Sea Life Park

Awe. Sea Life Park. As we drove up Ellie said,"This looks kind of junky." Seth and I couldn't help but laugh. Its not junky, just Hawaii. The climate wear quickly on all materials. Things rust and rot at hyper speed here. Sea Life Park is no Sea World, but we loved it!

 Here are the kids waiting for the dolphin show to start. Sea World doesn't have that view looking over the Pacific Ocean.

I love this crew. I love just being with them. Sea Life Park was fun because we just got to be together. Even Seth said it was fun, and he doesn't like(we don't say hate in our family) "pre-manufactured fun." No Disneyland for him. Don't hate him for it. (Opps, we don't say that word.) Its just who he is. But he can appreciate being together and watching the kids enjoy the shows. Sam says that he wants to work here some day. I agree. Surfing dolphins looks like fun!

Here's Miss Jayne sportin' her new sunglasses. 

The funniest part of the it was that each show blasted awesome 80's music. Jake would totally rock out and forget that he was suppose to be watching the sea life. He'd be rockin' and then look up and see the dolphins and be startled and amazed. Like it was a surprise that they were here. He thought we were there to dance! Ha. Funny kid. 

 Sea Life Park is the home of a walphin- part whale, part dolphin. 

Here is the trainer surfing the dolphin. It was a good a show and a great day. My camera died so the rest was taken on Seth's phone. We watched the big theater show and the sea lion show. I remembered when I was here as a senior in high school I was chosen out of the crowd for the sea lion to give me a kiss. It was the long flowing blond hair that got me chosen, I am sure of it! We petted a baby turtle and fed the big sea turtles. It was just the right size and Seth and the baby feel asleep on the way home. It was on my checklist to do before we left, so I am glad we went. 

Home

For our family night activity we headed to the beach, caught some crabs, chased some waves, watch a sea turtle, and played in the sand. Just a typical family night activity, right? What? That's not what you did for family night? Oh, yeah, I guess we live in Hawaii. We are so spoiled. Even thought these pictures aren't great (because they are from my I phone camera-although some are impressive just due to the scenery), I wanted to post some pictures of Seth. Love this man. He is so great. We've had to make some tough decisions lately about what the heck we're going to do with our lives, and I am so grateful to have him as my husband. We keep saying- at least we're married to each other. :) Tonight at family night, Seth told the kids that we felt like it was time to sell our house. Eyes swelled with tears at the thought of not returning to our friends in Seattle. But Seth was so great to extend his words of faith to the kids, tell them that he knew we would be taken care of. I believe him too. We still don't know where we are going or when. But we know we will be taken care of (even though I am crying as I type this, I do believe it). Its just a bit scary to step into the darkness, having faith that there will be light head. And for these sweet children that we love so deeply, we only want the best. So our guts get all twisted inside trying to figure things out that haven't yet been made known to us. So now that your in on the low down, you can pray and help us sell our house. Then we'll all find out together the big surprise, meaning, where we are going to live next. Jayne asked if we were going to buy another home and requested that it be a bigger one. We wondered if she wanted a bigger one than our Hawaii house (1400 sq ft) or our Seattle house(3700 sq ft)? She said our Seattle house. Ha! But Micah noted that he thought we were happier here in our smaller house than in our big house. So he wondered if we moved into, maybe 900 sq ft, that we would be even happier? I question his theory, but we could try it out. So here's a couple pictures of us at family night. Again, we love you and we are so grateful for your prayers and support.

Never Get Tired of Family

We have noted that more people have come to visit us here than anywhere else we have lived, and we will only live for 6 month. But, it is for sure the coolest place we have ever lived. In fact just yesterday I made reservations for us to return to the mainland (July 31st). I almost felt sick about it. Even though it will be the right time for us to go, the thought of leaving this incredible place makes me a bit sad. We have been so evidently blessed by this experience. It had changed us. But instead of already being sad, we will make the most of our last two months here. Some people don't even get that. So off we go.

Here are some pictures of our family. I have to laugh because I was going to take pictures of Micah, Rachel and Kaylyn, and then Jake joined in, just like he was their little son. The funniest part is that as soon as we wanted him to be in the picture, he didn't want to join us.

Here we all are!

Oh wait, now Eric and Nakita made it to the picture. Now- here we all are!

Baby Kaylyn had the most fans this week. It's always so fun to have a baby around. The kids just loved her. Her little strawberry blond hair reminds me of my babies.

Here she is giving Ellie the straight arm. High-yah!

Jake was also obsessed with Kaylyn.

Here he is trying to kiss her. She's not so sure.

Still trying.

Now the headlock kiss, there is no escaping. He's got her by the face!

Such a fun age at 8 months. She loved the challenge of sitting on the step.                   

I snapped this one of Miss Sassy Pants. I love the texture of the palm tree. She is really such a love.

And this is what you would call an albino Hawaiian cockroach. Very distinctive and rare, but can be found scooting down the side walks of Hawaii. Just as a warning- they bite!

House BBQ and Hot Pink High Heals

This is my friend Grace and her gorgeous daughter, Tarita. They are our house neighbors, meaning they live in the same house. Like I mentioned before, there are six families that live in our house. Grace and I were talking about having family in town and she said we should have a BBQ and that we could have the whole house come. So we did. It was awesome. David, her husband, BBQ for us and Grace made 5 different salads. It was quite unfair that they did all the work and it was our family coming. But that is the kind of people they are. They are so kind. The fun part it that all the families showed up. Mibi, Lee, and Savannah, Mike and Katrina Johansen's plus kids, David and Grace plus kids, and us. I feel dumb that I didn't take a picture of the whole group. Bummer, but I guess we'll have to have another one. So we had lots of kids, fun, and the most beautiful location at Castle Beach.

Here are Seth and Micah, just hanging out and enjoying the shade.

The other awesome thing that happened because we knew David and Grace was that Eric wanted to go spear fishing and David and his cousins took he and Micah- AT NIGHT. Too scary for me, but we watched from the shore as they fished with lights and their spear guns. The waves were rough that night and the current strong, so it was a lot of work. They got a squid and some fish. Two of the fish are what Micah and Eric holding below. David, in the background, wanted them to have the full experience, so they got to clean and cook their fish the next day. We're so lucky to have such awesome neighbor. I told Grace that we feel like their "groupies," we follow David around to the fire knife competitions, spear fishing, and BBQing. We need to get our own lives. But we have so much fun being apart of theirs. Thanks Galeai family.

Jake always does what we call "kissy face." Here we were showing him "fishy face." He didn't want to kiss it.

BBQ.

Eric helped Jakers climb a tree. Jake wasn't sure he really like it. As wild as he is, he is very aware of danger. He doesn't really like to be throw in the air or held upside down, he likes to be in control of his wildness.

 So after they had stood on the lower branch for a bit, Eric put him up high. He sat there for a minute and asked him if he liked it. He nodded yes. Then I asked him if he was scared and his little face scrunched into a frown and he started to cry and he said yes. Eric handed him down and we reassured him he was so brave and that he was like a monkey. He loved that idea and told everyone how "big high" he was in the tree. Silly boy.

Jayne was up for a bit of cheerleading on Eric shoulders.  

Here's Jayne in her swim suit and her "new" hot pink high heals. Aunt Rachel had found them in a free box outside a second hand store. Jayne thought it was the best present ever! She walked around with them on for hours.

They don't quite fit, but they look good!

Jayne's Salon and Tongan Drummers

Jayne has opened her own salon. See does hair, accessorizes, and give fire stick messages. Here she is working her magic on me. Note the two flowers in the hair and the bracelet as well. 

This was the final product. I look so modern. I needed a good style change.

Rachel was the second victim, I mean client. Note she is holding the water cups and she has mandatory flowers on her eyes and a towel behind her. The fire knife massage was done on the bed. It consisted of  rolling a fire stick up and down Rachel's back. She said it actually felt quite good. Jayne was so pleased.

 Here's Sam holding his little cousin.

 Now it was Kaylyn's turn. She didn't have much hair, but plenty for Jayne. She looked a bit like the mother cat had given her a bath after Jayne slicked down her hair. 

 Again the final product. BEAUTIFUL!

 Eric and Nakita hadn't been to the PCC, so we joined them for just a bit. The kids went on an outrigger with them. It was Jake's first time, and I am sure he loved it.

 Sam made a friend showing off his fire knife skills.

Jake made a friends at the Tongan drum show.