Merry Christmas

And the WINNER is...

KATRINA TAKAHASHI...
Didnʻt you win the last time Katrina?

It cost: 18.81

Just heard on the news about HUGE rats in China Town and closures to some of the stores...Hmmm, that doesnʻt sound all that inviting....Should I still go?

We are in Kohala (Big Island) for a couple of weeks, so I guess I have time to forget about the rat situation and will go again.

Guessing Time Again

Had so much fun in China Town today....
a little bit too much.

I don't know what it is about it, I can't stop. I passed by some

Mint
and decided that I needed to make some spring rolls as it smelled too good to pass up. (I don't really know what else to do with mint.) I also bought:
Broccoli
Thai Basil
Bananas
Apples
Ginger
Zucchini
Red Pepper
Chives
Lettuce
Cucumbers
Carrot
Rice Wraps

How much did I spend?

Go Ahead, GUESS!

Just Being Honest

I was going to go

on and on
about how I HATED Halloween and the candy and the dressing up and, and, and...
But, I decided that I was being really negative and people don't really want to hear me go
on and on
about my expectations and how they get SHOT DOWN...
So, I digress.

I will go on and on about something else.

Do you ever feel like a horrible mom?

Well, I do

ALL THE TIME!

Every night I go to bed and think, "What in the heck was I thinking when I did.....this or that?"
I am usually praying for forgiveness and asking to be a better mom tomorrow.

But then,
I was looking at some pictures and thinking.....wow, my girls have a pretty good life and are

very lucky

to have a mom like me.

(Good thing the pictures don't show me yelling or scolding them.)

I am hoping that these pictures will help the girls remember the good times we have together and not all the times I am the mother from
H-E-Double Hockey Sticks!

Being a parent is freakin' hard, but there are good times and fun times and funny times and happy times and great times and silly times and...I could go on forever. You get the drift.

I just need to enjoy the moment and remember to relax and
stop expecting things
to go a certain way.

Here are some moments I've enjoyed with my girls.


We were playing hide and go seek. Kids, you gotta love 'em!

At the beach. I love it when the girls sit together. I hope they continue to stay close.

Ellie's 2nd birthday. She was so excited to see the balloons and asked all day if she could eat her
"happy birthday cake".

You get to do anything on your birthday....that means all the band-aids you want and you don't even have to have any blood!

Some of her presents! Isn't she so cute?!

The girls love to have their toes painted. Though as soon as we are done Ellie wants to take it off because she HATES to sit there until they are dry. (Not some of my greatest mommy moments with this activity!)

Halloween. We only let them go to 10 or so houses. They were pouring candy into their bags...I kept saying "only 1 please"...they didn't really listen. We have finished all the chocolate and now I regret not letting people put tons in their bag and going to more houses....sure could use some more chocolate!

Leftovers

Here we are AGAIN. At the BEACH. I'm sure you are not surprised. Hey, it's free and we all love it. The surf is starting to get good on the North Shore so this will be our new home for a while.

The girls wouldn't look at me or smile while I was trying to take pics, but I think these are almost as good as getting their cheesy little faces.


Leftovers is one of our favorite beaches. No people to bother us and the girls have the run of the place and can scream and yell as much as they want.

The tide was out and we could explore.

The girls wanted to catch some fish....I don't do that...That's Julius' thing and he was out surfing so I let them do it themselves! (Just so you know....I was just running something back to the tent...I wouldn't just leave my girls there in the water by themselves!) The girls decided catching fish wasn't any fun and started to make pancakes. I can do sand pancakes!


“My life is like a stroll on the beach...as near to the edge as I can go.” Thoreau

Water Babies

Here are my girls. They are my little water babies. Always asking to go to the beach or as Ellie calls it the "BEE".

Here are the girls playing at Ala Moana. Ellie is getting pretty brave my herself. And Lucy likes to swim out as far as we will let her...she would go further, but I'm not ready for that, yet!

Walk A Mile (or 2) In My Shoes

Getting out of the house

BY MYSELF

is something to celebrate. Sometimes it seems impossible. My getting out of the house begins with screams and crys and "Mommy, mommy, mommy, no, no, no", or giving hundreds of hugs and kisses before I even get my shoes on. But it is always worth it.

Well, I have been able to get out and go

WALKING

3 days this week.

Usually I just walk and look at my feet and try to get the "exercising" over with as soon as possible. (I was going to say that I went jogging, but that would be an over exaggeration:) (And I NEVER do that!)

The last time I walked I started to look at STUFF. Wow, there is some cool STUFF out there. So I decided to take a few pics along the way. I'm sure some people thought I was a little crazy or if they were looking out their house windows, they would have yelled at the

crazy Haole girl,

but I was sly...well as sly as I can be...I'm not that smooth or coordinated.

Here are a few things I found along my way.



Here is the view from the top of the hill...just minutes....actually seconds from my home. The pic doesn't do it justice. (Unfortunately, we don't have this view from our home, but hey, I'll take what I can get!)



This is the fresh water stream that flows into the only fresh water pond on the Island. It's said that the pond is where the Kings and Queens used to bathe. (I'll have to take a pic of the pond sometime for you...I wouldn't bathe in it for a million dollars....okay, maybe a million.) The pics are from 2 different streets.



An old Chevy. Just sitting around, rusting. It's very cool, though.



Cool house. I think it's connected with the Japanese Library or maybe it is the Library...not sure, it's still cool, though.



The Hsu Yun Temple. (Chinese) It's HUGE!



A huge American flag and huge owl. (The owl is at the American Cancer Society House.)



A koi pond. You can't really see it, but there is a tiny village set up all around. I had to "walk-by" pic as it was in someone's yard:)



The Royal Mausoleum. All of Hawaii's Royalty are buried here...except King Kamehameha I. (His is a secret...shhhhh.)



I think there are 5 or 6 cemeteries on my walk, this is one of them. I have been fascinated with them since my mission in England. They are beautiful...during daylight hours.






Some of the MANY flowers along the way. Actually the last little purpley-blue one is a weed. Even weeds on Hawaii are beautiful!





Not sure if you can see it, but there is a faint rainbow. Always nice to see one of those:
1. It's beautiful.
2. It means that it has rained or is raining hence....it's cooler!

Seeing it was a nice way to end my walk.

Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did!

ALOHA and MAHALO!