Crazy Loco Moco Bonanza

It's been a loco moco bonanza since we've been here. It everywhere and I'm lovin' it. The best I had was at Keneke's where you could order a triple (I did not). The worst was at Rainbow Drive-in which comes highly recommended (and everything else we had was great.)

All I can say is Mmmmmmmm.

Wednesday Humor

What's funnier than a naked 3 year old running across the room playing a ukulele?
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Two naked three year olds running across the floor playing ukuleles of course.

Accounting for headwind is everything.

On the way out here United has a game they play where you have to guess the time (hour, minute, and seconds) that the plane would be geographically halfway to Hawaii. They gave you cruising speed, altitude, and headwinds, and you had to give them the time. Get this. I guessed 2:23:37 and the actual time was 2:23:10. I only missed it by 27 seconds which was close enough to get me the first prize. Mmmmmm, chocolate covered macadamia nuts are delicious.

Lava Day

Today was so cool. We got to see lava made. We were at Bishop Museum in the science center. They put lava rock into a kiln until it melted. When it was poured out, it was the consistency of honey and bright orange from the heat. It quickly cooled to black and began to crack like glass. In fact it was very smooth and shiny like glass. Supposedly this could only be achieved in nature if a volcano erupted through a glacier. At this point it was supposedly still about 800 to 900 degrees Fahrenheit (it started out at just under 3000 degrees). According to the docent it would take 3 to 4 hours to cool to room temperature.

In Hawaii

As you all know we are in Hawaii enjoying a little R and R. As it turns out, we are also enjoying quite a bit of humor. The most recent is from Sam.

At breakfast this morning Sam had smiley face pancakes with cherries for eyes. The first thing she did was eat one eye and proclaim, "Now it's just like Daddy."

If you don't know Bill, he is blind in one eye and and one eye jokes have become a matter of life for him. They've just never come from his 3 year old before.

Twitter no longer hates me.

Woo hoo! All up and functioning. Thanks to Andrea who didn't mock me too mercilessly.

Twitter hates me!

And to all you people using it on your phones and blogs I say, "Pbbbblllllltttt!"

The Oracle of Starbucks

Try the Oracle of Starbucks, and see where you land. My "fortune" claims the following:

Personality type: Pseudo-intellectual

You're liberal and consider yourself to be laid back and open minded. Everyone else just thinks you're clueless. Your friends hate you because you always email them virus warnings and chain letters "just in case it's true." All people who drink venti non fat chai latte are potheads.

Also drinks: Sparkling water

Can also be found at: Designer grocery stores

I would thank my friend Helen for this, but she didn't put up a link to it, so I had to go find it myself.

What are you?

The wonderful Baylands and spitting clams

Months ago, as I was signing the girls up for classes with the city, I ran across one of their family programs. It was for a talk about mud, Baylands mud to be specific. It was supposed to be for families, but geared towards younger children. In general it was a very nice lecture and hands on experience. The Ranger had a little bit of trouble bringing the scientific terms down to a level that the kids could understand, but all in all it was great.

The girls got to collect mud, mount it on slides, and look at it through a microscope. They also used a magnifying glass, and a stacked filter system to see what types of things live in the mud. We found what they called worms, but they did have little legs. The girls held them in their hands and giggled because they tickled as they wriggled around. The girls thought it was great and can't wait to go back.

When we were done we walked all the way out to the edge of the Baylands where the ocean comes in, then we walked back, and got to see something I've never seen before, spitting clams. Right there on the edge of the estuary were these magnificent little fountains that kept spouting up both in the water (causing little clouds to form) and at the edge where they went up as high as 18" or so. It was really fascinating.

We capped the morning off by walking to and around the duck pond, we visited with some friendly dogs, sat on a bench and watched the birds (we even closed our eyes to listen to all the sounds), and then headed home.

It was a really great way to spend the morning. I highly recommend it, even without the great class.

Uploading pictures has reminded me of some funny moments from this past summer.

I'm sure that I will have many more things to blog about as I travel down short term memory lane in this uploading process, but here are two that were particularly funny for me.

Sam, Riley, and Harrison invented this game in which Sam and Riley would run across the yard with Harrison's tug-o-war toy, get him to latch on to it, and then he would tow them back to the other side of the yard. Sometimes they did the towing too. It was quite entertaining, and went on for about 20 minutes. I got tired just watching the three of them.

The second funny moment was another game Sam and Riley invented. I'm not sure of the rules, but it involved using buckets to empty water from the wading pool into an empty ice chest, sitting in the water filled ice chest, and pouring the water from there into the planter behind it. It also sometimes involved 2 preschoolers in the ice chest, often with one pouring water over the other.

Good times were had by the preschool crowd this summer.

Thank you

...to April, who has enabled my photo uploading by loaning me a pro-media card reader so that I can upload my photos once again. Of course this also enables my blogging as we all know how much I like to photo blog, like this...

Of course there will be many more to come, both here and on my Flickr page.

To those of you with outdated freezers,

Please be kind, and be sure the door is closed all the way. OTHERWISE THE WHOLE FREAKIN' FREEZER BECOMES A BLOCK OF ICE WHICH MUST BE CHIPPED OUT.

Thank you.

Due to popular demand (Liz)...

I bring you this blog entry.

There have been so many things to blog lately and yet I have remained silent. Why you ask? Simple apathy on my part. I don't like the line breaks put in when I email my entries, and I haven't really had time to sit at the computer and do more than throw fish at people. (Those of you on Facebook will understand that reference.) So, I bring you my life for the last two months in a nutshell (no, I wasn't in a nutshell for 2 months).

Sept:
-Labor Day BBQ (a day early): We had a few friends and family over, bbq'd (of course), and had a generally mellow time.
-Started many classes for the girls including ballet, science, and art while continuing with gymnastics, soccer, and ice skating.
-Took Harrison to puppy training where he excelled, but we as parents failed miserably. Ok, maybe not miserably, but we could have done much better. We are still working on it.
-Wished Liz and Andrea a Happy Anniversary even if they were 3000 miles away at DisneyWorld.
-Made Red in hockey.
-Missed Grandparents day, again.
-Car maintenance (oil change, new battery, etc.)
-Celebrated Andrea's birthday
-Had a couple of MNO's (Mom's night out)
-Helped host the NICU grad party at work
-Played my first Red game where I almost threw up beforehand because I was so nervous.
-Missed all of my quilt related meetings
-Attended a scrapbooking workshop

October:
-Continued with the girls classes, and Harrison's puppy training
-Got to go on a couple of fixed wing (small plane) flights for work
-Saw Guys and Dolls at the Center for Performing Arts with my sisters.
-Wished Cheddah a happy birthday.
-Played more hockey with Red and with the A-Team 2
-More MNO's
-Went to the pumpkin patch with our twins club. It's a pretty impressive pumpkin farm with lots of activities for the kiddos.
-Went to Gilroy Gardens (Bonfante for us old timers) to celebrate Halloween by following the treasure map to collect pirate booty.
-Went to Disneyland where we celebrated at their Halloween Spooktacular event.
-We also "won" 3 things in their Year of a Million Dreams celebration. 1. As we entered the Dumbo ride, an employee came up and asked us if we'd like to ride right now. Of course we said yes, but Sam started crying when we stepped out of line because she didn't understand. She quickly became happy again when she realized we were going to get to ride it right then, and not have to wait. 2. Sam was crying (over-exhaustion) and someone walked up to her and handed her a Year of a Million Dreams Castle pin. Apparently a cast member had given it to them, and they were to pass it on to someone to cheer them up. It worked. 3. As Liz, Val, Riley, and I headed from Fantasyland to the restaurant for lunch, there were two cast members there that gave us lanyards with 2 pins on them for the Year of a Million Dreams. Liz very kindly gave hers to Bill who was thrilled because he has really gotten into the pin collecting.
-Ate at the Steakhouse 55 (in the Disneyland hotel). Pricey, but worth every penny. Finally had Kobe beef, and it more than lived up to it's buttery good reputation.
-Went to Knott's Berry Farm where we followed the treasure map to collect pirate booty (they're owned by the same people as Gilroy Gardens, so it was very similar.
-Made Halloween candy corn costumes for the girls (thanks Liz for the pic).
-Participated in a hiptop scavenger hunt where we came in 6th out of 40 teams. Not bad considering we were coming back from Disneyland when it started and most of the team was working all day.
-Trick-or-treated in the neighborhood with the girls.

November:
-The girls started violin lessons.
-May start pre-school. I have to call and talk to the director, but I'm not sure I'm ready to cut the cord yet.
-Had blood drawn for my TB test at work.
-Will be going to Hawaii in just over 2 weeks.

I'm sure there's something missing, but if you made it this far into the post you must be sick of the list, so I'm done. Happy November to all.