Goodbye to a Loyal Friend

I nearly kissed the FedEx dude this morning when he appeared at my door with a brown box and a signature pad. I knew my good friend, my trusty Cannon Rebel XT, was back in my life. Things were looking up.

That was before I opened the box and found not only my camera inside but also his obituary. His official cause of death: "Moisture: repair to exceed replacement cost." If you're familiar with this camera, you know that's a pretty steep replacement cost. (Maybe this death in the family isn't the only reason I have a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach.) I also found a hospital bill of $105 which had already been charged to my visa. Needless to say, I picked up the phone. I'm soon to receive autopsy photos of the corrosion on the inside of my camera. As for the charges, they were for servicing my lens which I sent attached to the camera (which was totally fine). After 50-something minutes on the phone (which resulted in multiple catastrophes here at the homestead), I convinced Cannon to reverse those charges.

I'm wearing black today. I'm in mourning, you see...

(Just looking at the cruddy photos below (taken with the "stills" setting on my video camera) confirms to me what a fine friend my Rebel was.)

July 4th Catch-up

We spent the morning of the 4th at Grandma and Grandpa's carnival and breakfast. The kids love this carnival as they have an old-fashioned dunk tank, a High Striker game where you swing the hammer and try to ring the bell at the top, inflatables to bounce on, air-brushed tatoos and plenty of other fun. The kids and I each took a turn sitting in the dunking chair (yes, me). Jolie did it over and over. I should have listened to her when we were leaving the house and she asked for a towel (I told her she wouldn't need one, underestimating how wet a bucket of water can really make you).

In the afternoon we decided to see Up at the theater. Grandma came over to sit with Mia while she was taking her nap, which was a huge gift to me. I haven't sat all the way through a movie in years.

We were big old party poopers the evening of the 4th, didn't go to see fireworks or anything. I actually worked in the yard, pulling some of the thousands of weeds that took over the front flower beds while we were in Hawaii. The kids came out and did a little bit of helping and a little bit of playing. Jolie sang and danced to her HSM2 CD, showing me the dances in her play. It was a little difficult to watch our neighbors having a big patriotic barbeque and party, and we started to hear fireworks when we came in. We put the kids to bed amidst much whining and knashing of teeth. They did manage to watch part of a firework display from the boys' window after going to bed.

Flashback to the 80's

Between the recent death of Michael Jackson and today's shopping trip to Justice for Girls, I've found myself reminiscing of the glorious 1980s. Have you been to your local tweenie clothing store? Never in my wildest dreams did I think these hiddeous fashions would EVER come back. Guess again. And the little girls LOVE them (as much as we did).

My camera has been shipped off to the Cannon rehab clinic in Virginia so I can't show you what Jolie and I bought this afternoon. My favorite is the hot pink and black zebra striped "arm warmers" (remember those fingerless gloves?)with the silver chains. Jolie had to have them and she's been wearing them most of the day. We also bought hot pink knee-highs with sequined peace signs, peace sign jewelry, hot pink leopard print tights, a hot pink vest, and the swimming suit we went in there for. The kids' HSM2 performances start next week and she needed the suit as part of her costume.

I've been watching a lot of the news coverage about Michael Jackson. His music is like a soundtrack to my adolescence. My girlfriend, Lori, was a Michael Jackson maniac. She even wore one sequined glove on her (left?) hand. That was a little extreme for me but I did (and do) love his music and I still love to see him perform. RIP, M.J.

Homesick for Hawaii

Tonight when kissing Tristan goodnight he told me he's been feeling homesick for Hawaii. I understood completely.

We took a red-eye home from Honolulu Sunday night / Monday morning. We spent Sunday on Oahu, seeing Pearl Harbor and visiting with my cousin, Teresa, and her family. We were pleased to be able to visit the USS Arizona Memorial as this was one of the things we were hoping to see when we originally planned to spend our second week on Oahu (the other was the Polynesian Cultural Center). I overheard Tristan telling Gavin to look for a sunken WWII ship when we were landing in Honolulu. At that point we didn't know whether we were going to be able to go. We ended up getting our rental car and heading straight there. We made the last tour of the day. We saw a film about the bombing of Pearl Harbor and took a ferry to the site. It was a very reverent place, I hope we all remember what we learned and the sacrifices made there.

We visited Teresa and her family, they live in East Honolulu. Teresa and her girls drove us along the coast which was beautiful. Until seeing the coast, Honolulu reminded me of San Diego. I'm so glad we decided to spend our second week in Kauai. Oahu was beautiful but I really think it was the right decision for us. The kids had a great time playing in the WWII bunkers near the Makapuu lookout. We drove to Teresa's house and had dinner and caught up. It was so nice of them to have us. From there we drove to the airport and flew home. Our red-eye was an easier flight than our trip from Salt Lake, the kids all slept part of it. I was able to watch a movie but neither Dan nor I slept.

It's been a challenging couple of days, trying to get over the lack of sleep and adjusting to the 4-hour time change. In fact, I was in a stupor most of Monday. The hardest thing of all, though, is missing Hawaii. I didn't expect to fall so in love with the place. Ofcourse it was great to be away from the drudgery of everyday life and be surrounded by beauty, but there was something else about Hawaii that I loved, I guess you'd call it the aloha spirit. Those who've been there will understand. I talked to my friend, Lorraine today. She's been many times. When she asked me how our trip went I didn't have to say anything. I just sighed and she understood. She told me to hold onto the aloha spirit and keep it in my heart as long as I could. Good advice.

I've already started our next Hawaii fund. I'm shooting for 2 years from now. No more eating out or buying clothes, I'm going back to paradise.

Na'pali: The Jewel of the Pacific

I couldn't conclude my Hawaii saga without posting about one of the best parts of our trip, the Na'Pali coast. It was breathtaking. Na'pali is fifteen miles of rugged coastline on the northwest shore of Kauai. It's inaccessible by car and it's unbelievable. You have to see it by boat or kayak, or you can hike an 11 mile trail to get there. Lisa and I spent Saturday morning on a catamaran excursion headed there.

So we headed out and along the way, we met up with a pod of dolphins. They were Hawaiian spinner dolphins and they spent 10 or 15 minutes swimming and jumping alongside our boat. Our guides said the dolphins like the feel of the pressure wave created by the wake of the boat. They were racing and jumping all over the place. I was able to get them on video so the kids could see them.

The coastline was gorgeous. I don't think there is a word in the dictionary to describe it. Magestic, sheer cliffs with rock cathedrals created by centuries of erosion, all covered in beautiful green vegitation. All of this falling steeply to the ocean with the waves crashing. There were caves and waterfalls and even sandy white beaches along the way. The water was a deep clear blue, like looking through a blue glass. Half way through the trip they anchored the boat and we snorkelled. We didn't see anything extraordinary, in fact the snorkelling was kind of a waste of time. It did feel good to get in the water, though. Have I mentioned how warm the ocean is in Hawaii?

On the way back to Port Alen where we enbarked, we ate lunch and had some fun. Our captain offered the "trampoline" to the adventure-seekers in our group. They laid down on their stomachs and held on for dear life while we hit some big waves. Those lying on the trampoline flew up in the air superman-style. It was fun. I was actually thinking how much Tristan would have enjoyed that.

This brings up a good point: whether or not to bring ones' children when going to Hawaii. A lot of our friends told us we were crazy to bring the kids along. You take the kids to Disneyland and leave them home when you go to Hawaii, they said. There's no question that our trip would have been more of a vacation without the little ones. We would have been able to sit by the ocean with a book, take naps, have romantic dinners by candelight, sleep in, and the like. We probably could have rented a convertable and cruised serenely down the coast. The problem is, we would have been missing them the whole time and we would have spent the whole trip wishing they were there to experience it with us. Plus, there's nobody on Earth who can handle taking care of them 24/7 for two weeks (or even one). Our week with Dad and Nancy was also intended to be for the kids. So I guess you have to decide what kind of trip you want to have: exciting and memory-filled or relaxing and serene, but probably not both.

Waimea Canyon

Today we drove up Waimea Canyon which is along the west shore of the island. Again, the diversity of these islands is amazing. We discovered that the west shore is dry, much different than even the south shore where we're staying. It's not that far away (20 minutes?). When we first entered the canyon, we noticed that the soil was red and the vegitation much drier. It felt like we were in southern Utah. Once we got into the canyon it became greener.

We stopped at a couple lookouts, the first allowed us to see Waimea Canyon, an amazing sight. Imagine the Grand Canyon on a smaller scale. We could see waterfalls across the canyon as well as helicopters for those willing to pay for a closer view. We stopped to eat our picnic lunch at a pullout along the way. The final lookout allowed us to see along the Na'pali coastline. It was breathtaking. Na'pali is considered the crown jewel of the Pacific and it's not accessible by car. While we were up there it was raining a misty rain and the cloud cover was pretty thick. It was quite foggy but I took a couple of pictures.

Lisa and I are treating ourselves to a boat ride along the Na'pali costline tomorrow morning. It's expensive so we decided not to take the whole family. The kids feel cheated that they don't get to go but they'll probably be just as happy in the ocean or at the pool (and we'll be $600 wealthier).

On our way home we sampled another version of shave ice (not shaved ice). This one was Jo Jo's in Waimea and it was good. I've come to like the tropical flavors. I had mango, lilikoi (passion fruit) and guava. I've abandoned my blue guidebook because I discovered that everyone else on the island bought the same book before they came here. All of the recommended places seem to be ruined. One's own instincts are always the best way to go, anyway. Right?

**I do have photos and they're amazing. Just can't access them due to battery issues (see below).

Kayaking the Wailea

Yesterday we hired a guide to take us up the Wailea River by kayak. Mia was too little to participate so Dan stayed with her at the resort. After kayaking down the river, we hiked about a mile and a half through the jungle to Secret Falls. We ate lunch, took pictures and (ofcourse) we swam under the waterfall. Some in our group chose not to do so. Being the adventure seekers that they are, my kids were all in the water before the food came out of our packs. It was tempting to stay dry and well-coifed but that would have been terribly dissapointing to my adventure seeking children. We all swam in the ice cold water and even went under the 100-something foot waterfall.

Tristan and Jolie did well kayaking. Gavin had the envious job of sitting between me and Tristan (down the river) and between me and Jolie (up the river). He felt a little left out not having an oar so he used a stick to help paddle part of the way. He did amazingly well on the hike. Much of the hike was along a river bed so there were a lot of rocks and tree roots to negotiate. It was also steep in some spots. Gavin's amazing climbing skills proved to be an asset for once. John, our native Kauaiian guide, was awesome. He was barefoot the whole way!

On the ride home we had a discussion about the kayaking portion of our trip. Tristan had a hard time understanding that all things are not a race and a competition. He was frustrated with me (down the river) and Lisa (up the river) for not aiding him in winning what he perceived to be a race. I don't know that he came around to our way of thinking (Tristan is an intense person. I don't know that he'll ever see things that way) but at least he understood why we were slowing down to take pictures, letting others by, etc.

The kids all say the kayaking / hiking trip has been their favorite part of Kauai so far. We'll see if that holds true.

Sidenote: I'm having some "issues" with my camera after getting it a little, um, wet, on the kayaking trip. Dan is trying to fix the problem. Hopefully there will be photos to come soon. No, I didn't drop it in the river. I just dipped a little bit of the lens in while helping Gavin cross a stream. I think I should be rewarded for being a good mother. Why haven't they invented waterproof electronics, anyway?

Spouting Horn

After yesterday's wild adventure we decided to spend the day close to home (did I just call this our home? Wishful thinking). This morning Lisa, Mia and I made another trip to Costco for some essentials and Dan took the other kiddos to the pool. We have the coolest pools here at our resort. They're the same type of black-bottom pools that we had in Maui and the water is filtered from the sea. The water feels very soft and tastes slightly salty. There are multiple levels to the main pool and a bridge that you can pass under. There's also a "relaxation pool" for those who are into that sort of thing. I don't know much about it, you'll have to ask my Diva sister about that one. I'm sure it's very quiet and serene without children or other distractions to ruin your day. My favorite is a secret little kiddie pool that's RIGHT on the ocean. There's a row of lawn chairs there, one end touches the edge of the pool and the other edge sits against a railing that drops off to the ocean. If wishes were fishes, I'd be there by myself with my book from sunrise to sunset.

Tristan prefers the ocean to the pool. There's a big swell right now on the South shore so I'm a little nervous about him going in the water without Dan or myself. This afternoon he spent some time exploring the rocks. He was trying to catch a crab with the bottom half of a soda can. He was rather annoyed at my attempt to photograph him doing so.

We headed over to Spouting Horn before dinner. It's very close to where we're staying. We drove through Koloa town where I ran to get some groceries a few days ago. I've decided that I want to move here and open a little grocery store. We could make a fortune selling pancake mix and peanut butter to visitors from the mainland (then again, maybe it really does cost $8 to import a small box of pancake mix to the most remote island chain in the world???) In any case, I'm trying to figure out what we could do for a living if we decided to move here permanently.

Kauai: North Shore

We've been in Kaua'i for two days now and I still can't get over how different it is from Maui. This was clear from the moment we walked off the plane. The airport was much less crowded and from the beginning it felt laid-back (as though Maui wasn't already laid back- where else in the world can you wear your bathing suit night and day and not stand out?)

Our drive between Lihue and Poi'pu was memorable. Everything I'd heard about this island is true. It's very very green and very lush. Many parts of the road are tunnelled by trees on both sides. The mountains are magestic. They're very tall, very jagged, and although they have deep erosion, every inch is covered with bright green vegitation. Although there are flowers here, it is mostly green. There are miles of beaches, many of which are recommeded by my guide book ("don't miss") but too many for us to visit in a week.

Today we drove all the way up the island to the North shore. We ended up at one of these recommended beaches, Tunnels. It was a long, arduous journey (deja vu). Gavin vommitted twice, once on the way up and once on the way down. He awoke us last night with a bad headache but we didn't know until half way up the coast that he had a case of the stomach flu. I knew something was up when he refused to get out of the car at the Waiamea river outlook (see photo of the rest of us). He lost his cookies 10 minutes after that picture was taken. Fortunately, we brought along bathing suits and hotel pool towels, so we were able to clean him up as well as the car.

We arrived at Tunnels beach in time to eat lunch (Gavin felt well enough for cherry shave ice). We changed into our suits and walked down the beach to snorkel. Tunnels was recommended as "snorkelling nirvana". To our amazement, we found a large group of green sea turtles close to shore, feeding on the algae. We were able to snorkel with them for quite a while. We were right there with them, it was amazing. We were told by a local guy that he'd never seen them so close to shore.

Once we got started back toward the South shore where we're staying, Gavin lost his cherry shave ice all over our last clean pool towel and all over me. That didn't stop him from having another one in Hanalei. We stopped at what was supposed to be the best shave ice on the island (guidebook). I had the Bali Hai Sunset served over a scoop of macadamia nut ice cream. By the time we finished eating it was dusk so we headed back down the island. I wish it hadn't been so late because I love looking at the scenery as we drive around here.

Maui, We'll Miss You

We're leaving Maui today. Each time I've seen someone with their bags in the elevator or the valet rolling a trolley full of suitcases through the lobby, I've shed a tear for their owners. Now we're the owners of the suitcases that are being packed and wheeled away. Thank goodness we have another week in Kauai or I'd really be shedding tears.

Yesterday we happened upon a parade and festival in Lahaina while we were down there with the kids surfing. Yesterday was King's Day. I took Jolie's photo with a couple of locals who were in the parade. The rest of these were taken at our Ka'anapalli beach.

Shaka!

We've had some early wake up calls the last two mornings for surf lessons. Yesterday my dad took Tristan and Jolie over to Lahaina for a lesson. They were both able to get up on their boards tanks to some excellent instructors. Notice that Tristan is making the "shaka" sign while he's up on his board. He looks like a true Hawaiian surfer (well, minus the dark, dark skin).

The four of us went back this morning to rent boards so they could surf some more. Jolie barely paddled into the water before she decided she wasn't into it today. I think she was a little nervous being out there without an instructor. She also copped up to the fact that she was afraid of the eels that Tristan saw while snorkeling yesterday afternoon. Jolie didn't actually see the eels (orange, about 2 feet long), but I guess the realization that she's sharing the ocean with wildlife is shocking to her. I tried to talk her into surfing but it didn't fly. At least we have the photos from yesterday so she can prove that she was once brave.

Tristan was having a hard time timing the waves, so he ended up joining a class for a while (same instructors as yesterday). He surfed for three or four hours before we returned the boards. Lisa even decided to sign up for a lesson, she was five hours behind us so we missed her.

Yesterday was our first real day snorkeling (if you don't count Gavin walking around with the mask on his face). There's a great reef right out from our resort. I'm glad the coral is good for something other than tearing up your feet and knees. Tristan is now an expert at snorkelling. In addition to the eels, he saw tons of urchins, schools of brightly colored fish, all kind of stuff. He and Lisa went out quite far yesterday afternoon, looking for some giant sea turtles that have been sited here. He makes a great snorkelling guide, he stays down in the water and points out wildlife to Jolie and Gavin who are not as strong in the water. My proudest achievement yesterday was getting Gavin to relax enough to enjoy the snorkelling adventure. He had a hard time adjusting to breathing through the tube while out in the waves, so I slowly eased him into it. Once he saw our friendly underwater friends (no eels) he forgot about the breathing and the swimming and the waves. He just relaxed and enjoyed it. I had to hang onto him while treading water myself so it wasn't easy but worth it. When he saw a fish he would make some noise and pop his head up to tell me. Jolie was also excited about our underwater friends, I don't know how they became our enemies between yesterday afternoon and this morning.

Dan is out on the beach with the kids right now. I'm in our villa while Mia naps. It's hard to be indoors in Hawaii. I have all the curtains open and the screen doors are letting in the sounds and smells of the ocean. I'm anxious to get out there.