Grammy and Papa's Visit, Part 1
We’ve had so much fun with Grammy and Papa, and still more than half their visit to look forward to! We picked them up at the airport with leis, and Zo had a dance party the first night, we had Jeff’s birthday and last Friday a whole day just Jeff and I, we went to lunch at the Shake Shack on the beach and walked out to Honolua and out again in the evening for appetizers and to Kohola…it was lovely. Saturday kids and parents and I went to Haleakala, no view from the top and raining so we ended up having our picnic on the beach but regardless lots fun. Papa’s been taking the kids to school and we’ve been having dinners on the porch and playing cards, we made it to the duck pond and the park and Papa’s helping to get the kids bikes fixed up yay! And Grammy and I had such a lovely day yesterday with massages and lunch and shopping. We all love, love, love having them here.
And this from Zo:
Papa: “What happened to your time machine, Zo?”
Zo: “Well, every time I almost get it done, my mom makes me clean up my room and I have to start over!”
Happy Tuesday!
XO
Mid November, 2019
Our deck is done, it looks so great!!
And lots of beach time this week (and a tooth lost at the beach), along with school and classes and two Harry Potter movies over the weekend (we just finished the second book) and getting cleaned up/organized for Grammy and Papa’s visit. And a great playdate down in town, a rainstorm which was nice, some good days surfing for me, I am loving it again.
And this great exchange with Zo, at bedtime one evening:
Me: “It’s so great you are getting all these sports trophies. I never got a trophy.”
Zo: “You get the trophy for being the best Mama!”
And Luke in the car the other day, we were talking about babies we had lost, I can’t remember how we got on the topic: “Wow, this family has been through a lot!”
XO
Early November, 2019
What a great week we’ve had, de-Halloweening the house, heading to Baby Beach with Daddy (and bagels), licking the beaters when Mama made whipped cream for mug cakes, getting the porch painted (yay!), Jui Jitsu and gymnastics, school, and a lovely birthday party at the beach for one of Zoey’s gymnastics friends Daizie (I’ve been loving hanging out with her mama during class). We also hiked to the duck pond yesterday (although it was too hot for Newton, poor dog), and kids had the day off school today so we went to the park for lunch and they made a “winter wonderland” in Zo’s room with huskies and cotton balls.
Kids have been talking about Tummyland (where they were inside me before they was born) a lot this past week…love that in their minds they had such a magical place to grow in!
And we finished the second Harry Potter book…those books are so wonderful, kids love them so much.
And this cuteness from Zo, her play stethoscope on her heart and in her ears: “I’m trying to listen to my heart, Mommy, but it’s not telling me anything!”
Happy Monday!
XO
Halloween fun
Fun week this week with a trip to the great Kula Family Farms pumpkin patch…need to go earlier next year though, all the orange pumpkins were gone (the ones on the ground were rotten). We got some pretty different colored ones though for decor through thanksgiving. We did go to the store for an orange pumpkin so we could carve and had fun carving the day before. Also gymnastics class with Coach Morgan in costume and kids and I had a great time at Shelly’s trick-or-treating…
Halloween was so fun but lots going on last week…looking forward to things being a bit more relaxed now that the holiday is over…
And a few cute things:
Kids playing horse with Zoey’s staff: “It’s a trusty untrusty steed!”
When your eyes are dry and scratchy kids call it “spikey eyes”
Bodie and Bailee’s cousins (whom kids love) they call their “kinda cousins”
Luke has been wanting 10 compliments before sleep (he feels like he doesn’t get enough, and I’m happy to accommodate)…he gave me 10 the other night too including “you’re a nice mama” and “I’m glad you’re my mama” and "I usually like what you make me for dinner”
Kids are in love with the Harry Potter series…
Happy Sunday!
XO
Late October, 2019
So the big news is we’ve got a new deck!! So exciting!!
And in other happenings over the past week or so we had a fun afternoon at the decorated-for-Halloween library (library staff did such a good job), Trunk-or-Treat at school (Luke won the costume contest! The pic here is with his principal), and 2 birthday parties for Zo and one for Luke.
Oh and a fire scare that sent us to the Westin for a night…that was exciting. The firemen and women were amazing as always at having the approximately 1,000 acres that burned be just land and no structures…the only really scary time was coming back to the house when we weren’t sure what was happening and traffic jams and people not following the rules of the road and huge billows of smoke…other than that it was no big deal. I got swimsuits and uniforms packed for the kids but no regular clothes…Jeff says I get a C+ for emergency packing and good thing I’ve had some practice lol…
XO
Mid October, 2019
Lots of good stuff this week including some great schoolwork that came home with the kids (report cards came home too, they are both doing great), the GO LUKE(TM) sign Zo made (you know you work in advertising when your kid adds TM to stuff), Zoey’s Halloween costume arriving, (she loves it, she tries it on every day), a view of the Lahainaluna L from gymnastics (the story goes that before modern communication the L would be lit with fires to let parents on the outer islands know it was time to boat over and pick up their kids once term was over), and the last pic is the view from the restaurant by the aquarium, protests shut down the road back from the other side so we stopped and hung out and admired the view, had an early dinner, said hi to the fish, played a game involving a stuffed puppy and subjects and predicates (which the kids are learning about in school). Just basically had some fun together as a family. It was lovely.
But the highlight of the week was the kids being asked to star on an episode of “Cooking with Cutty,” a healthy cooking show for kids that’s shown on cable TV throughout Hawaii. They made sushi and salads and little cakes with raspberry and mango sauce with chef Jen. What a fun experience it was! Can’t wait to see the show!
Happy Sunday!
XO
Jui Jitsu tournament
Jui Jitsu is a big part of Luke’s life these days…he’s been training about a year now and has a lot of natural talent. This weekend was a small tournament at his local gym and he won his group! He also got 2 stripes on his belt which he was really excited about. He works hard and is so passionate…so proud of him!
XO
Early October, 2019
We’ve been having a great time around here with beach sunsets, Jui Jitsu (this is the last pic I’ll have of Luke in his blue gi, he got a new white one a few days ago) and Jeff doing a TON of work on Luke’s vending machine Halloween costume. (It’s not done yet but the rest of the work is mine.)
We also had company for the past 5 days, yay! Ryan who I used to surf with in San Francisco (and down south with my brother Luke) and his 15-year-old daughter Carmen, we surfed and hung out on the beach every day with my kids who are out of school for the week, it was awesome. Also made it to the luau and Monkeypod for dinner one night (followed by cookie shopping). It was so, so fun to have them here!
A story about Zo. We got on the topic of what life would be like if I wasn’t around.
Zo, excited: “There would be a lot more screen time and a lot more treats. And a lot less vegetables.”
Me: “Sounds like it would be pretty great!”
Zo: “It seems like it would. But really…it wouldn’t. It’s much better with Mommy around.”
Happy Friday!
XO