Aloha, Anderson's

Last week, we had the privilege of having the Anderson's come and stay with us for 5 days. These are some friends visiting from Utah, whom we met while we were all attending grad. school in Cleveland. We have kept in touch all this time, though we haven't seen them for 7 years. Has it really been that long?! It was so great to pick up where we left off, without skipping a beat. Aloha, and welcome to Hawaii! After a BBQ at our house, we took them to Ko'Olina, one of our favorite spots on the island. We wanted to show them the gorgeous sunsets. We enjoyed the evening walking on the sandy beaches in this beautiful setting, and catching up.

Dave and Emily took advantage of the 4 hour time difference, and were up and at 'em at 5 a.m. Saturday morning. They wanted to go snorkeling at Hanauma Bay, and the best time is really early in the morning when all the fish are feeding. Chris decided to join them, since he had not been yet. They had a blast, and got some underwater pictures of some amazing sea-life.
Emily looked fabulous in her snorkel gear!Next, Chris took them to hike Diamond Head. Chris called us from the summit, and told the kids to go out on the patio and wave, and he would wave back. Not that we could see him, but just the thought was enough. Here is a picture from the top. Beautiful!Later that night we all met up in Waikiki to have dinner with some other friends from Cleveland, the Belau's, who were in town for a convention. What a fun night of catching up with these long lost friends.

On Sunday, after church, we took Dave and Emily on a drive around part of the island. The Pali overlook was spectacular, even on a rainy overcast day.

Next, we headed to the Punchbowl, a military cemetery where many of the soldiers from Pearl Harbor and WWII are buried. Since the next day (Monday) was Memorial Day, it was special to walk around and reflect on the lives of these brave men and women. Each grave had an American flag and a lei. We were told that the school children of some local schools made the leis, and the Boy Scouts placed the leis with a flag at each grave. There were thousands. This picture does not do it justice.

The next day was Memorial Day. Dave and Emily had scheduled a private tour at Pearl Harbor, so we let them go, while our family slept in. It happened to be my birthday, so Chris woke me up to my favorite breakfast, Belgium waffles with strawberries and whipped cream. Yummm! When Dave and Emily returned, we headed up to North Shore for a Mexican lunch. We passed the Dole Plantation on our way, so we decided to make a quick detour. They couldn't leave Hawaii without at least trying the pineapple ice-cream. It's not my favorite, but then again, I'm not a huge ice-cream fan. After lunch (or dinner, by the time we got there), I wanted to try to find a beach I had heard about where there were supposed to be turtles. We went where we were told, but there was nothing. We walked around on the lava rocks, and saw some swimming in the ocean, but we really couldn't get close enough to get a good look. Oh, well. On our way back to the car, we saw some people on the beach looking at what appeared to be a large rock. As we got closer, we saw that it was a huge turtle. In Hawaii, the turtles are "protected" so there was a preservationist there to rope off the turtle, and make sure that nobody got too close. I was just glad to have seen one up close. "Dude...the name's Crush."On Tuesday the Anderson's spent the day at the Polynesian Cultural Center, and didn't get back until we were all asleep. They flew out on Wed. morning to go to the island of Kauai for the remainder of their vacation. After they left, I told Chris my favorite part of living in Hawaii, was showing it off to visitors. Sooo....who's next? Any takers?

Family Beach Day

A couple of week-ends ago, our family decided to have a beach day. Masen had done so well at the Ko'Olina Lagoons when I went with my friend Shelly, I was able to convince Chris he was ready for the beach. So, we loaded up the van and headed to the North Shore. Corynn and Dallin were so excited. It had been a while since we have been to a beach with waves where they could boogie board.

Masen did so good. We slathered him up in his baby sunscreen with SPF 50, put on his rash guard, trunks and hat. He was so cute in his little outfit. We took him out for his first dip in the ocean. The water was a little cold at first, but we got used to it pretty quick.

After playing for a little while, Masen and I were sitting on a lounge chair, under the umbrella, and I had this surreal feeling wash over me. I was just sitting there listening to the waves crash, and the children laugh, looking at the beautiful scenery, and I had this feeling like I had been dropped into the middle of a commercial. Is this really my life? I snapped this picture to remind me of the moment.

Beach Bums

Since the kids didn't have school on Monday, my friend Shelly and I decided to take our kids to the beach. Our beach days have been few and far between since I've been pregnant, and now having a newborn. Shelly and I set up some lounge chairs in the shade, and let the kids play for a few hours. It was pure bliss! The kids love to hunt for crabs. Usually they find tons of sand crabs, but this time they found a real crab. They were able to capture it in their bucket to show us. If I were a seafood fan, I might have been tempted to steam it up and eat it. The kids might have been sad to eat their pet, though.

Masen did amazingly well. We just spread out a blanket for him to lay in the shade, and he just chilled. He is a beach bum in the making. I guess I might need to get him a swimming suit soon.

Chris' Humanitarian Mission to the Philippines

Last month Chris had the amazing opportunity to go to the Philippines on a humanitarian mission with the Army. I really wanted Chris to write this post, but he is always so busy, and when he is not busy, he is too tired from being busy. So, I will attempt to muddle through his 2 1/2 week trip. I apologize in advance if I get some things wrong. He took hundreds of pictures, and I tried to capture the essence of this trip. The Military sent out a group of about 20; including doctors (Pediatricians, Optometrists, Veterinarians) dentists, Pharmacy Techs, RNs, assistants and security. They visited 5 cities (or villages), staying at each one between 2-5 days each. He didn't have a phone to call me but he had spotty internet, so I received an e-mail from him every few days describing his experiences. He was hot and tired a lot of the time. He said it reminded him a lot of his mission in India.His working conditions weren't the best. It was very hot and humid working in these make-shift clinics. He was grateful when his hotel room had air conditioning. His patients were about half adults and half kids. In the few e-mails I received he complained about his hands hurting from doing so many extractions.

He loved working and playing with the kids.
I thought this picture was funny. If you are going to use the coffin, I certainly wouldn't want it back :)
The markets there were insane. There were some other pictures with boxes full of fish all over the ground. I can't imagine doing my grocery shopping like this.
Open wide!

On one mission they had to be flown to another island. They flew in a Marines helicopter (you know, the ones with the double blades). Chris got some amazing aerial pictures.

Chris told me that something that really touched him was how grateful the people were. He told me that it made him feel like he was making a difference. I guess it's not the same as here in the states. We take things like medical and dental care for granted, and we dread having to visit a doctor. Chris told me there were actually lines outside their tents for patients to be seen.

Here is Chris just messing around on a motorcycle. This is probably the closest he will ever get to riding one.

I'm not sure, but I think this picture is taken with some people from the Filipino Army. I know he worked with 2 other Filipino dentists, as well as 2 other American dentists. He said between the 5 of them they were seeing about 400 patients a day.

What an amazing experience he had. He has always dreamed of doing work like this, but we always thought it would be after he retired. We are so lucky for Chris to be able to fulfil some of his dreams, while the Army foots the bill :) Chris said it was very fulfilling work, but it was also very hard work. He says he might need a year to recover from this mission before he volunteers for another one. He is hoping to go to Nepal next.

Hoppy Easter!

I love traditions, and Easter is one of those holidays where we have a few fun traditions. I always buy the kids matching Sunday outfits. I'm sure they will hate this tradition in a few years, but for now they think it's fun. They loved that they matched the baby. Another traditon is Easter baskets with lots of candy, and a stuffed animal instead of a chocolate bunny. This year they got Webkins for thier stuffed animal. Corynn got a skunk, because she is a little "stinker." Dallin got a lion because I thought it was cute, just like him. Masen got a bunny rattle in his basket.Another fun tradition we have is an Easter egg hunt. Usually we ask the Easter bunny to come on Friday night so we can do the egg hunt and baskets on Saturday morning. I like to keep the commercial side and the spiritual side of Easter seperate. This year though, it was raining on Saturday morning, so instead the Easter bunny came while we were at church on Sunday. It was such a sunny beautiful Hawaiian day, we did the egg hunt in the back yard. We have a tradition of having each child find one special Golden Egg that has money in it. In the beginning the Golden Egg had a quarter in, and over the years it has increased to $5. The kids know that the Golden Egg is usually hard to find, and sometimes they need clues. The only clue I would give them this year is that they needed to be VERY careful when they found the Golden Egg. Dallin wasn't being so careful when he found it and nearly got tangled in this huge spider's web.Thankfuly, I was watching him, and yelled from across the yard that he needed to watch out. Once he saw the spider he wasn't so sure the Golden Egg was worth the risk :) After some deliberation he walked around to the other side of the bush (even though it was in our neighbors yard), and was able to snag the egg from behind. He was one determined kid.

Here is Corynn and Dallin proudly showing off their Golden Eggs. Here is me and Masen watching all the fun.

Easter Portraits

OK, so I'm really late on getting Masen's pictures taken for his announcements. I decided to get all the kids' pictures taken together in their Easter outfits, along with Masen's one month old pictures. I haven't found a good photographer here in Hawaii, so I just went to Sears (there's my first mistake). I was so disappointed with how they turned out. I guess I'm just used to the mainland kids studios; I LOVE Kiddie Kandids, and The Picture People. At least I got the disc so I can TRY to Photoshop the images. I am new at Photoshop, so we'll see how far I get. This picture was cropped (totally off center). Couldn't she get the baby even looking in the right direction? And she would only take one picture of each pose, so if it didn't turn out...too bad.This picture I Photoshopped. It was totally off center, and the light was so bright. If anyone knows how to make a picture look "foggy" in Photoshop CS3, PLEASE let me know how!Cropped again. SOOOO off center.I had to zoom in a little on this one. I guess I should have specified I wanted a close up.Notice the foot hanging out of the basket? It's little things like these, that drive me NUTS!This one was probably the worst of the bunch. It would have turned out cute, but Masen is crying. How do you Photoshop this? I think I'll just have to chuck it.Corynn's and Dallin's individual pictures turned out good. Maybe the photographer just didn't work well with babies? Next time, I'm hiring a REAL professional. Anyone have any recommendations?

Grandma Turns ??? Years Old

For any of you that know my mother-in-law, you know she is young at heart. She has the energy of an 18 year old, and loves life! These past 2 weeks with her visiting us have been great. We have taken drives, gone to the beach, gone shopping, and our favorite activity; going out to lunch! Every place we go, she winks at me and tells me that we are celebrating her birthday today :) With all the "birthday" celebrations this week I think she has turned about 100. After many of these lunches, I started taking a picture of her with her "birthday" dessert.The Cheesecake Factory, Chris' Outrageous Chocolate CakeChili's, Paradise Pie

Red Lobster, Ice Cream

Keep in mind, this list doesn't include:

• California Pizza Kitchen, Hot Fudge Sundae
• Rosita's, Fried Ice Cream
• Macaroni Grill, Chocolate Cake
• Mexican in Kailua, Fried Ice Cream
• P.F. Chang's, Tiramisu

Her REAL birthday is coming up next week on the 16th. Happy REAL birthday, Mom!