Whirlwind

Wow, things sure have been busy around here lately. But hey, that's nothing new around these parts, is it? I feel like I'm years behind in blog land. Let's see if I can catch up a little bit.

Right before my parents came, we had a crazy rain storm on our side of the island, one filled with lots of thunder, lightening, and precipitation that caused large amounts of flash flooding. Here are some pictures, which don't even quite capture the event accurately. Needless to say, the kids weren't real excited about the loud thunder.

Here is our backyard flooding, despite the massive drain that we have back there

Here is the side of our house flooding

Here is the front of our house where the rain is running down the street in river formation

Despite the storms, my parents made it in safe and sound, and our very first day of touring included the zoo, where we met up with my brother and sister-in-law. Of course I took a million pictures, but here are a couple of my favorites.

Zander's thinking, "Hey guys, what about me?"

The kids and a monkey staring at each other

Papa Dave and Charley checking out the rhinos

Papa Dave and Zander

After the zoo day, things get a little fuzzy in my head as to what we did on what day because there has been a lot of stuff in a lot of days . . . but, I know that we did a bunch of driving around looking at all the different areas of the island, lunched on yummy fresh coconut shrimp, spent a day at the beach, spent a day at the military hotel pool downtown (where my parents spent a night), toured the aquarium, went to the Dole Plantation, snacked on shaved ice, took a tour of Brian's work, and all sorts of fun stuff. Here are some more pictures from our adventures.

Grammy Charlotte and Charley at Chinaman's Hat

Going to Matsumoto's for the famous shaved ice

Charley at the Dole Planation

Zander and Charley hanging out at the pool with a couple random people (they look like they could be our kids' parents, don't they?)

Mom and Zander at the pool

Of course I have a million more pictures, but I will have to send all those out via Snapfish a bit later. Let's see, what else . . . Valentine's Day was fairly uneventful, although Brian brightened up the day by bringing home a dozen beautiful pink roses. Last night we went over to Matt and Heather's house for pizza, where Heather's parents also joined the fun and we were all able to sit around and talk about Montana stuff. Tomorrow we will be meeting up with our friends, the Smith family from Portland, at a vacation house that they are renting, so we are looking forward to that. I guess that about covers all our happenings so far in a nutshell. My parents will be in town until Wednesday, and then I fly out for Montana on Thursday. Cold freezing snow, here I come!!

Still Kickin'

Aloha everybody out there in blog land. Just wanted to let you know that even though you haven't been hearing much from us, we are still alive and kickin' over here. We've been super busy doing fun stuff with the fam, so we haven't had any extra time to write or post pictures . . . but I promise I will soon.

So, here is a brief update: Friday family arrived, Saturday went to the zoo, Sunday was touring, Monday was more touring AND Brian made it home safely, and today we spent the day at the beach. Everyone is good and having fun, so check back soon for some pictures!

Good Cop/Bad Cop

Charley: (laying on the couch talking to Grandma Charlotte) "Grammy, my Momma is MEAN . . ."

(Grandma starts laughing, and Charley continues . . . )

Charley: "My Momma is mean AND crazy . . . . but my Daddy is REALLY nice."

"Available"

My new favorite word is "available."

I don't remember where I heard it for the first time, and I don't know exactly why I like this word so much, but I just do. In fact, I used it for the first time a couple days ago.

I hopped off my tricycle for a second so I could run into my pretend store, and when I came back to my tricycle, I said out loud, "Hmmm, where's my car? Oh, here, this one is AVAILABLE." Mom looked at me kind of funny and asked me if I had just said "available." I told her that I had, and pointed at the pretend car and told her that "this car was AVAILABLE." She kind of laughed, and I don't think she really believed that I knew what "available" meant because then she asked me if her pop was AVAILABLE? I told her that it was, and she asked me why I thought that. Duh, Mom, "because it is available for me to drink!" I still don't think she believed that I knew what it meant, because she certainly didn't give me a drink.

So today I decided to convince her that I did know what "available" meant. We went upstairs to grab Zander from his crib after nap time, and when Mom pulled him out, I asked Zander if he wanted to go downstairs with me. Very stubbornly he yelled, "NO!!!!" So, I asked him, "How come Zander? Are you not AVAILABLE to come downstairs? Oh, okay." I think Mom believed me this time.

Catching a Breath

Alright folks, we are officially between visits for this one day, so I thought I would take the opportunity to post some long awaited pictures and tell you about the past week. My brother and sister-in-law arrived last Thursday and were instantly pleased to be out of the cold Montana weather. On the other hand, we were all a little disappointed at the weather here this past week, because even though it was warm it was a bit cloudy and rainy most of the time. But, we made the best of it. We started out by doing a driving tour of the island, and here is Uncle Kurt and Charley being silly at a shrimp stand on the north shore.



We were able to squeeze in one morning at the beach before the rain returned, so we headed down to our favorite lagoons for some sun and fun. Here is Uncle Kurt so diligently supervising Charley's sand castle building since he DOES own his own construction company.



Here is Aunt Kelly snuggling up to Zan Man, with a beautiful rainbow shining in the background.



Here is Zander being his usual silly self, running all over the place and laughing like a crazy man.



Since we were driven inside by the rain most of the week, Kurt and Kelly took the chance to do some indoor tourist stuff, like viewing Pearl Harbor and checking out different parts of the island. On one particular day, the kids and I stayed behind while they went off touring, and I promised the kids that we could go have a picnic lunch at the park, followed by some fun time on the climber and slides. So, they helped me pack up a sack and we headed on our way. At our house the weather looked okay, but by the time we got to the park the sky was dark . . . and literally the second we pulled up, it started pouring. I really didn't want to disappoint the kids since they were all hyped up for a picnic, so we decided to just have our picnic in the third row of our van. And just as I had hoped, they were perfectly fine with that solution and really seemed to enjoy themselves. We popped "Charlotte's Web into the DVD player, ate our lunch, and enjoyed the view of the park. By the time we were finished with lunch, the sun had returned, but unfortunately the playground was soaked. But the kids didn't care, they were having fun hanging out in the van.



This situation reminds me that sometimes it doesn't take a whole lot to make people happy. My first reaction that day was to turn around and go home because of the rain, but the thought of telling the kids and seeing the disappointment on their faces was enough for me to think of something else. You may not always be able to fulfill every promise that you make, but trying your hardest to make the best of a situation is often all they need. Okay, I will hop off my soapbox now.

So, yesterday we dropped Kurt and Kelly off at a condo in Waikiki Beach where they will be staying for the next week. Today I'm going to finish cleaning up the house and tying up loose ends before my parents arrival tomorrow. I guess that's about covers it. Oh, and it's Heather's birthday . . . Happy Birthday Heather!

"Single" Parenting

My friend Shannon recently wrote an entry on her blog titled "Single Parenting" because her husband was out of town at the time, so I figured she wouldn't mind if I borrowed the same title because not only is it catchy, but this week it's true in the Palm house. Every year since we have been married, Brian has taken a five or six day ski trip with his buddies, so I'm somewhat used to taking care of one or two kids in his absence. But now that he's back at a Coast Guard station, his absences are and will be much more frequent and sometimes much longer. So here we are, in the midst of a twelve day deployment while daddy is off saving the world, and truth be told, everyone misses him very much.

Just a few minutes ago he called to say hi to the kids before he took off on another day of patrol, and the kids were literally fighting over the opportunity to talk to him. Charley was dying to ask him if he was killing spiders in Guam and to proudly announce that she went #2 at the store potty yesterday (yea Charley! . . . first poop in public!). Zander just wanted to hear his voice AND play with the phone, so neither was very excited to hang up. Boy are they crazy about their Dad. He holds a very special place in their lives, a place that is all about airplanes, Jeeps, reading books, playing baseball, and man is he good at kid snuggles. When Charley gets upset with me, the first thing she does is call out for her daddy. When Zander hears the garage door open, he immediately calls out for daddy. It's no mystery that these two kids miss Brian like crazy.

And, I miss having him around too. Of course there is all the mushy love stuff (which I'm sure nobody is that interested in hearing), but I also miss the every day stuff that makes me realize that we have a pretty good thing going here. Sometimes he gets home later than others, so the majority of the day the kids are with me alone, but every second that he's around and they are awake, he is spending his time with them. They not only love this time with him, but I enjoy the chance to divert my attention elsewhere for a little while, whether it is cooking, or cleaning, or having just a few minutes to myself. Charley won't take naps anymore (much to my dismay), and Zander is the world's worst napper (I'm lucky to get one hour each day), so naps are no relief for me. The tradeoff is that they go to bed early (7:00 p.m.). The downside is that Zander sometimes wakes up EARLY, like 6:00 a.m. or so. So, long story short, I never get enough sleep or time to myself when Brian is gone, which seems to add up after a week or so. Plus, I don't sleep well by myself anymore anyway, so that doesn't help either. I miss having an extra set of hands and/or feet to get the kids food or drinks or to chase them up the street (Zander has recently turned into a runner). I could go on and on, but the simple truth is, I really appreciate the role that Brian plays in all our lives and we sure miss him when he's gone.

The Hula Expert

Charley: (to her Uncle Kurt who was trying out her new hula hoop) "Uncle, you can't hula hoop!!! You are a boy. And your belly is WAY too big."

Nothing Less Than Perfect

Our pediatrician in Arkansas always recommended that we start taking the kids to the dentist when they turn three years old. So long before Charley's third birthday, I started asking around about decent pediatric dentists, and two different people recommended one dentist in particular who just happens to work conveniently close to our area. About five weeks ago I called to make an appointment because this dentist only works at this particular office one or two days a week, and February 1st was scheduled as the big day. At that time, Brian was still scheduled to be in town and had requested Feb. 1 off so that one of us could take Zander and one could take Charley to her appointment. To my dismay, just a couple weeks ago Brian's schedule changed and he was now going to be in Guam on the fateful dentist day. However, after a bit of thought, I decided to just take my chances with the appointment since the dentist was sort of tough to get in with. I decided to take Charley to her first dentist appointment with Zander in tow.

Now let's be honest . . . I was nothing less than terrified. First of all, as you are all now aware, Charley is my super-cautious child who tends to get freaked out by anything new. Second, when she does get freaked out, everyone within five miles is aware of her state of mind thanks to her screaming, blue face (from lack of breathing), huge tears, and clawing towards the nearest parent. Third, Zander is a very busy seventeen-month old who certainly does not want to calmly sit in my lap for more than two minutes when there are machines, cupboards, and an abundant number of gadgets to explore. Lastly, the appointment was at 4:00 p.m., which as anyone with kids knows, is generally not the best time of day for little ones. I was really taking my chances.

Needless to say, I went to great lengths to prepare for this event. First, I started Charley on an electric toothbrush a couple months ago, just to get her used to that vibrating sensation in her mouth so that the dentist's equipment wouldn't freak her out (thanks Heather for that suggestion!). Second, several weeks ago I started talking to Charley about the dentist. I told her that he was a tooth doctor who wanted to check her teeth to make sure they were healthy and sparkly. I told her that he was VERY nice and would be so proud of her for taking such good care of her teeth. I told her it would not hurt and that if she was a good girl, he would probably give her a sticker. I told her that going to the dentist was going to be REALLY FUN (yeaaaaa dentist!!!!) and tried to pump her up about it as much as possible. I told her what to expect . . . sitting in a cool big chair of her own, where she would open her mouth and say "Ahhhh" so the dentist could look at her pretty teeth, and that he might even want to brush her teeth. And last, I'll be honest, I flat out bribed her. I told her if she was a good girl and didn't cry, I would give her a lollipop when she got home, which is a major treat in our house because we don't eat a lot of sweets. And then I just prayed and crossed my fingers.

Prior to the appointment today, I was cautiously optimistic because Charley seemed to be rather excited about going. When we walked in to the office, I was greeted by a mountain of paperwork, but thankfully the waiting area was filled with toys to keep the kids busy for awhile. As soon as I was done with the paperwork, they took us right back with no waiting around time, which would have inevitably made the kids impatient. Charley marched right up to the beautiful purple chair waiting for her, climbed up, and layed back to get a good view of the T.V. screen blaring cartoons right above the chair. A minute or so later, the dentist joined the party, and I was a bit nervous for about ten seconds because Charley would not even look at him, and she had that look on her face that suggested that maybe if she didn't look him in the eye, he might go away. But as soon as he asked her how old she was and what kind of bug she had on her pretty blue shirt, she was putty in his hands. He was so kind and gentle, and knew just how to talk to her. She opened her mouth, followed his instructions, and didn't even flinch as he poked, prodded, brushed, and even flossed. He was in and out in less than 15 minutes, and for her splendid behavior, Charley received a goody bag with a new toothbrush, toothpaste, a flosser, and best of all, a pony sticker. She was so proud of her goodies, and so polite to the dentist, I just wanted to hug her to death when it was all over. On top of all that, Zander was pretty stinkin' good too. Of course he wasn't super excited about sitting in my lap with all those COOL GADGETS inticing him to come touch, but I was able to keep him sufficiently distracted with my cell phone and Charley's procedure to make it through the appointment without too much pain. All in all, I could not have had a better experience. Thank you God for answering my prayers.

So, for all you out there who have small ones and have yet to visit a dentist, here is my oh-so-expert advice (based on my one experience of course) to prepare you for this event:
1. start with the electric toothbrush a couple months in advance
2. explain to your child who the dentist is and what he does
3. explain to your child what to expect at the appointment so that there are no surprises
4. make the whole experience sound like it's going to FUN and EXCITING and COOL
5. bribe
6. pray

On a slightly different note, I was completely shocked to find out from the dentist that the American Dentist's Association is now recommending that parents start taking their kids to the dentist at age one. Just how crazy is that? Oh Zander, the fun that is in store for you . . .

In and Out

Sporadic. That is what my posting has been lately. It's not that I don't have a lot to say, because I almost ALWAYS have something to say. I just don't have time to say it. Not at the moment anyway. I find that when I'm super busy, the two things that suffer most are my phone time and computer time. But I know you will all forgive me. So stick close, don't go too far, but know that for the next month things might stay sporadic. Once things quiet down a little, hopefully I can get back into my technological groove.

So, for a brief update, Bev and Dick left Tuesday evening and spent nearly 24 hours trying to make it home (hello winter). They helped me clean on Tuesday before they left, which was a HUGE help since I was on a tight schedule. I finished cleaning yesterday, and then we spent the rest of the day getting as much done as possible before Brian left for Guam bright and early this morning. My brother and sister-in-law arrive in about five hours, and I'm sure that they are more than happy to escape the sub-zero temperatures that have been punishing Montana lately. I might be in real trouble when I head back there in a few weeks because I think I've slowly morphed into having some pretty thin skin. Montana to Seattle to Arkansas to Hawaii has not helped me stay tough. I'm not kidding, when the temps hit the low 60's, we all start shivering and complaining how cold it is. And to think that when I was at Montana State in college, as soon as the temperatures hit 60, clothes starting flying off and everybody was wearing shorts. Hmm, quite a change.

Kids are good, enjoying having all this company around. They continue to keep me entertained everyday, in their own special ways. Zander officially paired two words together again on Tuesday by saying, "My Daddy." It was pretty cute if I do say so myself. Oh, and Charley decided that she much prefers to use the word "Japanese" instead of the word "technique." She can say "technique" just fine, but she insists on using the word "Japanese" instead. She said she likes it better. Hmm, not sure where that came from.

A Lesson in the Theology

Today Brian and I were riding in the car with Charley (Zander was at home with Grammy and Papa), and I was telling Brian about a conversation I had with the check-out lady at the grocery store today. She was raving about how smart Zander was because of how much he was talking while we were checking out, and at one point in the conversation I was imitating the woman to Brian, and in doing so said, "Oh my God, he is so smart!" At this point in the conversation, Charley interjected.

Charley: "Mooommmm, we DON'T say that! We don't say 'Oh my God.'"

Danielle: "I'm sorry Charley, you are right, we say 'Oh my gosh.'"

Charley: "Yeah, we say 'Oh my gosh.' Because God lives in the sky. In heaven. God lives in the sky, at the Pole, with Santa."

Danielle: "God lives with Santa at the North Pole?"

Charley: "Yeah, with Santa, at the Pole."

Danielle: (to Brian) "We really need to work on her theology."

Travel Season

For these next couple months, the Palm house is series of comings and goings. As discussed in my last few posts, Brian's mom and step-dad arrived here on January 8th, and are presently on an island cruise that will come to an end tomorrow morning. They will stay with us one more night before ending their Hawaiian vacation and heading back to Michigan on January 29th. Then, on the 31st, two major events occur. First, Brian will be leaving for a deployment to Guam, which will last until February 11th. Second, my brother Kurt and his wife Kelly will be flying in from Montana for a month long Hawaiian vacation. They will stay with us until February 6th, and then they will be heading down to Waikiki Beach for a week. On February 8th, my parents will be arriving at the Palm house for a 12 day visit. On February 11th, Brian will hopefully return from deployment, and then on February 13th my brother and sister-in-law will be leaving Oahu and will head over to Maui for the remaining two weeks of their vacation. Our friends, the Smith family, who live in Portland, will be landing on the island on February 16th to start their two week vacation. My parents will head back to Montana on February 20th, and then I will be heading back to Montana on February 21st for my first (hopefully) annual girls' trip. I will be in Montana until February 28th, at which time I will return home to Hawaii. And yes, for all inquiring minds, Brian WILL be at home, alone, with the kids for a week. Let's hope he makes it. On March 1st the Smith family will head back to the Oregon, and sometime around March 8th Brian is supposed to head out for his annual guys' ski trip for a week or so, which is still in the planning stages. Who knew that January, February, and March would be so full of travel?

So, our lives are presently filled with lots of planning, lots of driving, lots of excitement, lots of cleaning, lots of shopping, lots of touring, slightly more cooking, but definitely lots of fun. You better start thinking about when you want to come visit us because, as you can see, we book up fast!

We had a quiet week last week, just sort of hanging out, taking it easy. I bought a nice double jogging stroller last month, so we've been taking long walks nearly every day, enjoying the nice weather. Yesterday one of Brian's co-workers had a house-warming party at his new home, which is just a couple minutes from our house, so that was a fun way to get out of the house. The party was catered with local food, and I think it was the best local food I've tried yet. The kids had a great time playing with the the hosts' baby bunny and staring at the their fish tank (where Charley was excited to see "Nemo"). And thanks to all the running around that the kids did, Charley slept in until 7:00 a.m. or so, and Zander slept until a whoppin' 7:45 (which is a nice change from his most recent usual wake-up time of 6:00 a.m.). I guess that's about it, nothing too exciting.

The only other thing to report is that Zander, for the first time ever, put two separate words together to form a complete thought yesterday (except for "thank you" which is obviously more of a phrase than a sentence). Now, I must admit, my Mom told me that I was probably going to scar Zander for life by publicly announcing and memorializing this event on this blog, but I decided to take my chances. Down the road he will probably tell me that I scarred him for life in one way or another anyway, so why not this, right? I mean, if this isn't what the blog is for, then what IS it for? So anyway, to set this stage for this event, I must divulge that yesterday Zander had the worst case of diaper rash that he has ever had, thanks to a bad case of the runs. We tried to stay on top of things, but we pretty much couldn't keep up fast enough. It got to the point where Zander was crying out in pain if he moved wrong, and would scream bloody murder every time we even began to lay him down to change his diaper. At one point, just after I had just changed him, Zander crawled in my lap, stood up and stared in my face and said, "Hurts, booty." Okay, so his first sentence involved his butt as the subject, yes we use the word "booty" in our house (much to Brian's dismay), and his subject and verb weren't quite in the right order, but still, it was two words put together to communicate a complete thought. How exciting. I DID, however, take my Mom's other advice today and am having Zander run around the yard in the nude to hopefully allow his little toosh a drying-out break. Needless to say, I think he's enjoying his new found freedom (except for those fresh mosquito bites I just spotted). Poor guy.

Major Issues

As I'm sitting on the couch watching T.V. this afternoon, Charley is sitting next to me nicely playing with some tupperware bowls that she pulled out of the kitchen cupboard. All of the sudden she starts batting at her face wildly, with a sort of grunty whine emerging from her mouth. I can immediately tell that she is frustrated.

Danielle: "Charley, what's wrong, are you have some sort of issue?"

Charley: (in an annoyed tone) "Yes, I'm having an itchy booger issue!"

Danielle: "Man, that is one serious issue."

Getting to Know Charley

Many of you have had the opportunity to meet Charley, and maybe even hang out with her a bit in her short three years of life, but many of you have not had that chance yet. So, I thought I would write a post about our Charley so that all of you might get to know her a little better.

If you can only imagine, Charley is as close to a "mini-Danielle" as you are probably going to find out there. Although she might more closely resemble her Dad in the looks department, she definitely takes after Mom in the personality department. One time I told Brian that it was probably a good thing that Charley and I were so much alike, because if both Brian and I were as calm and laid-back as Brian is, we wouldn't know what the heck to do with a child like Charley. His response was that this was easy enough for me to say because I only had to live with one of me. He, on the other hand, had to live with two. Ah, Brian, such the comedian. :)

Charley is one of the most independent individuals you will ever meet. Since the day she entered this world, she has done everything on her terms, in her way, in her time. She wants to do everything for herself, which sometimes makes her wise beyond her years and sometimes prevents her from entering realms of this world that she needs to experience. Charley is also my cautious child. Sometimes she is scared to try new things because of the unknown, because she doesn't like to do anything without already knowing the outcome. She likes routine, predictability, and she likes things to be EXACTLY the way she wants them. And we are just automatically supposed to know what the EXACT way is. She doesn't like to have to explain things. Long before she was three years old, Charley would often complain because something "wasn't perfect" (yes, she actually used the words "not perfect"). Charley has very high expectations of the world.

One major difference between the two of us is that she has an imagination beyond anything I think I ever experienced. She loves to go on imaginary excursions with imaginary companions that all seemed to be named either "Lucy" or "Dora." And she loves to take her brother with her on all these outings, which he also thoroughly enjoys. Along similar lines, Charley is very creative and loves to express herself through singing, drawing, dancing, and listening to music. On the other hand, sometimes she just loves to veg out in front of the T.V., for hours if we would let her, watching made-up characters embarking on exciting adventures. I think she got this T.V. gene from Brian.

Charley is extremely stubborn and tenacious, which also makes her very passionate about many things. Sometimes she struggles with the realization that she is "not in charge" because truth be told, she would be the boss all the time if we would let her. Zander seems to get the brunt of her bossiness at the moment, but thankfully he doesn't see to mind (yet). When Charley has made her mind up about something, it is very difficult to get her to see another position. She tends to react emotionally before rationality kicks in. Oftentimes we have to slow her down in order for her to think through the rational side of a situation. She clearly did not get her Dad's rationality.

Charley is a very sweet child, who holds her affection for others close, saving it for special moments. She likes to display her affection, whether it be through snuggling, hugs, kisses, or hand-holding on her terms in her time, but when she does it is heart-warming and worth the wait. She particularly has an affinity for the men in her life, Brian and Zander, who both patiently wait for her affectionate moods. I, on the other hand, lack the same patience that she does, and therefore I often find myself grabbing her and kissing and hugging her whether she wants it or not. Ironically, my mother used to do the same thing to me, as I would try and wriggle out of her arms as she smothered me with her beautiful hair in a loving embrace. I learned from the best.

Charley is often impatient, becoming frustrated when things do not go as quickly and smoothly as she would like them to. Fortunately for us, her concept of time is still a little bit hazy, so if we try and put something off until "later" she is okay with this because later COULD mean very soon. While Charley may appear to give up on something very quickly if it cannot be mastered right away, she is also very tenacious, which means that once calmed down, she will not give up very easily. If you haven't guessed it already, Charley is about as strong willed as they come.

Charley loves to hang out with her friends as much as possible, although the idea of someone new sometimes makes her a little nervous. But once they get over that initial introduction period, she will be your best friend for life. She assumes different roles with different people, depending upon the personality of who she is with. Sometimes she is the bossy leader, sometimes she is the follower. Sometimes she is shy, and sometimes she is outgoing. Sometimes she is silly and runs around like a maniac, and sometimes she is reserved preferring a quiet activity. Sometimes she is the comedian, and sometimes she is very serious. Charley is oftentimes adaptable when she needs to be.

Charley possesses a huge thirst for learning, and she has an incredible memory capable of retaining a whole lot of information. Charley is our little parrot who can repeat anything at the drop of a hat (so we have to really watch what we say). Her vocabularly is pretty incredible, and even when she was two, she was often mistaken for being four or five because of her ability to communicate with adults (and she's tall).

Charley loves many things, including her pink hand-made blankie that she cannot sleep without (thanks Jen R.!), her stuffed monkey "Buddy" who goes everywhere, ice cream, salty chips and cashews, popcorn, necklaces and bracelets (or my hair ties posing as bracelets), the Noggin gang (i.e. Dora, Diego, Backyardigans, Wonder Pets, Blues Clues, etc.), the Sesame Street gang, watching movies, taking baths, playing at the beach, animals, riding her tricycle, reading books, coloring, working on craft projects, cooking with me, taking care of her huge collection of babies, going to the park, going on walks, eating in restaurants, but most of all, hanging out with her best friend, Zander. Zander is her sidekick, her Tonto, her Robin, her Clyde, her Boots, her awesome little brother.

Charley is very special to us. She is our first born, or beautiful little girl, our princess. I hope you get to hang out with her sometime.

Getting to Know Zander

Many of you have had the opportunity to meet Zander, and maybe even hang out with him a bit in his short seventeen months of life, but many of you have not had that chance yet. So, I thought I would write a post about our Zander so that all of you might get to know him a little better.

Most people say that Zander strongly favors Mom's looks, however, there is little doubt that Zander more strongly favors Dad's personality. Zander is one laid-back and happy little dude. As long as his pants are dry, his cup is full, a snack is handy, and Mom is close by, Zander is good to go. He generally isn't very intense, as he just sort of hangs out and goes with the flow, that is, whatever flow Mom and/or Charley has created. Zander definitely balances out the dynamic of the family.

Zander loves to laugh and loves to make people laugh. When Zander laughs or smiles, it's very difficult not to do the same. Both are very contagious. When he laughs, his whole body shakes, especially his belly, so he could definitely be characterized as a jolly fellow. When he realizes he has an audience and wants to make them laugh, he will whatever it takes to win a smile, including but not limited to beating his head against the couch, head-butting his nearest victim, imitating Swiper the fox (from Dora) by saying, "Oh maaannnn!!!", grabbing toes and saying, "Wee wee home" (from the three little pigs) or screeching if all else fails. Zander, like Brian, thinks of himself as a comedian.

One of the times that Zander is not at his best is when he first wakes up. You can always gauge his mood by the noises coming from his room. If there is cooing and chatting, he is fine and probably in a pretty decent mood. However, if there is screaming and/or crying, we are in trouble. Sometimes, if we are lucky, the screaming/crying stops when we pick him up out of bed, but other times . . . oh, all I can say is, not good. At his worst, he can continue to pitch a fit for up to half an hour, crying for no apparent reason and comforted by nothing. This has only happened a hand full of times, but that is enough for us to conclude that sometimes Zander is not what you would call a "morning person."

Zander is generally a pretty laid back guy. He isn't too opinionated about stuff most the time, and he usually doesn't have a problem with Charley being the boss. As long as he isn't being sat on or toys being taken away from him, he will go along with whatever Charley has in store for him. He's pretty flexible when it comes to taking naps in strange locations (i.e. the car, the beach, the stroller, in my arms, Heather's house, etc.), although ultimately he likes to spend the night in his own bed. He likes any kind of toys you put in front of him, whether it involves babies with pink dresses or trucks with big wheels. He isn't quite as laid back about the foods he eats, as he consistently likes to eat certain things, but he will always try something at least once and eats a lot of food nonetheless. As long as certain conditions are in place (as discussed above), Zander is a pretty content guy.

Zander definitely has an affinity for the women in his life. Since the day he was born, Zander has been the stereotypical "Momma's boy." When he was only a month old and would spend hours screaming on end thanks to a bad bout of colic, the only thing that could sooth him was me walking him around. If I slowed down or tried to pass him off to someone else, it was not a good situation. Even today, if he expects me to open the door and pick him up out of his crib and someone else shows up instead, boy is he mad. As enduring as it is most of the time, I also occasionally find myself with a whiny little boy clinging to my legs or screaming my name from another room.

Zander is also absolutely crazy about his sister. You can see him intently watching every move that she makes, trying to emulate everything that she does. Thanks to Charley, Zander seems to be doing a lot of things earlier than she ever did . . . walking, talking, feeding himself, running, showing a keen interest in books, and soaking up every piece of his world that he can possibly grasp. He looks at Charley like she is the Queen of the world, like she can do no wrong. Well, most of the time anyway.

Zander also has a very special place in his life for his Daddy. More than anything, it seems like they are bonded by the way they think. Like his Dad, Zander wants to know how EVERYTHING works. He's more interested in the manual than the object itself. When we inflated a bounce house for Charley's birthday party, Zander was more interested in the air pump than the bounce house. He loves airplanes, cars, trucks, and engines. He loves his Dad's "eep" (a/k/a his Jeep). He loves to examine everything carefully, figure out how it works, and put it together. For a seventeen month old, his attention to detail is astounding. Like his Dad, Zander is an engineer in training.

Zander also has a stubborn streak that shines through once in awhile. Once he decides he wants to do something, you cannot change his mind. Even if you try to distract him with things that would normally make a child his age forget, Zander stays focused. And he will put up quite a fight until he gets what he wants. While Zander is extremely laid back and often patient, I think he will always stand up for himself when the time is right. Now we just have to teach him when the time is right. Pick your battles, my son.

Since very early on in his life, Zander has also displayed a very affectionate side for those that he loves. He is my snuggle bug, the one who I can almost always count on for a hundred kisses a day, the one that loves to cuddle and hug and hold hands whenever the situation is available. If you are one of the fortunate ones, someday you might unknowingly be approached by Zander who will give you a quick kiss on the cheek and then shyly run away. And believe me, he gives the best kisses.

For some reason unbeknownst to us, Zander is extremely passionate about language, both in verbal and written form. Everyday Zander is experimenting with new words, new sounds, and new letters. He already knows over half the alphabet and is constantly pointing out letters that he knows, whether the letters are on signs, license plates, books, billboards, anywhere. We are convinced that Zander will be a man of many languages.

Zander loves many things, including his blue hand-made blankie that he cannot sleep without (thanks Jen R.!), sports balls of any kind, watching sporting events on T.V., milk, cheese, popcorn, bananas, wearing hats, putting on shoes, sneaking small objects into his mouth, reading and looking at books, dancing, singing songs, riding on his scooter, bugging Hobie, animals, airplanes, trains, cars, and trucks, engines, computers, Charley's favorite stuffed monkey "Buddy," the moon and stars, watching T.V. shows with Charley, Dora and her friends (Boots, Swiper, Backpack, and Map), opening any door possible and running outside, slides, climbing things, boats and pretending to be in boats, taking baths, but most of all, hanging out with is best friend, Charley. Charley is his leader, his Lone Ranger, his Batman, his Bonnie, his Dora, his awesome big sister.

Zander is very special to us. He is our baby, our amazing little boy, our prince. I hope you get to hang out with him sometime.

Tour Break

We are officially on a break from touring, as Bev and Dick have now boarded a seven night island cruise. But let me back up a few days to catch you up. First, I will start with Friday night. I forgot to post this picture in my last entry, so here is a shot of Zander eating some spaghetti noodles with sauce, all on his own for the first time. Needless to say, we went straight from dinner to the bathtub.



On Saturday we headed down to one of our favorite beach areas on the island, the Ko Olina Resort, which is only about ten minutes from our house. Ko Olina is part of the Marriott family, and the resort is a mixture of condos, time-shares, and a hotel. When the resort was built, four lagoons were also built on the property. In order to have these lagoons, Marriott is required to keep the lagoons open to public use, but in order to keep the numbers down to a minimum, they built tiny parking lots for each lagoon. Lagoon 2 is our favorite lagoon, and I would guess that there are only about 16 parking spaces for this lagoon (Lagoons 1 and 3 similarly have tiny parking lots, while Lagoon 4 is a bit bigger but is still limited). As a result, you have to get there pretty early, so on Saturday we were there by about 8:30 a.m. and there were only a couple spots left. The upside of this, however, is that there were no more than forty people or so at the entire lagoon. Here are a couple pictures from our favorite spot.







While we were there, we had some visitors. Here is a bird that is fairly common around here, although I have no idea what kind it is. Do you know?



And here are a couple mongooses (they look like weasels). These little creatures were pretty brave and got fairly close to us, but I guess this isn't too surprising considering that they are known to attack large snakes. Fortunately there are no snakes in Hawaii. :)



As you can see, we wore Zander out, so he decided to take a nap right on our beach mat.



After a fun day at the beach, we spent the remainder of Saturday relaxing at home. On Sunday, Heather threw a birthday party for her son, Lane, at a local kids' gym. Here is Charley sitting with the birthday pirate, who is turning four years old.



And here are my boys enjoying themselves at the party.


After the party, Zander thoroughly enjoyed a Tootsie Pop.



On the way home we grabbed a Boston's pizza, which is definitely the best pizza we have found here. Their pizzas only come in one size . . . HUGE!! Actually, it's a 19" pizza, which is the largest I've ever seen, and boy are they good! Everyone enjoyed.

So I guess that brings us to today. Brian and the kids took Bev and Dick to the port right before noon, which gave me a little while to clean my floors (which were disgusting) and start working on the four loads of laundry that I had ahead of me. Around 1:00 Brian brought the kids home and then headed to Starbucks to get some studying done for some testing he has at work this week. So, I spent the rest of the day working on my laundry, catching up on email, and I even spent some time working in the back yard, cleaning out our plant beds while the kids played in our new beautiful yard.

I guess that about covers our happenings the past couple days. I plan on spending the week getting caught up on stuff and just hanging out with the kids, while Brian will be extremely busy at work with the Standardization Team in town (from Clearwater, Florida) for their annual check of the Air Station.

So that is what is new with us . . . what is new with you?

Here, There, Everywhere

It's amazing how much you can pack into a very short period of time. The last three days have been busy ones, as the Palm Tour has continued. On Wednesday I had to run to the doctor, so Grammy and Papa watched the kids for me while I attended to my errand. On Wednesday afternoon we spent some time playing in our new beautiful backyard, which the kids are thoroughly enjoying. Here the kids are pretending to take a nap.



Here is what I like to call Zander's "old man" pose, where he acts like he has just had a very tough day. (***Take notice of his new "Cars" shoes that he absolutely LOVES!)



After eating a yummy dinner of Bev's white chicken chili, I snuck out of the house for a Coast Guard girls' night at my friends Kathy's house. It was fun, relaxing, and nice to do some girly gossiping (Heather is out of town so I was missing my girlfriend fix:)).

On Thursday I drove Bev, Dick, and the kids to the North Shore, where we stopped at Turtle Beach to see if we could spot any sea turtles. Unfortunately, the waves were pretty big and the surf was pretty rough, so there were no turtles to be seen. We continued on our journey, and next stopped on the windward (east) side of the island at the infamous shrimp farms, where Bev and Dick enjoyed a lunch of fresh Hawaiian shrimp (as most of you probably know I am not a fan of seafood, so I did not partake). We then drove down the east coast of Oahu, next stopping at a grassy park near the Chinaman's Hat island that can be seen from the shore. We concluded our journey for the day at the town of Kaneohe, where we then cut through the Koolau Mountain Range back to our side of the island, the leeward (west) side.

That evening, Brian and I were scheduled to attend the Pacific Veteran's Memorial dinner at the Ft. Shafter golf club, which was a dinner honoring a new Coast Guard monument that has been constructed for the Punchbowl National Cemetery. Here is a picture of the two of us before we left for the event.



The food was awesome, the company was entertaining, but the coolest part of the evening were the honorary guests in attendance. First were many veterans that had served in the Pacific for various wars, and the one that impressed me the most was a gentleman who had served in World War II, the Korean War, AND the Vietnam War. Now that's service. Next was the Admiral of District 14 (which includes Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, and the entire Pacific Ocean in between), Admiral Brice-O'Hara, who is in charge of this entire area, AND just happens to be a woman. Pretty impressive. Lastly, and most significant, was the highest ranking official in the Coast Guard, the guy who is charge of the ENTIRE Coast Guard, Commandant Admiral Thad Allen.



After all the speeches and toasts, Brian and I had the opportunity to meet the Commandant, which was nothing less than awesome. Oftentimes I feel somewhat disconnected from Brian's job because I don't often get to see him in his Coast Guard role, but this event gave me the chance to sit next to him proudly and share a significant experience. I'm very glad that Bev and Dick were here to help watch the kids so that I had the opportunity to go. Thanks guys!

So, today we finished our trip around the outermost points of the island by cutting back across the mountains on the Pali Highway, first stopping in a quaint little beach town called Kailua. We did a little shopping, followed by a yummy lunch at the California Pizza Kitchen. We then continued along the southeast corner of the island, where we saw some breathtaking views and several scenic points that I have mentioned in previous posts (i.e. the crouching lion and the blowhole). By mid-afternoon we had made it back home, and settled in for an afternoon of bike riding and scooter riding up and down our street with the kids. It is finally quiet around here, as the kids have had their dinner, bath, and are tucked snug in their beds.

This weekend promises to be another busy one, but would we have it any other way? Tomorrow we are hoping to hit the beach for the day, and on Sunday Heather's son Lane is having a birthday party, so that will be fun for the kids. On Monday Bev and Dick leave for a seven night inter-island cruise, so we continue to pack in as much as we possibly can. As as you will soon find out, the tours and busy days have no sight in end for the Palm household.

Sugar and Spice and Everything Nice

Charley ferociously rides her bike towards me and stops right before hitting my ankles.

Charley: "What's wrong Mom?"

Danielle: "Nothing is wrong. Well, actually, I'm a bit sad because I'm missing some little girl kisses right now. Do you have any for me?"

Charley: "Yeah, hold on."

She ferociously rides away from me for a few feet, whips around, and comes back.

Charley: "Here you go, Mom, I have some kisses now. They are right here on my lips. You can come and get them."

No News is Good News

Not much new to report here. We've been laying pretty low the past couple days, just hanging out at home and relaxing. Bev and Dick are still down at Waikiki but will be returning up our direction later today. Brian's been busy attending a week-long conference at the Army base for work. Yesterday the kids played with Heather's kids for awhile, and today we are going to a play group with our Baby Hui friends at the park. Not much new or exciting, but sometimes that's a good thing, right?

Continuing the Tour

More touring kept us very busy this weekend. On Friday morning, Brian and Charley drove Bev and Dick to Hanauma bay for some of the best snorkeling on the island. They were very impressed with the beautiful reef and the various types of fish that hang out there, as well as the nice beach and views. Meanwhile, Zander and I took a jaunt up to the Army base to have lunch with Heather and then we all met up back at the house a bit later. Brian had to head into work that afternoon to stand duty, so the rest of us relaxed at home for awhile. Here is Charley being a bit silly and trying on Papa Dick's reading glasses.



Later that evening we headed over to the Air Station so that Brian could give our guests the grand tour of the facility and the aircraft. Our visit was cut a little bit short when Charley had a massive potty accident in the T.V. lounge area right in front of Brian's co-worker. Oops.

On Saturday morning, I decided to let Zander feed himself. Good job kid.



After Brian got home from work Saturday morning, we all went out to breakfast and then hit our favorite local park so that the kids could burn off some energy. I think all us adults ended up more exhausted than the kids from chasing them around. In the afternoon, Brian mowed the lawn, while Bev and Dick headed for downtown to enjoy a condo that they rented for a few nights near Waikiki Beach.

This morning, after watching a little playoff football action (which starts at 8:00 a.m. here . . . woo hoo), we headed for Waikiki Beach and spent the day with Bev and Dick at the Hale Koa (military hotel) pool. Here is Zan Man enjoying a little pineapple.



Pool pals



Bev and Dick are thoroughly enjoying themselves!



Pool princess


Pool prince


After the pool, we checked out Bev and Dick's condo, and then headed down to the Cheesecake Factory for some yummy food and dessert. All in all, we had a pretty fun day and the kids behaved quite nicely. It was awesome to spend a day relaxing at the pool instead of doing something related to the yard, like we've been doing the past couple months. Besides, I need to start working on my tan or else when I go back to Montana next month, no one will believe I live in Hawaii. :)

The Palm Tour: Day 1 and Day 2

The Palm Family Tour service has officially started! Brian's mom and step-dad arrived in town late Tuesday night after traveling for nearly twenty two hours to get here from Michigan. Needless to say, their internal clocks were a little off, so we just decided to just take it easy on Day 1 of the tour. Yesterday was mainly a small driving tour . . . we drove around Kapolei, the town that we live in (actually, it's more like a small city with nearly 80,000 residents) . . .up to the nearby Army base where we do most of our grocery shopping and medical visits . . . down to Costco, where we grabbed a quick but yummy lunch (for less that $10 I might add, thanks to Costco's reasonable prices) . . . down to a popular shopping area . . .over to the Ewa Beach area . . .a quick drive by the Air Station where Brian works . . . over to the grocery store for a few items . . . and then home. Nothing too exciting, but they got a good lay of the land. Once we got home and relaxed a bit, the kids were excited to learn that their official book reader (a/k/a Grammy) had brought some new books. Yeaaaa!!!!



We concluded the day with my home made Thai peanut sauce, rice, egg rolls, and California rolls, and then we all hit the sack pretty early.

Today, Day 2, we decided to venture out a little further, and first we hit the Dole Plantation since Brian's step-dad had not been there yet. I have been to the Dole Plantation several times now (five times I think) and have already taken lots of pictures there, so today I decided to take some pictures of some new stuff. You can see that Zander was already quite exhausted by this point.



Charley's favorite part is the Coy fish pond, where for $.50 you can get a hand full of stinky fish food to feed the fish. And, as you can see, the fish go nuts.



Did you know that pineapples actually grow on a bush-like structure on the ground? Maybe I'm the only total moron around here, but for some reason I thought they grew in trees. Boy, was I wrong.



Looks good enough to eat!


After the Dole Plantation, we drove up to the North Shore to a town called Haleiwa (pronounced Hall-ee-ay-va), which is a cool little surf town with lots of neat shops and restaurants. We grabbed some lunch up there and then walked around and looked through a bunch of touristy shops. Then we decided to hit Matsumoto's Shave Ice, which is one of the most famous shave ice retailers in the world (it was featured on the movie "50 First Dates"). They have the yummiest shave ice around, so we stopped in there for some dessert. The line was long, but it was worth it! After munching down our treats, we decided to head to the Navy Exchange, which is the one of the largest exchanges in the world. The coolest part of the exchange, however, is that the entire ceiling in the main area is painted by Hawaii's most famous artist, Wyland. Hopefully one of these days I will remember to take my camera with me so I can get a picture. The ceiling and walls are painted to look like you are underwater, with whales, dolphins, and fish swimming all around. It's absolutely breathtaking! After wandering around the exchange for a while and letting the kids ride on a couple kiddie rides, we headed for home. Tonight we ended the evening with some of my famous tacos, which I think everyone enjoyed.

And now I must run for my weekly dose of girl time at the neighbor's house since Grey's Anatomy is all new tonight. Check in later for more on the Palm Family Tour!

Rude Awakening

Danielle: Charley, you really need to try and go poo-poo in the potty. You've been holding it for way too long now, and if you don't go poo-poo then I'm going to have to take you to the doctor and he will have to get it out for you. Do you want to have to go to the doctor?

Charley: Will he give me a sticker with a pony on it?

Danielle: No, he will stick a tube up your butt and get your poop out.

Charley: (with an absolute look of horror on her face) A tube?!? In my butt?!?

Danielle: Yep.

Charley: Oooo, I don't like THAAATTT!!

Not a conversation I was looking forward to

Yesterday Charley was doing what I like to call her "pee-pee dance" where she runs around the room bent in a contorted position, occasionally grabbing what we call her "Gina" (i.e her girl parts in case you didn't get it). This is the point at which I have to remind her to go potty, quick, before we have an accident. So she ran into the bathroom and asked me to come with her. As she was rapidly pulling down her shorts and underwear, she all of the sudden thrust her pelvis up against the toilet and proudly announced, "I am going to go pee-pee like Lane!!!!" Lane is Heather's son who is close to Charley's age and probably the kid that Charley spends the most time with. Obviously we try not to let her stand there and watch him go potty, especially since we are trying to teach her the concept of "privacy," but you know how it is at this age . . . they are curious and try to sneak peaks when they can. So obviously at some point she got enough of a peek to notice that Lane goes potty standing up.

At this point, it was difficult for me to keep my composure, trying to not laugh so hard that I pee my own pants. Once I got myself together, we finally had to have the "you don't have the right equipment" conversation. She listened intently as she sat there on the potty, and I think it sunk in pretty well because later in the afternoon as I was taking her out of the car, she proudly announced, "Boys like Lane can go potty standing up because they have a peanut, but I can't stand up because I'm a girl and I have a Gina and I have to go potty sitting down." Smart girl.

Weekend Update

Let's see, what have we been up to . . . .?

On Saturday morning, I took the kids to the Honolulu Zoo with Heather and her two boys while Brian worked on the yard. We got there early to avoid traffic, parking problems, and rising temperatures (hey, it might have hit a blustering 82 degrees!), and more importantly, this is the kids' best time of day. First we hit the animal exhibits, and here you can see Zander getting an eyeful of a tortoise that is bigger than he is.

Mmm, now he's ready to refocus on the sucker (which was his very first one ever by the way, thanks to Heather who is way more fun than I am :)).

At this point we moved on to the African Savannah, the home to several zebras, giraffes, and various other animals.

Next we hit the monkeys, and you can see that this little guy came right up to the window to stare at Zander. I wish you could see Zander's expression, but Charley's elbow got in the way. Sorry.

After walking around for a couple hours, we decided to have a picnic lunch. Charley asked me if we were going to have a "grass picnic" because she and I often go on walks by our house, and along the way we will stop at one particular scenic point and have a pretend picnic with grass and flowers. When I told her that we were having a picnic with real food, she was SO excited . . . you would have thought it was Christmas again. I'm glad it takes so little to excite my daughter! To finish out the day, we went to the "Keiki Zoo," which is the children's portion of the zoo ("keiki" literally means "baby" in Hawaiian).

While the kids always enjoy the entire zoo, I think this is their favorite part. This is where they get to run around, going through tunnels like gophers, and looking at a fish tank from inside the tank. This area also has a lot of interactive activities for the kids, including the chance to pet small goats. Charley has been able to pet goats on many occasions before, but this was Zander's first shot at it, and man, did he LOVE it! Actually, he didn't so much pet the goats, but instead decided to give them all kisses. I think he kissed the various goats at least thirty times. Thankfully they had disinfectant and a hand washing station right outside.:) Actually, I think I feel more sorry for the goats . . . they probably didn't know what the heck to think.

By the time we got home from the zoo, Brian had purchased a new weed eater, assembled it, and started working on getting rid of a ton of icky ground cover in our front yard flower beds. When he got sick of working in the yard, we headed down to Matt and Heather's house for a marshmallow roast. They started a nice fire in their fire pit, and our kids had their first batch of smores ever. Needless to say, they loved 'em.

On Sunday, I decided to take advantage of Brian being home and his desire to watch football, and headed up to the grocery BY MYSELF for once. It was such a treat to go without kids. While I was gone, Brian kept the kids busy at their new easel that they got from Grammy Bev and Papa Dick for Christmas.

All that artwork must have really worn Zander out.

After I got home, the kids were getting along quite nicely.

On a side note, I love the relationship that is developing between Charley and Zander. Of course, they have their squabbles and disagreements like any siblings would, but all in all, they get along beautifully. Charley naturally falls into the role of the bossy older sister, which is totally fine with Zander because he is laid back and just plays along. She loves to use her imagination to take Zander on pretend picnics and grocery store runs, and they are always checking to make sure that the other one isn't too far away. I hope it always stays this way.

So, we spent the remainder of Sunday cleaning, and after we were done with that we took a nice walk around the neighborhood. Today consisted of more cleaning, another walk, and a trip to the bookstore. I love books, and so do the kids, so this always makes for a fun errand . . . but their favorite part is the hot dog that they get before we leave from the stand outside. Thank goodness for the hotdog guy who keeps my kids on their best behavior (otherwise no hot dog for them!).

Tomorrow is our last Baby Hui group (sad), but to brighten the day is the arrival of Grammy Bev and Papa Dick. The kids can't wait!

Big Daily Dose

I was really hoping to write a longer entry this afternoon, but here is the scene at my house . . . Zander is running around with one shoe and potentially a dirty diaper, climbing on the coffee table and trying to steal his sister's toys . . . Charley is trying to be the bossy older sister, following Zander around micro-managing his playing, while simultaneously acting like she might have to go to the bathroom . . . Brian is on his way home . . . living room looks like a tornado has run through it, there are clean dishes to be put away in the kitchen, and a huge load of laundry is sitting at the bottom of the stairs . . . so I'm going to do an abbreviated post, but longer than a normal daily dose. Here goes:

1. Zander has decided that he is ready to learn the alphabet . . . one might call him "obsessed" with letters already. So far he knows A, B, L, S, U, and W pretty well. We are thinking he might be training to be a linguist?

2. Charley is almost potty trained. Once in awhile we have an accident (especially if she is busy playing with friends), but we are almost there. Thank goodness, one kid down, one to go.

3. Charley taught Zander how to say "poo poo." Thanks Charley.

4. Brian's mom, Bev, and her husband, Dick, are coming to Hawaii for a three week visit starting on Tuesday. Yea, we might actually get some beach time and a break from all these projects we've been working on. And we might get to go on a date. Wow.

5. Our last Baby Hui meeting is on Tuesday. So sad. :(

6. We are officially taking a trip to Michigan this summer. Brian's sister, Jen, is graduating from college, so we are heading out there for two weeks at the end of June. Mainland here we come!

7. I am going on a "girls' trip" to Montana in February, where I'm going to meet up with as many girlfriends (and family) as I can in a week. Brian will be at home with the kids. Woo hoo!

8. Brian is going on a boys' ski trip sometime in March, most likely to the Lake Tahoe area.

9. Brian's new grass seems to be growing great, and a couple days ago he installed a small gate to keep the dog and kids from going up the new stairs in our back yard.

10. Brian's new project: the front yard. Some of that nasty grass we had in the back yard has snuck into the front yard, so he wants to kill it off and replace it with the right grass. He also wants to do some minor landscaping, getting rid of this nasty ground cover that houses tons of rodents, and replace it with some simple bushes, flowers, and rocks.

11. Weekend plans: maybe go to the zoo, clean the house, grocery shop, have some friends over for dinner, and watch a movie.

12. Movies recently watched that we enjoyed: Bourne Ultimatum (Matt Damon) and A Mighty Heart (the Daniel Pearl story starring Angelina Jolie).

I guess that about covers it for now. Hope everyone has a good weekend!

"Wonder Pants"

Besides Dora and Diego, one of Charley's absolute favorite television shows is called Wonder Pets!, which is about a guinea pig named Linny, a duck named Ming Ming, and a turtle named Tuck whose motto is to use "teamwork" as a way to save other creatures of nature from losing life and/or limb. She knows the theme song, the names and types of the animal characters, and has even learned what the word "teamwork" means because of the show. However, the one thing that she just can't quite grasp is that the name of the show is Wonder Pets and not "Wonder Pants" as she calls it. And for some reason, she perceives a connection between the "Wonder Pants" and underwear, so hence the following conversation took place yesterday. To set the scene, Brian was reading Charley a book about learning how to use the potty . . .

Brian: (reading from the book) "When you can keep your diapers clean and dry most of the time, you will be ready to wear special big kid underpants instead of a diaper . . ."

Charley: (looks a little confused because we use the word "panties" instead of "underpants")

Brian: Well, boys wear underpants and girls wear panties . . .

Charley: (as a little light bulb goes off in her head) Oh, yeah, and the Wonder Pants take care of everyone else.

Brian: (laughing out loud but thinking to himself) Yeah, that makes complete sense.

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year everyone! Wow, where did 2007 go?!? Time sure does fly by, especially the older you get (which is something we all hear growing up but never realize until we become adults). We had a pretty fun day yesterday, but unfortunately I was a total lame-o and didn't bring my camera with me, so I don't have any good evidence of our eventful day right now. But I know there were some other picture takers out there, so I'll eventually track down some pictures and share them with you all (notice I said "you all" and not "y'all" . . . I think the southern influence I experienced is dissipating).

The day started out pretty early with a call from my friend Heather who had a cake baking question for me. This is only significant because, as most of you know, I am the total opposite of the Martha Stewart type, so for someone to be asking ME baking questions is pretty bad. But I think she had some sort of false confidence in me because of the easy cake I made for Charley's birthday, so I must have successfully fooled her. The cake was important because it was her son's birthday and she was just a couple hours away from the party, so I went over there a bit early and tried to help her fashion together some sort of cute cake that worked with a "Curious George" birthday theme. We ended up coming up with a cake shaped like a rack of bananas, and it ended up not being too bad (she took some pictures, so I will try to post those eventually). Heather pulled a banana leaf off a banana tree in her back yard and covered a cookie sheet with it. Then we cut out three banana-shaped pieces of cake, strung them together like a rack of bananas, and slathered them with yellow frosting. And I would say considering how non-Martha both Heather and I are, it didn't turn out half bad. At least everyone knew what it was supposed to be, so that's a good sign, right?

At noon the party was in full swing with a house full of kids and parents, tons of food and games, and of course a few sprinkles of rain for good measure (forcing everybody inside for a little while). Everyone had an awesome time, and afterwards we all went our respective ways to get the little ones all napped up for the evening's festivities.

Just a few hours later we headed back down towards Heather's house where there was a huge block party happening on her street. The entire street was involved, setting up tables and chairs, contributing food for a potluck, setting up an enormous bounce house for the kids, and shooting off TONS of fireworks for everyone to watch. It sort of reminded me of a 4th of July party, except it's December instead of July, and we are celebrating a new year instead of our independence. Just to make me feel a little more in the New Year's Eve spirit, I wore a knitted hat that my friend Jen gave me a couple years ago for Christmas (hey, it got down into the high 60's, was a little windy and rainy, so it wasn't COMPLETELY warm outside!), and I got a few good laughs from people because I looked like I was waiting for a snow storm. For some reason New Year's is a pretty big deal here (maybe because it's just another excuse to drink and let off fireworks, who knows), so everyone went all out for the event. Hawaii gets so excited about New Year's that they actually dedicate entire isles at Walmart and Sears for selling fireworks, which is something I've never seen before. Have you ever seen fireworks at Walmart? Heck, we even spent three years in Walmart country (i.e. Arkansas) and never saw anything like that. It was just crazy. But everyone had a really good time, and we made it until about 9:30 p.m. when most people (except for the die-hards) started putting their kids to bed. So we headed home, put the kids to bed, and were asleep by 11:00 because we knew that Zander would be up at 6:30 a.m. regardless of the events the night before (I swear he's like an alarm clock). I know, I know, we were lame, probably almost more lame than my parents, but oh well, at least we've accepted our fate as old people!

So, today is New Years and we have yet ANOTHER party to go to this afternoon. The University of Hawaii Warriors are playing in the Sugar Bowl against Georgia, so some of our friends are having a football party to watch the event. Yesterday my mom was laughing at me when I was telling her our plans for these last couple days because she pointed out that we go to more parties than anybody else she knows (I guess five parties in a little over a week is kind of a lot). While it's true that we've been to more parties in the last few months than we had been to in the last few years combined, it is a nice reminder of how lucky we are to have so many great friends here to share our time with. I have a feeling that 2008 is going to be a good one for us. :)