Luke is biking!, and losing his first tooth + we will miss having "Auntie 'Nessa" with us
- Zo has been taking pictures with her iPad...
- "Frozen" on the outdoor big screen yesterday evening...
- Luke is biking on his own!! So proud of him!
- He also has a tooth hanging on by a thread...his first one to lose...the new one's already popped through the gums behind it...any day now...
- Reading to the kids in Zo's bed yesterday afternoon...
- Kids both drew such sweet pictures and wrote such nice letters to their Me-Ma yesterday...
- Porch time with our friend Vanessa last night...I think she's moving into her own place in Lahaina today...we will be sad to see her leave...
Our library is awesome, a sweet moment with Bubs + "literally a llama"
A few pics from the past couple days...our sweet little library right on the water...and this white bird just hanging out on a car at a stoplight...everyone was laughing so hard...and wild chickens, chickens everywhere in Hawaii...
And a few sweet things:
- I'm letting kids do their own thing at the library these days vs picking books for them...they each have a library card and a book bag and are such big, independent kids with their choices and going through the checkout process with Larry our librarian. And checking out books is old-school here, with the due date stamped individually by hand in each book...
- Listening to kids songs on Alexa yesterday with Bubs and stopping washing dishes to hug him and hold him and sing "You Are My Sunshine" to him
- Hawaiian proverb (translated), seen out and about: "Let us be thankful for what we have."
- Zo with her stuffed llama: "Guys, it's LITERALLY a llama..." (literally is a big word in our house right now)
- Playing Monopoly Junior and Twister with the kids...
Happy Thursday!
XO
A helper, boogie boarding joy + strawberries
- Dinner at the beach last night...we do it a lot, one of my favorite things about living here. This is the view looking away from the ocean...our neighborhood is so pretty...
- I think our Jeep is arriving tomorrow...so excited!!
- Zo helping me with all sorts of stuff yesterday...drying the dishes, vacuuming, getting packed for the beach. The kids made their own dinners which was pretty awesome...
- The look of sheer delight on Zo's face catching waves boogie boarding...she's got great timing with the waves...
- Local strawberries are so delicious...
Happy Tuesday!
XO
Under the house, playing grocery store + getting logistical things taken care of
- So the thing that I've been dreading--our house is on stilts and we needed to go under the house and cut out plants and put down shade cloth so plants don't grow under there--is done. Had to lay on your belly to get in but could sit up once under the house. My husband did the hardest parts and the kids helped lots, mostly by bringing us dozens of rocks. No scorpions or venomous centipedes like I had been afraid of...but lizards and roaches and a probably 80% decomposed dead cat. The cat skull was pretty cool to show to the kids but otherwise...ugh. This house has been empty for 2 years. For sure in need of some love. But I'm proud of us all that we worked together and got the worst task taken care of...
- Zo playing grocery store with me with her play food and cash register in "The Base," which is what the kids call the mostly empty raised storage area in the hall upstairs...
- We watched the latest Star Wars movie Sunday...I hadn't seen it...it was pretty great...
- Some kind and helpful words from a friend this morning...
- Getting all sorts of logistical things sorted out...medical stuff for school, doctors appointments, HI driver's licenses, fixing my printer broken during the move, etc...slowly but surely...
Happy Monday!
XO
Date night, loving living so close to the beach + school uniforms
A few pics from recent days...Luke snapped the first one of me making lunch for the kids, our beach as seen from the kids' playground, a rainbow seen on a recent walk (it's insane how often we see rainbows here), and the super comfy chairs by the "mushrooms" or "leaves" (depending on which kid you ask), a climbing structure right near Daddy's hotel.
And a few things:
- Our first date night since April last night, it was so nice to have a grown-up dinner with my husband...
- SO loving being able to walk to the beach...we're taking a friend and a picnic tonight for sunset...
- Lots of light rain lately where we're living...cooling it down...
- Hopefully the last trip to the dump today...
- Kids school uniforms arrived and everything fits...and they look so cute...hard to believe school is only a month away...
Happy Saturday!
XO
"Being 6 is fun!," yay for a bookshelf with books on it + island time
A few pics from recent days of the kids at Daddy's hotel, Zo helping her dad start the generator at the temporary employee parking lot, the kids on the grounds of their new school and our local tsunami warning siren, which we heard for the first time during the monthly test of the system.
And some recent sweetness:
- Luke, walking to the beach with a boogie board on his head: "Being 6 is FUN!"
- Luke taking a bite of his spicy burger and then doing a lap around the park to "run off the hot."
- Catching and releasing outside a daddy-long-legs and a pretty good sized lizard
- Zo, perusing her book choices from our own library: "If I've read this before my mind will pop back onto it."
Oh, and island time. So between 10:30 and 4 this was my day:
- Arrive for an 11 AM vet appointment. Told it was double booked and could I come back?
- Went to Ace hardware to return a light, needed some help in Asile 10. Waited as long as I could with the dog in the car and then left
- Back to the vet, appointment done but the flea/tick/worm meds weren't there and could I come back later?
- Trip to the dump to get rid of boxes
- Back home to lead up on boxes, quick lunch with the kids at the health food store down the street
- Back to the dump
- Back to Ace. Had to order the replacement light. It'll be here within a week
- Back to the vet to pick up meds
- Gas station, but the wrong one...the one that has the car wash is the other Shell station. Now I know.
Best not to be in a hurry around here...
Happy 4th of July!
XO
A bird that says "Aloha," meeting the kids' first grade teacher + almost unpacked!
- Luke met the birds at Daddy's hotel last week...this one says "Aloha..."
- Almost done unpacking. Did well with the amount of stuff we shipped...there are a few lamps I wish I'd brought, and I brought way too many cold weather clothes...but perhaps it cools down enough in the winter to use them. And we will be going back to Colorado for visits...
- We've chosen a school for Luke and Zo, met their teacher yesterday and she did reading, writing and math assessments with the kids and said they are more than ready for first grade. I was in the classroom playing with the other kid in the back while the assessments were going on and so could listen in on what was happening and they both did great. And I really, really like their teacher and the kids responded well to her...Zo was shy at first but within a minute or two warmed right up. School starts early here...August 6th...but it seems like they have a half day or full day off every week, and a full week off in October...
- My husband's working so hard to get everything in order for us...love how he takes care of this family...
- Reading The Power of Now and the message is really resonating...
Happy Tuesday!
XO
"Do not enter," the freshest of fish + having an office is amazing
- And so it begins...our first "Do not enter" sign, posted on the door of Zo's room...
- Lots of unpacking yesterday...the movers did a great job, seems like everything's arrived intact...
- Getting to know the guys at the fish market down the street...and when we were leaving with our fish yesterday a guy in a pickup with a yellow surfboard in the back was bringing a whole marlin in through the front door to sell...talk about fresh fish...
- Our local beach is amazing...trying to get a swim in most days...water is warm and it's safe for the kids...and there are turtles just hanging out in the water 99% of the time, so fun...
- I am ridiculously excited about having an actual office...it is amazing...
Happy Saturday!
XO
Yay movers!!, generator cuteness + I heart rainbows
- Our boxes have arrived!!
- Kids are thrilled to have some toys!!
- A lovely dinner out last night, watching the last of the sunset over the ocean...
- My husband has a generator that he needs to start at dusk most nights (for the temporary employee parking lot). Luke and Zo have been helping him...they each have their task and then run to the car with hands over their ears to minimize the loudness once the generator starts up...
- Rainbows literally every day. It's magical...
Happy Friday!
XO
Beach time, an office for the first time in forever + "The Hint"
- Wonderful hour or so at the beach this afternoon, playing in the waves at high tide with the kids, turtles popping up to say hi...
- It's been raining at night and a little cooler...so nice...
- Got my office area in the garage squeaky clean...lots of dead bugs in the drawers, ick. I also have a filing cabinet for the first time in 5 years, I am so excited! I am just all around so excited to have an actual office again! I can certainly make it work without, but so nice to have...
- Our friend Vanessa we know from Grand Junction is staying with us for a little while while she gets her Hawaii home situation figured out...love having her here...
- Zo this morning with Vanessa and I throwing a party in "The Base," which is what the kids are calling the small, currently empty storage closet upstairs. She had levels of lego building, and when Vanessa or I got stuck instead of giving us a hint, she WAS the hint. "Here, let The Hint help," she'd say before taking over. Or: "Wait a minute, The Hint needs to think." I'd love to have that area be a little space for the kids but that's probably not realistic with how small the house is...we're probably going to need that storage space...
Happy Wednesday!
XO