Well, today is our last day in Hawaii. I am very nervous about flying tomorrow and wondering if I’ll be able to handle the boys and luggage by myself. What did we do today? SHOPPING and more shopping. Getting last minute stuff, returning some things that don’t fit and getting others. We went to Nordstrom Rack to get fake crocs for the boys, then to Taj clubhouse for some shirts, then to Sam’s club to look at the luggage (but didn’t get anything), then down to Wal-Mart to get a duffle bag (easier to store than one with wheels), then to Ala Moana to go to Children’s Place, Sears and Barnes and Noble. I bought “thank you” gifts for my parents - a new drill for my dad (his is older than me I think and that’s OLD) and 24 Season 5 for my mom.

I have spent the last few days visiting with friends and relatives, cramming it all in. Last Thursday, I visited with the Otas and finally got to see Debbie. She is pregnant again and is so sick that she barely leaves the house. Last Friday, I went to see the Pagaragans (my cousin Lynn’s in-laws). On Saturday, I visited with the Chars, John, Lisa and Taylor. Lisa is a friend from pre-school(!) and we went to Elementary, Intermediate and High School together. She and John are so much fun to talk to and visit. Sunday afternoon we went to our cousin’s 1st birthday (Shane) and saw a lot of the Kaneshiro side. Then on Sunday evening we had a “goodbye” dinner for us at the Tamashiros house. It was really nice of my aunties to cook for us. This morning I visited with another friend from high school, Denise and her family. I was hoping to get to visit with a whole bunch of others, but alas, I have run out of time. We will miss everyone! It has been awesome to have so much family around and to get together to have so much ono food.

The boys are doing very well, I think they will be very upset to leave. They have gotten used to the slow paced life of Hawaii. They love saying hi and bye to the dog, Kalea. They are also getting good at vocalising what they want. Elijah has learned “handsome face” which he does the exact opposite. Rowan actually retrieved a diaper, gave it to my dad, and lied down in front of him for a change (WOW). The boys love rice and soup. I’m sure they will be campbells chicken noodle soup eaters soon. They love to say bye to everything, including toilet paper being flushed down the toilet. They are happy to hug and/or kiss anyone when leaving. They can put their own shoes on (slip on kind). Rowan is really sneaky when trying to get to my mom’s coke or frappacino. Cars are still their most favorite thing. They can easily find the loudest noise to make in 5 seconds. Elijah is a budding artist, he is getting the hang of using crayons, pens and he likes his new magna doodle board.

I finished my Pomatomus socks (picture posted soon). I have been pretty productive with my knitting here. Must be because I don’t have to do any cooking (thanks, Dad)!

We are looking forward to seeing Michael again, we are so incomplete without him. The boys haven’t been asking about him, but I know when they see him again, they’re going to stick to him like glue and not want him to leave again. Wish me luck for tomorrow!

Today my mom was off of work so we spent the day repotting the plants. There are a LOT of plants. We both spent a good 3 - 4 hours repotting and maybe got 1/2 done? The tables look fabulous with all the plants on them, it looks like a real nursery! So many of the plants needed to be divided. One plant was divided into 10 plants, that’s how big it was! So, we might not have enough space once we divide up the plants. My dad had all the equipment - soil, rocks, fertilizer, etc. so we didn’t have to buy anything. It was incredibly satisfying to repot plants and see what a difference it makes. I’m hoping that the orchids will bloom again next year. I am so excited to see everything grow, my dad will have to send me monthly progress reports and pictures. They are like my babies now.

We also had a lot of people come over to do estimates on the remodelling that they’re planning. Once I get set on doing something, everything goes quickly. We’re excited to see what the estimates will look like.

Other than that, no real news. Knitting has slowed down some because of all this other work, but I’m still trying to do at least 20 rows a day.

The last couple of days I actually got off my lazy butt and did something. Last week I decided that I would clean up my dad’s patio area as a project to do before I leave. My dad has a lot of plants and it has been ignored overgrown with weeds for several years. For some odd reason, as messy as I am, when it comes to other people’s messes, I like choosing the most messy thing and clean that up. I guess it’s because it’s the most rewarding. Anyways, I never had the motivation to start and the boys and knitting has kept me pretty well occupied.

Yesterday, my mom was home in the morning and was able to watch the boys so I started cleaning up. At first it was just light kind of stuff, pruning the plants, just trying to make a walkway. After a few minutes though, my dad decides to help out and we really got a lot done. In a couple of hours, you could actually walk across the patio. At that time, I looked at his hodge-podge of shelving - he has one decent plant table and the other two was rusted corrugated roofing put on concrete blocks. It was so messy and dangerous! He even had a rusted old bbq grill frame that he turned into a makeshift shelf. We laughed about it and then we got the idea to build two more work tables. It really doesn’t look that hard to make, should take us at most a day. With this renewed energy, we took all the plants out, threw away the old “stuff”, and cleaned it up really well so that you could actually see the stone patio. I don’t know when the last time was that we could see the stones. At one point he pointed up at the mesh cover and said “see this hole? I used to have my weber here.” And there was a perfectly round hole in the mesh material burnt off. He didn’t mean to be funny but I was laughing so hard. I just pictured my dad happily cooking away on his grill and then one day looking up and noticing a perfectly round hole. I’m still laughing at that one.

Then he said “geez, when you come home I have so much work to do”. Haha!

Most of the time I couldn’t tell what were real plants and what were weeds. When in doubt, it’s a weed. I threw so much away. But there are some plants that just went crazy and thrived in an “ignored” environment. One of them was orchids. Actually, the orchids weren’t thriving (no flowers), but they were still living. I think of that movie “secretary” where that guy had that special humid environment with the little spray misters that would mist them every few hours, and here my dad is ignoring them for how many years and they’re still living! He has a lot of nice plants that are still living so after we build those shelves, we will repot them all.

So yesterday was cleanup and idea day, and today was building day. My mom had the morning off again, so we worked on building the tables this morning. It was a comedy of errors and it had me laughing throughout the day. It’s amazing how slow things go when you’re just starting. We had so much energy to just start doing and not thinking about what we need, etc. My dad made a big speech yesterday about having a plan so that we know what we need. So he drew it up yesterday and we were ready.

Oh, but where are the hammers? Where is the safety goggles. Ok, start hammering. Wait, what size nails? Too long! This one? Ok. Where is that drill? Where did that tape measure go? Things of that nature. The first table was painstakingly slow to start. We had to do all the cutting first. I measured the line and my dad cut. He complained about my line not being straight, but you should’ve seen his cut. But whatever, it’s just for a plant table. I had to chuckle though. We assembled the legs and started on making the frame when we realize that it needed to be 3 inches narrower. Argh! We basically had to take it all apart and start from the beginning. We also realized that we needed to buy more wood and more nails. I asked him “what happened to the plan?” and he said “it’s in the house”. He totally cracked me up.

So, my dad went back to the hardware store and I went in to put the boys to bed. Now that we have an idea of what we’re doing and we have all the tools at our disposal, everything should be quick right? right? Well, we assembled the legs pretty darn quickly. We narrowed it by the 3″ that it needed and made all 4 leg assemblies (1 assembly has 2 legs) for the 2 tables. We got that part down pretty good. Then as we were putting the frame on, we realized that we put the 7′ piece where the 12′ piece was supposed to go. Argh! So off it came. After that, I think it went pretty smoothly, we did run out of the long nails at one point.

I could only help build one table, then the boys woke up from their nap and I had to watch them. But my dad continued and made the other table by himself. At the end of the day, we were so proud of what we accomplished and can’t wait to put them in place and start repotting the plants. We didn’t have enough wood to put slats on the bottom part, but that can always be added later. It looks really good and he has so much room now to plant whatever he wants.

It has been really fun to work on a project. Unfortunately, the boys suffered since they had to stay in most of the day. It has been rainy though, so it’s not like we could’ve done anything outside anyway. They have been watching an awful lot of TV, which I feel so guilty for. I try to turn it off and read them a story but they immediately say “la la, la la!!!” and then ignore me when I don’t turn it on. They are talking a lot though, which is really good. They’re new phrase they say is “Kalea NOOOOOOOOOUUUUU!” Kalea is the dog, btw. It’s so cute, everytime we leave, they say bye to Kalea. I think that is the only “person” who they call by name. Elijah and I have a game that he buckles himself in the car seat and then we both exclaim “WOW!” And Rowan holds his arms out really wide to give anyone a big hug, but he actually doesn’t hug, he just keeps his arms out. Today we played a game of “can you do this?” And they copied almost everything that I did. It was really fun.

I’m trying to teach them to call me Mommy. So I ignore their whines and grunts to get my attention and mention “mommy” without looking at them, and when they do say “mommy”, I give them my full attention and ask what they would like. I think it’s working.

I forgot to mention that my cousin Lori came down from Maui and we got to see her last Saturday. I saw her about a year and a half ago when she was visiting her sister and brother in Seattle, so it hasn’t been too long. But for my dad and other cousins, it’s been a long time. It was a nice visit and she brought some old videos from 1987, when we had our reunion and we watched it. I was a sophomore in High School and boy was I a character! Every shot I’m doing something silly or I’m being loud. And I actually used to do my hair. One scene was really funny because the camera was on a tripod pointing to a group of people kind of far away - super boring, and then without warning, I pass by really quickly right in front like I’m on wheels with a big grin and shaka (I think). Ah, I crack myself up.

Elijah getting a handful of snappers

Geez, it seems like we’ve been going to a million parties. We had 2 for Christmas and 2 for New Years! New Year’s Eve, we went to my cousin Sheryl’s house in Mililani. We weren’t planning to stay too late, but you know how it is. The boys were really good and they even stayed up until 12:30 with not too much fuss. They loved going up and down the stairs and playing with all of Kalen’s toys. I thought they would be too scared for the fireworks, but once they got used to it, there was no stopping them. They really enjoyed those noisemaker things where you throw it on the ground. I had to show Elijah how to do it and he didn’t want to at first, but a few minutes later he started throwing them by the handfuls. He didn’t throw them hard enough that all of them popped, but enough to keep him entertained. Then Rowan got into it so they were littering the driveway really fast. Since there was a lot of unpopped “kernels”, I made them stomp on it and they liked that too. They weren’t too thrilled with the sparklers, old school or new school (morning glories). But by the end of the night, they would get close enough to hold it.

I can’t believe it’s January and it’s so dang hot!!!

Simple Stripes completed!

I finally finished my Simple Stripes socks. I didn’t weave in the ends because I don’t have a crochet hook, so I’m saving that for later. The 2nd sock came out better than the 1st sock, I guess because of experience. Overall, I really enjoyed the fair isle part of it, but I didn’t like the heel turn part of the pattern. I think I like the gusset way better. Tonight I think I am going to do Pomatomus in Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock Jeans colorway. It looks like a really challenging and interesting pattern. I am really excited!

Since I’m getting so carried away with my stash and have-the-yarn-but-haven’t-started-knitting-projects, Michael bought me a knitting journal. I am really excited to use it - the first project was the Simple Stripes socks. I like it because it has a place to store notes as well as the knitting labels and a picture. I know I will enjoy looking through it years from now. I think it is also motivating to me so that I start and finish projects and not just think about them. I also ordered a bunch of Knit Picks circulars and dpns so that I have a complete set. Can’t wait to get them!

Today we went to Costco to buy another suitcase bag, sonicare heads, and some other things. It was fun strolling through Costco, I really know how Marco (our exchange student) feels. So much stuff to look at! Oooohhh, aaaaahhh. We also went to Best Buy to get my iPod serviced, but I ended up not leaving it. When we bought the thing, the guy said “if there’s anything wrong, we’re just going to switch it out with a new one”. Of course they’re not, they have to service it first and even then if they can’t repro the problem, they’ll charge you $25! Since my problem cannot be reproduced on command (it goes days in between), I would probably get charged! Ugh, I hate those things. I also bought a wireless router for my dad so that I can have the computer in the living room. I went to go set it up and what do you know, he already had one! He didn’t even know he had wireless! I was in total shock! All this time! So I had to set it up for him and show him how to add people to the network and all that beeswax.

Now that all the parties are over, we are just relaxing and hopefully I can meet up with some of my old friends.

So, Michael left a couple of days ago. My parents and I have been trying to keep the boys busy. They miss their dad terribly though. Rowan had really bad diaper rash because of the cheaper Pamper diapers we bought and it doesn’t keep the moisture away as well. He walked around with his legs spread apart, poor thing. Elijah thought it was funny so he walked behind Rowan and copied his walk. It was too cute. We went to the local library and got some videos and books. I was quite impressed with the Kailua library, they have a lot of DVDs and good ones too. The only bad thing is that you have to pay $1 for 7 days. Not a whole lot but still. I guess I’d pay too for that selection.

Knit Picks Simple Stripes in Cocoa and Simple Stripes (can’t remember the colorway). Knit Picks Simple Stripes detail I have been knitting a lot too, which is weird since it’s so dang hot here. I guess it’s because I bought a lot of yarn and I feel like I should do something with it rather than just have it looking at me. I finished one foot of the Knit Picks “Simple Stripes” socks with Cocoa. I made a few modifications since I couldn’t get any dpns smaller than US2. I had to leave out one pattern section on the foot because it would’ve been too long. Bummer too because it is cool. I also changed the height of the ribbed section on the cuff as well as the toe shaping (I made it the standard “side” shaping). I don’t like the cocoa as the base color, I wish I had black. I was going to order black, but noticed that they are out of stock until after the middle of January. Bummer. I am also posting the picture of Michael wearing his new Jaywalker socks, which I finished last month. He likes it a lot even though it is hard to put on. It is super form fitting and warm. I think the colors are a little too flashy though. Magknits Jaywalker with Lorna’s Laces Supersock Mixed Berries What else? Nothing much. We had a couple of days of rain so the boys couldn’t play outside, but it looks like it’s getting sunny again. My allergies seem to not be as bad (maybe it was just a cold), but it is so frustrating not being able to taste all the ono food.

Today Michael went hiking in the morning and we just stayed home. Shaun and Scott came in today at around noon so my parents went to go pick them up. It was a pretty uneventful day, the boys are getting more feisty when they’re supposed to be napping. They tear that room apart! All my mom’s clothes were all over the place and they like to lie on the ground and kick the walls, which as you can imagine makes a whole lot of noise. After an hour or so, they fall asleep. I think it’s just so hot and bright that they don’t want to go to sleep, but they’re getting used to it.

I gave my sister and Scott their Christmas gift - their wedding video from a year and a half ago. I couldn’t wait until Christmas! So we watched it and they told us the story about how they tried to teach Scott taiko and it got more and more reduced until all he did was this drum thing in the beginning. After that, we went over to Aunty Karin’s house to pick up Michael. We just missed Kalen and Lexi! But they had lots of fun, Aunty Karin always has lots of snacks and toys to keep them busy. They are usually scared of a new place, but they felt right at home here.

In the evening, Michael and I had to pick up some supplies from Safeway. I was going to go to the health food store but decided on Safeway because we had some other things to get and we didn’t want to go to more than one store. Michael was reluctant to come with me but I convinced him to go because I haven’t seen him all day. As we were driving to Safeway, I said “maybe we’ll see Evangeline Lilly….nah, I don’t think she is even in town” And then Michael said “she probably is and she needs supplies since her house burnt down.” If you haven’t heard, Evangeline Lilly is the actor who plays “Kate” in the “LOST” tv series. And yesterday her house that she was renting with two other people burnt down. Anyways, right after we walk into Safeway, I was looking at the yogurts deciding if I need to get some or not. Then I decided not to, and then Michael said “maybe we need some yogurts.” I was kind of confused then looked back at the yogurts. Huh? Then my cart was in the way of some lady and so I said “excuse me” and moved it out of her way. I walked over to Michael and he was mouthing “it’s her!” And I turned around and who is standing there? Evangeline Lilly!!! She looks exactly like she does in the show, except maybe a little smaller. She looked tired, like she had a long day. We were just standing there with our mouths open, just shocked that one of the people we watch on TV all the time is right there. And there was no entourage, no media. Then we went to the next aisle, and got another look at her as she was at the cash register. No one bothered her at all. We wanted to say something about the fire, but didn’t want to seem like dorks, so we just said nothing. Later, Michael told me the story about how he never looks at people, but for some reason, she seemed like the right size and shape, so he looked at her as we were coming down the aisle and she gave him a nice sincere smile. I joked with him that he probably had a goofy stunned face in return. We walked through Safeway about 3 times because we couldn’t concentrate on what we had to buy.

Later when Michael told the story to my parents and to Shaun, he said that she said “Hi!” and I was like “oh now she says hi to you?” It was funny! So that’s our story of our brush with fame.

The Kaneshiro cousins

Almost right after we returned to Munich, I headed back out again, this time to Hawaii. If you didn’t know by now, my cousin Lynn (blog on the right hand side) found out that her cancer has spread to her spine and is now terminal (and very aggressive). In just a few weeks, she went from general good health and a little pain in her back to being unable to walk or sit up. The news was devastating to me, and I can’t imagine to her family. There was no question about me going back to visit her. I asked if there’s anything I could do, and her brother asked if I could do a “movie” of her with any pictures I had. So, for the few days I had in between the Italy trip and leaving for Hawaii, I scrambled around to get pictures and used a lot from her blog. It came out pretty good. If you’re interested in seeing it, it is on YouTube. I also made 25 copies for her friends and family.

I left on July 25, early in the morning. As per my tradition, I was busy making DVD copies and packing that I didn’t sleep at all the night before. I took the train since it was the easiest thing to do. The flight was amazingly easy and due to an overbooked flight, I even got upgraded to business class from London to LA!!! THAT was AWESOME! So I managed to get a few hours sleep during the flight in one of those completely flat “bed” seats. I was pretty amazed at how easy the trip was. It was long, but not too bad. My favorite airline is British Airways now. Not only is this the 2nd time to get upgraded, but I like the rotating movies that they have, it makes the time go by very quickly.

When I arrived, I had to immediately go to visit my cousin Stacy, since she hasn’t given birth yet. I commanded her baby to come out over the weekend so that I could see the baby before I left. She listed to me! (See more about her towards the end of this post)

On Wednesday, I thought I would have jet lag, but I was up and around and going everywhere. I found a guy that does Super8 transfers to DVD and he was in Kaneohe, so me and my dad went out there to pay him a visit. He even loaned us a viewer so that we could see what’s on the movies. Unfortunately, some of the really old movies are warped and/or badly damaged that they are lost forever. He said that he will try and recover what he can. I also had to go to Kozo Sushi, and then I also found more pictures of Lynn that my dad had, so I went to Kinkos to scan them in and I quickly added it to the movie. I also visited my Grandma and Grandpa in the nursing home. Then in the afternoon, I picked crownflowers and ti leaves to make leis for Lynn and Rob. The Ti leaves didn’t work out so well, so I just had the crown flowers. I pretty much stayed up all night doing this too. Geez, where is the jet lag?

Then on Thursday, July 27, I went to Hilo by myself. I rented a car from the airport and drove out to my Uncle Harris’s house. Only Tricia and Christian was there, but I always have fun talking to them. I finally got to see her “store” in her house. Since Christian likes to cook, he made awesome omlettes for all of us. That was really nice. Then I headed out to Hakalau to visit Lynn. Eric and Ryan were there as well, so it was good to see them too.

It was so good to *finally* see her after this long trip! I tried to hold back the tears when I saw her, but a couple of them snuck up on me. I spent the day eating and visiting with them and massaging Lynn. You know when you’re doing it right because she will let out a “AAAAAHHHHH, that’s nice”. My no-sleep all these days finally caught up with me and I took a little nap at their house and of course Rob had to take a picture of me! I drove back to Hilo and stayed with Uncle Harris folks. They are just too nice. I got the room with internet! :) I had a really mean, screaming headache all night, I think it’s from all the lack of sleep and caffeine withdrawal. Have you ever had one of those? Ugh, no fun.

The next day (Friday), I went back out to Hakalau, not too early. This time, Lynn was in the living room in a wheelchair. It was good to see her out of bed. I think she just got tired of lying in her room. It was also good because I had better access to her back and could massage her easier. Our cousin, Kelli, arrived with her husband Darren and daughter Allison. I haven’t seen her in a long time! Lynn also had lots of friends and other relatives come in and out. She had a lot of love and support around her. My headache was gone (thank goodness) and went back to Hilo in the evening.

Saturday was the big day, Lynn had her celebration. I returned my car to the rental place since I didn’t really need it anymore and I’m paying a lot for it. So my Uncle came along with me and after I dropped it off, we went to Hakalau together. It’s a good thing too because I wouldn’t have found the church. I don’t know why Aunty said that she needed help because by the time we got there, almost everything was done! We waited around awhile and slowly people started to come. I think there was about 150 people total. Many came from Honolulu and the mainland to see her. It was a nice party, but I think it tired her out a lot, she was closing her eyes in between pictures. What a trooper! After the party, we all went over to her house to massage and visit and EAT. So much food!!! I managed to get Michael on the skype and was able to show everyone how it worked, they all liked seeing him. We stayed kind of late because I found out that everyone was leaving on Sunday and no one would be left to help out. I was trying to see if I could change my flight to Monday, but I couldn’t do it online. I finally gave up and we all went back to Hilo. I illegally stayed with my parents and sister at the Hilo Hotel. It was supposed to be for 2 adults, but there were 4 of us. We had to sneak in and out. Kind of funny.

The next morning (this is Sunday the 30th), I found out it would only cost me $20 to change my flight itinerary to the next day, so I did it. It actually worked out perfectly. Eric (Lynn’s brother) and his son Ryan, needed a ride out to Kona and was going to rent a car. But since I’m staying, he caught a ride with my parents and he is on the same flight back to Seattle with my sister. I am staying another day and my Aunty Sharon is also leaving on Monday, so we could leave together as well. We spent the afternoon over in Hakalau, and I talked a lot with Carrie, one of Lynn’s close friends. She adopted her daughter from China, and I asked her all about the process. It’s really interesting and expensive - $30k!!! But she was so happy with how it all went that next year they are going to get #2. She was really, really nice. I spent the rest of the evening pretty much massaging Lynn and I had a nice talk with Rob while we were bbq-ing the meat outside. I also got to know Gary, Lynn’s brother, a little better. I can’t believe I haven’t really met him until now. I was telling Lynn and Eric that I didn’t think Gary existed. :) I figured out a way to massage her back/shoulders really well - I put a little stool step under her bed and since her head area is propped up, I could stand in between the head of the bed and her and reach down and get both shoulders. The first time I did that, she had a HUGE smile on her face and gave out a loud “AAAAHHHH”. Her dimples even came out and everyone was saying that they haven’t seen her dimples all day. YAY! They also gave her a bath this evening and at first they said they didn’t need my help. After all, it’s pretty embarrassing to have people you know looking at your naked body and having to help change her undergarments. That was ok with me, and so I was checking email and about 2 minutes after I walked out, Rob said, “Ummm, Kris, we need your help”. I went in and it turned out that when they turned her to the side, she was in so much pain, that she wanted me to massage her shoulder/neck area. I was so happy I could do something! Then after we got her dress off, they said that they’re ok and could do the cleaning without me. That’s ok, so off I went again. 30 seconds later, “Kris, I think we need you again”. So I went in and massaged some more. Lynn told me “if you weren’t here I would be in so much pain right now”. And that made me feel so happy that I could be of some help to her. I think I went out one more time and got called back in one more time. After that, I just stayed in! I am so glad I stayed an extra day and could help! Very late in the evening I managed to get Michael on skype and we talked with Lynn. He gave her the grand tour of our apartment and she really liked it, even though we got cut off every few minutes. Unfortunately, it was during the boys’ nap, so she didn’t get to see them, but we all enjoyed it none-the-less. I stayed over at her house this evening, since everyone left and they had room.

On Monday, I pretty much spent the day massaging even more and Lynn could barely eat, since it was painful to swallow. Time flew by really fast and before I knew it, we had to go. I kept my tears at bay almost the whole time, but when it was time to say goodbye, the faucet turned on. I know this is the last time I will see her, at least in this life. She gave me a bracelet with these trinkets on it and said that she would always buy something everywhere she travelled and add it to the bracelet and she told me to keep up the tradition. Sniff… I love her and miss her already and hope that she doesn’t have to suffer much longer. And Rob, her husband, is the most amazing person. He does so much and just keeps going, always calling her “beautiful”, making her laugh, and doing his best to fulfill all of her last wishes. My heart goes out to him and his family as well.

Monday evening, my other cousin Ted and his wife, Lisa and son, Shane came and picked me up from the airport and took me shopping at WalMart and Sam’s Club. I had to pick up all my goodies! I bought tons of Cheerios and Grape Nuts and Nyquil/Dayquil, pajama patterns, etc! When we went back to their house, they have me the grand tour - Lisa built the lower 2 levels, she is amazing! She is a wood shop teacher at my old high school and she pretty much makes everything! She has built a boat, many ukuleles, you name it, she’s built it! Their son Shane is also adorable, so chubby and sticky-uppy hair and always smiling! They even got chicken katsu for me from their mom’s shop - she makes the best katsu! Mmmmm…what a feast!

OK, Tuesday, my last day, I ran all kinds of errands. I wanted to go to Boots and Kimos but for some odd reason, there was a long line! So we went to Cinnamon’s, where we always go when Boots is too full. It was ok. Then we went to visit my old dentist’s office (my parents still go there), since the office is in the same complex and they are like family. After that, we went to Daiei, where I found small rice cookers (microwave)!!! I bought one for me and one for Riki. And other misc. errands. I managed to squeeze in a visit with Makato, my newest niece and get some pictures of her, as well as the Otas. It was a very full day!

Wednesday/Thursday, August 2-3, travel day. My flight to LA was at 8am, so we had to get up early. Everything went without a hitch. I didn’t get an upgrade this time, but the flight was alright. The only bad thing was that customs in Germany confiscated all of my Portugese Sausage and Kalua pig!!! No meat was allowed. I was so depressed. They wouldn’t have stopped me except that I looked like I had an awful lot of luggage for one person, so they took me aside. Not only did I not get my sausage, I had to PAY them for it. Geez. I was really sad. Other than that, I was happy to see Michael (he met me at the airport) and the boys. I was hoping for big smiles from them and they run me down with hugs and kisses, but alas, it was like I never left and they looked at me but quickly got distracted by the open kitchen. Humpf!

For pictures of my trip, click here.

I appologize to my dear readers that I haven’t been keeping up with my blog these last few days. With the party going on and Michael and his parents arriving it has just been crazy! So, here’s one big update. We had a really nice Thanksgiving, Michael was finally reunited with us and it was good to see him. I didn’t bring the boys with me to the airport, so when we went home, he finally got to see them. Rowan immediately gave him a big smile and welcome, but Elijah was suspicious! He stared and stared and was like “I know you I think, but I don’t know from where”. It was really cute and then he finally gave in and said “OK, I guess you’re a good person”. There were lots of people at Thanksgiving at Aunty Elaine’s house. Unfortunately, Michael’s mom got sick with something and couldn’t attend. It was really sad because she had 1 day here to get over jet lag and then the next day she was sick. Tom was fine though and he joined us. It was a very different Thanksgiving for him, he’s used to people sitting around the table and having “regular” food. We had lots of different foods and my dad steamed some crab for him so that he could at least eat something. The boys were very well behaved and they really like when there are lots of people around to play with. It’s almost like they like to entertain everyone. It’s great to have so much family because they immediately take over watching the babies for you so that I can visit with other people without worrying about them. Michael got tired pretty quick since he’s been travelling so much so he went back with Tom and the boys (the boys were tired too) while the rest of us stayed. Let’s see…what else happened…Michael was really amazed at how much the boys can move around and how expressive they are now. Now on to the party - it was great! Of course I couldn’t enjoy it because I was running around here and there, but we had lots of guests and they all seemed to enjoy themselves. Stacy and Tanya did an excellent job with the food, and all my cousins pitched in to pick up stuff or bring things to the party. We have such great family and friends. The one thing that I do feel bad about is that I couldn’t visit with people more, I wanted to talk to my friends more, but was pulled away to deal with one fire or another. The weather held out for us, I was a little worried that it would rain since it rained pretty hard the day before. But we were lucky and it was just cloudy with a couple of showers. All in all, everything went smoothly! What a relief! Now we can get back to concentrating on the big move…

Visiting with the Big Island Gang

Today we had to get up super early (3 AM) to go to the Big Island. The boys were not happy, while I was feeding Rowan, he bit me really hard! He hasn’t done that in awhile. It was not a very good way to start the day. We got to the airport kind of late, but in time to make it. My mom took Elijah and my dad and I waited to check our bags in (carseats + 1 bag). It took forever because there was only 1 woman helping everyone and everyone had some problem. The people in front of us had 1 person in their party who booked the wrong flight (PM instead of AM) so they had to change their ticket. Then we forgot to check in 1 bag, so she had to add the bag to our ticket. We also asked for plastic bags for the car seats and she had to run and get those. I felt bad for adding to the problems. Then there was someone else with a problem and I forgot what it was. Then, in the security line, it was taking forever so we went over to the Aloha side (big mistake) and they asked me for my infant pass. I was like “Oh, I need an infant pass?” So, I had to go back to the counter, wait in line again (thank goodness it was short). I was standing at an open counter and I thought the people would help me after they are finished with the other people. Apparently not. So, I had to move and stand in back of the other person (who got in line after me). I heard the lady say “It’s no guarantee that you’ll get on the 5:30am flight, they are boarding now”. My flight was at 5:25, so I was in a panic now! I asked for the infant pass, they gave it to me and then I asked if they could get me through security. They took me to the First Class line (thank god) but the TSA person was super S-L-O-W and did lots of things that the normal security people don’t. She just seemed to take forever, or maybe it was just my perception of time was bad. After I got through, I ran down to the gate and made it. Apparently, my mom didn’t have an infant pass either, but they didn’t ask for it. Geez! The flight was ok, we had them as lap children since the flight is only 40 minutes. Elijah fell asleep almost right away, but Rowan stayed up until the very end when we were landing and then closed his eyes. We got our stuff off the belt then had to go pick up our rental car. I realized on the way over that I don’t have insurance anymore so I should either buy the extra insurance (which I was going to do) or let my dad be the primary driver. After going through all the motions of signing me up as the driver, the guy said that it would be $10 more to add my dad as another driver. Since he was going to be driving, he should be the primary driver. It wasn’t simple to change, he had to basically start over and use my dad’s license and credit card. That took forever. In the meantime, I was watching my mom who was looking after the boys and noticed that she was SMOKING right next to them. Ooooh, I was so mad! She knows that she’s not supposed to smoke around them and I have been pretty liberal with their smoking so far (don’t make them change their clothes or go across the street). After we got the car, we picked her up and I scolded her about smoking and she gave some excuse about being down wind from them. I was super upset. Anyways, it wasn’t too bad putting the car seats in because the car had the LATCH system. We drove the usual route - first to the Hilo Farmer’s Market to pick up flowers, then to my dad’s father’s grave, then to my Uncle Antoku and Aunty Kay’s house in Hakalau. We had a really nice visit there, they had a nice breakfast all ready for us, it was fun talking to them. After that, we went to Aunty Fumi’s house, at first we stopped by, but the boys were still sleeping, so we drove around a bit then came back. This was the first good sleep they had, we didn’t want to wake them. We had lunch at Fumi’s and had a nice visit with all of them, Christian, Aunty Pat and Tricia also joined us. It was good to see everyone and they can’t make it to the boys’s party, so we thought it would be good to bring the boys to them. The boys were pretty good throughout the day, they did get fussy here and there, mainly because they haven’t had hardly any good sleep. After we left, I wanted to stop by their house in Hilo since I don’t remember it, but we didn’t have time. We headed straight for the airport. Not as much irritations going back home, and it was pretty painless. I carried Elijah with me and my parents had Rowan a few rows behind. I sat next to a couple from Maryland and they adored Elijah. Whenever he got a little fussy, I lifted him up and down and he really liked that. I’m sure everyone enjoyed seeing a smiley baby go up and down. There were some German speaking women behind me so I talked to them as we were getting off the plane and one woman said “Can you wait until June to move?” The weather is cold and wet! We got home and I was tired but then got a 2nd wave of energy and decided to finish the boxes for the party favors. I finished stamping up all the boxes!