For the last day of 2007 Geoff wanted to take the boat out into the ocean. We were going to look for whales but we didn't make it far enough out and we didn't see any sightseeing boats that usually help lead us to whales.
Mostly we went around the bay really fast. Geoff says it is to work the motor... but I think he just likes to go fast.
I clumped all of my snowman collection on the back of the piano this year instead of spreading it around the lviving room and entertainment center. I guess that spring field of flowers picture doesn't go with the theme at all.
Oh well, we don't get any snow around here anyway, so that is what it may look like outside during winter here ..............
This was the cover for our Christmas schedule for our parish. I loved the baby Jesus' face and Mary kissing him. I taped a copy of it on my kitchen cupboard door.
I had to share with you.
"Kissing the Face of God" Morgan Weistling
The Christmas Tree and cache of gifts!
Derek REALLY wanted his own Nerf gun. He is lying on top of the box as he unwraps it.
James has been asking for a guitar for about a year. He was VERY surprised.
Katie was VERY surprised to get a new AG doll. It is "Julie" the newest doll.
Waiting at the top of the stairs while mom & dad get dressed, grab the cameras, turn on the lights, open the shutters and make sure we are ready for the kids downstairs.
First we open our stockings.
Grandma and her 2 doxies arrive. Here is Bear checking out our yard decorations.
Katie is helping Grandma open her gifts.
who would have thought I could sit here in the dentist's office waiting room typing to my blog and reading from my blog reader. i keep forgetting i have a laptop.... it's portable. you never know where you are going to find a wireless feed.
sadly we are at the dentist the second day in a row. since we were here yesterday and today will be a long wait... i brought it to either have the kids watch a dvd or to go thru my emails that piled up over vacation.
i hate the dentist. hate coming, hate the dental work, hate being chided for poor dental care and hate paying.
and nothing like the parental guilt when it is the poor kids being tortured with work and cavities and treatments.
poor derek came in for check up late oct and had 2 cavities and needed lots of work which equals lots of money. but we put it off for a couple weeks and then we were gone on our trip. we're back, so here we are now.
the other two had checkups yesterday. gladly katie's was excellent and unfortunately, james had his first 2 cavities. so when I booked derek's work for today they scheduled in james too.
we had to come an hour beforehand for derek to take a medication to relax him... antihistamine.
he was rolling around the floor and asked, "what's this medicine for?"
"to relax you"
"i'm not relaxing"
"I know, I don't think you are ever relaxed when you are awake."
james went in for his work and came out with praises for being an excellent patient.
then the hour was up for derek (climbing around, playing the video games provided in the waiting room and crawling around on the floor with the truck they gave him for taking his medication so bravely) and he boldly went back with the tech alone... :( didn't need his mommy.
She just came out and reported that this dentist felt derek could have less work done than predicted, but also a couple changes. He was being a great sport. He didn't flinch at the injections at all. poor guy.
well the work was all done. much less than expected.... much less money than expected ... hallelujah!
both boys were promised any meal they wanted.... but they are both numb!
so we are off to pick up katie from grandma and see where we go from there.
This story brings out the Santa in all of us!
I remember my first Christmas adventure with Grandma. I was just a kid. I remember tearing across town on my bike to visit her on the day my big sister dropped the bomb: 'There is no Santa Claus,' she jeered. 'Even dummies know that!'
My Grandma was not the gushy kind, never had been. I fled to her that day because I knew she would be straight with me. I knew Grandma always told the truth, and I knew that the truth always went down a whole lot easier when swallowed with one of her world-famous cinnamon buns. I knew they were world-famous, because Grandma said so. It had to be true.
Grandma was home, and the buns were still warm. Between bites, I told her everything. She was ready for me. 'No Santa Claus!' she snorted. 'Ridiculous! Don't believe it. That rumor has been going around for years, and it makes me mad, plain mad. Now, put on your coat, and let's go.'
'Go? Go where, Grandma?' I asked. I hadn't even finished my second world-famous, cinnamon bun.
'Where' turned out to be Kerby's General Store, the one store in town that had a little bit of just about everything. As we walked through its doors, Grandma handed me ten dollars. That was a bundle in those days.
'Take this money,' she said, 'and buy something for someone who needs it. I'll wait for you in the car.' Then she turned and walked out of Kerby's.
I was only eight years old. I'd often gone shopping with my mother, but never had I shopped for anything all by myself. The store seemed big and crowded, full of people scrambling to finish their Christmas shopping. For a few moments I just stood there, confused, clutching that ten-dollar bill, wondering what to buy, and who on earth to buy it for. I thought of everybody I knew: my family, my friends, my neighbors, the kids at school, the people who went to my church. I was just about thought out, when I suddenly thought of Bobby Decker. He was a kid with bad breath and messy hair, and he sat right behind me in Mrs. Pollock's grade-two class. Bobby Decker didn't have a coat. I knew that because he never went out for recess during the winter. His mother always wrote a note, telling the teacher that he had a cough, but all we kids knew that Bobby Decker didn't have a cough, and he didn't have a coat. I fingered the ten-dollar bill with growing excitement. I would buy Bobby Decker a coat! I settled on a red corduroy one that had a hood to it. It looked real warm, and he would like that.
'Is this a Christmas present for someone?' the lady behind the counter asked kindly, as I laid my ten dollars down.
'Yes,' I replied shyly. 'It's .... for Bobby.'
The nice lady smiled at me. I didn't get any change, but she put the coat in a bag and wished me a Merry Christmas.
That evening, Grandma helped me wrap the coat in Christmas paper and ribbons (a little tag fell out of the coat, and Grandma tucked it in her Bible) and wrote, 'To Bobby, From Santa Claus' on it -- Grandma said that Santa always insisted on secrecy. Then she drove me over to Bobby Decker's house, explaining as we went that I was now and forever officially one of Santa's helpers.
Grandma parked down the street from Bobby's house, and she and I crept noiselessly and hid in the bushes by his front walk. Then Grandma gave me a nudge. 'All right, Santa Claus,' she whispered, 'get going.'
I took a deep breath, dashed for his front door, threw the present down on his step, pounded his doorbell and flew back to the safety of the bushes and Grandma. Together we waited breathlessly in the darkness for the front door to open. Finally it did, and there stood Bobby.
Fifty years haven't dimmed the thrill of those moments spent shivering, beside my Grandma, in Bobby Decker's bushes. That night, I realized that those awful rumors about Santa Claus were just what Grandma said they were: ridiculous. Santa was alive and well, and we were on his team.
I still have the Bible, with the tag tucked inside: $19.95.
"He who has no Christmas in his heart will never find Christmas under a tree."
It is pouring rain again today in Hawaii. So we are off to the movies to see the "Bee Movie".
On the way it stopped raining. We stopped at BK to get kids meals (they want those idog toys too) and just as I was ordering it started to rain... hard... I'mordering and rolling the window up as I do. I don't get the order out before I'm being drenched through a 3 inch space of open window. This leaves me shouting out the drink order while I search for napkins to wipe my face and arm off. Even more comical was at the actual pick up window. The clerk & I time the window opening so that we can do as much as we can at a time. Window down... throw out the money.. quick window up. Window down.. grab the change and drinks... window up.
All you can do is laugh. I'm wiping down my hands and arms from the drenching rain. How can so much water get through a car window in 3 seconds? Anyway we finished the order, pulled away from the building.... and it stopped raining. Ha!
Since it is a Friday we should be doing schoolwork. I can make the Bee Movie count for school with this great Bee Unit study from Scholastic. Get the Buzz on Honey Bees it is made for grades 3-5.
Here are some more print outs from the BeeMovie.com website.
Here are 7 printable coloring pages. The Home of Fairyland. They are OK. Looks like 2 & 5 are the same to me and I only used #1 & 3 for Derek.
My sweet daughter had her 8th birthday in Waikiki!
We had a fun morning at the Bishop Museum and then Lunch on the Beach @ Duke's!
They brought out a huge "mud pie" for dessert and the singer led everyone in singing Happy Birthday to her!
We finally arrive at the house. Even with the dark clouds overhead.... it is time to go swimming!
A quick stop at a small beach... near Sunset Beach on the North Shore.
Then a stop at a shrimp shack with their own shrimp farm / pond.
Then on around the east side of the island.
Chasing rainbows and staying ahead of the rain clouds.... or behind them?
