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.

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.

Elysse - 4 months

There seems to be more than one person interested in seeing what Elysse looks like now. Apparently, pictures of just 1 month ago are way outdated, so here are some new ones. Kay, my mother-in-law, says she looks like me. Others say she looks like Nate. Others, including me, say she looks like her own persona. What is your take?






(Once the screen shows a lonely pacifier, there's nothing else to watch...apparently the camera was still on!)



She is still not sleeping through the night (PLEASE be soon!!), and in an attempt to stuff her full 'til morning, we began to feed her solids. It seemed to help a little, but not as we had hoped. We moved out of the room to see if that would help. It helped a little too. And after a breakdown on my part ("I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE!!!"), Nate has been doing most of the night duty for the last couple of nights. I must say that the last couple of days with a bit more sleep have made such a difference. I haven't had to concentrate on thinking ("Ok, Heidi, think!". But I think we have to go back to our old routine, since Nate usually gets 5 hours of sleep per night without waking up with the baby and today he looks like a zombie. He needs to think a bit more during the day than I do. Oh well. It was nice while it lasted. And hopefully soon I can know what it is like once again to go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning without interruptions.

Elysse is way beyond her age. In fact, she is already learning the alphabet. One day I picked her up because she was crying. Kezia's eyes lit up and she exclaimed, "Mom! Elysse knows the sound of the letter A!"




She has learned to roll over to her back, which she much prefers to her stomach. She has also learned to drool, and as long as it's not as much as Ivy (soaking wet by 9am), we are doing alright. Elysse has begun to learn to laugh, which makes us always try to get a giggle out of her. She's at a fun age where she can interact a bit more. She likes to look intently into our eyes and garble, as though she is sharing some serious thoughts with us. She has also gotten the hang of putting her hands where she wants them to go, which has come in quite handy with observing nearby toys. We are so grateful for her and her ability to make us smile.