A Tale Of Two Weeks

We are finally approaching the sunset of a more than two-week spring break from school (cruel, I know), and for the better part of the last week the kids looked mostly like this:

Sick couch potatoes with hot, molten lava fevers. For all their whininess and generally poor humor I christened them the stars of "The Clingy & Cranky Show" -- the show I was forced to watch for a week straight with little to no funny commercials. Worse than "Big Brother" and "Rock of Love" combined.

The only upshot of the week, really, was that for the first time in years, Finn actually napped. Every day. Sometimes even at the same time as Shea, which produced an eerie, surreal daytime silence in the house, the likes of which I haven't heard (not heard?) since before we had children.

And speaking of befores...

Before we were stricken with the Plague of a Thousand VHS Tapes, we had a fun week exploring Honolulu, including our very first ascent of perhaps the state's most iconic peak: Diamond Head.

And yes, Shea -- a month shy of her third birthday -- made the trip with us too! It took about two hours up and back and she did most of the journey on her own two feet.

Halfway up the mountain I was able to get a friend to take this quick snapshot of the three of us -- a millisecond after which Finn and his buddy practically ran the entire rest of the way up the mountain without breaking a sweat, making every one of my 37 years flash before my eyes.

These tourists made the journey in their wedge heels. Wow.

The views from the crater's peak were magnificent.

This is Waikiki and downtown Honolulu, behind that. That pink splotch there in the middle? That's the famous Royal Hawaiian hotel and it's faaaaabulous. Especially its beachfront Mai Tai Bar.

And here are a couple local urchins happy to be standing at the top of what was once a real live volcano with hot, molten lava and everything.

Come to think of it, maybe that was what inspired their fevers....

And Then One Day We Just Turned Around And He Was All Grown Up

Happy St. Patrick's Day

For The First Time Ever, We Are Pet Owners

Freckles

I Actually LIVE Here

Putting The Grand In Grandparents

My parents flew out for a visit earlier this month. Even though my Mom flew over with us to help out when we made The Big Move last July, this was the first visit where they were able to see what our new life in Hawaii looks like now that all the furniture is in place, the artwork and photos are hung on the wall, the kids are enrolled in school and sports, and I've finally put all my pictures into my scrapbooks.

No, wait -- that last one still hasn't happened. Wishful thinking.

But you get the idea. And I have to say I think they liked what they saw.

The kids were so happy to see their Grandma and Opa -- and not just because they arrived with two completely full suitcases of gifts, either. My parents, grateful to finally be able to flex their Grandparent muscles after seven months of separation, spent most of their time playing London Bridge, giving horsey rides, flying airplanes, and reading stories.


John and I kept busy during their visit, too, taking full advantage of the rare opportunity for FREE BABYSITTING. We went out on lots of dinner dates, rocked our socks off at The Police concert, and even went surfing together in front of Diamondhead in East Waikiki. (OK, truth be told, John surfed and I paddled around for two hours, a little more than slightly intimidated by the shallow rocky bottom underneath me and the six years since I was last on my surfboard.)

As one of his belated Christmas gifts, we rented Dad a BMW motorcycle for the day so he could check out the rest of the island. He made sure to give exhilarating albeit low-gear rides to interested five-year-old riders, and allowed not-at-all-interested, two-year-old onlookers the opportunity to just pose for a photo with the engine off.

We went to Chinatown, where Dad had his first taste of dim sum and got friendly with a flounder, whom he invited over for dinner that night.

We paid a visit to Sea Life Park, Oahu's charming little version of San Diego's Sea World.

And, of course, there was much soccer. (With the cutest referee, by the way.)

Bottom line:

It was a great visit.

The grandparents need to come more often and stay longer when they do.

The end.