Waves, Zoos, and Views

Well, there goes September and on we go to October . . . I'm still trying to figure out where the heck September went. Our weather has yet to cool down in true autumn style (hovering around 88 every day), but our winter waves are starting to make their appearance. So last weekend, while Brian slaved away on homework (with a little college football watching mixed in), the kids and I joined our friends, Risha and her daughter, for a jaunt to the North Shore to check out the waves. We made almost a whole day of it by throwing in some yummy Thai food, followed by shave ice. Yum, yum.
On Sunday, Brian and I decided to get the kiddos out for a good 'ol fashioned "family day," which with our crazy schedules is a bit more rare these days. We started out with breakfast at one our favorite places, Lulu's in Waikiki, and then we walked across the street for a trip to the zoo. Don't worry, I didn't take a million animal pictures to bore you with, but I did take a couple pictures of some unusual things. First, this is a gum tree . . . as you can see, the colors are quite spectacular.

And then I took a picture of the elephants, which to most people isn't all that exciting, but considering that the past ten times or so that we've been to the zoo, the elephants were in hiding, it was pretty exciting.

Then we hit the road and went on a beautiful drive that our neighbors had told us about, through the mountains and a lush jungle area. We stopped at the top to snap a few photos . . . can you tell that Charley is not thrilled?

You can see Diamond Head and Honolulu off in the distance . . .

I like the view in this picture because you can see the airport runway in the distance, completely surrounded by water, and you can see Sugarbowl just a bit closer . . . .

And here is my little monster, who suckered Daddy into giving him a free ride . . . but how could you resist that smile?

So we had a fun weekend and a good start to the week with school, but of course yesterday was a bit sad for all those who suffered in Samoa, and a bit crazy around here as we considered the possibility of a tsunami in our direction too. For the first part of the morning we were under a tsunami watch, so I got the call from Brian just to make sure to stay up near our house (which is up in the hills). I have many friends who live much closer to the water, so we were taking in "refugees" who felt more comfortable waiting it out in a higher elevation. Fortunately on our end it turned out to be a bunch of nothing, but of course the Air Station is working around the clock, using as many resources as it can to provide aid to Samoa. We haven't seen Brian since yesterday morning when he left for work at 6:30 a.m., but he should be home soon.

And here comes October. And it's going to be a busy one. We've got various Halloween activities this month, Brian is supposed to leave on Saturday for a week of training in Seattle, my Aunt Marge and Uncle Mike will be here for a week mid-October, the kids are on fall break next week, Zander is going to do one more round of swimming lessons this month, plus we will just have all our normal stuff. And then November will be even BUSIER. No wonder time flies so fast here in Hawaii.

Wrapping Up Summer

Wow, today is officially the last day of summer . . . not that that means a whole lot around here.

In a place where the temperature during the day never varies more than ten degrees, the best indicator of changing seasons is the decor saturating the stores . . . gardening and camping supplies, on to back-to-school supplies, on to Halloween gear, on to Thanksgiving decor . . . you get the point. We are still sitting at about 89 degrees everyday, while snow and fall weather slowly start to make an appearance throughout the rest of the country, but we can tell that "winter" is starting to approach nonetheless, as the swimsuits and shorts disappear in the store windows, and sweaters and scarves take their place. No, I'm not kidding. You are hard pressed to find a pair of shorts or bathing suit here from about this time until February, when stores start busting out their spring gear, so anyone that has lived here more than a year knows to buy everything ahead of time. But how can this be when we live in a place where shorts and swimsuits are worn all year? I guess because the main clothing suppliers don't care what we need here in Hawaii when the rest of the country is is need of some sort of cold-weather clothing. And if you were wondering who the heck buys a scarf or sweater in Hawaii, the answer can be found among the biggest contributors to the Hawaiian economy year round: the tourists. For a lot of travelers, who do experience winter-like weather, Hawaiian retailers offer much cheaper prices on clothing than can be found in their home areas. Who knew?

Alright, back to the regular stuff, the stuff that's REALLY interesting, like pictures and updates. We've just been doing the usual, with school activities (bake sale), friend activities (book club, playdates, and BBQ's), family activities (air show), etc., etc. I did not take as many pictures as usual this week, so it's hard for me to remember exactly what we did . . . so I guess I'll just run with what I have.

Last weekend I had a bridal shower to go to, and even though I sadly did not take even ONE picture of the celebration itself (my bad), I did manage to take some pictures of the hostess's awesome pets, which I would gladly adopt if she ever decides to let me. ;) First, here is her gorgeous Bengal cat . . . he looks like a tiger and has quite the personality.

And here is her magnificent Great Dane, Elvis . . . or "side-show Elvis" if you ask her husband. He is easily the largest dog I've ever seen . . . I think she said he's about 37" at the shoulder . . . more like a pony size. He easily comes above my waist, but he is one of the most gentle dogs I've ever met. Sorry, I just couldn't help but share my awe . . .

We also managed to squeeze in a hike up behind our house with Heather and her boys one evening, and along the way, Zander literally "ate dirt." He fell in a large hole, and emerged with a mouth full of icky red clay . . . leaving him with this very manly goatee.

Last but not least, as many of you know, I recently decided to get up off my lazy butt and start running. I don't particularly like running, and most of my life I have said that I H-A-T-E running . . . that the only time you would find me running if it was to for my own life. However, time and money just do not offer me the luxury of going to the gym, yoga, or any of those other types of fun workouts (heavy sarcasm), so I decided to just give it a try and see what happens.

Well, turns out I don't hate it nearly as much as I thought. I wouldn't go so far as to say that I LOVE running, but I do like the feeling afterwards, and I don't dread it beforehand, so I'm getting there. I've been running a few times a week, at various times of day for various distances, for about two months now. And with the help of a few friends, I was motivated to try my first 5k this weekend. We did the Nike Kids 5k, which took place in downtown Honolulu with thousands of participants. Here we are at the crack of dawn, getting ready to head to the race.

I wasn't too nervous to begin with, as I wasn't putting a lot of pressure on myself to hit any certain time or goal (other than to just finish the race), but the energy at the race itself was pretty energetic and definitely got my adrenaline going. The start was a little rough because there were soooo many people going at once, but after a few minutes the path cleared a bit, and the running became a little easier. I ended up not doing too bad, 8th in my age division, with a final time of 28:35 (9.14 minutes/mile), so I was pretty happy with the outcome. Plus, I just had a lot of fun sharing this experience with four other awesome ladies. We decided to have a "breakfast beer" after the race, or in my case a "breakfast mojito" (since I don't like beer), and it was a nice way to wrap up the whole experience. So here was to my 1st race (hence the #1) . . .



My next goal is simply to do another 5k in October and try to beat my last time. If I don't, I don't, if I do, cool. I don't want this whole running thing to become a huge stressor or task for me, because if I do, then I'm afraid I won't find any enjoyment in it anymore. I just want to use at a way to stay healthy, a way to burn off negative steam, and as a way for me to get some me time. So I'll let you know how that all goes. :)

This week is a week of meetings for me, while Brian wraps up his eighth class toward his masters. Nothing too exciting, just a smooth transition into fall . . . at least that's what they say anyway . . . sometimes hard to tell here in the rainbow state.

Some R & R

I have to say, this past week was a pretty relaxing one for us, as far as the Palm family goes anyway. A little of this, a little of that, but all in all a pretty quiet long weekend.

Last Friday, September 4th, 2009 marked the one-year anniversary of the loss of Coast Guard crew 6505, so to commemorate that day, the Air Station unveiled and celebrated the construction of a beautiful memorial dedicated to that loss. Much work and many tears went into the building of this memorial, and the end result was pretty amazing.

After attending the memorial ceremony, Brian and I met up with some Army friends, the Frazers, for some dinner and drinks at the Hideaway Club at the air station. And of course the occasion wouldn't be right without a little bit of silliness from Zander . . .

I have to say, the rest of the weekend was about the quietest, most laid-back weekend we've had in a very long time. We spent a lot of time at home just hanging out together, enjoying the solitude.

Brian and I DID manage to properly celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary, thanks to a little planning and help from Heather who watched the kiddos for us for an evening. I surprised Brian with an awesome dinner at Ruths Chris steak house, and he in turn surprised me by letting me sleep in one morning AND by gifting me with a fancy-shmancy Garmin Forerunner GPS running watch. All in all, I would say it was a pretty good anniversary.

On Monday we had some friends over for a BBQ, and thus ended the weekend with full bellies and dirty kids.

On Wednesday, the kids had their first preschool field trip of the year, and it just happened to be at the Air Station. They were so excited to share their daddy's work with all their friends! Mr. Jake gave them all a tour of the helicopters . . .

And Brian versed them on the mechanics of the C-130's . . .

Charley was being a bit shy about having her picture taken . . . not sure why.
But not my little Zan Man, who was just hanging out, being cool.

And last but not least, the field trip would not have been complete without our favorite baby in the world, Sawyer Kate Clark, who was there to bless us with her smile.

So that's about it . . . this upcoming weekend, the Palm schedule includes some golfing (Brian), preschool bake sale (me), working (Brian), and cleaning the house (me). I figure we better enjoy the mundane, because here is what the next couple months have in store . . .

1. October--Brian will be training in Seattle, hopefully followed by a quick trip to Michigan

2. mid-November--the Rudolph family, from Montana, will be visiting Casa de Palm for a week

3. Thanksgiving holiday--my dad, Ed, will be visiting Casa de Palm for a week

4. December 8th--Grammy Bev arrives for a month long birthday(s)/holiday(s) visit

5. January 12th--the kids and I will be heading to Montana . . . woo hoo!

6. February--Brian will join us in Montana . . . woo hoo!

Yep, not much slowin' down over here!

I don't even know how to title this . . .

Charley: "Hey Mom, is it true that anything can happen in Texas?"

?????

Turns out I owe my thanks to Bugs Bunny for this one.

Labor Pains

Charley: "Mom, I don't think I want any kids."

Danielle: "How come Charley?"

Charley: "Because squeezing them out seems like it would really really hurt."

Danielle: (laughing) "Well, ya, it does . . . but the doctor can give you medicine so that it doesn't hurt."

Charley: "Really? Do you think the doctor would give it to me now?"

No Rest for the Weary

Looking back over my last couple posts, I realize that I sort of just gleamed over Zander's birthday among everything else. So, I decided to take a very quick trip down memory lane, just to show how far we have come in the last three years . . .

Of course, there was his birth . . . and we all know that brand new babies look like little squished old men, so their looks can change quite a bit.

However, it's even hard for me, his mom, to look at this picture when he was a week old and find similarities to how he looks now . . .

Here we are, on Zander's 1st birthday, after only being in Hawaii a week . . . obviously the hair color has changed a bit.

Now here's a picture of me when I was less than a year old . . . I can see the similarities, but then again, I'm biased.
And here he is two, not looking much different than he does today . . .

And last, here is my three-year-old boy, showing the world how silly he is. Boy, that hair just keeps getting blonder.

And last but not least, here is a picture of me when I was a couple years older than Zander. Some people say he looks nothing like I did, others say he is a clone . . . I'll let you decide.

It's hard to believe that my baby is three already, but I have to say, I'm loving where we are at (as you've already heard from me). I love Zander's feisty, mischievous, curious, sweet, kind, silly personality, and I love how far we have come. But he will always be my baby.

Okay, let's take a 180 degree turn . . . what we've been up to. Right after Auntie Jen left to head back to Michigan, Brian headed out on a short deployment. So, the kids and I kept busy with school, hanging at the Hale Koa pool, a concert at the Bishop Museum, swimming at the Paradise Cove Lagoon, and when we had some free time, we went for runs (well, I ran and they got pushed in the stroller). All in all we kept busy, and even though Brian was delayed a few days, our time flew by quickly.

The kids are still loving school, and I'm loving my free time. I usually go for a nice long run while they are in class, followed by hanging out with friends, crossword puzzles, shopping, or reading a book. Oh, and speaking of books, did I mention that my friend Andre and I started our own book club? We held a meeting a couple weeks ago, and 14 awesome women showed up . . . and I expect possibly even more in the future. We had a blast! For this month we are reading "The Time Traveler's Wife," which is currently out in the theatre, so I'll let you know how that goes. I'm also keeping busy being the parent leader for Zander's class and enjoying playing a more active role in the school this year.

We have a busy weekend ahead of us . . . drinks with friends, BBQ-ing, shopping, and of course, Brian and I have our 6th wedding anniversary. Ahhhh, six years of bliss . . . well, close anyway. ;)