Xandri's Haircut

My good friend Eleena cut Xandri's hair a little over a month ago, A-line like mine. I LOVE it. I think it's adorable and sassy on her and just fits her to a T.

Halloween Fun

Jack-o-lanterns were super fun this year. I love having a little family that does fun stuff together!

A few quick clarifications about the jack-o-lanterns: the kids' aren't monster pacmans, although I like that idea more than what they actually were-- big fish, little fish, littlest fish.

(Aside: I felt pretty creative with mine-- the stem looked like a ponytail, so I worked with it and made a cute little girl "jill"-o-lantern complete with black ribbon tied around her ponytail. End of Aside)

More clarification is needed here... I'm supposed to be a vampire, but my fangs were horrific to work with and I felt like Bobby Sue Ellen instead, so I went ahead and accepted the Morticia Addams label. Doesn't Avril make the cutest little witch? Xandri was Princess Aurora, absolutely adorable, and Roman's costume doubles as glow-in-the-dark jammies. I love it.

Our jack-o-lanterns in the twilight of their lives...

The Boy Walks

Well, he's gone and done it. He's taken his first steps... actually, it was about two weeks ago. So my child is walking at 11 months. I have very mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, in the moment I love it and am encouraging and cheering him on. On the other... this can only lead to him getting into things faster.

Halloween Food

Halloween has always been a one day thing for me, so it's always been hard trying to decide which fun Halloween dinner to make. Well, this year I decided to go all out and did a fun Halloween meal every day of the week (ok, maybe like three nights) starting off with Tarantula Tacos, which were a hit and aren't pictured.

I also made a Cordon Bleu Mummy:

Spider Cookies:

And for Halloween breakfast we had Cyclop's Eyeballs:

For lunch RIPB&Js:

And for Halloween dinner our all-time favorite Southwest Spider Pizza:

I definitely had a lot of fun doing it and the kids loved it. I was really surprised how well they ate dinner all week long. Maybe there really is something to that theory about making food fun...

Residency Site Evaluation Days 3 & 4

After two intensive and serious days filled with the business of evaluating, we decided to take a short recreational break-- mostly just to see if there is anything fun at all to do. We believe in morale-boosting, team-building activities for our family and we feel that it is an important, albeit clearly secondary factor to evaluate. We had been told while at a very serious dinner over delicious hot wings with the residents and the resident director that the old-new sport of Stand Up Paddleboarding (called SUP for short by anyone who is anyone) is all the rage these days and that North Shore's Surf 'n Sea offers rentals. So we drove up to verify.

As it turns out, it was quite an entertaining little past-time and Derek saw a few sea turtles while he was on his board.

After SUPing, we continued our circuit of the island and happened upon some honu (that's sea turtles for all you haoles) enjoying some sun in their natural habitat so we stopped to say hi to them and do a little snorkeling.

The birds looked hungry, so Derek kindly offered to share with them a ball of rice. We're pretty sure they're still eating it now.

Many of you may already know that we actually lived in Hawai'i some years ago for a short while. Of course we had to see our old home-- on the Point in Lai'e.

And maybe get into some mischief while there....

For educational purposes, we explored the beauty....

and the dangers of the Hawaiian botanical gardens,

the local scenery,

the agriculture,

and some U.S. history.
(Don't tell anyone, but even though we lived in Hawai'i
before we never actually went to Pearl Harbor then.
We can only say that now that we've been...)

We tested out the fabled Hawaiian sun. Turns out what they say is true....

The famed Leonard's bakery makes a mean malasada...

We decided by then that we approve of the food options available to us.

We'd heard of the lovely Iolani Palace and it was truly breathtaking. We made it there after getting a pounding in the waves a little earlier in the day.

Overall, we count the trip as a success and after careful consideration, carefully weighing our options which include the lovely Kileen, Texas, we've opted to place Hawai'i as our number one choice for residency. We'll find out in December if Hawai'i chose us.

Residency Site Evaluation Days 1& 2

Basing our decision PURELY on the OBVIOUS need to visit the various potential rotation sites to objectively evaluate them on their various merits, I flew out to Hawai'i to take it into consideration as a potential home for the next three to four years. We feel that we were able to be very objective in our evaluation and there was never at any time a moment when one or both of us looked at the other in giddy excitement. Ever.

No, we focused mainly on the hospital and the education and training Derek would receive. The warm, tropical breezes that caressed our bronzing skin as we sipped fruit juice from the husk of a coconut while munching on freshly cut pineapple with it's sweet juices dribbling down our chins played no part in our evaluation. The salty ocean waves lapping at our feet while we sat on the baby powder-soft sand only served to increase our judicious objectivity.

Look! A baby crab!

Between evaluation sessions we managed to squeeze in some time in the waves. I'm about to get om-nommed in this one...

...and getting some sun on the beach...

We were fortunate enough to have a very practical Jeep Wrangler convertible to drive to and from our resort and the hospital.

We knew we couldn't come back from Hawai'i without having at least a few token exploration pictures, so we did take a little time to bring something home for our loyal readers to enjoy. These rocks I'm walking on enclose a private azure lagoon for the sole use and pleasure of the resort's guests.

Well, here we are!

Derek enjoying the nice little view from our room

A darling little couple had just gotten married here and were taking wedding photos on the beach surrounding the lagoon. A gorgeous little church, isn't it?

A bit of the "wildlife" found in our resort's little reflective pool

I'll post days 3 & 4 shortly with proof of how wisely and prudently we spent our time in Hawai'i. I know a lot of you are skeptics who may not believe it's possible to visit Hawai'i purely for business, but I mean to show you just what IS possible...

Infallible Logic

I was swinging and throwing Xandri in the air the other day while we were dancing around and when I finished and set her down she stood and looked up at me saying, "Mommy Mommy Mommy I want you to hold me again!"

I said, "No, we're done for now. Maybe in a little while..."

"But Mommy, I want you to hold me!"

"Not now, Xandri. I can't right now, I have to clean the kitchen now."

"Mommy, I want you to!"

"No Xandri, I can't."

"Yes you can! See, you have arms!"