Ok, here's a picture of Ivy's second trip to "the big waves." Ivy has really been blossoming lately. Ever since she FINALLY got potty trained, she's more courageous to do things, has less tantrums, and has a WHOLE lot to say.


Kezia is now 5!! Can you believe it!? Wow. She is so grown up and she is such a sweet girl. How many kids ask their sister if she would like to open the biggest gifts for her? Really probably a whole lot. Kids are great, and I'm glad I have one with a big heart in my family. And now she's in kindergarten!

She insisted on a unicorn pinata for her birthday. I didn't see one in the pinata aisle, and as we were leaving, her eyes caught one on the top shelf on the corner. Here it is getting battered by a three year old. Poor thing.

Lost of loves for baby Elysse. Some of you know that Elysse has been my pain-in-the-neck baby, refusing to sleep for long periods of time and crying a lot for no apparent reason. I already felt like I was already going insane, and she just put me in the express lane to the asylum. So I thought, ok, I'll make it to the reunion in July and then other people can take care of her and I can relax a bit. But she thought it would be a funny trick (though highly appreciated) to calm down once we started our trip. So now I have family members saying, "What do you mean she's a hard baby? She seemed so mellow at the reunion!" If only you knew.... But, letting the past die, she is now a wonderful, cheerful, super curious seven month old. I think a big change in her temperment was her newfound ability to crawl, and now she's going everywhere, pulled like a magnet to small chokeables on the floor. She now has two bottom teeth and her hair is growing.
Ok, even though it's sideways, I had to include this one. Hee-hee! Embarrasingly, it brings back memories.

Ok, so besides that, Nate's been kicking out some really cool products online, one in particular that is doing rather well. He's in San Diego at the ASR trade show. If you want to check out his happenings, I just saw he posted some on his magazine website at www.supsurfmag.com. I just had my first day of Great Beginnings preschool, which I have been doing a lot of prepping for the last two weeks (and last two late nights). I am so grateful for my mother in law and all the times she watched the girls so I could meet my deadline. She is so great and an inspiration to me. So now that that's done, I just might post some more.

Swim lessons

Swimming lessons came to an end at the end of last month. It was so much fun to teach these keiki how to swim and see their excitement for accomplishing something that used to be scary and unknown to them. My favorite day was when all the girls in Kezia's class each rushed to me with something they had learned to do, like swim without floaties or put their face under water or such. I also added something this session: goal setting. It was cool to watch these kids make goals and really try to reach them. Kezia and Ivy (and all the kids) had a great time and learned a lot.

Chillin (I mean steaming) in the hot tub with the swimmers (minus the 2 boys who weren't there that day)

Life moves quickly. It's up to us to slow it down.

And speaking of, we saw the coolest thing in our parking lot the other day: a huge, fat caterpillar that was 4 inches long and a good 1/2 inch across! It was a white lined hornworm that would turn into a sphinx moth -- you know, one of those huge moths bigger than your face. Here's a little video the kiddies might enjoy.

An Empty Wheelchair

The Empty Wheelchair

Last Tuesday there was a man who was pushed in a wheelchair to the beach. He watched the waves. I took my board and went out to enjoy the waves. As I was out there, I saw him again, this time on a board. The man was almost completely paralyzed. He was on a special board and his friend was pushing him into the waves. Each time he caught a wave, his friend whispered, "Yes! Yes! Yes!"

So grateful for Elysse

Lately Nate and I have been falling asleep exhausted before we even mean to. On Tuesday night Nate fell asleep with his contacts still in. He woke up in a lot of pain and took them out. He spent the day doctoring his eye and hoped it would be better by the next morning. But I woke up at about 5 am the next morning to watch Nate pacing up and down the hall like a mad man with his hand over his eye. Just watching him made your eyes hurt. He had been up since 4am in terrible shooting pain. The doctor's office didn't open til 9am. Nate said it could have been months til it opened and it wouldn't have seemed longer.

The doctor couldn't see him til 11:20, so we dropped Kezia and Ivy off at a friend's and put a sleepy Elysse in the backseat and drove off to Walmart. I found a parking spot in the sun and thought, "oh well, there's nothing in the car that'll need shade" and Nate and I went to the doctor's. We filled out the paperwork, got his eyes airblasted, and waited to see the doctor. And then it hit me: ELYSSE!!! Omigoodness, with the older girls at our friends and our concern for Nate's eye, I totally forgot her!!! And now it was at least 10 minutes later in a car in the sun!!

I dashed out of there so fast. I could hear a baby crying in the distance and my first thought was someone got her out and now they're calling CFS to convict me. The crying continued as I got closer to the car, so then I thought she must be screaming in the car. But as I yanked open the car door, I found a quiet, drowsy, sweaty little girl. (I am thinking (hoping) the drowsy part was because she had just woken up). Although I had gotten the stroller out, I didn't put her in it. I held her close all the way back to the store. I am so, so, so grateful for the Holy Ghost and that she is ok. Since the girls were at a friend's, the thought was in my head that the girls were gone and it was just Nate and I. Once we returned to the car later, it was hot enough that we would have probably lost her had I not remembered earlier.

So now both my parenting nightmares have come true: 1. locking my children in the car without a key and 2. forgetting a quiet baby in the car. And both times have turned out alright.


And what about Nate? He had an abrasion on his eye, probably due to pulling off a layer of eye skin while rubbing his eye with a dry contact in it. He is fine now.

My very happy birthday

I have entered into my last year of young-hood. Yep, as of June 29th, I am now 29. As I am writing this, I realized now that it was my golden birthday, 29 on the 29th. I remember thinking of that when I was younger and thinking it won't be for a looooong time. Hmm....Next year I will be old. Or at least my age will be. Or perhaps I will adopt my friend's advice and be "forever 29"

I had a wonderful birthday. I loved all the phone calls and cards from people I love. It makes me feel great to think that people think of me!

Three people especially did great things for me on my birthday that made it really nice. First of all, Kay, Nate's mom, watched Kezia and Ivy over night Friday night and it was great to have a break. Saturday morning Nate and I dropped Elysse off at her house and had a great paddle down the river. Nate finally finished the paddle he gave me for Christmas, and it works great! Not bad for a first try.

We began at Three Tables and paddled all the way to Haleiwa, about a 5 mile distance. We stopped at a beach for lunch and a snorkel, and once we got back on our boards, the wind had switched direction and the water was choppy, testing our will to get to the end. In all, it took us 5 hours to get to the shore, a lot longer than we were anticipating. It has been a while since I have been in water, which is where I feel most at peace, and it's been a while since Nate and I have had time together, so spending that much time in the water with my best friend was a great birthday celebration.

But that wasn't all. Kezia made sure of that. Since the beginning of May, Kezia has been compiling gift bags in the corner of her room full of paper gifts for me. Every day she has asked me how many more days until my birthday. Sunday morning she presented me with all the gifts. I pulled out math equations and words spelled on paper, collages, pictures of women from a magazine ("because (I) would like them") a bracelet made from a magazine picture, a paper fan, clips of black construction paper, and a birthday crown. How cool is that?



But it didn't end there. Unknown to me, she had a whole birthday celebration planned. After I unwrapped my gifts, she said, "Well, since you don't have a pinata, we'll just have to make one." Soon she was back with paper bags filled with toys from around the house and a golf club. It was pretty funny to see Kezia try to protect her face while holding the pinata for Ivy to swing at. Then it was Ivy's turn to hold a bag. She held it right next to her chest and said, "Ok, Kezia, hit it!" Thankfully, Kezia, the wiser one, showed her how to hold it to the side.

Ivy taking a swing at the brown bag pinata

Then we had a pony ride down the hall on the golf club. And then we performed hula hoop tricks. What a great daughter (and daughters) I have.

The girls spent the day again with Grandma, who gave me a beautiful, homemade plumeria lei. That evening we went back to her house for a classic Burgoyne feast with a classic chocolate cake with too many hot candles on top.



And the evening ended with a luxurious foot massage by Nate.

Yes, I had a great birthday.

Joyful Moments

Here's a pic with the girls and their good, good friends who are moving to Italy. What's up with kids and noses?!?

Some really enjoyable moments this summer:

-- Going to the zoo as a family. Anytime we can do something as a family, it is so great. So many times Nate has to work, so when he can be with us, it is so fun and relaxing (especially because I'm not the only adult!) Last time we were there the gibbons were making a lot of raucous. Here is a video I took because I thought kids would enjoy it.






--Going to Sunset Beach last weekend. While Nate was meeting with someone for business, the girls and I played in the water and had so much fun. We were giggling and chasing each other and getting pushed and pulled by the shore break. I felt pure joy playing with my daughters.

--The last two nights. For the first time since who knows when, I went to sleep in the evening and didn't wake up til the morning. And for those who have been tracking Elysse, that means she didn't either.

--Making bread with a biga. I have always loved baking bread. Lately I have been experimenting making bread with a sponge starter. The loaves have tasted really good -- kind of like French bread.

--Watching my seedlings grow. I planted tons of seeds in our garden: broccoli, tomato, pepper, spices, onion, lettuce, beets, and peas. I love watching them grow, and at the same time I wonder when I will actually replant them so they can survive, and I hope they will actually produce for us.

--Slowing down. I have been working on living life a lot slower since Elysse was born and I have loved the results. I enjoy life more, enjoy my children and my husband more, and don't worry (too much) about certain things anymore.

--Teaching swim lessons. I LOVE teaching swimming. I think it's the same reason I love to teach people to surf. I am teaching people to love the medium I love most in life: Water. So I have been teaching Kezia and Ivy's age group to swim. We have been having swim lessons at our friend's building, which has a much nicer pool than ours, complete with bathrooms and shade (yeah, ours doesn't have those "luxuries") and a HOT TUB! Lovin' it.

I love watching the kids learn and gain confidence. Yesterday the kids were so anxious to show me the cool things they learned to do in the water since the last class. And they say and do such funny things, like when I asked a girl to make big arm circles, and she put her pointer fingers and thumbs together to make the biggest circle she could. I have been impressed with the kids' willpower to make goals and reach them. I thought making goals would help them with learning to swim and I bribe them with their choice of treats from a treasure box that they can pick from after they reach their goal. They all choose lofty goals, and reach them!

Surfing magazine

Nate has been putting a lot of work into www.supsurfmag.com lately. It is exciting to watch this brain baby of his (really, a better term is heart-baby because he loves it so much) grow and expand in the direction we want it to go.

Nate amazes me. He has always had a gift for learning skills super quickly. Beginning with no experience with web design (ok, I take that back: very, very little), and just a deep love for stand up paddle surfing, he has built this magazine single-handedly. There have been so many times when he doesn't know how to get something to work the way he wants. He'd be all frustrated and out of ideas. Then the next day he has it all figured out and working smooth as butter. The trend has become so common now that when he tells me of a problem he's having, I tell him it'll be solved by lunchtime the next day, and usually I am right.


A week ago a surfboard company asked Nate to sell their boards through his site. Thus began a week with little sleep and countless hours and tons of brainwork poured into putting together a shopping cart on his website. He finished just yesterday. Big breath. Ahhhhhhh. They now have asked him to help with the R&D of their boards, which means they will send him a few boards to ride and test out. So now he'll have to surf for work.

The other day Nate met with Kahuna Creations during a demo day when they were demonstrating their skateboards with a paddle. We had our doubts; it sounded hokey. But we LOVED it! If anyone is into board sports, we highly recommend it. To us, it was just like stand up paddle surfing on land. Kezia took to it right away. I rode it with her, and she kept saying, "I want to do it by myself!" So I let her and she did really well!! After going back and forth on the sidewalk, she said, "Mommy, I am getting better because I am practicing a lot!" Nate and I think she will be a great surfer some day. She wants to surf and has been asking for months to enter a keiki surf contest in the fall. (I remind her she has to learn to swim first). When she was young, she spent a lot of time standing on her rocking chair and ever since she has had amazing balance.

Sesame Street ROCKS da HOUSE!!

Today was so much fun. We got to go to Sesame Street Live. If it ever comes to your town and you have little ones, it's a must see.

We were so fortunate to go. I saw the ad in the paper and really wanted to go. I entered the contest the ad was promoting, and like everyone but one person, I lost. Still, I really wanted to take our girls. They love playing the Sesame Street games and watching their videos on www.sesameworkshop.org. So I put an ad on Craigslist. Since our budget is really tight right now, I stated in my ad that we can't pay a lot for tickets right now, and guess what, someone responded!! It was a magazine, Island Life, and they had vouchers for $15 each. I thanked them, but said that would still be too much. I thought that would be the end. But she emailed me back and asked what we would pay and they would consider it. I told her $5/ticket. She gave them to us for that much!! I was so grateful to her and for her generosity.

Days were counted down with much anticipation, especially by Ivy, who, upon hearing how many more days until the Sesame Street show, would clench her fists near her cheeks, pop open her eyes, and through a teethy grin would exclaim, "I'm so excited!"


Kezia and Ivy had so much fun (it put Elysse to sleep). It was so worth it to see their eyes light up when their favorite characters danced across the stage. Here are some pics and video.