It's Aloha Friday

Look who came to visit! I'll admit, I screeched when I saw this warty guy hanging out behind the door. This bufo seems to live nearby. I wasn't sure what it was, so I looked it up:

"If you see a toad in Hawaii, it's most likely a toxic Bufo Toad. These toads are easy to identify. A Bufo Toad has a dry warty hide that may be yellowish-green, olive-brown, reddish-brown or grey. Their heads are boney with ridges shielding their eyes. Bufo's bellies are pale with dark molting. These toads can be 4-9 inches long and can weigh up to 2 pounds.

Bufo Toads have toxic secretions that ooze from parotoid glands located on the back of their necks once they feel threatened. If one is squeezed there is a high probability that the venom will inject into its victim's eyes. The Bufo Toad will often arch his back in the direction of anyone that comes within close proximity." Read More Here

It may not have been a good idea to have let the kids hang around watching this guy all morning, but luckily none of the kids were poisoned. I have heard of dogs in the neighborhood getting sick and foaming at the mouth after biting a toad, though, so be careful....

I never did hear him say Rrribbit.

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I've been working on the yearbook all week, editing and uploading photos that I took at school in the fall. As I was searching for a photo last night, I came across this:

The perfect picture for an Aloha Friday

Shaka, Sydney!

which reminds me of a little girl in our ward. She is about 2 and a half years old with long long black hair. Her dad is in the Bishopric, and every Sunday she tries to break away from her mom as they walk into the chapel and run run run up to say hi to her dad at the front of the chapel. Last week she came zooming up the aisle, waving her little hand with thumb and pinky out, yelling "shaka daddy, shaka!"



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One of my goals for the new year is to keep a (slow mom) running log. I'll post it at the bottom of blog entries on occasion, unless I can find a handy widget to track it for me.

Today's Run: 3.5 miles
This week: 12 miles
This month: 18 miles

Happy Aloha Friday!

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It's Aloha Friday

and thank heavens! Whew! This has been one busy week.


The Big Island is the topic for this edition of Aloha Friday.


Hawaii's Big Island isn't just big, it's still growing. It is bigger than all the other Hawaiian Islands put together, and thanks to Kilauea Volcano it is getting bigger every day. Kilauea Volcano has erupted lava almost continuously from its east rift zone since 1983. Those lava flows have added over 500 acres to the island.

Nathan and I were able to go visit the Big Island of Hawaii in November. I posted photos from our trip of our Manta Ray dive here and here and here. But I never got around to posting up any other photos.


We stayed in a cabin at the Kilauea Military Camp in Volcanoes National Park. (notice the red arrow expertly drawn on the map above)


Nathan and I hiked down into the Kilauea Iki Crater floor (behind us in photo). The lava is solid, but still steaming in the cracks. There were photos at the visitors center from the early 1900's when this crater was molten hott!


We also hiked through a lava tube.


It was amazing to see the vegetation starting to come up even in the middle of a lava field.



The problem with travelling without children is that I seem to show up in every picture.... This is a steam vent. The steam vents were really active while we were there. We were unable to see any red flowing hot lava, though. Maybe that's a good thing.




And last picture, I promise. Here we are at the Kona Temple.


I was searching for a picture yesterday and ran across these photos from our trip to the Big Island. Seeing those pictures from our trip made me miss my Nathan. I am really glad we were able to get away for a few days before deployment!

Happy Aloha Friday!

It's Aloha Friday

The very best thing about living in Hawaii is the people. Living on Post we don't always have a lot of interaction with "real" Hawaiians - our kids go to base schools with other military brats, we see military doctors, we shop at military stores. But thanks to our church we have been able to get close to some really awesome locals.

We were recently invited to a retirement party for a man in our ward. He is retiring after 40 years as a school administrator. He and his wife are planning to move to the mainland to live their dream of working on an Indian Reservation later this year. They have a huge-o-rama family with 5 grown children with children of their own, and 4 more children still at home, their youngest just 7 years old. I love this family.

I brought a dish of chicken to the party to share and the spread was excellent - lots of sushi and rice and shrimp and seasoned beef. I was ready to eat way too much food and have fun visiting with friends, but I was unprepared for the totally rockin' entertainment:

Elvis Performed Live!


The Blues Brother mixed it up,


And Johnny Cash wore his favorite black shirt!


Unfortunately Sonny and Cher were unable to make it due to a previous engagement...

Nathan - you would have loved it!

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Deployment Diaries:

I've been waiting to hear from Nathan all week. I talked to him early Sunday morning and nothing since. I knew he was probably heading into theater (is that what you call it?) so I was worried. But I got an email from him this evening (thursday). That was a relief.

Now it is 12:30am on Friday morning and Nathan just called. Luckily I stayed up to watch a movie, so I was awake for the phone call. He was at work trying out the phone line and not actually able to really talk.

and I couldn't help it, I started crying. Why does my voice get choked off when I cry? I don't even think feel all that sad - it's just like this big emotion that I can't contain so it leaks out in tears. I cried on the phone, which made it hard to talk so I couldn't say all the things I've been storing up, which made me cry more. And that probably didn't exactly brighten up Nathan's day. so I had to cry some more after I hung up the phone and now I'm crying while typing this sad paragraph. oh bother.

It's Aloha Friday!

Thanksgiving in Hawaii was lovely.

The kids spent the day outside having a waterballoon fight while I basted the turkey and baked my favorite rolls.

John got a sunburn (bad mom award)!

The turkey was good. Maybe a little dry, but not bad. We had way way way too much food, and the leftovers are excellent! The Turkey and the Lumpia should last through the weekend.

I got up at 4:15am to go to the NEX with a couple other ladies. There was a crazy long line of people who had been waiting since midnight. Yikes! We were able to go right in and find the few things we wanted. There were lots and lots of the item I was interested in, so I could have slept in, or waited until tomorrow, but it was kind of fun to be out there in the craziness. Did you find any hot deals today?

Christmas music was all over the radio, so I guess it's time to search for the Christmas decorations...

After I hid the loot in the garage, I ate a piece of pumpkin pie and took a nap.

I think it's time to eat again, but all the rolls are gone, so I'm going to have to go whip up another batch to go with the turkey...

****wave report for Nathan***

The waves are up on the North Shore so head that way if you want to try see some surfing. Waves are calm down by Waikiki, so head that way if you want to do any SCUBA or spearfishing.

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Mele Kalikimaka!!!

It's Aloha Friday

I dedicate this edition of Aloha Friday to my new best friend, Oxy Clean.


When we moved to Hawaii almost a year ago I was ready for sun and sand and surf. I was not ready for red dirt. Who knew that red dirt would take over my life?

King of the Red Dirt Hill

My dad would tell you that it's not dirt, it's soil. I don't know the difference, but let me tell you, it is dirty. Red dirt is like a permanent dye on your socks. And your favorite white skirt. And your new white t-shirt.

Once dried in, it is impossible to remove. One little dirty sock thrown in with a load of whites can cause all sorts of trouble.

But that natural dye can be a good thing - you can buy authentic Hawaiian red dirt dyed t-shirts. Though red dirt socks would probably be better for John.


Oooh! Shoes on over those socks! That's a good start, but if it's wet out the red dirt will seep through your shoes and still stain your socks...

I find red mud footprints on the tile. And red mud footprints on the bathroom vanity. And red mud fingerprints on the refridgerator. And red dirt rings around the bathtub...

The soil in Hawaii is high in iron. When the iron rusts it causes a red color. That's how we get Alaea or red dirt!.

I have seen this red salt at the store, and have wonder what it is. It turns out that it is sea salt mixed with a little hawaiian red dirt. It has a high amount of natural minerals and it is supposed to taste great. I'll have to try it...

Also, there is a legend that when King Kamahama was out with his soldier and they ran out of Poi and got really desperate, they would swim to the bottom of a river and eat handfulls of the red mud to survive. Yum!

Hope your Aloha Friday is a clean one!

It's Aloha Friday

Looking down on the North Shore and the Pacific Ocean:



School Bus with a view - just another beautiful day in Hawaii.

I headed out with Sydney's 4th grade class on a field trip to the Polynesian Cultural Center

It's easy to see why this place is one of the top tourist sites in Hawaii. Clean, educational, and Great Service! When one of the students in our boat lost her hat, our Paddle Boy was nice enough to back up and fish it out for her. He didn't look very Polynesian, but he did have a lovely Australian accent.



Is Sydney hiding behind her passport?

I made sure to get a picture or two of each child in Sydney's class - what cute kids! It might not be okay for me to post them on the internet, though, so I tried to make sure I got a good one of Sydney that I could post. But she wasn't interested.



Malo e Lelei from Tonga!
The Tongan Show is one of our favorites at the PCC, and though today was more educational then the usual performance, it was still fun!



Talofa from Samoa. Did you know that Samoa is pronounced SAH-moa. Not suh-MOA?

I'm not sure if teaching a bunch of 9 year olds how to make fire with two sticks you can find in your backyard is such a great idea!



As we left the PCC the tourists were lining up to head in. We seemed to catch them a little off guard, and I could imagine them thinking, "That's right...regular people with real children do live in Hawaii."

What a cool place to be.

Happy Aloha Friday!

It's Aloha Friday

Time to relax. And nothing says Hawaii like relaxing in a hammock.

I think a hammock is actually a required item when living in Hawaii. We have a camping hammock.


Emily and Tahina

We took it to Girls Camp this summer.


John with Talea

It fit perfectly between two palm trees, and was a great place to swing! I had hoped to bring it home and put it right to good use in our yard. But it is rolled up, forgotten and abandoned, on the floor of my laundry room, as none of our trees are close enough together to hang it.

So, I'm dreaming of something like this:



(wish we had that view, too...)

The Tiki Hut NEEDS a hammock. Really. Can it be a Tiki Hut without a hammock? The kids like to play outside each evening, but I'd rather lay on the couch. With a hammock I could get all my relaxing done while they run around! Perfect!

But (and I do mean butt) hammocks do sometimes have the embarrassing problem of allowing all your soft parts to mush through. That's something to think about, you know.

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While you ponder that fascinating bit of diamond shaped squish, I have two movie recommendations for your Aloha Friday Movie Night:

Last weekend we checked out Sweet Land. It was the grown-up movie in our movie night selection, and by the time it started all the youngsters were snoozing. It is a totally SWEET movie. Seriously. One of the best movies I've seen all year. It had all my favorite things - the prairie, hard work("farming and banking don't mix"), accents, angst, and love. Loved it when they held hands. Beautiful. and rated just PG. It is a little slow and had kind of a confusing beginning. I hope you love it as much as we did.

And tonight I am going to watch Dear Frankie for the 4th time this week. It is the story of a young deaf boy who writes letters to his absent father. His mother has set up a PO box to collect his letters and answers them as if she is his "da" who is a sailor. Frankie tracks his dad's ship as it travels the world. Things get tricky when the ship his dad is supposedly on comes to port in Frankie's home town, and Frankie's Mammy has to find a substitute dad to act the part. Again, another sweet story. Gerard Butler is hawt! I wonder what else he is in... Some language near the end of the movie, and the Scottish accents are really strong. I had to turn on the subtitles to catch all the words.

What's on your queue?