Our Town

Kamuela. aka Waimea.
Population 7,500.
2,500 ft above sea level.
U'a Kipu'upu'u (name of the famous rain)
This is Paniolo Country.
paniolo = hawaiian cowboy
This town is home to various ranches, farms, rodeos, and some seriously 'ono BBQ! It also has not one, but two private schools (HPA and Parker) although no public high school, the famous Parker Ranch complex, a Starbucks and a hoppin' farmers market every Saturday.



This is the view from our backyard - looking down towards the ocean (cant exactly see it because its somewhat hazy today) with the Kohala Mountain Range on your right. Straight ahead (and down on the coast) is Kawaihae Harbor and to the left would be the beautiful, richy-richy Kohala Coast!

Pink Anthuriums?!

Leave it to my wonderful, thoughtful, kind, generous, loving, caring, and creative husband to dig up something so special and unique for Mother's Day. Barf. I know.

Saturdays at Mauna Lani

Mom requested a video with more sweeping panoramic views and since its Mothers Day, shes going to get whatever she wants!

Here it is - a typical Saturday morning in Hawaii.



just so you know, the walking thing worked. His tired little body was helpless against the sheer peacefulness of "Spa Without Walls" or whatever it called. Its basically a bunch of little huts in this tropical garden thing at the resort thats full of waterfalls and awesome smelling plants. Im certain that the spa is way out of my price range, but you can walk around the gardens for free - its practically the same experience!

6 month check up

Went in for the obligatory six month check up on Thursday.

Last week he had his first official illness. There was hanabata, fever, and everything. But even though hes been scratching at his ears the doctor said it was just some congestion and not an infection (*phew* Ive been very nervous about ear infections since Mr A and I both have a history of some pretty gnarly autolaryngological problems).

Overall, doc gave him the stamp of approval. He weighed in at 20lbs 1oz and measured a whopping 28 3/4"! He was very energetic for the doctor, wowing him with all his mobility based tricks. You can see in the above picture that he completely destroyed the paper cover on the examination table!

There have also been new developments in the circumcision saga. We decided to go ahead with getting Ickey circumcised so I asked the pediatrician about it when I was there. They wont do it after one month old so we have to go to a urologist in Hilo. I called the urology clinic and they wont do it until hes a year old! Furthermore, its still not clear whether or not insurance will cover it since its technically not a medically necessary procedure. If they dont, lets just say we could use the same amount of money to take a relaxing holiday in Thailand! The bottom line is that our baby needs to go to the penis doctor to get some plastic surgery. But hes stuck with his foreskin for at least another 6 months, if not more, depending on how big of a pain in the ass this whole thing turns out to be!

Happy Mothers Day

Guess who won the Mauna Loa Mac Nut Mothers Day Gift Basket from KTA Superstores???



That's right...ME!!!

HAPPY FLUNK DAY!

Its Flunk Day!

For those who dont already know, Flunk Day is a Knox College tradition where a secret day in the spring is selected and classes are canceled, senior "friars" burst into all the dorms at some ungodly hour and wake up the underclassmen, and a huge campus wide party (complete with bubble pit, staff v student softball and late night cover band) ensues. Its a tradition that really deserves to be carried throughout the rest of ones life.

Even though I no longer live in Post, I feel like Im already there. My "roommate" is sick this morning (although Im up to my ears in snot instead of vomit), I woke up super early and have gotten little to no sleep, and if my day continues like this I may end up drinking heavily before noon!

I thought it was hilarious that the Knox Alumni was encouraging us to get on Facebook and "share some Flunk Day memories" ...AS IF ANYONE REMEMBERS FLUNK DAY! If you can remember what you did clearly enough to make a coherent story out of it then you werent really participating to the fullest extent.

I do vaguely recall one Flunk Day Veronica's freshman year roommate and her boyfriend singing (and performing a colorful interprative dance) to "The Bad Touch" during campus karaoke and I was sitting there thinking "I cant believe shes doing this in front of all her professors..." But that thought was interrupted because Like A Virgin was up next and I needed time to prepare.

Mr A and I have been scoping out this place in town called Tako Taco - a mexican tequeria right in the heart of Waimea! - that apparently has some amazing pineapple salsa and margaritas I would like to try. Perhaps in honor of Flunk Day I will have to push my scheduled mother's day celebration forward!

Beach & Beets

This is Ickey playing at the beach on Saturday. You can clearly see where we are with the crawling to walking transition. Practicing in the sand is good because it doesnt hurt as much when he falls over - although he could drown so that kind of sucks...

The other video is him trying beets. The first food he has categorically rejected. You can see that I have to trick him to even open his mouth and even then he gags and acts like hes going to puke. I hope its not too dark...

He ran his first fever last night. Mr A has picked up something from the students and brought it home to share it with his family. The fever is gone (I put onion slices in his socks and gave him a cool bath) but the runny nose remains. Luckily, instead of being fussy and terrible, illness has made him docile and somber all day long.

What a Brute!

Little Ickey is just too much kid for his own good.

Last week at an HPA volleyball game Ikaika was introduced to another little baby boy Niko. Niko is about two months old and Dougie was holding him so we sort of held Ikaika up to see the baby and said "Look! Another baby!" My man got all excited and started laughing, flapping his arms around, kicking his legs - just nuts happy. Niko burts into tears. I assume he was terrified.

Yesterday over at our friend's house, their granddaughter Xela (pronounced zey-lah. its alex- the dads name- backwards. i will never cease to be amazed at how people come up with names) who is almost 2 was playing on the floor with a toy (something that makes noise electronically so you know my son doesnt have one) and Ickey goes crawling over there to explore. Xela's mom is sitting on the floor with her and says, "Xela, say hi to the baby, share with baby" and so on (mom is having another baby any day now and is eager to get her daughter used to having a small infant around) After a small protest, Xela timidly relaxes her grip on the toy and Ikaika touches it for the briefest moment.

Then he goes nuts. He starts screaming laughing and tries to grab Xela, all but throws himself on top of her, and is flapping his arms around like a mad man again. Guess what? Xela bursts into tears.

I pick Ikaika up and hold him on the couch but then he will not stop screaming. Not screaming crying but just screaming yelling. Hes just yelling. Not unhappy, just yelling. Our friends were laughing and said it was probably because Xela raised her voice at him (when he first tried to grab at her toy) so maybe Ikaika just got the impression that yelling is how you play. I doubt it, I think he was just trying to get her attention back.

I dont know. But I do know that I was sitting there thinking, "is my kid crazy?" Every parent probably reaches the day where they at least think that their kid might be totally anti social, and you worry that perhaps you have raised a little demon who cant interact with other children. I wanted to run out and join some kind of toddler playgroup just to make sure he wouldnt turn into a brat down the road (for now he at least has the excuse of being small). Its kind of an embarrassing process, teaching your kid how to play well with others.

For the record, Ikaikas first attempts at play have resulted in two tearful episodes on the account of his over enthusiastic approach to fun. Hes an animal!