There are so many privileges to being a dependent of an active duty service member. One such we enjoyed today – a tour of the USS Arizona from the Admiral’s barge. The tour began at the boathouse and a little museum inside with very good maps of the attack on Pearl Harbor.

He (or she) makes his own bed and sleeps for two weeks!

Last night we enjoyed trimming the tree with mom and Richard – Dave made a great spiked egg nog (yum!). How is it that when you’re a kid, the advent season seems to last a nice, long time, but as an adult it blows by so quickly?

We’re really enjoying doing more kayaking now that Sam is older and can be trusted to sit up front on his own and sometimes even paddle. Today we went to Chinaman’s Hat (Mokoli’i), which has been on my “list” for a long time. Mom hung out with Ben in the little tent while we scooted out, then I came back with her kayak so she could meet up with Dave and Sam out at the little beach. Here is a shot from the top. Very very tricky. Would not recommend taking a child up there. Nice view from 206′ feet up. Thanks for the family adventure, Dave, despite having a ton of school work to do! Love you!!!!

This is the best surf report I’ve heard – wave faces, swell direction, wind speed, even sunrise and sunset. And it’s got a good dose of aloha spirit…take a listen if you’re stuck in traffic with your bluetooth thingy in your ear 🙂 Tim – you’d especially enjoy it I think. My brother dialed in every day while he was here. Miss you, still, Doug!

I just came across this picture as I sifted through the 485 pictures of our fantastic week together. I thought of you all day and knew precisely when you landed in LA, ready to shift into high gear again with client meetings and deal brokerings (a word?).

Sam and Ben got COVERED with sand this morning while watching Tito Pig (Uncle Doug) surf. I learned a few more things, but only had a few minutes out on the board before Dave arrived and jumped on. He was taking a break from painting the bathroom, so I was happy to see him out there for a bit. Tomorrow we plan to kayak surf 🙂

We spent the day at the beach on Friday (I think!) – surfing, paddle surfing, chillin’… had a great time! Dave arrived late in the day after continuing to work on the bathroom. He served us some beach mai tais and then headed out to SUP (stand-up paddle) as well. He did great riding the swells. Doug and I are totally addicted to paddle surfing…that big board really grabs the waves as they come in! The trick is staying on the board, and staying UP! Love it! Above Doug and Mary are playing peek-a-boo with Ben who had just gotten up from a nice nap in the tent. Sam enjoyed romping in the waves, then doing some coconut surfing…line up coconuts and try to step across them or just balance on one foot. Something for everyone at the beach!

 Mary is up on her first try! 

I’m up on my first try, too! The best wave of the day…

And here’s Dave and Doug in the background. Dave did phenomenally – he got up on his own without the instructor helping with a push from behind (to get the board going). We had so much fun! And the boys (little ones, that is) had a good time sleeping (or pretending to!) in the beach tent on the grass behind the surf shack. Thanks again mom and Richard!

Here is Father House baptizing Ben on Sunday! Doug and Mary are his Godparents. We all went to brunch afterwards at the O Club, then gathered up supplies for the big bonfire – opening ceremonies for the holidays and to celebrate Doug and Mary’s arrival.

You are 6 months old now! You are almost a little boy and time is flying faster than I could have imagined. Look at your little abs in this picture. And your serious little face. And those heart-shaped lips! We were having a pirate day. You enjoyed getting dressed up just like Sam, and were even saying AAARGH! I chose this picture because your Aunt Mary (your Godmother!) loved it and sent it to all your East-coast fans.

You remember my baby shower that Angel planned and hosted? Complete with kayak races and prizes? It was so much fun that when our friend April found out she was pregnant with twins (babies 8 and 9!) she wanted a crazy shower, too! So Angel recruited some more friends and this was the result…in her own words in an email to her mom:

Mom,

Last night before April’s shower I went to Muumuu Heaven for an art show.

Jocelyn is a photographer and was showing her work. Beautiful photos of Hawaiian nature, close up and colorful.

The owner of Muumuu Heaven takes old thrift shop clothes and re-makes them into cute strappy sundresses… and sells them for $100 each.

Princess Liz, Annie, Dawn were there. A new friend, Liisa. I chatted with Jorge and Beth for a while, too. (Hurley)

Then we went to April’s baby shower.

The shower was fun! We were in this gorgeous house. we were sitting around eating our catered pupus and drinking memosas, chatting like ladies.

Then around 6:45 April decided to make her grand entrance. [We had all been wondering where she was!]

All the lights went out and a strobe light in the hug stairwell started. Loud music was pumping and April appeared by the rail three levels up.

She was wearing a slinky maternity dress and started dancing and strutting down the staircase. We were all whistling and clapping and whooting! ha! After that entrance, the party got crazy.

Allison Krug and I helped with the games. Alli is so lovely and goregous, she just doesn’t know it.

We had the poopy diaper toss. When Alli tasted the poop everyone went wild! The prize was a toilet seat. ha!

There was the don’t break the water race (water baloon between knees) and a watermelon race.

One relay our team members had to wear a house coat (like the kind you like), a shower cap, carry a grocery bag with daipers and champagne, two babies, a cell phone, and a mocha latte. they had to run across the yard and undress and re-dress the other team mate and do it all over again.

It was fun!

 It ended with a prettiest baby contest.

Everyone made baby faces on paperplates with glued on google eyes and gems and feathers. Then Princess Liz presented a banner and tiera for the winner. and the top three got barbies.

April had us all take a trivia about her. It was so funny!

One question was something like: All April’s children were fathered by Jeff. Ture or false. ha!

For the bonus question we had to match the names of her children with their ages. She has seven, six are boys! That was hard! These twins she is carrying are girls.

for names….Maybe Scarlet and Violet…..Jeff has to warm up to the names.

A very pretty blond lady was there, playing the games, drinking wine, laughing…then April called her MOM and everyone was shocked! She flipped her hair and smiled and said, “Yea, I’m April’s mom.” with a giggle.

April said, “We have a family tradition where you have to have a baby when you turn 18.”

April is 37, so her mom is 55? She these twins will be her 10th and 11th grandkids!

April got a designer daiperbag. she said it is her first daiper bag. she usually just throws a daiper in the car.

She got some daiper changing pads and other things she had no idea what they were….it was too funny. Babies #8 and #9 and she doesn’t bother with all those things…

OK, so right when everyone was sobering up enough to drive home, Annie, with her cute Scottish accent, says this is the first real shower she has ever attended, she has only seen them on TV. hee hee

It was fun!

It’s extreme bathroom remodel, holiday edition at Kamp Krug. Our master bath was always a pit – the previous owners painted and put some trim up to disguise the ridiculous toilet and shower. They really were master stagers. They made $250K on the house (doubled their investment in about 5 yrs) and didn’t do much more than paint to sell to us. We’re paying the price. Last holiday we remodeled the kitchen before Ben arrived. This year we’re remodeling the bathroom – the last big dig – before family arrives for the holidays. We didn’t plan to do it this soon, but the drain clogged and the right guys came along with a hole in their schedule…so away we go! From zero to zoom within 12 hrs! Dave sourced everything in about 5 hours of running around yesterday. I gave him my vision – spacious and spa-like on a budget – and he ran with it beautifully. But the real hero is my mom…the boys are napping at her place as I (try to) focus on my work while project managing the bathroom, sourcing turkeys for Thanksgiving at the beac with an unknown number of attendees (20-30? am I the turkey here?!), bonfires, a machete for carving up sticks to do coconut cracking, buying watermelons for a crazy baby shower game tomorrow night…whew! My head is seriously spinning.  

Thank you, mom, for being my lifeline this week! You can spoil them a wee bit today if you like! Lots of love…me

Picture Sam, freshly bathed, romping around in the bedroom squawking and hollering as Dave tries to wrangle him into his jammies and Ben is looking on in shock and awe. Dave and I had tears in our eyes laughing so hard!

 

We love the holiday season as a time to celebrate friendship and family. And of course it’s a good excuse to have parties and BONFIRES! I thought I should take a second to post two parties coming up.