Shave Ice -- the Natural way

Love this pic.

And love the new discovery we made! Island X at the Sugar Mill makes natural shave ice. Not like the sugary syrup that's found at Matsumotos and everywhere else but syrup that the owner's wife makes by picking local fruit, pureeing it, and making a syrup out of it! Imagine that -- a fruit syrup made from, well, fruit!

It is DELICIOUS! I've been telling everyone to go try it out. It's much pricier than the other kind of shave ice, but it's worth it.

Here the girls are all enjoying a mango shave ice.

Fun at the beach

Here are some shots of our time at the beach this last week. The girls have been practicing for the Menehune contest -- the keiki contest that was this weekend, and when they weren't out in the surf they were having a BALL boogie boarding in the shore break. Even Elysse was having fun getting tumbled and thrashed around in the shore break, and would go back out for more fun!

We were all a bit sad to find out that all the girls' divisions would be on Sunday, since we don't surf on Sunday. It made me sad for the girls who have been practicing and have been so excited for this event and now they won't be able to perform. But I am proud of their commitment to keep the Sabbath day holy and how maturely they handled it.

Nate's 35th birthday

Wow! Nate's 35!

Nate was bogged down working during the day, and the girls were excitedly creating gifts for him, asking when Daddy is going to celebrate. Finally, I thought enough is enough and decided I'd force Nate out of his office. I told the girls we would secretly fill water balloons and hide them outside. Then at my cue, I'd lead Daddy to the side yard and the girls and their friends can get him. They didn't know, however, that I also had a secret for Nate, telling him where his secret stash of water balloons are.




It ended up being all-out war-- one adult against 6 kids, and that adult wasn't playing nice!! It was one man for himself out there! Everyone had a great time. Then we finished it up with a slip n' slide. I think Nate (and the girls) had a great, wet time.

The girls finally got advantage of Nate, attacking him from behind.

Nate the birthday boy

The girls made bags full of gifts for their daddy -- from their own treasures to their own creations to photos to pictures to love notes. It was all very sweet.

I got him a hammock. Aaahhhhh. We've all been loving it.


We went out to eat at our favorite restaurant, Luibueno's. with our friend Michael who is living with us. The next day we had a delicious dinner at Nate's mom's house and enjoyed her chocolate cake which she makes for every birthday.