At Least No One Died...

well, not that I know of. Today I left work at 4:30pm with the anticipation of arriving home at 5:30pm. I got here at 8pm. Why's that?? The road was closed. Yes, THE road...the ONE road that leads all the way from Kaneohe to Haleiwa. The ONE road that I live on...seriously closed. The last time this happened to me, I got stuck at The Crouching Lion which was ok because there was alcohol (and food). Sadly though, someone did die in that wreck...quite tragic. Today, a fuel tanker collided with another truck and spilled about 50 gallons of fuel all over Kamehameha Hwy. I called the PD and they told me to turn around and go around the island because the earliest the road would open would be 7pm. I did and rocked out with George Michael and CCR while looking at the ocean. I guess it could have been worse...but 3 1/2 hours to get home?? C'mon...

Ho'okupu Aloha Festival

Eve's 1st hula performance was Saturday. She takes hula every Tuesday from this wonderful lady, Kumu (teacher in Hawaiian) Mary. This woman teaches it because she loves too. She charges a one time lifetime fee of nothing (ok, very close) and then you only pay if you miss a class or you are late...seriously.
This year was the 10th annual festival. We took video and like a 100,000 pictures, but the ones from my SLR won't upload...still. It was just the coolest thing to watch...loved every second of it.

CRH won a 30 day gym membership and Eve won a goldfish...which was a total shock. CRH won the membership as part of the raffle. I let Eve play a fish toss game and the prize just so happened to be a goldfish. Who gives goldfish away as prizes?? Well, I need not worry because poor Belle only last 2 days.

Eve's 1st Girl Crush

I picked Eve up from school earlier this week and heard ALL about Starlet, the new girl. She was so cute talking about this little girl. She said to me "Oh Mom, her hair is so beautiful". Then she proceeded to describe it for a good mile or two, smiling the entire time. Eve was apparently her reading partner this week too, which excited her to no end. She has talked about this child EVERY day since.

Waterfall Patrol

Eve's on it...oh my goodness. It's been raining like crazy here the last few days (since Sunday night). The result is gorgeous waterfalls cascading down the side of the mountains! She saw 5 on the way to school this morning...most of them starting from the top of the mountain. Have I mentioned how freaking beautiful Hawaii is???

Vegas!

I got back Friday night from Vegas...totally exhausted. It was super fun though. Our conference was held at The Palms (no, I didn't see Hef). Tuesday I hung around the hotel all day. Wednesday I attended the conference and then we went to The Rio and Paris. Thursday meant more conference and then the Bellagio and Caesar's Palace. The Bellagio was the best! There is a conservatory inside that had all of these spring flowers on exhibit...delightful. I LOVE living in Hawaii, but I have missed the spring flowers from home A LOT. I love, love, love daffodils, tulips, and hyacinths...immensely...so it was fantastic being in that room. We also watched the water show a few times...spectacular. As I flew out Friday, we flew over and across the strip, so I got to see a lot of the hotels that I couldn't see from my hotel room or the part of the strip we explored and I got to see the water show again from the air. There was also snow on the mountain tops on the way to LA...crazy seeing snow in April! It rocked, although I didn't win ANY money. Well, I did win a tiny bit but I just kept playing with it...alas.

The Easter Bunny Rides A Horse

I would have thought here in Hawaii that he might come in on a boat...but a horse? I have pictures...I don't make this stuff up.
Easter weekend has been festive. Friday it was a rainy, crappy day here in paradise. Eve and I were off and we baked cookies, watched Marley & Me (and neither one of us cried...what does that say about us??), and decorated Easter Eggs. This year we went with painting and glittering them...thinking that we won't repeat that again...ever.
Gunstock Ranch did a great Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday morning (hence the horse back riding bunny), where Eve met up with a few of her school friends. It was nice, but since it rained on Friday...we were pretty much hunting Easter eggs in mud and horse poop...good times...really. Eve had fun though and she got to ride a horse and pet a bunch of animals. Afterwards, I insisted on going to the beach.
Today she got up at 6:15AM to see what the Easter Bunny had left...seriously...6:15. I guess it's payback...so out of bed we went. She had only asked for 3 things: a snorkel board, a chocolate bunny, and chocolate eggs. The bunny happily provided these.

She and I then took a stroll out to the water and looked out over the ocean. It's just so damn gorgeous here! Then, we went into town to have brunch at The Willows with our friends Khristy and Tracy and his family. Eve got to do ANOTHER egg hunt there and see ANOTHER Easter bunny. I got worried one year when she saw too many Santas, but she hasn't asked any questions about it.
Hope you all had a Happy Easter! I leave for Vegas tomorrow night, so no more blogging until next weekend. Here's hoping I win $10,000 which is going to be hard since I only plan to play about $40 in the quarter slots.

Happy Birthday To Me!

Yesterday I turned 33...yay. I thought of numerous posts...some reflective...but decided to just skip all that. I worked (for the 1st time EVER on my birthday) so that I can have enough vacation time to come home in June. It ended up being nice though because I got a lei, cards, and a cake. Then, I came home to my darling husband making me a Southern dinner of fried chicken, fried okra, and fried squash!

In the Humble family (well, mostly Dad), we also celebrate the day after our birthday. So today, I went to the dentist. I tell you...33 sure is starting off as EXCITING. The good news is that I had no cavities! Tonight we went to Pinky's for dinner. They sent me a coupon for a free steak dinner, free glass of wine, AND a free ice cream sundae. How could I pass that up? (God, I'm getting old...)

On the way to dinner, we got to see Honey Girl again! She must have been a little pissed that I climbed into her space last weekend, so she beached herself in Hauula today...with volunteers...but I still stalked her a got a picture.



I'll be sure to post some more exciting stuff this weekend with our Easter festivities!

Easter Egg Hunt, Honey Girl, and Waimea Bay

It's been quite a day...wasn't even sure how to title this one! Our day started this morning with the annual Easter Egg Hunt. For the past few years, I've done an Easter Egg Hunt. I prefer it to the large ones because kids don't have to elbow each other for eggs laid out on the grass. That being said...I'll probably take Eve to the one at the ranch next weekend just for something to do. This year we added races...the kids raced with hard boiled eggs and then with bunnies between their knees. It was hilarious and did they ever get into it! They also did an egg toss (with the hard boiled eggs...it ended with egg chunks in the yard...but they seemed to have fun while it lasted).



After the egg hunt, the Zinn family and Eve and I headed down to our beach to take some pictures. Well lo and behold, there was Honey Girl. I thought she was a myth. When we moved here our landlord told us stories of "Honey Girl" the Hawaiian monk seal that frequents our beach. We've lived here since June and today is the first time I've seen her...but there she was right out on the reef...no ropes and no volunteers. I raced back to the house to get my SLR (which I cannot seem to upload pics from at the moment...another story) and went straight out into the water to get up onto that reef and take pictures. I know the Zinn family must think I'm totally nuts...but OMG...how could I not?? Ok, maybe I could have gotten a swimsuit on...but I was just too excited. After I went out with the SLR camera, I realized I could not upload those today and thought of you guys and went back out with my other camera and Eve to take some more pictures. Eve thought it was awesome that she got to get so close to the seal. For the record though, the rumor is that these seals can be a little aggressive toward people...so we didn't touch the seal.





Once I got over the seal, we headed to Waimea Bay for an afternoon of sun and fun. CRH got off at 2pm today and joined us. CRH and Bob jumped off the really freaking big rock (pics are on SLR...this camera just wouldn't have done it). They loved it...thought CRH did admit feeling just a teeny bit anxious at first glance down from the top of the rock. As we were out on the beach, we spotted a rainbow back over the valley...not sure how well it came out here...but in between the mountains is in fact a rainbow.



For dinner tonight, Bob and Tiffany treated us to a lovely meal at Turtle Bay. We dined at Ola out on the beach...it was a pretty perfect day.

Easter Bunny

Eve had a hard lesson in Economics today. Mom can't justify doing yet another dolphin encounter at Sea Life Park the day after learning that we owe thousands of dollars to Uncle Sam. Now, I'm standing by my political beliefs and will not belly ache (too much) about this monumental payout to the IRS...but it's smacked my ass a little. I am a dedicated liberal and will pay it with a smile (though my teeth may be gritted just a teeny bit). So, Mom had to come up with another fun activity to divert attention from previously mentioned dolphins...lucky for me Easter is around the corner!



Eve and I had a very nice time at the beach this afternoon. We went North Shore near Shark's Cove. Then, we went to visit the Easter Bunny! Woo Hoo! (Free) After the bunny visit, we met up with the Zinn family and headed over to Kailua Beach where we took a lovely stroll on the beach...the 1st half of which was very pleasant (this was before the whining started). I really love having people visit...it gets us out and moving! Tomorrow is the Easter Egg Hunt and Waimea Bay. Bob and CRH are going to jump off the big rock...pics to follow.