A Whole Lot of New (but not too much)

As the title suggests, there are a few new things going on here . . . but nothing bad or stressful, thank goodness. Let me elaborate.

First we have a new attitude. If you look close, you will notice in this picture, taken exactly one month ago, that Charley is not too happy. In fact, truth be told, she is panicked and crying, even with a life vest on.

Here is Charley one month (eight classes) later, and she is actually smiling, because she is doing very well and truly enjoying herself. She has gained an immense amount of confidence, and while I would have been ecstatic for her to reach Level 2 by the end of the summer, her teacher thinks she only needs one more (two-week) session to reach this level. Yeah Charley!

Next we have a new Cubs fan. While we admittedly try very hard to influence our children's decision of team preference (go Cubs!), we know that in the end, it is there personal choice to pick a favorite team. Thankfully, without much resistance, Zander made the right choice.

Perhaps least exciting to anyone else but me are these new shoes that I bought today. I have not owned a pair of Chucks since I was 10 years old, so I'm very excited for the chance to flash back to the old days . . . except this time they aren't pink, they aren't high top, they have two shoe tongues instead of one (one of which has flowers on it . . . Hawaiian style), and they are a huge size 10. But they are still awesome.

Perhaps most exciting is that Brian has decided to pursue his Master's degree in Information Technology online, which should keep him busier than he already is for quite awhile. But now is as good as time as any, and I am extremely proud of him for taking this step.

So, in celebration of his new decision, we HAD to go buy him a new laptop computer (of course!) to help him survive the next couple years of classes (if you recall, our ancient laptop that helped me through law school died a couple weeks ago). And not only did he buy a new computer, but he bought a Mac . . . how exciting is that? I couldn't take a picture of the actual computer because Brian HAD to take it to work today to "get familiar with it" before he starts classes in a couple weeks. So, I had to settle for a picture of the box, which has a picture of the computer on it. You get the idea.

Next we have our two lovely children . . . not much new here, except the realization that I need to get Zander some new dress-up clothes of his own VERY SOON. The purple princess heels and pink butterfly headband are just not very flattering on him.

Last, but not least, we have our new pacifier-less son, who can finally function (and sleep) without that stupid plug in his mouth. Yes, the pacifier is gone (thanks to a pair of scissors that cut the nipple off and "broke" them all at the same time). On the other hand, he has decided at only 20 months old that he is pretty much done with naps. How lovely is that? This picture, this is an aberration, as this is the first time he's fallen asleep during the daytime in WEEKS. Everyday I try and put him down around 1:00 p.m., and everyday he screams until I pick him up (I've lasted up to 90 minutes, at which point I couldn't stand it anymore). He does NOT want to nap and his is completely stubborn. Hmmm, wonder where he gets that from?

Missing the Point

On Saturday, our friend's daughter was participating in her First Communion ceremony at a local church, and I decided that I would like to attend. However, I did not really want to take the kids, so we decided that I would take Charley with me (since we figured she was old enough to behave herself) and Zander would stay home with Brian. We showed up right when Mass started, so we had to sit in the very back row of the church. Charley was very well behaved during the service, but at one point she she started to get a little restless. So I lifted her up in my arms and whispered in her ear . . .

Danielle: "Look at the beautiful candles that are lit at the front. Can you see them?"

Charley: (whispering back very excitedly) "Ooooooo, candles!!!!! Are they having a party? Is there going to be cake?"

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On weekend mornings, the kids will come in bed with us and snuggle and play until we all decide it's time to get up. This past Sunday, Charley and Zander were chatting when Zander noticed Charley's nightgown.

Zander: "Princess?"

Charley: "Yes Zander, those are princesses."

Zander: (pointing at one of the princesses) "Belle?"

Charley: "Yes, that's Belle. And this one is Cinderella. Can you say 'Cinderella'?"

Zander: "Rella."

Charley: "Yes, and this other one is Sleeping Beauty. Can you say 'Sleeping Beauty'?"

Zander: "Eepen Booey . . . booty . . . . (thinks for a second) . . . butt . . . . butt."

Charley: (annoyed) "No Zander, it's not 'booty' or 'butt' . . . it's Sleeping Beauty."

Aunt "Argie"

As you know, my Aunt Margie (my mom's sister) came to visit last week. Margie and I have not lived in the same town for many years, and we've only had the opportunity to see each other a couple times in the past few years. In fact, this was only the second time that Margie had seen either one of my kids, so it was great to spend some time with her.

Both kids took to her right away. Zander couldn't quite say "Margie" so he called her "Argie" all week. Here they are on their very first day hanging out with her. First she tried to teach Zander some golfing techniques (her husband Mike is a golf pro). As you can see, he sort of developed his own method after awhile . . . not so much like golfing, but more like chopping at the ball.

Then they settled in for a story . . .

During one of our driving tours, we stopped at Turtle Beach and we FINALLY got to see a sea turtle up on the shore (we had only seen turtles there once before, back in August, but haven't seen any in the many times we've been there since). Thankfully there are what we call "turtle police" in the area who are volunteers that make sure people don't harass the turtles (which unfortunately happens quite a bit).

These next pictures are from a drive we took through Kolekole Pass on the west side of the island, which shows quite a different landscape than the east side of the island . . . this side gets much less rain, and as a result is not very lush compared to the other side.

In fact, it's so dry on this side of the island that these enormous cactus plants are all over the place.

We stopped at the top of the pass to take some of these pictures, and a fellow member of the military stopped to take pictures as well. He was driving a Jeep, so of course Zander went nuts and was totally climbing all over this stranger's vehicle. The gentleman was really nice and said that Zander could drive his Jeep. Thus, you are witnessing Zander's first auto theft.

And Aunt Margie is helping . . . (thanks Marge)

Once we got to the bottom of the pass, we stopped at a beautiful beach to take some more pictures.

We had a great time with Marge here, and we got to seem some pretty cool new stuff that we hadn't seen before. So thanks for a great visit Aunt Argie!

Another Side of Hawaii

I decided to show you something a little different today, something you won't see in too many vacation photo albums or visitor guides. By now you have all seen a million pictures of Hawaii and its beautiful landscapes and infrastructure . . . and as most of you know, there is a whole lot of money floating around these parts. But there are also a lot of people here without money, people who find themselves struggling to live here, people who can't afford to stay and can't afford to leave. There are also a lot of people who are simply angered by what Hawaii has turned into and refuse to spend money on rent because they think it's overpriced. There are several homeless shelters here in Hawaii, but most of the time they are close to empty, mainly because these shelters impose curfews and have a no alcohol/drug policy. So, this is the result . . .








The leeward (west) side of the island is littered with these homeless camps, where you will sometimes see a single tent standing alone, or sometimes more like fifty or sixty tents all standing close together, like a small town. Not surprisingly, they are often bundled near beach park bathrooms and beach showers. As you can see from the pictures, many of these tents have bar-b-ques, children's toys, landscaping, and several working cars parked out front . . . because truth be told, many of the individuals in these camps work regular jobs and buy regular stuff, but they are homeless because they either can't or don't want to pay high rent prices. These pictures represent some of the nicer camps . . . there are many that are much worse, with horrific amounts of garbage, waste, and smells that you can't even imagine . . . but they aren't exactly safe places to be snapping pictures. Many of these camps have semi-domestic dogs, usually pit bull breeds (which are very popular on the island) wandering around, mainly for protection purposes. You will see many children running around without shoes and few clothes on, playing around like normal kids, as if this is the way life is supposed to be. In a lot of ways, Oahu is like a second world country, but most people don't see this when they come to visit because they stick to the tourist areas. It's very interesting, heartbreaking, and eye-opening all at the same time. Does this side of Hawaii surprise you?

Limping Along

Oh, where to even begin . . .

My Aunt Margie is still here visiting but will be heading back to Seattle tomorrow, so that's a bummer. We've been having a great time doing all the usual touristy stuff that I've mentioned on here previously, so I won't bore you with the details . . . suffice it to say it's included beach time, pool time, sight seeing, a little shopping, a lot of eating, and that kind of fun stuff.

Yesterday we experienced three funny events with Zander that are definitely worth writing about. The first one involved a whole bunch of Japanese tourists. Brian had a bunch of errands to do, and I wanted to take Margie for some more sight seeing, so we decided to split the kids up and each take one for the day . . . Brian took Charley and I took Zander. On our route, we stopped at a very beautiful scenic point with breathtaking views, and we were quickly joined by an entire bus full of Japanese tourists. There was a small set of stairs leading up to the platform with the good view, and Zander decided to go up and down and up and down these stairs, just for fun. After a couple minutes, several of the Japanese tourists were giggling and pointing at Zander, watching him in complete amazement. Margie decided to take a picture of Zander being silly, so she whipped out her camera and took a few shots. Apparently the Japanese tourists saw this as an invitation to start taking pictures of Zander too because within seconds of Margie taking pictures, I counted at least five other people doing the same. To top things off, a young Japanese woman approached me and pointed at Zander and said, "Picture?" I nodded and said "Yes, of course." I thought she was going to just take his picture. But no, she handed her camera to a friend and squatted down next to Zander, obviously wanting the two of them to be in the picture together. For a moment, I felt like the mother of a movie star. It was pretty cute. The funny thing is, this has happened several times before here on the island . . . not sure what it is, maybe the blond hair, but there's just something about these kids I guess. I wouldn't be surprised if I go to Japan someday and see Zander's face plastered on a billboard.

The second funny event occurred in a coffee shop where Margie and I decided to get a couple iced coffee drinks. We were standing in line, and Zander was just sort of wandering around, seeking out items that he knew the word for so that he could point and say the word for the object, just for our amusement . . . door, chair, window, etc. There was a woman standing in front of us with really really tight spandex shorts on, and Zander all of the sudden goes up right behind her, looks at me, points, and starts yelling, "Butt, butt, butt, butt . . . ." Needless to say I was a little bit embarrassed (I think she didn't notice but if she did she didn't show it), so I quickly distracted him with something else . . . but you have to admit, it was a little funny at the same time.

The last event happened when we got home. While I was on the phone talking to my mom, Charley asked me if they could play outside. I told her they could, but they needed to give me a couple minutes to do my daily dog duty of picking up the dog doo-doo in the yard. Not to gore you out with the details, but I usually use a glove and a plastic bag to take care of business. So here I am, on the phone, picking up dog poop, when Zander walks up to me and starts saying, "Poop, poop, poop" over and over again. I sort of just ignored him because I thought he was just commenting on what I was doing, but he kept saying it over and over again, so I finally looked up from what I was doing, and there he was standing there with a big dog turd in his hand, clearly trying to help me clean up the yard. It was super gross, but super funny at the same time. Hard to be mad at him for trying to help.

So that's my Zander news. In Charley news, we are starting back up with a two-week session of swimming lessons again today, and she is really excited. She's been practicing her moves, and her fear of the water seems to be completely gone, so I'm anxious to see how she does this time around. I'm sure she'll do great.

I just got a call from Brian a little while ago and he's getting launched over to Guam right now, which means he'll be gone for about four days, so that's a bummer . . . but hopefully it's only a few days. If you can believe it, I managed to catch ANOTHER staff infection, this time near my eyebrow, so as you can imagine I'm starting to feel like a petri dish. This is my fourth infection in less than a year. And no, I don't have MRSA/"Superbug" (already been tested for that), so I guess I just have bad luck. Plus, Hawaii is a breeding ground for bacteria since it's so warm here all the time. I went to the doctor on Friday morning for the diagnosis and medicine, but I was back at the Acute Care Center on Saturday evening because it was actually getting much worse. They switched up my meds a little and cultured the wound, so hopefully I'm on the right track with that now. Brian and I were laughing about what a romantic Saturday night we were having, spending two hours in a medical center, while Margie watched the kids. Doesn't get much better than that.

We are still not fully functional with the whole Internet/computer thing, and now that Brian is going to be gone for several days it might be awhile before it's taken care of. I will definitely have to make some adjustments to my usual computer habits. Ah, the suffering . . .

Addiction

Hi. My name is Danielle. I'm an Internet-holic.

Yes, my friends, it's true, and I guess it's time for me to accept my addiction. Two major events occurred today to help me step out of the phase of denial. First, our laptop computer that is always conveniently located on our coffee table downstairs officially died. That computer has done us well, as it was purchased six years ago and survived a lot of wear and tear. But it's done, ka-put, funeral is tomorrow. To make matters worse, our desk top computer (not-so-conveniently-located upstairs) has been losing its Internet connection pretty frequently for the last two days, and it only seems to work when Brian makes it home to fiddle with it. As soon as he leaves, it quits. So, needless to say, my computer access has been limited, and it's killing me.

I love the Internet. It offers a limitless amount of possibilities, information, and entertainment. It allows us to share our lives with each other, despite the thousands of miles between us. But I may need to make some adjustments since I just lost my main mode of access, the laptop. So let me figure out a new system, give me a couple days to reevaluate, and I'll be back. I promise.

Work, Play, & Everything in Between

So where did I leave off? Let's see . . . after taking my dad to the airport on Friday morning, we ran a couple errands until Brian had to go to work that afternoon. With the kids in bed and no husband around for the evening, I was able to visit with Heather for awhile on Friday night when she came over and we pigged out on popcorn (and Girl Scout cookies for me!) while catching up on all our happenings.

Brian made it home Saturday morning, and we proceeded to spend the rest of the day running errands, with some yard work thrown in there as well. That evening we headed over to Heather's house for dinner, as she played host to a friend from high school (I knew him way back then too) and his family.

On Sunday morning I was in absolute heaven because I got to go grocery shopping without the kids. I swear, it doesn't take too much to make me happy (sometimes). Making it even more memorable was the fact that it wasn't payday, so they were sufficiently stocked with food items, and it wasn't crowded because I went early. It was the perfect trifecta of factors for grocery shopping. After I got home, we hit the Hawaiian Adventures Water Park, and the kids had an absolute blast. The first time we went, last fall sometime, Charley loved the entire experience while Zander was a bit nervous. This time, however, both kids were in heaven and had a great time. We got annual passes to this park, so we plan on hitting it a bunch more. It's a nice mix-up from going to the beach because it doesn't involve sand and requires much less gear. When we got home, we spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning the house a bit . . . nothing too exciting.

Today I finished cleaning, and then I took Charley in for her first haircut. I think I was more nervous than she was.

BEFORE:

DURING:




AFTER:


Doesn't she look beautiful? My baby girl is growing up!

Tomorrow my Aunt Margie (my mom's sister) arrives for her first trip to Hawaii, so we are looking forward to that. We don't have anything specific planned yet, but we have tons of ideas, so I know we'll keep pretty busy for the next week. As you know, it's never quiet at the Palm household!

Potpourri

I know I'm way behind on pictures, so here are a few of my favorites from the last couple weeks . . . I will also be sending these out on Snapfish soon, so keep your eyes peeled.

Here are the kids posing in their new garden boots . . . I love this picture because it looks like they are practicing their Broadway moves.

Here is a little picnic in the park near our house that we had last week.

Here is Charley at swimming lessons on "safety day" where they were learning all sorts of safety stuff. As you can see, she is the youngest one in her class.

Here are the kids posing in their new garden boots AND their nifty new gloves (or "glubs" as Charley used to call them).
Here are a couple pictures from our afternoon at the Hale Koa pool last weekend.

As you can see, Charley and Zander are starting to wrestle, and yes, it usually turns in to a big fight at the end. Here are some new swings that my dad set up for the kids this past weekend. We tried to put up the swing set that I bought a few months ago, but the set was way too big for our small yard, so we ended up selling it to Heather. In lieu of the set, we decided to put up these swings, and in addition, Heather gave us a little climber/slide set that fits in our yard much better . . . so the kids are pretty happy with their new set-up.

Here's a cute picture from our day at the Ko Olina resort beach . . . as you can see, somebody was pretty worn out.
Here are a couple pictures from our day at the zoo.

Best buds . . .

Here are a couple pictures from our stop at a Macadamia nut farm yesterday.

And here is Mommy's little helper baking banana bread.

Whew, I think that about covers it . . . I think we're all caught up now.

Winding Down

It can probably go without saying that we've been busy doing the usual fun stuff that we do when we have company . . . here's a quick rundown:

1. Friday--last play group, picked up my dad at the airport, last swimming lesson for this session (start a new session on the 28th)
2. Saturday--spent the day downtown at the Hale Koa Pool, had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory (one of my favs!), hung out at Waikiki Beach, Charley fed some squid to the turtles at the Hilton Hawaiian Village
3. Sunday--Brian had to work, dad started weeding the back of our property, ran to Home Depot, hung some swings up for the kids
4. Monday--dad finished the weeding, spent the afternoon at Pearl Harbor, Brian had to fly at midnight (top secret missions :))
5. Tuesday--spent the morning at the beach while Brian slept in, then drove up the leeward (west) side of the island in the afternoon
6. Today--spent the morning at the zoo, now resting up!

I think we are just going to take it easy for the rest of the day since we are all worn out from the zoo, and on top of that, my dad hasn't been feeling all that well . . . he's either caught a cold or his having a bad reaction to all this vog in the air. Tomorrow is our last full day with him here, and then he heads home on Friday. Brian had to take off this morning for an overnight mission to an island in the middle of nowhere, but hopefully he will be back tomorrow evening. I guess that about covers the nitty gritty over here. . . and I think this is about the shortest post covering five days that I've ever written!

Cussin' Like Sailors (kind of)

As weird as this may sound, one of the many reasons I enjoy having guests is that I tend to get a lot more reading done. How is this possible you might ask, with all the stuff that we do? Well, when we have company, I always offer to ride in the very back row of the van while Brian drives and the guest sits up front where there is more comfort and a tour guide, and not surprisingly, most people take me up on it. Since we tend to spend a lot of time driving, I end up sitting in the back row quite a bit. And since it's difficult to follow a conversation taking place in the front of the van while riding in the back, it pretty much ends up being alone time for me, where I get to just sit and read my book. I'm one of those lucky people that does not get car sick sitting in the back OR reading a book while riding. And, as most of you know, I'm still a total dork because my favorite all-time hobby is reading. So, long story short, I get a lot of reading done, and it's awesome.

So yesterday we headed downtown, where my dad was going to spend a few hours at Waikiki Beach while we swam at the Hale Koa hotel pool. On this one-hour driving excursion, Brian decided to torture the kids by turning off the DVD player in the van, so they had to find other ways to stay entertained. Zander decided to name off everything he could see and knew the word for (which isn't much), so he identified a whole lot of Jeeps, buses, and trucks. The only thing is, he doesn't quite say "truck" right. I was tuning this entire event out, completely immersed in my book, when Brian somehow managed to get my attention from the front seat without distracting the kids and told me to listen to the conversation that was going on between Zander and Charley. And much to our amusement, this is what we heard:

Zander: "Vvvvvuck, vvvvuck!!!"

Charley: "Zander, it's NOT f*ck, it's truck!!!"

Zander: "Vvvvvuck, vvvvuck!!!"

Charley: "Zaaaannnddderrr, it's NOT f*ck, it's truck!!!"

Zander: "Vvvvuck, vvvvuck!""

Charley: "ZANDER, IT'S NOT F*CK, IT'S TRUCK!!!!

You get the picture. This went on for at least five solid minutes, and Brian and I were dying laughing the entire time. I know, I know, probably not the right parental thing to do . . . one child (and possibly two) cussing up a storm while their parents just sit there and laugh. But I think neither one of us wanted to point out to either kid that bad words were being spoken, especially since Zander was simply trying to say "truck" and Charley was just repeating the sound that she thought Zander was saying . . . AND she doesn't even know that word to begin with, so I guess we just chose to laugh instead. Of course if the word comes up again, we'll point out the error of his/her way . . . but until that time, it's just going to make for a good laugh.

Slow Sailing

I know, I know, I've been pretty quiet over here, but to be perfectly honest, I can actually report that I haven't had a whole lot to say lately (and when does that ever happen?!?). We haven't been doing anything too exciting this week, mainly because my dad arrives tomorrow and we wanted to save our energy and excursions for his visit. So, we've just been hanging out, doing the usual . . . grocery shopping, cleaning, errands, and swimming lessons every afternoon.

Tomorrow marks the last day of community center play group until next fall. It is supposed to a fun finale of a water day and potluck, but I'm not sure the weather is going to cooperate for the water day part. We've had a bunch of rain the past few days, and it doesn't look like it is going to let up. We've also had a lot of "vog," which is a new term to me . . . I guess it's a combo of the words "volcano" and "smog." Kilauea Volcano on the Big Island has been very active lately and as a result is spewing tons of vog, or sulfur dioxide into the air, causing a thick fog-like cloud to float over most of the Hawaiian islands. I've heard that the vog is so bad in some parts on the Big Island that they are evacuating those areas. On our island everything is just a bit hazy, so it's not too bad here. But anyhoo, to get back on track, I'm not sure if water day is going to happen tomorrow at play group, so let's keep our fingers crossed so that the kids aren't disappointed.

Tomorrow is also Charley's last day of swimming lessons for this session. Overall she has done a fabulous job, especially compared to her lessons last November. A few times she has been scared during an activity or two, but she's mostly been enthusiastic and excited, so we are definitely going to put her in another session after we take two weeks off. Here's Charley nervously going down the slide at lessons a few days ago

Tomorrow is also when my dad arrives for a week long visit. So far we don't have much definitively planned for his visit, but I'm sure it will include some beach time, the zoo, some eating, and some catching up. The kids are pretty excited. I will be checking in here and there with visit updates, so keep your eyes peeled. I hope you are heading towards a good weekend, and I wish spring weather upon all of you (except for those of you in Arkansas who are probably sick of the spring tornadoes)!

Charley-isms

Charley: "Dad, I have make on my lips. Do you like it?"

Brian: "I'm sorry, what? You have 'make' on your lips?"

Charley: "Yes, I have make on my lips from school. Isn't it pretty?"

Brian: "Ohhh, you have make-up on your lips? Is that what you are trying to say?"

Charley: "Yeah, that's what I said, I have make-up on my lips. Do you like it?"

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Charley: "Mom, can you help me with my last bite of cereal? After that, I'm going to swurp my milk."

Danielle: "Do you mean 'slurp' your milk?"

Charley: "Nooooo!!! I told you, I'm going to SWURP my milk, not SLURP my milk! That's just silly, Mom."

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Charley: "I really like Dad's subie car because then I can have breezy on my face."

Danielle: "I'm sorry, his what car?"

Charley: "His SUBIE car . . . I like it it because the windows go down and I can have breezy on my face."

Danielle: "Oh, you mean Dad's subaru?"

Charley: (clearly frustrated) "Yeah, that's what I said, Dad's subie car!"