smooshy face

Mia doesn't like the pack n play and she makes it quite clear. I just find it hysterical when she smooshes her face up against the pack n play netting.

Catch

Trying to teach Mia the concept of catch was cute...and yes, I am prepping her for a future in sports :-)

Pi Kappa Kai'oli

Today I babysat the Weida girls so Monica and Brian could help Tanya and Jerrod move. All I can say is "wow"- having 4 girls is interesting. It was like a mini-sorority.

We painted nails:

We wished we were as cool as the older sisters:

We talked on the phone:

And of course, we drank:

My Growing Girl

Mia has learned to pull herself up now (and steal everything she can reach off the counter). She is very impressed with herself.

Field Trip #4

Gavin joined us on our last field trip and they really did save the best for last. We headed over to the Windward side to the Mac nut farm amid a downpour. I was praying that the rain would let up and it stopped just as we pulled in. We started the tour in a rickety old bus and toured the gardens.

We learns about the different plants- I learned that red ti can be soaked, then ground up and massaged on the temples to heal a headache. Then we got in a boat (equally as rickety) and road around Hawaii's largest fish pond. There were some very large fish in there. The place is famous too. Lost's submarine scenes were shot there as well as scenes from 51 Dates, Tears of the Sun, the show Off the Map, Jurassic Park, Paradise Island, Gilligan's Island and Mighty Joe Young. After our mini cruise, we watched as our tour guide husked a coconut and we tried the coconut water right from the shell. Makaela said the "hair tickled her mouth" as she drank it. When we drank the water, the tour guide grated the meat of the coconut for us and called it "coconut shave ice". It tastes much different than the coconut I am used to eating in desserts. It's much better. At this point, the heavens opened and we huddled together in the rain as the tour guide tried to make fire out of hibiscus branches and he did. The kids were a bit scared and even more so as the fire dance began and the flaming baton was thrown around. After the fire was out, it officially became "cool". The kids got to feed all the chickens the left over coconut and then we boarded the bus again to check out the fruit fields. We all got to try starfruit (the kids said they didn't like it, but continued to take bites of it anyway) and we got to shell macadamia nuts. We may have ended up a bit wet, but between the activities and the scenery, it was awesome. Days like this make me appreciate the island even more and count my blessings that I live here.

Dentist Visit

Makaela loves going to the dentist, so she was quite pleased when I told her that we had an appointment today. This was her first big girl visit though (prior to this one, the dentist just counted, flossed and brushed her teeth). She was not too pleased when he decided to use his water pick and polisher instead of the brush. She was very well behaved throughout the visit, but upon leaving, she announced, "I don't think I like coming here anymore. I'm not coming back". I just kind of looked at her and thought, "You're right. You're next dentist visit will probably be happening in Florida" :-(

My Own Personal Hell

I finally turned in my Ch. 4 and it has only taken me all summer to complete. At first, I couldn't really get into the swing of it (I think I needed some de-stressing time after the move and the school year ending), but by July, I was in the thick of it. Needless to say, my blogging and cleaning as been pushed to the wayside. I am so happy I have Steph and Katie writing their paper too because I called them nonstop for advice and they helped me edit my rough draft. They gave very constructive feedback. It ended up being 72 pages and I submitted it just in time because tomorrow I head back to work. Now onto Ch. 5. I hope I can get this done quickly. Deadline for graduation is Sept 4th !!!

New Foods

Mia has a new favorite food. It is quite funny to watch her since the watermelon rinds are bigger than her head and she manages to get watermelon juice all over herself. Luckily, I can just dunk her in the water right afterwards. Note to self: this is only to be eaten at the pool or beach :-)

What was I thinking?

I was busy getting Mia ready for bath time when I heard Makaela yell, "Mom, can my dress get wet?" Makaela freaks out when she gets wet, so I thought I would reassure her and replied, "Sure- it's only water." I headed into the bathroom with a naked squirming infant in my hands and this is what I saw...why am I not surprised? I did tell her the dress could get wet, right?

Multicultural Makaela

When Makaela requested chopsticks to help her eat her Chinese food, I was impressed. I was really patient in trying to teach her how to use them, but her patience wasn't as good. She said, "I got it Mommy, I'll just stab the food." It was a long dinner considering that half of her meal consisted of rice.

Marine Center Field Trip #3

We had another interesting field trip today. We headed to the Marine Center and Makaela learned about all sorts of things. We learned about hydroponics and how fish poop could feed and grow plants (this both fascinated and freaked her out), we learned about different native marine species to Hawaii and tide pools.

Makaela got to do some gyotaku- the ancient art of using fish scales to imprint an image on paper. We got to use a fake fish instead of a real one and we painted the fish on her shirt instead of on paper. This practice came about because fishermen would tell tale tales about the fish they caught, so as proof, they would paint the fish and make an imprint so they had proof. Kinda cool. Then Makaela learned about hermit crabs and how to distinguish between the common ones we could find in Hawaii. She got to touch them and I was amazed at how brave she was; apparently so was she.

Makaela's Take on Driving De-lections

Getting into the Swing of Things

Today we went to the base to see another cheap movie and I brought along Edwin and Olivia. I couldn't resist stopping at a park in Hickam- it was huge and looked like so much fun. When I pulled up, the kids thought so too. It's really difficult to find parks with swings in them anymore, so the kids raced to the swing set. Unfortunately, Makaela has little experience with them. Olivia tried her best to help her out to no avail. Makaela felt more at home with the swing she couldn't fall out of.

Homefront Heroes

Today we headed to Hickam for a Homefront Hero ceremony. Makaela has been taking Matt's absence pretty badly, so when I got an email about kids being nominated for a medal, Matt and I nominated her for it. When I told her she was going to get a medal for being a hero, she started crying and said that heroes were for boys (guess she thought heroes were only Superman, Batman, etc). I then explained she was getting a medal for being a brave girl and for sharing her daddy with the country. She told me, "my daddy is in the mini-terry".

She was great the entire time and was chatting up with all the military and ceremony staff. When people thanked her for her "service to the country", she would tell people "You're welcome" and thanked everyone who complimented her on her dress. When they first called her

name, she got all bashful, but got up and marched right up there for her medal. I tried to get video, but they called Mia's name right after- I didn't know she was getting one, so I ran up there with Mia as well. Mia was smiley and the girls were so cute. All of the dedications that were read about the kids were so touching and as I looked around, I thought about how strong these kids are. It's so hard for me to watch Makaela go through this, but some families had 5 kids and I can't even imagine what it's like for them. Kids really are amazing.

To celebrate (and to wait out the crazy H1 traffic) I told Makaela we could go to the McDonald's near the base because it has a big play area. As we were getting out of the car to walk into McD

's, I noticed that the girls' awards came with an envelope. I was thought it was just a nice letter, and it was, but there was also McDonald's gift certificates! So I told Makaela dinner was on her and she felt like a big girl paying with her McD bucks.

Ulupo Heiau

Today was another Field Trip over on the windward side. For once I was there early and I looked in the back seat to see this:

Crossed legs, playing on my cell phone. Good thing we were heading out to a Heiau, because if anyone needed a dose of nature, it was this girl. We started off the day learning a hula. For someone who loves to dance, Makaela sure got shy quickly. She was pretty attached during the first part of the field trip, but once we hit the taro patches and she got to jump across the irrigation creeks, she got very independent (and of course those were the times I wanted her to hold my hand :-) She had a great time finding all the "pikos" of the nature plants. The trip ended with a sampling of Hawaiian cuisine: kalua pig, poi, lau lau and lomi lomi salmon, but Makaela opted out. Neither one of us thought it looked very appetizing. Luckily the Hawaiian scenery looks much more appealing than the food.

After the field trip we had one more mommy/makaela bonding moment- Ice Cream!!

Mia's Take on Things

This is Mia's take on me trying to teach her baby sign language when food is involved:

I got the message loud and clear.

Makaela's Take on Desserts

To preface this video, Makaela had two tootsie roll pops after dinner and then on the ride home, she asked for ice cream for dessert. I told her she already had dessert because she had two pieces of candy and this is what she said:

The "Troof" According to Makaela

After dinner, we take the dogs out for an evening walk that tends to be a bit of a chore because I have a tired 3 year old, a stroller and two wild dogs to walk. Lately Makaela has been a bit concerned with trash, so we have dubbed our evening walks "Trash walks". Makaela walks ahead of the stroller picking up any litter she sees...like every piece of trash, even down to cigarette butts. I was armed with antibacterial gel, but I had to draw the line at cigarette butts. I told her, "The truth is honey, some trash we shouldn't pick up because they have too many germs on them." She then tells me, "No the troof is trash hurts animals. The birds eat it and they die- that's the troof. People are really very very dirty, so I'll tell the little people the troof and you tell the big people the troof that they shouldn't litter." Last night she was armed with a latex glove and gathered cigarette butts to her heart's content.

Park Fiasco

Makaela had Olivia come over for a playdate today. I thought it would be nice to take the kids to the park, so I packed Mia in the stroller and the rest of us took a nice LONG walk to the park. The park we chose was further away, but more fun. We were there not longer than 5 minutes when I noticed dark clouds gathering. I started to gather the girls when the rain started and then came down hard. I did some creative stroller seating arrangements and ran the girls home- we were all giggling the entire run home (well except Mia who was hidden under a receiving blanket for most of the trip).

Of course the rain stopped as soon as we reached our block.

Budding Artist

Makaela loves to color, so I was pleased with myself when I spotted an easel at a neighbor's

garage sale. It's pretty beat up, but since it's for a toddler and I have no room for it in the house, it's in perfect condition to be an outside addition. Since it has a chalkboard, we brought out the 3D sidewalk chalk and Makaela had fun scribbling on the easel. Her demeanor is hysterical when she is focusing on her artwork- she gets so serious and acts so mature.

Field Trip Friends

About a month ago, I signed up for Field Trip Friends- a company that organizes field trip for

parents and kids that are based on outdoor activities and the Hawaiian culture. Today, I kept Makaela home from school so we could go on our first "adventure". Makaela was very excited for mommy and Makaela time. We headed out to the windward side to learn about Hawaiian canoes and Hawaiian flora.

This particular flower only has half the petals- it's a Hawaiian legend that two lovers were separated; the woman being banished to the sea, the man to the mountains, so this bush (found

by the ocean) blooms half the petals, while the other bush (found in the mountains) blooms the others. Such a cool story. We also got to paint coconuts and taste coconut water. Apparently it's full of electrolytes and is better than Gatorade or Pedialyte. Who knew?

The kids loved helping Auntie Anne cart the coconuts up the hill and they were so dramatic- I wish I had it on video. They were huffing and puffing and Makaela was going "phew...phew"- really hamming up how hard they were working for her.

On the way home, I got nostalgic for the Windward side since we were right around the corner from Matt and mine first apartment, so Makaela and I headed to eat at the Koa house. She loved hearing stories about mommy and daddy's old apartment, where we ate, the places we went, etc.

Can't believe we used to live right across that bay! Ahh, the memories.

8 Months of Mia

Mia is 8 months old already. I posted last week that her two bottom teeth have popped and now she is chewing on everything...literally. Makaela and I call her our little beaver because if I don't feed her fast enough, she starts chewing on the kitchen table. She has been "borrowing" Makaela's toys and yes, she loves the princesses too. She is also crawling all over the place now making a bit of a mess. When she catches me watching her, she flashes me her huge smile almost as if she is up to no good. It's all good until she crawls under the stool and gets stuck. She hasn't learned to reverse yet :-)

July 4th

We headed to Iroquois Point to hang out with my friend Val and her son Cameron this July 4th. The beach at IP is right across from Pearl Harbor/Hickam, so they have a great view of the

fireworks. It sounded like a much better option than driving far, sitting in traffic, searching for parking and battling crowds. Val's neighbor's organized a massive BBQ (imagine my surprise when I learned that the neighbor's son was a student of mine). Mia was a hit. She was flirting with everyone and bounced around from one auntie's hip to another's.

Makaela was in a miserable mood- she was really missing her daddy, so she spent a majority of

the day either sleeping under the quickshade or sulking. She has been missing her Daddy a lot lately.

She did perk up a bit when she realized that we had visitors swim into the lagoon.

We had to get out of the water until the seals beached and then the marine people came and taped off an area. It was pretty cool.

The fireworks were great and it was true- we had a great view and the ride home was short thankfully (two little ones were up way past their bedtimes and were more than a little cranky).

Diving for Princesses

Makaela has been swimming like a fish and fights me on wearing her swimmie lately. She is really trying to swim independently. The other day, she decided to "dive" for her princesses and we practiced this for over an hour, dropping the princesses on deeper steps until she was finally able to retrieve them from the pool floor.

Fooling Mama

I picked up Mia from her babysitter today and the babysitter apologized for Mia being a bit wet. She said Mia was holding her bottle upside down. I looked at her in amazement, "She holds her own bottle?" Her babysitter said Mia has been holding her own bottle since the first week she started babysitting and ended by saying, "Guess she has her mama fooled into doing things for her huh?" Yes, this little girl definitely does.

New Word

We have been practicing this one for a while and when I was on the phone with Matt he heard her say it. I grabbed the camera and spent the next hour trying to get it on video for him.