Mama On The Move

Our hold baggage arrived today! (I would have pictures, but the batteries are dead in the camera.) Hold baggage is all the stuff we sent ahead so that it would be here when we arrived. We sent ahead all our summer clothes, swimsuits, beach toys, pillows, blankets, cooking items, Christmas gifts, etc. In short, everything we would need when we arrived in Hawaii. It all left Kansas early enough to be delivered to us within days of our arrival. Once we got here, they told us we couldn't have it. They won't deliver that much stuff to the hotel. It's a fire hazard. Um.....so why did they tell us to send this stuff ahead? Anyway, it's here now. We had a little mini-Christmas handing out the Christmas gifts we had sent ahead. Poor Emily had outgrown many of the clothes I had bought her. I didn't know she was about to shoot up two full inches when I bought all this stuff. One of the things we sent ahead in our hold baggage was a bicycle. With only one vehicle, we thought th...

Sleeping on plastic covered mattresses is not very restful. CRACKLE! CRUNCH! CRACKLE! CRUNCH! Every time you roll over, or even shift your position......... CRACKLE! CRUNCH! CRACKLE! CRUNCH! Kerry said he kept dreaming that a giant moose was eating dry grass next to him. The plastic actually did not bother me. The air conditioner kept me up all night though. It has been years since we've had a window unit A/C. The last time we had a window unit, I was pregnant with Emily. It was summer, and I could not get the bedroom cold enough at night. I remember shutting the bedroom door so none of the cool air would escape and turning the A/C on as high as it would go at as low a temperature as it could, and I still couldn't get cool. Kerry actually put an extra blanket on himself. And when that man needs even one blanket, much less two, you know it had to have been cold in that room. But I was roasting. Luckily, pregnancy is not a concern these days. This A/C is keeping me cool enough....

We moved into our new house today! This is my new kitchen! This is the long skinny room next to the kitchen that is too small for a table. And the counter area is too low for stools. The floorplan says it's a "pantry". Hmmmm. I don't know about that. Don't pantries have shelves? These are the built in shelves in my dining room and the fireplace in the living room. They have....painted it....red....for some reason. This is our "covered patio" (that's what it says on the floorplan). Well....it covers the A/C unit. A partial shipment of goods also arrived today. We had some stuff in temporary storage for the last year and we requested specific items out of there be sent to us. They sent my china hutch.........but not the shelves or anything that goes in the china hutch. They were supposed to ship the trampoline, but didn't. They were not supposed to ship the bowflex, the futon, or the lawnmower, but did. It is all sitting in my house now. The...

So----we were sitting in our hotel room on Friday evening when suddenly the power went out. Now normally in our home, I have one certain spot where all the flashlights live. When the power goes out, I know where I can find a flashlight. I also keep candles in most of the rooms, and I keep matches in certain easily accessible spots all around the house. But not in a hotel room. I must confess, it never crossed my mind to pack flashlights or candles in our suitcases. So there we were: Katie and Emily had been watching the movie "Tinkerbell"; Ben and Kerry were playing a game on the computer; I was reading a book. All activities unsuited to complete darkness and no electricity. We thought it might be just our hotel (we had no TV or radio to check the news) so we decided to run to the PX and buy flashlights. On the way to the PX however, we noticed there was no light in any building we passed and all the street lights and stoplights were also off. It was cloudy, so there was no m...

Before the kids woke up. After the kids woke up.

We have a house! The housing office called us yesterday, and we went by to see our new house. They told us we could move in immediately! Wasn't that nice of them? They were making sure that we were in a real house by Christmas! A house with no furniture! No beds! No phone, Internet, or cable hooked up yet! Aren't they thoughtful !!!! We declined their generous offer and told them we will move in Monday. In the mean time, we will be spending Christmas in our hotel. With cable, Internet, phones, and maid service. So, we decided to gussy up our little home with a small tree. Charlie Brown springs to mind. We got some cute miniature ornaments at the store. And had ourselves a tree decorating party. "I never did think it was such a bad little tree," said Linus. ********************************************************* Oh.....and we spent Christmas Eve at the beach. :-)

This is the Humuhumunukunukuapua'a. That is Hawaiian for "triggerfish with a pig-like short snout". It has small blue teeth, two spines, and makes grunting noises. I'm not making this up. The humuhumunukunukuapua'a's life has been filled with intrigue. It was named the state fish in 1984 but only for five years . There was some question about the polling and voting methods (sound familiar, Minnesota?) Perhaps the humu had friends on the inside who were determining voter intent as opposed to actual voter ballot . Most people did not realize the crown was to be worn for only five years. When the reign was over everyone continued to put the humu on tee-shirts and tourist trinkets mainly for the fun of listening to people try to pronounce it. BUT.....in 2006 it came to light that the humu was no longer the official state fish. There were those who lobbied for the Oopu to be handed the throne and scepter because it is found only in Hawaii and actually tastes goo...

We went Christmas caroling tonight with a local church that we have found. We've been to this church two times now, and this morning they announced that they would be caroling tonight so we decided to join them. I don't know that I've ever been caroling before. Quite possibly I did, but I don't remember it. I am not a singer and always considered it a form of torture so I may have blocked out the memories. We sang lots of traditional carols, but we also sang " Mele Kalikimaka " (which is "Merry Christmas" in Hawaiian). It's probably a tradition to sing it here, but it was the first time I had heard it. It was my favorite song of the night! We had to use flashlights to see the words. Because it was so dark, there were a couple of unfortunate mishaps. One woman fell and skinned her knee pretty badly. And as we were walking into the parking lot of another building, none of us realized there was a giant mechanical arm which blocks cars without a pas...

There are many things to be wary of in Hawaii. We've been warned. All is not paradise. Don't dress like you have money. Don't turn your back on your drink. You could be drugged and mugged. Be mindful of the ocean. Even the most tranquil waters can have an undertow that can whisk you out to sea. Keep vinegar with you when you go to the beach to treat jellyfish stings. Jellyfish are most prevalent for the first ten days after a full moon. Stay out of murky water. Sharks love murky water because they are basically cowards who like to sneak up on their prey. But the most hideous, the most loathsome Hawaiian menace - no one even warned us about......... .................Hawaiian shaved ice. This horrible menace masquerades as an innocent child's treat. It's under the guise of a friendly little snow cone that it catches your child's eye. But this green monster is not your friend. The fact that it is the size of your child's head should be your first cause for ala...

Yesterday, we went to visit the USS Bowfin , a Naval submarine which is now a historic landmark located next to the USS Arizona . The Bowfin went on nine patrols during WWII and is credited with threading her way through enemy mine fields in Tsushima Straight and using her torpedos to sink the 1,898-ton transport Shinyo Maru and the 887-ton freighter Akiura Maru. Yes, I said mine fields. When you are inside the Bowfin realizing that 80 men had to live and work together inside there, it seems very small. But when you are looking at the outside of it, realizing that someone was trying to guide it through floating mines, it seems impossibly huge! These pseudo rockets are there to greet you as you arrive. I'm not really sure what they are for. I could make a joke about the Navy painting it's name on something that screams "Size Matters!" But that would be inappropriate, I'm sure. Kerry read this. I took a picture of it and will read it later, probably. A park rang...

Today we went to the USS Arizona Memorial . It is the number one tourist spot on the island of Oahu. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor in 1941, over half the deaths that occurred that day happened with the destruction of the Arizona . This is a painting of Pearl Harbor as it would have looked the day before the Japanese attacked. After watching a film about the attacks, we took a little boat out to the actual memorial. This memorial is built over the wreckage of the sunken USS Arizona. Many of the men who died that day are still inside of it. This is one of the gun turrets which still shows above the water. Even after 66 years, about a quart of oil a day leaks out of the hull. These are the names of the 1,177 men who died on the USS Arizona that day. There are 23 sets of brothers and also a father and son on this list. Many of the survivors of that day have made arrangements to have their ashes placed in the ship after they die. The kids don't really understand the magnitu...