A typical Day in the Burgoyne Home

Having heard a friend of mine comment that she's so tired because she got up at 5am that morning, I began to realize that either And I thought for history's sake, perhaps I'll jot down what a typical day is in our house perhaps with the hope that once it's documented, it can change to a more easy-going lifestyle.

I am grateful that we love what we do, we have a strong love and support for each other and we have wonderful, patient children. And I know that many, many working parents live similar lives, some even busier. I'm just anxious for when the businesses are more self-sustaining (getting there!) and we can enjoy more slooow days.

Nate runs 2 businesses, I run 1. We both "run" a family of 3 (1/2) children.

Nate gets up somewhere near 4am and boots up his Computer Machine and so begins the musical tap-tap-tap of the keyboard that continues throughout the day. I "sleep in" til 5 (sometimes 5:30) to take advantage of precious morning time before the girls wake up. After reading the scriptures and a book, I get into work stuff until 6:30 when I wake up Kezia or Ivy for 15 minutes of Mommy-and-me time before the school preparations begin. They're out the door by 7:40, and I leave shortly afterward to bring the van to the bay so our stand up school is officially "open". Then, depending on the day, Elysse and I bike ride to preschool, have our friend Carmie over, run errands, or do something together. By 11:00 She takes a nap and I do more work stuff. At 2:30 the girls come home from school, then it's homework time and then soccer or surfing or play with friends time. Skate over to bring the van home, then dinner is next, followed by the bedtime routine, and the girls are down by 7:30 or 8. I stay up to clean or do work while (lately) Nate continues his monotonous tap-tap- taping of the keyboard. I hit the pillow at about 10:30pm; usually Nate stays up later to finish up.

That being said, the "regular" days are dotted with surfing sessions, bike rides, and skating, stand up paddle lessons, dates, and of course, good times. Sometimes Nate sleeps in a bit more, and usually he can help with the clean up and cooking. Sometimes we can watch a show together and laugh before bed.

But when I look at my unfinished projects, piles of papers and piles of laundry, quick dinners, and not-so-clean house, and wonder why I feel like I've run a marathon, it's good for me to remember that all things have their seasons, and right now seems like the season to focus on raising three (or four) good girls and running a business (or three).

News...

Here's a puzzle we put together as a family last family home evening:

The girls were convinced we made a mistake until...

Due sometime early November.

Grateful we were spared from the tsunami

We are so lucky we were spared what was expected to be a bad tsunami. The warning on the news we received here was that Haleiwa was going to be the worst hit. I expected the water to at least reach our house, which is across the street and 2 houses down from the beach in Haleiwa. So when the water only came up past the bushes on the beach, we were so grateful, yet at the same time, feeling so sorrowful for the people in Japan. Wow.

I've had a few family members ask me if we were afraid and what we did. I think like anyone I was stricken with fearful amazement when we saw the wave coming into Japan, but much more aware knowing a tsunami was headed our way, and they were saying that our area was going to be the hardest hit. Panicky? No. We had plenty of time to prepare and evacuate. Our good friends on a hill took us in for the night. Our girls weren't really afraid either because last year we evacuated as well and nothing happened.

We have also had people ask what a tsunami wave is like. The girls and I went across the street to the beach the morning after to watch the water come in and out, so I thought I'd post the photos and videos we took that morning. Of course, this is a small tsunami, perhaps only 1 -1.5 feet when we were at the beach, but you can still see the pull and push of the ocean as the reef goes bare, then the water comes in as small waves.

Tsunami waves are not like surfing waves. It's more like a wall of water with an amazing current, pushing or pulling anything in its way, so being at the beach during a tsunami warning is pretty dang stupid. We were there after.

The water would recede for about 7 minutes, then the water would rush in for about the same amount of time.

Water receeding from the reef. It became more bare after this photo.

Photo at the same spot 5 minutes later with water rushing in. It took less than 1 minute to cover the rock in the last photo.

My neighbor and I were talking about the tsunami while I videotaped the water receeding. This was at the beginning of the recession, so it got a bit lower than this. Do you see the water line on the beach, where there are not a lot of footsteps? That's how far the water would reach when it came in.

This short video shows how quickly the water was being pulled back to the ocean. Imagine this pull with a larger tidal wave, and you can see how easy it would be to be sucked into the ocean.

Water coming in. Watch the reef get covered up.

Watch the water and you can see how quickly it is coming in. Again, you can imagine this on a bigger scale and think of the effect it can have (or just watch the footage from Japan)

On the way home we swung on a branch of a palm tree. What would we have been doing if the tsunami had hit hard?

Elysse's birthday

Elysse turned 3 February 3rd! (Her Golden Birthday)

We had gone to the waterpark to celebrate both her and Ivy's birthdays 2 weeks prior, but she still really wanted her good friends Lauren and Juliana to come over for her party. So we had them over for cake and ice cream. And can you guess what kind of cake Elysse wanted? Candy Cake. She didn't even have to think about it. So we made carrot cake and stuck m&ms inside. Happy Birthday, Elysse! We love you! Thank you to all who called, sent cards, etc. It made her smile and feel special.

Here are 3 things that we love about Elysse:

1. She is the World's Greatest Complimenter. If you ever want to feel good about yourself, just hang around Elysse. She'll compliment you from everything from what you're wearing to the type of person you are.

2. She's a happy girl. She smiles and dances and just enjoys life.

3. She is independent. She wants to do things all by herself and is so proud of her accomplishments.

A weekend to ourselves

Our great friends Jessica and Michael Monson watched our kids last weekend so Nate and I can escape for some "us" time. It was sooo fun and relaxing. We stayed on Nate's parents' boat. We spent the day Saturday at the waterpark acting like kids, getting barrelled in the wave pool, and yelling and laughing while we sped down the slides. The best part of all, perhaps, was our discovery of the massaging characteristics of a waterfall and a relaxing hot tub. It seemed to blast away our cares. Fortunately, that same weekend Groupon was having a deal for a pizza place that was right at the boat harbor, so we took advantage and gobbled down delicious hot, inexpensive pizza before settling down to Cupcake Wars on the Food Channel.

I was grateful that while we were watching the thought came into my mind that we didn't pay for our parking space. We were even more grateful to find we hadn't been towed away. Thank goodness for the Holy Ghost.

We left the next morning to come back home to our girls, and met up with them at church. A woman commented how I was so patient and loving to our kids and seemed so happy...

...I think we ought to get away more often.

Wise Words from Young Girls

Lately I've heard some sayings from our girls that are worth sharing. Here they are:

While we were going to a baptism for a friend, I realized we didn't have a lei to give. When I mentioned this to the kids, Kezia said, "We don't have a lei, but we have love....and even if we didn't have anything at all, not even clothes, we'd still have hugs and kisses to give....unless we didn't have arms or a face, of course."

One day Ivy told me she made a friend at school. I asked, "How did you make a friend?" She looked at me questioningly and responded, "I just started loving her, and she started loving me, and so we're friends." (And to think of it, it really is as easy as that, isn't it?)

And even though this one might not be so wise, it is nonetheless cute: Elysse was in time-out and in tears came out to tell me, "My heart is broke and that's why I'm sad."

Nate's Book

After 3 1/2 years, the writing is complete, the illustrations perfected, and the first ever stand up paddle guide book is published and on the market!!!

As some of the first paddlers up here on the North Shore, we had no formal training or guidance on the sport. Whenever we would ask someone for advice, the tip was " just keep practicing". And although that's true, we saw the need for some true guidance. Hence, the birth of Rainbow Watersports and this book. This has been a big feat for both of us, especially Nate, of course, and I must say, he did a great job. It is about 260 pages of entertaining reading, complete with illustrations created by himself. Check it out : www.standuppaddlebook.com

Now that it's complete, Nate has already written the outline for his second book.

Stormy weather!

We have been hit by 5 storms this winter so far. What a stormy, windy, rainy season it's been!

We've tried to make the most of it, and have loved the thunder and lightening -- a rare occurrence in beautiful Hawaii. The electricity has gone out a couple of times, and I was even called in by the Red Cross to help open a shelter because they were thinking they would have to open the flood gates on the reservoir. We are so grateful that we had a good friend come chop down a tree that was right next to the power lines at the beginning of the season.The weather and muddy water it's been producing has been putting a damper on our stand up paddle lessons, however we still have had some folks come out who won't let that slow down their fun. I have been able to take advantage of some time off, and actually clean out the girls room.

Hawaii has been in a drought, so this rain, though plenty, is a welcome treat for many parts of the islands.

We've

Happy Birthday, Ivy!

When Ivy woke up on her 6th birthday this week, she walked to the mirror in Grandma's room "to see if [she was] bigger". Upon seeing her reflection, she gasped, "I am!" and then bending her shoulders, she said, "Yesterday, I was this short" and stretching up tall exclaimed, "Now I'm this big!"

6 years old. Wow.

Since Elysse's birthday is in 3 weeks, we decided we would celebrate both birthdays with a trip to the waterpark. However, we did have a small slumber party for Ivy with Kezia and Ivy's very good friends who live just a stone's throw away.

We played "Pin the birthday badge on the birthday girl", hot potato with a box of goodies for everyone to unwrap, silly string in the front yard,

ate chocolate cake,

and the girls watched a movie.

Ivy's into art, so she got all sorts of fun crafty and artsy things to do for her birthday,

so the next morning when the girls got up (at 6:30 -- what about sleeping in?!) they dove into coloring, shrinky dinks, and face painting. The girls played all day long, giving me much needed time to clean the house. I can't believe that the girls lasted so long with relatively good behavior without crashing!

Thank you so much for the phone calls, cards, emails, thoughts, etc. ;)

Here is what makes Ivy wonderful:

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• She is so full of love. She says "I love you" freely and gives hugs and kisses all the time.
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• she is vibrant and full of passion. She still jumps up and down when she is excited about something. Her eyes dance when she tells of an exciting event.
• 
  
• She is beautiful
• 
  
• She is all about fashion, often lying out her outfit on the floor and asking, "does this look good?"
• 
  
• She is a kind sister, happy to play, quick to forgive.
• She has a gift for art. She understands forms quite well and can color beautifully.
• Ivy was named after the ivy plant because of its ability to spread beauty anywhere it goes. Ivy is true to her namesake and spreads joy and beauty to those around her.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, IVY!!!

Happy New Year!

Think this is a professional fireworks show? Nope, this is how Hawaii celebrates the New Year -- with fireworks on all sides of our house going off. Where do these people get the $$ is beyond me. Sadly, the ban on fireworks went into effect January 1st this year. However, these types of fireworks have already been illegal. Will we see them next year?

We went to a very fun family party at the park to celebrate. It was so fun to see old friends, shoot off fireworks on the basketball court surrounded by children holding sparklers calling, "do another!" "do another!"

My New Year's resolution is to wish my friends and family a very happy birthday on or near their birthday. It's the same resolution I have had for a 3 years now. Hey, 3 times a charm, right?