wave pool!

Who knew our ship would come equipped with one? :-)

Previously the kids had only swam in the pool while we were in port. This was the first time they swam while we were out to sea. I seriously was NOT expecting the water in the pool to slosh the way it did, but the kids had a blast....




I couldn't watch for long for two reasons.... 1. I just kept imagining the worst every time the water swept from one end of the pool to the other and 2. even though I had already taken my sea calm... watching the water slosh overrode the medication... sigh.

This was our last night on the ship.... just a few more photos and I'm done!

recess!!!

Yesterday was a beautiful day and even though we had TONS to do... we decided to sneak out for just a bit after lunch for "recess"!

Excuse the photos... the mid-day sun was harsh.

So, there was lots of swinging going on...



and some playing on the jungle gym...
and a little bit of tree climbing at the end....

After about an hour we headed home and on our way home we ran into our neighbors... they were just coming home from school. It turns out that next year they'll be doing the virtual charter school so they'll be home during the day. The mom and I discussed doing a quick little after lunch recess with our kids next school year! How fun is that?

After that we finished up school and headed to martial arts. After martial arts we went to the shoe store to get Alex new tennis shoes for camp. It was there that the woman at the store made the comment "I bet you're looking forward to him being gone" to Clara, which started her weeping about how much she's going to miss him when he's gone... sigh. Is it so hard to believe that siblings can actually enjoy each other?

Oh... I haven't spoken to the doctor yet.... just received Clara's results. Her thyroid level is within the normal range. Not sure where we go from here. Waiting to hear from the doctor.

Okay... I'm off! :-)

Monday and the Luau

Yesterday was Monday and it definitely started out like one. We started our testing week for school and got off to a bumpy start. Today should be much better though (let's hope!).

After lunch all was good! A friend from the neighborhood called and asked if the kids and I wanted to join her and her daughter at the park. Well... twist our arms! Of course. We may even make it a weekly outing on days when the weather is nice. It was nice to have an easy, no stress playdate yesterday.

We had to leave after about an hour so Alex could go to cooking and Clara could go to gymnastics. Alex made us a yummy dinner of pizza with pepperoni and black olives, some bread from the leftover pizza dough and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Clara had a great time at gymnastics. All in all... it was a really good day!

Okay... back to the Hawaii stuff...

After our day on the beach on Kauai, we headed to a luau! The kids were so excited. However, it was pouring down rain and somehow we ended up with what seemed to be the worst table in the place... the very back table right in front of the band.

Here are the kids modeling their luau wear...
and enjoying their kiddie cocktails...

Here's the band... they were seriously RIGHT behind us...
Oh look! Hula lessons....
(it cracks me up the way she's sizing up the guy next to her in the photo above)

As the show began we realized that sitting directly in front of the band wasn't so bad after all. One of the members of the band invited Clara and Alex to bring their chairs and sit up on stage with them. They even got to participate in the show. Here Clara has a ukulele....
Later during the fire twirlers, Alex got to play the drums. It was an amazing night for them. I wish I had more photos but it was impossibly dark in there and flash was not allowed so I took what I could and plan to see what salvage work I can do in photoshop. These aren't for framing and display... but just to capture the memory!

Okay... time to start our day!

Kauai beach day and a weekend update

The first day we were in Kauai we decided to hit the beach for the day. There was a free shuttle that ran from the ship to a shopping area and the beach was right behind the shopping area. The beach was also in front of a resort so rentals (chairs, umbrellas and such) were available and nice clean bathrooms and food were easily accessible. Needless to say... we were set!

They spent a lot of their time digging and constructing this...
It had many reincarnations as they were building it in the area where the waves kept washing ashore. At one time it was a castle and by this time I think it was a volcanic crater.

After they gave up on that project, they decided to bury each other...



They were sooooo covered in sand. It was funny, their pediatrician found sand in their ears at their check-ups on Tuesday. She didn't even know that we had gone to Hawaii so it's safe to assume that there really was sand in there!

After our full day at the beach it was time to go back to our ship to get ready for our big night out... the luau! I'll work on those pics next!

Now... on to our weekend. It was a total blur!

Saturday Clara had dance as usual from 10 to 12... but instead of being done at that time and going to lunch, we headed straight for her martial arts belt test. It had started at 11, so Alex was already there. This was our first test so I had no idea what to expect. Wow! It lasted from 11 am until after 2 pm. It included peace exercise and martial arts instruction by the "master" instructor at the school. It was amazing to see him in action.

The kids seemed to do okay on their belt tests, we'll know on Tuesday or Wednesday if they passed or not. By the time the kids chatted and changed, we didn't get out of there until nearly 3pm. So we went straight out for lunch and then straight home to relax. The kids were wiped out. That night was family wii night.

Yesterday was church. When I came into the kitchen in the morning I was greeted with hugs and cards from the kids and Jeff. I received a My Funky Camera camera strap and rain boots (but I had to pick them out myself since Jeff got overwhelmed with all of the choices on Zappos.com... lol). We headed out to church on a beautiful Mother's Day morning with gale force winds and driving rain. Jeff dropped us off at the front of the church before he went to park so we stayed relatively dry. The kids both sang at the 11:00 service, so we stayed for a bit of that service as well to hear them sing... then we were off to brunch.

There was actually something really nice about it being yucky on Mother's Day. It forced us to stay in and relax, it was WONDERFUL! I did some online shopping when we first got home (our groceries, my new rain boots and Alex's foot locker for camp - did I tell you that Alex is going to sleep-away camp for 13 days this summer???). After that we decided to curl up together in front of the TV and have a family movie afternoon. We watched The Apple Dumpling Gang. The kids enjoyed it. For dinner we ordered Indian food... yum... my favorite. I love that we always have leftovers which means I'm set for lunch today as well.

Well, now I've got to get going. We're testing this week for school so I need to get at it, plus our groceries are coming today and Alex's piano teacher is coming to the house for a make-up lesson!

Happy belated Mother's Day and have a great Monday!

lovely hula hands...

Nothing keeps the girl from dancing... even a trip to Hawaii. When Clara found out that hula lessons were offered on the ship, she had to take them. In class they learned three hula's... Lovely Hula Hands, Little Brown Gal and the Hukilau. Then on Wednesday night they had a hula class graduation show.

Here are a few shots from that night...

ready to dance to Lovely Hula Hands...
Little Brown Gal...
Class photo (Clara's pretty easy to pick out, don't you think?)...
That's the instructor that she is sitting with. She stayed up past her bedtime that night to dance and get her diploma. She cherishes that diploma. She practices her hulas constantly... I had to purchase the songs from iTunes. Those songs haunt my sleep now and I spontaneously burst into song singing "oh we're going... to the hukilau, to the huki, huki, huki, huki, hukilau"... it's not right.

Today was a CRAZY day... first right after lunch was a work day at the community garden, straight from there was martial arts, we came home, dropped off a fabulous box of goodies about animal tracks that a former school teacher in the kids' martial arts class let us borrow, went to dinner and on the way home we ran into the boys from two doors down and the kids played outside until nearly 9pm. I love when warmer days like today arrive and the kids play outside with the neighborhood kids until dark.

Thank you Teresa for your comment as well. The kind words mean so much to me!

Okay... I'm exhausted from my day outside!

'nite!

Thank you Ia!

Your kind words in your comment the other day really helped. Now we're just playing the waiting game. I took her for her blood draw yesterday. We didn't have the most kid-friendly lab, but there was no wait and it was over quick which was nice... even though Clara did cry her great big Clara-girl tears and Alex freaked and had to leave the room. It's over and now we wait for the results.

Since we were down in the loop we decided to make the most of it. We stopped by a dance store to get Alex ballet shoes (don't ask). Then I asked Clara what she wanted to do... since the building was within sight... she said that she wanted to go to the Art Institute. No complaints from me! So after a quick lunch at the Bennigan's across the street, we headed into the museum. The kids love that place. They love the galleries but they also enjoy the children's library...
and Alex had to visit his favorite painting....
Since our admission is free (I have an educator's pass as a homeschool teacher and kids under 12 are free)... we rented the headsets as a special treat. We had a great time... staying over three hours (you can read more about our day here).

I haven't forgotten the other photos I promised... they're almost ready to post!

Happy Friday!

back to Hawaii - Kona

On the Wednesday we were in Hawaii, we docked at Kona (well... technically we didn't "dock", we had to be shuttled between the ship and the shore on little boats).

We decided to forgo any formal "tours" and took a shuttle to Kahalu'u Beach Park. It was a great choice. A nice, close beach with a coral reef for snorkeling just steps away. And snorkel we did! So much to see! We even saw a sea turtle... well, Alex and I did. Clara's mask came off at the same time the turtle swam by so Clara and Jeff were both above water trying to fix Clara's mask.

The sand here was different than we were used to... it was dark...


We could hardly get the kids out of the water... especially Clara! She loved snorkeling. They also enjoyed the underwater cameras we had purchased. They were fun (some photos are below) but the quality is definitely lacking. Not sure what our best options are for the next snorkeling trip (Meg... any suggestions?).

Here are a few from the camera Jeff and I shared....



I worked on them a little in photoshop and neat image but they're still not so good (the last one I ran through neat image at least one time too many). But they were still fun... we'll have to work on identifying the fish next for school.

I should have another set of photos from this same day to post soon (involving a certain blond girl child and a certain type of traditional Hawaiian dance).

:-)

sad

Sorry that I didn't post last night, I spent my online time researching thyroid conditions in children. Clara and Alex had their check-ups yesterday. As per usual, Alex's check-up went just fine. Everything checks out okay... everything is within normal ranges.

But then there's Clara. Her weight is always an issue. Last year it was. Her BMI was at the 80th percentile which prompted a round of blood work to rule out diabetes and high cholesterol. With those ruled out, the doctor just suggested that we keep an eye on her diet and make sure she gets exercise. Clara is my fruit and veggie loving girl so that wasn't a problem. We also rarely, if ever, eat any fast food since moving back to the city. Also since moving back, exercise isn't a problem either. The kids and I don't drive anywhere during the week. We walk to all of their classes and activities and to tell the truth, Clara either runs or skips her way to all of these. And then there's the activities... 1 hour of gymnastics, at least 2 1/2 hours of martial arts, and four hours of dance a week. This isn't even counting playtime at the park or running around the alley with the kids from the neighborhood. Clara is an active kid... in Hawaii, while Alex was on the beach, sitting and building sand castles, Clara was constantly in the water battling waves... she just doesn't sit. So imagine my surprise and disappointment when her BMI charted at the 92nd percentile yesterday! It just isn't fair to her!

I can't imagine how she could fit much more activity into her schedule and I really would hate to put her on a diet (incorporate healthier, lower fat foods, yes.... an actual "diet", no... she's six!!). But she's already got the beginning of body issues... sadly they mostly stem from the one activity she loves the most, dance. Comments from other girls in class and her instructors are beginning to stick and she's beginning to obsess about how to "lose my jelly belly" (not sure where she got that term from) and needing more exercise because she heard people talking about how great a woman looked who had "no fat on her". I know I wasn't aware of stuff like this until I was much older. It scares me that she thinks like this at six.... what's it going to be like at sixteen? sigh
So, her doctor has ordered another round of blood work... this time testing for thyroid issues. We're going to try to get her in at the lab either tomorrow or first thing Friday morning. I don't know what I'm hoping for, I don't want her to have thyroid problems, but I honestly crave an answer to what's going on with her.

Okay... just needed to vent and get that out of my system!

Thanks for "listening" :-)

break from hawaii - a weekend report :-)

I've been a bad blogger again... sigh. I have an excuse though! :-) My in-laws were here for the weekend so I didn't spend much time on the computer.

Hmmm... first let's start with Friday. It was around 3:30, my in-laws had just arrived, we were getting ready to leave for martial arts and we noticed the scent of smoke on the air (it was a nice day so our windows were open). We had also heard sirens but in the city, that's nothing new. But imagine our surprise when we walk out the back door to head to class and notice this...
Yes, the building behind us was on fire. Thankfully it was nothing huge... a flaming couch in the basement.

After martial arts and dinner, it was time to come home for Alex's birthday cake with Grandpa and Grandma...
(I actually messed up the real shot so this was his staged shot for me... lol! I was having camera issues that day... nothing directly related to my camera but my mental inability to figure out which lens I wanted, where said lens might be located and that both my external flash and camera should be turned on at the same time... sigh.)
Alex LOVES his Jello cake. He finds great joy in picking the jello flavors... this year the top later was Tropical Fusion and the bottom layer was orange... YUM!
Then it was time to open presents from Grandpa and Grandma and his aunt and uncle. And much to his delight, both sets of gifts included more Lego products!

The next day I took Clara to dance and afterwards we met everyone for lunch. Then Clara went home with her grandparents and Alex went with us for a day out. He had two requested destinations... the comic book store and the Lego store.

We started out at Brainstorm Movies, Comics and Gaming (I was going to link to the website, but it seems to be down at the moment, so here's their myspace page). We love this store. We started there not long after moving here after reading about it in the Trib. We were looking for ways to encourage Alex to read more. Our theory at that time was that the beginning readers didn't offer enough action for his taste so comics gave him the action without overwhelming him with text. The kid's section is right up from and Robert was quick to recommend appropriate titles for Alex and got him excited about the stories right away. He was hooked. Saturday we walked in after a 6 month absence, and Robert recognized us right away and had all of Alex's subscriptions pulled before Alex could pull his card from his pocket. Alex selected a stack of comics, which we treated him to for his birthday. Saturday had the added bonus of being Free Comic Book day so Alex left with a bonus of five additional comics (Robert had selected a couple of those specifically for Clara though).

Then we were off to the Lego store! Alex had originally also wanted to go to the top of the Hancock tower but Saturday was entirely too cloudy for that. Alex tried to browse but gave up pretty quickly and went straight to what he was there for... the Indiana Jones Temple Escape. Thankfully it was there and we went straight to the check out counter. We stopped for a treat but we could tell that Alex was antsy to get home and build.

That night was grilled out burgers, legos and wii. Fun night.

Sunday was church. This year's kindergarten class received their Bibles during their chapel time, so we went there to see Clara get her Bible instead of heading straight to service. It also ended up being a big day for Alex as well... we found out when we picked him up from choir that he had been elected as the Junior Officer to the children's choir! He had won over the other choir members with is impromptu speech about his qualifications (he's always at church unless we're on a trip and he's very organized because at home he keeps his legos separated by size... LOL!). After that we said good-bye to grandpa and grandma and hurried off to buy a birthday presents for a party we were going to later.

The kids had been invited to the birthday party of one of their homeschool friends. It was a beautiful day for a party and the kids had a great time playing in the park with their airplanes they had built. One of the presents the birthday girl had received was a body art kit... you should have seen how the kids all made each other up!! I wish I would have had my camera... we had packs of wild tigers and vampires running around their house!

Ugh... which brings us to today. The kids have a belt test for martial arts on Saturday so they needed to get in some extra classes. The normal kid classes are in the afternoon but today we went to one of the primarily adult classes. It was tough for them... this one included a full hour of "peace exercise yoga" along with a full hour of martial arts. They did well though. I finally got up my nerve and did the peace exercise today. It was tough, but it felt good to do something active. I would like to go more often, but I think we'll just shoot for once a week since it was such a long class for the kids.

Besides that it was gymnastics/cooking class day... Alex made a fabulous meal... black bean and sweet potato enchiladas, homemade tortillas and fruit pico de gallo with cinnamon chips... yum!

Okay... now that I've bored any of you out there who attempted to read this all... I'm off to walk the dog!

'nite!

(I'll try to get back to Hawaii pics tomorrow!)

Maui Day Two

On our second day on Maui, Jeff and my dad went to play golf so mom and I took the kids on an excursion.

Our first stop was Iao Valley State Park...


It was really beautiful there.

Oh... in case you're wondering... the best thing about a wide angle lens is....


making your children look like bobble heads... :-)
(Clara was having a bad hair due to all of the waterproof sunscreen we put around her face the day before... it took two days to fully wash out!)
Our ultimate destination was the Maui Ocean Center. It was great! The aquarium only contained the fish of Hawaii so it was great prep for our snorkeling trip that was to come later in the trip.

Here's my favorite, the frog fish...
And Alex and Clara's favorite, the sea turtle tank...
and one last shot of the squinting kids (it was pretty bright that day)...
Not much else to really report about that day. We had a great time on our excursion and afterwards the kids spent several hours in pool on the ship. Another perfect day!

Okay... there are bedtime stories to be read!

'nite!

sorry, no post yesterday

Besides it being our day to spend three hours at the dance studio... immediately afterwards I went with a friend to hear the author of this book speak...
The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs

It was really fun! He wasn't exactly as I had expected, but it was so cool to put an actual person with the experiences I had read about in the book. I've never been to see an author speak before, but I think it could be neat to do this again sometime.

After that we headed to the cafe in Borders where we sat and chatted until they kicked us out when they closed at 11pm. It was so nice to be out having a conversation with another adult with no children in tow. Something else I'll have to do again sometime soon.

Today is our stay-at-home-day so I'll probably have some more Hawaii photos later today!