Monthly Archives: May 2010

Honor, respect, courage – the stories of war

A newspaper led off with an article about contemplating the "forgotten war" today. For many Americans, no war is ever forgotten.
A newspaper led off with an article about contemplating the “forgotten war” today. For many Americans, no war is ever forgotten.

How to pay tribute to the fallen when your own vet is away from home? Find a memorial, tell the story, pay tribute with your time and a token. I took the boys on a run this morning so I could tell Sam the story of Iwo Jima before arriving at the memorial. He shared his analogies between the battle for that tiny island and the courage a lobster had defending her home against an invader, something he’d seen on a BBC DVD over the weekend. As we arrived at the memorial, another party was gathering to pay tribute to lost Marines, members of 2/3. You may think the symbolism here is over the top or contrived, but it’s the truth. Just as I was kneeling to lay the plumerias we’d brought, tears came to my eyes unbidden as I remembered all the fallen over the many years our country has come to the aid of others. A light rain began to fall and washed away my tears, as well as the Jim Beam the guys had sprinkled from their flask over the bricks laid in memory of their buddies. I stood and tried to tell them how thankful we are for their sacrifice and that we continue to pray for them each night. I stumbled quite a bit as I tried to get these words out. The little group was gracious and thankful for our sentiments, then Sam said “Mom, why were you whimpering?” and everyone laughed. While I don’t feel like we do much at all to serve our country, in little things one can teach big lessons…such as remembering to honor the flag by putting it up each morning and taking it down each dusk. Sam carries the flag portion and Ben handles the pole. They are careful not to let it touch the ground. Kids ask the same questions over and over, and each time I explain why we do these things it offers a chance to reinforce and remind them in a tangible way what honor and respect means. We learn courage from some of our adventures, and from the stories we read at night, such as St. Francis, who had the courage to love the poor and sick. This morning Ben offered Sam and I a chance to show love even when we were annoyed…we took a deep breath in (gathering up God’s love) and then we both blew it out right onto Ben’s head, and you know what? As Ben’s little hairs stood on end in our “wind”, he stopped fussing and screeching, and smiled up at us 🙂 We’re not always able to act on the lessons we know well, but I pray that each day we have the grace to try. And if Sam ever decides to join the military, I know he will do that with a full understanding of the sacrifices made by those who came before, and the meaning of service. I’ll close with a thank you to Dave, for always serving without complaint despite the many sacrifices you make unbeknownst to most. You are a great example for us. We love you!

Ben’s birthday campout

Ben's birthday campout - really just an excuse to go out and indulge in enjoying my boys nonstop for a couple days. :)

Ben's birthday campout - really just an excuse to go out and indulge in enjoying my boys nonstop for a couple days. 🙂

We had such a wonderful time together – lots of laughs, peace and quiet, the sounds of birds dancing in our ears, clouds drifting by high above the trees, and cool breezes at night. Enjoy the pictures and little vignettes from our trip by clicking the photo above 🙂 Funny side note from last night – just before bed Sam had to use the bathroom. He was so deliriously tired that we heard him talking from the bathroom loudly “We got there TWO HOURS EARLY!” then “We were there at EIGHT and setup by NINE!” or something to that effect. Then “I SEE YOU IN THERE!” So I went back to peek – he was yelling at his reflection in the toilet paper holder – the little mirror ball thing at the end! Tooooo funny!

Happy 2nd Birthday, Ben!

Ben's beach birthday festivities :)

Ben's beach birthday festivities 🙂

Thanks to great friends who have kids about the same ages as ours, we were able to enjoy a relaxed beach party to kick off the weekend. The party continues on Monday and Tuesday when I take the boys camping 🙂

And TODAY is my brother’s birthday – I am so happy that Ben and Doug are connected by a birthday that is only 1 day apart. I hope you are having a great day, Dougo! I love you very much! Talk to you in a bit 🙂 Yer sis…

Clean like a Marine!

Cousin Mike and wife Mary are coming!!! Mike is a Marine, so we have to clean clean clean! Sam says "Mom, you gotta lean into it, like this!"

Cousin Mike and wife Mary are coming!!! Mike is a Marine, so we have to clean clean clean! Sam says "Mom, you gotta lean into it, like this!"

rosemary volcano bread

Bread ended up rising like a volcano, and I had olive oil trickling out of the crater at the top. It was soooo good! Can you see the salt? Fun to be able to keep making good bread with my starter from 4 yrs ago :)

Bread ended up rising like a volcano, and I had olive oil trickling out of the crater at the top. It was soooo good! Can you see the salt? Fun to be able to keep making good bread with my starter from 4 yrs ago 🙂

We had a good day today – went for an early bike/run around the fish ponds, with lots of discussions about fish, whether they go to school or not, how many grades of fish go to school in the ponds (Sam says 10 grades, from age 5 to 15), getting to see “hurry hurry!” at the fire station, then on to Ben’s 2 yr old appt. He is in great health, 35″ tall and 35 lbs (I think – he really freaked out at the ht/wt measurement). He is 75th percentile for ht and wt, 90th for head (big like his dad). He’s got Daddy’s cold now but he’s a real trooper and will still be up for partying tomorrow and through the weekend. We go camping on Mon and Tues, and hopefully cousin Mike and his wife Mary will be here tomorrow if their space-a plans come together!

God bless physical therapists

Team Krug developing trust on a lovely Sunday morning after church.

Team Krug developing trust on a lovely Sunday morning after church.

I went to a PT today to get some insight on a foot numbness problem I’ve had for about 18 months. I have been guessing it has something to do with muscle tightness from running pushing the double stroller. I got new running shoes two sizes bigger than usual, undid the laces as much as possible, shortened my mileage after the marathon and only push Ben now (Sam rides). It has slowly gotten a fraction better but I was very curious to see what the PT thought for short term and long term prognosis, and what the cause was. (I’d been to a podiatrist who thought that it was tarsal tunnel syndrome and also thougth my gait was all off. I had my suspicions, though and wanted a second opinion.) So today after a consult, some focused stretching and some massage my feet were literally almost 50% better! We freed up some space in the muscles for blood to flow again and the nerves started to come alive. It’s unbelievable being able to feel the ground under your feet. I don’t know how I’ve managed like this for so long. I have no idea how I’ve done yoga, but I have noticed my balance is a bit off. Hopefully that gets back to normal with some renewed sensation :0 Long ago I knew PTs were the bomb – I worked as an aide while at Univ of VA and one of my best adult friends was a very gifted PT. She really worked miracles for people and I recalled that often the PT was the one to finally put all the pieces together in the jigsaw puzzle of a person’s unusual symptoms. Why I didn’t get a PT consult long ago I don’t know – I just figured this was a podiatrist’s domain. I had already gotten an MRI and an x-ray and they were negative. Anyway, I share all of this because it is hopefully the beginning of the end of a story which has bothered me for a long time. And it means I can keep running, doing intervals and more speed work vs distance for now as long as I am diligent about stretching. No multi-tasking on that, doing a yoga move for one leg while ostensibly stretching the other ;0 I am thankful to have my body back! And I think I will call my old friend at UVA just to make sure she knows how important she is to many people 🙂 

“Where’s Gwamma? Where’s Daddy?”

Lounging the Saturday away after we bid aloha to Gramma.

Lounging the Saturday away after we bid aloha to Gramma.

Ben is mystified by the comings and goings around here – Daddy in NH, then MA, Gramma heading to California two weeks after Richard headed back… So he keeps asking “Where’s Gramma?” Like probably 20 times this afternoon. He is down to once a day for “Where’s Daddy?” – speaking of whom, poor Daddy caught a nasty stomach bug and had to delay his homecoming by a day. I offered to extend his rental car reservation. What a fiasco that turned into – 47 minutes and 4 calls later someone was willing to do it. It was like they’d never experienced a wife offering to do that for her husband. I feel bad for him – he wanted to do only two things in Boston while he was in the area – came super close to one (see the Constitution) and missed the other (Sam Adams).  At least he got to see two of three brothers and his sister’s family. Mahalo McGees for housing him and his Northeast pestilence! 🙂 Dan, Tim and Steve – if you’re reading this – the boys and I were talking about each of you and how much fun you are (shout-outs to “sitting swimmer”, Ben’s fave uncle, and our firstborn’s mountain-biking Godfather!). Tito Pig and Tita Bear – we sure miss you guys but we are so thankful for all the visits we’ve had in this past year.

Pedaling through plumerias

A bike/run through the Koko Crater botanical garden, with plumerias in peak bloom.

A bike/run through the Koko Crater botanical garden, with plumerias in peak bloom.

Every night I ask the boys what they’re thankful for as we say prayers. Ben always says “Gwamma” (except for one night when he said “Dante” – a boy we met briefly while swimming two weeks ago). Tonight Sam said “For making me go up the big hills on my bike.” We both struggled a bit on our bike/trail run today because there was more of an incline than I remember and it was very rocky. Ben was bouncing all over in his off-road BOB stroller ;0 and Sam would pedal hard then get off and push. But as we puffed and pedaled, we noticed lots of cacti, some of them in bloom, and plenty of birds chirping. We had a good time out there, learning persistence. We also had a chance to talk about studying hills before speeding down them on the bike. So we’d stop at the top of a hill, look it over, pick a good path down then head off. Sam really handled some tricky stuff well, like when your front wheel jumps around as it skids on rocks. Those of us who have done some single-track know that if you stay relaxed and trust you’ll stay upright, you generally do. It’s when you panic and tense up that you manage to run into exactly the thing you were hoping to avoid! (Jenni I’m thinking about your recent race and would love to hear more of your stories!) So in talking over how to stay relaxed, I mentioned Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone” to Sam – he has heard the song, and I think understood the metaphor. You just pretend you’re rolling down the hill like a big stone, bumping around a bit on the way but heading down just fine. It’s an odd sense of sharing control with gravity – you’re really not in 100% control at all but the trick is to keep from tensing up. Tough to do. So on some of the hills that looked really big at the start, we walked part way then he got on. When we rounded the last curve, Sam said to me “When you’re on the hill it doesn’t look as big and high as it does when you’re at the top.” Good observation, buddy. You will do well in life with an attitude like that, knowing that you will get through it and it won’t be as daunting once you’ve committed yourself to completion. Love you boys!

Cutest little gobie guy!

The boys, Gramma and I went snorkeling today. The big hit wasn't the unicorn fish that we tailed while getting a bit tossed onto sharp rocks - it was the little gobie who stayed put in his puka so we could really check him out. He smiled at us as he poked his head out. He's the size of your thumb.

The boys, Gramma and I went snorkeling today. The big hit wasn't the unicorn fish that we tailed while getting a bit tossed onto sharp rocks - it was the little gobie who stayed put in his puka so we could really check him out. He smiled at us as he poked his head out. He's the size of your thumb.

I get so excited and jittery when it’s snorkel-time. I love it! I wonder who we’ll see when underwater, and I’m so blessed to have a snorkel buddy in Sam. We holler through our snorkels at each other while tailing fish – “-am! -am! O-er -ere! U-ico-n -ish!” I cut my finger pretty good steering Sam in a 180 against the current trying to tail this 3′ guy – used a diaper for 45 min to staunch the bleeding (I didn’t know it was so bad until I got out of the water and it was dripping all over my leg!). No wonder we saw so many big fish! ha ha! Mom really enjoyed her time out there as well and got some good pictures despite water leaking into her waterproof camera. Then shrimp truck for lunch and home for a good nap for Ben and Lego-building for Sam (he finished a 3-piece Star Wars set he’s been working on for four days) before moving on to lizard-catching. I think he has Jack and Nowa in there now – his names and spelling. Enjoy the pictures, and a movie of snorkeling! (Scroll down to bottom for snorkeling, after all the other May pictures I just posted.) Meanwhile…I just told Dave he’s safe in NH, for now. The closest space-a flight is to New Orleans. ;0

“Gwamma? Can you hold my phone? I have to go see da guys in da band.”

Well, I've had my fill of preciousness for the day. Here's my contribution for precious pictures of children on Mother's Day ;0

Well, I've had my fill of preciousness for the day. Here's my contribution for precious pictures of children on Mother's Day ;0

(Quote by Ben, as he was getting out of the truck tonight, hat in hand and cute coordinated outfit on, ready to go see our friends in the band.) I am lucky to be spending Mother’s Day with my mom, the coolest mom on the planet! So today I finished sanding and staining the deck, a surprise for Dave when he gets back from a business trip. We are pretty sure this is our last 12 months here, so we’re making sure our to-do list is short when the time comes to sell. Plus, we want to enjoy the house looking its best just as long as we can before handing over the keys. Mom and I filled two green waste bins to capacity yesterday with trimming (that word makes Dave nervous, especially since my mom and her sister like to “trim” with a Saws-All…the rest of this story is classified for now, but you might just hazard a guess as to what my Mother’s Day present was from my mommy… Tonight we went to dinner and to watch Hawaiian music legends play. The boys are always great and love the music so much, but there comes a point when Ben gets a little antsy. I can still feel him writhing in my arms as his slippers go flying off both his feet in a nice arc through the air – luckily we were just outside the dining area at the time! Sam got up and jammed on his uke and also did a really compelling drum set with chopsticks (see video here – it’s 72MB but well worth your time waiting for it to buffer). We tried in vain to get a cute picture of the four of us out to dinner and gave up after our third try. (Have you seen all those cute pics of your friends with their kids in a wagon, or gazing at each other in a field of flowers? Yes. I wanted a cute picture, too, but they weren’t able to be within feet of each other nor still long enough today!). Oh – the best part of dinner was the dessert table. Yes, the notion of a dessert table was enough to make Sam’s head spin. “Mom, like please, just please can we have some more?” It was like managing a natural disaster as Ben shoved fistfuls of brownie into his maw and Sam plotted his attack on the table unaccompanied. I gave him instructions to not touch every one, but to carefully observe as his hand hovered over the table, choose one, put it on a napkin and bring it back. Sweet guy followed instructions (I wish I had a high-tech communications gear like in a command center where I could see what he was doing and speak to him Secret-Service like right into his ear “Don’t touch until you decide!”) He came back from his second forary almost in tears- “Mom, they are out of … (gulp)… banana bread!” Another memorable evening with my whirlwind friends in whom I really do try to instill some manners :0 Happy Mother’s Day to all of you who were wrangling your herd today!

playing hookey, island style + company coming!

Half of Team Krug, just in from a snorkel expedition.

Half of Team Krug, just in from a snorkel expedition.

Dave took today off to play with us since he’ll be in undisclosed locations over the next three weeks. He went out to get a latte for us this morning, then went to work for a couple hours to tie up loose ends, then home for beach time with us, hot dogs, beans and Cheetos for lunch (Sam says that’s a “camping lunch”) and now BBC’s Wild Pacific with Sam while Ben reluctantly naps. Pretty cool to see island life on these incredible documentaries. Just saw Easter island and the famous relic statues. While we’ll be missing Dave as he travels to NH then Guam, I’m glad he’ll get to see some of his family and we’ll get to have visitors from my family! Cousin Mike and his wife Mary will be coming for a couple weeks! We are so excited. We’ve been planning fun things for them to do should they need some adventure along with relaxation time. Sam wonders how many laps across his monkey bars Mike the Marine can do. He thinks 7 laps. Wow. Mike, you up for this? We can’t wait to see you guys – I’m already scanning the flight lists to see when they start populating info for your leave time 🙂

Fun run with my coaches

Ben during morning romping time. He spent several minutes admiring his hat and how exactly he wanted to wear it this morning. Wanted to capture this time with his hat infatuation because it may not last.

Ben during morning romping time. He spent several minutes admiring his hat and how exactly he wanted to wear it this morning. Wanted to capture this time with his hat infatuation because it may not last.

Ben is now in a big boy bed, as of Sat. He had climbed out of his crib twice, WITH a sleep sack on, appearing at his door in his little sack, baseball cap in hand ready for his day 🙂 He was so cute we hated to end his crib days, but it was time. So he’s in Sam’s toddler bed and adjusted well. The usual tricks getting up but for the most part very well behaved about it. This morning we romped around for a bit, after making yet another round of calls about hopefully the last cooling-related appliance failing (another air conditioner, on top of the fridge, the boys’ A/C and the truck’s A/C). Then we jogged the Lanikai Loop and matched a PR I set in Jan 2009 (wooo hooo!). Then, hit the playground for an hour, and finally off to the commissary, then home and work. Happy Monday!

5K PR – before kids

Just so I don’t have to dig for it…and so Dave doesn’t doubt me 🙂 I’m going for a record next year, see if I can beat myself 10 yrs later. Right now I do a 5K time trial about once a week pushing Ben – around 8′ splits.  

5K  June 2001 21:51, Glens Falls, NY

Fonduta bellies and a double meltdown to go

Out for an after-dinner romp, this was taken moments before Sam did a faceplant and got holes in his palms!

Out for an after-dinner romp, this was taken moments before Sam did a faceplant and got holes in his palms!

Today I spent a couple hours getting two websites polished up for a friend who owns (and loves to open!) restaurants here on the island (www.sakestreet.com and www.formaggio808.com). To celebrate going live with both, we went out to dinner at one of the restaurants (Formaggio Grill in Kailua) with the boys. Sam picked out my dress – he was so cute looking in my closet and asking “Is that your casual side of the closet?” pointing to my shirts. He then picked out the polka-dot dress above that I haven’t worn in about 5 years. Ben screamed when I put a dress-up shirt on him – lately he has reacted violently any time you even hint at messing with his shirt, even if it’s filthy and it’s time for bath. Strange dude. But we finally got him dressed in a nice aloha shirt and all out to dinner. Sam enjoyed his dinner very much – “I really chowed down on Dad’s red pasta. I liked Formaggio Castle – everyone all crowded there feasting at the long tables.” It was so fun seeing it through his eyes – indeed it would seem like a castle with the tall ceilings, low light, and long tables of feasting! The food was delicious, I had my barnyard and underbrush wine again (love!) and we felt like a walk after dinner. For our boys, though, they don’t walk. They run. Often things go well, but tonight while Dave was snapping this picture of us all jogging Sam went down inexplicably hard and poked pretty good flaps in his skin. While he was screeching Dave tried to round Ben up for the truck, but Ben wanted to keep running (Dave was fearing a second face-plant) so he started screaming, too! With a Dave-mai tai in me followed by the wine and lobster mac and cheese, I was in good shape to handle all these ruffled feathers. Dave literally thew his arms up in the air in astonishment at the double meltdown happening on either side of him in the middle of the marsh trail with all the nice folks out for a walk/ride, several families rescuing a fish from the middle of the canal with a rake and many other poles duct-taped together, and a wedding on the other side of the canal. It was all so incongruous but very funny in retrospect!

Miss Dana left the boys such a nice note and MONEY for taking care of her doggies while she was away! The boys really did take good care of the doggies, each hand-feeding the dogs little bits of food so they would eat otherwise they’d be too lonely and depressed. She totally overpaid – money for both boys – and Sam did the honors of dividing up the money. Out of $10, he gave Ben $4, then gave $2 to the kids in Pakistan (Pennies for Peace fund on his shelf) and saved $4 for his truck fund. Thank you, Dana! Then tonight during prayers Sam said he was thankful for the holes in his hands because he has a strong body. Ben then said he was ready for his big-boy bed (he just moved into Sam’s old toddler bed yesterday). That’s a wrap from Kailua…hope you all had a good day!