Sister Cho

She tried calling me 25 times a week ago Friday. I was too busy to pick up. I finally did pick up 4 times, but each time there was no one there. I wrote down in my planner "Call Sis. Cho". I didn't get to it Monday, so I wrote it on Tuesday's "to-do" list. Didn't get it done Tuesday. Wednesday. Didn't happen. She tried calling again, but I couldn't answer. Again she called. Then Saturday came. I was at the race about to go out. She called once more. I finally listened to the message on Monday. "Please," she said in a weak voice, " I have tried to call you so many times. Please call me. This is an emergency." I called her twice later that day, but no one picked up. Today a friend told me she had passed away. They assume she had died Saturday or Sunday.

And now I am thinking to myself, why didn't I call? In my head I answer, "Because I was too busy. Because I was trying to take care of my kids. Because I was working. Because I knew it would be a long phone call that would take conscious listening because her accent is hard to understand." But my heart retorts, "I had a lot of time." Or maybe I should have had a lot of time. I pray every day to be prompted to know who can use my help that day and to do something about it. I think I had received enough promptings, but did nothing about it. The hand was knocking, but I wasn't answering, and now I wish things were different.

Battle of the Paddle

So, we finished the race! And because of a few holdups on our end, that's excitement for us. Here's the scoop:

I did the 4 mile open race on a surfboard, and was happy to come in 4th overall in the womens' division. However, I was just happy to have finished the race! I was super stoked to have had 3 lessons the day before, but 5 hours of paddling in the sun the day before a race probably isn't the smartest training one could do, and I was considering not entering at all. But I was glad I did.

I'm the third person in this photo

Finishing the race

Here's me with my friend Beccy, who happens to also be an instructor for our fitness class (SUP-FIT.com). She came in 1st in the women's stock (race board) race!

Nate's race was the Big Race of the day, with racing boards and "the best of the best" paddlers. It was 5.5 miles in and out of surf in a crazy M shape, and between each of the 3 laps the paddlers were to run through a shoot on the beach before reentering the water.

There were SO many paddlers in this race, too! Check out the video to get a glimpse of how many people there were.

Nate came in smiling his first lap. Then I waited and waited for him to come in on his second lap. He didn't come in. And then the finishers began to come in, and Nate still hadn't come in from his 2nd lap! Where was he?!? Finally, he came in; his board had snapped in half shortly after beginning his 2nd lap! He was deetermined to stay on course, so for the next mile he paddled a wonky board that, with the added water weight, weighed 100lbs!!

When he got in, he ran to find another board, ran through the shoot, then back again for the 3rd lap while all the paddlers finished their race. Nate was out there all alone determined to finish.

I told the girls to watch their daddy -- he'll come in strong anyway. And if you check out the video of his finish, he came in really strong -- and still smiling! He inspires me. He charged harder and longer than any paddler out there, and came in looking more alive than any of the finishers.

Can you hear Kezia cheering her heart out for her daddy?

Somehow in the midst of all that was going on, Grandma the baby whisperer was able to soothe two 2yr olds to sleep. She's amazing like that. (Elysse is on the right; Juliana is a girl that has been staying with us for a few days while her parents vacation)

Kezia and Ivy played and swam the whole day long. They have so much fun together and their fear of the ocean diminishes more and more each time we go.

SUP into Summer race

The results are in: Nate got 2nd in his division, 5th over all; I got 3rd in my division, and really, I was just happy to have finished!!

Waiting for the blow horn...

It was a pretty brutal race - 4 miles following a triangular course straight out in the ocean. To give you a feel for what it was like, it was like doing an isometric squat on a balance board for an hour while doing triceps pulldowns as fast and as hard as you can. But we had great conditions, there was a good vibe in the water, and the best part of it all was a complimentary massage afterward. The girls had a great time playing on a large party disc with other kids. And we all came home bearing signs of time in the sun.

And for some wild reason, we are doing another 4 mile race in Waikiki this coming weekend....

Here's a video of the start of the race.

I was really proud of Nate. He was leading the pack for almost the whole race. Here's Nate's finish (sorry it's sideways!) Nate is the further one behind the first guy. Look how neck-to-neck these guys are! The guy that was a step ahead of him happened to be in a different division, so they both got 2nd anyway, and had a good laugh about it.

Nate with his 2nd place "medal"

Here's my finish. I ran all the way to the tent where our girls were cheering me on. Thanks, girls!

Training for the race

We didn't have a lot of time to train for the race, so we used our kids to increase the effectiveness of our training sessions. Like I say in the video, if you've got 'em, use 'em!

Memorial Day Weekend

Happy Birthday, Kay!!

Wow, just look at that fire!

Friday was Kay's birthday. She had mentioned how she always wanted a watermelon cake for her birthday, and also that she used to love the game of tennis. So we got her a watermelon and stuck some candles in it. Nate thought it would look better with its skin off. I thought that was debatable. But this was the kind of cake that I didn't mind if my girls had seconds, or thirds, or fourths. And it was delicious with vanilla ice cream!

The next day the rest of the family went to play tennis and go to a birthday party with a real pony (way cool) and went paddling while I was teaching lessons.

Then on Monday we played tennis some more as a family, Nate and I trained hard for the race this coming weekend, then we biked, skated, and ran to a war memorial on the beach to pay our respects and teach the girls what Memorial day is all about.

Then we transported ourselves to a long line to get shave ice, because, due to these fallen soldiers and all other soldiers, we can do that and feel safe.

Rainbow brain freeze!

MAHALO.

We're famous!! Well, not really

A few months ago I took the girls on a "field trip" to watch this commercial be filmed across the street from our house at our favorite beach, Ali'i. We watched the section where they were knocking down the sandcastle. It took them over an hour to do just that 2 second section. And you see the very small speck next to the lifeguard tower? THAT'S US!!! We're waiting for our check....

Our 10 year anniversary celebration

It is 2:15 on Sunday afternoon. I just finished cleaning Nate’s Mom’s boat and Nate is taking a nap on the bench at the back of the boat.

Occasionally bells and ropes and chains chime as they clang against the masts in the boat harbor. But no sound of children.

We are celebrating our 10 year anniversary. We return home today, but it has been so wonderful. We dropped the girls off at our friends the Skafs then arrived down here in the evening. Nate's mom has generously given us use of her boat for the weekend.

After dropping off our things on the boat we walked along the beach to Tiki’s bar and grill to get a virgin pina colada. Then we came back home and fell asleep.

Saturday morning we stand up paddled against a mighty wind with Waikiki on one side and Diamond Head gracing us on the other. It was a real workout, but as always, a lot of fun. And it was more our style. Just being in the city for one evening was enough to satisfy any need I may have had for the bombardment of humanity. It felt good to be away – just me, my husband, a few canoes, a catamaran, and a few honus.

Afterward we walked to Foodland at Ala Moana and picked up food for lunch and the rest of the weekend. A trek across the street landed us at Magic Island where we had a picnic and watched the surf, then sunbathed and laughed at the funny people around us. Like the woman who (oops!) wore a nude-colored bikini bottom, or the woman sunbathing who was wearing a white mask over her face as though she were a burn victim or the lifeguard that decided to change out of his suit outside his lifeguard tower. We were very tempted to stage a drowning and see what he did. And most of all we just laid there. No “Mommy, I want cheese” or “I’ll go in the water if you go in the water”. Just Nate and I laughing and trying to move as little as possible. I don’t think I’ve been that still during waking hours for over 6 years, so I asked Nate to take a picture. (Don't I look so happy?)

Ahhh, two love birds under a heart shaped cloud! How cute! ;)

That night we went to the Jim Gaffigan performance and laughed til the sides of our mouths hurt.

And as we were both delirious with sleep (so much relaxing in one day is hard work), we crashed after watching a bit of Iron Chef.

Today we slept in til 8:30 (that’s 3 ½ hours later than I usually wake up!!!) , went to church, and now here we are sitting. Or in Nate’s case, sleeping. And nothing else.

Sweet thought, Ivy

Tonight I told the girls Daddy wasn't feeling well (he has the beginnings of a cold). Ivy said, "Oh, I know! How about in the morning we cover him with hugs and kisses? That would make him feel better!"

It's better to ask than to assume

Last night the girls and I made plans to watch Extreme Home Makeover after cleaning up after dinner. I reminded them to do their chores, and when it seemed like they were just goofing off, I let off a bit of steam, and when they kept trying to interrupt my mounting frustration with "But Mooom"s, I reminded them of a time before when they were not able to get the consequence they wanted because they didn't complete their chores. Finally when I was done with my conniption, they were able to explain, "But mom, we were trying to divide the things on the table so we can all put them away."

Ooops. Girls 10, Mom 0. They won themselves a piece of chocolate.

10 years

Yesterday was our 10 year anniversary! I remember when my oldest brother had his 10 year anniversary. I thought that was so old. Thank goodness I'm not old like he was! Not that a time factor really matters, but there is nothing more I want in my life than to have Nate in it, and to be so lucky as to spend the last 10 years with him makes me feel really, really blessed.

Next weekend we're going to celebrate by taking a weekend to ourselves and leaving the girls with a friend. We can't wait. I got Nate tickets to Jim Gaffigan, a comedian he really likes, and besides that I don't care if we do nothing at all. Yesterday it was nice to glow in the realization that we've been married for that amount of time, but then come evening time the girls were all complaining in the "she's touching me!!" fashion, and we wondered why we did this in the first place. But then after they were in bed we were able to take a quiet walk along the beach with a blanket of stars above and the moon shining on the ocean and it all felt right.

I thought that would be enough, that being married for 10 years would feel just as good as I'd want to feel. But then I woke up this morning with the thought, "Wow, now we've been married for more than 10 years!" And I've been grinning all day.