A Mouse In The House

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.