Update on all of us

Kezia “just can’t wait” to begin swim lessons again. She looooooves the water. On the way to the beach or pool, she asks that I get the sunscreen on right away so she can get in the water. She likes to see how far can “swim” out. She can swim all the way to the deep end in our pool and continues to stretch how far she can go out in the ocean, with me being her distance marker. A few days ago Nate was watching her from the shore and she began to swim further than we liked. I went in with her and she pointed to some sailboats out in the horizon. “I think I can swim all the way to that boat”, she said. We had a good serious talk about currents and the importance of only swimming to Mommy or Daddy. I call it swimming, but really it’s a modified swim with a swimming noodle between her legs. But yesterday she went out without it, so that was progress.



On Wednesdays we meet up with a women stand up paddle surf group. Kezia loves to lie on the nose of the board while I paddle. It’s a good bonding activity for she and I. She has tried out the sport herself.

Here's a video of her trying out the board for herself:


Her next big excitement is our procurement of a bugie board. She had so much fun riding it in the shore break.

Kezia still loves hula and is getting better and better. I am impressed with the hula halau she is in. Great people and plenty of no-pressure performances. She has another this upcoming Sunday.





Kezia performing in front of hundreds of people at a military event:



This week was the last week of Joy School and Great Beginnings. She has been with a great group of kids and I am grateful to have made new friends with the moms. She is excited about reading and writing and is always writing words and asking how to spell and showing us words she can read and coming up with words that rhyme. About 3-4 times a day she comes to me and says, “Mom, 3 and 2 make 5”, or some other addition equation.

Ivy surprised us yesterday by going out in the water by herself and putting her face and whole body in the water. She has been so timid about the water so we are proud of her.



She has been going to Great Beginnings since April so we let her “graduate” as well. Ivy loves to imagine. She is a great girl who finds beauty everywhere. Any flower on her path better be aware; they will most likely be plucked from off its stem and held and played with until it is nothing but a pile of ripped petals. She gets down and dirty with her feelings. When she’s happy, she’s happy. When she’s mad, she’s mad. When she’s sad, she’s sad. When she’s shy, she’s shy. And when she’s social, she’s social. And that’s something great about Ivy.
She is excited she can spell her name and knows most of the names and sounds of the letters in the alphabet. Today as I was changing her diaper, she was sounding out the letters to read the title of a book. I used to look at children this young who knew their alphabet and numbers and colors and such and think, wow, how do they know so much? And now I understand the influence an older sibling can have. And yes, you read that right -- Ivy is still in diapers!! We have not found anything to persuade her otherwise. ;( She is excited when she gets a treat for being dry but doesn't care if she wets or messes her diaper. I think this is happening because I used to see those big diapers and think, any mom who slips her kid into one of those has weaning issues. And now I know.
The other day we grabbed a like-new bike that was being thrown away with a seat attached to the back for a friend to ride in. The girls had been having so much fun riding it around until we find someone to give it to. Once we took it on a bike ride and there was a hill. The girls went screaming down the hill with their eyes popping out. They had so much fun.

I guess the biggest news for me is the ending of Great Beginnings. It has been a wonderful experience to be a part of these kids’ lives and watch them learn and grow. There were two other kids in the class who have moved away prior to the ending of school. They are all terrific kids. I have loved watching them discover learning on their own. And at the same time, I am grateful to have a break.



Next week I begin teaching swim lessons again, the ones that Kezia is so excited about. I love teaching swimming. I am excited about it.
I am grateful for the job I have tutoring my friend’s daughter. Although I warned her I am no good at math, she wants me to help her out. For some time I have been saying I want to improve my math skills and this is helping me do so. And I am grateful for the transcribing job with the federal news agency as well. I get to listen to intelligent people make intelligent conversation and learn about what is going on in the government without media bias. It’s totally great.
In general, I am doing great. I am happy and I love my family and my life. I love living here in Hawaii and everything that comes with it. Inside, I sometimes feel like I am going crazy. I am trying to take life one step at a time. The pressures of being a mom of 3, not getting half the things done I would like to, and trying to earn a bit more money sometimes weighs down heavily. Sometimes it takes effort just to breathe.

When I was little, my sisters and I used to say we hope some elves would come and clean up the mess we made. Then we would close our eyes and our little sisters would clean up the mess and enjoy the "surprise" we had on our faces when the mess was cleaned up. Sometimes I close my eyes now hoping elves would come, but it's the same scene when I open them back up. I would love some words of encouragement for the times that the pressure seems too much. Something that has been helping is writing down each day something during the day where I see God’s hand in our lives and noticing how much He is blessing us. That and the continuous “Mommy, I love you”’s from the girls is keeping me afloat. And, of course, my totally awesome husband.
Speaking of which, the 16th of this month marked our 8th anniversary. I am so so so grateful for Nate. He is my best friend and I love him so much. His mom watched the girls while we took off for some much missed rock climbing. After hiking straight up a mountain for a half hour in thick vog (volcano-caused fog, we arrived exhausted and out of breath at a cliff lined with climbs. It was so nice to be climbing again, and the view was fabulous. Afterward we jumped into the turquoise waters of the near-empty beach bordering the mountain.

See the cliffline? That's the climbing spot. The hike up to it was straight up -- no zigzagging or anything....obviously the trail was made with the end in mind.



Happy Climbers



The refreshing ocean that awaited our descent from the mountain:




Nate is working on bringing to life his many business ideas. He gets so excited about them. However, I think he may have worked himself sick. Right now he is in bed trying to kick a sore throat. His SUP surf magazine continues to attract the attention of some of the industry's greats. Many times he'll tell me a pro surfer called or another publication called. This morning USA TODAY called to ask him questions about the stand-up paddle surfing industry. So if you subscribe to USA TODAY, look for Nate's name in an upcoming issue! And we are realizing some of the perks of owning an outlet for advertisers: they love to send you free stuff.