Travel (fun), Parties (fun), and Holidays (more fun)

Yes, it's true, some fun stuff going on in the Palm house the past week.

For Brian, some of this fun included a trip to Tokyo, Japan for a work conference. His trip was a quick one, but he managed to eat a few squid, drink a bit of sake, and take a few pictures. First and foremost, he was impressed with the toilets in Japan (hey, this is important stuff). As you can see from the pictures, they are a bit more elaborate than our toilets. They have seat warmers, a bidet function for women (or men who pee sitting down), and a "shower" function (which shoots a stream of water) with a dial to adjust the strength of the spray (I'm sure you can figure out what this is used for). Quite a toilet if you ask me.


Here are a couple pictures of Tokyo itself, which Brian described as busy but very clean, and full of extremely kind and gracious people.


After he returned, we had a birthday party to attend at the beach, and everyone had a great time making their best pirate faces.




Following the party, Charley and I snuck over to the movie theatre to see Kung Fu Panda. This is only the second theatre movie that Charley has been to (since Zander is still a little young to go), but she had an awesome time and really enjoyed herself (especially with the big box of popcorn that I stuck in front of her). I have to admit, I really enjoyed the movie too . . . Jack Black was a perfect voice pick for the Panda.

We wrapped up the day with the kids' favorite activity, reading a book. I love this picture because it's a perfect representation of how we end each day.

And that bring us to today . . . Father's Day!! Since every holiday around here means that the beaches and local water park will be packed to the brim with people, we decided to drive downtown and spend the day at the Hale Koa Hotel pool instead, where the kids were excited to try out their new goggles.

After wearing ourselves out at the pool, we swung by P.F. Chang's for some yummy Chinese take out, and we made it home just in time to watch Tiger Woods make the ultimate comeback in the U.S. Open in San Diego (where Brian's dad is currently vacationing, lucky guy). Brian's perfect day . . . swimming, take-out food, and golf.

So one more busy (but fun) week here in paradise. This next week we will be spent getting ready for our upcoming trip to Michigan . . . I know, I know, it is still ten days away, but hey, when you have two pets to make arrangements for, two kids and one adult to pack for (thankfully Brian packs himself), a house to clean, and a million things to organize, it can take awhile. Okay, but let's be honest here, we all know I love to plan and organize. :)

Round 32

Remember when I mentioned a few months back how the kids seemingly take turns with their "challenging" phases, almost as if they are a tag team, giving each other a high five as one leaves the "ring of naughtiness" while the other one enters?

Well, apparently it's Charley's turn in the ring. And it's not a good round.

As I mentioned before, we went through a pretty tough spell with Zander after we weened him off the pacifier. He was moody, whiny, clingy, weepy, and temperamental. I swear to you, he acted like this for almost an entire month, with not too many smiles passing over his lips. And if you know Zander, this is pretty unusual. But much to our relief, he seemed to finally be getting past this horrible phase the past couple weeks, and even more to our relief, his beautiful smile returned. All during this same phase, Charley was fairly cooperative, cheerful, well-behaved, and generally pretty pleasant to be around. Excited about Zander's return to his happy self, we failed to remember that this likely meant Charley was heading for something not so exciting. Boy were we in for a rude awakening.

The past few days, Charley has become completely uncooperative, obstinate, sassy, moody, and just plain difficult. I would guess that she was in time-out at least ten times today. Every little thing in her day becomes a struggle. I kid you not, I spent nearly 30 minutes this morning going through a cycle of telling her take off her pj's, giving her a warning to take off her pj's or it would be time-out, going to time-out, and apologizing, THREE different times. All just to take her pajamas off. The last couple days she has become the "naughty" kid in her swimming class, distracting all the other kids, squirming, not following instructions, splashing, etc., and I think she's actually regressed in her swimming skills this past week because of her behavior. She is even getting put in time-out by the teacher, and still she won't behave. All of this is very out of character for Charley, just as Zander's last phase was out of character for him. Meanwhile, Zander is being cheerful, affectionate, calm, thoughtful, and generally pretty fun to be around.

At the end of the day, all I can say is THANK GOD that the kids are never in one of their difficult phases at the same time. Seriously, I think someone upstairs is cutting me a break if the kids tag team me . . . because fighting one of them in the ring at a time is already exhausting enough. :)

Sleepy Head

As you already know, Zander dropped his naps all together a couple months ago, right around the time we took away his pacifier. He is only willing to sleep in his bed at night (which he does like a champ) . . . and believe me, I've tried to force him to take naps during the day, but after two hours of screaming, I can't help but give up. However, when he's really tired, he will fall asleep wherever. At least he's versatile, right?

Boring??

I know I haven't been blogging quite as much lately as I have in the past, but truth be told, it's mostly because our lives just don't seem very exciting. When I sit here and type out the fact that I've just cleaned the house, or done laundry, or gone grocery shopping, I think to myself, "Man, who wants to read about THIS boring stuff?" Several of my friends have blogs, and I NEVER get bored reading their posts about the same things, but I'm always afraid people will get bored reading mine. I suppose one could argue that boring posts are better than no posts at all, and if someone is bored they can find something else to do . . . but I still want to make sure my handful of fans enjoy what I'm putting out there for them. Alright, enough boring talk, let's get to the good stuff.

On Monday, the kids and I went over to the other side of the island for a day at the Sea Life Park. This is something we've been wanting to do for awhile but just haven't, mostly because it's normally kind of expensive to go. However, we had the opportunity to go on a field trip with Charley's friends who go to the same school that she is going to attend next year, and it only cost us $8 to get in. The park has several huge fish tanks with sting rays, sharks, sea turtles, and all sorts of other creatures, and they also have dolphin shows, sea lion shows, wolphins (yes, it's a mix between a whale and a dolphin), and tanks where you can touch sea cucumbers and star fish.

Here we are getting ready to head into the park . . . Zander's thinking, "Man, this is a tough life."


Zander was completely enamored with the sea turtles.

Here is Charley and her friend Charlotte, getting ready for the dolphin show. Zander is excited for the dolphins too . . .


Here is Charley and her "boyfriend" Liam taking a look at the monk seals. Yes, you heard me right, her "boyfriend." She declared his new status a couple days ago, so I guess he's stuck with her for awhile. But that's okay . . . Daddy and I approve. :)

Charley and Lane decided to ham it up for the camera.

Quinn decided to give Zander a kiss, and as you can see, Zander is thrilled.

Zander is ready to hit the road . . .

Overall it was a pretty fun day and I'm very glad that we had the chance to go, but I'm not sure that I would do the trek again if given the choice. For one thing, it was hotter than heck over there the entire time, and rumor has it that it is almost always that hot when you go. Second, the admission cost is normally a lot higher (like $30 or $40), and I'm just not sure it's worth that much. So, I don't think this tourist attraction will be making the Palm Family Tourist itinerary anytime soon, but there is never a shortage of stuff to do around these parts.

Other than that, same old boring stuff around here . . . cleaning the last couple days, swimming lessons every day, Brian working hard at work AND on his Master's degree stuff, etc, etc. Zander is talking up a storm these days, as he is starting to string more and more words together at a time, and is still managing to come up with new words every day. Charley is practically counting the days until she can go to Michigan and pick blueberries with Grammy Bev and swim in Papa Jim's pool. I'm still trying to imagine how fun it's going to be to fly from here to Chicago, leaving at 7:00 a.m. and arriving at midnight (five hour layover in L.A.), with two toddlers in tow. Any suggestions?

Hair Affair

As most of you know, one of my very best friends in the world, Andrea, is in my opinion one of the best hair stylists in the world. In fact, she was voted as the "Best Hair Dresser" by the Missoula Independent last year, and she definitely deserves the title. She is awesome. As a result of her awesomeness, I have been receiving world class hair styling for the past several years, and every time I try someone new wherever I'm living at the time, I'm completely disappointed. Basically, Andrea has turned me into a complete hair snob. So, historically you would not see pictures of my newest hair do, unless it was done by Andrea of course.

In February, when I showed up for my girls' weekend in Montana, I had a full blown mullet. No joke. Short in the front, long in the back. And the reason for this travesty? Because I was stupid and tried someone new in Hawaii. As I'm sure most of you can understand, it's very difficult to wait once a year, when I see Andrea, to get my hair done. That's just too long . . . so I always venture out to someone new with the faint hope that I will strike gold, and each time I'm disappointed and end up growing it out until I see Andrea next. So, Andrea was kind, and once again fixed my hair for me again while I was in Montana. This was the result:



As usual, I loved it. But as nature would have it, before too long the beautiful color faded and the layers grew out, and once again I was itching to get my hair done. But I had no good recommendations of someone to go to out here in Hawaii. Well, as luck would have it, a few weeks ago I went to a luau at Brian's work and noticed a girl there with VERY cute hair. So, I approached her and asked her if she had gotten her hair done on the island. I swear to you, the last ten times I've done this same thing, asking someone here that I don't know where they got their hair done, I've always received the same answer: at home on the mainland. But THIS time, the girl responded that she HAD gotten her hair done here, by a girl that lives all the way up on the North Shore and works out of her housee. She was glad to share the hair stylist's information with me, and by the next day I had made an appointment. I won't go into the details of my appointment, but suffice it to say, I was pretty happy with the result.





Now I would never go so far as to say that my new stylist can take the place of Andrea, because no matter how hard anyone tries, nobody is quite THAT good. But for now, I'm pretty excited that I found someone to get me by for the next few years, because the thousands of miles between Andrea and I doesn't exactly make it easy for me to stay completely faithful to her. However, Andrea's probably just thrilled that she doesn't have to hear me complain like she's had to for the last four years. :) Am I right Andrea?

Here's a picture of the kids that I threw in just for good measure, as they were dying to get their picture taken this morning. Look at those little blondies . . . where did they come from? Hopefully with my new blonde highlights, people will quit asking me where the heck my kids got blonde hair, because Lord knows I have no idea.

Subtleties

Walmart check-out lady #1: (to Charley, as she's ringing up our items) "Hi sweetie. Are you helping your mommy shop today?"

Charley: "Yes . . . " (points to the item in the woman's hand) . . . "My mommy was all out of pads, so we had to buy some more."

Walmart check-out lady #1 and #2 burst out laughing, while Walmart lady #1 simultaneously rings up my maxi pads.

Danielle: (to Charley) "I guess it's a good thing we have two nice ladies checking us out today instead of boys."

Walmart check-out lady #2: (still laughing) "Very true! Boy, kids sure do say the darnedest things!"

Danielle: "Yes . . . yes they do."

I might give it a few days before I go back to Walmart again.

It's About Time

It's so hard for me to believe that June is almost here. Where does time go?

As of August, we will have been here a year already. In some ways, it feels like we just got here a few days ago. In other ways, it feels like this has been our home much longer, probably because of how much we've packed in this past year. On a daily basis, it doesn't necessarily feel like our lives are that busy . . . but then I sit down on this blog to chronicle our time, and it seems to amplify how much we fit in to each day. Now that I stay at home with the kids, I finally have time to do all the stuff that I only wished I could do when I was working. Time sure is a weird creature.

Sometimes there is so much going on that it's difficult for me to sit down, like today, and remember what we've been doing the past few days. I know there was some yard work, watching a DVD with Brian, a BBQ at the beach with friends, a trip to get some ice cream at Baskin Robbins, a hair appointment, and dinner at Heather's . . . but it all just sort of blurs together in one big mass. Half the time I'm not even sure of the day of the week, and I can almost guarantee you that I don't know the date (unless it's an important one, like a birthday). Don't they say that you know you are having fun when you lose track of time?

Despite the whirlwind of the past year with tons of guests, outings, meeting new friends, hanging out with old friends, settling into a new home, getting used to a new routine, and most importantly, learning how to be a stay-at-home mom as best as I can, despite all these blurry lines of months passed and things done, there is one thing at the end of every day that I do know for sure, even if I can't remember how we spent the last few weeks, days, or even hours: I'm loving this new life that I've been blessed with.

A Picture is Worth a Million Words

If you can believe it, I don't have a whole lot to say today.

It's not that we haven't been doing anything . . . on the contrary, we've been doing a ton as usual . . . I don't know if it's that the day is winding down, or because I'm a little tired, or it might be because I found out today that an uncle, whom I've always kept very close to my heart, passed away . . . but regardless of the reason, I'm going to post in pictures instead. I'm sure you won't mind. :)~

Zander was a little wiped out from watching us do yard work today . . . so he fell asleep on the couch watching T.V . . . except every time we came back, he was in a different position.




Here are a few pictures from the birthday party that we went to last week, where the kids had a blast.

Cake monsters . . .
A few days ago, the kids tried cotton candy for the first time . . . overall, I think they could take it or leave it, nothing too exciting.

Here is the ONE picture I took at our Zoo outing with friends this past week.

Boy, those sure are some BIG shoes to fill!

Creativity

Tonight we had steak, mashed potatoes, and corn on the cob for dinner. Charley got to use corn holders for the first time. She was beyond excited . . . ecstatic might be the best word.

And her name for these wonderful tools?

Corn horns.

Personally, I think that's way cooler than "corn holders."

Time and Money

Another busy week, a few less dollars. First I'll get to the busy week part . . .

Brian was launched to America Samoa for a law enforcement mission on Wednesday, and he didn't get home until very late on Friday night. In the meantime, the kids and I continued our daily park/swimming lessons routine, as well as a bunch of other activities. On Wednesday we tried out a new group called "Mom's Club," which as the name implies, is a group of stay-at-home moms that get together with their kids for several monthly activities. I have to admit, after trying out several of these mommy-type groups here over the past nine months, I wasn't sure if this group would really be my speed. But I was pleasantly surprised and met some really nice people there, so we will probably try it out again. On Thursday was the ever painful task of grocery shopping, which was about as torturous as usual. On Friday, the Air Station had its annual Farewell luau, so despite Brian's absence, I decided to take the kids anyway. They had several bounce houses set up, live music, catered Hawaiian food, tons of people, and all our friends were there, so that was fun. The kids (especially Zander) were beside themselves with excitement when they spotted Brian's Jeep at the Air Station, right where Brian had parked it before he left on his mission. It wasn't so much that they thought Brian was around, but rather they were just so excited to see the JEEP that had been missing from their garage for two days. Kinda funny.

On Saturday we attended a kids' birthday party that one of our Coastie friends threw. The kids had a blast, and the hosts served up some pretty yummy food, so a good time was had by all. This morning Brian was very kind to me and got up with the kids, which allowed me to sleep in until 7:20 a.m. What a treat! I don't remember the last time I got to sleep that late. When we finally all got ready for the morning, we headed to Lowe's for a little shopping, and there we found some drapes that I have been looking for . . . so we splurged and bought the drapes and a rod to hang above our patio door (where we currently have some pretty cheap vertical blinds). So, Brian is installing those as we speak, while I keep the kids away from the action. I'll let you know how they turn out. Tonight I will be heading over to my friend Andre's house for a girls' night (where we get to eat left-over homemade birthday cake from yesterday), so I'm excited for that. I guess that covers all our happenings lately.

And now to the "few less dollars" part . . . a lot of people have been asking me what the price of things cost around here lately, since most items tend to be higher here than other places. So let's see . . . gas is up to $3.83 per gallon in our area, but I know it's higher in other areas of the island. Milk costs about $5.00 per gallon, which is painful for us considering that the kids easily drink two gallons a milk a week just by themselves. I spend about $300 every two weeks on groceries for the entire family, which is a whole lot cheaper than many people around here pay because we get to shop at the military commissaries (which coast less and don't charge tax). Pineapples only cost about $2.50 a piece, but red peppers cost about $5 per pound. We spend about $350 a month for our electric bill (which to me is an outrageous cost), and movie rentals are about $4.50 a piece (which is why we started using Netflix). I definitely see costs of EVERYTHING climbing at an astronomical rate lately, especially groceries, as I know all you do too. Pretty soon we may have to buy our own milk cow and start our own pineapple farm. :)

Guess that's about it from our end. What's new on your end?

Coast Guard Gets Lost

For those of you out there who watch the ABC show "Lost," I'm sure that you noticed in Thursday's episode that the Coast Guard was involved in the rescue of the people stuck on the island. Those scenes were in fact filmed right here where Brian works, at U.S. Coast Guard Air Station Barbers Point. They spent an entire day filming the plane that Brian flies, the C-130, with a couple of Brian's buddies at the wheel, and several Coasties were even used as extras in the film. In fact, when we watch this clip, Brian recognizes several of his co-workers in the background . . . and one of the babies used in several of the scenes (they use several different babies believe it or not) is even one of Brian's co-workers daughters.

Even if you don't watch the show, check out the clip because it's kind of cool. Oh, and FYI, the two pilots shown in the first part of the clip are actors, not real Coast Guard guys (Brian says that real Coasties aren't that cheesy:)).

More Charley-isms

Danielle: "Hey Charley, how come you decided that the big monkey was the mama monkey and the medium sized monkey was the daddy monkey?"

Charley: "Because Mommy, mamas are always bigger than daddies."







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Brian: "Charley, I have to go to Samoa tomorrow, so I want you to be a very good girl for mommy while I'm gone."

Charley: "But Dadddyyyy, I want to mow with you too!!!!!"

Brian: (looking a bit confused) "No Charley, I said I'm going to Samoa tomorrow."

Charley: "I know, and I really really want to mow with you tomorrow, but I don't have a mower, so you and mommy are going to have to go buy me a small mower, a kid mower, so I can mow with you tomorrow."

My Little Bull

Amazingly, not a whole heck of a lot is new in these parts.

Saturday I met some friends at the local library, while Brian did some yard work. Although this library is very kid-friendly, the library is still not the best place in the world to take Zander. He is like a bull in a china shop.

We decided to spend Sunday at the beach, so I took some time on Saturday evening packing up all our gear . . . which is a lot of stuff when you are talking two toddlers at the beach all day. We got to the beach VERY early knowing that parking is limited and that it would crowded since it was a holiday (yes, even Mother's day). We arrived at 7:40 a.m. (which sounds super early I'm sure except that it's already in the 70's by that time here), and can you believe that there were NO parking spots left?!? So Brian waited in the car for a spot to open up (there are a lot of beach walkers/runners down there so we knew a spot would open eventually), while I took the kids down to the beach, got them all greased up with sun screen, and unpacked our gear. By this time, about twenty minutes had passed, and fortunately for us a huge black cloud quickly approached, which sent a couple families fleeing for their cars. So, Brian finally snagged a spot and then joined us down at the beach just as the rain was starting to fall. We all went and hid under a tree for ten minutes or so, and sure enough, the one dark cloud passed and the rest of the morning was clear and beautiful. Heather and her boys hit the beach that morning as well, so we all met up for awhile and snuck over to the hotel area to look at some hammer head sharks and sting rays that they have swimming around in a lagoon at the hotel. Zander was in absolute heaven since his newest obsession is sharks. It was a pretty fun day.

Yesterday we started back up with swimming lessons, so every day around 2:30 we head to the park for an hour and then head over to Charley's lesson for 30 minutes. Nothing too exciting, but the kids seem to enjoy the park routine quite a bit. Plus, it seems to wear them out a little, so they are more calm come lesson time . . . which basically means I spend less time chasing Zander around.

Speaking of Zander, we are suffering through a not-so-fun phase with Zander right now. I don't know what it is. I'm thinking a lot, if not all, of it has to do with taking the pacifier away. Or maybe the pacifier ordeal coincided with the beginning of a nasty phase anyway, I don't know. Either way, it's not fun. Charley was a pacifier baby too, so when it was time for the paci to go, we simply cut the nipple off and told her it was broken . . . and this method seemed to work pretty well because she seemed to get over it in a day or two and never really asked for it again. We employed the same method with Zander, and we thought things were going to go okay because when he realized his pacifier was "broken" he really didn't want to have anything to do with it and never really asked about it again. But slowly his overall attitude has been going downhill. My laid back, happy-go-lucky child has become crabby, moody, obstinate, and often just plain old unpleasant to be around. My only guess is that he was a lot more dependent on the pacifier for comfort then we ever realized. Or maybe this is just a nasty phase that hit at the same time as paci removal (two is right around the corner?). I don't know. But let's just all pray that this is simply a PHASE and nothing more . . . otherwise I really AM getting my paybacks. :)

Friends Think Alike

Okay, this story was too good to pass up . . . Heather just sent this to me, and it cracks me up not only because I can totally visualize this conversation between Heather and her sons, but also because it reminds me of a conversation I might have with Charley. Kids really do say the darnedest things. So here are Heather's words . . .

"We went to Safeway yesterday and bought our neighbor Buffy some flowers for mother's day since her mom just passed away last week. . . Here's how the conversation went . . .

Lane: "Where's Buffy's mom anyway?"
Quinn: "Buffy's mom is at work Lanie..."
Heather: "She's in heaven now."
Lane: "Oh with Jesus..."
Heather: "Yep Lane."
Lane: "Huh... she better watch out then... "
Heather: "For what?"
Lane: "For the bad guys...."
Heather: "There's no bad guys in heaven..."
Lane: "Why . . . the bad guys that chased Jesus down and nailed him to the cross.... Buffy's mom better watch out for them ..."

Can't wait to start him in CCD!"

Happy Mother's Day Mamas!

Happy Mother's Day to all you mothers out there! You should be proud of yourself, so make sure to take some time today to do something fun because you deserve it. :)

I was surprised this morning with a beautiful bouquet of flowers, a nice card, and a gift card for my favorite place in the whole world, the book store! Oh, and Charley wished me a Happy Birthday as well (no, it's not my birthday, she was just a little confused), so that made for a good laugh. We are on our way to the beach for the day, so that will be a good time.

Hope you all have a wonderful day!