alohaaaaaa friday!

I'm just going to go ahead and rename this blog "Aloha Fridays: Because that's the only day I update this thing." So there ya go. But no really, our mornings are jam packed and by the time any moment of peace rolls around, I'm either sleeping or catching up on some dumb CW show. (Current faves: Beauty and the Beast, Hart of Dixie, and Reign. You're welcome.)

On Monday, this mama got to surf. Amazing, I know. We had so much fun hanging out and surfing in Waikiki with our friends, Annemieke and Maikel, all the way from the Netherlands. And with them they brought delicious Dutch chocolate and stroopwafels. Have you ever had a stroopwafel?? If not, then go to Holland, or make a few Dutch friends. Or I think there may be a few stores in the US of A that sell them, but it ain't the same. Or maybe it is, I've only ever had them from the source, so I don't know. They also brought Christian a green street cleaner toy truck, and yeah, he's slept with it every night this past week. I think he likes it.

Today marked the end of our swim lessons journey. On Wednesday Christian swam fully clothed… because I'm sure there will (probably not) come a time when Christian will be running around outside near a pool with sweat pants, long-sleeve shirt, and crocs on. But maybe somewhere else? Thursday and today's lessons were casual. Meaning, I sat by the pool sipping my coffee while Christian swam his little butt off. Go Christian!

Here's a video of Christian swimming with his clothes on. You may want to mute it because he was the unhappiest of campers that day.

{link to video}

And "Yay, Hurray!" (as Christian says) the house across the street must've sold because there's been all the live long day construction going on. Because you know, when you drop $850k on a house, there's lots of fixin' up to be done. What a steal. Yesterday was quiet though because they had the termite tent up.

Not too much planned for the weekend. Stroller Stridin' it at the zoo on Saturday, church on Sunday, watching Frosty the Snowman on repeat, the usual.

Christian has been saying the funniest things lately! I need to start writing it down because mom brain. He has gotten super affectionate too. Giving us the squeeziest hugs throughout the day and sloppiest kisses square on the mouth. I love it!! Of course we're going through (what I hope is) normal two-year old shenanigans. For example, since we've told Christian he can't hit his friends, he's taken to body checking them instead. He's such a loving little bulldozer. And sharing? Don't bother trying.

I promise I'll try to do better about updating throughout the week. It's just that well… we do the same things every.single.day. Maybe, just maybe, we'll venture out of our 3 mile driving radius this week?

Oh, I did sign Christian up for music classes! But those don't start until January; you've been warned.

Have a great weekend!

aloha friday!

Oh hey!

So, it's Friday. And if you're a full-time stay-at-home-mom who has a husband that doesn't work "typical" hours, what does that mean? NOTHING. It means absolutely nothing. I take that back. It means that everything we do this weekend will involve exponentially more people in our personal space. But not one to be a Negative Nancy, it also means doing things we don't normally get to do with people we love because they do work throughout the week.

We have had a most excellent Friday so far, and an equally excellent (long) weekend planned ahead. Except Rob does leave for a longer than usual trip. Boo. But alas, we will survive!

This week was the usual. Swimming, Stroller Strides, Sunshine, and other things that start with S, I'm sure. We DID buy tickets to the east coast, and started to plan our (very short weekend) trip to LA. That's exciting! Christian asks every.single.day if today is the day we "get on airplane and wear seatBELT?!" (You see that, his Flight Attendant Mama engrained in his head the importance of the seat belt sign.) So how do you explain to a 2-year-old that the trip is a WHOLE month away? You don't. You say, "No, not today." And move on.

This morning we started out with swim lessons, or technically Infant Swim Resource, which is more self-rescue than actual swimming. But Christian sure can charge it under water for a good while. We had to take a break when the instructor's grandma died… in Germany. The month off was a bit of a kink in Christian's progression, but I think we're slowly getting back to where we were. He has about two more weeks left, so we'll see.

After swimming we drove out to the Urban Garden Center run by the University of Hawaii and one of our favorite people, Auntie Jayme and where we met our other favorite people, April and Kanoa!! Jayme graciously let us pick grape tomatoes and eggplant galore! We also harvested extra that will be taken to the Hawaii Food Bank this afternoon. How cool, right? Jayme said that as off this month they have taken over 4,000 pounds of fresh produce to the Hawaii Food Bank. I love it!

It was so fun to watch Christian and Kanoa help pick tomatoes. Well, when they weren't trying to run over them of course. But they did a great job, picking the red ones, and only a few green ones… :) 

Also at the garden, that I learned today, is this tree was actually grown from a sapling of the original tree that Buddah sat under, a Bodhi Tree. According to Wikipedia, "In 1913, Anagarika Dharmapala took a sapling of the Sri Maha Bodhi to Hawai'i, where he presented it to his benefactor, Mary Foster – who had funded much Buddhist missionary work. She planted it in the grounds of her house in Honolulu, by the Nu'uanu stream. On her death she left her house and its grounds to the people of Honolulu, and it became the Foster Botanical Garden." This garden isn't the Foster Botanical Garden, but along with that garden, both have trees grown from the original one. So interesting!

Next week will be our usual song and dance. But NEXT Friday, I am so excited about attending my first ever movie premiere with my good friend April! Sans bebes. Whaaaa? Mom's Night Out! Woot woot! Her friend Tracy played an integral part in the development of this movie, and it sounds REALLY cool. It's called Into The Mind - this is a little blip as to what it's about:  

From the creators of the award-winning, genre-busting ski movie All.I.Can comes Into The Mind. Even if you’re not a heli-skiing pow pow hound, the stunning cinematography and groundbreaking storytelling techniques will draw you in. The film immerses you into the mind of a skier as he attempts to climb and conquer the ultimate mountain. This beautiful, poignant film takes you to Alaska, Bolivia, the Himalayas and beyond in 12 chapters. The chapter titled “Death” follows Johnny Collinson, Kris Erickson, and Kye Petersen to Bolivia. Peterson—whose father died skiing—is blessed by a local shaman, then heads back up the mountain. Into the Mind paints a philosophical portrait of humankind, and looks at why the mountains keep pulling people back in, and what they’re willing to risk for skiing.

I love the line, "Into the Mind paints a philosophical portrait of humankind, and looks at why the mountains keep pulling people back in…" We clearly feel that way about the beach and ocean, it pulls us back in. But I love that there are people that have that immense passion for the exact opposite! I know the scenery and cinematogrpahy will be breathtaking. And mostly, I am really looking forward to a mom's night out with one of my favorite people doing something I probably would never think to do!

What are your plans for this long holiday weekend?

Have a great one!!

trick o treat

Now that Halloween is officially over, bring on the Christmas music!!!

Halloween crept up on us this year. It probably didn't help that Rob and I spent last weekend through Tuesday in New Zealand (pics to come!) and the afternoon we returned, Christian started running a fever which lasted through yesterday morning-ish. So we really didn't know how last night was going to go. We had "plans" to go trick or treating, and go to our landlord's annual Halloween party, but decided to play it by ear. By the time evening rolled around, Christian seemed to be on the up and up, so we decided to meander next door for the soiree.

Here's a few pictures from last years party!

So literally, at the VERY last minute, I decided that Rob and I should also do costumes again. Rob groaned and mumbled something about "a pilot? that's my job. ugh. grumble grumble grumble." :) 

But before the party, we got into the spirit by doing Halloweeny things, like forcing our son to wear his costume and carving our pumpkin.  

^^like I said, Christian wasn't totally himself yesterday.^^

We also had candy for trick or treaters, but never got any. Or maybe we did, but while we were next door. Can't be sure, but somehow our candy mysteriously disappeared anyway. Ahem.