Big Waves, Little Regrets

Want to know what gets Hawaiians really excited? Fifty foot waves! Really! Fifty feet! I never knew waves could get that big! But last week they did, and the whole island went crazy. Though I was tempted to check out the surf, the rumors of road closures and displacement shelters scared me out of it.

I'm not one to take my children into a natural disaster.

As it ends up, no roads got washed out and no houses got swept away, so now I wish I would have taken the chance. I comfort myself with news that the traffic was HORRENDOUS since everyone wanted to see the waves, especially the Eddie Aikau surfing contest, and it would have taken us hours to get there.

Since I don't have any pictures to share, I will refer you to the blog of the photographer who recently took our family portraits (that I love!). Check it out! Crazy!

Big wave photos here

Our Tropical Christmas Tree

Apparently it's not that easy to find a fresh Christmas tree when you live on a tropical island. Who knew? :P We did eventually find a tree farm that grows Norfolk Pines, which are a little funky looking. Sort of like an artificial tree would look if someone forgot to install every other row of branches. It's working for us, though!

The tree farm experience was different for us, as well. When we arrived, our designated tree cutter asked us how tall we wanted our Christmas tree to be. About 6 feet, we said. Instead of trying to find a 6 foot tree, he found a much taller tree, measured 6 feet down from the top and chopped it off. He said the bottom half of the tree would continue to live and grow and become another Christmas tree some day.

This is our tropical Christmas tree. Different, for sure. But that's part of what we love about living here in Hawaii. We are experiencing so many things that were previously completely foreign to us. I love being able to view things from a different perspective. And we're even picking up a few (and I mean very few) Hawaiian phrases. Here's wishing you a merry Christmas:

Mele Kalikimaka!

I am 4 months old now. It is no longer enough just to watch the mobile rotate around and around. Talk about lame. Now I must catch the animal as it spins by, wrestle it down to the ground and chew on it.

CUTE!!

We sighted some exceedingly cute child things on Halloween this year! Check out my adorable little brown bear!

This year was the first that Child Thing #1 really picked out her own costume. I'm glad she went with something cute like a brown bear instead of, say... Dora. When her costume first came in the mail, I asked her if she wanted to try it on. She said "Yes, but Mommy, when I put it on, don't say I'm the cutest little bear." I agreed, but when she put it on, I forgot myself and told her she was the cutest little bear. Apparently that embarrassed her. :P

And I got to pick this costume myself! I have a thing for giraffes. Is that a cute costume or what?

Public? Private? Homeschool? No School on Fridays?!?

Four days of school a week?!? As if Hawai'i doesn't already have the worst school system in the United States. Has the news of "Furlough Friday" made it back to the mainland? If not, here's the deal: the state of Hawai'i is facing some sort of budget crises, so the elected officials have decided to save millions of dollars by closing schools on Fridays. And I mean every Friday. For the whole school year!

If I were a kid, I'd certainly be excited about this, but I just don't see how this is a good idea. Obviously, a kid's education is going to suffer. Also, parents (who still have to work on Friday) are having to come up with ways to take care of their kids on Fridays. This policy really just reflects the government's attitude toward education: it's not a priority.

Scott and I had been considering sending Child Thing #1 to a private pre-school next year, but this whole Furlough Friday thing makes private school that much more appealing. Scott has even brought up homeschooling recently, so that's something to consider.

It's just kindergarten...I doubt going to a below-par kindergarten would be damaging in the long run, but still...it's something to think about.

So cool!

Sometimes I just can't believe that I get to live in a place as beautiful and amazing as Hawaii. Look what we got to see at the beach! Sea turtles! Or "honu," as the Hawaiians say.

We have visited turtle beach a couple of times, a small beach where sea turtles congregate for whatever reason. On our most recent visit, we got to see two turtles sunning themselves on the beach, and at least a half a dozen swimming close to the shore. Is that cool or what?

This is a turtle sticking its head up out of the water, if you can't tell.

Update

I have decided that a milk protein allergy is not what is causing our diaper issues. After four full weeks of burgers without cheese, tacos without sour cream, bread without butter, no chocolate and no icecream, I saw little change. It's back to the drawing board, I suppose.

Our pediatrician said if the no-dairy diet didn't clear things up, we might want to try switching to soy formula. I'm still kind of hesitant about that, so as long as he's acting happy and growing well, we're going to stick with breastfeeding a bit longer.

Oh, and guess what I did today? I had chili for dinner with (gasp!) cheese on top.