Last photo of the evening...

And so ends a beautiful day at the beach. We stayed until the sun went down, appreciating every moment whenever we get a chance to download, relax, and enjoy family time. 

What a blessing to have such great weather and a beautiful sunset to end the evening.

(Yes, that would be my son in the water, bending down. He wasn't ready to leave!)

Waikiki Beach and getting darker...

Here are my two monkeys that stayed in the water - pretty much the whole 6 hours we were there! Getting darker by the minute!

Daddy was getting them to ride the waves. Hopefully soon, they'll go out with him and catch some bigger ones!

If you look closely at this picture, you can see Mokulele's elemu (his behind) - very white. So yes, he's gotten darker. Waaay darker. And tomorrow, he's going to the beach again with his sister and friends! Can he get any darker????

Easter Sunday Adventures

Happy Easter!

Yes, here we are, Sunday morning, BRIGHT EYED & BUSHY TAILED. The kiddies were looking for all 16 eggs!

We took time today (no soccer, can you believe it???) to go to Church and give thanks. I really do love the 10:00 am service at St. Elizabeth Church in Aiea. The Samoan choir is phenomenal.  

After a quick stop over to Gulicks for a mish mash of food, home to change, we were off to the beach for some R&R. We went to Waikiki beach, planted ourselves near the water and grassy area. 

I went running first before I relaxed a bit. Felt like exercising before relaxing... I know I'm a goof.

Mokulele, of course, was already in the water from the get go. I had to make him stop to take a picture. Here he is when he was BARELY dark. 

Egg Coloring Night... part 2

Here are Mokulele's finished eggs. He colored, crayoned, and even put stickers on them. Very creative...

The end of the evening's adventure with coloring eggs for the Easter Bunny.

But on a more religious note, this is not about the Easter Bunny. Rather, this is about Jesus and what He did for us on the cross. He is the reason for the season. 

Egg Coloring Night...

We started coloring eggs a little late this time around. But, despite the late hour, the kiddies were into it all. 

Mokulele was our most awake child and ready to rock and roll coloring!

He really reminds me of his Auntie Rhino; always ready for a picture, even though he was trying to finish coloring his eggs.

Thing 2 was so cute in making this very creative egg. It even had hair!

St. Patrick's Day at Aloha Towers

 This past Monday, March 17th, St. Patty's Day, was full of GREEN excitement! We FINALLY went to go see Caleigh and Delia perform! They were performing their Irish Step Dancing at Aloha Towers Marketplace. They were sensational!
 Here are the group of kids that performed, including Tristan AND Gavin (the sad little one in the kilt/skirt). They were great! We found out that Caleigh and Delia had been performing ALL DAY at different events and venues. Unbelievable. You wouldn't know it by the way they danced their heart out.
During their performance, we went to eat because my stomach was hungry. So we snuck away to Don Ho's Bar & Grill, had pupus and a beer with Jon.
Our kiddies were having a great time as well. :) Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

Day 4 with Kimo & CrossFit

No pictures. Sorry! My legs/thighs are still sore after Wednesday's workout. This time it was Tabata squats, kettle bell squat, push ups, and ending that with a 600m run. My legs felt like jello. 

Still, despite feeling like your legs are going to fall off, it was a great 11 minute workout. Intense, but well worth it. Michelle, another stay at home Mom, was there. She did the Tabata squats at ANOTHER CrossFit training facility the other day. She's one hot mama!!! She was very encouraging and was yelling from across the room to me not to give up.

This time, I did worse on my run. I was 13 seconds more than the first time. I will need to improve on that! But for the most part, I think I did pretty good. I averaged 16 squats (4 minutes), 40 of the kettle bell squats (2 minutes), and 45 sit ups (2 minutes). My run was 4:27. Today is another workout, so we'll see how I do! 

Mokulele & his gals

It was my dog niece's birthday March 20th. She is officially 6 years old and feeling FIT! It's hard to believe that for a good portion of her little life, she was severely overweight. Yup, an overweight black lab. But with constant caring and putting her foot down, my Sis has gotten her exercising waaaaay better than before, sticking to just the main meals of the day, and no snacking or giving her unhealthy snacks. She deserved this homemade gluten free carrot cake!
Here's my son, so excited to show off the cake made by Auntie Rhino. I'm not sure if he helped because when I left to run errands, he was sleeping while Auntie Rhino was baking... hmmm...

And finally, the Love of his life - Baby Daisy. Earlier this was reversed. HE was sleeping and she was up watching tv. His first words when he met her (2 years ago) was "Um Auntie, she's crying." She, of course, was still baby. He being 3 years older than her... Then later (the same day!) he said "She's so cute! Baby Daisy is so cute!" And that's what started it. Whatever "it" is, he sees her and he's all shy but smiling. :)

Day 2 and 3 of CrossFit with Kimo

No pictures to add to this event.  Too tired to even shoot!  Anyway, last week Friday, I went for the 2nd session of CrossFit Training.  My Sis was MIA (woke up late!) so it was me and another gal. 

This time it was intense. 10 knees to elbows (hanging from a pipe up above!), 20 lunges, 10 burpees, 20 lunges BACK, and finally 10 dips.  And we had to do this 3 times!  Yup, 120 lunges really was much. No sense stopping in the middle, just keep going until you were done! And the knees to elbows? Holy smokes.

I must admit that it was well worth the pain. I did it in 9:13.

====================

Third Session with Kimo was today. Sis couldn't make it, so it was me and two other peeps - Sheri & Rod. I was so not expecting what the workout was going to be like. 

This time we had to do 4 minutes of Kabata push ups (tally our own), 2 minutes jump rope (again, tally our own), 2 minutes ball wall (tally), and finally the 600 m run around the block. The push ups were 20 seconds with a 10 second rest and had to do it 8 times. The lowest number was to be tallied.  I averaged 9. Jump rope is always my favorite and I did 301. The ball wall, wall ball thing was 24. And finally, my run was 4:15.

Would I do this again? Most definitely. I know it's keeping me fit, healthy, and so very HUNGRY after an hour! Geez...

Cross Fit with Kimo Kockelman!!!

Once again, my big sister, introduced me to a new something today. We worked out this morning with Ger's fabulous trainer, Kimo Kockelman of Hardass Fitness! Kimo just moved from Gold's Gym to his own space at Power House Gym located on Keawe Street in town. It's right behind the now defunct, Comp USA.

The Cross Fit Training was the first time for both Ger and I. After Kimo gave us a complete description of what we'd be doing (form is very important) we started.

This was the last exercise I had to do - jump rope. I LOVE to jump rope. So this part was easy.

Okay, the sit ups and push ups were the hardest for me. I thought I wasn't going to get through it, but I did! Good to also have pump up background music to help move the time along, too!

Ahh..Mr. Kimo. Just gotta love dis guy. He made us sweat and push ourselves! My time after all the push ups, sit ups, bar, kettle bell, squats, and jump rope - 5:31. Woo-hoo! Friday's another adventure at Hardass Fitness and CrossFit Training!!!

So after our workout, had to eat something healthy. Here we are at The Wedding Cafe at Ward having THEIR acai bowl! It was very good, refreshing, and close to being homemade.

Sunsets...

It's amazing, the kind of sunsets you can see on the Kamehameha School campus.  This one was taken by Jon's iPhone.

The sky was clear enough to actually see the sun setting over the leeward area.  Very u'i!

Mammies, Mariposa & Maritinis!

So Monday was my 2nd annual Mammogram.  This time, me and Big Sis decided to combine a day of torture and smashing with fun!  It sure is fun when you have someone to go with and get this all important screening done!  Kaiser Permanente Honolulu Clinic did an awesome job of getting me in and out so quickly!  Fifteen minutes - tops!

Then, we went to Neiman Marcus' Mariposa to have a nice lunch together. LOVE those popovers!  Yummy!  Sis really loved the chicken broth aka "consomme".  We split a lobster salad and a lobster club sandwich. Very yummy.  

I had my afternoon martini - a cosmopolitan.  I know! It's not a martini, but we were going for the M's - Mammies, Mariposa, Martini!

I thoroughly enjoyed the afternoon with my Sis.  She is so awesome and takes care of me.  Even though I'm older, married, and have a family, she will always see me as the "baby sister".  I love her so much!  Thank you for spending time and being my Big Sister!!!  I love you!!!

Soccer weekend

So the weekend started with Thing 2's soccer game at Waipio.  All the photos I took were waaaay too far, so you couldn't really see her.  sigh...  Anyway, Mokulele was running around with his "buddies" and getting irritated that his feet were dirty with grass.  He wanted to clean them up and go back and play.  I don't think so!  Funny kid...

Mokulele was the only one that didn't get to go to his soccer game. :(  It was smack right in the middle of Thing 1's game.  And I was playing single parent for the weekend since Jon was busy.

Had to go to other daughter's game in the afternoon - back to Waipio!  At least we could relax and hang out since it was the last game on the field we were at.  Gotta love Zippy's chili and hot dogs and rice!  Yum!

Sunday brought us another two game morning and afternoon.  One of these days, I've got to get my sister to take my soccer game photos!!!  Anyway, I had a game at 9:00 am at Waipio again!  Went home in time to get the kiddies and drive to Mililani 16 Acres for Thing 1's 3:00 pm game.  The photo above is after their game (1-1).  So far, they consider themselves "unbeatable" because their record shows 0-0-3.  We're looking for a win any day now!!!

Thing 2

Last week Wednesday, after Thing 2's soccer practice, I took her out to get new soccer shoes and a sports bra.  I tell you.  The exciting things that a Mommy does!  But really, she needed new chooz.  

Anyway, I hardly have had time to spend with her, so we went out to The Old Spaghetti Factory and had dinner. Just us two. :)  And it just so happen that the Lopes were there, celebrating Trainie's birthday!  Fun!

The Turquoise Kitchen

Here is one of my most favorite photos with my mom.  One day, Mom decided to repaint the kitchen.  She was all gung-ho about it, and I wanted to help.

We had a blast!  Mom was getting into it until I was fooling around and "accidentally" painted Mom's hair.  She turned around and "accidentally" painted me, too!  

Soooo much fun!  My sister came home and took pictures of us. :)   We were laughing and having so much fun!  

Thank you for the great memories, Mom!  I miss you!!!  Thank you sis for capturing the moment.  I'll never forget it!!!!

Just a few more at Disneyland 2007

We met one of our former "boys" from 'Iolani Dorm - Ini.  He had dinner with us at this cajun restaurant.  Stayed til almost closing...hmmm...

(NOTE: We were supposed to keep in contact with him, but a few days later, got into a terrible accident while "working" - racing motorcycles.  We didn't hear about it until about a month later when he was out of the hospital.  He came home and wanted to visit us, to help his short term memories return.  So far, so good...) 

Mom and I were enjoying the warm drinks.  It was chilly!!!  But the kahlua kept us nice and toasty! Where are the kiddies?  Sleeping on the chairs. :)

Can't forget to take a photo with Mickey Mouse!!!  Just the little man and his Daddy went to see this famous mouse of all time. :)

And I?  I took advantage of my name up in lights.  Even if she is a duck. :)

Last Summer, 2007...

I had to share this exciting adventure... Last summer, Jonathan surprised us with a trip to Disneyland!!!  We had a three day pass that was quite amazing.  Mom came with on the first day and went on as many rides as she could handle - Indiana Jones was I think the most intense for her.  The rest were just "nice" rides, and not too scary.

We all had to go to Pooh's thoughtful spot...

Stood in line the next day for the Nemo Submarine ride.  The day before was the grand opening.  People stood in line for 5-8 hours just to say they went that first day.  We stood in line for about 1 1/2 hours.  Wasn't too bad of a wait.  :)

And on the LAST day, we decided to go to California Adventure Park.  That's where we got our DREAM Pass.  We could go on any ride and basically "cut" in line at any time!!!  We quickly made way on all the big rides that we thought we couldn't and we even went back to Disneyland to finish off the other rides that Jon didn't get to do the first two days.  We were truly blessed and lucky that we were in the right place at the right time.  The Secret WORKS!!!

On a lasting note, this was one ride that Jayna DID NOT care to go on.  Can you tell???  Thing 2 and Daddy went first.  Then, at a last moment, Thing 1 said she would go because she could say that she went on the ride that all her friends went on.  IT WAS A SCREAM.  I screamed.  I laughed.  It was soooo much fun!!! 

Mom's Day - Girl's Day

Today was Mom's 11 year Anniversary... Always a difficult day, no matter how long it's been since she's passed on.  I went to her site by myself this time and boy, I'll never do that again.  It was tough.  I was sad.  :(  Placing the flowers was the easiest to do.  It was the flood of memories of her that was hard...Hard to hold in the emotions... 

Going out there is so quiet and peaceful... You forget that you're in the middle of a bustling city and a busy freeway.  

==========================

Happy Girl's Day!!!

On a happier note, my sister took all of us girls (and the Little Man) out for dinner at Genki Sushi!  My good friend, Arna, came out to join us in the festivities! 

Here she is - FINALLY eating her soft shell crab sushi after I ATE hers by accident!  Sorry Arn!!!

Ahh... the Namesake...  And what is up with my UH Green Shirt and the Blue Aeropostale shirt??? 

Here's Auntie Rhino with the Little Man.  Happier little boy now that he has something to keep him occupied...

And here's Thing 1 with sushi all over her.  Geez...  Auntie Rhino, are there ANY normal photos??? Of course not!  

Thank you Auntie Rhino for a wonderful dinner and celebration of Girls!!!  We love you!!!

What a day!

What a wonderful start of a beautiful day!  Today, was the 31st Annual Straub 10K. What a great experience we all had!  We all did this to fulfill my sister's bucket list of 20+20.  This was her first as with Olivia, Divina, and Barb!  

I was there at 5:30 am to pick up our packets.  The race started at 7:00 am.  There were many women and girls there for this great race.  This year, we wore ribbons to support ovarian cancer.  Ironically, that is what our Mom survived years ago.  

Just walking most of the race with my sister and friends, I finished under the 2 hour mark.  Next year, I'm going to encourage jogging the race to beat that time.  

We totally had a lot of fun.  

I love my sister so much!  I was so PROUD of her and finishing this race. What an accomplishment!!! 

After that, I had a soccer game to play at Waipio Soccer Complex at 11:00 am.  Yes, I was tired, but had my shots of acai to keep me going!  Anyway, we ended up tying the game 3-3.  Not too shabby.

Finally, the game of the day.  My daughter's team - Leahi '95 Green - played their first game under a new coaching staff and vision.  They looked GREAT.  We were all so very impressed with their performance!  The game ended with a tie 1-1. 

Came home after being out for about 12 hours.  Tired, exhausted, but feeling very accomplished.