Personal Pies

My mom and dad got me this cool personal pie maker for my birthday.  Last nite, I made apple pies in 12 minutes.  Super fun!

Bark....crash....smash!

Here is how it went down:

I am at work and I get a text from Drew:

Zach (one of the kids friends) just came in and Ahi got herself so worked up barking and running that she fell down the stairs.  All the way down from the top and slammed into the wall at the bottom. She is so dumb.

I totally cracked up. I could see it happening.

Next text:

She smells like poop.  I think she was so scared from the fall down the stairs that she pooped herself.

I laugh harder.

Next text:

Grace just gave her a bath and she smells better.  She is so dumb.  You can't take her serious.

More laughing.

Next text:

There is poop on the wall and the carpet where she started her fall down the stairs.  GROSS!

This time, I am just shaking my head!  God should have just made Labradors and stopped because they are perfect.  Chiweenies are soooooo ridiculous!

6th Grade graduation

After graduation, there was a party at school.  They played games, danced, acted silly and took pictures.  It was a Hawaiian theme - here were a couple of the pics!

Far West

I am finally getting a chance to post pics from the Far West Regional soccer tournament.


The girls played great but ended with 2 losses and 1 tie.  We were at a disadvantage because we had less players then most and don't come from a huge soccer league that feeds all kinds of players into their teams.

But it was all ok - it was a GREAT experience for the girls.  And they held there own and are still ranked number 21 in the nation!

Lots of bonding time for the team!

Chef Grace

One of my girlfriends is having her daughter (Gracie's friend Bug) make dinner once a week, so we decided to do the same thing with Grace.  She has to find recipes, make a list of what she needs, get the groceries and then cook it.  Tonite she made:

*  Pasta with olive oil, garlic and paremsan
*  Steamed brocolli
*  Crunchy baked chicken
*  Homemade rice pudding

Yummy Dinner!

She did an awesome job!

Rice Pudding

Snap!

Came home from a baseball game last nite at 10 pm to a dead rat in a trap!  Woot!

But then today, there was a new rat on the bird feeder and THREE babies!

Book

Grace and her friends are reading a book for school next year called The Bronze Bow.  It is an award winning book and is quite complex.  It is also very religiously focused which leads to more complexity.  The girls are doing a book club with their teacher from last year to discuss this book (and another).  As they are getting ready for the first book club, there is a lot of discussion and whining!  Here is a hilarious conversation between one of the girls and her mom:

Oryann:  “What is “messa” – a person place or thing?”  (we were talking about the Bronze Bow AGAIN)

Mom: “Messiah…m-e-s-s-i-a-h-?” 

Oryann:  “Yes”. 

Mom:  “It’s Jesus to some ppl or some ppl use it as a general term for anyone they see as the ultimate leader in their religion.  Someone who might save them or lead them.”

Oryann:  “Oh, I thought it was a plant.”

Mom:  “Wow”

Not sure if this means its going to be a long year in English or a long year in Bible.....or both!

Theme Song

My blog now has a theme song!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0O0nzkESTI

1 Foot - 2 Foot - Red Foot - Ouchee Foot

After a year of foot pain, I finally went to the doctor yesterday.  Both my feet hurt all the time and sometimes ache so bad at nite that it wakes me up. 

My doc took a history of my activity level, examined my feet, did xrays and made the diagnosis:  I work out too much!  She thinks its simple over use.  She said I really need to cut back or do something that does not involve my feet  - the problem is, I have a bad shoulder too.  So swimming and rowing are out.

She pointed out that I am now 45 and can not do the same things I did at 20!  I bet the look on my face was priceless - because that simple statement was shocking to me!  I literally had never given thought to the idea that I can not do the same quantity of working out that I did in my 20's.

She suggested I cut back 10% and see how that effects the pain.  If that does not make a difference cut back another 10%....and keep doing that until I get to an activity level that does not cause pain.  That is a great idea but it won't work.  Walking 2 miles while on vacation for 10 days caused pain.

So.....I am doing this following:

1.  Cutting back my work outs - like today I did only one hour of cardio but did it entirely on a recumbent bike (instead of running or elliptical)  and then I skipped the 75 minute yoga class.  And I did not go for a walk last nite when I really wanted to - instead, I drove to the school and let the dogs run around there.
2.  Taking relafen - a heavy duty anti inflammatory med - and taking it early and often!
3.  Icing my feet

I will do this for a couple weeks and see if there is a difference.

Toasted Marshmallow Milkshake

We get the Food Network Magazine, which always comes with a book of 50 recipes covering a specific topic.  This month, the recipe booklet is 50 milkshakes!  Tonite, Grace and I made the toasted marshmallow milkshake and it was AMAZING!

Here is the recipe:

1 pint of vanilla ice cream
1/4 cup of milk ( i needed more)
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 pinch of salt
6 marshmallows toasted under the broiler until brown on all sides
2 marshmallows toasted for the top of the milkshake

Mix first 5 ingredients in the blender.  Pour into 2 glasses and top with a toasted marshmallow.

It's really sweet, so you don't need much, a small glass hits the spot!  We doubled the recipe for the four of us and it was perfect.

A Sunday Walk at the Beach

The ladies (Tina, Mari, Amy, Kate, Grace and me) went for a walk on West Cliff Drive today with the dogs.  Ahi was afraid because it was really windy, so Grace put her in a green bag and carried her!

Where is my dinner?

I did the funniest dog experiment today.  I switched the location of the dogs bowls - I moved Daisy's to Ahi's spot and Ahi's bowls to Daisy's spot.  The bowls are very different - Daisy's are on a stand 6 inches high and Ahi's are flat on the ground (see pic).  When it came time for them to eat dinner, they did not know what to do!  They totally went to their normal spots and tried to eat out the other one's bowl!  I was cracking up!

Jim felt bad for them and are moving them back.

Mimi 6th Birthday

Mimi's 6th birthday was a Hawaiian theme!  So cute!

Beautiful Mari

Today was Beautiful Mari's Bridal Shower.  It was a beautiful day fitting for the beautiful bride!

Yummy food and great company!

Mad Dog, Grace and K all dress up pretty well!

Rat Problem

We have a rat problem!  There are at least three rats (a mama and 2 babies) that have been eating the seed out of the bird feeder.  Ewwww!

So yesterday, at my mom's suggestion, I put castor oil on the pole that holds the feeder.  Apparently the rats don't like castor oil.  That worked for about 6 hours and then they were back!

So we last nite we set two big, fat, juicy rat traps.  This morning:  one still there, not tripped and one GONE!  We have hunted all over the yard and can not find it.  And the rats have not been on the bird feeder all day.

Stay tuned for more news!

Front Porch

Replanted the pot on the front porch today.  Looks really good!

Sushi Nite

Drew wanted sushi when we got home from Hawaii but I was tired of eating out and spending money, so we made our own!

Tattoo

Check out my new tattoo.  I got it our last day in Hawaii and love it!  The good thing is, it's henna so it will wear off in 1 to 4 weeks.

Chillaxin

Breaking news from Arizona:  Ry, Shooter, Bug and Grace in the pool, holding up the Mascot!

Hona Hau

 We stopped for lunch at Hona Hau - the farthest south restaurant in the US!  They had great food and amazing passion fruit lemonade.  I want to go back for more.

We bought some snacks from there to take on the road with us and they were delicious:  passion fruit bar, mounds bar and a giant oreo type cookie dipped in macadamia nuts!

This is Mr. C's sandwich - he didn't say a word the whole time he was eating it!

Green Sand Beach

Next adventure was a three mile 4 wheel drive  trip to a green sand beach.  We drove right up to the overlook, got out of the jeep and were PELTED with wind and sand.  It was crazy!

Everyone but me hiked down to the beach - I went back and planned the rest of the adventure in the jeep because I was getting sand in my contacts and could not open my eyes!

We had to all squeeze in the jeep to make the 4 wheel drive trip, which means someone had to sit in back.  There was a lot of giggling the whole way!

South Point Hawaii

These dopes were jumping off the cliff.

Yesterday was an exploration day.  We drove south on the Island.  Our first spot was South Point, the farthest south spot in the US.

It was beautiful bit INCREDIBLY WINDY!  You had to stand back from the cliff from fear of being blown over.  And the waves were enormous.  Plus the current is really strong and does not stop until it reaches Antarctica!

We saw a video on YouTube of a guy jumping into this hole and then swimming out into the ocean under the lava!  Scary and stupid!

We wandered around getting pelted by sand and checking things out!

We had wanted to do a TNDC sign all week but could not find the coral.  Finally we found some at South Point and left this sign.










The ocean here was totally treacherous.  There were really high winds.  And when we left, we could see a forest fire starting about 10 miles away.  Terrible day for a forest fire in lava!

2nd Game

Girls tied the second game, 1 to 1!

First Game

The girls lost the first game at Far West Regionals - 1 to 4.  Grace and Bug were still en route during the game.  Next game is tomorrow at 9 am with a full team available!

Big vs Little

Bug and Jim worked out a way for them to see "eye to eye" - they dug a hole for Jim to stand in and built a hill for Bug to stand on....and then they were "eye to eye"!

Lazy Day

Farkle

Today was a lazy day.  Jim and Mr C went out and searched out some new beaches.  Kyle and Drew laid around watching sports.  Mari and I laid by the pool.

gecko eating watermelon!

In the afternoon, we played some farkle, fed some geckos and had a watermelon spitting contest.

Watermelon spitting - Kyle was the winner!

Basically a lazy day in Kona!

Hawaiian Beauty

We put Gracie, Bug and Coach Cindy on a plane today to head back to California so they can head down to Arizona in the morning for the Far West Regional Soccer Tournament.  They will miss the first game which is Monday at 9 am but will be there for games 2 and 3 which are at 7 am and Tuesday and Wednesday!  It was 111 degrees in AZ today, so it will be interesting to see how the girls do.  Stay tuned for soccer updates!

Summer Reading

I have read two books on vacation:  Summer Island and Wild.

I read Summer Island, by Kristin Hannah, because I ended up at the beach without a book and it was in the snack bag.  It was your basic "chick lit" that I don't like to read.  But I got into far enough into it that first day at the beach that I wanted to see what happened.  So I kept reading it the next day at the pool.  However, I used the same technique I used to read 50 Shades of Gray --I skipped multiple paragraphs and pages at a time!  It was so predictable and sappy.  Typical "chick lit": "love, healing, forgiveness and renewal"....yada yada yada!  I hate books like that.

I read Wild, by Cheryl Strayed, because a friend at work gave it to me because she knows how much I love to back pack in the Sierras.  Wild was fabulous!  It was a story about a young woman who was devastated by the death of her mother and slowly started falling apart - she divorced her husband, dabbled in drugs and had a string of endless menial jobs.  Finally, at the depths of her despair, she decided to go on solo hike on the Pacific Coast Trail.  She showed courage and grit while facing down bears, rattlesnakes and the emotions that brought her life to this point.  There were hilarious parts of the book that I read out loud to our vacation crew.  This one is definitely worth a read!

Kamehameha Day

We went into town yesterday to watch the King Kamehameha Day parade.  It was super cool to see all the cultural displays and costumes.

There were tons of horses in the parade and 5 different pooper pick up teams!

Tattoos

Last nite, Cindy and I took the girls into town to get henna tattoos - but first we had to have a snack (a shaved ice and a pretzel dog) on the rock wall overlooking the ocean!

Tattoos will last one to four weeks and will make them look like beasts on the soccer field!

Dragonfruit Cutting Ceremony

Before

After

We broke into the dragon fruit last nite.  It was a big event!  Everyone gathered around and took pictures as Bug did the honors of cutting it open. 

It tasted sort of like a mild kiwi.  Kyle, who eats them when in China, warned us not to overindulge as they can act like a laxative!

Kekaha Kai State Park

Time for Lunch!

In the Water allllllll day!

This is my favorite beach in Hawaii.  It was just opened as a state park last time we were here.

We were there from 11am to 3:30 pm and had to call it a day when everyone got to red.









While we were at the beach today, "The Cindy's" went to the Volcano.  We all met back at home for a swim and a spaghetti dinner to celebrate my birthday!

Dragon fruit

We stopped at a roadside fruit stand and had a ball picking out local fruit.  This dragon fruit is ripening now.