We’re having a great visit – starting out with dinner at Lucy’s then the morning at the tide pools today. Sammy applied a nice layer of sandblock 🙂

After working in the yard this afternoon, we enjoyed a wonderful bbq at our friend Wes and Vicki’s home. It was interesting meeting their friends and sharing some excellent wine and Kobe burgers! Sam had a great time with everyone and particularly enjoyed this nice hat 🙂 mahalo nui! Dad and Marilou arrived tonight after 22 hrs of traveling from NJ. We’re looking forward to doing our lei greeting tomorrow and showing them the island. It’s always rough getting in at night after so much flying…no visual payoff! We thought of our friends and family near and far today and hope you had a great time celebrating. Aloha!

Another great Friday evening at the tide pools 🙂 Dana and Schnookie (her little doggie) joined us for swimming and pizza. Sammy played until he was as blue as his wetsuit, but stopped long enough to enjoy his new favorite dessert – carrot cake! Dana actually brought some on her bike for us 🙂

Dave surprised me on Saturday by telling me he took Monday off – so we took off early on a family adventure! We explored a remote beach at the North Shore – one that is accessed by a 1.25 mi drive on a very eroded dirt road – 4WD only. The gulches were so big the Xterra almost disappeared in them. Dave did a great job navigating. Let’s just say I’m not eager to drive out there again. Perhaps in an old beater Jeep. Sammy did great and enjoyed talking about how we were all bobble-itos bouncing around in the truck (a reference to a favorite book – Skippy Jon Jones in the Doghouse). Our bobbling heads are a bit stiff from all the bouncing, actually. Gail and Bill would really like the shells here, and some sea glass, too. We snorkeled a bit then took off for Shark’s Cove to check out the snorkeling there. It was really unreal. I would say it is better than Hanauma Bay. I took a lot of video underwater while Sam played in the tide pools. Then we switched off and Dave had a great time checking out all the fish. He even saw one with a really long nose – not sure of the name now, but we pored over books last night and named most of the ones we spotted. The picture above is a parrotfish, I think. It’s huge! We also saw a goatfish and a Christmas wrasse. I will post pictures later today. The video is too big to post. If you request a DVD, I’ll send it to you 🙂 I’m sure my new friend Dana can correct me if I get any of the names wrong 🙂 The snorkeling was really awesome. We had such a good time! Thanks for a great weekend, Dave 🙂 (He subscribes to my blog feed 😉 )

On Saturday we enjoyed our local tide pools with friends Brendan, Leo and daughters Bridget and Greta. Auntie Angel and Sheena came to see us, too! The next day we went to the zoo and Sammy enjoyed seeing real elephants, hippos, and especially zebras. He took home a baby zebra from the zoo store and fed it grass from a little bowl and insisted that baby zebra eat at the table, not out in the garden. Nice weekend – an extra day leaves a lot of room for adventure. We hope to do that more often 🙂

Introducing Dana – my new friend who brought over home-made carrot cake for my birthday! We went for a walk last week with her doggie and Sammy. We learned we both had birthdays within a week and that we both love carrot cake. Lucky for me Dana enjoys baking! She brought over a wonderful cake last night and Dave made us mai tais 🙂 My dear friend Angel came by, too, with a very mysterious present. I totally loved the card – “to the crazy redheaded haole settler lady” then inside a shoe box was a glue gun and various crafty items. I can’t wait for what she has in mind. I have long believed that owning a glue gun is the root of all mischief. Now I am the proud owner of one! (Turns out Dana owns TWO herself! Hmmmm! Have I found another good co-conspirator?) Dana and I decided next year we’re throwing an adults-only bouncy house party replete with various beverages on “drip” – hanging in camelback reservoirs from the ceiling. Every time you fall on your butt you take a drink. Sound good? As much as we like to say birthdays don’t matter at our age…they do. When the day actually comes I want to be the center of attention, even if for only a few minutes. And I still want cake. The corner piece, too. Yes, this is embarrassing to admit. But I’m finally able to own up to it. So plan on joining us this time next year for some good times 🙂 ha ha!  Dave bought me several really great little treats – a new watch (since I manage to flood or lose them), a DVD of Bruce Springsteen’s Sessions Band in concert, and some Rostropovich tribute works. A nice card, too. Sammy finished the evening off by giving me many many kisses saying “I give mommy nice smootches!” accompanied by little arms wrapped around my neck. I was in love. Completely in love with my little buddy.  A great day.

We had a great weekend regrouping as a family. It’s really been a busy bunch of weeks, winding up with the grand finale last week. We went for a hike up the Lanikai Pillbox trail. Sammy hiked up on his own again – he really impressed Dave! That’s quite a trek for a 2.5 yr old. I know his nana will be happy to picture that since she’s done it, too! That night we went out with friends to Formaggio Wine Bar. We got a chance to see the owner, Wes, as well. Always nice to catch up with him. The food was outstanding, and a wine called Kangarilla was awesome. One of the most unique reds I’ve had in a while. This was my Father’s Day treat to Dave. Plus occupying Sam so he could watch a few hours of the US Open unmolested. I think he even dozed a bit. The picture to the top right is the two boys enjoying a sandwich together and watching the game. I dug a little hole in the yard in the back and sunk a small plastic flower pot so Sammy could have a little putting green. Well – it’s far from a putting green but if you can deal with the lumps of crabgrass and bare patches of dirt, then you’ve got a good game on 🙂

Happy Father’s Day to all of you great dads out there!

summer is here and it’s shedding season. caffrey is starting to shed like a wildebeast, and not just hair either. this is gross…so click on “more” if you want more…otherwise just know i am doing fine, and should surface this weekend from all the work i’ve been doing the last couple weeks.

My friend Rebecca sent this to me – totally made me smile! I am working on a big project related to online patient education. Much of the material is on this topic. I had to laugh when I read the tag-line – you can’t just try alli, you have to commit to it! ha ha! Thanks for brightening my day, Becca!!! 🙂

We’ve been working hard in our backyard, finishing the landscaping. After doing some power weeding last weekend to dig up crab grass, I was sore for a week. Somehow that worked my hamstrings more than the longest hike carrying Sam! Dave dug up the bed for plants along the back side of the garden, and we are extending the bed around the deck and side of the house. We moved a gardenia which is finally blooming, and are starting to plant an herb garden. Sammy is very excited about his little patch. Yesterday we worked for about an hour digging up 12 square feet of gravel which the previous owners had filled in the foot-deep patch. Underneath, thankfully, was sandy soil. Sammy was a big help with the digging. He filled up a bucket with his little shovel then dumped it out in Caffrey’s run and smoothed it out. We got very messy, but it’s done!  So after moving all this dirt yesterday, we rewarded ourselves with a trip to the nursery this afternoon, where “baby plants live.” He picked out the plants – “oh! I want DIS one! with OWANGE FOWAHS!” Here he is watering them in their containers this evening, and taking a shot at mommy! More pictures will be posted this weekend after we make more progress. (Dave’s section of the garden, and actually the entire rest of the beds, are relatively planned, organized, neat and beautiful. This section for me and Sammy is a delight – it suits us because it’s very random 🙂

This is where Sammy and I volunteer with NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Assoc.) to protect the green sea turtles who bask on the beach at the North Shore. Pretty amazing to see a monk seal about to pup at the same beach, next to Brutus the turtle! Apparently there are only about 20 monk seals around the entire island. Have a great holiday weekend, friends and family!