Mama On The Move

After a day at the beach, I always make everyone step into the tub to take their swimsuits off so that sand falls in the tub instead of on the floor. This is why.

The dogs love to ride in the car. I don't know why. The only places they ever go are to the vet to get shots, or to the groomer to get bathed, both of which they hate with every fiber of their beings. Regardless, every time the door is open on a vehicle, they shoot in and plop down. Ringo does seem to need a little lap time though. Rigger never seems to be fully aware of the world around him, so it's hard to tell what he's thinking. Katie likes to ride in the car with the dogs too. Although she has to occasionally wipe Rigger's slobber off her head.

3.3 Earthquake Shakes Islands HONOLULU -- People around the island reported feeling the shaking from 3.3-magnitude earthquake that struck Thursday afternoon. KITV4 received reports from Maui, Oahu and Molokai of people feeling the rumbling. The quake was centered about 28 miles south of Lanai City about 80 miles southeast of Honolulu and about 4.2 miles deep. There was no tsunami generated by the quake, the Department of Emergency Management said.

This is the island of Mokoliki'i, more commonly known as Chinaman's Hat. On low-tide days, you can actually walk/swim out to it. Our local friends had planned this venture and, of course, told us that this was a very easy hike . I really have to look up the definition of the word "easy" in Hawaiian, because it clearly doesn't mean the same thing on the mainland as it does here. I did ask before we went out, "How deep will the water be on the way out?" "Oh, about waist high," I was told. I had planned to take my camera out there with us. I figured if the water was only waist high, I could hold it over my head if need be. Then I realized the memory card wasn't in the camera, so I wouldn't be able to use it any way. I was quite aggravated over that, but it turns out God knew and was just protecting my camera for me. We brought a boogie board for Katie in case she got tired. Kerry brought a second boogie board "just in case...

Ben had a good time at the prom. He liked getting to ride in a limo and they had a nice dinner. Each attendee was given a souvenir photo frame. And Ben didn't lose any portion of his tuxedo which was my main concern of the evening as I had to sign a contract saying I would pay five times what it was worth if he lost anything. Side note: When Ben was little he called a tuxedo a "torpedo" and he always wanted to wear one. My mother bought him a little black suit and a black bow tie and he was thrilled. Back to the prom - It was when the music and dancing started that things got a little squirrely. They played popular teen music which was all about sex, drugs, rebellion, and cheating. The dancing was basically teens grinding against each other and a mosh pit of sorts in the center of the dance floor. Ben and his partner (who both take ballroom dance classes) elected to sit and talk rather than join in. It was a good eye-opening experience for Ben. He got a good do...

Ben got invited to a prom! So, to all of you who told me I shouldn't homeschool my kids because they would miss out on going to a prom: Nyah-nyah! He cleans up nice, doesn't he? GQ pose. Ben's was invited by the sister of one of his good friends. They live just a few blocks away from us and go to the same youth group. She wanted to go to her prom, but isn't dating anyone so she asked Ben if he would like to go as friends. After dressing Ben up like my own life sized Ken doll, we walked Ben to her house, and then her family joined us and we walked over to meet three other couples who were all going to the prom. As we walked, we picked up more and more neighbors until we had quite a little entourage following along. Ben turned around and looked at all of us and yelled, "Who are you people?? Leave us alone!" All the prom attendees from our neighborhood had chipped in and gotten a limo to take them to the prom. I've never ridden in a limo. Katie has alw...

Kerry has the day off for President's Day but the kids and I have co-op. I asked him, "So what are you going to do with your day off?" "I'm going to go in and work for a while." "On your day OFF?" "Well, I'm going to wear civilian clothes instead of my uniform."