Aloha & Mahalo Hawaii

Sigh...our vacation is over, but the thought of seeing palm trees and beaches again in another month made our return to the cold a little less painful. We even lucked up and came home to some beautiful, mild weather in Cordova.

The break was good for all of us. Here are some of our favorite things about the trip:

Dad - The warm weather.
Mom - The beaches and ocean.
Darius - Playing with the boys on the beach.
Joy - Going for walks in the warm weather and sunning on the beach.
Me - Playing with the boys on the beach and watching the whales in the ocean.
Ben - Playing in the sand and water.
Zach - Watching big trucks and tour buses, and the huge inflated donkey at Keoki's.

When we were planning our trip to Hawaii, everyone agreed that we wanted to visit Maui. The timing of our trip unfortunately didn't mesh with lodging and flights there, so we ended up going to the Big Island instead. I think at the end of the trip we all still would have preferred Maui, but it was still nice to see a different island that some of us hadn't been to before.

There's a lot of diverse areas on the Big Island. We spent the majority of our time in the Kailua-Kona area at the King Kamehameha's Kona Beach Hotel and stayed in a rental home south of Captain Cook the rest of the time.

We took time to drive around the south part of the island to Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park where we viewed an active volcano and walked through the Thurston Lava Tube.

We drove North from the park to Hilo on the East side of the island. We drove along Banyan Drive and saw the huge banyan trees that had been planted by some famous individuals. My favorite of course was the tree planted by Babe Ruth in October 1933.

We cut back across the island on Highway 200 through the mountainous region and enjoyed the roller-coaster-like parts of the road and the beautiful landscape.

The rest of our time in Hawaii involved a lot of relaxing, beach time, eating tasty food, and enjoying the great weather and beautiful scenery.

I'll say it again and again...we're so fortunate to be able to enjoy the flight benefits that Darius receives from his job. Thanks Darius! If it weren't for the benefits we certainly wouldn't be able to visit the places we have unless we were to plan and save for what would likely take well over a year. To have the ability to travel outside of an isolated area like Cordova is huge! Especially during the long winters here.

Me Ke Aloha

I hope you all had a lovely Valentine's Day! Six years ago today I met Darius which is another reason why I love this holiday. Little did each of us know what was in store for us today, and what a great day today was. Ben and Zach were in rare form this morning and were literally bouncing off the walls and each other. They slowed down just a little bit for a few bites of their breakfast before they were off again.

I made breakfast for Darius and Mom, and breakfast-in-bed for Joy so that she would feel extra loved. Joy was attracting geckos while she relaxed outside and I had fun taking pictures of the ones she pointed out to me.

After my parents got back from church we all enjoyed a delicious lunch courtesy of Darius. He grilled chicken and ribs and made some tasty rice with bits of fresh mango and pineapple. Afterwards we all got ready and headed out to an awesome little beach park nearby. I think it's my favorite out of all the beaches I've been to. The boys had a great time playing in the salt-and-pepper sand, and Ben loved playing in the water. He got knocked over by a couple of waves coming in and didn't mind a bit.

Probably the best part of the afternoon was watching whales from the beach. I was so excited! I've never seen them before in person and I lucked up and got to watch them play for probably a good 15 minutes or so. There may have been more, but I'm positive there were at least two, a mama whale and her calf. The calf jumped out of the water several times and at one point it's mama was giving it tail flapping lessons. It was so much fun to watch them both slap the water over and over again with their tails!

In the evening my dad grilled steaks and my mom made a very tasty salad. Salads can be very exciting to a group of Cordovans who often lack delicious fresh veggies to eat! I followed up after the meal with some almost-homemade cookies. Mom, Dad, Joy, and I played a few rounds of Yahtzee while Darius was kind enough to lay down with the boys until they fell asleep.

Today was just the kind of day that was perfect for Valentine's Day. I always say that it doesn't have to be about romance. In my opinion, the day is best spent by spending time with people you love and it's certainly a bonus to be able to spend it somewhere warm and beautiful.

Let's Play Tag

Okay Brandi, I rarely ever participate in these little games but since you directly called me out I guess I'll play along.

Here are some personal tidbits that some of you may not know about me.

4 Shows I Like to Watch
1. Top Chef
2. Ace of Cakes
3. Glee
4. Medium

4 Things I'm Passionate About
1. My family
2. Valentine's Day
3. Cooking/Baking
4. Baseball

4 Phrases I Say Often
1. Ben, be nice to your brother.
2. Zach, be nice to your brother.
3. I have to study.
4. Don't throw your food.

4 Things I've Learned or I am Learning
1. How to become a Medical Transcriptionist.
2. That there are things I can do every day to be a better Mom and Wife.
3. To loosen up and laugh more with Darius.
4. I'm not perfect, I have flaws, and it's okay.

4 Places I Would Like to Go
1. The Rothko Chapel in Houston, TX.
2. Europe
3. Machu Picchu
4. A baseball game in the new Yankee Stadium.

4 Things I did Yesterday
1. Flew from Oakland to Kona.
2. Took a walk along the Pacific Ocean.
3. Played on the beach with Ben & Zach.
4. Had a drink and good conversation with Joy.

4 Things I'm Looking Forward to
1. The rest of my vacation in Hawaii.
2. An upcoming trip to Florida.
3. Having conversations with Ben & Zach.
4. Finishing MT school.

4 Things on my Wish List
1. Better health for a few very special friends.
2. A trip to NJ/NY.
3. A wonderful trip and marriage to Carrie and Bobby.
4. A happy life.

4 People I Tag (sorry in advance)
1. Sarah
2. Eric
3. Connie
4. James & Brooke

CDV to SEA to OAK to KOA

We left Cordova on Sunday afternoon and after overnight stays in Seattle and Oakland we finally made it to Hawaii today. My parents have been anxiously awaiting this trip and I feel bad that I was almost dreading it. For me it's hard to get really pumped for a trip, Hawaii or not, when I know what the process of getting there involves. It wasn't until we were making our descent into Kona that I was able to breathe easy and allow myself to get excited. I'm still in awe of how wonderful Ben and Zach were on every single leg of the trip. They were the best little troopers and they made me a proud mama.

We had enough time in Oakland for a side trip into San Francisco. Mom and Dad were very kind to watch the boys while Darius, Joy, and I took BART into SF. It was a much shorter trip than what we thought it was going to be. We're all looking forward to heading back when we have more time to explore. This trip's purpose was primarily for Chinese food so that Darius could satisfy his craving for Mongolian Beef. We ended up at Chef Hung's Restaurant on Clay Street in Chinatown, and it was mighty tasty!

Our flight from Oakland to Kona left early the next morning and typically it's a pretty long flight, but we had some crazy luck on our side and because of the accommodating winds, weather, or whatever it was the flight was only a little over 4 hours long. By mid-afternoon we were thrilled to be able to take the boys to the little beach outside our hotel and watch them experience it for the first time.

They had such a good time, and it was such a well-deserved treat for them after a long couple of days of travel. We all thoroughly enjoyed watching them play.

I'm looking forward to it again tomorrow...even if Zach throws more sand in my face!

Iceworm Fireworks

After it snowed hard here all day, the weather finally cleared and it was a beautiful night for fireworks. Cordova went all out for the big 50 Iceworm Celebration. It was quite a show! I wasn't sure what to expect, but my parents tell me that it's the best they've seen since living here.

My camera has a setting for fireworks, but the shots came out kind of strange...

Best of Show

Cordova's 50th Annual Iceworm Festival started this week and there's a little something going on for everyone. I found my something in the form of the Iceworm Cake Bake. I had a great idea for a cake and I knew if I could pull it off that I stood a good chance to win the contest.

You could say I have a slight weak spot for doughnuts. I seldom eat them because I can never stop at just one. Anyway, that's what gave me the idea for a cake. I wanted to form a worm out of mini doughnuts and dress it up to resemble the Iceworm Festival's mascot using fondant. I have never made or worked with fondant before, but I love how it looks on cakes. I found a well-rated fondant recipe on a favorite website of mine (Allrecipes) and decided to give it a try. It came out pretty good for my first attempt. It's kind of like stiff play dough and it's a lot of fun to work with. I'm definitely hooked on the stuff now!

The cake turned out pretty close to what I had imagined and I entered it today in the Cake Bake. I'll be honest, I was hoping for a cool prize but I was still happy to come home with blue ribbons for the Most Theme Oriented Cake, Most Icewormie Cake and a white ribbon for Overall Best of Show.

I don't take a lot of personal time for hobbies, so this was a fun break from the norm for me. Plus it was nice to be able to participate in the festivities.

Thank You

It's been a full year now since I've started this blog! I'm actually surprised I've kept it going, even more surprised that I have enjoyed it as much as I have.

It was my brother Eric's blog that first sparked my interest in starting a blog, and then all the extra motivation I needed came in the form of offspring. Having kids really does flip your life around in one direction or another. I have such a terrible memory and there are so many years where I can't accurately recall so many of the things that I would like to. Last year I attempted to start Ben's and Zach's baby books and became so frustrated with trying to fill in the gaps of all the 'firsts' that I forgot to write down. My memory is bad enough that I'll forget the date my boys started walking if it's not noted somewhere. I want Ben and Zach to have something to look back on when they get older because there's a good chance they may inherit my bad memory.

Life is unpredictable and, although it's unpleasant to think about, it can run out at any given time. I want to make sure that I take the opportunities I have to save my family's memories as they happen. When I'm old and senile I hope to have a very full blog of memories to look back on. I hope that I'll look back on this entry year after year to remind me why it's important for me to keep going.

Aside from my selfish reasons for this blog, it's important to add that I also keep it up for all our awesome family and friends. This blog has been a great vessel for me to share with everyone what goes on in our lives. For those of you that regularly check this blog (you know who you are) a great big THANK YOU!! I think of all of you each time I post a new entry and knowing that you care about what's going on with us gives me the extra push I sometimes need to post a new entry. I appreciate so much all the positive feedback and comments you share with us! We love you all! Thanks again for sharing the past year with us. I'm looking forward to many more!

And to my friend Lyndsay...Happy Birthday!