOATHE, how reality show contestants constantly use the word "journey"? It's completely ruined for me now. Such a shame. It had such potential.)

Anyway, Happy 4th of July. Wish you were all here in Heavenly Hana celebrating with me. Well, maybe not, because that could create a crowding issue and where would everyone go to use the toilet? And if everyone peed in the bushes then it would probably kill all my plants, right?

Peace out.

It's complicated...

So I was tossing my husband's stinky socks into the washer reflecting on what to tell all of you about my trip to Hawaii. It was good, it really was! But sometimes, I feel like good is to general an answer. I think it's complicated might be more accurate. Do you ever say what you really mean? Do you ever tell people how you truly are? Was my trip perfect? Does it live up to what you imagine? Probably not but I guess that depends on your imagination.

But can I really tell you, the unsuspecting blog reader, who simply wants to live their own lives and dream of their own sunny, blue, sand-themed vacation the actual, nitty-gritty truth? It's much simpler to say that it was good. If I say, it was complicated, one would naturally assume that it was bad. But it wasn't. It really was complicated. I would them be forced to mention that instead of many sand-filled, sunny days that we only had one and a whole 24 hours was spent by my partner for whom I desired romantic time with building a chicken coop. Chicken coop does not spell romance by any stretch of the imagination. Maybe for some? I could mention the family friend who took a day off work to spend time with us after already spending the weekend... That was nice except when you want to be two not three and you didn't ask the friend to take time off! Now I worry that you think I am complaining. I'm not, really. It's Hawaii for goodness sake. It's beautiful! We discovered a gorgeous beach and hiked to a magnificent waterfall.

It's like when you see someone and they ask how you are and you answer in the standard, "Good" or "fine." But really, you have a hang nail that is bothering the heck out of you or you're sad because you daughter told you a huge lie or you have been dealing with circumstances beyond your control for years and sometimes you feel sad or your husband would decided to build a chicken coop instead of sitting in the hot tub. But see, I would normally never tell you this. I would simply say that my Hawaii trip was good and all that it should be and we would move on. I wonder what is better? But never fear, to paraphrase Jane Austen: "The feeling will pass and most likely quicker than it should." But in case it doesn't, consider yourself warned, if you pass me in the hall at church and ask me how I am, you might get more than you bargained. I might feel inclined to start a long diatribe on how irritated I am by all the silly romantic ninny's who think they can write books about becoming Jane Austen or finding their Mr. Darcy! Argh!

Off to Hawaii...

Tomorrow. This is the picture that Kate wanted to take today. It makes her feel less like crying if she has a picture of me to look at. At least that is what she said. I am filled with guilt for leaving them. Max is sad and clingy. Sometimes I wonder if a vacation without the kids is worth the trauma.

What we've been working on:

Max has been working on his photography skills. Notice the chair he used to climb on top of the counter to fish out my camera from it's super, secret hidy-hole or so I thought.

The quilt and matching pillows that I have been trying to finish for at least a year! Can I get an AMEN? If you would like to visit the much photographed items come to our Hawaii house. They will be residing in one of our bedrooms there. That is, if they fit in my suitcase. It may come down to them and a pair of shoes. A difficult decision under the best of circumstances...

Kate is positive that she will be able to master the art of sleeping and reading at the same time.

It takes a lot of work to get your hair looking like that! Can you imagine the kind of nap he had? Which reminds me, I went to check on him the other night before I went to bed and found him tossing and turning and talking in his sleep. What was he saying? What was a two year old saying that can barely talk? Well, he was moaning, "No-no, Mama. No, Mama!" What does that say about my mothering skills when my two-year old is having a nightmare about ME? Sadly, I have very little conscience and it caused me to reflect for a mega-second and then laugh and laugh. I continue to say "No" so I imagine he will continue to have nightmares. I am looking forward to "monsters" however. It will be nice not to be the bad guy anymore.

Hawaii pics never bore me in the winter-time.

O'HANA HAWAII