Visit from Grandma Darlin

On sunday we had our primary program. It was wonderful but I was tired so I lay down for a short nap before the baptism of one of my primary kids. While I was sleeping Anne and Grandma played beauty parlor. Isn't Anne's hair awesome! They used every single hair clip we own.
Dad came home from Japan today! He was gone 10 days...so Grandma and Anne made his favorite sugar cookies. Anne is getting to be quite the helper.

Today we went to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. We rode the Pineapple Express and fed the fish and of course had the yummy pineapple icecream...my personal favorite!

Come rain or shine...

My new favorite picture of Anne! She just discovered today how much more she can see under water with goggles on.
Look at her go!
As you can see the rain does not keep Anne away from her swimming lessons. She had so much fun going under water and looking up at the rain coming down. We are lucky here in Hawaii to be able to take swimming lessons all year round. Anne's teacher is wonderful. She is very patient with the kids. I can't believe how much Anne has improved in just a year. A year ago she was afraid to put her head all the way under the water and now she is diving in and getting rings off the bottom all by her self. She also can swim half the length of the pool on both her back and stomach! She is getting to be quite the fish.

First Day of School

Today was Anne's first day of Pre-School. She has been on the wait list for the Iroquois Point Pre-School and finally got a spot. She was so excited to start and had a wonderful time. She even got to take something today to share with the class. They also learned about scarecrows and the letter H. Her teacher Mrs. Moreen said she did wonderful and made a few new friends today. This makes me feel good since Anne has been worried about this very thing. My little girl is growing up!

Flower Garden

I had the most beautiful day in my garden and thought I would share it. The yellow and orange flowers are hibiscus, the fushia and light pink are plumeria trees. I have been waiting for a year and a half for the plumeria trees to bloom. It was worth the wait.

Rumble and Tumbles...

We had an unusual Sunday here in Hawaii. My bed literally shook me awake about 7am this morning. At first I though Zac was shaking the bed to wake me up. I quickly remembered he was at work. Then I realized that the voice on my radio/alarm was shaking. We were having an earthquake. I jumped out of bed and ran to the kids room. They both were laying on the bed with big eyes. Anne looked at me and said, "Mom my bed is rumbling and tumbling!"

We are all ok. The power was out all day...it only turned on about an hour ago. We spent the day trying in vain to keep cool. At one point though I did discover that if I lay upside down on my recliner in my room I caught quit a good breeze from the window behind it...you laugh now but it was really hot and humid. Some good friends invited us over to play games in the candle light while our kids ran around trying to catch the light their flashlights made on the walls. I will always remember this day as the day my bed rumbled and tumbled.

Big Big Ouch!

I guess I can say I have been pretty lucky so far. I have two very active children who are either running up and down the stairs, jumping on their beds or jumping from the couch to all the cushions. Well finally today my luck ran out. Just as Andrew was climbing into his booster seat for breakfast he slipped and fell knocking his head on the table as he went. Well I thought this was just another bonk on the head until I picked him up and blood gushed all over his face. He had a slice right at the corner of his eye. I gave Zac a 911 page and then rushed him and Anne to the hospital.
Now let me just say this was probably the first time I have been truely grateful that Zac is a doctor. He met me at the front of the hospital and took him right in to the peds clinic. By the time Anne and I found a parking spot and trudged up the hill and into the hospital Zac and Dr. Jim had already put a nice little bandage on Andrew's eye. Zac said I was lucky to have missed it. So there you have it...never think your kids are amune from being hurt. Don't worry Andrew is fine. Before we got home he was singing and laughing in the car...what a kid!

Zoo Day

Zac had the day off today so we too a field trip to the Honolulu Zoo. The kids love the palce. Today we had a hard time just getting past the elephants (they are the first animal we got to). This is Andrew current favorite animal for us to draw on his magnadoodle. They have a wonderful Keiki Zoo as well. The kids can pet the animals and crawl in all the tunnels and caves they have made for them - I wish they would make the adult size!

Bellows Beach

This is one of our favorite beaches here in Hawaii. It is on Bellows Air Force Base and beautiful! As you can see the water is blue and the sand just about white. We finally broke down and got our own boogie board last night just for the trip. I had so much fun...I haven't boogie-boarded since 8th grade! As you can see the kids also had a blast trying the board out in the shallow water. Anne also had tons of fun practicing swimming under water. Just a year ago she would even stick her head in salt water - now I have a fish for a daughter.

Sisters

Sisters, sisters. Never were there such devoted sisters...

Reading

My kids love to read. In fact they read so much that we visit the library at least once a week. We are members of a book club and I have the hardest time not buying all the books Anne wants for her...I have to hold myself off until either their birthdays come or until Christmas. I think most of the presents under our tree this year will be books. Anne and I just finished reading "Escape from the Carnival" by Dave Barry. It was a great book about the island of Neverland. Anne loved it and it was easy enough for her to understand. I need to find another capter book to read her!