Fun pics from January

 Elysse and Soul joining a yoga session.  Elysse did it for quite a while-- I was impressed!

 Soul helping with Rainbow Watersports

Soul and Kanoi Clark

 We LOVE getting loads of organic produce from Kama'aina Land and Nursery delivered to our house for just $1/lb!!!  Not only are they fun to eat, apparently, they're also fun to SIT on!

Walking with the Clarks -- Kala, Mountain, and Lotus (and Kanoi) -- we love these guys!  So happy to have them as friends and neighbors.  We've lived near each other for 5 years, but only got to know them this last year.

We hosted a "snow day" at the park.  We thought it was perfect weather for it -- cold, windy, and drizzling -- but apparently it was a bit too close to snowy weather for our warm-weathered friends and we had a small turnout.  But no matter -- it was fun!

Ivy's hammock trick -- hey, if "it's only fun til someone pokes their eye out", be sure it's worth the fun!

Soul eating with a spoon

Nate's First Ultra-Marathon -- 33 miles from Haleiwa to Laie and Back

I picked Nate up at Chun's Reef after he conquered 33 miles from Haleiwa to Laie -- in his old gym shoes!  He did it just to see if he could.  An amazing man.  Way to go Nate!

Oh, and then just for kicks, we went on a hike that same day.  Not a real strenuous one -- just up to Makapuu lighthouse.  But still, it was uphill one way and downhill the next, and Nate was full on!

 Lots of love in this family!  We happened upon a heart-shaped rock -- so why not have some fun?!

We saw plenty of whales and it was a beautiful lookout.  What I thought was funny was that it was called a hike, since it was a paved walk up a hill that took about 45 minutes each way.  But, seeing all the fat and round mainlanders huffing and puffing along the way, I guess a "hike" is all relative.

 Soul found the lighthouse!

Elysse goes back to the hospital

After her awesome performance, Elysse and I went to the hospital to get her staph infection lanced.

 

 The Wahiawa ER we usually go to was full, so we ended up going to Pali Momi, and I discovered how totally behind the times Wahiawa ER was!  This place was posh!  She even had her own TV to watch, a nice, clean private room, and doctors and nurses who were fantastic (they were fantastic at Wahiawa as well :).  In fact, when the nurse walked into the room, we recognized each other from an exercise class!

The doctor immediately bonded with Elysse, and she fell head over heels for him.  He was so terrific and a real blessing because these lancings are no fun for Elysse.  

Our experience, however, had a flip side, when they tried giving Elysse an oral medicine to "knock her out" but she started to come out of it and complain of pain just before they were going to lance.  I mentioned my concern to the staff that was about to make the cut, and he pretty much shrugged it off with "We'll try anyway".  Um, NO!!!!!  Keep in mind, her infection is right between her legs.  No, we are not just gonna try.  I was aghast.  I again spoke up and this time after consulting they called in the Doctor who decided we ought to try giving Elysse an IV to desensitize her again.  That worked (although really not pleasant to see your child so out of it), they did the procedure, Elysse got stickers, 

 

and we were out of there.  Through these trials, Elysse has become a very brave and upbeat girl, and I have to say, her pain tolerance seems to have gone up too.  Four year olds are amazing.  Elysse is now trying out an Eastern medicine and we're being careful to have her stay dry at night to try to knock this out of her system.  We're all sick of it.  Now is the time when she usually gets a reoccurence, and so far she's healthy, so we are thankful for that.

Christmas Performance

 December7th was the Parks and Recreation Expo day.  All the girls performed -- Elysse and Ivy in their ballet/jazz class and Kezia in tap dance and gymnastics.  The girls did AWESOME!!!!  In fact, each of them had an obstacle that they overcame for their performance, which made me extra-proud.  Elysse had been complaining of a pain on her bum that felt like staph (again).  We could not find any sign of it until the night before...and then we saw it was pretty far advanced.  She still wanted to do her performance, and danced beautifully despite being very uncomfortable.  I think her face here says it all.

We took her to the ER afterward to have it lanced (again).  See other post (that is, if I happen to have the time to post it.)

Ivy's class continued to shrink as the date for the performance grew closer.  Then, as you can see in the video, the third girl got stage fright at the last minute, but even so, Ivy and her friend danced wonderfully!

Kezia only attended tap dancing about 1/2 the time, so with that in mind, she did really well.  I was most impressed when she got right back up after falling down and didn't skip a beat, as well as when she was surprised to see she didn't have a partner, but dealt with it like a pro.  AWESOME!  And then just a few days before, we learned that her gymnastics coach wanted her to perform, but since we didn't get the notice of the performance practice.  We were lucky a friend of hers had clothes she could borrow.

Enjoy the videos!!

November Happenings

 Nate ran a marathon!

The night before Veterans' Day, Nate told me, "I'm gonna get up at 4:00am and do a long run in the morning.  8:00am comes around and he's still not home.  He comes back near 8:15 to tell me he's not going to the exercise class we usually go to because he's "still not done running."  Even with my asking, he still wouldn't tell me what was going on!  What was up with this unusual excitement about running, a sport he used to despise?  I passed him on my way to exercise class and he finally told me he was running a marathon -- solo.  He just up and wanted to see if he could do it.  Well, at 10:30, he called me and asked me to pick him up -- he finished, and got first place!!

 Soul has discovered the joy of placing small objects in a container.  Here he is placing pebbles in a roll of twine.

 I don't know what he is doing here, some sort of ostrich move, but he had a great time doing it!

 

I love how the girls love each other!

3.  We went to the Valley of the Temples, a cemetary which hosts a large Buddhist temple.  Beautiful, but after seeing so many in Taiwan, probably not worth a drive over just to see one.  But the girls loved feeding the koi and even the birds fed right out of Ivy's hand!

 

 Voter spirit!

We all got into the patriotism spirit this year.  We were strong Romney fans.  Here are the girls making a sign for Romney

 Elysse and Soul at Preschool

 This made me laugh:  You see how much pancake is left on Elysse's plate?  Well, she brought the plate to me at the end of breakfast and said, "I just can't handle any more".  Really?

 Elysse and friends

At the Triple Crown contest this weekend (a big surf contest at the beach across the street) Elysse met a mermaid with her friends.  She happened to be there when she was being interviewed, so got to be on the webcast of the contest. 

Soul being sung to at Tutu and Me preschool

Happy 1st birthday, Kalani Soul!

We invited the Clark family over for dinner and cake and ice cream.  I attempted a chocolate pie made with avocado, but my avocados weren't ripe yet, so I experimented with sour cream and avocado and eventually created a pie that was actually quite good.  At least Soul ate it!

I had been wanting to get a swing for Soul, and happened upon a swing being given away on facebook.  The owner brought it over just in time for the party, and Soul LOVES it!!

Grandma had also made her famous chocolate cake, and we all had a great time eating and chatting and celebrating Soul.

Soul is such a joy in all of our lives.  He lights up a room when he's in it with his winning smile and mellow mood.  We love you, Soul!

Look who's Walking!

Look who's walking!  Soul has been taking steps for about a month, and now decided walking is the way to go.  I have video, but I'm having trouble loading.  I'll post it when I can!