Progress

I have LOTS to report, but I really want to go see Daddy...so the short and very sweet version of the story is this:
Dad lived.
Ok, here's a little more detail. He was on a vent for 2 weeks and we decided it was time for him to come off it. We took him off it and told him it was ok to go...the Dr. told us he would likely not breathe on his own very long. So, we took it off and stood around the bed crying and watching Dad breathe and waiting...and he breathed...and he breathed...and he breathed some more. At 5pm that night, he was sitting up and talking to us. This was on July 14th. On July 23rd, he walked for the 1st time since he died (He loves telling people this...things like "Since I died..."). Today, he's off all the monitors (except the heart one) and even his IV. He's able to eat, drink, and go to the bathroom by himself! CRH came for support since we thought Dad was going...he left Thursday morning and Eve and I return home this coming Thursday. Dad still has a very long road ahead with lots of rehab, but I think he'll recover pretty well. My Mom's favorite line from this is "We sent Johnny to Heaven, but God kicked him back.". Now it's time for Johnny to learn why he's back.
On that note, I told Ben (their new minister) that if Dad lived I would have to revisit my stance on prayer. (I also said that if he didn't...I was done...period.) The doctors have ALL said that it defies their medical knowledge as to why Daddy is still here. I guess I'm going to have to revisit my thoughts on God (or a higher being). Don't you guys go getting all excited though...I'm not participating in organized religion (so save the invites), but I'm certainly of the opinion that something higher than us has some control and in my own time (or said higher being's) I'll work to figure that one out.
More of this month at a later time...I've got some visiting to do while everyone is in church. ;)

The Worst Pain Ever

I was told around 3:30pm today that my Daddy is in the hospital. He has suffered a massive heart attack. When the news first came it wasn't good...they didn't expect him to make it. It's gotten a little better, though he remains in the Cardio ICU in an induced coma from what I can tell. They plan to start bringing him out of said coma at 11pm EST tomorrow to assess the damage...Eve and I leave the island to go back home tomorrow...I've never been this sad in my life. I don't pray and it seems VERY hypocritical to start now...but I am asking (begging) those of you that do pray...to please do so. I cannot imagine my life at 33 without him...I'm not finished yet.

Sundays Freaking Rule!

This has been a very nice, relaxing weekend. Yesterday, Eve went to Jaylynn's birthday party (for 4 hours...thanks Nancy!). I went to the beach. CRH worked and went to see Transformers...snooze. I'm still very angry at him for making me see the 1st one. I declined to see this one. We did watch Revoluntary Road last night...hated it...a lot.
Today, I cleaned up and out Eve's room. We rearranged some toys to make it easier for her to play in there...AND she's actually in there playing right now. (I hope you guys were sitting down.) After this massive undertaking, we went down to the beach and floated on our inner tubes and then went shopping to CRH's store. It's 50% off clearance (plus my discount), so how could I not go?! I'm not one to openly discuss my size until I actually lose these last 10 lbs at which point I plan to shout it from the mtn. tops or go on Oprah and announce it to the world, but I will say that I bought a size today that I have NOT bought in almost 7 years. It was glorious. The heavens opened up and smiled on me today. Now, I promptly left Banana and headed to Godiva for their new ice cream truffles, but I'm going to try to space them out over a few days (yeah, right!).
So, the coolest part of the day...otw home from shopping Eve and I saw 5 rainbows...yes, I said 5!! Here are pics of 2 of them. I actually stopped and got out of the car to take them...GORGEOUS.
I heart rainbows.
I heart my pre-pregnancy sizes.
I heart my cute family and I really heart Sundays.
I hope you all had a great weekend too!

Good Beach Reads

It's been pretty ho-hum here lately...CRH is working like every day, I've just been hanging out doing my usual part-time stuff, and Eve's been at camp. She loves this camp btw...they are doing lots of fun stuff with the kids. So, no exciting news on our end at all...nothing.
I will tell you guys though about some hilarious stuff I've been reading. My friend, Lori, recommended Jen Lancaster's books to me a few weeks ago. The 1st one Bitter is the New Black is funny, but I started Bright Lights, Big Ass the other day and I've laughed out loud on numerous occasions. I was reading it on the beach yesterday by myself, just laughing my head off. I know the people around me thought I must be a total nut job...whatever...it was funny. Highly recommend them...but they are total chick books (which you probably guessed by the titles).

Car Shopping

I hate it, so I try and make it as quick and painless as possible. We spent 3.5 hours are the dealership today, but left the owners of a red '06 PT cruiser convertible with only 9K miles on it. CRH's car has been dying a slow and painfully expensive death for about 2 years now. We have slowly fixed and fixed, each time saying "It's cheaper than buying a new car." Well, when he called yesterday I knew it was time. He had just put in a new radiator like 3 months ago to the tune of $500. The light came back on this week...that didn't go over well. Then right before we left for vacation, he discovered that he could no longer open the trunk...seriously. THEN, yesterday he called and was yelling about the car...it seems it would not start. CRH does NOT yell...ever. I yell, but not him. He called AAA and discovered the fuel pump was bad. That was the final straw.
Here's some funny stuff for you. I did an AMAZING job of holding my tongue today b/c 1. I knew CRH wanted this car and 2. the aforementioned hatred of car shopping...had I said what I wanted to we would have left without the car and would have spent tomorrow in yet another dealership...yuck. So, CRH does not do large purchases. He gets very anxious and nervous and grumpy and well, you see where this is going. I usually always "handle" these things. He did a good job of the initial part but when it comes time to negotiate, he has to leave the room. The finance manager (who was an older Asian male) was not pleased with this. If he asked me ONE more time where my husband had gone (after I'd already told him like 5 times that I would take it from here), I was going to punch him in the mouth. THEN he's talking to me and explaining the warranty (which I did end up purchasing) and told me in a very condescending tone that as a housewife I should really look at how this would impact us best financially in the long run...OMG...you asshole. Why do car dealership people SUCK?? The sales guy was actually very nice...I'll give them that...but this guy was an idiot.
I forgot to bring the camera this morning...still very scattered after getting back from our SUPER fun trip to NC...so I'll post a pic of the husband in his snazzy new wheels tomorrow.

Kindergarten is Over

Wow, tomorrow is the last day of Kindergarten! I can't believe how quickly it has flown by! Eve has had a great year and learned a lot, despite what CRH says about Hawaii Public Schools. Just to give you all a proud Mama moment...today I met with the curriculum coordinator at Eve's school who wants her to work on certain reading sounds this summer so that she can enter a 2nd grade reading group next year. Now that being said, I worry about Math. I caught her counting on her toes last night while doing her homework. It was hilarious, but obvious that she has inherited our Math skills...which are bad, really bad.
Today I took cupcakes and snacks to school to celebrate Eve's birthday with her classmates. It was Keiki Day at her school and they had water fun with bouncy slides and such...hence the kid with no shirt on. They really do require shirts and shoes in school, mostly. After school, we went and hung out at the beach for a few hours with Nancy and her kids.

We leave tomorrow to come home until the 16th, so the blog will be on hiatus until our return. We will see many of you on that end very soon!

Holy F*CK!

I HATE CANE SPIDERS! They are the one thing about Hawaii that I hate. At the condo we lived in when we first moved here, we saw them all the time. It was near a more tropical area and they were freaking abundant. I saw one the very first night we were here. I had just flown in with Eve and gotten into the condo. I went into the bathroom, sat down on the toilet, looked left, and there it was. I called CRH to immediately come and kill it. The only reason I was able to sleep that night was because I was exhausted from flying across the country.
A few days later I was getting Eve ready to go to the pool in her bathroom. She moved the tissue box and one crawled (I should say raced or jumped...because that's how they move) out from behind it. He raced across the bathroom as I was screaming and shrieking and trying to spray it with Raid. He finally ended up in the shower and since the Raid wasn't killing him, I drowned his ass. I was shaking (literally) by the time it was over. I went to the pool and called my parents to process this horror. CRH was working this time. We saw a few more...I won't regale you with all the tales, but you get the drift that it's traumatic...really traumatic. I am NOT a spider person at ALL.
Since moving to Laie, I have not seen another of these horrible creatures. The Mormons must not allow them here...until today. I just put Eve down to bed and I was headed into the garage to change out the laundry. I opened the door and there was a motherf*ckin cane spider. OMG...I almost died. Once again, CRH is not home to kill this monster. I slammed the door, grabbed the Raid (forgetting that Raid doesn't even really stun them!), and opened it back. I started spraying the crap out of this LARGE thing. The trade winds are up tonight, so I was essentially spraying Raid all over the place. The spider is running and jumping...at one point he almost came into the house. I'm in a tank top and my underwear (I tell you this for the visual of the entire scene only) screaming expletives at the spider while shrieking "Die MF!". He's not dying...I'm spraying and spraying...finally he's hanging on to the house by one leg. I think I mostly drowned him in Raid. Then I started beating him with a shoe...hard. He finally died. I threw his carcass into the front flower bed as a warning to others.
When I came back inside shaking and swearing, Eve emerged to check on me. We discussed what had happened and that it was dead. I have now started to drink. Here's a picture some idiot took (I don't let them live long enough to photograph once spotted for fear it will eat me) so that you can see I exaggerate NOT at all when I tell you these things are the size of my palm...seriously.

Fancy Nancy Tea Party aka Birthday Party #2

It's 8:30pm HI time...I'm beat...I mean totally exhausted. It's been a BIG weekend. Today, Eve's hula class had a big beach party. I did not know this prior to scheduling the birthday party, so it was a packed day! I got up this morning, made cupcakes, and did a mani/pedi for the birthday princess. Then, we headed to the beach for the hula party. It was at Secret Island, which is part of Kualoa Ranch. You take a boat across the ancient Hawaiian fish ponds to get to this island...then you are on a "private" stretch of beach. It was fantastic! Everyone had a great time! The kids all played nicely in the water and I got to lay in the sun...virtually undisturbed.



After this, we rushed home and got ready for the tea party! Eve had several friends over for her birthday here. The girls were adorable! I found a company that travels to your house, sets up a tea party, brings all of the stuff, dresses up the kids, does their hair and and makeup, and then cleans up. OMG...easiest party ever!!! Which was a good thing seeing as how my husband is in AZ doing photo shoots for the fall Gap Outlet windows...yep, I married a model!! The sad thing about that though, there are no Gap Outlets in Hawaii...so unless someone sends us a copy, I won't get to see it!



Eve had a terrific day...so much so that I just got a calling plea from her room saying that she'd had fun all day and was not ready for it to stop and was NOT ready to go to sleep.

Birthday Party #1

I'm big on celebrating Eve's birthday...she's an only kid. I only have to do it once a year, why not max it out? It started today and ends next Sunday on her actual birthday. A bit much, probably...



Today was the first of four parties. I realized that we won't all be together again at home until June 17th, so it made sense to give Eve her gifts from us today before CRH left for the conference. She had fun opening all of her loot. The Easy Bake oven was a hit! She made a cake for us this afternoon (a quite tasty little cake I might add). That was her "big" gift from us. Tonight we took her to Jimmy Buffet's restaurant in Waikiki before we dropped CRH off at the airport. Eve had fun, got a butterfly balloon hat, ate her mac and cheese and enjoyed a birthday sundae...however upon leaving announced "I didn't come here to eat, I came here to see Jimmy Buffett". I felt her pain.



Tomorrow is her Fancy Nancy (thanks Verdicchio Family for the idea!) tea party with her Hawaii friends. It's a girls only OOh La La event.

Shhhhhhh...

I go to this beach near Pipeline where all the surfers surf in the winter. It's a very nice part of the beach and because the only parking is on the road, it's not as crowded obviously as the beaches with parking lots. Today being Memorial Day and all, the other North Shore beaches were MOBBED. Sunset, Pipeline, Shark's Cove were crazy busy, as I'm sure the others were as well...I just didn't venture that far. Anyway, I am out on the beach and there are a few other people, but very far from me. I can actually hear the swaying of the palms while I'm out there...there were no other sounds (other than the ocean), no talking, no babies crying...nothing...just peacefulness.