The Dole Plantation

The Dole Plantation.

Next time you enjoy a pineapple, appreciate these facts:

I always thought pineapples grew on trees, like coconuts. As a kid I remember wondering why I could never see the pineapples on the "pineapple trees" outside the Mesa temple...I just figured they were too high to be seen. Needless to say I was surprised to find this:

My new favorite tree is the Rainbow eucalyptus. The bark sheds annually to reveal the underlying green bark, which then matures to blue, purple, orange, and lastly maroon tones.
Boe's cousin and fam on the Pineapple Express.

I enjoy looking at fish in tanks, but these carp were fat, dirty, and hyperactive. That's probably why the girls were mesmerized.

Defense

This is the reason my child is not yet potty trained. I defended my thesis today (sounds like I was on trial...that's kind of what it felt like). After a 20-minute powerpoint, my comittee deliberated for a few minutes and returned to let me know I had passed. I guess that means not-guilty...I am so happy...the end is near...

This weekend

One of my favorite things about clinicals is suturing. Some unexplainable feelings of joy (and empathy, of course) surface when a patient walks in with a laceration. I never considered myself a crafty person, but this sort of sewing excites me. A good husband would let me practice on him, but alas, he was nowhere to be found when I broke out my surturing tools this weekend. Kenzie's blanket substituted nicely and didn't complain once (note for future patients: the edges of this "laceration" were cut unevenly, which is why, they don't match up...not because I fell off track during suturing).

High surf warning this weekend. Someday when I learn how to surf that may mean something to me. As of right now, you could not pay me enough to get in waters that look like this: white=tempestuous=dangerous (beautiful though).

Beach-bummin' it at Temple Beach. Sometimes we forget we are not Polynesian and fail to lather frequently with sunscreen. First stop after the beach this weekend...to the store for some soothing aloe to numb the pain.

Cute Kenzie

My daughter. I've been fostering some hostile feelings towards her and her two-year-oldness lately so I am posting some pictures of her cuteness hoping it to be therapeutic. Picking some wildflowers.

Our plumeria tree. On the other side of the fence is our mailbox, so naturally we return from getting the mail everyday with flowers in our hair.

This is an ensamble she came up with. At least all of the pieces are somewhat color-coordinated.

I survived Hawaii tsunami 2010.

0600-Sleeping through the sirens.This is what those who fail to hearken look like.0700-Awake...no, that's not the tsunami. It's her hair.

Just after the sirens sounded at 6am, I walked down to the Point to see how the water looked. Things looked calm. All of the weekend fishermen (all of the cars parked on the Point) were gone about 30 minutes later. There was also a plane flying around announcing what was happening and advising citizens get to higher ground.

09:15-Though no official evacuation statement had been made, our bishop and stake president sent out a mass email early this morning for all members to evacuate to Temple Hill. As I was walking back from the Point, our elderly Patriarch neighbor was out knocking on doors to warn our other neighbors...he's awesome. We also received a phone call from our home teacher to warn us to get to Temple Hill. The Church is TRUE. Here are some of the cars parked outside the temple from the mass exodus to higher ground.09:30 (11:35 tsunami estimated time of arrival). People just waiting around to see what happened next. It was kind of like Fourth of July...hiking to the highest spot in town, people singing, lounging on the lawn, listening to music, chewing on freeze-dried goods from their 72-hour kits (I guess that part's not too much like the Fourth). Like fireworks shows, we waited in anticipation...knowing generally when things were to begin, but not exactly when or how grand.A view of the ocean from Temple Hill.

The rest is boring, fortunately. We returned home, and made some tsumani BLT's. I can only imagine what tomorrow's Church lessons will be about.

LA'IE FALLS

We woke up Saturday and decided the beach needed a break, so we headed 5 minutes (literally) inland for some hiking. The preface to the hike (see sign below) was a little daunting as were the pictures posted along the trail of a hiker gone missing (see what Boe is looking at). We had already packed our homemade burritos and celery sticks and Kenz was sure we were going to see some princesses in the forest, so we pressed forward. This area was 30 min into the hike. The dead, white needles that hung on the trees and lay on the ground blurred the surroundings, creating the illusion that your eyes were out of focus. In addition to the surreal lighting, I felt like I was on a fake movie set.
This is looking back somewhere between the Scrambling Hills and Pine Forest portion of the hike. If you zoom in, just right of the mid line is Laie Point.

Approaching the Pine Forest.

The Cook Pines. Indigenous to New Caledonia and the Isle of Pines in the South Pacific.

The mountain on either side of the path is so steep the trees have a hard time resisting gravity. That's why this picture looks crooked.

I was afraid K's little brain was getting all jumbled as we treaded over the increasingly treacherous terrain, so we ditched the wagon-cart and Boe carried her the rest of the way. Kenz and I digging into the food rations.

Finally...the Falls. After two hours of hiking, I was expecting something a little more spectacular, more along the lines of Niagara.

The anticlimactic hike back home.

The Bird Man

Went to the International Marketplace in Waikiki this weekend. If you make eye contact with any of the vendors they begin pitching sales in all sorts of languages, so be wary. Located within the ever so overwhelming marketplace is The Bird Man, who places one or more of his tropical birds on suspecting or unsuspecting persons for a small price. Kenzie was half terrified (keeping her eyes clenched shut), half so excited she could hardly stand it (smiling and giggling uncontrollably) with the bird on her shoulder. Of course as soon as the bird was off of her shoulder she wanted it back on.

Do you remember how good Mac N Cheese is? K would eat it for every meal if she could. Pickles are a close second.

No turtles at Lanikea Beach

In the attempt to purchase a gallon of milk under $6, we made a 40 minute drive to Costco this Saturday. On the way, we decided to stop at a nearby beach famous for its Hawaiian sea turtles that frequent the beach daily. Despite going at one of the peak sighting times (late morning) the only things we sighted were signs about the turtles...no turtles...just signs. It was a little overcast, so I think they decided to stay indoors. Boe and I spent the remainder of our trip discussing the premise of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and what made it so popular despite being based on such a weird idea.

This is what we had hoped to see. The Malama na Honu volunteers set up camp everyday to make sure the turtles remain protected. When one creeps up, they place a red string around to remind visitors to keep their distance.

This is all we saw:

Our house (Evanson Hale)-the cat belongs to the neighbor but the princess bike is definitely ours. I love the blue trim. The landlord(lady?) owns two units just behind ours that have roof tiles that are the same blue color but with a glossy finish. They remind me of Legos. I wish I could knock them down as easily as Legos because then we'd have a direct view of the beach.
The view from our side yard with some nice local art. Yes, that is a cactus peeking over the wall...just like home.

Your daughter is a princess if...

How to tell if your daughter is a princess:


She calls an umbrella a "Belle-Rella"

She calls Taco Bell, "Tinker Bell"

She makes you put on her headbands Rambo-style, like a crown

She will do almost anything for Disney princess spaghettios

When something is too high to reach, she states "I need a fairy" (to fly up and get it for her)

She starts singing, "Someday my prince will come" every time she sees a lady wearing a pretty dress

Every Sunday you have to make a castle out of Hymnbooks for her princess figurenes to play in

She wants to wear a dress everyday...even resorting to dirty ones in the dirty clothes pile if necessary

Her dresses are named according to their predominant color and corresponding Disney princess: yellow and orange ones are Belle dresses, Blue ones are Cinderella dresses, green Ariel dresses, red Snow White dresses, and pink Aurora dresses


...all of which have led me to the conclusion that my daughter is in fact a princess.

Turtle Bay and the PCC

We were honored to spend the weekend with some very generous family/friends at Turtle Bay Beach Resort on Oahu's North Shore. Along with the occasional crab, we also spotted Sean Penn eating dinner and The Hoff (yes, David Hasselhoff himself) at the resort gym. Kenz and Dixon provided Sean Penn's private dinner entertainment as they chased each other around what was supposed to be his secluded table. He was probably thinking the children's silly parents must be making some sad attempt at getting a celebrity's attention. In reality, we were just really hungry and wanted to eat, I guess at the expense of his private evening. Thanks, Sean, for being such a good sport and babysitter. I saw the Hoff at the spa/fitness center, walking at a steady pace on the treadmill, and unsuccessfully trying to balance his morning newspaper on the treadmill stand. At one point, he even tried to pay tribute to his Baywatch days by kicking the pace up to a jog, which only lasted 5 seconds. Jogging is too much of a hassle for the aging Hoff. Ironically, the gym television began playing a commercial advertising a new " Beating Alcohol Addiction." He looked pretty sober to me though (other than trying to balance an open newspaper on the tiny little treadmill stand).

At the pool with Dad

I'm guessing this beach is Turtle Beach as it borders the resort. Kenz and Dixon took every opportunity to hunt for various sea "monstors". Lucky for the crabs K and D's hunting tools were flimsy dried leaves.

What better way to spend vacation than lounging on the hotel bed watching tv with the cousins?At Waimea Bay where we did some boogie boarding. I need to practice a little more before I do that again...the waves here are pretty intense.The weekend was capped off by a trip to the Polynesian Cultural Center. The park is organized by the Polynesian islands Figi, Hawaii, Tahiti, New Aealand, Tonga, and Samoa. Each "village island" has authentic dwellings, structures, performances and activities central to their culture. In Figi, we learned to play a bamboo stick, while in Tahiti we were tattooed. I wanted to leave Kenz's TWO tattoos for nursery the next day, but decided against it.

The daily Canoe Festival. Each island (Figi, Hawaii, Tahiti, New Zealand, Tonga, and Samoa) represents their style of dance and dress while being paddled around a small lake. This is Hawaii's canoe. I think this was Tonga or Samoa's canoe At the Fiji island village after a performance. Kenz though she was getting eaten. The big guy on the right had come straight from Fiji only two weeks earlier. He is attending the Y to pursue a degree in business management. Kenz will be doing no business with him in the future.
Our luau buffet consisted of purple sweet potato salad, purple rolls, pineapple, kalua pork (they smoke a new one underground every day), teriyaki chicken, island fish, saimin (basically pico de gallo with pices of raw, lemon-marinated salmon), clear noodles with pieces of chicken, spinach, cucumbers and carrots in something sweet, coconut pudding squares, a bundt cake with coconut glaze, chocolate cake, and all sorts of tropical nectars.

Ha Breath of Life Night Show. The performances were great and the story line had some subtle references to Mormon doctrine. Kenz kept smiling and saying, "Mommy, they shakin' their bootie!" Pretty accurate if you've ever seen authentic island dancing.

Merry Christmas!

Our ward party this year was well worth the drive to Laie from Honolulu. Good food (still no Mexican) and great entertainment provided by the ward members. The Relief Society sang a Maori rendition of the Twelve Days of Christmas. I was part of the "8 plants of puha" group. Here is the sheet of words we used with some helpful translation (Kenz provided the nice and colorful background...nothing is safe from her artistry here):

Christmas PJ's accessorized appropriately with a Cinderella headband and Snow White socks. Christmas dress which she has worn every day since receiving it one week ago.Boe won a gift basket at his work Christmas party that included various delicacies including this turtle. We were surprised to find... ...these hiding inside. I didn't feel right eating them, it being Christmas and all.