Aloha from.............

Trick or Treating

2007-11-01T16:29:00.000-07:00

A can of worms.......that's what I decided on this year. Tater was a bag of chips and I don't have a good picture of him. I'll dress him again and take more pictures.
Gus had a blast.....as we approached peoples houses he screamed "Trick or Treating" and thanked them as we left.

Little Man Tate

2007-10-02T13:18:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not but this is the first time I've had to post. Not only do I have an extremely active two year old but Tate is alittle more needy than Gus was at this age. I'm also in the middle of the fall semester at school and each of my professors think their class is the most important. I have never had this much homework. I feel like I'm in Kindergarten since most of it is just silly busy work.
Shane has been gone for 5 days and won't be home for another 4.......the Navy has an awful sense of humor. I think I'm losing my mind......MOTHERHOOD!

Better late than never

2007-08-17T16:07:00.000-07:00

With alittle encouragment from my friend Pitocin, Tayton Carl plowed into the world at 5:15pm on the 15th. All 9 lbs of him is perfect.........he looks like me. Don't laugh too hard people, I wouldn't want you to pee your pants.
Delivery was not so smooth with only one gas passer on the labor and delivery floor but I held on and was finally administered the dope. After that, what a wonderful day it was. Prior to the epidural I was kinda thinking a firing squad sounded good. I can't give too many details because I don't remember too much of it, sounds like it was eventful. All I can remember is the pain.....with little tid bits here and there. Shane seems to have a vivid memory of the events though.
Tate is very calm like his brother was.....until it's time to change a diaper. Talk about having the rings. I guess Shane has the air conditioning working alittle too well. Being cold is evidently not his favorite feeling. I'll try and keep this thing up dated with current pictures.

Look out Calvin Klein

2007-07-24T19:00:00.000-07:00

This is what happens to your child when Papa comes to visit and lets you sleep in. Evidently this first outfit is a 2 year old's interpritation of Jack Sparrow......he told me "Mama, I'm a pirate"!
The second picture of him in the play room KK painted for him is what I woke up to this morning. The outfit consists of a bike helmut, beige belt, Diego pull up, and red rain galloshes. The up side is that no matter what mood I wake up in I come down the stairs to a good one. Not much happening here. Papa flew in on Saturday and we're all just waiting for the little one to make his decision to arrive.

Goodyear

2007-06-28T13:27:00.000-07:00

These are the latest pictures of my pregnancy. I feel like the Goodyear blimp but everyone keeps telling me how small I am for 8 months. We had a keychain made for PIM out of the 4D sonogram and Gus keeps finding it no matter where I choose to stash it. He brings it to someone and tells them it's his bruder, Tate. So I guess that's a good thing, now he's starting to but two and two together.
Gus has had a rough two weeks and I was hoping that was do to his illness but now that he's starting to feel better I beginning to wonder. I'm not sure I'll be able to handle a brand new baby and a crazy 2 year old. Thank God Mom and Dad will be here for a couple of weeks after he's born. Dad may find himself staying loonger than he planned. Don't feel too sorry for him those of you being flooded in Texas.

4D ultrasound

2007-06-17T20:04:00.001-07:00

This is Tayton..........32 weeks and counting! He looks just like Gus when he was born, including that Pullin nose and ears which I have discovered is great for flicking! That works a great deal better than spanking. Anyhow, Keri and Scott have been here for 5 days and we've been trying to show them the sites. Again my family is sick......cough and earaches is all so far. We're thanking God for that.
Hopefully there will be new pictures of my kids in the 4 weeks.

Dressing ones self

2007-05-23T13:05:00.000-07:00

This is what I woke up to this morning. Gus was sent back to his room due to his early morning attitude so that I could get more sleep since he didn't attempt shut eye last night till midnight. I knew he was busy because I could hear him playing with his Leap Frog and opening all the drawers in his dresser, you should see the mess. When I finally decided to wake up Gus was standing at his gate completely dressed............he was in a pull up when I went back to bed. As you can see it wasn't perfect but pretty good for a first try, he even matches. I guess being bored is sometimes good for a 2 year old.

Meet Hala Kahili ( pineapple )

2007-05-14T15:17:00.000-07:00

This is the newest member of our family, Hala! We picked her up at the Humane Society early last week and I think she's starting to get used to us. She's a Australian Cattle dog with something else mixed in for good measure. She seems to be potty trained and we still don't know if she can bark. Which is a good thing if any of you remember Hopper. She makes me miss him though, she's alittle lazy. But she is patient and follows me everywhere.........always making sure to know where Shane and Gus are at all times.
We moved into out new house on Thursday........well we're still getting the little stuff from the Mikiola house. Our telephone will be the same just anyone wants to call us. I'll take pictures of the house when we get it all put together. It's doesn't have the view of the old house but one thing it does have is air conditioning.

Not much goin' on

2007-04-29T20:05:00.000-07:00

I know I haven't posted in a long while and truthfully there's no excuse for it so I won't bother making any up. Since Mom's visit we've found out the sex of the baby, decided to move into housing, and I was in a night of one act plays at the college I attend. So the baby that is 2 weeks earlier than we expected, due August 8th, is a boy and seems to be very active. Mom thinks it's funny that I'm going to have two of a kind. My parents have a habit of forgetting that they are only a plane ride away.

Our landlord turned out to favor lies more than the truth so we decided to leave our perfect location for housing that has AC and a dishwasher. We'll also have another bedroom so when people come to visit it's not so crowded! That was a hint!

I have been taking some classes this semester, some at school and some online. I thought I was going to be able to get my Associates degree before the baby was born but evidently the Hawaiian collegiate system doesn't feel that financial aid is necessary, even though they double the price of summer tuition. So my degree will have to wait till the spring. The play I was in was earlier this month. It was a lot of short pieces all thrown together to make up one night of theater. My particular piece was just me on a bus stop bench talking to no one for about 7 minutes. I had great fun and think I did a pretty good job. Shane who hasn't been all that supportive about the whole theater thing actually came to one night of the show. I knew I'd changed his mind when he greeted me after the performance. I know he was very proud of me. I guess some things need a little proof.

Keri and Scott (my sister and her husband) are flying in on June 12. Keri will be here a month and Scott returns after 2 weeks. I know the trip they made to California after Shane and I were married was totally lame because we weren't familiar with our surroundings yet, so this time I have all of Scott's visit with us planned down to the hour. Hopefully they will see all they could ever want of this island. Then in August Dad flys out to wait for his new grandson's arrival, Mom will fly out after the baby is born. Oh and Gus Gus had his 2nd birthday....which explains the pinata.

2007-03-09T16:58:00.000-08:00

Pim came to spend her birthday with us on the 9th of Feburary. We not only took a road trip to the North Shore with Shane but Gus and I took Mom to the big island for two days, which explains the black sand beach. Unfortunatly when we arrived, after checking into our cabin on Kiluea, we discovered that there are a few types of people who should not inhale the sulfur that comes out of the volcano. Gus and I (pregnant) filled two of those categoies so we were unable to walk down to the water and witness the constant flow of lava into the ocean. I'm not sure Mom was as disappointed as I was and I think she may have had a good time regardless but I was totally bummed. Guess we'll have to go back after this baby is born. "P" enjoyed the birthday cake we made or her. By "we" I mean me with an occasional "i cream please" coming from below the counter. I think Gus ate more icing during the consruction process than he did when we actually ate the cake.

Pim's visit

2007-03-09T16:35:00.000-08:00

Morning ritual

2007-03-08T18:45:00.000-08:00

On pretty mornings we make our way to our dock to check out what MoMo (Nemo) and Dory are doing. Most mornings these days we're lucky to see a sea worm, if you've never seen one of those consider yourself lucky. Pretty gross. Since the big earthquake in October the fish have slowly moved farther out on the reef. Not sure if that's a reflection of the earthquake or the time of year. Whatever the case we're lacking the beautiful fish we had when we moved in. Doesn't stop Gus Cousteau from begging for the privilage.

We're waiting for the pictures from Mom's camera so when they are emailed I'll post again.

Having my hands full!

2007-03-03T11:23:00.000-08:00

And this is what happens when you fall back asleep for 15 minutes. Thanks alot Daddy!
Good color for him though! He had a ball, me not so much when I had to try and remove lipstick from everything from the sheets to the walls. This wasn't his only experience with make up in the month of February. My Mom flew in to Honolulu on the 8th of the month, for 10 days. In the middle of that visit, Gus was sent to his room for his afternoon nap. Since our current home only has 2 bedrooms, Gus and P were roommates which means that her suitcases were at his disposal most of the time. On this particular day he opened her suitcase and discovered her matte base and decided to play Indian. It was a mess, I'm pretty sure there was nothing left of that brand new compact of base. P wasn't amused so no pictures were taken of that particular incident. Anyone interested in a 2 year old? How bout just a long visit without his parents?

After Turkey Day

2006-11-27T22:43:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving feast was as good as ours was. It was fun to make all the dishes I grew up eating and for them to actually taste like Mom's. After the storm we've been trying to calm things down before we have to start up again for X-mas. The hardest thing about this holiday was not the cooking or cleaning but the not eating left overs afterward. I am trying to get back into shape. Anyway here are some pictures of our attempts at getting back to normal.

Toucan Sam

2006-11-09T21:12:00.000-08:00

Okay, this was the original idea. As you can tell it's not exactly Hawaiian but tropical none the less..........throw me a bone people. So if you read my last entry you know that I'm already stressing about what to do for next year. Teach me to run my mouth off..........your right, nothing could ever be severe enough to drive that point home. Atleast I'm honest enough to admit it.
As far as the pictures, not exactly what I wanted but evidently my child has the same distain for "parent taken" portraits as I always had when X-mas came around. I only have one responce to that Mike Pullin.......laugh it up chuckles, visits with Papa and Pim can always last all summer.
We hope everyone had a great Halloween!

By Default

2006-11-09T21:01:00.000-08:00

This year Halloween did not go as smoothly as last year. To begin with, my husband held me to something I said last year about Gus' costumes keeping with our surroundings. I learned a lesson about shooting off my big mouth, because finding a pre made costume that reflected our new state was difficult. So I went through the giving myself too much credit stage and planned on making his costume. Yeah, right! Finally I found the almost perfect tropical costume but was told it would not be delivered until the day after the fact. So we had to emprovise and this is was I came up with under pressure.
A dead battery.........Duracell to be exact. Cut me some slack, I had moments to deliver something clever.

Kauai

2006-10-09T15:09:00.000-07:00

This weekend the family flew to Kauai for a very short vacation. We met some friends and stayed with them in a two bedroom cottage steps for a private beach ( owned by the military ), we never saw more than 6 other people on the beach and always in the distance. The kids had a ball and Shane and I actually got to sleep in......now I know why play dates are so valuable. They wear out your kid! The only site we actually saw was Waimea Falls.....the picture does it no justice.
This morning the bay was completly still so we got to watch all the creatures in our back yard do their thing. I saw my very first baracuda, it was about a foot long and we saw two (what we think were goat fish) feeding on the bottom, they had to be 2 feet long. Along with the everyday butterfly fish and clowns our back yard was hoppin'. Well, time to take a nap.

A mess to clean up

2006-10-01T00:50:00.000-07:00

Well, Dad left on Thursday and despite the sickness we suffered through I think he had a good time. I rephrase.....between wake up calls at 5:30 am from a toddler bearing books and sharing oreos, I think he had the time of his life. We all can't wait for Mom to get her turn in paradise. Shane and I are planning something special for her when she comes, I guess we figure Dad got to see this first so she sould get to see before others in the family. Fair is Fair.
These are pictures of our get together this afternoon. Stinkle (Gus VanWinkle) has developed into quite the crack up.

Birds of a feather

2006-09-24T01:36:00.000-07:00

Everyone is feeling better these days although I lost my voice yesterday. Feel okay though. Last night Shane and I went to the Chief's Ball that's what the pictures of us are about. The group of girls I'm with are my new friends.
This morning Dad, Gus, Shane and I went to Pali lookout which over looks the windward side of the island (where we live). I don't have alot more to say so just enjoy the pictures.

The big fisherman

2006-09-21T22:54:00.000-07:00

Well this is what they came back with. I know you don't believe me but Dad caught the first catch of the day. I told him that if had to pay someone in order to actually catch fish, I would gladly take his money.
Looks like they had a great time.

Calm before the storm

2006-09-20T12:17:00.000-07:00

Sorry it's taken so long for me to start posting again. You'll understand my motive and this title after you've finished this post. Thursday, Dad flew into Honolulu airport and I wasn't surprised to find that he'd already started taking pictures of the island from his seat on United. The three of us (Dad, Gus and I) spent our first day together running around trying to find 50 one dollar bills in numeric order.......something for Shane's chief thing. I learned something during that mess that I will pass on to you now...........if you are ever on a week long scavenger hunt, and they ask for ones in order, go to the bank and request them because if they don't have a couple days advanced notice your SOL. Now I can die saying that I gave helpful advice to everyone in my life.
Shane spent the night playing games with his little chief friends so we didn't see him until Friday morning. But lets back up a tad.......the storm hit early that morning. Gus got physically ill early that morning but seemed to be fine so we took him to the ceremony anyway. But by dinner time that night, at a restaurant, I was cleaning up puke off the table. You'd be proud Mom, I didn't even gag.
By the next morning I had the crud which by this time had begun making it's way from our bodies any way it could. Pleasant. Then Dad got it.......by Sunday we all were down with what I am convinced was wished upon us ( in jest of course) by someone we all know.....I won't name names..........KERI, you cursing nymph of satan. I've been teasing her all week. Anyway, after two trips to the doctors office and the ER and 5 days of feeling death we all feel better and plan or first trip out doors in some time. So there will be more pictures to come.

Potty training

2006-09-07T18:58:00.000-07:00

Best friends come in all shapes and sizes. I guess it takes a 1 year old to remind us of that sometimes. These two go almost everywhere together. This monkey is a build a bear that Mom and Dad gave to him for X-mas. In the right arm is a recorder with Dad singing a song and the left arm has a recorder with Mom asking him to be a good boy. He refers to this animal as Papa, a reflection of how often he pushes that button. Potty training is coming along slowly but surely. At the begininng he was consistent with using it but now the struggle is on. I'm pushing the subject though. Dad's plane is scheduled to arrive next Thursday. He was invited to pin on Shane's anchors when he is officially made a chief on Friday. They are both excited about it. We have plans to leave the baby in daycare and go snorkling one day and Dad and Shane are going deep sea fishing. That trip is still a surprise to Shane........although Dad found out about it last week, it being his birthday present and all. Good thing my husband is a blog moron, other wise the secret would be out, so if you read this before the 22nd of Sept please don't call and ask what he caught.

Labor Day

2006-09-05T15:14:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was Labor Day and we were invited to the beach for the day. I actually had a good day, meeting Mckenly and Gus made a new friend in her 2 year old son Jimmy. Nothing real exciting happened so I don't have much to write today. Just thought some new pictures were in order.

Shark infested waters

2006-08-27T02:29:00.000-07:00

Well, Shane and I have spent the night fishing off our back porch, quite successfully I might add. Our catch totals out to 12 landings..........10 hammerhead sharks and 2 plum sized crabs. Although it was fun catching the sharks it got alittle like dealing with hard heads in Texas, if we got away with what tackle we started with it was a clean catch. Unfortunatly I think Shane spent most of his time rerigging our poles.
These pictures are of Shane's very first (ever) shark. If you read my earlier post you would know that I caught one this morning. It took awhile for Shane to figure out how to get them off our hooks so this first one was out of the water for awhile. Shane was so distraut at the idea he named this unfortunate soul Fred.
Fred now has a resting place right at our sea wall. He didn't make it.
If you know much about me than you know I have no sympathy what so ever, they could all vanish from the earth and that would be okay with me.
So after 10 baby sharks I made my opinion perfectly clear "I've seen Jaws one too many times to get into this water.........I think I'll stick to the beach!)

Our Hawaiian home

2006-08-26T16:56:00.000-07:00

So this the view from our new home. I would have posted earlier but I has been what felt like forever getting all the unpacking finished. With Shane off all day playing chief games with the other little boys, I've had the job of doing all this alone. So really the only time I've had to get any work done is when Gus is sleeping........much to my dismay is not as often as it used to be. The move severly screwed up his schedule.
We have had a hard time getting the locals to dish out info about the right ways to fish here. I think it is because I'm a wahini (white girl) but whatever the case they've had a great deal of fun giving long explainations to my questions that really are not helpful. Don't let me give you the impression that these people are ugly or anything.......they have been very nice. Guess they just need to give us a hard time about something. Anyway, this morning I went out and fished off the dock. I caught my very first Hawaiian fish, a 2 foot hammerhead shark. I can not prove this however because I was the only one here. I'll swear on my mother's good name though.
Anyway, as soon as the house gets but in proper order, I will take pictures and start posting those too.

Rockport

2006-08-09T19:55:00.000-07:00

Well, two weeks in Rockport turned out to be more than I could handle. I've discovered that having a nosy child on the water is a nerve racking experience. It just was'nt as fun as it used to be, being a parent changes even the little stuff I guess. We did have some fun though. I discovered that my son's inner dialoge is adament about being an accompished swimmer, he thinks he can do it on his own. And actually he's pretty good for a 16 month old. Holds his breath, kicks and everything. Guess he's alittle Redus after all. We fished some and actually caught some keepers. I caught the first one........had to add that for Dad's benefit.
I'm getting the evil eye from Shane.........he's waiting for the computer, homework.

We've discovered ketchup

2006-06-30T12:17:00.000-07:00

The movers came on Monday to take apart my house. Strange watching someone else touching your things and not be able to do anything but watch. I didn't realize I had power issues. Never mind that someone else was touching my underroos. Anyway, because we have no kitchen tools I have resorted to filling my child with the most disgusting crap on the planet. I tried the salad thing, I swear he almost laughed at me. So french fries and hamburgers it has to be. After about 2 days of this he must have asked himself why he wasn't getting to put red stuff on his fries, because he walked over to my plate and helped himself. Since then I've had what I lovingly refer to as a parasite, sitting right next to me at dinner time so that he can make sure he's not being cheated out of something.
I have to hand it to him, he's discovering his inner Pullin.........the child loves carbohydrates. Mainly anything sweet.......but did I really need to make that clear?

53 days and counting

2006-06-14T10:28:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure when I posted last but I know it's been awhile. Today I am taking Gus Gus to an audition for a TV commercial. I sent some pictures of him to a talent scout in November and they called on Monday to tell us we had an appointment. I don't have too much hope, they are casting a sleeping baby.........they obviously have never met this child in person. Sleeping upon command is not part of his repertoire, talented though he may be.
The Navy is scheduled to send packers over to the house on the 26th and from what I hear they should be done within 3 hours.....sounds like an ant farm. We'll see about that. One of Shane's buddies is taking our lease and has agreed to move in on the 1st to help us save some extra dough for the move. Great guy that Scott.
On the 13th of July I drop off the Xterra for transport and fly into San Antonio on the 14th. We are joining Mom, Dad, Keri and Scott (Cot as Gus Gus likes to call him) in Rockport on the 16th. I am looking forward to that although I dread the Texas heat. California has spoiled me. We (Shane, Gus Gus and I) fly back to Ca on the 4th of August and start towards our new home on the 6th. Hopefully our belongings will arrive shortly there after, I'm not holding my breathe.

if it's not one thing....

2006-04-14T20:30:00.000-07:00

Well, I had plans this month for finally seeing some of California for myself. 3 months before moving........stupid I know but I thought better late than never. So I was going to meet up with the woman who babysat Mom in Columbus, and we were going to the Poppy festival. Unfortunatly my car had other plans. The brakes let go last week,, so the money I was going to use for my trip now has to fix my car. Although Shane has offered to replace the brakes hisself, God bless his little heart, I'm afraid of what the result will be. I am, for the sake of his pride, going to let him try however. So no poppy festival for me and maybe no car either.
I'm keeping a positive attitude though, I've rea;ized that's important for my kid. Right?

Uncharted

2006-04-11T13:57:00.000-07:00

So I never thought I'd be doing something this computery. Computery.......my new word, it will eventually find itself into a dictionary.
I realize the Aloha bit is a tad premature but I'm trying to get myself used to the idea that I'll soon be flying over an ocean. Laugh all you want Edie (she and I already had this conversation). I've already started the moving process, as far as the military goes. I have appointments all week trying to set up for the move. Shipping our cars and other stuff, mending wills and trying to find housing in Hawaii. None of this is a simple task. I'm convinced the first class all military personnel are required to take is "How to make it as difficlut as possible 101". Atleast that's how they make it seem. We've also been spending lots of time at the park, per the picture, and preparing for a big garage sale. Let me rephrase that...I'm doing all of these things. Guess that's what I signed up for.
I'm really looking forward to leaving California, although we more than likley can't afford to live near the beach in Oahu. Well, I have some things to do around the house before Gus Gus wakes up.

Sure hope I'm doing this thing right. Writing all this out for nothing would be a pisser.