Kezia's 8th Birthday Party

Kezia's birthday this year was purr-fect. She wanted a Cat Party, so we had face painting, cat ears, made customized cat collars with their own cat names, and played cat games.

We played "Pull my Tail" where each guest put a tail (a beaded necklace) on by tucking it in her shorts. All the cats ran around trying to grab each others' tails while protecting their own.

They also played in the Litter Box, trying to collect as much poop (tootsie rolls) as they could.

As a game during gift giving, we played "Pass the Yarn ball", just like hot potato, but with a ball of yarn. Whoever had the yarn ball when the music ended gave their gift to Kezia.

And lastly, we made goodie mouse cups -- plastic cups decorated like mice and filled with goodies -- that we hid around the yard. The cats had to hunt down their mice to get their take-home treats.

It was a fun party, and most importantly, Kezia felt like a Real Cool Cat!

Here are eight great things about Kezia this year:

1. She is a good friend.

2. She loves to read,read, read.

3. She tries to excel at school.

4. She is a generous sharer.

5. She has her own testimony of the Gospel.

6. She is a kind older sister and a good example to her sisters.

7. She is an Animal Lover

8. She loves to study and research things she is interested in (Animals)

We love you, Kezia!

Hula performance at Ala Moana

The girls danced at the farmer's market grand opening at Ala Moana. It was such a niiiiiiice day. A good, relaxing family day -- a rarity for us.

All the girls danced beautifully.

Even Elysse, with this as her second performance and perhaps was doing her own thing some of the time, was doing her best to follow her hula sisters.

Afterward we casually and slowly walked around the booths, enjoying fresh local produce and flowers, and Ono Pops (WOW were they good!).

The girls especially enjoyed watching a man chop up coconuts.

Then we walked through the mall to go to the food court. Somehow we walked out of Sears with new shoes for all the girls and Nate! (Those sale racks in the middle of the aisle really work!) While I was in the dressing room, the girls all had fun trying on thick robes (and begging us to by them).

At the food court Nate got tripe -- his classic Ala Moana plate. Braver than I, Ivy tried it.

Okay, maybe not her favorite ;), but that's what I love about my girls -- they'll try pretty much anything. Definitely learned from their dad.

Then we slowly walked back to the car and drove home. I just loved being as a family with no real agenda (besides the dancing, of course). What a great day!

Lifeguard Race - the whole family on board! (And mom on the beach)

August 5th - Lifeguard race from Waimea to Haleiwa (4.5 miles). Nate CHARGED it with all three girls aboard. Kezia was paddling in the back, Elysse was between Nate's legs, and Ivy was keeping her eyes out ahead. They got first place in their division!! (call me if you want to know how many people were in the tandem division ;) They definitely deserved their medals.

And as a surprise treat, they were front page on the North Shore news, and their photo was in Makai Magazine as well. Too bad it only showed Ivy and Nate, though, since the other two were behind. We know how awesome they all were!

Fun in the Summer!

We had a GREAT summer, and we are so sad to say goodbye to it. School starts tomorrow. :(

Speaking of, when the girls were talking about school, Kezia said, "I want to learn how to write fast." Ivy responded, "Kezia, you already know how to write fast - F-A-S-T!!"

I love love love spending relaxing time with my girls. I have more to post about this summer, but here are two pics to hold you over.

Hahaha!

Which bathroom would you choose -- the fat or the skinny lady? Talk about segregation!!!

Modeling

The girls got a chance to be models for the Star of Honolulu dinner cruise ship for their marketing material (it helps when their grandpa works for their marketing department). The girls thought it was REALLY COOL -- first of all, they got to get new dresses and shoes, second they got to be models and third they got to see Grandpa Burgoyne whom they rarely get to see. And as a benefit, we all got tickets to go on the dinner cruise at a later date.

We had come prepared for the girls to model -- definitely not for us to be in the shots as well. But they were one male short. So Nate filled in. Which would have been fine -- if his hair was cut and not greasy, if his face hadn't shown lack of sleep, and if he wasn't wearing the worst shirt possible for photos -- black and white checkered. Ha ha! Oh well...

Saying goodbye to Grandpa (Ivy really was happy -- but it was 9:30 at night!)

Elysse, who hasn't seen Grandpa since she was 2 years old, and then only for a bit, didn't want to let go.

Camping at Barber's Point

Our good friends the Monsens are moving away... :( we are so sad. But happy that they invited us to go camping with them from July 5 - 7. As I was talking to Michael on the day we were supposed to meet them, he mentioned that we had to pass through a military gate to get there, meaning we needed updated car papers. That's when we realized we did not have updated insurance papers and our safety expired as well on both available vehicles. What's more, both vehicles boast big cracks in the windshield, making a safety inspection impassable.

What were we going to do? We wanted to join our friends for our last sha-bang together, and our girls were sooo excited to go camping. We tried EVERYTHING, and finally got a plan worked out the next day, borrowing my friend Nicole's truck (thank you!!)

We had a GREAT time with our friends, and at a BEAUTIFUL location. Oh my. Turquoise water with little islands sticking out. It was a Hawaiian paradise.

We enjoyed the traditional hot dogs and s'mores with roasted bagels in the morning. There was a cool playground there, unlike the cookie-cutter plastic ones that are on the North Shore. Somehow Kezia got all the kids (and Nate) involved in a castle-make believe, she being the queen, of course. There were knights, a royal dog (Ivy), a guard (Nate) princesses, the whole bit. When I walked over to the playground, everyone was playing their part. It was like walking into a dress rehearsal!

I kept having to drive out of the campsite to take care of lesson scheduling and such since they didn't have reception there. At night I must have spent too long with the headlights on because the truck died. Here I was on a military road a looong way from the campsite in the pitch dark and haven't seen any cars go by. Shoots. I was mostly worried about leaving my friend's truck there, since I would imagine a strange truck on the side of the road in a military base would be quickly towed. Luckily, a car happened by just at that moment and gave me a ride, and luckily someone had cables to help me out. And the truck was still there when we returned. Horray!

We were supposed to go crab hunting that night, but because of the truck incident, everyone was sleeping when we returned, except for Ivy who was excited to go. So we did our usual crab hunt as well. It was fun, just me, Ivy, and Nate. We kept the crabs in a bucket til the next morning so the girls and their new friends could play with them. Then we let them go.

Here are some pics, mostly of boogie boarding the next day, which the girls LOVED.

Ivy stoking the fire

There go the crabs!

Me and Jessica, my good friend. So sad to see her leave!

July 4th Sunset- Waimea race

Our whole family raced at the 4th of July SUP race from Sunset to Waimea. Kezia, baby bump and I went on one board, and Nate, Ivy and Elysse went on another.

Team Puppy!
Team Kittens!

550 paddlers in the water-- wow!!

Can you spot Nate and the girls? Nate is wearing red.

Kezia was our ocean photographer. Here's her view of me.

Elysse, Nate and Kezia

What's Fun about Kezia

Kezia has magic hands. I didn't beleive it at first, but it's true. That's the only way I can describe the events of last week. First, it was a game of throwing a string with a loop on the end and trying to make the loop catch on a hook on a wall. The adults tried without success. Then it was Kezia's turn. She hooked it not once, not twice, but three times in a row!

Then yesterday we were in a public bathroom washing our hands. She reminded me to wash my hands with soap, and I told her I can't because the soap dispenser is broken, showing her how I would put my hand underneath and nothing would happen. She put her hand above mine and out came the soap.

And then we went to our storage unit. Nate and Ivy went upstairs to get something and came back down with Nate saying the key wouldn't open the lock. So Kezia and I went up to give it a go. He was right-- the key wouldn't even turn. Kezia said, "Let me try," and I said, "Well, you are the one with the magic hands". One twist of the key and the lock was off. I just laughed and laughed.

So there you go -- Kezia's got magic hands.

What's Fun about Ivy

Ivy sees creativity in everything. Her mind is wild with imagination. Yesterday we were eating lunch at a party. She was a table away, but came up to me every few minutes to show me the things she saw in her food. Like the "secret passageway" in her pizza made by a bubble in the crust, or the "boat with passengers" made by potato chip crumbs in a tortilla chip. Or the white part of a boiled egg that's like a "bouncy castle". And when she shows me these things, you would think she just discovered the secret to life -- bouncing up and down and showing the same great smile as in the photo above.