I'll be back . . .

I promise, I WILL post a decent blog entry very very soon. Things have just been so busy and hectic (in a good way) around here that I just haven't had a spare moment to sit at the computer and work on anything.

For example, just in the last one week I spent two nights/two days in Maui, two nights/two days at a beach cabin here on Oahu, one night downtown at the Hilton as a going-away celebration for my friend Kathy, AND I hosted a Pampered Chef show at my house yesterday afternoon. And prior to that I was PLANNING all these events, mixed in with the usual events around here . . . whew, I'm worn out just talking about it. ;)

My mom is here until Thursday, which is also Charley's last day of school, so after that things should quiet down around here . . . at least a little anyway. Hang in there, I WILL be back!!!

The Heyday of May

May is only half over, but so far it has been a pretty amazing month.

So when I left off, Charley was busy preparing for her school's annual Mother's Day Tea. Here are the kids and I getting ready to head into the "tea party."

As you can see, she made me a very cute party hat, and we snacked on yummy finger foods, juice, and she even made me a special keepsake book. It was a pretty fun thing to be able to share with her . . . and she was especially excited to attend a REAL tea party, not just a pretend one with her stuffed animals.

That very same day, we began a very special weekend that has been in the works for a long time, since November in fact. I didn't really want to talk about it until it happened (so that it didn't get jinxed), but now that it's happened, I'm excited to share. It's a long story how we ended up being able to stay at this place, but the short story is that after failing to win a bid on this place at Charley's school auction last fall, we ended up meeting the owner anyway who just happened to be a co-worker of Brian's (who cut us a very good deal) . . . so four families pitched in, and this is what we ended up with . . . a 6000 square foot, 6-bedroom suite, beach house at the infamous surfing area, Pipeline, on the North Shore for three nights . . . with a grand total of eight adults and nine kids.


Here is our view of Pipeline from the house . . .

And of course, the ladies. . .

The kids (six out of nine anyway) . . .

Most of Brian's buddies at work knew that we were all staying up there, so one of them arranged for our own personal fly-by of a Coast Guard 65 . . . I think that is Brian waving in the distance . . . And last but not least, our sunsets . . .

It was a pretty spectacular weekend, definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity kind of thing. The kids were all very good, everyone got along great, and we all had a chance to relax for four straight days. The last day of the weekend was Mother's Day, and Brian was sweet enough to let me sleep in, had coffee and breakfast ready when I woke up, and he even bought me a French Press coffee maker that I've been wanting. Probably the best Mother's Day ever. The weekend was bitter sweet in that it was our last "hoorah" for our friends, the Murrays, who will be leaving us in a couple weeks . . . but hey, quite a way to say goodbye, huh?

The very next day my mom arrived for nearly a month visit. As usual, everyone was very excited to have her here . . . the kids began the Grammy torture right away.

Just a couple days after she got here, it was time for my good friend Heather, to have her baby. As you may recall, my friend Heather and I go way back to when we were 15 years old working at the water slides in Montana, and she has taken good care of me every since we got here. She was sweet enough to invite me to the birth of her third (and last) baby. After hanging out at the hospital for nearly 12 hours, their baby girl arrived . . . Sawyer Kate Clark. Here are the proud parents . . . . And their beautiful baby girl.

She was perfect in every way, and her arrival was made even more exciting by the fact that they didn't know what they were having and she already has two older brothers. It was a pretty amazing experience for me to share with her, especially since I've never experienced anything like that aside from being the one giving birth. I was pretty honored to be a part of the whole thing.After being stuck inside for a couple days, we decided we needed to get the kids out, so on Friday we took them to the beach, followed by a Luau at the Air Station that evening where they gorged on pizza and shave ice. On Saturday my mom and I snuck away from the kids and hit the Farmer's Market on the North Shore, followed by a lunch of coconut shrimp, followed by a visit to the Ward Shopping Center downtown . . . a pretty fun girls' day. On Sunday the whole family hit Shark's Cove on the North Shore for some pretty cool snorkeling.

Yesterday was a zoo field trip for Charley's school, so we headed downtown bright and early for a hot morning with a million other kids. Rather than bore you with lame animal shots, I decided to post this picture of a neat banyan tree that the kids were playing in before we went into the zoo. Pretty cool tree fort if you ask me.

And today Zander got to attend his first birthday party WITHOUT his sister, which was a very exciting event for him. Here is a cute picture of Zander, with the birthday boy Jake, checking out Jake's new presents.

And last but not least, here is a picture of my mom holding baby Sawyer just this afternoon . . . such a beautiful little girl!

Whew! And there you have it, the last two weeks. I wish I had been more diligent and could go into more detail about each of these events, but time just keeps slipping away faster than I can keep up.

So for now I must run, as my mom just told me that Charley is trying to nurse her toy monkey downstairs. Apparently Heather's visit today left an impression.

Parks and Recreation

I've decided that May is going to be a great month.

Friday was May 1st, and on Friday we wrapped up swimming lessons. The last day is always the day where the kids and parents get in the pool together and practice everything that's been covered the previous two weeks. Even though Friday was more about playing that practicing, it DID prove to us that our kids are officially fish. YES. Mission accomplished. They both have a lot more skills to master, but there is no doubt that they both LOVE THE WATER. Awesome.

On Saturday I got to sneak away and get my hair cut, and I am excited to report that after two years of searching, I finally found someone that can cut my hair!! You don't realize how exciting this is for me!! For the last two years, I've tried various new people, which has constantly ended in me "growing my hair out" (thanks to bad cuts) and waiting until the next time I get to Montana where Andrea fixes it. Another huge relief.

On Sunday we decided to hike Diamond Head Crater for the first time, which also included our first hike without bringing along a stroller. I was a little nervous and figured that we would end up carrying one, if not both, of the kids for much of the hike. But keeping true to our promise several years ago that we wouldn't quit doing things just because we have kids, we took our chances. We got up early and were at the bottom of the trail head by 8:00 a.m.

The trail was only .7 miles each way, but the trail was straight up along a narrow and winding path, and it also included several huge sets of stairs to get to the top. Oh, and did I mention that the whole trail is packed full of eager tourists?

All I can say is that the kids did absolutely FANTASTIC. They hiked the entire way on their own, and were still pretty chipper when we got to the top. The views were phenomenal.

If you look in the middle of the crater, you can see where we hiked from.

Here you can see the narrow path that was starting to get pretty crowded on our way down.

The last 10 minutes were the toughest for the kids because they were hot, tired, hungry, and ready to be done . . . especially Charley. So we bribed her down by telling her that she could take a picture of us before we left . . . and this is the pose that she forced us to display. Notice the picture is just a little crooked . . .

After the hike, it was only 9:30 a.m., so we decided to hit our favorite spot in Waikiki for breakfast, Lulu's. We filled up on pineapple/macadamia nut stuffed french toast and delicious omelets, and after dipping our toes in the warm Waikiki water, we decided it was time to head home. What a fun day.

So that's just been the start of the month. On top of this, my good friend Heather is ready to have beautiful baby #3 any day now, my mom will be here Monday for a nice long visit . . . oh, and have I mentioned that I'm going to be spending my weekend here with a great group of friends? Yep, May is going to be pretty awesome.