Mama On The Move

Yes, I know Christmas was days ago. I'm tired. Katie was happy with her new blankie. Ben was happy with his new poster. Emily was happy with her Tammy Faye Bakker makeover kit. The kids even hugged one another in their joy at having gifts bestowed upon them en masse. Well, at least Katie hugged everyone and if they hugged back it looked like they were all very kind to one another anyway. Now I think I will meander down to the PX and pick up some Valentine candy before it's all gone.

I'm going to post photos of Christmas morning, but if you are used to what my family looks like, you might get a shock if I don't show you these pictures first. Emily was "sick" of dealing with her long, beautiful, thick, brunette-with-natural-red-highlights-hair that I would kill to have. So she wanted a short cut. I told her, I thought she should go with "short-ER" and then keep getting it cut shorter each time she went back if she liked it. I told her it would be a major shock to get it cut really short all at once. I also told her it's a proven fact that most women cry within three days of a major haircut and she should be prepared. It's an emotional upheaval. Like losing an arm. Although hair will grow back and an arm won't. And I told her the crying usually doesn't seem like it's because of the hair, it's because of something like stubbing your toe, or frustration with math, but it will be exacerbated by the major hair cu...

Who would have thought?? Before we moved here, I knew a family who had been stationed here for three years and I remember them telling me that there was a penguin exhibit at one of the hotels. In all the time we've been here, I have never heard of the penguin exhibit. I finally googled it this week and discovered it is at the Hilton Hawaiian Village which we have walked all around a dozen times, but never went inside because, you know, we have a house, and we don't go wandering into the hotels willy-nilly. However, after this experience, I might need to go check more of them out! There is a gorgeous waterfall out front which cascades over a really cool rock formation. Once we were inside, I was astounded to see that there are many shops set up to look like you are wandering through the streets of a charming little village. That's probably why they call it Hilton Hawaiian Village. Duh. I don't know why I didn't wonder about the name before but let me tell you - I...

While we were in Waikiki, we stopped by the Sheraton Waikiki to see the Christmas sand sculptures they have on display in the lobby. For these magnificent creations, the hotel had to haul in twenty tons of sand! Sculptors Thomas Koet and Jill Harris created three seven-foot tall scenes depicting Santa and Mrs. Claus vacationing in Hawaii. And really, where would sand sculptures be more appropriate than the beach? Here are the Clauses packing their bags to leave for a well deserved island vacation. Upon their arrival in Hawaii, they are presented with traditional Hawaiian leis. Then Mr. and Mrs. Claus relax on the beach and enjoy the warm weather - quite a change from the North Pole! And who could blame Mrs. Claus for enjoying a margarita; what happens at the beach stays at the beach! These sculptures will be up through early January if you'd like to see them! Next year, I'm going to go down while they are being created. I think it would be fun to watch the process!

I wanted to show the kids a few special displays which are only around at Christmas so I ruined their day broadened their minds by taking them downtown to view some high-brow culture. At the Sheraton Princess Kaiulani Hotel in Waikiki there is an amazing gingerbread village. It was designed and created by executive chef Raif Bauer. To make this elaborate edible creation required 100 pounds of dark chocolate..... ......30 pounds of white chocolate..... ......60 sheets of gingerbread...... .....and 200 tons of icing. The Kawaiha'o Mission Church recreated in gingerbread. The Moana Surfrider Hotel replica. A circus with a working roller coaster and rides. The replica of the Iolani Palace, which has 88 columns around it, took over six weeks to build. Even the windows on it are made of sugar and completely edible. The entire village took around 600 hours to build, including 96 hours of set-up time. Now that's commitment to creating something extraordinary.

They are sold out of these until after Christmas, so if you want one to give to the newlyweds in your life, you'll have to wait until the new year. Then stock up . The fart absorbing blanket.

MOM! We have GOT to rent some Looney Toons for Katie! She doesn't know who Elmer Fudd is and she called Bugs Bunny "That Bunny Thingy"!

Today was a RAINY day. The skies literally opened up and poured down on us in massive quantities. For ten minutes. Then it stopped. Then it started again. Repeat. All. Day. Long. I don't know why it kept coming down in torrents and then stopping. All my errands today were done in fits and starts as I waited for the rain to stop so I could get in or out of each store. When the girls and I went to the PX there was a lull in the storm. We were walking up to the building as the Salvation Army lady was setting up. She is there every day. She is an elderly lady and she uses a walker with wheels on it to get around. I see her every time I'm there, ringing her bell next to the red bucket hanging there for donations. This time, she was trying to get the red bucket and the metal tee-pee it hangs from out of the doors while using her walker. I could see she was having trouble with it and then the automatic doors decided to automatically close on her. The girls and I ran up and g...

Today is the 69th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. There was a grand opening ceremony of the new $56 million Pearl Harbor Visitor Center and museum. There were a number of survivors on hand to commemorate the occasion. I didn't want to be snapping pictures of them, it seemed rude. We did meet and speak with Survivor Edward F. Borucki, age 90 who was on the USS Helena when it was hit. Thirty-three of his ship mates died in the attack. The museum is truely haunting. There are so many amazing artifacts and photographs inside. It all feels very solemn and sacred. So many lives were lost that day. People's personal stories of that day are on included along with the displays, giving everything a more personal feel. It's a very emotion filled museum. The attack on Pearl Harbor is not just something you read about in a history book once you've been there. It's real now in a way it never was before. Knowing these were the artifacts of a devastating attack whic...

Okay, so I'm a sucker for videos of marriage proposals, people announcing they are pregnant, and soldiers coming home. I can sit on YouTube and watch these videos and just cry, cry, cry. It's good for my dry eye. Imagine my excitement then, to be watching a compilation video of soldiers surprising their families and see Kerry, Rigger and Ringo right smack dab in the middle of it! I'm so tickled! This video means a lot to me and I'm thrilled for so many other people to get to see it!

Two years ago today , we arrived in Hawaii.... This is what we looked like then.......... This is what we look like now. This is Katie then........ This is Katie now. This is Ben then......(and Kerry too!) This is Ben now - it's hard to get a picture of him alone. This is Emily then............... This is Emily now. All three kids on our first hike in Hawaii......... All three kids now. This is me and Kerry then...... This is me and Kerry now. I know it looks as if we've hardly aged at all! It must be that fresh island air!

We went to a "Winter Festival" today. Winter here means jeans instead of shorts and sometimes with close-toed shoes instead of flip flops. Katie got to pet a "reindeer" . And they had made a giant pile of shaved ice for all the kids to play in. This was the biggest excitement of the day for many of the children - they had never seen "snow" before!

This week, we went on a field trip to Sumida Watercress Farm in Aiea. Ben was not happy about going with us. He grumbled the entire way there about me waking him up early to "watch things grow". Sumida Watercress Farm grows 75% of all the watercress produced in Hawaii. It has been run by the Sumida Family for three generations. One of the most interesting things about this farm is that the Pearlridge Mall was built around it because the Sumidas did not want to sell the land. It's very cool to look at this little farm and then see the city buildings all around it. One wall has the tails of marlins they have caught, each of which weighed over 600 pounds! One was even from an 800 pound fish! Mr. Sumida brought out a giant bowl of crawfish which live in the water. He showed the kids how to pick one up and where to hold it so it couldn't pinch them. Katie picked one up and it promptly twisted itself into a backflip and pinched her finger. We got to walk out through ...