We're back!

The girls and I made a spur of the moment decision to join my family in San Diego for our annual vacation in Mission Beach. We rent the same gorgeous beach house each September and have fun in the sun. I had given up hope that we would be able to go this year because we are so far away and we were in the process of moving and I knew I would probably have to make the trip without Travis. Staying in a tiny mosquitoy dirty condo in Lihue while our rental house was being prepared for move-in was all the encouragment I needed. I booked flights for the next day and surprised my family in San Diego.

It was a total blast and worth every minute of the hassel and stress of traveling with 2 small kids. (They did remarkably well considering). I was only sorry that we didn't get to see the Parker side of our family and my dear friends in California.

In the rush and huge mess we were in, I left my camera behind. The only pictures I have are these that we had taken of the girls in a photo studio while in Vegas.

I will try to mooch off of my family's pictures and post some of those later.







While we were partying, shopping and having a grand ole time, my sweet hubby and hero moved us into our new house all by himself. It gets better, he got cable, internet, phone - cell and land lines all hooked up, opened a po box for us (we have no mailbox) and UNPACKED! Yes, dishes in the cupboards, clothes in the closet, crib set up, etc. Besides the 5 stitches he had to give himself in his lower lip, he came out of it pretty good.

internet prison

It's amazing how dependent we get on technology. A simple thing like checking my email and blog, when taken away can send me into withdrawal! For some reason, we lost internet access for several days. Now we are back! We moved out of our temporary rental house into a temporary condo. We are getting tired of the temporary. But next week we will be moving into a gorgeous house on the south side - closer to Travis' work and Veda's school. It is a rental where we can stay as long as we want while we continue our hunt for the perfect purchase.

Haui is proving to be a wonderful addition to our family. He is a perfect gentlemen - very mild mannered, calm, obedient, tolerent of the children (even when they sit on him or accidentally hit him in the face with the leash). We are thoroughly enjoying him. :) What a good choice!

More later. :)

Our newest member

One of our favorite things to do here is to visit our local Humane Society and visit with the dogs and cats. Travis has longed for a dog to run with for years. The first time we visited the HS we met this cute guy named Haui. He is a Border Collie mixed with Lab or possibly Hound. He is only 1 or 2 years old and very sweet and smart. We went back about 5 more times to visit and play with him. Now that we have a rental that allows pets, we wasted no time and decided to adopt. We just brought him home today. He seems excited to have a new home and family and is amazingly well-behaved and obedient. We feel lucky to have found him.

first picture of our new family

Veda loves having someone new to boss around. I'm sure Eve will enjoy the buffer.



Eve giving Haui loves


Being the soft-hearted animal lovers we are, we are going to have to limit our visits to the HS or we will be one of those families that has 20 dogs and 30 cats. They have so many cuties there and new ones each time we go. Veda and Eve love holding the little kittens as well.

Frog Hunt

A trip to the grocery store has never been so exciting. Outside our store there is a charming little area with big Koi ponds, bridges, and a waterfall. After I shop we usually look at the fish and the girls run across the bridges - lots of fun right? This time, as if that isn't more fun than we can handle at the grocery store, there was a multitude of itsy bitsy frogs jumping around. You literally had to watch where you stepped because there were so many. The girls were thrilled! I think they may have killed as many as they didn't, but no ill will there. I don't know if these are a tiny breed of frog, or if they are just baby frogs. Baby frogs are tadpoles though, right? I thought that the tadpoles grew pretty big, then transformed into the frogs. So I don't know how a tiny frog happens. Any experts out there?









The girls enjoying a rainshower, NOT a rare occurance. (Well, one is enjoying it more that the other.)

growing, changing, and entertaining

Eve is talking SO well lately. She speaks in complete sentences and says pretty sophisicated stuff. The other day she came up to me while I was sitting on the floor and she patted me on the back and said "Nice shirt, Mom". She has started calling me "baby" a lot too. I think she hears Travis call me baby sometimes, so she copies him. It sounds so funny to hear her say "Here baby" and hand me something. She also shouts "Time Out!" at Veda when Veda offends her in some way. When I ask her what movie she wants to watch she'll say "Belle, favorite, I like ut". She'll also say "No want ut, no like ut". She insists on wearing dresses or skirts everyday. Even to bed she'll only wear her princess nightgown Nana and Papa gave her. I went in last night and sneaked some pj pants on under her nightgown to keep her legs warm. She came in my room in the middle of the night and said "Jammies off!"

We have a field behind our house with a herd of cows. The girls have been fascinated watching the cows and how close to our fence they will come. One morning Veda came in my room early in the morning confused because Eve had gotten into bed with me in the middle of the night. She whispered in a very concerned voice "Mom, where's Eve?" I said "She's here in bed with me." Veda gave a big sigh of relief and said "Oh, I thought maybe she'd runned off with the cows". It takes something pretty funny to get a laugh out of me at 6 am, but that did it! I could just imagine little Evie sneaking out in the night and running off with that herd of cows. Now we use that quote often with Eve - "Oh, Eve there you are. We thought maybe you'd runned off with the cows."

Bubbles!

A favorite nightly ritual is a bubble bath in our jacuzzi bathtub. I got a little generous with the bubbles tonight but the girls had a blast. I would love to have one of these in my next house. I figure the jets and bubbles are doing most of the work, right? Most of my pictures of Eve turned out blurry so Veda wins tonight's photo shoot.

Good Mail!

Timing couldn't have been better for a package to arrive at our door. Travis is working and it isn't a school day. Boooooring! What a welcome sight to open the door to a package! I love nothing more than a late birthday present. Even though it wasn't for me. ;) My very thoughtful sis-in-law, Tanya sent us a whole box of goodies. Eve got a whole ensemble (very adorably Hawaiianish) complete with sunglasses and a hat and Veda was ecstatic that there were matching accessories for her. Eve couldn't get into that fluffy skirt fast enough and in no time she was accessorized to the max. She was so excited!

Tanya, you couldn't have sent anything I would have been more excited about than a few Trader Joes gems. If I could wish one store to appear on this island it would be Trader Joes. I am in withdrawal! You read my mind. Thank you so much!





Nothing stirs up those creative juices like having all your toys in storage. This is Veda sitting in her "Spaceship" eating ice cream. She spent a good hour creating this treasure; she even had me sew up a few of her "buttons" (the round dials taped to the front of her spaceship).

Tanya, this was minutes before the package arrived. Impeccable timing!