fishing at waiahole

It was a fine, sunny afternoon that my sister, Elika, invited us all out to Waiahole to do some fishing. 

In a pond.  For catfish and tilapia.

We had nothing better to do, and the kids always LOVE hanging out with cousins, so we said YES!

Actually, the kids also LOVE to fish!

This was a private pond, owned by a friend/work acquaintance of Elika's and he was very kind and gracious to provide extra fishing poles, bait, and nets.

There were chickens roaming around and even a stray goat that nearly knocked us over when it got loose...but the kids had fun!  It was also very, very, VERY, dirty.  But it was a Saturday and we were not doing anything particularly important, so what the heck! What's a little dirt, right?

Oh, was I wrong!

Dirt is NOT my friend.

But anyway, the fish were biting pretty good!  Anna caught this tilapia first.  We hadn't planned on taking any home so ended up throwing it back into the water.  It wasn't until later that we realized how much of a waste that was!  We could take it home and eat it!

So, after releasing one tilapia and one catfish, we all began casting in earnest to catch us some dinner...

And not to toot my own horn, but I ended up catching 2 catfish and a tilapia for our dinner.

A couple other kids caught some fish as well, but they ended up getting loose and swimming away.

However, with our 2 catfish and tilapia in a borrowed bucket, we packed up our filthy kids and drove up to Elika's to eat some freshly caught fish!

Please excuse the bloody mess...but with the aid of a couple of Youtube videos....I filleted all 3 fish successfully!  

Honestly, it was pretty gross and I don't look forward to ever doing it again, but I was pretty proud of myself today!  I seasoned it and dusted it with flour and then cooked it up with some garlic and olive oil and wouldn't you know it, everyone said it tasted good!  

Everyone, except for Anna, that is.

They were, of course, alive when we brought them home and Anna was none too pleased with our having to make them "un-alive."

She was the only one that didn't eat any fish that day because it hurt her heart to think of the fish no longer swimming freely in the water.

Poor girl...I wouldn't be surprised if she became a vegan one day...

hiking up tantalus

It's true that we live in paradise!  And since moving to town, we've made a conscious effort to make the time to enjoy all that Hawaii has to offer!

Which means going hiking on our days off when at all possible.

We were babysitting my nephews for the afternoon so decided to get them out of our tiny house and into nature.  Mitch thought a hike up above Tantalus would be a good idea, so we loaded up all the kiddos, slathered them with bug spray, and hit the road!

The trail that Mitch wanted to hike was relatively easy going, but narrow in certain spots with lots of tree roots sticking up.  A couple of the little ones were slipping and sliding around and Jojo was none too happy about that.  Mitch carried my littlest nephew in the backpack carrier and we took turns holding hands with Kaden and his 3 year old cousin, Knox.  It was slow going in some spots but the older kids liked to run ahead at times, eliciting a "stop!" from Mitch and I now and again.

All in all, it was a nice hike!  But as we were going (and going and going) the trail seemed longer than Mitch remembered so we turned around and decided to head back.

On our way back down the Tantalus, we stopped by the lookout...and took a snack break.

The view from up here was spectacular!  Plus, there was a nice open field below that the kids ran up and down (and up and down) while we simply enjoyed the beauty of our island.

Me and Kaden...he was getting pretty tired and needed to be carried.

Do I baby him too much?  Yes.

Do I care?  No.

The cousins, eating popcorn on the hill overlooking all of Honolulu.  

Lucky we live Hawaii!

pu'u ma'eli'eli hike

Summer is at an end.  The girls are back at school, but on this first Saturday in August, we decided to take the family (with some friends) on an easy hike in Kaneohe.  

I looked and looked for an easy, kid-friendly hike and came up with Pu'u Ma'eli'eli hike near the Valley of the Temples.  ALL of the guide books I read said that it was easy and great for kids.  

I don't know what kind of kids those guide books are talking about, but for our little ones, it was more than a bit challenging.  It was also longer than I thought it would be.

BUT, the view was spectacular!!

There were lots of mosquitos, some muddy slopes here and there, and even a rock hill that you had to use a rope to scale...but through it all, the kids were troopers and did great!

We were very proud of them for making it all the way to the top!

And then up at the top, we were equally scared that they would fall off this landing area...but there was an extra ledge right underneath this that would prevent any serious injury should one child end up toppling over.  That's not to say that we didn't keep a close eye (and hand) on them at all times, of course!  I think even the kids were impressed with this fabulous view.

Me and Kaden.

Kaden did so great!  I'm so glad that Mitch was with us, since he helped out quite a bit with both  Kaden and Jolee.  Elika also came so I had to help out with her little ones while she carried Nixon in the backpack carrier.  But despite all that, all the kids pretty much climbed and hiked all by themselves!  We were so very impressed and proud of these kids!

All in all, with friends and family, we were a pretty big group, with lots of little kids.

The hike was pretty challenging, but they all did so great and I really loved seeing the beauty of Kaneohe Bay and pretty much all of the the Windward side of the island from the top of the hill.  

And the McDonald's ice cream and treats at the end proved to be the perfect reward for a job well done!

art school exhibit

This summer, we signed up our girls for art classes at the Honolulu Museum of Art.

They loved it last year, so I thought, why not again?

Well, they DID enjoy it for the the most part...but since they had so many cousins here during the summer, they were also bummed that they had to miss out on some quality family time while they were in school during the weekdays (even though it was only 2 hours).

We are going to have to rethink signing them up for art classes next summer...especially if their cousins will be coming back for another visit.

But that's for next year's worry.  As for this year, we finally made it to their art exhibit!  And got to see some of the artwork they worked on during the summer.

Anna was at soccer camp this week so I just brought Jojo and Kela with me to take a look at all their hard work.

Here's Jolee and her self portrait.  This was her very first time attending art class and she had a hard time at the beginning.  She cried at drop-off a couple of times, but by the end of the first week, she was a champ and went to her class all by herself.  Or, with the help of her sister whose class was right across the hall.  Jolee is our little artist.  She loves to draw, paint and create anything!  

 I know she enjoyed these classes and the projects she made were really fun!

Kela and her self portrait in block printing, I think...

Jojo's 3-D collage.  Or, something...not quite sure what it is, but she was super proud of it and wanted to take a picture of her with it.  

Where we will display this at home, I have no idea...

These last 2 are Anna's.   She wasn't with us, but I saw a couple of her artwork on display and so had to document it by taking a picture  The bottom is her own self portrait made with tissue paper.

I am so proud of my girls.  They all LOVE art and creating things.  I don't know where they get this artistic personality from, but I don't think it comes from either Mitch or myself.  

Despite their grumbling for having to go to school during the summer, I am glad that they got to participate in the art program here at the Honolulu Museum of Art!

sendai mission reunion

As I've mentioned before, I have a great husband.  One who allows me to travel by myself now and again to various events and take a break from my usual Mommy duties.  

I found out recently that my first Mission President was going to be visiting his daughter in Seattle, and was planning a small reunion with several Sendai returned missionaries.  With the blessing of my fabulous husband, I had the opportunity to go.  I've never been to a mission reunion before, and with this one being in Seattle...it was the perfect place for me to attend.

As I was heading out, look who I ran in to?  I dropped off the kids with Mitch's parents, and they helped watch the kids until Mitch finished work...which happened to be right when I arrived at my gate!  What coincidence! I rarely get to see him all dressed in uniform, so this was a treat for me.  :)

I had only a short 2 day stay in Seattle this time, but on the first day of my trip, I hooked up with Rachel for a nice little run in the Snohomish area.  It was a fun and short 5 mile run and I'm so glad Rachel looked it up & convinced me to participate!

And lookie!  I even finished 3rd place in my old lady age group! :)

Rachel placed 2nd in our age group, but also ranked 3rd in Women's Overall!  Good Job, Rachel!  She got a painted rock as a reward.  Totally worth it, I think!  

And then it was off to the reunion!

President Yoshino was my first mission president, and only for one short month before he finished his service and was released.  I was a little worried that they wouldn't remember me!  But thankfully, he did...and even claimed he thought we had served together longer!  He he...maybe I left quite an impression on him?  (for good or bad, I wonder?)

Anyway, I hadn't seen President or Sister Yoshino in over 15 years!  They hadn't aged a bit, and looked exactly the same!  I still remember the first time I met them in the mission home in Sendai like it was yesterday.  I am amazed at how much time has passed...and yet how short it feels that I was a missionary in Sendai.  Such wonderful memories that I will forever cherish!  

Getting to see my mission president once again brought all those memories back, and I was thankful for it!

And then I got to see my good friend Conrad and Christina!  Never served with Conrad since he was a tad before my time...but through family we are connected and I was so happy to get the opportunity to see them once again too!

I realized, rather belatedly, that I neglected to take pictures with some of the individual missionaries here...but it was such a fun and memorable reunion!  Getting to see once again some missionaries I served along side ...and getting to meet a couple of missionaries that I had only heard about but never met...words cannot express how grateful I am for having the opportunity to serve as a missionary.  And for the countless memories and experiences I had while in Sendai and Fukushima as well. 

Seeing everyone bring their families made me a little homesick and miss my own family back home...but since I was gone for only a couple of days, I did take the time to enjoy every last minute of my solo trip to Seattle.  This is definitely one of the BEST solo trips I have ever taken.  

Since my stay was such a short one, we didn't get to do any fancy dinner with Makoto and his family, but they DID come over and we did feast on some yummy food together.

We facetimed my girls with Makoto's kids and they were laughing and chatting and I can tell my girls miss their Seattle cousins terribly.  Hopefully we can all get together soon!!

happy birthday jojo!

My little Jolee has turned 6 years old!

I was very sad that I had to miss her birthday this year (since I was in Seattle for a mission reunion), but was very happy that Jolee had so many people to help her celebrate this special day.

Mitch took the kids to Grandma and Grandpa Seavey's hotel and they had a nice dinner with their cousins.  I'm pretty sure dinner was pizza...and fruits and cake was the dessert.

According to Mitch, Jolee picked the cake mix she wanted and then had her help make the cake!  What a fun idea!  She chose a rainbow cake mix with bright pink frosting.  No surprise there, really.

I was just glad that she was surrounded by family and loved ones for this special day.

Jojo isour most girly, emotional, and silly child.  She is quick to crack jokes and try to make you laugh, but is also very sensitive and caring.  Despite her tiny body, she's got a big personality and is not afraid to express herself.  She often gives us the runaround and keeps us on our toes, but we love her dearly and are so grateful to have this bright sunshine in our lives. 

Happy Birthday, Jolee!!

birthday beauty bash for kela

For her birthday, Kela wanted to do something different than the usual party...so I suggested a pamper party with a few friends.  We invited one cousin and a couple of friends for a relaxing day getting nails done.  

Each girl chose the color polish they wanted and had their fingers soaked, massaged, buffed and painted.  They even got some fancy decorations added to their polish.   

The pampered crew...waiting for their nails to dry.  

Not pictured was my own toes...I got a pedicure while the girls got their nails done.  

The fancy fingernails!!  Each with special flowers decorating their thumbs.

I think this was a hit with every one of them!

We finished off the afternoon with some ice cream and snacks at Farrell's & we all sang Happy Birthday to Kela.  

So happy that Kela has been able to keep in touch with these dear friends of hers from our old area...and that they got to join in on her special party to celebrate her birthday.