Trip of a Decade

Last May, Nick and I celebrated our tenth anniversary... on Oahu!  Nick had just recently put his feet into warm salt water for the first time, so he had certainly never been to Hawaii before.  My favorite aspect of the whole trip was seeing Nick enjoy a world so new to him.

For the majority of the trip (just shy of a week!), we stayed in Ko'olina.  So lovely...

 Ko'olina has all these little coves dug into the coast line.  The beaches are pristine and the resort that we stayed at had winding pools and waterslides and cabanas and just everything.

 Now, I love my Pacific Northwest.  This was not the Pacific Northwest.

One of the most important stops you can make on Oahu:

I've been to this memorial three times now, at different stages in my life and in the world.  The memorial doesn't change much.  You go in, get headsets, and wander around the displays, listening to the narrations.  Then you watch a short movie about the whats, whys, and hows of Pearl Harbor.  Despite the consistency, my experience has been different each time.  Each time, I see different parallels with our current world.  This time, I was really struck by the stupidity of rationalizing and justifying away all of the warning signs.  So, so many red flags were going up as the Japanese were approaching. Each time, someone came up with an excuse of how it was probably nothing.  And so no one was prepared.  And so everybody died.  OK, not everybody, but a lot of people; a lot of husbands, wives, fathers, sons, daughters.  Americans.  People.  They died because we ignored the warning signs and because of stupidity.  I have a sinking feeling that history repeats itself.

After the video, you take a little ferry boat out to the USS Arizona memorial.

 The memorial is built on the water, right on top of the sunken wreckage that could not be salvaged.  The flag below is not coming up off the memorial, but is actually anchored to the ship itself.  From the sides of the memorial, you can see parts of the ship under the water.  Oil still seeps from it and makes rainbows on the water's surface.

 And here are some of the names of the dead.  They are alphabetical by last name.  Many of the last names are very unusual, and yet there may be three of them a row.  I wonder if there were brothers killed together.  I wonder about their poor mother, and when she found out, and how.  Our families are our legacies.  They are why we do what we do.  And for some people, they get snuffed out in one morning.

But back to happy Hawaii.  Splash a little water on your face and let's go on.

We made good use of every second.  I told Nick that he is "tons of fun."  It seemed a bit funny to say to the person that you have been married to for ten years, but it was fitting.  We are so used to working together, not playing.  Nick was not one to laze around on the same beach every day.  Oh no.  We drove around the entire island, stopping at every beach.  We got out and spent some time at several, but sometimes Nick would just go run to look at it and get a sense of the waves and then get right back in to find the next pull-off spot.  

 Walking around Waikiki one evening, we stopped for a quick pearl...

 Can you tell that it's a silver pearl?  I love it.

There's something that you should know about me.  I love Dole Whips.  It is the fabulous pineapple sorbet-ish soft serve that you can only get at the Dole Planation in Hawaii, at a little blip in Waikiki, and by the Tiki room at Disneyland.  (Actually, as I have recently discovered to my horror/jubilation, Dole has sold their soul by marketing this product across the country at any old soft serve spot.)

Regardless of that parenthetical, stopping at the Dole Plantation was a must.  We walked around the gardens and gift shop and rode the little Pineapple Express train around the fields.

 I need to justify this picture to you.   Please keep in mind my love for this (seemingly) rare product.  Also, please know that this was the actual day of my tenth anniversary.  So, yes.  I got the massive pineapple split.  It was huge.  And I ate most of it.

 Two spoons should do the trick.

At the end of the trip, we packed up and went to the north shore of Oahu to spend a day at the Polynesian Cultural Center, walk around BYU Hawaii, and go to the Hawaii LDS temple.

 If you haven't been to the PCC, you really should!  It's a campus that brings Polynesia together in one place.  You walk from Tonga to Fiji to Samoa and on in just a few minutes.  In each area, you learn about their customs and dances and music and history.  The dancers are fabulous and the presenters are entertaining.  In the evening, you can go to a luau and then to the amazing night show.

We were lucky to be at the PCC on the night of the annual worldwide Fire-Knife Dancer competition.  They host it every year, and it seems to be a big deal!  Let me see if I can find you a YouTube...

There is always a fire knife dance at the PCC show, but those guys turn out to be pansies next to the competitors.

Last stop was a walk around the LDS temple grounds and a session inside.

The setting could not be more beautiful.

What a trip.  Thank you Nick!  For everything!  What a decade is has been.

And THANK YOU to the grandparents who kept all those babies safe and happy while we were gone.

Bethelle's Baptism

Ah, it was such a lovely day!  Quite a contrast with the snowy weather around her actual birthday.

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we baptize on or after the eighth birthday, giving each member time to be old enough to understand the commitment made.  Being baptized should mean that you have accepted your faith and believe in it.  It should mean that you are committed to living the tenants of your church.  And that's just what it meant for Bethelle.  She had been looking forward to this day for a long time and had told us how dearly she wanted to be a "real" member of the church and to always have the Holy Spirit to guide her in her life.

We had a delicious lunch at our home after the baptism.  I made grilled sandwiches with bacon, havarti, and pesto (Bethelle's favorite), strawberry spinach salad, and coconut lemon truffles.

 We also had the cutest little Bethelle cookies and my mom brought her famous almond cookies.

We all love you, Bethelle!  Congrats on this big step in life!

We are KU fans

That's all.  No story.  I suppose these must have been taken on the day of a March Madness game.

A Very Girlie Birthday

Bethelle asked for an American Girl birthday party this year.  I had really good time putting this one together.

All attendees were asked to bring their dolls.  We had an extra on the ready, just in case, but it was not needed.  When the girls and their dolls arrived after school, they were ravenous, so we got those dolls set up for their snack and juice tout suite.

 The girls then, having fed their dolls, were able to have a bite of fruit and some juice as well.

Next up was some crafting.  The dolls began making headbands for themselves.

 Bethelle's little Caroline chose a blue butterfly for her headband.

 As the dolls worked, so did the girls.  Here, Olleke is decorating a tote bag for her doll, McKenna.

 Next, they made matching necklaces for themselves and their dolls.  Each necklace had a star pendant and an initial.

 Then we all made tutus for the dolls.  This project seemed to require more patience than most of the guests possessed.  I sent them home with enough scraps to finish the project.

As the girls crafted, they occasionally got up to "help" their dolls with the headbands, adjusting their positions.  At one point, I found these little ones hugging... so cute.

 One of the favorite gifts was this matching PJ set for her and her doll.

 Bethelle wanted cupcakes without frosting for the party.  As hostess, this did not seem right to me, so I came up with the idea of cupcakes topped with ice cream, whipped cream, and sprinkles.  We didn't tell the guests, so they were pretty surprised as they bit into the cold cupcakes.

 Rigby and Curie tried bravely to hold back from the party so that Bethelle could enjoy the time with her friends, but jumped in for the treat.  The girls welcomed them and conversation turned to what a cool brother Rigby is, and how they all have annoying little brothers and they wish that their brothers were as awesome as Rigby.  He was beaming.  So was I.

 The dolls had their own cupcake tower.  Wasn't that a find?  It was an egg display for Easter decorations.  Good thing Bethelle has a spring birthday.

What a fun day!  And I'm pretty confident that no men made it all the way through that post.  I couldn't get Nick or his dad to look through the pictures with me, so I doubt I could hold interest long enough.  But maybe some of the ladies out their are planning a doll party of their own!

Spring Snow

The day before Bethelle's birthday party left the birthday girl wondering if her party would take place at all.  We were planning the event for after school on a Friday, but on Thursday, there was snow on the ground and school was late in starting.  The crazy part in all this is that it was the end of March.  And we live in western washington.  I've been here my whole life and can't recall such a late, thick snow.  Just at this time, Rigby and Curie were learning about the signs of spring in their preschool class.  Curie was very confused.

 These first two pictures are of Wednesday night, as the snow began.  I didn't think it would last, so I let the kids go outside to play in it at bedtime.

 But last it did!  The next day was sunny and bright, but cold.

 We had a brief addition to our family.  Rigby and Curie built this guy on their own, as Bethelle was a school.  Pretty good job!

That's Gross

Back story:  My dad has always been a bike rider. When I was 16, he was hit by a 16 year-old driver while teaching bicycle safety to Boy Scouts. The truck was totaled and my dad nearly was too. He rolled over the truck, flew through the air, and landed on his back with his foot on his chest.  One of his many injuries was the broken femur which made that possible. 

Back in the present day, Rigby was asking me questions about broken bones: Can you cut bones with scissors?  Do you need a sword?  Jake has a broken arm, but he doesn't even have a cut; how does a trampoline break your arm?  Have you ever had a broken bone?

We like to tell the kids grandpa's bike story to scare them into wearing their helmets. Someday, I will tell them the part of the story about witnessing his prescribed morphine withdrawal so the will stay away from drugs. In this conversation, I reminded Rigby that Grandpa has broken his leg. 

Rigby: "Oh yeah!  And his foot was on his chest."

Me, nodding: "Mm Hmm. Pretty gross, huh?"

Rigby: "How is that gross?"

Me: "His foot was on his chest!"

Rigby thought for a minute, and then smiled and nodded, "Oh yeah!  Gross!  He could smell his foot!"