Neptune Sighting and Island Treats

Hello Friends. I was wanting to put up some fun pictures of our adventures to Shark's Cove, but alas, I don't have any besides these two. The reason being- I am without a camera. The pictures that you have been seeing this week are from my phone, and they just aren't that great of quality. On Mother's Day I received several lei's from friends at church, and on the way home, walking in front of the temple, I took out my little camera and asked Jayne to take a picture of me. She did and then one of the kind sisters in our ward was walking by and asked if she could take a picture of Jayne and I. Sure. I handed her my camera, and then she dropped it. It's broken. (Boo-hoo).The lens won't retract and nothing is happening. I actually almost started crying, but was luckily wearing sunglasses so she couldn't tell and told her no worries, and that I am sure it will be fine. Yes, I was bummed. But I also had done the same thing to a little family in front of Old Faithful in Yellowstone years ago. Dropped their camera and broke it. So I guess it was my payback. I will see if there is a way to fix it but there isn't a camera store within an hour's drive, so it will just have to remain TBD until we make it back to Honolulu. And the result is, you are just going to have to put up with crappy pictures until it returns. My SLR is fine and well, but me with four kids, sand, and ocean, I don't take it with me unless I am doing a photo shoot. So IPhone pictures until later. Seth says the picture below is terrible and says it makes make him look like a merman. He insists he's more Neptune than Ariel. (We are both dying laughing). But its all we got.

I had been telling Seth how awesome Shark's Cove is to snorkel, but each time we've gone, the waves have been too big, so we've only snorkeled the tide pools. Which are cool. But the cove itself is amazing. And finally we went on a perfect day. The trade winds had stopped and the ocean was so calm. Seth, Ellie, and Nancy with her noodle, set out in the waters to explore. When we had come in December, Janis, Todd, and I had snorkeled the one evening that the water was calm enough to snorkel. And Janis told me that secretly that was her favorite part of the trip, but that she didn't want the rest to know, because they didn't have the chance to do it. (Sorry to spoil it now Janis). But it was my favorite too and I was dying to have Seth and kids agree. I had told Nancy this about Janis and even though I could tell Nancy was a bit nervous, she was determine to see what Jannie had loved. She was not disappoint. The fish were everywhere and the Ellie and Seth even saw a big eel. Sam and I got to go out afterwards and the fish put on quite a show. We found a giant school of fish that we had to just swim through. The fish just moved aside and then filled back in once we were through. It was really neat. Giant parrot fish swam up close. I took Jayne out for a tiny bit and she kept telling people to that she saw a fish as big as her head (which is a Christensen size head, so super impressive). After I got back, Seth went out again. It was really incredible and Seth took back his skepticism of the greatness of Shark's Cove. 

Jakey is not yet snorkeling but he doesn't know how to hold his breath under water, so I will give him to the end of the summer before he's got his own mask on and diving into the cove. He was so funny because there were small waves coming in and he would run right up to them and jump into them. It was entertaining for me and the twenty other spectators who weren't yet snorkeling. The comments I get about Jake are- "He is fearless. How old is he? Love the hair." He is pretty crazy and we have to keep a close eye on him. But here below he said he was tired, so he snuggled up in the sand between the rocks and said 

na-night. It didn't last long, but long enough for me to take a picture. 

 On our way home we took a slight detour to the infamous Matsumoto's Shave Ice. It did not disappoint. I am only worried that we didn't introduce Nancy to it until her last day her. Hoping that she isn't holding a grudge to have only eaten one Matsumoto's on her trip. 

We are actually thinking of buy stock into Matsumoto's or offering our children as the Shave Ice Models. 

We shopped in Halewia for a bit to shop, and then headed home. Jaker's was done and quickly fell asleep. We stopped at Ted's Bakery to see if they had any coconut turnovers (another island must that again we didn't introduce Nancy to until the end) and I bought the kids a cup of mini cookies seen below in Jake's arms. Jake was out and Ellie dressed up the cup with a ponytail and a flower and she and Jayne put it in his sleeping arm and called it his girlfriend. They were dying laughing at this darling boy's expense, but he didn't seem to mind. Note the Doritos bag also on his lap. Cookies and Doritos- the feast of the island boy. So healthy and nutritious. Glad we could share that with you all. So come on over for some shave ice, Ted's cookies, and we'll throw in a bag of Doritos for good measure. 

Waimae Falls with Crazy Kids

Off we went to hike to Waimae Falls again. It is such a beautiful and kid friendly hike. It was a treat to take Aunt Nancy. She kept saying, this is beautiful, this is amazing, this is so lovely. Its so nice to take someone on your adventure and have them appreciate it as you do. Both Ellie and Jayne have added to their vocabulary the word lovely, thanks for Aunt Nancy. And Jake now calls me Amy, thanks to Aunt Nancy. Ha! So funny. This time when we hiked, we took the pathways to the side of the paved trail. It added a new adventure and perspective. 

Jayne loved this "lovely" flower bigger than her head.

Ellie loved this giant leaf, bigger than you body.

I loved hiking through the topical forest with my four little people. They have such good questions and great imaginations.

And we made it to the falls. No problem. 

This giant volcanic rock they are sitting on is so awesome. They all jumped into the pool and swam to the falls a couple times. Jake swam for a bit but had rubbed sun screen in his eye (from throwing a fit when I put it on) that his eye was all swollen. So he was a short timer.

He didn't even make it back to the parking lot before he fell asleep. So we ate at the visitor center while he slept.

Yesterday I was looking at the picture I took for the kids the second day we were here. It seems to me that they have grown so much. I have never taken so many pictures as I have here, but with the mounds of pictures, I can see the difference in their growth. Maybe they seem older because they are tan and blonder. I can't really put my finger on it, but they seem different. Jake is talking like a champ and pretends that he wants to be potty trained. (I am ignoring him.) Jayne has physically grown, I can see it in her clothes. Ellie has major callous' on her feet because she goes everywhere bare foot. And Sam has such surfer hair, I can't bare to cut it. I love it! 

Hawaii has been good to us. BUT, Seth says change is coming. He has said this before and it has always happened. So I am bracing myself. No answers yet, but lots of prayers to be directed. My top concerns with Seth's health and the future for the kids keep me a bit sleepless, but all in all, I will trust that the "Orchestrator" (as Nancy says) knows what's best for us. 

And the evil chocolate face keeps us laughing along the way. What we do without this girl? She grabs my phone and makes videos that would make you all pee your pants, they are so funny. The blog doesn't seem to be allowing the videos, so I will compile them and then we can have a Jayne film fest when we get back. Wear your depends. 

Alligator Pond and Sea Lions

This morning Seth read part of the blog. I think he said that according to our blog we live a really cool life. Ha! He said it looks like we live this exotic lifestyle but wondered if people recognized that we're still just us. We look like this when we wake up (below). Some of us look worse. He wondered if people worried that we were just suffering through each day with the weight of "the project" on our shoulders, or that we were just in denial of it escaping to Hawaii to drowned out the heart ache. I would say we fit right in the middle of that analysis. We live a really cool life that we've chosen to live with the project being a part of it. Like I told a friend, Hawaii neutralizes the stress. Still there, just given a chance to be apart of a different experience. :)

I love Monday's because the kids have a chance to go to an art class. They love it and they get to join their friends, Charles and Jones Hughes. The Hughes family were our friends in Oregon and then they moved here without us knowing. When our mutual friend, Angela W., found that we were coming to Hawaii, she called to tell me that the Hughes were here too. I was so excited. Our kids have become friends and because the boys are in home school, we get to join them for some awesome adventures. Alligator Pond was one of the these. After art, we picked up the kids and went to Alligator pond. It is a rock that lies on the beaches edge and it looks like an alligator laying in the water. It is volcanic rock that makes for excellent tide pools and makes some kid safe ponds behind it. It was great fun. The best creature found was a sea slug. Sam and Jones spent a good amount of time with their heads in the water and their feet in the air as they tries to catch lobsters (probably crawdads) on the bottom of the ponds. Jake loved swimming in the ponds and Jayne loved warming in the little tide pools she called hot tubs. Aunt Nancy and I were fully entertained by the busy little people enjoying the sunshine and water.

Jake(Little Jones) and Jones(Big Jones) playing ball in the pond by the alligators mount(the rock). Jake says that Big Jones is a "best friend." I think that he just likes that they have the same names (even though Jake's is just his nickname). But also, Jones is so sweet with Jake and when ever he sees him says,"Hey Best Friend."

Ellie and Sam standing out on the reef.

Hot Tubbing together.

Its an Ellie.

 It just looks like fun. 

On Monday, we were invited to the Olson's house for dinner and FHE. Brother Olson is a volunteer missionary here at BYU H. It was his Book of Mormon class that Seth substitute taught for the last 3 weeks. The Olson's are very kind and along with another missionary couple, the Lee's, have become our friends. The kids love them because whenever they visit their offices at BYU H, they give them candy. On the way to their house Ellie questioned whether or not their pockets will be full of candy. They were. We had a great evening at their house which is on the Point. The Point is a small peninsula off of Laie. It sits up high which allows for some incredible views. We had a lovely dinner and visit with them. We appreciate their love and concern for our family. 

Ellie trying to get noise out of the conch shell. Great view.

Aunt Nancy enjoying the view. 

On Tuesday morning Seth and I left Sam in charge and we went on a walk on the beach, where we met up with Aunt Nancy. Another beach walker said if we went down to the end of the beach we could see a sea lion. We walked do and sure enough, sun bathing, a giant sea lion.

We went and got the kids so they could see it as well. And at 8 a.m. it was already quite warm. So we told the kids to put on their suits because we were all going to jump in the water- and we did, all before 8:30 a.m. I had to laugh that we'd already been to the beach for a swim before 9. After watching the sea lion take off for a more private place, we swam, and went out for breakfast at Papa Ole's for some Hawaiian sweet bread french toast! So yummy.

 Lookin' Good.

Get Away for the Weekend & Mother's Day

Here one of the many blessings of having Aunt Nancy stay with us. She gave us the gift of taking care of the kids for the weekend, so we could get away together. Seth got us a hotel on Waikiki and we spent two nights there. After a week of no sleep, we both craved a bit of sleep. Seth threatened stopping at the clinic to get me codeine so we could sleep in the same room together. I promised him that I was feeling better, but I let out one cough and he was turning around for some cough syrup. Fortunately I really was feeling better and we slept great. We made it to Halewia for some great Thai food. I was reminded again one of the reasons why I fell in love with this man- pure communication. There is a long story behind that, but I love to talk with Seth. He makes me laugh and cry. It is so nice to talk with someone and really have them understand. It was great. Plus the food was awesome. I took this picture to have just a snap shot of that great talk and lunch.

Here's Seth posing below at the Cheesecake Factory for our friends, the Weeks, who told us that we suck because we had escaped our children for the weekend plus went to the Cheesecake factory. We weren't even planning on eating there until they told us that. So we ate the Cuban sandwich on their recommendation and it was awesome. So good. Highly recommend it. 

Its kind of funny that we barely left the block from where we were staying, but the joy of living here took off the pressure to go sight see. Instead we just sat by the pool. Then took a nap. Then went back to the pool to hear the band for happy hour. Then hung out. Ate sushi and went to a movie. We never get to do that, especially by ourselves. It was great. We spent a long time talking and catching up which was therapeutic for me. I could you a vacation like this more often. I am sure we all could.

We made our way back across the island on Sunday morning to join the kids for Mother's Day. I feel very blessed to be a mother of these four little monkeys. I love them to pieces. As I thought about each time I became a mother, each experience was very unique. Each baby was prayed here. And each was a blessing.

I had to teach Relief Society at church that day. I was assigned to teach "Opening you soul to the Lord in prayer." It was a perfect topic for me, since I needed a good refresher on prayer. I was great subject to talk about on Mother's Day because I don't know anyone who prays more than mothers.

After church, Seth and the kids made dinner. Seth made salmon, Sam made roasted potatos, and Ellie made a salad. It was de-lish. I got to talk to my Mom and Seth's mom and wish them a Happy Mother's Day and then we hopped in the car for a sunset at Pipeline Beach. It was incredible. Here are a couple pictures below and yet I still feel like I can do the sunsets justice.

Here we are all set up to watch the sunset. I wanted to get a picture of Nancy with the kids. They just adore her and she is great to just laugh at and with these little funny people. 

Here it is!

Here they are catching the sunset. Four little bodies! 

Could that cloud not be any cooler? Sam and Ellie pointed out to me that it look like a giant whale. 

 Seriously

Aunt Nancy's silhouette.

 One of my favorite pictures of the night. Unposed and perfect. These four are who made my mother's day so amazing.

School and Stuff

This is a totally random post. But here you go. First, Jake is working on getting a record deal. Here he is below singing at the top of his lungs on stage at Surfin Tacos. The microphone isn't on, but he did have an audience. He is such a funny kid. Jayne tried to join him and he pushed her of the stage. 

Aunt Nancy joined the ranks of home schooling. It was great to have another helping hand. The kids all love her games she had on her Ipad. She helped Jayne fix her pincher grip holding her pencil. (Which is something I would have totally missed.) She's read to all the children and distracts Jakey so I can finish up math or reading with the other kids. I love these pictures of the kids surrounding her.

We have a public library in the next town over, so we took Auntie on a bike ride to the library. We chose all our books with recommendation from our Aunties. After we crossed the street to go get some grilled corn on the cob. Then we biked home. It was a great adventure. 

Amy has been fired from her job as homeschool teacher. She fired herself. Ha! I have found that I am a terrible homeschool teacher. My kids are too smart for me. I need a teacher for myself. But really, we are trudging through math, reading, and writing. That is done daily, and beyond that we have choosen different subjest weekly that usually have to do with Hawaii. We've studied that Hawaiian language, so we can read street signs a little better now, but still struggle with people's names until we can see them written down. We've studied seals, sharks, geckos, and volcanos. And we put an extra effort to learn about our surroundings when we are out and about- like the pineapple planatition or the taro fields. So I would say the kids haven't had a traditional education the last two months but if you need to know the state fish of Hawaii Sam and Ellie can tell it to you. It's the .....

Humuhumunukunukuapuaa!

May Day

May Day is a fabulous event here in Hawaii. All of the elementary school celebrate May Day with a traditional dances put on by each of the grades. The Polynesian islands are represented by each grade and the six graders make up the Royal Hawaiian Court. Laie Elementary May Day program is preformed in the morning at the PCC on the big stage. Its a huge event and all of Laie shows up at it. My kids were not going to miss seeing thier friends dance, so we got up early and went to the PCC for May Day. Here are a couple pictures, but they don't quite do the event justice- every child was in full costume and each dance choreographed by volunteers, and the kids had been practicing for all of April to perform. It was really fantastic. When the kindergartners got up Jayne leaned over to me and said, "that's what I am going to dance next year." Which is true- IF we live in Hawaii next year. It was great for my kids to see this and I was moved at the pride and dedication these beautiful people have for their heritage.

The Six Grade Hawaiian Royalty and their proud parents.

The Royal Court Dancing

The King and his men dancing.

 The Queen dancing the hula.

 This is the little preschoolers dancing the Fijian warrior dance. They rocked it.