Home again, home again, jiggity jig

We have been home now for two weeks and I haven't blogged yet. Maybe I need to be on vacation to have a successful blog. We went through the usual vacation withdrawls, not wanting to cook, do laundry or any other dreary daily task for a while. Life was a little crazy the week we got back. It was the last week of the term and the kids (ok, David didn't have to sweat it) had too much left over that they didn't get done while in Hawaii, plus the usual oops-I-didn't-hand-that-in-yet-stuff, oh, and a choir concert, scout campout and the History Fair, whew. I have recovered and other than the weather flip-flopping from summer to winter and back again constantly, life is back to normal. Caroline got her hair cut last week as you can see. It is so cute. Michael just asked a girl to prom and is waiting for her answer. He borrowed the idea from my niece Tara and had the girl served with a fake court (prom) summons.

I had a fun day last week! All 8 members of my book club went to Midway to a cabin and spent the night, ate too much, stayed up too late talking, discussed our latest book, and went shopping. The picture is missing two people because they had to return early and we forgot to take the picture before they left. sorry ladies. We stayed at Stephanie's family cabin and one of her aunts lives across the street. Good thing, because the oven was broken in her cabin, so we had to send the breakfast coffee cake to her house to cook. Afterwards, we went to visit and see the fun projects she has going in her basement. Stephanie describes her aunt as Lucille Ball and Phyllis Dillar in one. She is a hoot! Anyway, her whole basement is full of quilting and yarn projects. She is into felting and is part owner of a little shop in Midway to sell her stuff. She invited us to make a pin cushion (one of the projects du jour) to take home. You can see the picture of mine. It was so wonderful to learn something new and get to do it with friends. I truly enjoyed visiting Aunt Nancy. She has the gift of being able to make you feel instantly part of her home, life and fun. She made all of us feel right at home. When we were leaving I just couldn't shake the feeling like I was home, she reminded me so much of the women I grew up around in Alaska. It then dawned on me that those women I grew up around in Alaska were all from Utah. I asked her how old she was (can you believe it? how rude!) and she said that she was 69 and went to East High in SLC. I asked her if she knew Oranee Harward, my mother-in-law, and she ran and got her yearbooks. I asked her if she knew Yvonne Young and Sharon Jones , my adopted aunties from Alaska. She actually knew all of them and they graduated the same year she did, except Sharon, we couldn't find her in the yearbooks but she knew who she was! Wow, what a small world.

David is trying to master the rubik's cube, and I think he bounced a ping pong ball on the paddle somewhere around 430 times in a row today. Caroline goes twice a week to gymnastics and hopes to make it on a team at the end of the school year. Katie is the student director of her school play, The Diary of Anne Frank, and is really enjoying it. Michael is waiting patiently for his prom date to answer back and is starting to study for his upcoming AP Calculus and AP Chemistry exams. Nelson is teaching his largest section of students (205) so far at BYU this semester and starts every class period with a joke and then opens the floor for a few. I am busy getting ready for girls camp in the ward, tie-dying pillowcases and teaching first aid. Maybe felting will become my newest passion, who knows. It's good to be home.

A little rain, a lot of surf

Hello again! Today we awoke to clouds and drizzle, or maybe mist? It came and went earlier in the day so we went for a drive to see the 'Iao needle. It is a ridge that looks like the eye of a needle (so they say) from a certain view. It was drizzling when we arrived so we went to have lunch with John, Stacey and Jack and hoped the wet would stop. It did while we were eating and then started again by the time we returned but we went anyway. It was very lush and not too far of a hike from the parking lot to the sight. Then we returned to the hotel to play more mini golf and join Michael's swim team for the end of the year banquet via web cast compliments of Chris Miller, the coach. It was pretty cool to be nearly 3000 miles away and feel like we were there. Michael got the "I'm too cool to attend a banquet" award, he earned a letter for qualifying for state, and also was awarded the Male Swimmer of the Year for Orem High. He scored more points than any other team member to earn that. I am such a proud Mom, can you tell?? Then we went and hit the beach. The storm that came in had really churned up the ocean and the current was really strong and the waves pretty big. We did some boogie boarding and some wave jumping, diving, etc. It wore us out! We hot tubbed and then had Maui tacos for dinner. My neice Lani, who is 7, says she can't even remember what her house and dog look like. How would it be to immerse yourself so fully in each day that Maui is what she now knows. Too cute. She also lost her tooth last night and is pretty proud of the gap in her teeth. Well, one more day...I'll have to finish the trip report after we get home. It's been a dream.

scuba and sunny naps

hello! Today the weather was sunny and slightly breezy. It felt very warm compared to the past few days which have been a bit cloudy. Nelson, Michael, Caroline and I went scuba diving again this morning. We saw the same turtle, he lives in a coral reef off our beach. then we went in and Michael and Caroline decided they were cold and tired and didn't want to use the rest of their air for one more dive. We had to return our equipment and only had another two hours so no rest time between dives to speak of. So, Erika borrowed all of Michael's equipment and went diving with us at Kapalua beach, the next beach to the North of us. The coral was so amazing. There were formations that looked like giant salmon colored mushrooms and others were Seuss-like. The fish were friendly. One that looked kind of box-like and big buggy eyes kept swimming very close to us, alongside like they were here for the adventure, too. One of them came face to face with me, probably less than a foot and just sat there in the water, staring me down. I've never had that happen before. We had a great time. I love the underwater world here. I could do that all day, every day. Then we had lunch, and lounged on the beach. David isn't lounging,though. He gets up, golfs on the 18 hole putting green, plays ping-pong, boogie boards, digs holes in the sand, and plays in the pool and hot tub. The other kids do a variety of all of those things, too. Nelson and I were pretty tired after all of the scuba, I think I may have had a nap on the beach. We grilled burgers and hot dogs and everyone came to our room for dinner tonight. We are going to watch American Idol later (we are totally addicted, it's sad) and then get some shut eye. I didn't have the camera much today because we were in the sand and water so much so the pictures today are of eating, we love to do that! Check in tomorrow...

Tuesday, Turtles and tots

This morning Nelson, Michael, David and I played shuffleboard and ping pong. Then we watched a coconut being husked and cut open. We drank the milk and dipped slices of coconut in chocolate syrup. Then we went and rented scuba equipment to go off on our own to scuba dive, no guide, Nelson was being brave. Well, it was fabulous even though there was a red flag on our beach today. We dove off the beach right here at Napili Kai. It was fun to go as fast or slow as we wanted and swim any direction we wanted. Sometimes guides can be control freaks and I didn't even realize it until now. We saw sea urchins, coral, Humuhumunukunukuapua'a, Moorish Idol's, pufferfish, parrotfish, triggerfish, butterflyfish and...a turtle! The turtle came out from under some coral and actually swam towards us and then up to the surface and back. He was only about 5 feet away from Nelson. It was really fun! Then the kids had McDonalds and watched a movie in the room and the grown ups went out for dinner. The sunset was really pretty. Another day in paradise...

Jasmin's birthday in hawaii

Today is jasmin's 10th birthday! I think the blog date is wrong because the computer thinks we are in Utah and it's late here, tomorrow in Utah. We celebrated with cake and ice-cream and one of Jasmin's friends from Alaska was at a neighboring hotel and came to celebrate, too. Michael, Katie and Kirstin went jogging this morning and Kirstin ran for 35 minutes...straight. HUGE!! Ok, maybe the elevation has something to do with it. Michael and Katie were running circles around me, literally, but we did it! We went snorkeling, drove to Lahaina to see the Banyan tree and get ice-cream. Another fun day!

Family Reunion in Maui

We are enjoying the sun and surf in maui with the Finleys and Robbins in Maui. Today we dipped in the ocean, ate fresh pineapple, Maui chips, fish tacos and pas-o-guav juice, played with water balls in the pool with all the kids, drove to see the Nakalele blowhole and swam in the Olivine Pools. The Nakalele blowhole was like witnessing Old Faithful up close (We were soaked) and it blew every few seconds. It was really incredible!! Then we went to see the Olivine pools. From a lookout about 300 feet above sea level, we climbed down a trail of rocks and mud to sea level, where we swam in the calm waters of a lava ledge with the fierce pounding of the open ocean surrounding us on three sides. It was really fun. Jack found a little hermit crab with white feet. There were other crabs and fish swimming in the pools, too. We crawled on top of the lava and swam in little and big holes in the lava. Then we drove on a one-lane road with sheer cliff on one side to a little converted school bus for smoothies. What a great day and so wonderful to be with family again.