Thanks Giving Thieves

Happy American Thanks Giving!  

     It was our first.  Nothing quite like doing it Hawaiian style.  We participated in a church potluck/ luau.   93 Turkeys were cooked in an Imu (under ground oven).  We ate outside at long tables; socializing while a couple played traditional hawaiian songs on electrifyed ukeleles, and audience members hula-ed.

     The kids kept occupied for 4 hours on a home-made slip 'n slide = tarp, garden hose, and an extra large bottle of dish soap.  There were a few tears shed, but as one mother put it "Hey! if you're going to cry, move off to the side to do it!"  Oh that had me laughing.

     Later that evening, Nathan and I tried to brave our first "Black Friday" Sale.  We lined up early at Wal-mart to get a Trampoline that was 50% off!  There were actual barricades and police there to ensure safety and order.  It was scary and crazy- definately no spirit of Christmas flying about!  All claws!  But we were victorious, and did not loose any body parts to the crowd.  To celebrate the success of our mission, we went to the movie theatre and viewed the final installment of The Hunger Games....and yes, I cried.

one of the many buggy barricades

     Last weekend, we did a "Stay-cation" on the Kohala Coast.  We booked a night at the Hilton-amazing hotel, especially for families.  The lobby had a dozen parrots ready to greet us.  This one was saying "hello".

     The Hilton has 4 giant pools- one with a lazy river and water slides, another that is fed with water and wild life from the ocean, one with dolphins, and the final one with sandy bottoms, volley ball nets, rope bridges, and treasure caverns.

     The management made the mistake of putting a stuffed animal dolphin in our room that had a little card attached to it that said something along the lines of ... if you'd like to keep me, just let the front desk know you are going to take me home, and they will charge $18.95 to your room bill.   Well, that was not going to happen, so we put the dolphin up on the TV.  Every time we turned around, a kid would have it down!  They played with it, threw it in the air, tug-a-war-ed, removed it's sweater, ripped the tag off...ahh!  "We better not have to pay for that now!"  I exclaimed.  Nope.  Apparantly you can play with it as much as you want, as long as it is still in the room when you leave....sigh of relief!

     The next day, we explored a new beach.  It had rope swings for the kids to play on and lots of shade.  Which is a good thing, because even though we live in Hawaii, we do not have all-year tans!

That's a happy face Dallin drew in the sand.

Rebekah is doing the "Shaka"- Hang Loose

     Today was full of surprises.  The girls started crafting...turned out to be hours of time occupying fun! 

I watched Little Women and got my first Christmas gift...a wedding ring that fits, hand crafted out of wire by Alanna.  

     Rebekah worked on Family History and personal progress.  Nathan completed most of the tile in the 2nd bathroom.  

     Then as we were making some delicious ginger snaps and jamming out to Christmas music, there was a knock at the door?!  It was a neighbour.  He introduced himself as "Wolf", greeted us with a Happy Thanks Giving, and  then began to tell us that his house was in the process of being burglarized, so he needed to borrow a phone.  911 was dialed.  He asked us if we had a gun.  No!  Nathan and Wolf jumped in our vehicle and headed over to his house.  Wolf had barricaded the thiefs in his drive way with his car.  They caught the thiefs leaving Wolf''s house with a bag full of drugs.  Nathan informed them that the police would be arriving momentarily so they should wait. The thieves complained that Nathan shouldn't have called the police.   5 cop cars showed up.  The thiefs ran off into the jungle.  And Wolf got it all on video camera...so they will most likely be apprehended soon!  CRAZY!  I am still in astonishment.

Gingersnaps with peppermint chocolate melted on them

     So happy American Thanks Giving ;)

Here are our limited (for time) Thankful Lists:

I am grateful for my family, my faith, music, nature, and humor.  

Nathan is thankful for the many experiences we've had in our lives.

Rebekah is thankful for everything.

Alanna is thankful for her talents.

Summer is thankful for her happy, loving, generous, family; her warm, soft, and comfortble house; her teacher; and God, for this beautiful Earth and everything on it.

Dallin is thankful for electronics.

It's good to count our blessings- it's helps us stay positive, and reminds us of how truly blessed we are!  

Back on Track - fashion taboos, christmas, sunrises and gratitude

     Well, 15 days after caving into sugar to deal with my stress, I am finally off it again!  Yipee!
At first it felt good to eat that sugar but after a week, I was feeling sick, lazy, angry, and depressed = motivation to say no again.  I haven't weighed myself to see what damage the past 15 days have done but I will resume with that again on Saturday (for those of you who are reading this blog for health purposes).  I started today with a 45 minute walk around my neighborhood, and excitement to get back on track :)
     It's been awhile since my last post, so here is the run down on our lives:

Things I love about living in the USA: the awesome SALES!
    The Halloween costumes at Walmart were 75% off of 75% off!  I don't understand how that works but I'm happy to take advantage of it.  So for $1.50 each, we bought Dallin a whole new wardrobe!  Here it is:  clothes for everyday of the week.

On Monday, he's a Ninja Turtle.  On Tuesday, we will have Buzz Light Year cleansing our house of alien invaders. On Wednesday, our guest will be Captain Jack Sparrow,  Thursday- a race car (bike) driver.  Friday- we will have a quickly melting Olaf.  And we will finish off the week with a fright night visit from the Grim Reaper.  So fun!

Things that make me laugh: Look at the name of this market

Yes, it is a real place just down the street from us.  Apparently it is not just Jamaicans that use the word "da".  I was poorly educated by the movie Cool Runnings in 1993 :(

Also this gross fashion taboo: my husband!  Guilty as charged.

Christmas Decorations

     We don't have a lot, but what we did scour off Craigslist went up!

We also put together home-made stockings for cheap. 

     This of course raised the concern about how exactly Santa was going to get into our house to fill them, without a chimney to wiggle down.  And further spawned a review (by older siblings) about how the younger siblings may get nothing but coal in them anyways, if they continue in their naughty ways!  Which one argued back, "It wouldn't be coal, it would be Lava rock!"

     Mom and Dad intervened with words of counsel and comfort, and it was concluded that surely Santa had permission to enter through our front door, and everybody would get something special in their stockings because we all love each other very much, and will thus show that love to one another over the corresponding few weeks leading up to that special night.

Remembrance Day

     It was a holiday here in the USA too.  They call it Veterans Day.  As far as I know, there was no recognition of it at school for the kids.  But I was given this cute poppy on a wire outside of Walmart.

     We had a family discussion about the terrorist events in Paris over the weekend.  It was heart breaking to hear of the tragedy.  We wish there was more we could do on an individual basis to help combat terror.  A lot of it seems to be a fight the governments of countries around the world need to take on at a global and federal level.  But as parents, we will try to help our children feel courageous and empowered.  We will encourage them to live their lives fully and with integrity, so that if they do ever become a victim of this sort of random attack, they have no regrets and can feel inner peace.

     I am moved to tears when I ponder on the battles fought over the decades, and currently, to preserve freedom and justice.  There is always so much loss, but I shake at the thought of  imagining the world that could be without those victories.  I'm afraid there is so much that we take for granted.  Just the fact that I have complete and total freedom to access the internet, and write/read whatever I want on it, is still a privilege that is not granted to citizens in China (possibly other places too).  On our tour of China last year, we discovered there were many government regulated restrictions on our use of google, and surfing of the web.  It was surprising, and shocking.  It made us appreciate the country we live in, with it's first world problems.

Reno News

Our countertops are installed.

Ivory Coast Quartz

Our couches arrived from the Sears warehouse on the Mainland.  They are so comfy.

Now Summer says the only thing we are missing to make this a "real home" is the completion of the flooring.  But Nathan would argue that his Honey-do List will never be over :)

Family News (or time to shine the spotlight on my darling children news-whatever you prefer)

     Alanna won a state wide contest for submitting a dance she choregraphed to help end world hunger.  They gave her a prize of $50 at Walmart.  She used it to buy her long desired "Onezy", a Barbie with a dog that poops, Barbie clothes, and a box of cookies.

Congratulations Alanna!

  Rebekah will be representing her school in the state wide Spelling Bee. On Sunday, her and Alanna will be performing a violin/piano duet of an "I am a Child of God" medley.

  I learned that Summer is a "star student, possibly the smartest kid in the class" according to her teacher.  We also confirmed that the rash on her face and arms is an allergic reaction...just have to find out to what...more doctor visits.

  And Dallin is very close to riding a two-wheeler bike...we've been keeping the training wheels on just for starting up, but he really doesn't use them while he is riding.

Sabbath Activity:  Watching the sun rise!

     We started a tradition of taking turns picking an activity to do as a family on the Sabbath that would help us remember to honor the day and keep it holy.  This week was Summer's turn.  Mom and Dad helped her plan a trip to the new land to watch the sun rise.  We woke everybody up at 5:25 am, and packed towels, umbrellas, flashlights, and baggies with cereal to munch on.  We drove to the furthest most East location we could find (Kalapana).  We carried our gear, and trekked out to the ocean side.  It of course started raining, so we huddled under umbrellas.  We ate our cereal and began watching the sky for signs of dawn.  It started with the sky lightening in the direction of the sun.  The clouds began changing in hues of purple, then pink, orange, and finally yellow.  

     Then at 6:28 am (as predicted by the weather man), we could see the tip of the sun begin to arise on the horizon.  It was stunning!  

     A few minutes later, Summer read us a scripture from the Bible that talked about the creation of the world and  Jesus Christ's love for us.  We had the whole ocean to ourselves.  Definitely a must- to see the sunrise at least once in your life time!  We were back home, wet, but happy by 7 am.

Trick or Treat, here's some Lice!

I've been eating sugar since November 1st!  

I'm disgusted with myself, but I couldn't handle the stress!

     Stressor 1:  LICE!  On Monday, Summer came home with a rash on her face and elbows.  The kids at schooled called her "Ugly" and "Diseased".  So of course, I told her she didn't have to go back to school until the rash went away.  By Thursday, it covered her whole body.  I decided it was time to suck up the "no health insurance" plan of Nathan's, and take Summer into the walk-in clinic.  The doctor thought Summer's rash looked like Scarlet Fever, so he did some blood work.  One hundred and ninety-five dollars later, the prognosis was an unexplained rash, not Scarlet Fever. She did get a prescription for antibiotics out of it.  As the doctor continued to talk, I noticed something moving on Summer's scalp!  A bug. I flicked it away.  Then saw another, and another, and another.  I rudely interrupted the doctor, "What is that?" pointing at her head.  He laughed.  "Oh, it's an Uku (ooh-koo)".  From the tone of his voice, it sounded like Uku was nothing to be panicked about.  "It's quite common here" he continued, "you might know it as Lice."
     LICE!  My head started spinning, and pounding - my worst nightmare come true!  No, no, no!  This can't be happening!  Summer has been using my brush for over a month!  I quickly left the doctors office, racing towards Longs Drugs with 2 prescriptions: Antibiotics, and Lice shampoo.  The pharmacist informed me that they were out of the Lice treatment.  They called around to other pharmacies - everyone was out!  Panic!  It would be months before they had some again!  No, no, no!  "but you can try the stuff over there on the bottom shelf".  Yes!  I grabbed (not joking) the last box.  30 mins later, both treatments were started.  Also...LAUNDRY WEEK began !

This is what Uku look like with a magnifying glass

     I put the shampoo in Summer's hair.  Towel-dryed it, cut the long hair off (Summer was angry about that), and started combing.  There were hundreds!  Hundreds of adult lice!  How did this happen?  It was as if she had a bucket of lice dropped on her head.  It takes 1 lice, 3 weeks to achieve adulthood and sexual maturity.  The eggs (nits) hatch in 5-10 days.  To have hundreds in her hair, they would have had to arrive in her rat's nest the moment we stepped foot in Hawaii.  I'm getting nauseous just thinking about it again.  After 4 hours, I had managed to remove eggs from a small chunk of hair, 1 cm in diameter.  I began the hysterical crying tantrum.  I can't do this!  It's too hard!  I need help!  Another 2 hours went by, and I just had to stop. My nerves were fried; I had no good light; Summer had fallen asleep on the chair.

That's her with the shower cap on...trying to contain it from spreading to brother

     Stressor 2:  WE MOVED!  On Halloween morning, I moved us from our rental to our fixer upper home.  My husband was at work, so I didn't have his help.  I finished moments before having to dress and make-up a scarecrow, gypsy, corpse bride, and transformer.  Next we tried to figure out where to go trick or treating in a new town.  First, we headed to Wal-Mart for guaranteed goodies.  A homeless person pushing a cart, dribbled a handful of unwrapped M&M's into Summer's hand.  YUCK! As soon as she was out of sight, I smacked them to the ground and lectured the kids on saying no to unwrapped candy.
     Then we went to a Haunted House (Alice in Wonderland themed) at the local KTA.  I won't lie- it scared a bit of pee out of me :(
     Finally, we went to a parking lot where there was suppose to be a trunk or treat....nobody showed up.  Now we are stuck with 4 boxes of Choco-Pie.

Yes, we've already eaten one box.

     In a last desperate attempt, we went to a few random houses (with lots of lights on) behind the parking lot.  The kids came home with enough loot, that everywhere I looked, there was candy scattered across the floor.  I went back to the rental to finish moving the real food.

     Stressor 3:  CLEANING!  The next morning, I arised bright and early to go back to the rental to clean it.  I hate cleaning, especially when the house wasn't clean when we rented it. But I will do what it takes to get our damage deposit back.  After 6 hours, the house was sparkling, and I arrive home to find a text message from the Landlord reminding us that he hadn't billed us for electrical yet.  Bye, bye damage deposit :(
     The new house has cement floors, no working sink, and one functioning bathroom without a door on it.  I had to do our dishes in the bathtub.  I would just let them pile up until the dishwasher is installed but then we would have an infestation of bugs on our hands.  And fire ants are worst then mosquitos- you can't stop them from getting into your home.

Front yard:  not in too bad shape

The back yard needs some work

    Stressor 4:  More Lice combing!  After the first discovery, a few days prior, everyone got their heads checked for lice.  Miraculously, I couldn't find it on anyone else.  My head felt unusually itchy, so paranoid me shampooed my hair for peace of mind.  But I did find one on Rebekah, and the combing started all over.  I am still checking hair daily.  I've combed and picked eggs out of hair for more than 15 hours.  The eggs are so small, I'm not sure if I will ever successfully get them all out.  That is an awful thought to live with.  Shaking!

Summer's new, lice free hair style.  And our red neck, lawn chair living room.

     So yes!  I helped myself to many mini-chocolate bars!  I needed to.  I wasn't able to do any exercise or nature meditation.  It was my only choice.  The sugar is what got me thru it!


Saturday's weight in:

Down 3 pounds in 2 weeks, just by changing my diet.
Of course, after this weeks chocolate rampage, I'm probably up 4.

 Healthy snack of the day:

Avocado with tomato on whole wheat toast