The Hart Family Hawaii Chronicles

New Year, New Fun

2012-01-08T11:41:00.008-10:00

We spent a lovely New Year's weekend doing very little except sun and fun. I've been on an antibiotic, so I've had far less sun time than I've wanted for the past many weeks. Alas, this weekend was another weekend of fun.

We received a lovely Christmas check from my grandparents and we decided to use that money to take a sunset, whale watching cruise on the North Shore Catamaran. I've always wanted to do it, but honestly I think they are a little pricey.

Last night, we boarded the boat and headed out. You BYOB and they have a pupu platter set up for the guests. It was a pretty evening and as we headed toward Waimea Bay, we could see the full moon rising! About this time, people started seeing whale spouts. As we turned the boat around toward Ka'ena Point and the sun was setting, we saw a whale breach! It was so cool!!!! He wasn't as close as when we've seen them on bigger boats in Waikiki, but it was pretty awesome!

Sunset was behind the mountain and we rode back to the harbor with the full moon above us...gorgeous Saturday evening!!! Happy 2012!!

Mele Kalikimaka 2011

2011-12-25T16:37:00.005-10:00

The Hart Family has had another fun Christmas...it was super relaxing and very low key with some beach time added in! Yesterday, I cooked up a storm while CRH worked and gathered last minute items around town I had forgotten. Then, he came home and helped me fix the turkey...lol. Bronwen occupied Eve with the building of a gingerbread house, thankfully! We let Eve open two gifts and then feasted on a huge meal! I finished off the evening with It's A Wonderful Life. I triple love that movie!!

Eve woke up promptly at 7am on Christmas morning and insisted that I immediately get out of bed. I know I'll miss these days, but I kind of look forward to one day sleeping in again on Christmas morning...one day. And then, I'm sure it will suck...anyway, today was awesome. She bounded into the living room and tore through her Santa bag. She was a very good girl this year and got everything on her list, plus a few extra surprises!

Eve played around with Leah and her gifts and we gorged ourselves on the annual Brie and Sausage casserole CRH makes and then headed to the beach in a food coma. It was a gorgeous day and I could have spent hours, but I was burning a little after 3 hours. We took a little walk and found a ton of turtles in the water and on the beach. The neighborhood kids joined us at one point and it was a lovely, lovely afternoon of sun and fun.

Tonight, we are eating a light dinner of pupus (I say light, but it's meatballs and artichoke dip...), drinking some yummy wine, and watching the Christmas Spectacular Rockettes show on Netflix...good times! Merry, Merry Christmas everyone!!! Thank you all for our gifts!

Holiday Fun, Hawaiian Style

2011-12-23T10:01:00.007-10:00

I love this time of year because we're off and home and relaxed!!! This week we've had fun making cookies and ornaments and going around to see Christmas lights. I drove Eve around Waialua one night and we ooohed and awwwed over all the lights. We've managed to squeeze in some beach time and one day when Eve and I were sitting out we saw a woman in a bikini and a scarf paddle boarding. It was approximately 78 degrees that day...lol.

Last night, we took Eve to Aulani (the Disney resort) to see the decorations, sunset, and have a little dinner. I have to say that I was completely underwhelmed by the decorations. I thought Disney would go big, but it seems they are trying to be low key and culturally appropriate and went small. Oh well, I applaud them for that!

We walked in and they had eggnog, hot apple cider, and hot chocolate with candy canes for people in the lobby. It was super yummy and we took our hot chocolate out to the pool bar for dinner and sunset. Sunset was amazing last night. People here talk about the green flash all the time that occurs at sunset. Here's a link on it, if you are curious. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_flash. I've never seen this phenomena until last night. The sunset was so beautiful and clear and the sun just melted into the horizon and then it happened! It was stunning!

We finished dinner and took a few pictures in front of the Christmas tree at Disney. A very nice man offered to take several with us using both my camera and CRH's phone. The kindness of strangers is so refreshing.

After Disney, we drove by a house that I'd seen on our local news website. This family has a huge Christmas light display that they sync to music. They use LED lights and run it all on solar now. In addition, they also collect donations for gifts for kids at a local homeless shelter where they also serve meals once a month. We were fortunate to meet them standing outside and he told me he starts the process in September!! They go live the day after Thanksgiving and keep it up until January. Again, the kindness of strangers making merry for the neighborhood...very impressed by human nature this week.

Gearing Up for the Holidays!!

2011-12-12T23:34:00.007-10:00

I've been an atrocious blogger as of late, but November was a whirlwind month! I was swamped with school, trying to finish up at a practicum site, and I went home with Eve to NC for an 11 day adventure!! We finally met Haisley Ann, who we loved instantly!!! We were able to see her being baptized and enjoy her 1st Thanksgiving, and her 1st road trip to Atlanta (where my wallet was stolen and I met my future husband, an Atlanta Falcon. Well, a girl can dream!). They don't want a ton of pics of Haisley all over the Internet, so I'm just going to put up this one of the three of them with Eve before we went to Tanglewood to see the Festival of Lights. Aren't they adorable??

This past weekend was a whirlwind of holiday fun! Friday night was the annual Haleiwa parade and Eve was invited by a friend to be a part of the parade. She was over the moon excited. I realized that once your kid goes by and you don't have a kid there to watch it with, it's kinda whatever. As soon as Santa floated by, I was in the car. We decorated the Christmas tree that evening and drank eggnog and watched Christmas specials. Sometimes I can be really domestic...shhhh.

Saturday, Eve and I went to separate holiday parties. Her's was with the same friend and mine was with a group of super fun women that I sadly only get to see about once or twice a year. I do look forward to having some semblance of a life back once I graduate next year.

Since our return home, I have finished the semester. I know I have an "A" in my Health class and my practicum, but I have no idea what my Research grade will be. I'm praying for a "B-". I hope to never, ever, ever have to take another Research class again...ever.

On Sunday, we totally Christmased it up. (I know that's not a word, but I don't care. I'm finished with school for the semester, so grammar is out the window...lol.) We took Eve and her bff, Leah, to Honolulu to do it all in one fell swoop of holiday. We drove into Waikiki and walked through several hotels admiring all of the amazing decorations. There were gorgeous trees up in the hotels, sand sculptures of Santa, and a gingerbread village with working parts, Aloha Tower, and Iolani Palace!

We took the girls to dinner and watched sunset over the harbor and then went to Ala Moana for the annual Santa visit. Prior to this year, the Santa experience was the BEST. This year, not so much. It was still the same awesome Santa, but they initially wouldn't let us take our own pictures and then their camera kept malfunctioning which lead to an hour long wait and finally me losing it and sending the calm representative of this family (CRH) up to negotiate letting us go ahead and take our own pics. It worked and we were pleased and outta there!

The last and final stop of the evening was the City of Lights. I love, love, love this display. This year it was sprinkling a little bit, so it wasn't super crowded like normal and we got some really cute pictures of the girls in front of all the displays. I promise to do a better job over the holidays of updating and putting up pictures of the holiday festivities here in Hawaii!!

This is Halloween

2011-10-31T21:07:00.006-10:00

Halloween has been a weekend long event culminating tonight with a lovely festival and trick or treating! Friday night was Trunk or Treat at Eve's school. Initially I thought this might be lame, but it was awesome. The families all come together and make these super cool trunk/van/tent displays and give out candy. The PTO does a haunted house, which did not scare the pants off of her, and we had a super fun evening.

Saturday we went to Turtle Bay and aside from Eve going with a classmate and getting the cute mini pumpkins, I was totally underwhelmed as were the girls. CRH and I enjoyed people watching but it was less than epic.

Today, Eve had a Halloween parade at school and came home with a bag of goodies. I picked her up and took her to a Fall Festival at a local ranch. It was fabulous! They do an entirely free event and it was busy but not so crowded that you couldn't do everything. We ate a lovely dinner, played games, got balloon animals, and had her face painted. They had popcorn, cotton candy, and tons of candy. After the festival, we headed to Waialua and trick or treated along the seashore. AWESOME FUN! At one point, Eve got the song from The Nightmare Before Christmas stuck in her head and was walking around singing " Kidnap the Santy Claws, beat him with a stick". It was a riot.

The people in Waialua went all out and we went through several haunted houses and met up with a friend of hers for a few trick or treating stops. On the way home, we hit one more neighborhood for extra fun and candy. She came home pooped, but we sat on the floor and sorted through all of her loot and ate a good portion!

Happy Halloween!!

Haunted Lagoon

2011-10-09T00:41:00.005-10:00

Every year the Polynesian Cultural Center does a Haunted Lagoon ride. We used to live right across the street, but the lines were insanely long and I thought it would terrify Eve. She didn't seem overly interested because the Laie Lady, who is the main feature, scared her in the posters.

This year, she showed incredible interest and pushed and pushed to go. I agreed and bought Fast Passes on PlayHawaii.com. Incidentally, it was worth every penny for those (which was only $5 more than the regular kama'aina rate) because we went right through it with no lines and no wait time. I was happy to have spent the extra $10 as we passed Disney World style lines.

So I need to back it up, Eve worked herself up pretty well on the way over. She started psyching herself out and when we got there it was dark and cloudy. A perfect night for such an event, if you were not 8 and terrified. We went through 2 haunted houses on the way to the canoe and she clung tighter and tighter to me. In the super short wait for the canoe, I asked again for like the millionth time if she really wanted to go and she said she did. When I called for reservations and asked about the keiki ride, the lady said they recommend it for ages 5 and under. Clearly, she didn't know Eve Hart.

We get into the canoe and sit rather awkwardly in the middle because I thought she would feel the safest. A couple got on and we moved over slightly, but they rearranged and I resumed our middle spot. She got right into my lap and insisted my arms were wrapped tightly around her and off we went. Bless her heart, I've never seen her more terrified in her whole life. She was literally shaking, but to her credit she did not hide her face in me or anything. It was kinda spooky and very well done. Lots of action, lots of people jumping out of the lagoon at the boat, a ton of creepy kids (think The Ring), and great atmosphere to make it spooky. She watched it all and even noted some of the things (smoke bubbles) that she liked in the end. Her most favorite part being the end. She raced off that boat with speed I've never seen from her.

It was a fun kick off to the holiday (for me), but she has confirmed that she would NOT like to do it next year. We have some fun events planned the weekend before Halloween that revolve around costumes, candy, and bounce houses...no more haunted houses!

September Awesomeness

2011-09-18T23:12:00.001-10:00

This has been a fabulous month so far! After I returned from Kauai, 2 days later Becky and Bronwen arrived! Bronwen is here to stay and promptly moved into the guest room here at the Hart B&B. We're actually less breakfast and more cocktail hour, but whatever. We've had a blast the last week and a half. We spent crazy amounts of time at the beach, like full days! We did Waimea Bay, Papailoa with baby sea turtles, hiked Diamond Head, rented stand up paddleboards, did a dolphin cruise, drove the other side of the island (Waianae), CRH took them snorkeling one day, saw a mama and baby monk seal, and drank enough wine to float a Navy ship. It was a MUCH needed, super fun, jam packed good time.

Today, we took Eve to the new Disney Aulani resort near Ko'olina. It is impressive! I feel badly that she's made it to 8 years old and has never been to Disney, so I appreciate Disney bringing a piece here to the island. They are stupid expensive with their room rates, so we won't be staying there but we can totally afford the character breakfast and walking around the grounds (free...lol). It was a blast and Eve got to see Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, and Stitch.

Kauai Weekend

2011-09-05T22:09:00.010-10:00

I have been dying to go to Kauai for the longest time. We've talked about, but it's just never happened. A friend of mine was taking his son racing this weekend for the State Motorcross race and invited me along. I am thrilled that I went because it was a fabulous time.

We flew in Friday night and ate dinner and went to bed. They got an early start to the track on Saturday and I laid by the pool literally all day reading my book. O-M-G...it was pure bliss. We started happy hour around lunch time and it was just a day of relaxation.

Sunday was race day and my prissy self spent the day in the dirt at the track. While I was definitely out of my element, it was very fun and Jesse took 3rd place overall. It was a great day followed by a lovely dinner and a party at the track to give out trophies and such.

Today was an epic vacation day! We got up, had breakfast, and lounged by the pool some more. I'm always at the beach here, but for whatever reason the pool was calling me this weekend. After pool time, we took a helicopter tour over Kauai before flying back to Oahu tonight. Robby and Jesse had never been on a helicopter before and it was a gorgeous day to go around the island.

We started in Lihue and flew up the coast into Waimea Canyon.

We were able to see Niihau, which is a private island right off of Kauai that only Native Hawaiians and the guys that own the island can live on. Visitation is limited. There's some trippy stuff going on with that, but we'll save that for another day. From here, we flew over Manawaiopuna Falls (aka Jurassic Falls because they filmed a scene from Jurassic Park here).

Then we hit the Na Pali Coast. This is a stretch of coast that is amazingly beautiful and only accessible by boat, air, or foot. It's an 11 mile hike in from the parking lot if you are so inclined, so 22 miles round trip. I'm thinking this may be above my hiking range abilities, but I bet it's awesome!!

As we flew along the coast, we veered over into Waialeale Crater. This place was chocked full of waterfalls. I mean I've never seen so many at once! It was amazing. I didn't take many pictures because we were flying super close to them and because it was rainy, but wow. After this, we flew over Ha'ena Beach, Hanalei Bay, and by Princeville.

Then we headed back to Lihue with a view of the Sleeping Giant. Awesome trip!

Another Weekend for the Books!

2011-08-07T22:20:00.010-10:00

We've gone and had ourselves another fabulous weekend! :) Seriously, this weekend rocked. We woke up yesterday morning and hiked almost all of Kealia Trail. It's a kick ass hike that goes up the side of the mountain behind Mokuleia and overlooks Dillingham airfield, until you get to the top and then it looks over Makua Valley. Apparently if you go to the end, you can see down into the Waianae side but Eve wasn't digging any more hills and the people that went before us seemed a little underwhelmed by it.

After this fabulous hike, we came home to shower and hit a wine shop in Aiea that we had a Group on for...yay Group ons! On the way home we decided to go watch sunset and this was our reward...ahhhhh.

Today I had to write a term paper, so I stayed home to work on that while CRH and our friend, Wendle, took Eve paddle boarding. I was super jealous because I love SUP and it was super pretty outside, but they kindly came home around lunch and grabbed me after I'd whipped that paper out. We paddled out to the end of the river, where they had gone before. For whatever reason today, I had a rough start. I think the wind was high and the current strong and my confidence low because I fell off pretty quickly trying to turn around and get the kid. Anyway, it was awesome once I got over myself and we had a great time! We saw turtles and CRH may or may not have accidentally run into one...perhaps. It was Wendle's first time and he loved it.

As we were coming in, Eve paddled she and I some back into the shore and then she decided she wanted to go back out. CRH hopped on and took her out and lo and behold, she decided she wanted to stand up! I was sooooo proud of her! She did it a few times with him on the board and then she took off on her own and paddled herself in at the end. That kid never ceases to amaze me!

We headed over to Turtle Bay to check on the now 10 day old baby monk seal and to watch sunset. It was a perfect end to a perfect weekend. The baby was pretty active today and we had fun watching it swim and snuggle with its mama! If you can believe it, it was also Wendle's first seal sighting and yes, he's from here. I'm glad he's checking things off his bucket list before he leaves for Seattle this month!

Grandmamas, Mamas, and Babies

2011-08-05T21:46:00.010-10:00

Last week was THE reunion! My Mama brought my baby home!!! It was not a moment too soon! Actually, it was a day late thanks to United...but this is a happy post. I'll rail on them later. CRH and I met them at the airport with leis (and wine for my mom). It was a long tedious travel process!

The same day they arrived, a mama monk seal had a baby in the same spot where she had one last summer. It immediately became part of our to-do list. We didn't do a whole lot except sit around on the beach, drink wine, and laugh as she had requested to do this trip. It seems I showed her the entire island last time and she just wanted to relax this trip. I've heard I'm a bit of a travel Nazi.

The first night here, we caught sunset at Monument. The next day we had a lovely beach day there. We sat on my favorite beach the following day and watched the turtles. That was an awesome day! I triple love this picture of them.

We visited the monk seals and walked the grounds of Turtle Bay. There is a place there that CRH and I have determined will be Eve's wedding spot, so I showed that to my Mama as well. I love this picture of them too. I took it with my phone, but it's surely to be a sentimental one. Check back in 25 years for the follow up one of them standing in that doorway.

My Mama was also here for Eve's 1st day of 3rd grade. What a special day that was to take her with us to Eve's school. I left Eve in her classroom and walked outside to my Mama standing there and spontaneously burst into tears. I actually cry every year and it's lessened over the years, but this year with her here it was so just cool. She left on Tuesday to many tears from Eve Hart. Eve said this was the best summer EVER and she didn't want it to end.

I loved every second of her visit and now it's back to the grind. We are doing a new hike tomorrow, so stay tuned for more pictures.

Living Like We're on Vacation

2011-07-10T21:03:00.004-10:00

CRH and I had this philosophy working when we first moved here. We acted like every day that we were off was a vacation day and then life happened and well, it became a little less so. We are renewing that though and working hard to enjoy the island and be more active.

That being said, I spent 8 glorious hours on the beach yesterday doing absolutely nothing but sunning, eating, and drinking Coronas with my friend Greg and his gf, Rie. It was pure bliss.

Today was far more productive in the active department! CRH, Wendle, and I started the day with a farmer's market breakfast (yum!) and went to hike Sacred Falls. I love that place, but the chain link fence put up to keep people out vexes me. I've found a lovely path around it though and now I can just stroll on in. It's a pretty good hike (about an hour in) and then we hit this beauty.

After finishing the hike, we grabbed some Killer Taco burritos, beer, and hit the beach in Waialua. It was a fabulous end to an amazing Sunday and a great weekend. I feel very fortunate to have the fun friends in our lives that we have! And I'm pleased to report that Eve Hart will be returning to the island in 17 days because we are MISSING her!!

Mariner's Ridge Hike

2011-07-03T10:14:00.005-10:00

Since going vegetarian (or more accurately, Pescetarian), I had expected the 12 lbs I gained last Fall/Winter to just fall off. They have not, so I'm trying to increase my physical activity level. I've become pretty sedentary lately and have not been enjoying all the beautiful hikes and stuff we were doing when we first moved here and were exploring the island. I hate to exercise, but I love walking on the beach, snorkeling, and hiking. You just can't call it exercise.

Yesterday, I went on a gorgeous hike with my friend Greg and his gf, Rie. I had texted him on Friday after pouring myself into a pair of jeans that used to fit quite nicely and told him I thought I needed to amp up the activity. He suggested we hike this hike and it was fabulous. It totally kicked my ass and I almost had a heart attack, but the views from the top were worth every second of pain.

From the top of the mountain, you can see the entire Windward Coast all the way up to Ka'a'awa and Chinaman's Hat.

On the other side, you can see Kokohead Crater and Hawaii Kai.

CRH hiked Kokohead last week with a friend. I can't do that one...it's all steps and no shade...blech. The views looked amazing too. We tried to do it last year on Mother's Day and I only made it about halfway up before bailing.

Eve's Birthday and a Fun Trip Home

2011-06-18T18:01:00.004-10:00

We all (minus Eve) just came back from a super fun trip to NC. Eve is remaining there until the end of her summer break. She is hanging out with my parents and family and having a blast! She's camping with Nanna and her cousins one week and making the visiting rounds.

We didn't make the rounds so much this time, but thankfully friends and family made the trek to see us in Greensboro. It was so much fun seeing everyone. It was so not overly fun getting rid of the storage pod, but I'm thankful it's done and we're not spending so much money a month to store things that we don't want any longer. I discovered I was a hoarder in my former life. I kept opening boxes going and asking myself "WTF?". The real kicker was when my friends found the Santa toilet paper. Clearly, I'd gone over the edge at some point.

Our first weekend home we had a super fun birthday party for Eve. Sadly, CRH was in Vegas for his store manager's annual conference, but we managed to celebrate big in his absence. My parents and I took Eve to Myrtle Beach to my grandparents' condo for her actual birthday and she had a blast swimming in the pool and collecting seashells. We lack shells here except for just a few on very select beaches. The final weekend of our stay, in addition to cleaning out the pod, we celebrated Sam and Amy's upcoming baby with a baby shower. I was so thankful to be home for one of those and can't wait til the fall when Haisley arrives and I get to go back home to meet her!

Also, I want to give a HUGE THANK YOU to all of our friends and family that helped clean out the storage pod. You guys are awesome!!!

Fun Times in HI Before NC

2011-05-31T21:42:00.002-10:00

Eve and I decided to take today to go to our local water park. She had a summer pass last year and begged us to go, but we never did. She went several times with a friend and with her Summer Fun program though and loved it. I decided that today was her day for us to go. I'm actually really gearing up to miss her this summer, so I'm pretty much doing whatever she wants right now.

We got there and rode a few rides and ate lunch and then it started raining. Eve was initially operating under the 'we're already wet' premise, but then went with the 'I want to sit under a tree and wait for it to pass' premise. I didn't love the later option, but when she decides that's what she's doing, that's it. I have NO idea where she gets that (must be her Dad). :) After the rain passed rather quickly, we rode some more rides and I actually convinced her to get on a really big slide with a huge inner tube and she LOVED it. We had an awesome day hanging out.

She finished the 2nd grade with fabulous progress and since CRH will be in Vegas for work over her birthday, we decided to take her out to dinner tonight to celebrate these things and give her birthday presents to her from us. We ate a fantastic dinner at Leonardo's at Turtle Bay and walked around just after sunset on the grounds. It was a fantastic end to a fantastic day! She and CRH leave tomorrow night and I leave the following night for NC.

Aloha for now...

Bragging Rights

2011-05-19T20:30:00.003-10:00

Eve Hart came home today with her test scores for Math and Reading this year and we are super proud parents! At the beginning of the year, she was testing at a 2.4 grade level for Math. She finished the year testing at a 4.4 (in MATH!). In Reading, she came into the year testing at a 3.9 and went up to a 4.8! We are very pleased with her progress and we're thinking that maybe we were a little too hard on her teacher because clearly she's learned a lot this year! She'll be getting a lovely end of the year gift.

My grades were slightly less awesome. I took 18 credits this semester and I'm an "A" student. I had all "A"s last semester and I have all "A"s this semester, except for one class. I got a "B-" and I'm pissed. The professor (who I loved until this week) gave me all "A"s until my final, which he thought was a "D-". I'll own it wasn't my best work, but it damn sure was NOT a "D-". I even had a co-worker read over it objectively before I told him I'd already received my grade and he thought it was far greater than "D-" level as well. I'm not going to challenge it because this is a small island and this professor is a professional in the community with a lot of connections and I've heard that he holds grudges, but I am going to bitch about it to anyone that will listen. :) In the end, I still came out with a "B-" and ultimately no one has ever asked me about my GPA (thankfully).

Go Away Rain, You're Making Me Insane

2011-05-10T19:05:00.003-10:00

I have had enough of the crazy winter type storms going on here in Hawaii right now. I do not know (or care for that matter) why they are occurring, but they are driving me batshit crazy (literally). I laid around last weekend all couped up and did pretty much nothing. It was a little bit fabulous, but I'm starting to go stir crazy. I'm finished with school and since I'm in between practicum sites right now, I have an immense amount of free time. I've forgotten what to do with free time.

Today I was able to go sit on the beach and catch a little bit of sunshine (2 hours worth) before it starting thundering and raining again. Those were a delightful 2 hours though! When I came home from the beach, where I'd been reading Food, Inc., it inspired me to start a new blog, A Southern Girl's Transformation to Vegetarian. Here's the link http://southerngirlvegetarian.blogspot.com/. Yes, I'm bored enough right now that I started a new blog! Although, I'm pretty serious about changing the way I eat and I thought being all public about it might push the motivation level up a few notches.

After I completed that task, I totally cleaned out Eve's room, organized her drawers, cleaned out my room, organized the Wii games and DVDs, and cleaned the hell out of the kitchen. I seriously need the rain to stop or I need to find an indoor hobby that will occupy my time and make me less crazy.

Hula Performance, Seals, and The End of The Semester

2011-05-08T19:15:00.005-10:00

Omg, I can finally breathe again now that school (and 18 credit hours) is over for the semester. I won't have my final grades for a few weeks, but I know I have an "A" in 2 of my 6 classes. I suspect I have an "A" in 2 others. I know I have an "I" in one because I'm between practicums and my research class is totally up in the air. I'm hoping for a "B". I'm actually finding myself a little bored though with the free time and the immense amount of rain we've been having.

Yesterday was a fun day, despite the craptacular weather. I mean it has seriously been raining lately, like thunderstorm kind of raining. Anyway, Eve's annual hula performance was yesterday so we headed to Kaaawa hoping the rain would hold off for her to dance. It mostly held off and the kids were adorable as usual. We're taking next semester off from hula because I have Tuesday night classes and with CRH's new schedule it's almost impossible to get her there on time. I hope we pick it back up in January, but we shall see.

On the way to the ranch where she performed, we stopped at Sunset Beach. Pretty much all week long, monk seals have been coming up on the beach there. Last Sunday, I noticed 2 and yesterday there were 2 as well. We stopped to seal stalk and take pictures. We got a good laugh over the tourist telling his family that the seal probably wasn't sleeping. We assured him that they were in fact sleeping and not dead as he suspected.

Another weird random thing that occurred was on the way to hula, we stopped in Laie for CRH to climb a plumeria tree to get the flowers for her hair. As he is literally up in the tree, a guy walks by carrying a chicken under his arm and asked if we could give him a ride. I'd like to point out that they way I was parked, he had no clue which direction we were going.

Today has been a totally laid back Mother's Day. I picked Eve up around lunchtime from my friend, Khristy's house and we have hung around the house all day doing absolutely nothing because of the rain but as my mother pointed out, it's nice to be able to do that sometimes! Eve gave me the coolest gift ever, one I'm sure to have until I'm in the home. Her class published "All About Me" books for the year that were bound and are the cutest things ever. I LOVE it! It reminded me of a quilt that my grandmother made for me when I was a little girl out of my drawings. It is quite a keepsake!

Easter Fun and The End of Innocence

2011-04-24T21:59:00.010-10:00

We have had a fantastic Easter Weekend here at the Hart house. Friday kicked off the weekend with an Easter Egg Hunt (tradition) and then a trip with 3 kids to the beach. This ended with some sassiness from my kid, who as it turns out doesn't do so well around other kids, but we managed to have a fun day playing in the sand and stalking some sea turtles.

Saturday was an adventure to see a lame Easter Bunny in Mililani and started Eve's questioning of the Easter Bunny's authenticity. In hindsight, I should have skipped this step. Saturday afternoon we went to another beach and then came home and dyed eggs.

This morning we woke up to the Easter Bunny and such. Eve opened her basket and started munching the candy and the questioning started. She said to me "I'm trying to decide if you are the bunny. Your handwriting looks like the circle on the paper I left asking if the bunny is a boy or a girl, you know where my Easter pail is, and you are a girl.". It seems that she wasn't quite buying into my story that the Easter Bunny circled the paper herself and that because she's magical knows where baskets/pails are kept. She stopped for a while and we went to the Farmer's Market, webcammed with family, cooked and ate a huge Easter meal that I made from scratch (mostly), and stopped off at a beach for pics.

After dinner, I took her to the beach for a walk where we saw a million (or 10) sea turtles, hung out for a few hours playing in the sand and water, and ending with sunset.

Once home, she started in again on the bunny stuff. I would not confirm nor deny, but she's totally onto it. I'm super sad because I know that essentially this is the end of the childhood magic. Once you figure one out, you connect all of the dots.

Purplicious

2011-04-21T10:22:00.003-10:00

I had the pleasure of attending the annual Waialua Elementary School story telling contest this morning, where Eve Hart was a contestant. She was contestant #10 and she ROCKED it with her rendition of Purplicious. There were 16 contestants picked from her school to perform and she took FIRST PLACE. I'm further pleased to announce that all three of the winners came from her classroom!

Birthday Fabulousness

2011-04-12T22:40:00.005-10:00

Turning 35 was pretty freaking awesome and it resulted in a 4 day celebration! It started on April 7th, when I came home from school early to a lovely steak dinner prepared by CRH that I enjoyed with Eve Hart and CRH. They gave me my birthday gifts and it was a great kickoff!
Friday, April 8th (my actual birthday), I woke up and got a sweet song from my Baby Pooh Bear. I had to go to practicum that day, but they were kind enough to let me out at 1:30pm. I picked Eve up and took her to see Soul Surfer. If this is playing in a theater near you, you MUST go see it. It's amazing and totally inspired my kid. She got the message and I was super proud of her. After the movie, we caught the end of sunset and Eve insisted we have dinner at Luibueno's.

Saturday, the day after my birthday, I celebrated with a FULL day on the beach. I went out around 9:30am and I came home for meals (which I then took out on the beach to eat). Eve and I returned from sunset that night around 7pm. It was totally like being on vacation, but at home.

The festivities finale was Sunday at the Kokua for Japan concert. We saw Willie Nelson, Mick Fleetwood, and Jack Johnson all perform along with some other great artists on the lawn of the Hilton in town. There were maybe 4,000 people there and we had pretty great seats. I came home to another fabulous dinner and some great wine.
Fantastic weekend!!

Perfection

2011-04-03T11:18:00.001-10:00

There are days in life where things just go the way you hoped, all the way. Yesterday was one of those days. I leisurely woke up, had coffee, played on FB, etc. and then I took Eve and 2 of our neighbor children to the beach.

We went to Papailoa, my favorite spot, and had lunch, laid out, watched turtles, and swam and played for four hours. Yes, 4 hours of awesome. I've been really stressed lately with school and my practicum, so it was amazing to have such a gorgeous, cloud free day where the kids all got along nicely and the universe smiled on us (yep, I said it).

Another Tsunami Warning

2011-03-11T15:22:00.003-10:00

I'm really hoping this does NOT become an annual event. Last night I was sitting on my couch having a beer after class when my Mama sends me a text about the earthquake in Japan. I've decided that she really must not sleep anymore at all and we texted some back and forth but at that time it didn't seem like we were in danger. I kept the news on and then a little before 10pm they issued a warning for us in Hawaii and started sounding the sirens.

The sirens scare the crap out of me. I hate them. I get anxious on monthly test days. I woke CRH up and frantically told him that we were under warning and I was freaking! I packed the essentials like last year; makeup, jewelry, food, and the kid. We debated about where to go and finally I just followed him up the hill to the Dole Plantation. We stopped along the way for gas and beer and more non-perishable food items.

We parked at the Dole Plantation before midnight in the rain and sat and waited. I could not sleep because of my anxiety level, despite having been up since 6:30am Thursday. As it got closer to 3am our time, my mom and I stayed on the phone so I could hear the news. The local radio stations just weren't doing it for me. I needed more info and I was so happy she was home and watching it! Waves "hit", water receded...but it didn't seem like the water was pouring back in. All in all, it ended up doing some very minor damage. A few houses got washed out on the Big Island (where there was also a small earthquake last night), some boats were damaged but all in all we were unharmed!

I heard on the radio about 6:40am that they were planning to give the "all clear" around 7am so I woke CRH up from his slumber and told him we needed to head that way to get in line. We sat there waiting and heard that they were extending the warning until 12pm. I almost lost it. I was sooooo tired after only about an hour of sleep in my car (not fun by the way!). The view was beautiful though to include this huge, brilliant, full rainbow over Haleiwa. The guy across the street from us pulled out his cooler, his camp chair, and an umbrella. He propped his feet up on his truck and popped himself open a Heineken. It was hilarious! Finally, they downgraded it to an advisory and gave the all clear about 8am. We were home, safe and sound, and in our beds by 8:30am. When I looked out my bedroom window before falling into my bed, I saw another gorgeous rainbow over Waialua. Thanks so much for all the calls, texts, FB messages, etc. We're fine here and managed to dodge another bullet.

Eve's Sunrise Shell

2011-03-07T19:01:00.005-10:00

Today we have a guest blogger, Eve Hart. Yesterday she found her very first sunrise shell in Haleiwa. Here's her story.

Yesterday when I was practicing my swimming, I dug up some sand and found a sunrise shell. At first when a wave came, it was gone but when I looked for it I found a shell that looked nothing like a sunrise shell. After I looked for a while, I found my sunrise shell again. I came running and screaming up to my Mommy telling her I found a sunrise shell. She thought I'd been stung by a jellyfish. In the end, she took a picture and put it on Facebook.
Sunrise shells are the rarest type of shells in Hawaii. We found out about these cool shells at the farmer's market. There are blue and green ones and there are ones that are pink, yellow, and white. Mine is pink, yellow, and white. It's great because my favorite color is pink. On the back, it has a really dark color pink. This one looks like it was connected to another one before I found it. Well, that's all for today's story.

PS My Mom's birthday is in a month, if you need ideas. (Shameless plug by the author's mom!)
http://www.monicabytheshore.com/

Yet Another Reason to Love Hawaii...

2011-02-26T22:38:00.005-10:00

As if I needed another reason to love this place, Hawaii is the only state that grows cacao. Cacao makes what? Chocolate. What do I love more than anything (except Eve and a very few select other people on the planet)? Yep, chocolate.

Eve and I heard about the 1st annual Chocolate Festival earlier in the month at the Cacao Festival at our local farmer's market (see the post below). It was expensive by my standards for a festival admission, but she really wanted to go and well there was chocolate and the proceeds went to benefit a local hula halau...so we went.

My boss and friend, Ferna, who loves chocolate like I do had mentioned earlier this week that she wanted to go with her granddaughter and we ended up meeting up for lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory and heading over to the festival together. We LOVED it. Eve was in heaven. I pretty much let her eat all the chocolate she could ingest. We had lavender chocolate, dark chocolate, milk chocolate, spicy chocolate, fruity chocolate, hot chocolate...you get the picture. We'll definitely be going back next year. I'm 99% sure I gave myself Diabetes today, but it was totally worth it.

It's a Good Thing

2011-01-30T13:51:00.003-10:00

It's a good thing I didn't try to do my undergrad here because I would have flunked out hard core. I'm so distracted by Hawaii. This morning I took Eve to the Farmer's Market, which is awesome. It was the Cacao Festival and we sampled lots of yummy goodness. We ate tons of chocolate recipe concoctions to include chocolate raviolis. One of them was super yummy with pineapple in the middle and one was pink and tart, not my favorite but very interesting to try. Hawaii is the only state that has successful cacoa crops. Several places around us grow it and we could have taken a farm tour but I wasn't feeling that today. I'm not quite that granola yet. Next month is Cacao Month here with promises for more yummy goodness. Fortunately for me, it's rainy today so I can study this afternoon. Although there are still countless other things I'd rather be doing than reading about research.

I'd also like to say it's a good thing CRH agreed to still live with us while I do this degree. I appreciate it immensely especially after a week of trying it as a single mom. I have no worries about my ability to be a single mom after I finish this program, but it would be completely impossible in the process. I'm lucky to have friends here that are amazing and do awesome things with Eve so I can attend classes and study when he's off island. There's something to that whole 'it takes a village' thing. I'm happy for his return tonight though. We're getting along really well right now and things are peaceful and pleasant at the homestead. It's a shame we had to get divorced to become friends again, but I think we're both so much happier and in the end that's what's most important for all three of us. Last week was Divorce Day and ironically he was in San Francisco where we started our epic honeymoon adventure. We've come a long way this year. I feel good about where we're headed. I hope he does too.

As Promised, Pics Before I Go...

2011-01-18T18:32:00.005-10:00

Hopefully this semester won't be as bad as I think, but we'll see. I'm very apprehensive about adding practicum into the class-work mix. It's part of it though and unless I want to go for 3 years (and I don't), it's a necessary element.
My friend, Becky, and my new friend, Bronwen, came to visit HI this past week. We had an amazing trip! We were nervous at first that it was going to rain the entire time, but they seemed to bring the sunshine.
They arrived Wednesday afternoon and we had a fun, laughter filled (alcohol infused) evening at the homestead. Thursday, I took them around the island on the way to school. It rained some, but mostly we were in and out of it. We drove the entire windward side of the coast and they were able to bask in the beauty.
Friday was sunny and perfect! Friday morning, I had to go to school but after my return we went to the beach for a few hours and watched the hottie surfers at Pipeline. That evening, we trekked to Waikiki and went on a sunset booze cruise. I decided I wanted to sit on the net, not anticipating the choppy waters and within 5 minutes of heading out I was SOAKED. I mean soaked, like you could have squeezed me out. We did some bar hopping and eating that evening and stayed in town at a hotel in preparation for our early morning whale watch Saturday.

The whales were out, but sadly not breaching this day. We watched 2 mamas and babies for most of the time we were out. It is amazing to see and hear this massive creatures. They came pretty close to the boat at one point and the captain had to stop the boat and keep us in place as to not hurt them. After our cruise, we spent a blissful 2 hours at the Verizon store replacing (at full cost) my cell phone that was a causality of the drenching I received on the booze cruise.

Sunday was a weird weather day, but HUGE North Shore waves. We started our morning at the Farmer's Market and then went to Waimea Falls for a lovely morning stroll. After the falls, we went to watch the bay and see the 18-20ft waves. Lunch was at Ted's (one of my faves) and we ate it at Shark's Cove watching the waves crash over the rocks in massive sprays. It's truly a spectacular show to watch when you come in the winter.

Monday was their last full day, so we did it big. We hiked to Ka'ena Point in the morning and saw whales along our hike. There were a bunch of them in the water along the coast and we did get to see some breaching that day! At the end of the world, there were sadly no monk seals as I had virtually promised them...but we did get to see albatross and fortunately Bronwen is a bird person, so she seemed content with this. After hiking back, we had a lovely lunch at Haleiwa Joe's and hit the shops for the last of their souvenir shopping and then the beach for a few hours before coming in for dinner and wine!
Today, I drove 2 very sad women up Pupukea to look out over the North Shore before grabbing Dole Whips on the way to the airport. I thought they were going to cry, but luckily they managed and are planning their next trip in August! What a fun week before school kicks in!

School Is In Session

2011-01-10T23:56:00.002-10:00

Well it's back into the black hole I go for a few months...I'll try to be a little better blogger this semester, but it promises to be super busy. I'll toot my own horn (because it's my blog and all) and tell you guys that I ended last semester with a 4.0. I hope I haven't gotten too big for my britches (I love that Southern-ism), as I've signed up for 18 hours this semester! Three of those hours are practicum and 3 hours are an online course that only meets for 1.5 hours a week and totally relates to my job, so I'm pretty psyched. I'm sure by the time I have assembled all of my syllabi Thursday night though, I'll be singing a different tune.
On a lighter note, I'll be drowning whatever emotion related to this semester that I have on Thursday night with my girls that are coming to visit this week! Becky and Bronwen are set to leave snowy, freezing NC for warm, sunny Hawaii this Wednesday. It's my final fun before descending into my hole. I'll post pictures before I go.

Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T23:22:00.003-10:00

We have had a fantastic start to the new year thus far! Last night, the Hart family rang in the new year with friends in Punalu'u. There was much eating, drinking, and fireworks. As of today, fireworks are now illegal in Hawaii...even sparklers!

This morning, we rolled out of bed around 10:30am, took the tree down, and headed out for a hike. We hiked a mountain near Dillingham that we later found out is named Peacock Flats. It was a gorgeous hike that afforded views of the entire North Shore coast. I did not see a single peacock though and the hike up this mountain reminded me that I really should start jogging again. At one point, I thought I was going to pass out from going up yet another hill. The views really were worth it though.

After our hike, we headed into town. We took Eve to Buca di Beppo for some pre-theater dinner and then we went to see Cats. It was fabulous! We had seats 4 rows back and she could see the cats really closely, especially when they came to the end of the stage. During the finale, Skimbleshanks came down into the audience and she got to pet him and play with him a little bit.

If New Year's Day is any indication of how the year is going to go, I think we're in for a good one! Happy 2011 everyone!

Whale Breach

2010-12-30T18:53:00.006-10:00

Today the Hart family played tourist and hopped on board the Star of Honolulu's whale watching boat. It was early in the season, but since they have guaranteed whale sightings I thought 'what the hell', even if we don't see whales we still get to go out on a boat and we can go back for free if we don't. Well, no sooner had we exited the harbor than the captain saw whales! We headed that direction and spent about 45 minutes watching a mama and baby in the water. I thought that was amazing enough, but every time I see whales I wish and I hope (and if I prayed I would) for them to breach. And then it happened...

We were driving away from the whales and the baby breached. I did not have my camera ready and thought that it probably wouldn't happen again. I was wrong...it did it like 5 more times. It was AWESOME! I mean AWESOME! (Yes, I'm squealing it!)

After watching them for a few more minutes, we pulled away and that concluded our whale sighting. It was like the Holy Grail of whale watching! We got back into the harbor and exited the boat at Aloha Tower. We've never been to the top of the tower and decided today was a lovely day to do it.

We had a tasty little lunch and headed back to the North Shore. I left Eve and CRH home to nap and hit my favorite beach, Papa'iloa. I saw 2 turtles out there today...one was way down the beach and I didn't feel like trekking down and then one was in the water. I kept my eye out for whale spouts, but I didn't see anymore today. I did witness a wedding and I managed to not yell "No, don't do it!". I crack myself up.

On another funny note, today I had Eve in the bathroom on the boat. She started to sit straight down on the nasty toilet seat (though this bathroom was amazingly clean and nice for a boat) and I shrieked "OMG, make a nest! Have I taught you NOTHING??" She replied with much exasperation in her little voice, "Yes, you've taught me that Southern women are crazy."

Christmas Fun

2010-12-26T18:02:00.006-10:00

The Hart family had a wonderful, low key Christmas. Eve and I baked up a storm Christmas Eve. Between the night of the 23rd and Christmas Eve, we made 2 types of fudge, sausage balls, and 4 types of cookies! She's gotten to the age where's she an excellent helper, so it was really fun baking with her. Christmas Eve we had a huge ham dinner and watched The Grinch movie.
Christmas Eve, Eve was tracking Santa online and stalked him around the globe. Finally at bedtime, she crawled into my bed and could not fall asleep from the excitement. I went in to the bedroom to get something at one point and she told me that she had sung herself songs, told herself stories, and tickled her back...but she still couldn't sleep. I finally laid down with her after she tracked Santa to Alaska and knew that Hawaii was his next stop. She was in tears afraid Santa would skip us because she was still awake.
Indeed she fell asleep and Santa did not skip us. She woke me up at 4:45am to tell me that she knew Santa must have come because she'd been asleep for a good long while. I told her she better go back to sleep for another good long while, as we were NOT getting up that early. She lasted until 6:45am and there was no putting her off from that point.
Santa brought her lots of goodies, as did family and friends. We had a wonderful day full of much food and alcohol. She ended up spending Christmas night at the neighbor's house and I missed her a ton but knew she was having more fun playing with all the kids!
We hope you all had a Merry Christmas!!

Pre-Christmas Fun

2010-12-23T20:44:00.004-10:00

This has been a fun filled week around here and super busy! Last Saturday, Eve and I went to my company Christmas party. She was adorable! We had a lot of fun and apparently she's my good luck charm. I won a mall gift card and $150. I never, ever, ever win things. We should have flown to Vegas that night.

Monday, she started Sea Life Park camp for the week. We try to send her every year and it's a great, educational week. The kids go to all the park exhibits, see behind the scenes, and learn a ton. After camp on Monday, she went to a friend's birthday party for a sleepover...Tuesday, she missed camp because she came home to nap...for 4 hours. This is a child that quit napping at 18 months. I kept checking to make sure she was breathing.

Finally on Wednesday night, I received all of my grades for the semester! I made straight "A"s. I was pretty confident about two of my classes, but I honestly had no clue what the other two classes were going to result in due to lack of timely feedback from those professors on things turned in near the end of the semester.

Today was Eve's big day at camp where she had her dolphin encounter. Sadly, CRH had to work but there were a few pictures taken to capture the moment. We came home and started round 1 of the holiday baking. We made fudge, peanut butter kiss cookies, and sausage balls. I almost got a little teary making the sausage balls. I remember being Eve's age making those with my mom. It's a Christmas tradition in our family that I love to keep going and fortunately it's something she'll actually eat! Anyway, I loved making them with her and I hope one day she makes them with her kids.

Twas the Night Before Christmas Hawaiian Style

2010-12-18T22:40:00.001-10:00

Every year, Auntie Jessie reads this to the kids at the hula party. It's great stuff!

Eve's Performance - Christmas Luau

2010-12-16T21:56:00.002-10:00

We had the pleasure of attending Eve's performances on Tuesday night at her former school, Ka'a'awa Elementary. They put on a Christmas show each year called "A Warm Christmas Night". I love it! It was dark though and we didn't capture the moment.
No worries because tonight was her hula halau's annual Christmas party at Kualoa Ranch and here she is performing "The Christmas Luau" again. Moments like this make the weekly trek to Ka'a'awa totally worth it!

12 Days of Christmas - Hawaiian Style

2010-12-16T21:49:00.003-10:00

This is the Hawaiian version of this song. It cracks me up, enjoy!

Numbah One day of Christmas, my tutu give to me
One mynah bird in one papaya tree.

Numbah Two day of Christmas, my tutu give to me
Two coconut, an' one mynah bird in one papaya tree.

Numbah Tree day of Christmas, my tutu give to me
Tree dry squid, two coconut,
An' one mynah bird in one papaya tree.

Numbah Foah day of Christmas, my tutu give to me
Foah flowah lei, tree dry squid, two coconut,
An' one mynah bird in one papaya tree.

Numbah Five day of Christmas, my tutu give to me
Five beeg fat peeg... foah flowah lei, tree dry squid, two coconut,
An' one mynah bird in one papaya tree.

Numbah Seex day of Christmas, my tutu give to me
Seex hula lesson, five beeg fat peeg (that make TEN!),
Foah flowah lei, tree dry squid, two coconut,
An' one mynah bird in one papaya tree.

Numbah Seven day of Christmas, my tutu give to me
Seven shrimp a-swimmin', seex hula lesson,
Five beeg fat peeg, foah flowah lei, tree dry squid, two coconut,
An' one mynah bird in one papaya tree.

Numbah Eight day of Christmas, my tutu give to me
Eight ukulele, seven shrimp a-swimmin', seex hula lesson,
Five beeg fat peeg (that make TWENNY!), foah flowah lei, tree dry squid, two coconut,
An' one mynah bird in one papaya tree.

Numbah Nine day of Christmas, my tutu give to me
Nine pound of poi, eight ukulele, seven shrimp a-swimmin',
Seex hula lesson, five beeg fat peeg, foah flowah let, tree dry squid, two coconut,
An' one mynah bird in one papaya tree.

Numbah Ten day of Christmas, my tutu give to me
Ten can of beer, nine pound of poi, eight ukuklele, seven shrimp a-swimmin'
Seex hula lesson, five beeg fat peeg,
Foah flowah lei, tree dry squid, two coconut,
An' one mynah bird in one papaya tree.

Numbah Eleven day of Christmas, my tutu give to me
Eleven missionary, ten can of beer, nine pound of poi,
Eight ukulele, seven shrimp a-swimmin', seex hula lesson,
Five beeg fat peeg, foah flowah lei, tree dry squid, two coconut,
An' one mynah bird in one papaya tree.

Numbah Twelve day of Christmas the bes', and the bes' stuff always come las'...)
Numbah Twelve day of Christmas, my tutu give to me
Twelve TELEVISION, eleven missionary, ten can of beer,
Nine pound of poi, eight ukulele, seven shrimp a-swimmin',
Seex hula lesson, FORTY steenkin' peeg,
Foah flowah lei, tree dry squid, two coconut,
An' one mynah bird in one papaya tree!

Music and lyrics published by Hawaiian Recording and Publishing Company, Inc., and copyrighted in 1959.

Ho Ho Ho and A Bottle of Rum (Ok Wine)

2010-12-12T10:03:00.008-10:00

Yesterday was a Christmas extravaganza day for us. I'm not a fan of leaving the North Shore on the weekends after all the driving I do during the week, but poor Eve would never get to do anything if I didn't occasionally trek to town. Friday night, I went out to Ka'a'awa for a super fun Pomegranate Martini Christmas party with a bunch of hilarious women. That was a great kick off to my 4 day weekend! We played Naughty Santa and I left with 2 bottles of wine...score!

Yesterday I took Eve to The Nutcracker, which was followed by a Sugarplum Fairy tea. When we lived in NC, I would take her every year to the Sugarplum Fairy tea at the Carolina Inn in Chapel Hill. It's amazing...the venue is awesome...the food is great...there are photo opps with the fairy. This was far less grand, but Eve enjoyed it. We sat on a cement bench eating a quarter of a PB&J and drinking fruit punch, but she got to see the Sugarplum Fairy up close and that seemed to make her happy enough. NC has the tea thing in the bag though, Hawaii could take notes...I'm just saying.

After the performance, CRH met us and we went to Ala Moana for our annual Santa visit. I LOVE Santa, but I hate this mall and I hate trekking into Waikiki yet every year I make us go b/c this Santa is THE best. Sure enough traffic was horrible on the H1 (even at 5pm on a Saturday) but once we got there it was all worth it. We got smarter this year and after entering the mall at Macy's where Eve could write her letter (I love that!)...we decided to skip the food court for CPK and enjoy a bottle of wine with dinner. CRH spotted sunset on the way to the restaurant, so we got to watch a beautiful sunset and then head to dinner. I could feel my blood pressure dropping as I polished off the last sips. Eve was so cute patiently waiting...poor kid.

I had a plan for the mall...you should never go into that mall without a clear cut agenda because it's vast. After executing it down to the level Santa was on, we hopped in line. It wasn't bad...really. There was entertainment from the other parents and kids in line and we moved pretty quickly along (Yes, 2 weeks before Christmas on a Saturday night no less!). I think this may be the last year for Santa though, so it was a little bittersweet for me. She's asking a ton of questions and when I avoided her yesterday she totally called me on it. I hate for that innocence and magic to leave, so I'm keeping it going as long as I can, but I was 8 years old when I figured it out and I'm worried she's smarter than I am.

When we left the mall, we went to the City of Lights display. We went for the first time last year and it's so cool. I've added a couple of pictures below. Eve questioned again how Santa could be at the mall and at the City of Lights. We gave the patented 'Santa can't be in every place all at once...' after the 'He's a magical elf.' fell flat. I'm worried she's onto us.

Seeing IS Believing!

2010-12-07T08:41:00.004-10:00

Check out this video that Santa made for Eve Hart!
I tried to upload the video directly, but it took forever...so here's the link.
http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/watch/_mMCkhBrtATFNmzklNYMdQ

Christmas Festivities Begin

2010-12-05T15:01:00.003-10:00

Eve and I had a fun weekend starting to get into the spirit and making and baking stuff. Yesterday, I woke up with some serious motivation to get it in gear. Last year, I waited until the last minute and I regretted it because I was super tired and quite grumpy. So, Eve and I made our ornaments yesterday for the family. Since I don't want to spoil the surprise, I won't describe them but holy hell they were tedious. I have mild OCD (self diagnosed of course) and I'm a perfectionist...so this tried my nature but I kept my psychoses under wraps and we had fun doing it!
After the ornaments finished, we headed to the beach and took her Christmas pics for the cards. I'm going to be organized enough this year to send out cards, really. Last year, I skipped it (see previous paragraph). I will spoil it and tell you that this is so the one. I love it, especially since you can see her lack of front teeth.

Once we left the beach, I came home to make fudge. I'm an excellent baker, if I do say so myself. I've actually spent the past 6 months cooking as well...but baking is my thing (or so I thought). My fudge requires a spoon...it did NOT set up. It's yummy goodness, but it's gooey and soupy. I'll probably try another batch later in the season.

HoHoHo!

2010-11-28T18:37:00.008-10:00

Thanks to the awesomeness of the Norfolk pine tree, I was able to put up our Christmas tree this weekend. If you put up an imported real tree in HI this early you will have a pile of dead needles by Christmas, but last year I discovered this delightful variety. The really cool thing about this tree is that it's fairly "green" for a real tree. You also only have to water it like twice all season and they do NOT shed needles. So they cut off the top of these giant trees, allowing the tree to continue growing. Yesterday, I took Eve and her friend, Leah, to pick out our tree. Normally, I go alone and look at every single tree and very carefully chose the BEST one. This year, I let Eve do it and our tree is sooooo crooked, but she picked it out. I will allow my OCD self to love the tree anyway. I'll just turn my head when I look at it each and every time all season long.
CRH and our friend, Kevin, went diving yesterday. I took Eve and Leah to a local resort with my friend, Robby, and played in the pools and hot tub. When we all arrived home, we started decorating the tree. CRH and Kevin initially put up all the lights, until we went to plug it in and over half the strands did not work. I realized those two bright lights had NOT plugged boy ends to girl ends and they had just tucked things around. Duh...so, I unwrapped the lights and Kevin and I redid it all because CRH declared himself done after that fiasco. The rest of the tree decorating went very smoothly and the finished product is our lovely Charlie Brown, crooked tree.

Happy Black Friday!

2010-11-26T22:18:00.003-10:00

The Hart family enjoyed a fun day yesterday, well 2/3 of us did. 1/3 of us had to work insane hours, so I can't speak for him so much. We are VERY THANKFUL for how hard he works and continues to provide for us though.
Ok, so I decided that I wanted to cook Thanksgiving dinner this year. Previously, I have always been assigned pies (because I can bake like a champ), bread, or to bring the can of cranberry sauce. In the spring when my grandmother found out about our divorce, she said to me "Amy, how are you going to eat? He does ALL the cooking.". I have laughed and laughed over this, but I think it inspired me. I started cooking and I realized I don't suck at it either. I attribute this to watching CRH cook for years, but I've got it not so much down as coming along.
Our menu included Roasted Turkey with Artichoke-Sausage Stuffing, Green Bean casserole, Deviled Eggs (which CRH made), Rolls (ok, I bought those), gravy, and of course the can of cranberries (which I opened). Dinner would NOT be complete without our favorite, Nutella Pumpkin Pie. I started cooking Wednesday night and finished prepping Thursday morning.
Thursday afternoon, I went to my friend's house for Thanksgiving lunch and to pick up Eve Hart. We ate a delicious meal with their family and then I headed home to finish cooking our dinner. I was SO full, but I managed to put in a dent in this plate.

After dinner, CRH went to work from 7pm -7am and a friend of mine and I took Eve and 2 of her friends to The Fun Factory and to see Tangled. It was cute enough, but I'd rent it if I were you.
Today, we avoided the stores (except the grocery store for wine and Ace for cheap Christmas lights and both stores were desolate). I spent the day instead working my tail off with Eve and a friend rearranging her room. It looks awesome now, but holy crap I'm sore. I cleaned the house like company was coming (though no one is until January) and now I'm ready to decorate for Christmas tomorrow!
Hope you all had a great turkey day! It's been a hard year, but I have so VERY much to be thankful for...family, friends, a job, my health, school, and less we forget my location!

SUP

2010-11-23T20:35:00.006-10:00

We are LOVING the SUP. I soooo want a board, maybe one day. Although the problem with having my own board is that I would have to be able to get it out of the water...a skill I still must master. I can get it to the water, get on it, paddle it (even with a kid on the end), but getting it out is something I'm not rocking yet.
Today, I spent a delightful 2 hours at Kahuku Beach walking up and down looking for shells. I found some really cool ones and as I was heading home CRH texted to see if I wanted to go paddle boarding. Of course I did!
He picked Eve up from school and we all went to the beach. We took turns paddling her out and she and I went under the rainbow bridge and down the river twice. I am WIPED out now, but it's a good wiped out. At the end, she wanted to paddle herself. CRH held onto the leash and she went at it.
We capped off the day with a sunset cocktail at a local restaurant and headed home for dinner. No one will have to rock me to sleep tonight...zzzzzzz.

Minus Another Tooth

2010-11-21T20:59:00.003-10:00

This weekend was soooo relaxing and fun. Saturday, I woke up and took Eve to a craft fair at a local school. She and I had fun walking around and looking at things. We gathered ideas and made plans for the holidays. I took her for a long beach walk Saturday afternoon and we picked up lots of cool shells and saw a sea turtle out on the beach. It was a perfect North Shore afternoon. CRH texted me as I was coming back with Eve down the beach and said he wanted to meet us with wine and apps for sunset. It was a gorgeous evening. On the beach, Eve's front tooth started bothering her. She bit into a cracker hard and it started bleeding some. When we got home, she asked CRH to pull it. Oh how thankful I was to have him here to do that....ewwwww. Today, she's down another tooth. I love this toothless smile. I'm happy all of her Christmas pics will be this cute smile.

Today we hung out and had a low key day. I actually woke up this morning thinking that it had to be Monday because I was so relaxed, but I was delighted when I figured out it was Sunday and I could go back to sleep.

Happy Belated 40th Birthday!

2010-11-16T18:15:00.005-10:00

I'm so totally on island time these days, it's gotten ridiculous. I love it. It is the way I was meant to live. Ok, enough excuses though. CRH turned 40 last week! For his birthday, I was going to rent a stand up paddle board for him for the day. The morning of his birthday, I called the place and they didn't have anyone available to meet us to rent a board. I would like to mention that on this particular beautiful, sunny day I think their staff was all out surfing. ;) Anyway, I reserved one for the weekend so that we could all go but sadly CRH's work schedule changed. Today was the day and we went out this morning for several hours. It was tons of fun. This was his first time and only my second. He caught on quickly and ended up paddling me on the front of the board down the river for about an hour. It was gorgeous! We saw tons of turtles while we were out too, both together and separately. Incidentally, we remarked how this was the first time we've done anything involving a paddle since our unfortunate outrigger canoe experience of 2000. I guess now that we're getting divorced, it was ok to try it.
So, I highly recommend this activity now on the Hart Family tour when you visit. It's so easy (mostly, depending on the surf) to rent a board for the day and it's a great peaceful, fun workout.
Happy 40th Birthday CRH!

Eve Hart-isms

2010-10-19T19:39:00.002-10:00

I know I've been a bad blogger. We've been really caught up in school, work, and life, so if you were at one time actually following this...my apologies. I'll resume one day, like over Christmas break. Anyway, I had a interesting conversation with my kid tonight about voting I wanted to share.
Eve told me that her school is doing kids voting soon and she's nervous about who to vote for. I asked who she was thinking of voting for and she told me that she was obviously going to vote for the ladies and the people whose names she liked...oh yeah, and the pretty people. After explaining how politics differs from say pageants, I gave her a lecture on politics. We talked about when in doubt, vote Democrat (of course!). Then she asked me if Democrats are white. (Incidentally, Hawaii is the most racist place I've ever lived/been in and I'm from the South.) I said typically, more white people are Republican, but that a lot of white people are Democrat as well...noting that COLOR really shouldn't have anything to do with believing in what's important to you.
(Clearly, I've failed as a mother.)

A Mouse In The House

2010-09-24T21:50:00.002-10:00

Last night I came home to Eve being babysat by the neighbor...when I got in the door with my jug of wine, she suggested I go ahead and have a glass. I said "Um, why? What did you do?". Here's our convo:
Eve - Mama, I think you should have a glass of wine. We have a mouse in the house. I locked him in the closet.
Me - WHAT???
Eve - Yeah, why don't you have a glass of wine and think about what to do about this?
Me - Ok, sounds like a good idea.
Eve - 15 min time lapse yells from her bed- Mama...did you have some wine?
Me - Yeah, working on it.
Eve- So, are you thinking about the mouse situation?
Me - Yep...I think we have to move.
Eve - No, really...what are you going to do?
Me - I don't know....
Eve- Mama, you have to problem solve this!
In case you're not around us frequently, this exchange was particularly humorous because I tell Eve about 3,000 times a day to problem solve things.

Manta Rays

2010-09-11T16:53:00.003-10:00

Eve and I were playing on the beach today and let me tell you guys, she has become quite the little fishy! She was in the water swimming, going under, and floating. CRH has done a really good job of taking her to the pool a lot to increase her confidence in the water and now she apparently (after living in HI for 2 1/2 years) has decided she loves the beach and the ocean. Hallelujah! It's about time!
As we were packing up to leave, a lady walked by and pointed out 3 manta rays that were playing in the water about 50 ft out. We stood and watched them swim for a while. They are so graceful and amazing to watch. They were too far to try and take a pic with my phone and true to form these days, I didn't have my good camera with me. I've only seen rays here once before at Pipeline one day. There was a group swimming and every time the wave would come up, you could see them in it.

Yes, I'm Still Alive and Breathing

2010-09-06T21:11:00.005-10:00

I know it's been eons since I posted last. The blog is sadly probably going to become more and more sporadic over the next 2 years as school has started! I started classes feeling totally stressed and overwhelmed and then some wise friends who also have their MSWs reminded me that I actually don't have to read every single word that's assigned and that helped ease some of the stress. Then, I got some really nice feedback from an instructor this weekend on a short paper that I turned in last week, and I'm feeling like I can actually breathe again and that I might just be able to do this! Ok, I know I can do it but Eve's having a hard time adjusting to me being gone 2 nights a week and it's just been a taxing few weeks.
This weekend it was time to just relax. I slept until 9am every single day, which was AWESOME. I've been in bed by 12am at the latest every single night, so my body hardly knows what to do with all of this rest. I've had wonderful food, lots of wine, and plenty of beach time. We've taken Eve to the pool several days, I've been on the beach every day, and I've continued to be in awe of the beauty that is Oahu. I've included just a few pics from the weekend and since I now have a new laptop I hope to start using my good camera again very soon.

We saw this guy on the beach today and sadly he had a fishing line attached to him. There were a bunch of turtles out today swimming around at Papa'iloa. Yes, I still act like a tourist when I see one...I get super excited about it. I was cleaning out pictures on my phone the other day and deleted a ridiculous number of almost identical turtle pictures. Can you say "Stalker"?
On a happy note, I'd like to report that CRH and I are in a really good place right now. We've kind of figured out this living together as friends/roommates thing and it's been really, really nice. So, if you've stayed away because you thought the tension would be insane (because it was a for a while), I feel confident in saying that it's safe to come back.

Turtles and Seals

2010-08-15T11:22:00.006-10:00

This has been a fun weekend of wildlife! I started training Friday to be a Hawaiian Monk Seal Response Team member. Essentially this means that when a seal hauls out of the water, you go rope it off and stand guard to make sure no one assaults the seal or tries to pet it. You also answer a bunch of questions from tourists and locals about the seals, but I hear it's pretty much the same 6 questions over and over again. I've thought about doing this for a while, but now that the baby is up here it really sparked my interest. I obviously am not going to have an abundance of free time with school starting next week, but all they ask for is 3 hours a week. I can do that and I can take Eve with me too. I went last Sunday and took some really cool pictures, but we continue to have desktop issues and I can't upload them yet. Friday I didn't take any pictures and it really didn't do anything of interest while I was there, just nursing and sleeping. I actually got to see 3 seals Friday night. Honey Girl and her pup were the main focus and Right Spot was hauled out further down the beach.
Yesterday, I took Eve and two of her friends to Papa'iloa and we saw a bunch of sea turtles out. I took some pics with my phone. I really should remember to take my good camera with me when I go, but I keep telling myself I have a bazillion turtle pictures as it is plus with the computer screwed up, I couldn't upload them anyway. This is one of a turtle swimming in the surf. That rock looking thing...it's a turtle.

1st Day of 2nd Grade

2010-08-03T10:18:00.002-10:00

Yesterday was Eve's 1st day at Waialua Elementary. She woke up excited and ate breakfast on the porch with CRH while I ran around getting ready for work. Nonni called before we left and then she called Papaw too. As we were taking her in for her 1st day, a huge brilliant rainbow was out over the school...it was pretty cool! This school is so much bigger than her old one. As we were leaving her in her classroom, I started to get a little teary looking at my baby sitting there alone in her seat. I knew how she was feeling and resisted the urge to stay and hover. She ended up knowing quite a few kids in her class from Summer Fun, so that worked out well.
Her teacher, Mrs. Luarca, is pretty strict according to Eve and she's been teaching there for 29 years! Her homework last night was to write a letter back to her teacher introducing herself. I think it's going to be a good year!

The Black Pearl

2010-07-31T10:38:00.003-10:00

Currently the big news on the island is the filming of the 4th Pirates of the Caribbean movie...yep, the 4th one. I've never seen any of them as I've mentioned and I actually thought this was the 3rd one being filmed. Anyway, they are filming for the next 3 weeks in Kaneohe Bay and the pirate ship is right out in the harbor. Eve and I are pretty psyched about it, because we just like seeing TV and movie sets it seems. Here's a cool picture we took Thursday afternoon from the state park above the bay. They are filming at night so we may go back over one evening to check that out and to meet Johnny Depp, of course.

Thirty One Gifts

2010-07-30T17:44:00.005-10:00

My sister-in-law has a new business that she's started doing in addition to teaching 1st grade full time and being a great wife to my baby brother. I'm shamelessly plugging her business on here because I'm so proud of her! Here's the link to her website.
http://www.mythirtyone.com/amyhumble/

If you are in the NC area and would like to host a party for her, you can get tons of free stuff! If you prefer to pay for your items, then you can order directly as well. They have everything from super cute purses, totes, baby items, backpacks, etc! Christmas is soon and this stuff makes excellent gifts, hence the name. Thanks for checking it out!

Summer Fun Parent Style

2010-07-28T22:41:00.005-10:00

There is usually a week right after school ends and a week before it begins that all summer programs cease. I don't know what they think working parents are going to do, but it's kind of a pain. CRH and I are lucky enough that we have flexible jobs/schedules and have been able to work it out amongst ourselves who would be off on what days/times. My friend, Khristy, has also helped a lot too! Well I think after today, Eve will officially say Summer Fun Hart Style beats the pants off Parks & Rec.
This afternoon, CRH took Eve jet skiing while I was at work. For whatever reason, probably her fear of the water which is subsiding, she has refused to do this. He loves to jet ski and finally talked her into it. They had a blast! She was vibrating as she was telling me about it over dinner.

Tonight, we did the hand off so he could work the night shift and I took her to see The Black Pearl pirate ship which is currently in Kaneohe Bay while they are filming Pirates of the Caribbean 3, or whatever the official name is. I've never watched any of those movies, but obviously I'll catch this one so I can look at the scenery and play my favorite 'guess where that was filmed' game. They were filming I think tonight, so the road was a mad house...but of course I stopped to snap a quick pic. We're going back tomorrow with the good camera.

The evening concluded with Eve and I going to see "Ha". This is the new (ish) Polynesian Cultural Center's night show and it was pretty awesome. Eve and I both agreed we liked it more than the previous one, but we also saw the previous one about 6 times...so maybe we just liked seeing something new. At any rate, she had a super fun day.

Turtlepalooza

2010-07-27T21:02:00.004-10:00

The universe smiled at me today and then smacked me in the ass. It's the way of it these days. ;) I went to my favorite beach and as I was walking down the path, I noticed a new sign up. This sign was obviously put up because the turtle volunteers are too busy down at the actual "turtle beach" to patrol this one too, but it concerns me. Does this mean the tourists are catching wind of my Zen spot??

I decided today was the perfect day to walk on the beach because it was a little overcast so the sand wasn't blazing hot and frankly I needed some exercise. I've gained about 4 lbs back this summer due to poor eating and no exercise! I always look right first at this beach because this is where the turtles are the most apt to come up onto the sand, but there were none today. So, I went left thinking I would walk down and pick up some shells. As I started walking, I saw 5 turtles in the water eating. I walked a little further and saw about 10 more also hanging out near some rocks and eating. I climbed onto the rocks and was trying to get a picture with my phone of the awesome creature, when I slipped on the very green matter they eat and smacked my bottom HARD onto the rock. I'm pretty sure there's a huge bruise coming up because this was over 6 hours ago and it still smarts big time. As I tried to recover from this very ungraceful move, which almost landed me in the ocean with my phone on top of the said turtle I was trying to photograph, I walked along the not slippery part of the rocks and just kept seeing more and more turtles. It was amazing. I walked a good mile or further on the beach and I just kept seeing huge groups of them. I even saw two babies!! I knew my count was over 45, but in the interest of not exaggerating, I counted again on the way back and my total was 46. I have never, ever seen that many sea turtles in one day...ever. It was so cool! My sore bottom is totally worth the coolness of it all. Almost all of the turtles were in the water, but this guy was hauling out as I was heading back today.

After my turtle fest, I went to pick Eve up from my friend, Khristy and took her to hula. She's learning a new song right now in class. I love her new teacher because she really teaches them a lot with regards to the words of the song and the cultural component. She's a really great teacher! And speaking of teachers, my baby starts 2nd grade on Monday!!! I can't stand how fast time is flying!!

Honeygirl and Pup

2010-07-23T00:41:00.005-10:00

Well sure enough there was a monk seal (Honey Girl) and her baby at Turtle Bay today! The baby was born on June 29th, 2010 in the very bay area where they are hanging out. It seems monk seals give birth and then they hang out with their baby for about 2 months. They nurse and play with it, and then they are finished. I mean after about 8 weeks they get into the water and swim off and the two never so much as acknowledge each other again as far as the humans can tell, even if they come up on the same beach one day.
The baby is the cutest thing! I went to scope him out this morning and then after picking up my car finally, I took Eve and CRH back to check it out. He was about 30lbs when he was born, but they gain 5lbs a day and so he's at about 100-150lbs now. An interesting side note is that while the mama seals nurse, they don't eat at all so they lose that baby weight super fast! I got some great pics with my good camera, but our computer still has a virus so I can't upload them yet. Here's a horrible one I took with my camera phone. The "rocks" are seals...really, I promise.

The 2 1/2 Year Vacation

2010-07-22T09:29:00.003-10:00

Well guys I fear my two and a half year vacation is about to end. Tuesday I went to UH for a meeting with my practicum adviser and realized that my world as I know it is almost over. (I'm waiting for the sympathy to start...really, I am.) As most of you know, I currently work a sweet part time job 20 hours a week. This gives me 4 days a week to basically do whatever I desire, which mostly consists of going to the beach. Tuesday I was informed that in addition to maintaining my current employment (which is of course my personal choice and based purely on my financial constraints of living the good life in HI), I must work 16 hours a week each semester doing practicum work (i.e. free labor) and attend classes. Holy Crap! The good news is that my practicum adviser is looking for places up here so maybe I won't have to commute an hour to that as well. I've been feeling a bit overwhelmed by all of this and have decided to live up this last month. I got a little sunburned Tuesday after my meeting laying out at the beach processing all of this, so I was going to do chores today around the house...however I've caught wind of a baby monk seal hanging out at Turtle Bay and I feel compelled to go track it down. Pics will follow if I find it!!

A Fruitful Paradise

2010-07-19T21:28:00.002-10:00

One of the perks of living in Haleiwa now is that we actually live in a neighborhood again, as opposed to on the side of the Kam Hwy. It's a much nicer, homey feel and Eve loves all the kids being around to entertain her. She actually wants to go outside and play. This has never before happened in life. One of our neighbors is this sweet Brazilian guy that mows our yard for a ridiculously low price (although we have a ridiculously small yard)and he brings us fruit from the trees in our neighborhood. We have a mango tree in our driveway, but no mango picker and once they fall they are pretty much not edible. I came home last week to papayas on my front steps. Today I drove up and he was harvesting our tree and gave me a huge bag of mangoes and guavas. Now, I am still learning what to do with all of these delicious tropical fruits and mostly I bake them into things. I've made mango and papaya bread that have both turned out great (if I do say so myself). CRH makes a spicy shrimp nacho that calls for fresh mango, but our repertoire is limited. The first time this man brought mangoes over, he told us about this mango ice cream he makes but wasn't overly specific in the recipe. CRH has asked me several times to find out the details and today when he dropped off the latest batch, I inquired. It's super easy and I decided to make both mango and guava ice cream. The mango rules, the guava not so much. Guavas confuse me in that I don't know which parts you can eat and if you scoop out the seeds, you are left with very little fruit. Halfway into the guava cutting, I had CRH ask a local girl how exactly one eats this fruit. She said the seeds are edible, but sadly they give ice cream a really weird texture. So, the guava ice cream didn't make it, but when you visit be sure to ask for the mango one...super yum.

Day of Weird

2010-07-13T19:35:00.005-10:00

I've been a horrible blogger lately...I know it. My friend Becky just came for a visit that was pure awesomeness. I think I've convinced another East Coast person to move to HI!! That's my secret mission you know...to get all of my friends and family to relocate here to paradise. She and I had a great time snorkeling at Hanauma Bay and Shark's Cove, hanging at the beach, going to Schofield for the fireworks, visiting Chinatown and Waikiki, and drinking it up. I'd post pics, but sadly I don't think I took any and my desktop still has a virus. I've still been without a car for the past few weeks and today finally decided to do something about it.
I went to the Honda dealership in town a few weeks ago and they pissed me off enough that I left and ignored all of their follow up calls. I decided that today was car day. I really needed to move on this and quit sitting around and waiting for someone to deliver one to my door, because clearly that wasn't going to happen...although friends have been kind to let us mooch.
CRH and I got up this morning and drove to town to look at a Jetta. I like the Jettas and I liked this car until I test drove it and we noticed all sorts of issues. I've never been to a dealership that cared less if I purchased a car from them. Seriously, this guy couldn't have given a rat's ass if I bought that car or not, so I left. I've turned into a super bitch at car dealerships. I've decided that I'm sick and tired of being screwed in them. My MO is to start off all sweet and drive a car to make them want to sell to me, but then at finance time my true colors shine through.
Anyway, we then hit up a car dealership on the way back to Haleiwa. I immediately picked out a car that I liked and someone was moving it for a test drive. I questioned this as a sale tactic, but maybe it was legit...who knows. CRH looked at a car that he thought he might want instead of the PT Cruiser, but decided not and then miraculously my '06 Hyundai Sonata reappeared for test driving. I liked it for the price and style and told the salesman that I wanted it. We haggled over price and payment for long enough that after threatening to leave 2 times, I finally walked out. He followed me to my (CRH's) car and I told him my terms once again VERY firmly and told him to call me if he could meet them. I peeled out of there to go pick up Eve and sure enough lo and behold he called me about an hour later willing and able to meet my previously, clearly stated terms and conditions. It's all such a game. While we were in the dealership the first time, there was a group of Japanese tourists seriously on a tour of the dealership. Our salesman said it happens all the time - how weird! Check this pic out - they are literally standing in front of the wall of salesmen listening to what I assumed to be a talk on those guys...snooze.

So we leave and the salesman calls with my terms and we head back to the dealership to sign the paperwork. I needed to stop by the post office on the way and what do we see in the parking lot, but my Volvo for sale!! The irony was outstanding. They have my poor old car sitting in the lot of the Pizza Hut/USPS on sale for $3300 OBO. I guess they got it running enough to sell, but not enough to donate to a family. CRH felt the need to commemorate this weirdness with a photo op. Priceless, right?

Back at the dealership, we complete the sale and I head off in my new car...only to get it onto the highway and it start lurching along. The rpms were totally high as I would accelerate and the car would almost lose power completely if I took my foot off the gas. When I went up a very small hill, the car also seemed to lose power and the brakes were metal on metal. I had test driven it, but around the block in Waipahu...so not at fast speeds. I called CRH and told him I was turning around when a guy behind me pulled up and yelled at me that my emergency brake seemed to be on...it wasn't. I called Ivan, my poor, poor salesman and told him I was headed back. Ivan hates me now by the way after I broke bitch on him at the end of our initial bargaining. I get back and tell Ivan my woes with the car and remind him that I did in fact purchase the extended warranty, so I'd like a rental car while they fix this one. You should have seen the look on his face. I'm obviously the first person to have ever asked for a rental the same day of purchase. The whole day was so weird...weird and funny in the end. I'll put up a pic of my "new" car when I get it, but for now I'm driving a rental Honda Civic.

After The Dust Settled

2010-06-22T16:51:00.001-10:00

Well, we've decided to continue to co-exist in the same house for now. Some changes are still being made, but we're going to try to maintain this for Eve's sake and for mine and Eve's financial sake while I'm in school. Keep us in your thoughts...we're going to need some good mojo flowing our way these next few months as we continue to try to navigate this.
My friend, Becky, is coming next Wednesday to hang out for a few days! I'm sure some good stuff will come about from her trip, so stay tuned. I promise to start putting pics up again now that my computer virus is cured.

Oh My!

2010-06-17T23:28:00.003-10:00

So much has changed since I last blogged...sometimes this is just overwhelming to write down and other times it's very therapeutic. Well again without a lot of details, CRH and I are officially moving residences apart from one another...it's just time. This co-existing thing wasn't working for me. I'm guessing from his recent actions that it wasn't working out so well for him either.
My bff, Cheryl, left tonight. OMG I miss her already and can't wait for her to come back...although after the drama that has unfolded in this house over the past week...I'm not sure she will. :( Anyway, we had a great time. We get along SO well and just mesh...it's super nice to have those people in your life. I'd post pics from her trip BUT the desktop seems to have a virus (what else....really???), so they will come when they come. We did lots of fun stuff to include lots of beaching, snorkeling, Waimea Falls, Waikiki, trying to go to Pearl Harbor twice (seriously), and just drinking and talking. I think it was good for both of us.

Normal Nice

2010-06-01T22:47:00.007-10:00

Today was one of those really good days...it was nothing extraordinary, but just a good day. I woke up this AM and went to pick up the Pooh Bear. Eve has been at Khristy and Tracy's since Friday night and I missed her!! After picking her up, I went and worked out and then we came home for lunch. I didn't want to drag her to the beach and honestly I was a little red from the 3 previous days of basking. We decided to go to Wahaiwa Botanical Gardens today, which is a gorgeous park right in the middle of the ghetto of Wahaiwa...I almost turned around, but was glad I carried on. She had a great time walking around and photographing all the pretty flowers. We did lots of other random feel good stuff today like ordering her birthday cake, going to the library and signing her up for a summer reading program, and talking/webcamming with the grandparents. When CRH got home, we were out on the porch and our neighbor walked by with a 5 gallon bucket of mangoes. He offered us a bunch and said that since he now knows we like them, he would leave us some every time he collects them. I wasn't sure what to do with that many mangoes, so I decided to make mango bread...omg YUM. After dinner, we finally watched Alice In Wonderland. It was very different than what I expected, but good in a Tim Burton way. I'm happy that I rented it for $1 though instead of shelling out at the theater.
I realized to my horror today that I didn't post about Eve's Ho'ike last week. Good Parent Points - minus 10. Eve ended her 1st grade year at Ka'a'awa last Tuesday. We attended her Ho'ike at Kualoa Ranch and it was fantastic! The kids did an awesome job. I will post about it very soon, but now I must sleep for I have to return to work tomorrow.

4 Day Weekend Bliss

2010-05-30T23:39:00.003-10:00

I'm loving this Memorial Day weekend and the official kickoff to summer. Eve is camping with my friends, Khristy and Tracy. Yesterday, I worked out and then spent the afternoon at Rocky Point sunning myself. Today, I spent the day at Lanikai on the pristine white sand beach.

Tomorrow, I shall find yet another gorgeous stretch of sand to lay myself upon. My bff, Cheryl comes on Thursday. Bradley arrived last Thursday to stay with us for 2 months and help watch Eve for the summer...life is good. I had a lovely, laughter filled dinner with CRH, Kevin, and Bradley tonight...good friends, good food, and crappy (cheap) wine...good times.

Ode to the S40

2010-05-22T13:20:00.002-10:00

When I was pregnant with Eve, we had a Toyota Camry and a Saturn something or another. The Saturn was a 2 door straight drive car...not a fam car. I went and picked out the blue Volvo S40 one day while I was killing time at work. I fell in love with that car. Initially it was CRH's, but once my Camry lease ended I found him his dream car (yep, the Volvo wagon) and I took this one. We moved both of them here and in the past few years this one has been giving me some problems...so our relationship has been a love-hate one. We had to buy CRH a new car last summer when his died and so sadly we really aren't in a great position for mine to have died this second in time, but I would like to point out that this car did make it to over 200,000 miles. It needed gas, so it died on empty saving me $35. I was sure that it was going to die one day right after I'd filled up. It needed an oil change and a safety inspection this month too. I was going to go earlier this week and do it, but I've just felt like crap all week and was lazy...thankfully because it saved me $60. Finally, the car was nice enough to die about a block from my house. It needs a new transmission (along with many, many other things), so it's just not worth fixing. It's currently out under the mango tree...RIP dear Volvo...RIP.

Stand Up Paddleboard

2010-05-18T17:12:00.003-10:00

I have been dying to do this since we moved, but it's one of those things I keep saying I want to do and just haven't gotten around to until today. I freaking LOVED it. I went out in Haleiwa, got on a board after about 4 attempts of trying to stand up, and paddled around for about an hour and a half. It was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I just paddled the beach area in front at first and then I made my way over around the pier to the rainbow bridge in Haleiwa. It's so peaceful and serene back there. Then, I went out across the beach the other way. This is when things got a little dicey. I paddled out past my experience level and the water was a little choppy and the wind was up. I was afraid of falling, so I sat down and paddled. I was wayyyy out and doing fine, until a turtle came by. It distracted me, so the current took me down a little bit. I was able to turn myself around and get safely back to shore, but for a few minutes I thought Search and Rescue might be required. It was such a fun experience...I can't wait to go again!

Snorkel Time

2010-05-18T08:55:00.003-10:00

We had an awesome weekend of sun and fun. Saturday, I spent 5 hours at the beach. I can't remember the last time I did that...nor can I remember the last time I was able to do it without hearing a lot of complaining from the family. I should thank their friends, really. Anyway, we went to a new beach for us Saturday here in Haleiwa and I sat in my chair watching sea turtles swim around for hours. Finally, CRH brought some snorkel equipment around and I actually swam with 2 of them in the water. One was a smaller, younger turtle and one was pretty huge. A few weeks ago, I saw 3 baby turtles swimming at Papa'iloa. That was awesome! CRH went wayyyy out on Saturday and swam with like 7 or 8 of them.
Sunday, I did manage to clean the house. Sometimes I actually do chores before I play...it's rare, but the floor was dirty and it was bothering me. We went to Shark's Cove and I found the snorkeling kind of lame, but we did see another turtle and hung out with him a little. I saw some humu humus, a Moorish Idol, a parrot fish, and a giant unicorn fish...so I guess it didn't totally suck. It just wasn't as gorgeous as I'm used to seeing there. I'm ready to trek back down to Hanauma Bay. C'mon visitors!!

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T19:44:00.003-10:00

Today was an awesome day...I wish everyday could be Mother's Day! The family treats me so very well. Yesterday, they came home with a box of Godiva...always a winner. I woke up this morning to Kona Coffee flavored chocolate chip pancakes with Nutella...can you stand it?? Eve made me the cutest poster ever and they gave me a cool turtle necklace. Initially this weekend, we were going to hike Koko Head Crater. Yesterday we had to go get CRH a futon, so there was no time. Today, I had wanted to go to the Farmer's Market and the beach but I thought it would be fun to do something new. Then, we got there and I saw that the steps went straight up the mountain. I have huge height issues, but I thought I might be able to manage it ok. We got about half way up and I bailed. I kept looking up thinking OMG, I'm going to have to get back down...looking down and thinking HOLY CRAP...so I pulled the Mom card and said I couldn't do it. They were all gracious and down we went...very slowly with a long line behind us.
It was BEACH time afterwards. We headed to Kailua for lunch at my favorite deli and then attempted to go to the beach there, but it was super packed. I hate packed beaches immensely, so we decided to come back up to the North Shore. I often wonder why I ever leave this area...there's just no need. We have the most awesome beaches, grocery stores, shops, food...I mean what more do you need?? I do occasionally leave for work and once school starts in August I'll have to leave, but that's it. We spent 2 delightful hours out on the beach and came home to taco night!
It was a great Mother's Day weekend! Hope you all had a great one too!

Martha Stewart I'm Not...

2010-05-08T14:34:00.003-10:00

Someone was recently looking at a piece of furniture in our house and complimenting my work, so I think it overinflated my crafty ego. I’m trying to decorate the new house on a budget (Well, because I have to since all our money seems to go just toward the actual structure remaining over our heads.). The new, cool, hip thing is making something old new again and to use “found” items. It’s so very green. I “found” a metal dresser at a local furniture store the other day. It was a basic 5 drawer dresser, white metal that someone had painted a drippy brown with brass handles. Sounds gorgeous, right? It was every bit as horrible as you imagine, but I saw some potential in it. It was only $60 too…that didn’t hurt in the search for potential. The really cool thing about it for me…it was Made in Hawaii. I snatched it up from the nice, Asian, Jesus loving, furniture junkyard selling lady and CRH picked it up for me the next day much to his horror at the clutter of her store. He brought it home and I washed it up and took off the handles to prep it for painting. Here’s a before shot (should have left the handles on for this…but use your imagination).

Thursday, I spent hours working on this…mostly due to the cleanup. CRH told me NOT to paint it outside because of our weather. He did not tell me to tarp the entire freaking house. OMG this made the biggest mess ever and I think I’m still high from the paint fumes. I sanded it some first. My sister-in-law (who could give old Martha a run for her money) told me some basic steps on how to make over this piece. I sanded as much as I could and then I spray painted it candy apple (whore) red. My plan was for it to be a crimson color to match one of the stripes in my comforter, but it turned out more fire engine red. I now lovingly refer to it as the toolbox. Does this not look exactly like your Dad’s toolbox in the garage?? I painted the handles silver because I did actually like the design of them and it was cheaper than buying new ones. Overall, I’m kind of digging it. It’s got flaws, but so do I. I think once I decorate the top, it’ll be awesome. Although now, I kind of need a new comforter for the bed to match it….hahaha!

I know the blogging has slowed down a lot. We honestly haven’t been doing that much. I feel like I drive 1000 miles a day between my current job and carting Eve to Ka’a’awa everyday for school and back. We did go to Ka’ena Point last Saturday and we saw 4 monk seals, several baby albatross, and I found 2 giant cowry shells (which is cool b/c now I’ll stop coveting the neighbor’s). School ends on May 25th and we have a boatload of company coming this summer (yay!!!!)…so stay tuned for some excitement around here soon. I promise it’s coming!

Awesome Visit

2010-04-25T20:03:00.003-10:00

My grandparents came this past week to visit. They are the most awesome people ever. My grandfather is 81 years old and my grandmother is 78 years old and the two of them can work circles around normal people...truly amazing people. Anyway, they arrived Tuesday night and I brought them home the loooong way around the island because I had to stop and pick up Eve. I kept Eve home from school on Wednesday since it's a half day anyway and we tried to go sea turtle hunting and to Waimea Falls, but it rained...so we saved that for Thursday. Friday was a Furlough Friday day here (so no school for Eve) and we spent the entire day at Papa'iloa Beach. We saw 9 sea turtles that day. I was in the ocean playing with Daddy Roy, CRH, and Eve when one of the turtles swam up in a wave RIGHT beside me. It startled me and I screamed...then I realized what it was and I took off trying to swim after him. I was swimming against the current and he has flippers...so needless to say I didn't stand a chance. Saturday, Eve had her annual hula performance at Kualoa Ranch (which was the main purpose of their visit). Eve did a really great job! They LOVED watching her perform! After her performance, we had dinner at a shrimp truck and then watched sunset here in Haleiwa. Today, we had a leisurely day here at home, went to see CRH's store, tried to go to the Hawaiian Plantation Village (only to find they are closed on Sundays), and ended up doing the Pali Lookout before taking them to the airport. It was a whirlwind trip...loved every second of it!

Beach Time (Finally...)

2010-04-17T14:59:00.002-10:00

All this recent moving really has put a huge damper on my beach time and I've NOT liked it one bit. This morning, I decided today would be a beach day since it rained yesterday and I couldn't go...alas, it rained this AM too. Around lunchtime though, it quit and the clouds parted slightly. Eve, her new neighbor bff, and I went to Papa'iloa and saw 4 turtles out today!! The kids weren't overly into the beach, so we only stayed about an hour and a half (something that quite honestly baffles me). I have high hopes of going back tomorrow.

We are settling into the new house. It's been a stressful week, but things are leveling out. Ya-Ya and Daddy Roy are coming Tuesday thru Sunday. Eve has a hula performance next Saturday, so there is some fun on the horizon!

Remember How I Mentioned Changes?

2010-04-13T20:47:00.002-10:00

Earlier in the year I mentioned that 2010 would be a year full of changes...I was alluding to this event, but hadn't fully come to terms with it and definitely wasn't ready to blog about it. I hope this is not how you are finding out if you are family or friends (if so, I'm truly sorry), but CRH and I are separating.
We did move this past weekend to Haleiwa together in the same house. I will NOT be blogging about the details of said separation, but we are living in the same house in our own rooms and co-parenting Eve. She is aware that we are in separate rooms (obviously), but does not know that we are headed toward divorce. We will likely continue this arrangement until I finish my MSW. We are best friends and we are trying really hard to hold onto that through this...wish us luck with that.

Hello 34

2010-04-08T17:48:00.003-10:00

Today is my birthday...Happy Birthday to me. It was a fairly low key day, except I got introduced to Jack freaking Johnson!!! I am a HUGE fan of his music. I worked out with my trainer today and it was a beach run day (NOT my fave...much prefer pavement) and after stretches, we looked up and Jack was on the beach with 2 of his kids. My trainer knows him, so he went over to say "Hi" and introduced me. It was freaking awesome! I didn't act like the crazed fan that I am...I maintained my cool...but in my head I was squealing!
After working out, I went to meet the cable guys at the new place and then headed to pick Eve up. I've had a great day of birthday calls, texts, and FB messages. Our friends, Bruce and Amy Jo, are coming over for a spaghetti dinner tonight. Last night, CRH made me a delicious dinner since he has to close tonight. Then, it's packing time...I wish it were Sunday already and our stuff was in the new house. My brother was laughing at me today saying how I should be a pro at moving by now. I think I'm a gypsy by his standards.

Easter!

2010-04-04T19:36:00.009-10:00

I was completely unprepared for Easter this year. It just came up on me and wham! So, I crammed it all into the last few days. Thursday, I picked Eve and her friend, Mia up from school and brought them home to dye (paint) Easter eggs. Then, we met CRH at the mall after work to see the Easter bunny. Our plans that evening included Mia staying for a sleepover until Eve barfed her dinner back into her bowl in the middle of IHOP. It was one of those parenting moments where you just sit and watch, but can't really do anything. Mia is HORRIFIED by vomit, so she totally flipped herself around in the booth. It was really funny after the fact. It was scary right then though because Eve had a fever of 102. I freak when she gets a fever because the kid is never sick. Anyway, it was a short thing and she was ready Friday AM for the Girl Scout Easter Egg hunt.

Friday morning most of the troop and some of their siblings came over to the house for an egg hunt and games. These kids are so cute and we had so much fun!
Of course today was the big day. Eve got up at 6:45am to see what the bunny had left. She got a zhu zhu hamster, which I didn't even know about until our friend Lori mentioned it around Christmas. That's the great thing about living in the country on an island...the "in" toys don't really make it up here. Anyway, Eve had seen them at 7-11 of all places and fell in love with them. After the candy breakfast of champions, she went over to Mia's house for an Easter egg hunt. Then, she came home for lunch. CRH made us a delicious meal and we had some lovely friends join us. It was a very relaxing, fun holiday...loved it! Hope you all had a Happy Easter too!

Nanna's Visit

2010-03-30T20:25:00.009-10:00

CRH's mom, The Nanna, was here last week. We had a delightful, relaxing visit and CRH was able to be off almost the entire time she was here. She arrived Wednesday night and we sat up and talked for a long time. Thursday we tried to go to the beach after they picked Eve up from school, but it was raining so we took her over to peek at the new house. Friday they had a beach day while I worked. Saturday, we all lounged at Papa'iloa beach for hours. We saw sea turtles playing in the surf, but not any beached. Sunday, we hiked to Ka'ena Point. For some reason, this is the only day I took my camera. It was a great hike! We saw albatross, baby albatross, 2 monk seals, and several whales. The seals were pretty active and playing around. It was a nice change since we usually just watch them sleep on the sand. This is what I love about this place. I mean seriously...how freaking awesome is that? I've lived here 2 years now and I still get like a kid in a candy store anytime I see sea life. I wonder if that ever subsides? Then, Monday they had lunch with Eve at school, did some shopping, and Nanna went back to Alaska to start her move back to SC. Thanks for visiting, Nanna!
Here are some pics from our hike! Our next guests, Ya-Ya and Daddy Roy, will be at the new place! Our official move date is April 10th.

"Baby" Albatross - still a pretty freaking huge bird!

Monk Seals - I actually took some better ones that day, but I love this one b/c they are "talking". According to the website about Oahu monk seals that I stalk, these guys are M&M and Ka'ena (n9 mark).

Whales - Loving the view those guys had, but would have hated (never made) the journey seeing as how I do NOT kayak.

Bragging Rights

2010-03-23T19:41:00.002-10:00

We had a proud parenting moment here yesterday that I feel compelled to share with the rest of the world (or at least those of you that read this). ;) Eve was promoted to a 3rd grade Reading group! I am also pleased to report that her homework now has fractions that she rocked (and I'd further like to add that I was able to check).
In other news, people are FINALLY starting to resume visiting! Nanna arrives tomorrow night and Ya-Ya and Daddy Roy are coming in April to the new house and will be here for Eve's hula performance on April 24th.

Spring Break

2010-03-22T10:09:00.003-10:00

Eve's spring break is officially over! The kids went back to school today for their typical school week, but this week is actually not a Furlough Friday. It's Prince Kuhio Day in Hawaii. I'm ticked that I don't get it off since it's a state holiday, but whatever. Gloria will be here Wednesday-Monday and CRH is off with her. Eve seemed to love Spring Break this year. Usually I'm very structured in her breaks with camps and stuff, but not this time. Monday and Tuesday she hung out with my friend, Khristy. She loved it! Wednesday, CRH took her to Makapuu Lighthouse to hike up and look for whales. They spotted some and had a very nice hike. Thursday, we signed the lease on the new place, took her to see the inside, and then she and I went shopping. Friday, CRH took her out on a boat with a friend of his cousin Ben's and they didn't see whales this time, but they saw sea turtles and dolphins. Saturday she had a class birthday party and yesterday I took her to the zoo. I think we crammed a lot in and she had a blast.
If only I knew what to do with her over the summer!! I don't have anything set up yet. It's been hard to plan with the move and whatnot, so I hope I haven't waited too long! I may have to ship her home to NC and shuffle her between family and friends. :) It would be cheaper than camp! I called the local YMCA near our new house to check on their summer camp...$450 a week. I almost hung up on the poor woman.

Haleiwa Bound

2010-03-17T10:29:00.007-10:00

Changes are abounding at the Hart house. We are moving to Haleiwa next month! We found a house in Haleiwa that is less than what we pay now. It has 4 bedrooms, but the 4th bedroom will be our walk in closet, since there are NO closets in any of the bedrooms…very weird. The outside of the house is lavender, so Eve Hart loves it. There are 2 bathrooms, which I think will just be luxury style living again. We won’t be on the water anymore, but since I never go to this beach anyway and I’m always North Shore, that wasn’t a huge piece for me. This house is just off a main road, but more in a neighborhood type setting with some other kids around for Eve to play with! The downside is that because we are breaking our lease, we will essentially only get back ½ of our deposit. The new realtor won’t hold this place for us long enough to give a full 30 day notice…ugg. Also, it’s not furnished…so we have a house to furnish as well. My birthday is coming up though, so if anyone needs any gift ideas…HOUSE stuff please!
Here are a few more pics!
This is the huge semi wrap around porch where you can dine with us.

The Master Bedroom where guests will stay with their own private bathroom.

Obviously, the kitchen area where CRH will continue to prepare yummy goodness.

Waimea Falls and Sunset

2010-03-14T09:45:00.005-10:00

I'm back...THE funk is over. Yesterday was a gorgeous day, as is today. Eve is officially on Spring Break and she and Mia have been spending every second (waking and not) together since Thursday afternoon. The girls were at Mia's yesterday morning, so I went to Rocky Point to lay out on the beach and to watch the surfers. I have a friend that is a surf photographer and he pointed Jack Johnson out to me in the water with his mega lens. He told me that we were sitting right in front of his house, so apparently he does actually live up here...a fact I was doubtful of since I've NEVER seen him before. I also saw whales up there too frolicking in the ocean.

When the girls came over here, I needed something to do with them. They are kind of played out of the toys here right now and needed a destination that wasn't the beach either. We decided to go to Waimea Falls. It's an easy walk and gorgeous with the flora and fauna. They took their baby dolls and pushed them along the walk. I'm sure the other people were highly displeased with this decision due to the noise of the baby strollers...yes, I was THAT parent. I apologize, but the girls loved it. On the way out, we saw one of the peacocks all fanned out. I'm sure there is a technical term for this, but I don't know it. Check him out!

After the falls, I took Mia to her Dad for the hand off and went to meet CRH and our friend Kevin at Papa'iloa to watch sunset. We haven't gone to see sunset in eons. It was a great day for it! There was a ton of photography going on out there at that time too. A wedding that we all swear was a shotgun wedding b/c the bride and groom looked like they were about 15, a pregnancy shoot, and a family photo shoot. It was entertaining to watch it all. The wedding shoot took place at the water's edge. I can't imagine doing that to a wedding dress, but you see it ALL the time here.

Now Something Is Happening Here

2010-03-12T14:35:00.002-10:00

I told you guys I've been compulsively checking the mailbox for my UH admission letter...well today I opened the mailbox and there was a small envelope (gasp!). I was soooooo afraid to open it, but it was a GOOD letter. I GOT IN!!!! I start this fall semester! I literally cried I was so happy. I'm not much of a crier, but this got me. Fortunately, CRH and Eve were here to share this with me! I called my mom to tell her and she said the most wonderful thing about how many children's lives will be impacted by this very moment...made the water works start again! I swear she always knows just the right thing to say!

Not Much Happening Here

2010-03-11T17:57:00.003-10:00

I know that you guys must be bored to tears with me right now...hell, I'm bored with me right now. There has been NOTHING going on around here worth blogging about. It's been super windy, pretty rainy, and yes mock me...a little cold. I managed to squeeze a few hours of beach time out this past weekend, but not since. I'm hoping for a gorgeous weekend. We've just been living though...working, going to school, etc.
CRH and I looked at a new potential house in Haleiwa on Tuesday. We really liked it and are going to turn in our rental app tomorrow. The only snafu is that they will only hold a house for a week and we have to give a 30 day notice at our current location. We can't afford rent here for 2 places, so I'm hoping if we pay a deposit they will hold it. It's been vacant for a few months...so I'm betting they will. It's a 4bdrm house, but there are NO closets so we are going to turn the small 4th bedroom into a walk in closet. It's about the only way to get one here in Hawaii anyway.
I've laid off the stalking of the wildlife lately too since I haven't been on the beach, but I did see a monk seal on the beach in Kaaawa yesterday on the way home. Today I spotted whales off Shark's Cove. I was driving and almost wrecked the car I was so busy looking at them!

Tsunami Warning

2010-02-27T16:08:00.004-10:00

So much for peace and quiet...today started with chaos and mayhem. I woke up at 6am (after having only been asleep for 4 hours) to CRH telling me that a tsunami was on the way. I do not wake up well in general, but especially after such a short sleep and to such news. I kept asking questions about what to do, where it was, etc...and then he left for work. Now, I've got to give him props for his work ethic on this one, but seriously wtf?? You CANNOT tell me such news and then head out leaving me to figure out what to do with Eve and our stuff. I was super, extra pissed and conveyed this via text to him and to my mama. My mama got my text and no sooner was she calling me then he came back through the door. I do NOT do well in a crisis at first. I need processing time. All I could think about were the tsunamis in Thailand and Samoa and what devastation was coming our way!
CRH very calmly started packing and directing. I started packing the essentials...wine, makeup, camera, and my jewelry. CRH packed a suitcase full of canned goods. Eve woke up in the midst of this and when I told her what was happening, she started crying. Bless her heart! I was crying too on the inside, but I waited until we were in separate cars to start my own waterworks. People were calling and texting us like crazy checking in on us, as this had made national attention. I kind of lost it a little talking to my mom. I hate fear and I was definitely afraid this morning! We decided to go up Pupukea, which overlooks Waimea Bay, and is one of the highest points on this side. We were afraid that a lot of people would have this idea too, so we left around 7:45am. The roads were remarkably clear BUT the emergency personnel were out in full force instructing people to evacuate. The tsunami warning sirens were blaring every 30 minutes or so...it was just surreal.
When we passed Foodland, there was a line out the door of people with shopping carts waiting to get in. Three police cars were pulling out, presumably crowd control. I was panicked that we did not have enough food (or wine!) should an actual catastrophe hit, but I wasn't about to stop for more at that point. We drove up Pupukea and parked. There is an ancient Hawaiian temple there and if you hike down from it, you can see over Waimea Bay and Shark's Cove. This is where I watched The Eddie in December. Several other people were up there by 8:45 and we decided to go get some provisions and stake our claim to some land. The first wave was expected to hit Oahu around 11:30. As 11:30 drew near, more and more people crowded out to watch the bay. Incidentally, the bay was deserted except for all the boats out in the water. I thought initially that some really stupid people were out boating and just oblivious to the warnings because the surfers were doing the same thing up the beach, but it seems that they actually sent the boats out to protect them...who knew?

A lone lifeguard was driving an ATV up and down the beach, which we found particularly odd. The police closed the road around 10am and everyone just waited. We waited and waited and waited. I mean there are many worse places in the world to spend your Saturday morning other than on the side of a mountain overlooking a world famous beach. As we waited, there were 2 pods of whales that were kind enough to provide some awesome entertainment. These guys kept spouting and breaching. It was so cool to watch! I haven't seen a full breach in the wild before today...just amazing. My mom kept texting me updates and people were sending CRH updates as well. Around noon I think, the first waves hit Hilo on the Big Island. We knew that we were about 30 minutes behind their predicted time, so all eyes were glued to the bay...nothing. It was supposed to hit our south shore the hardest, but promised to engulf all sides. Word kept coming that the Hilo tsunami waves were minimal...nothing like the ones of the 1960s. As it became clear that nothing was going to result from this, we headed back to the car for some AC. We sat there listening to the news that the waves in Hilo just weren't very bad. CRH decided that we should head back home and beat the traffic. We did, but when we got to the Kam Hwy we realized quickly that the road was closed until the tsunami warning was cleared...this took another half an hour.
It was a crazy experience today...terrifying at first and then immense relief in the end. The islands rarely experience craziness like this. We haven't had a tsunami since the 60s. We haven't had a hurricane since the early 90s...hoping it stays that way for a long, long time! I need a nap.

Conversations with Eve

2010-02-26T13:49:00.003-10:00

The kid is freaking hilarious sometimes. We had a hysterical conversation watching the Olympics yesterday that I thought was funny enough to actually post on here. Last night, she was eating her Vegas M&Ms (of which we still have PLENTY). She put one in my mouth and instantly recoiled.
Eve: "I haaaattteeee to feed you!"
Me: (laughing) "What do you mean you hate to feed me? Hell, that's why I had a kid so that someone will feed me when I'm old! If not you, then who?"
Eve: "I don't know, but that is gross."
Me: "Seriously, who's going to feed me? I fed you for years...hello, payback?!"
Eve: (laughing to the point of hysterics)"I was a baby. You had to feed me, it's different. I'm going to get you a chair with a fork on it".
Here's what I have to look forward to people...I better adopt one of those cute little orphans pretty soon.

Completely unrelated note: Yesterday I was at Papa'iloa beach and actually saw them filming Lost. Apparently they were just rehearsing when I saw them a few weeks ago, because yesterday it was taped off with a guard. I started to break through and run for it, but I thought since I was the only parent on the island...maybe I shouldn't get arrested.

CRH LA Celeb Experience

2010-02-22T19:52:00.002-10:00

CRH left HI today for LA. Apparently Chris Brown had been in Waikiki last week and flew back to LA on the same flight. As CRH was leaving LAX, he heard someone call "Chris", so he looks up...which is funny b/c he has a complete fit if you call him that and NOT Christropher. Anyway, the flash bulbs starting going off and he has told me that he's sure he'll be in next week's People because he was RIGHT behind Chris during this paparazzi operation. The funniest part was when he texted me to tell me that Chris had gotten into a huge black SUV, while he waited for the rental car van. Now I was personally amazed and impressed that CRH even knows who Chris Brown is, but as I type this I think we saw him on Punked one day, otherwise I have no idea how he even knows of him.
Back here on Oahu, they are filming Bethany's Story (aka Soul Surfer) with Helen Hunt, Dennis Quaid, and Carrie Underwood. I saw them filming all weekend up here, including several driving scenes...which is really a large flatbed truck pulling the vehicle that is in the movie while the camera guys hang off and get the shots. It's pretty much a pain in the ass here though because we have ONE road and the truck is big, so it creates mad traffic. It took me almost 45 minutes to go 15 minutes down the road on Saturday...not loving that part.

Peace and Quiet

2010-02-21T16:20:00.003-10:00

It's been a pretty quiet week here at the Hart homestead. CRH leaves tomorrow for LA for the week. It was super cold here last week from Wed-Fri, but this weekend was b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l! We took advantage of it by hanging out on the beach ALL weekend. CRH went jet skiing today with a friend of ours and surfed down the 12ft waves on said jet ski...such a male thing to do. I sat on the beach and read my book. We went to Papa'iloa yesterday and CRH tried to convince me that Josh Holloway (Sawyer) was out walking the beach. It wasn't him, but I swear I almost broke my neck trying to see this guy (who did slightly resemble him...slightly).

Sacred Falls

2010-02-14T20:19:00.004-10:00

Happy Valentine's Day to all!
The Hart family woke up today, chatted with some of our family, and hit the trails. Sacred Falls is a waterfall about 5 minutes from our house. On Mother's Day in 1999, sadly 8 people died during a rock slide. The City and County closed the falls after this to public access and technically the only way you can get to it is if you take a helicopter tour over it...whatever. Even though the trail is closed and the gates are locked and there are numerous signs saying "Keep out", "Park is Closed", "Falling Rocks", we decided to scale the fence and go up. Well, I actually had a total panic attack while trying to scale said fence and walked wayyyy around it with CRH to get in...but I digress.
The hike to Sacred Falls is gorgeous! It's a 4 mile round trip hike and it's totally worth it. It's long (took us 4 hours), but one of the easier ones to get to on the island...you know if you don't mind the potential for rock slides and all. When we arrived, we were the only people at the falls. It provided some excellent photo ops and CRH and our friend, Kevin, got into the falls for a swim. Apparently, the water is FRIGID. I stayed warmly sitting on a rock (presumably one of the ones that slid in 99). Eve finally got up the courage to go in, so the men folk swam her over and they sat in this little cave above the pool. She did not want to go under the falls...I can't say that I blame her....brrrrr.
As we were hiking down, a woman stopped us and told us that a few rocks had fallen near them in this one area. Hmmmmm, there might be something to all of those signs after all, but I'm pleased to report we did not witness any of this.

Home Sweet Home

2010-02-09T16:23:00.003-10:00

Eve and I just got back from a great trip home to NC to see our family and friends. It was SUPER cold though and snowed like 7" while we were there. It was just nasty weather, but I did get to visit some and ate like crazy (all my favorite things!). After NC, we stopped in Vegas for the night. I took her to M&M World and to see the Bellagio water show. We stayed at Circus Circus and rode rides and saw a circus act. She LOVED it. She wants it to be tradition now when we head back from NC. On that note, we will be back in September for a wedding!
I'm happy to be back home in Hawaii though. Today was a teacher workday (don't get me started!), so Eve, her friend, and I hit Shark's Cove for a delightful day of sun and fun. I needed some warm weather and sunshine!! Things seem normal again.

One For The Road

2010-01-26T15:55:00.005-10:00

Today I shirked my packing duties and hit the beach once more before I leave for frigid weather. I went for a walk along Papa'iloa Beach to see the sea turtle that was hanging out. As I walked past the Lost set, they were busying around and setting things up...lots of people around. I kept going to see the turtle. He was not pleased with my arrival and actually retreated back into the water...rude. I wasn't even THAT close to him. There was another turtle a few feet away from him. He was NOT offended by my presence. As I turned around to come back, there was yet another turtle hauling out. Three turtles in one day...OMG!

As I headed back, the Lost set was very full of people. I walked RIGHT past them filming. Here is a horrible picture I took from kind of far away so that I didn't seem like some nut job (though I obviously am about this show!). Micheal (white shirt) and Hurley (brown shirt) were filming a scene...it was awesome! I wanted to stay and watch, but I wasn't sure how well that would fly. If Sawyer had been filming, I would have definitely stayed. I heart Josh Holloway.

The Week

2010-01-26T08:16:00.003-10:00

I was selected to receive a free copy of their year end issue. I'd love to know who thinks I'm stupid enough to enjoy this garbage. The ad cover reads the following and no I didn't misspell pores.
"The Week is the only magazine that pores through the world's media and impartially boils it down for you into a fun, easy-to-read format."
Seriously??? Is it really necessary to dumb down EVERYTHING?
Eve and I leave tonight for NC. I'm so excited to see all of our friends and family. I'm so NOT excited about the weather. My mom sent me an email this morning that they are calling for a snow storm on Friday. Goodbye 85 degree sunny weather, I'll see you again soon.

I'll Say It Again...Sundays ROCK!

2010-01-24T15:54:00.008-10:00

I woke up brighter and earlier than I had thought I would today and cleaned the house. I always clean right before a trip...you know in case something happens. My mom taught me that. CRH thinks it's nuts, but he appreciates it today since he's not joining us in NC next week.
I chose to reward my efforts with an afternoon at the beach. It's kind of overcast here today and I actually started to bail on it, but I swear I find being inside stifling. I used to hate to go outside in NC. I was such an indoor girl, but not here. I just can't stay inside on a pretty day and most days here are pretty. I find working on sunny days pure torture. Anyway, I went to Papa'iloa...my new fave beach I blogged about a few months ago. I triple love it there and by the time I drove all the way to Haleiwa there was actually a little blue sky showing.
Due to the overcast though, I wasn't really feeling like just sitting in the chair today and I saw several blobs in the sand upon my beach arrival...presumably sea turtles. One of them was a sea turtle...hello turtle.

Then I trekked the other way to what I initially thought was another turtle, but it wasn't...it was a MONK SEAL. OMG!

I stalked him for a while...he was pretty active while I was there too...checking me out as much as I was him with none of those pesky volunteers with ropes. Usually they just sleep and ignore my presence, but this guy felt compelled to watch me and then peed. I tried to not take it personally, but I did take it as my cue that he was probably wishing I'd go on. I took the hint and walked down almost to Haleiwa. My walk was rewarded by sights of more Lost set (I think...it was another plane thing).

An octopus

An eel - this guy committed suicide after being snagged by a fisherman.

The fisherman's dog came up behind me the first time I tried to take this picture. I wasn't sure the eel was totally dead and all of a sudden this ankle biter dog is sniffing my calf. I shrieked and jumped. The fisherman found it quite hilarious. He then showed me this cool fish they caught and told me that the moray eel bites so hard onto the hook and wraps himself around the fishing line that they end up killing themselves. Hmmmm...too bad for the eel.
This is why Sundays rock and why I simply can't seem to stay inside here! Look at what you might miss!

Ocean Warrior

2010-01-23T09:40:00.003-10:00

My baby bear is receiving the Ocean Warrior Citizenship Award again this year! We are super proud of her! Sadly for her we will be home in NC when the assembly is held, but we are making her poster today. She achieved this award by doing the following:
W - Works hard to achieve goals
A - Attends school and is on time
R - Respectful of people and property
R - Responsible for one's own learning
I - Integrity - Honesty is the best policy
O - Optimistic, positive attitude - doing one's best
R - Ready to learn - ready for new challenges

It's The End of The World As We Know It

2010-01-19T22:07:00.005-10:00

For those of you that know us well this title has MUCH meaning...today it means a few other things too!! For one, I was super excited today about hiking to "the end of the world". Then I came home and found out that a Republican has taken over the Massachusetts Senate seat and I realized the actual end of the world is now...I started to not even bother finishing this blog. I mean who's going to be around to read it?? Ok, you guys ALL know where I stand politically...so I shall move on (well, sort of...with the blog writing at least...still DYING over the election results).
Sooooo, today was an awesome day (until I got home and heard the news!). I got up, chatted with my mom about our trip home, chatted with some friends, mailed my MSW application (yay!), and headed to the beach. I spent HOURS out there reading my book and watching the surfers. The waves were beautiful today!
After school, Eve and CRH headed up to grab me and we finally hiked ALL the way to the end of the world as they call it here...Ka'ena Point. It's the tip of the island and it's amazing out there. CRH has been out several times, but I kept hearing how long of a hike it is (and it is...3 hours round trip). Eve and I had sort of trekked out to parts of it one day, and I was curious but I wasn't sure I was totally in. I'm stoked by whale season this year though and since it's that time of the year...I h-a-d to go!
We hiked in about halfway and hit Secret Beach. How much would I love to just sit and spend the day here??

Then, we hiked on and saw the albatross!!! I've never seen an albatross before today (at least not to my knowledge). They are immense birds. It was so cool watching them fly all around. They are so graceful in the air...not so much on land. They walk very strangely.

After I stalked and photographed many of these creatures, we moved on to the very, very end...I was hoping for monk seals. They are always out there...or so I have heard. Today, they were not BUT we saw 4 different pods of whales! They were so cool...breaching included! I didn't get any whale breaching photos, of course...but I saw them!!! I'm sure my legs will ache tomorrow, but I'm totally going back in a few weeks. (You know if the world doesn't implode from a REPUBLICAN taking over Mass!)It was worth every step!

Whale Tails (As They Should Be)

2010-01-16T17:33:00.009-10:00

Today the Hart Family went on a whale watching cruise. I have deemed this particular trip to be the best value on the island. All 3 of us went on a 2 hour Wild Whale Watch for a grand total of $37...seriously. It was money well spent and we have agreed that we will be repeating this again in early March, thank you Star of Honolulu.

We drove to town, boarded the boat, and headed off the shores of Waikiki. Around Diamond Head, we saw the first signs of a mama and her baby whale. We pretty much stalked them for about an hour and a half. The boat guys said the baby was about a month old. It was so cool to see them!! Last year, I saw a few whales wayyyy off the North Shore coast, but never any up close. (I didn't know how freaking affordable this trip was then either!) Today the whales were not in full on breaching mode, but we did see them swimming around and I got some cool whale tail shots.

After the trip, we headed over to Tiki's in Waikiki for some lunch with cousin, Ben who is still on the island. Super fun day! I plan to spend the next 2 days out on the beach, soaking up the sunshine. The whale that washed up in Punaluu seems to still be there, based on the AWFUL decomposing whale smell that is prevalent in that area right now. I guess they didn't take it out of the water today...I think I'll be going North Shore this weekend!

The DMV SUCKS

2010-01-15T17:23:00.004-10:00

I may suffer from a stress related illness over this in the end...seriously... but it's also become kind of funny at this point. My car registration was due Nov. 30th. Now, I'm not one to send things in TOO early, but I sent it the 1st time around the middle of November. Admittedly, I screwed it up. I dared to DETACH the registration cards...even though it clearly says not to do this. I own this one. They sent it back to me saying that I should kindly send in BOTH parts of the card. I did. They sent it back saying that it was now late (because it was...again I own this one too). I mailed it off a 3rd time (yes, three times) with my late fee check of $16 attached to the other check for the original amount. Apparently this was ANOTHER error...they sent it BACK to me underlining the total amount due. I guess the clerk was not going to go through the "hassle" of adding. Deep breath...fine. I wrote another check for the FULL amount due with my late fee all nicely put together for these people. Today, I open my mail box to find it has been sent back AGAIN. I was laughing and yelling at the same time. Apparently in ALL the mailing back and forth, it is now SUPER late and I've been assessed ANOTHER late fee. I would have never been assessed THIS late fee had the stupid clerk added my 2 checks together....ahhhhh! I'm sending it in tomorrow for the 5th time people...a 5th freaking time. Now before you guys think I'm a total idiot...CRH's came in the mail today. Obviously I got one of them right...stupid City and County of Honolulu...this is extortion.
In other news that's less whiny and venting, we are going on a whale watching cruise tomorrow morning. I'm super excited!! A dead whale carcass washed up about 100 yards off the beach today in Punaluu (a town about 10 minutes from us). Eve and I were going to go check it out until I looked it up on the news and saw the rotting carcass remains...not something I thought I should trek out to see with a 6 year old (nightmares). Plus, it looks like it's underwater and we probably wouldn't be able to see much. I'm hoping to see live ones tomorrow, but if not we get to go back.

The Mind Is The First Thing To Go

2010-01-12T16:50:00.002-10:00

I've had a hilarious/perplexing/frustrating afternoon trying to figure some stuff out regarding my MSW application. I had to order copies of my transcripts from UNCG for my UH application. I ordered an extra one for myself and I opened it today and noted much to my surprise that there were classes on there that I have NO recollection of taking. I mean none...zero...nothing. Seriously?? How do you forget classes?? I graduated in May '01. It seems that I continued to take classes though through '02. I posted my perplexed status on Facebook and a friend of mine pointed out that we did in fact take one of the classes in question together. I remember that one class now, but WHY was I taking classes after graduation?? It's only been 7 years...how in the crap do I not remember this? I guess a more important question is this...can I really go back to school at this point? I mean if I can't remember what I did like yesterday...how am I going to remember stuff for tests????? Crap, crap, crap!!!

Is It Dead?

2010-01-10T16:22:00.005-10:00

We were rained out of our beach day today...very sad. We ended up just driving around some. Originally we were headed to Haleiwa for lunch, but as it turned out I was the only one hungry. On the way back, CRH spotted the red ropes and we pulled over (in the rain) to see this guy at the turtle beach. As we were leaving a man and his girlfriend walk up and he asked us "Is it dead?". I found this uproariously funny...Eve and CRH found it a legitimate question. I guess they do look a little dead just laying there.

PS My editor (CRH) informed me that I misspelled "siting" on my last post. I did actually know this, but went with it. Apparently I now write like I text...oh crap.

My Very 1st Hawaii Celebrity Siting

2010-01-07T14:31:00.003-10:00

I hear about celebrities coming to Hawaii ALL the time...I never see them. I don't even see the ones the live here, like Jack Johnson...never. Today I was driving to Starbucks and saw the guy that plays John Locke on Lost crossing the road at Pipeline...OMG. I was like 99.9% sure it was him and then at Starbucks I ran into the couple visiting from Canada and they confirmed that in fact it was him.

Changes and Constants

2010-01-05T14:50:00.004-10:00

Ok there are going to be changes in the Hart house this year, we hope. These are not to be confused with resolutions...I don't make those. (And please dear people DO NOT assume that means additions to the family...ugg) For starters, I'm applying to UH for my MSW. I'm slightly excited, but mostly nervous. The economy sucks, so everyone is going back to school...here's hoping I get in! There is only 1 public university on the island, so it's UH or not. Go Warriors! Of course then there is the issue of how to fund this operation, but we'll get to that when it comes.
The 2nd change would be where we live. We are seriously wanting to move to Haleiwa in June when our lease is up and school ends. I love it there. I always end up at the North Shore beaches. I can buy wine in the grocery stores there. I mean really, why DON'T we already live there?? It would also cut CRH's commute in half each day. CRH has wanted Eve to go to Sunset Beach Elementary since we moved here and we are hoping to find a place in that district. The school is pretty awesome. Eve's not super psyched about moving, but alas. Wailua Elementary has a great rating on the great schools website too, so that may be another option...but I don't want to live in Wailua. Apparently if you are haole, you aren't so welcome in the "W" towns.
Lastly there may be some changes with work, but I'm not at liberty to blog about that yet...nothing off island or with another company though.
The constants are the weather is beautiful, I continue to see awesome sea life almost daily, and my tan ROCKS. (I had to throw the constants in for my East Coast family and friends who are currently suffering a brutal winter...so come visit us already!)
Today I went to my happy place on the beach to write my grad school personal statement. I was pretty much completely alone on the beach. I saw a few (like 5) other people walk by the entire time I was out there (2.5 hours). I also got to see this below. There were actually two turtles out on the beach today...pretty cool. (See?? You should get tickets to come to Oahu NOW and then I'll take you to uncrowded beaches with sea turtles too!)

Perspective

2010-01-01T20:31:00.005-10:00

Yesterday was the most amazing day to end a fairly fantastic year. July 09 sucked...worst month of my life...hands down. The rest of 09 ROCKED. I won't recap b/c you guys can read it in the blog if you are so inclined. We've had an amazing year here in Hawaii though, that's for sure!
So, yesterday...we got up and hit the beaches. Our day started with a 2 mile walk along Kahuku Beach. Eve's friend went with us and they entertained each other, so it was MUCH easier to just keep trekking along. We found lots of cool stuff out there - cowry shells, sea urchins, and really pretty coral (lots of purples). Eve found a cowry shell in front of our house one day a few weeks ago and I just assumed it had fallen off a necklace. Then she found another one another day and we found a fistful yesterday, so they must be all around here. It's one of the only shells that we've found here. Don't come to Hawaii to shell search...you will be disappointed in that regard.

After our trek, we took Eve's friend home and went to Papa'iloa, our new fave beach, to watch sunset...or so we thought. We got there and saw a HUGE sea turtle hanging out, but it was kind of rainy so we decided to relocate. As we were leaving, a full rainbow was over the ocean...fantastic. We headed up to Pipeline and watched a beautiful sunset, the last of 09. It was a great end to a great year (well, except the aforementioned July).

They (you know, "they") say that whatever you do on New Year's Day is what you will be doing all year. I'm hoping "they" are wrong. Today started off great. Eve had a hula performance in town this afternoon at the Duty Free Shop Galleria and the kids rocked it. They were fabulous! Currently we have some fun neighbors here for a month from Canada. This couple has 2 girls and the kids have all hit it off nicely. They were sweet enough to trek into Waikiki today to watch her and after her performance we had a lovely lunch at Duke's. I had promised Eve a 'Mother-Daughter Day', so after lunch we were set to do some shopping and catch a movie. She had received a Toys R Us gift card from Nanna and we headed over there to use it. I won't rehash all the ugly details, but this trip did NOT go well. I left carrying her out screaming under my arm like a football. We aborted ALL other plans and set out for home. When we hit Ka'a'awa, which is 15-20 minutes from home, we stopped...stopping on the Kam Hwy (the ONE rd around this island) is never good. We waited for about 20 minutes and this guy walks by and told me that the road was closed b/c of a fatal wreck. We immediately turned around b/c when they close the road here, it's for HOURS. I grabbed a latte, put on some good music, and drove home AROUND the island...two hours later we got home. During this drive I reflected on how despite the crappy mid afternoon fit, my New Year's Day was not nearly as bad as the families of the car wreck victims. There were many others today that truly did not have a great start to 2010, so I put on my big girl panties.
I hope you all have a very happy 2010! I can't wait to see what this year has in store!! I told Eve last night that if she will take a surfing lesson, so will I. I've also made some decisions about furthering my education and plan to apply to UH for fall admission to their MSW program...cross your fingers.

After Work

2009-12-30T20:12:00.008-10:00

CRH and Eve were off today while I worked. CRH texted me around 4pm to tell me that "Honey Girl", our resident monk seal, was out on the reef behind our house. I rushed home to see her!! I freaking love the monk seals and I have not seen one in forever! Admittedly when I first got out there, I was FAR more excited by the cool colorful shrimp that were in the very low tide pool. I've never seen shrimp out there before and these guys were green and way colorful and there were a few others that were red and white striped...how awesome is that?!

CRH climbed up on the reef earlier in the day and took this picture above of the seal. When I went out, the seal was just sort of laying there as they are apt to do. She did pick her head up when this couple from Idaho got a little too close and CRH started talking to them, but overall she basically ignored all of us. We saw all kinds of coolness in the water today...sea cucumbers, a sea slug, shrimp, crabs, fish, and of course the MONK SEAL!

Hawaiian Whitespotted Toby

Sea Slug

Waihe'e Falls

2009-12-28T22:35:00.002-10:00

A few months ago I read about these falls in a tour book. I've been really wanting to go, but life happens and we've just been busy. Plus most days, I'd honestly rather be out on the beach. Yesterday though, we decided to venture out and see something new. Now I'll admit this is slightly lame, but our current obsession with Lost spawned the trip too. Everytime CRH and I watch an episode we are all about scouting where we think it was filmed. As I've mentioned, we've located quite a few locations. We were watching an episode last week though and saw a scene shot at these falls. I found a website that tells you where on the island various scenes were filmed (Oh god, I'm moments away from a chat room about this show, aren't I??)and learned that the falls in the episode were in fact the very falls that I'd been wanting to see.

I always forget that when I'm even remotely close the "jungle", I NEED to bring bug spray and most unfortunately for me...I also forgot this yesterday. The mosquitoes ate me ALIVE. Aside from that (which was really my own fault), it was a very pretty, fairly easy hike up to the falls (the end is very uphill and I found it tiring but totally worth it). We passed a few people on the trails, but we were the only people at the falls. I always love that when I find a place here and it's totally deserted. Before we moved we had the perception that Oahu was going to be totally touristy all around. There are certainly parts of the island that are tourist hell (Waikiki-uggg), but there are so many places where you are often the only soul around.

Mele Kalikimaka!

2009-12-26T13:17:00.005-10:00

The Hart Family had a very nice, relaxing Christmas Eve and Christmas Day...I don't know why we are all so tired today! ;) We spent Christmas Eve day on our new favorite beach, Papa'iloa Beach. We saw lots of crabs (including the 6 yr old variety). They were out in full force that day. CRH and Eve caught one and played with him in bucket until we left (and released him). We came home, made sugar cookies, opened a present, and got ready for Santa.

Yesterday, we got up at 7am (I'm very surprised to report that I was the first one up!) and saw all the goodies that Santa had left. CRH's cousin, Ben, came over and hung out with us and we opened all the rest of the loot! (Thanks everyone for our new stuff!!) Santa was very good to us this year. We got a new waterproof camera, books, movies, towels, jewelry, tons of toys, clothes, gift cards, and some cash! We then preceded to eat, drink, and play ALL day. Eve got a helicopter that flies and cars to race and she, CRH, and Ben had a ball playing with those! I had planned our food and beverages meticulously and CRH executed it all perfectly.
In the afternoon, our friend Jordan came over for Christmas dinner (although he was raised Jewish). He's a fantastic photographer (www.freshphotohawaii.com) and took some family pictures of us.

One of THE Best Beach Days

2009-12-22T21:14:00.007-10:00

Today started out with CRH's back hurting and Eve not wanting to go to the beach. I decided that it was gorgeous out, so I was hitting the beach...with or without them. I headed to Pipeline because the waves were up and I wanted to watch some surfers. I did this for a while and then CRH said he was feeling better and wanted to join me. They asked to go to my happy place that I found a few weeks ago.
We headed up to Haleiwa to Papa'iloa Beach. CRH suggested that we go for a walk after we got there, as he's not one for just laying on the beach and relaxing. I'm sooo glad I said yes. We walked along the beach and saw super cool lava against the ocean. It has formed a huge barrier between the water and the sand at one point that is like 6.5 ft tall. It's really pretty. We saw lots of crabs and birds along it. We also saw a fossil shell...I thought this was super cool. CRH and Eve not as much... but I mean how often do you see fossils?? The BEST part though was when we came across the Lost set!! I knew it was along that beach!! They have it all roped off with orange netting and a security guard, but you can practically reach out and touch it.

There was a couple there looking at the set too. They were apparently pretty chatty and CRH talked them up for a while. He's a big fan of the show and was pretty stoked to be seeing all of this. As they chatted, I walked down the beach and came up on a sea turtle!!! I may or may not have gotten a little too close to him and he may or may not have retreated hastily back into the water...too bad for him that there were no volunteers out with the ropes.

Eve was insistent that we go back to our stuff after this. We had walked a pretty good ways. We went back and CRH got into the water. He said it felt pretty good, so I joined him. Yes people...we WERE in the ocean today. It was awesome!!!! My family and friends in NC are a little over my gloating as they sit with 6" of snow on the ground, but c'mon...paradise rules! You know you want to hear ALL about it, right?? I mean somebody is reading this thing. :)

CRH and Eve made sand angels since it is December and we are lacking in the snow...sand works. It was a super fun beach day...one of the best that we've had. We came home tonight and in order to try and resume some holiday spirit, Eve and I watched "It's a Wonderful Life". I love, love, love that movie. I also cry EVERY time I see it at the end when the angel gets his wings...CRH and Eve laughed at me (rude).

Double Snaggletooth

2009-12-20T20:44:00.004-10:00

Eve just rushed out to the living room about 20 minutes ago screaming excitedly " I did it! I did it! I pulled out my tooth!" She had gone into the bathroom and pulled it out while we were watching TV. She is SUPER excited! I can't believe she just pulled out her own tooth...ewwwww. To his credit, CRH did offer but she actually turned him down. She said she'd let him tomorrow night and then we thought she went to bed. I guess she figured she'd try it on her own. I did not offer, nor will I be offering in the future. My friend, Jamie, texted me the other day to say that she had to pull her son's tooth because her husband was at work. Bless his heart, he would have had to wait until Daddy came home at my house.