"Jump-off tree" never fails to provide excitement and drama!

We had a great time hiking with Tamara and her boys today. We also had a special guest with us, a lady named Pam who is a writer and is doing a story about hiking with kids for a parents’ magazine oriented to Hawaii. We were excited to share our fun with her, and she fell right into the swing of things from the outset with the perfect cargo hiking pants, a hiking pole, snacks, water, pack, everything. She was READY! The boys were quite loud in the truck (four boys in Tam’s Suburban since we shipped our truck already) so I came up with the idea that they could maybe save up all their noise for when we got to the parking lot at the trail head and do a real Appalachian field holler. Well…they did, and it was LOUD! I told them they had 5 whole seconds of holler and they made good use of that. I have to look up what a field holler really sounds like so I can be more educated next time I introduce the concept, but the boys really needed no introduction. They did their thing! What a fun group and a great morning. We wrapped up the evening with a high-tide snorkel on base where Dave spotted a huge eel while snorkeling with Sam. Ben and I got to see its big head sticking out a bit later. And yesterday – you will NOT believe this – but I got to see a 5 ft SHARK just offshore in 3′ of water right where the boys had been swimming 5 min previously! YOWZER! But exhilarating to see it glide on by. Whew! Happy Fourth to everyone!

Ben doing some watercolor with me on the beach while Sam swims. Like our little coconut water tray?

I was a little bummed about my 40th today because I usually have some grand plans – a couple years ago I lined up 5 days of adventures with friends, different ones each day from paddling to horseback riding. But this year, on the BIG ONE, I was so busy with work and selling/buying a house all in the same week that I just did not have time to get my head above water to plan anything at all. Even a simple glass of wine with my longtime friend Angel became out of reach by 4pm. Turns out she didn’t get my voicemail and was at the agreed-upon restaurant anyway, so thankfully I had showered and was able to hitch a ride with mom and the boys to meet up with her after all! Angel gave me a huge, bright, feathery boa thing and a hat to wear. We had a great time catching and were then joined by April and her husband. I decided to walk home and try to catch up with the boys before bed, then that turned into a jog. It’s just transportation, really, and if you go fast enough you don’t sweat. The wind cools you right off. When I got to the intersection where I choose between running down Kihapai or Oneawa, the choice was clear. If I was going to run home with a bright boa flying behind me in the wind, it would definitely be Kihapai. I was so fantastical looking that even the dogs forgot to bark (the ones which normally scare the bjeebers out of the kids and I when we jog by in daylight hours). They literally just stared, quietly. Then when I was well past them they started yapping with their buddies across the street – like, “Dude! What was that?!” I didn’t know I’d be having an event to remember tonight but as it turned out seeing the boys’ faces when I blew threw their bedroom door just in time to tuck them in with that wild boa around me and sweat dripping off my face – well, that was a great present. And…Sam taught me a very special trick. I am glad to learn something new with each birthday. That is a wonderful tradition. Mom – thanks for my very special “jingly” present – I will always treasure it! And love to my hubby who also purchased the family a very special gift…Aloha to all and to all a good night.

Here is a glimpse of what we’ve been up to with our summer days of leisure. I love having BOTH boys with me!

Having fun on a run down the beach with Sam on his bike. We got completely covered in sand by running through the surf! Then to Kalapawai to meet up with Gramma.

Sam’s last day was yesterday, and we were all pretty excited about summer starting! I was even wound up when I was tucking them in – I couldn’t stop tickling them, and gulping down their giggles. When I closed the door, instead of battling them over the sillies with constant reminders to quiet down, I decided to tell them they could chat for 3 minutes. Turns out they were too tired to chat, but they seemed to like the opportunity! It was quiet within seconds. Today we went on a big hike – Sam’s preference – up a trail that offers so many trail conditions along the way with a tremendous view reward at the top. I was a bit tense because they were running wild and in several places there are ledges and edges to be concerned about. Nothing crazy but I am very very cautious on the trail. With boys this size, things happen quickly. In the picture below, we were all having fun on a part of the trail that seems to wipe your feet right out from under you with “ball bearing” tiny pine cones! Gramma didn’t go down this time, but we were waiting for her to reward us with another funny episode! Click on picture for more from the trail.

So happy to be out on the trail with my guys - both of them!

Sometimes (all of the time) Dave doesn’t like to talk about work. He just doesn’t come home chatty. That’s probably why he passed the submarine nuke psych profile. It’s all classified anyway so there’s really no reason for me to be all inquiring. But there are times when extenuating circumstances merit a bit more sharing, I think. Like going to Japan after the earthquake/tsunami for three weeks. He did a little Q&A before he left, so that was nice. Got more detail on radiation control and different kinds of radioactivity. Yesterday afternoon he went into work for what he thought would be a couple hours. He didn’t get home until after 3am. Sooo, nice wife, I take care of the kids this morning, keeping two boys quiet in a small house is no small feat. Then took them to mass, then to snacks at Starbucks (and coffee for me!) then to get Dave some nice scones for breakfast, then to a craft store for clay and watercolors. The boys and I always have fun together, which I know is a little nuts to enjoy being alone with them, but somehow their insanity seems funnier to me if I’m by myself.

But tonight I was still a little curious. So I asked him what had taken so long. This had happened another time recently – some kind of very involved “evolution” had been going on. He doesn’t want to waste scarce seconds of quiet time communicating anything about work so I came up with a solution – I invented objects and he told me a little bit about them. So I said something like “Ok, so there is a bird feeder that you need to move?” Yes. “But a bird feeder that requires a crane to move it?” Yes. Apparently the bird feeder was housed like Russian dolls in other very big boxes to contain the bad stuff. So it required a crane. Well, that worked once. I could at least picture a bird feeder needing to be moved. So tonight I’m standing in the hallway trying to figure out what took 10 hours more than planned. So after an earlier false start I gathered up courage and asked “So, you were in a barn waiting for a skunk to come to a meeting?” Uh, yeah. But the skunk never showed. “The skunk never showed?” Yeah. (silence for a second or two) Then I said, “That stinks!”  And I started just CRACKING up, realizing the pun. See – I still have no idea what was going on, but at least  I can visualize Dave standing in a red barn at night waiting for a skunk to arrive. It’s something at least, right?

May pictures are now in the album!!!

One of our longtime Kailua friends - Harrison - picking up recyclables the day before the City/County pickup so he gets the good stuff on max volume day. He works so hard, riding around Kailua on his bike in this same "uniform" which he wears every day.

It has been a full court press to get the house ready for showing on Friday. I know you can imagine if you’ve ever seen our garage (mom – no laughing!). So as we cleaned stuff out I would put a post on Craigslist saying “free shelves, 7 folding chairs, etc.” and literally within minutes a pickup truck would pull up asking about the items, saying “you the ad on Craigslist?” I met the nicest people. Herb, a former shipyard worker who is now retired, grabbed 7 wooden folding chairs and hung out to talk story for a bit. I asked what kind of life the chairs would be having with him and he said they were to host family and friends around his imu, which he had going that day. I said “Oh great! Can I come?” and he replied “Sure!” What a nice guy. Dave had his doubts about how much I’d help him because every few minutes I’d run in to go to the bathroom, or talk story to someone else. I had my reasons though… One of the funniest memories of the day was when a girl came flying by on her bike, eyeballed the stuff and was like “Ah! Cool! You getting rid of this stuff?” She had a dog in her backpack and wheeled around to take a look. Turns out she was very interested in all the flea control stuff I was giving away because she lives in an apartment where the owner has a cat with fleas and she’s getting bitten all the time. So I boxed up the stuff and took it to her today. The next day (yesterday) I bumped into her on the beach, too. Such a small town really. So funny. She’s from southern Russia and has the same mentality as I do about things – no need to dress nicely, friendly to everyone, easy laugh. She was great. So happy she now has tons of flea control stuff! Hopefully she is resting easier tonight. We went to dinner and on our way back we saw the silhoutted forms of people walking down the street, one with a huge set of shelves for a head and the other with a wheelbarrow and shelves on top. We had about 7 huge black pressboard shelves find new homes literally within 50 yards of us. Dave thought I was nuts putting all this stuff out for giveaway but it was gone in 2 hours. I don’t believe in garage sales here – I just put stuff out and talk story with all the nice people I meet. Great way to get to know your neighbors.

All that said, I am continuing to have a really hard time leaving here. It is an understatement to say that being Hawaiian is a state of mind, a state of being. I realized today that although I am a haole (white) girl, I am Hawaiian under this fair skin. There is an openness, goodwill, kindness of spirit, generosity that is just how people are here for the most part. Many of the mainland imports bring their mainland selves, but it is easy to find kindred spirits among those who embody the aloha spirit in their everyday lives (i.e., not when they’re trying or on stage, but truly in how they go about living). Above pictured is Harrison. He has been a fixture in our lives for 5 years and gave me one of the biggest bear hugs today. He will miss us as we will miss him. He has been a model for our boys about hard work.

Dave wants to know if I’m telling an embarrassing story about myself. Well, I guess if I don’t he will do his first guest blog post. He seems to want you to know what ridiculousness brought me an urgent trip to the dentist last week. I saw a tooth turning grey. Then my dear friend who shall remain nameless (T!) researched it for me and concluded it is possibly a root canal waiting to happen. Great. That’s what I need to schedule right now. I am so slammed with moving stuff, listing house, searching for new home, work (yes work continues through all this as if I had nothing else going on)…so anyway off to the dentist I go. It was a crazy day anyway with going to May Day at Sam’s school, running home to meet up with an electrician, then racing back to dentist. After tapping and probing, my dentist (who knows me well and what a nut I can be) said “well, I am not sure what to tell you, I don’t think you’ll believe me…” and toyed with me for a bit. Finally he said it was a filling that you could see from the side! I had a filling there and didn’t know it! After tearing up from laughing so hard I told him that I guess for all the good work he does filling my teeth, I try not to pay any attention to what is going on in my mouth. Like taking the truck to the mechanic – just fix it, pay for it, and hope for the best. Try to forget what you just paid $1200 for. Try to pretend it never happened. I’m that way in the dentist chair – mouth agape, numb, trying not to feel anything or think about what is going on. When he’s done, I close up my mouth and move on. Some people I guess spend more time looking in the mirror. But I don’t much like what I see because I’m funny looking from head on. I look like humuhumunukunukuapua’a (the trigger fish that is Hawaii’s state fish). I have a long narrow face, and increasingly bucky teeth. He is a super cute fish, but not so cute close up or head on. I hope Dave keeps an eye on me from the 3/4 angle because that one is not half bad. But only from the right side – that left side has the slightly visible filling.

Thanks for reading and sharing the zaniness of the last week with me tonight. I’ve enjoyed writing to you and connecting with you. Love and aloha to all family and friends near and far. Know that we are thinking of you.