What on earth do I use this for?

Meaning that most of my posts will be screened so only people on my friends list can see them, with an occasional spurt of "public" posts so everyone can see homeschool posts/photos/something...
Lets see if I can get this to work correctly now... (and if I mess it up somehow, I'm sure one of my good friends will tell me:)
If you would like to be added (not including those of you already on here unless of course, you want to make a smart comment just to make me smile:), please comment here and tell me a bit about yourself!,
Thanks!

25 REASONS I OWE MY MOTHER

1. My mother taught me TO APPRECIATE A JOB WELL DONE .
'If you're going to kill each other, do it outside. I just finished cleaning.'

2. My mother taught me RELIGION .
'You better pray that will come out of the carpet.'

3. My mother taught me about TIME TRAVEL ;.
'If you don't straighten up,
I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!'

4. My mother taught me LOGIC .
' Because I said so, that's why.'

5. My mother taught me MORE LOGIC .
'If you fall out of that swing and break your neck, you're not going to the store with me.'

6. My mother taught me FORESIGHT .
'Make sure you wear clean underwear, in case you're in an accident.'

7. My mother taught me IRONY
'Keep crying, and I'll give you something to cry
about.'

8. My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS .
'Shut your mouth and eat your supper.'

9. My mother taught me about CONTORTIONISM .
'Will you look at that dirt on the back of your neck!'

10.. My mother taught me about STAMINA .
'You'll sit there until all that spinach is gone .'

11. My mother taught me about WEATHER .
'This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it.'

12. My mother taught me about HYPOCRISY .
'If I told you once, I've told you a million times. Don't exaggerate!'

13. My mother taught me the CIRCLE OF LIFE .
'I brought you into this world, and I can take you out.'

14. My mother taught me about BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION .
'Stop acting like your father!'

15. My mother taught me about ENVY .
'There are millions of less fortunate children in this world who don't have wonderful parents like you do.'

16. My mother taught me about ANTICIPATION.
'Just wait until we get home.'

17. My mother taught me about RECEIVING .
'You are going to get it when you get home!'

18. My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE .
'If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to freeze that way.'

19. My mother taught me ESP .
'Put your sweater on; don't you think I know when you are cold?'

20. My mother taught me HUMOR .
'When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me.'

21. My mother taught me HOW TO BECOME AN ADULT .
'If you don't eat your vegetables, you'll never grow up.'

22. My mother taught me GENETICS.
'You're just like your father.'

23. My mother taught me about my ROOTS .
'Shut that door behind you. Do you think you were born in a barn?'

24. My mother taught me WISDOM .
'When you get to be my age, you'll understand.'

25. And my favorite: My mother taught me about JUSTICE
'One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you.

Awesomely funny video for Mother's Day

So today, realizing that in order to fulfill our dream of moving to Hawaii (or even just taking a long vacation tehre there and then moving onto another place:) that we will need to really start bucking down on finances and maybe (gasp) even figure out a way to starting SAVING a significant chunk of change.  I figure if we can just save teh the money we've been paying in NSF fees, we can move in six months.  Okay, not really, but anyway, this is what started my idea of looking for additional income ideas...

BTW ~ WHY, WHY, WHY do I always, without fail ALWAYS type teh instead of the? I don't do it as regularly with any other combination of letters (even 'tha')!   Are my fingers dislexic? Grr. I know that I do it all the time, so much so that my fingers nearly FIX IT on their own accord before I can even notice that I did it yet again. Why can't they just do it RIGHT teh the first time? I'll tell ya why, because they are pain in teh the butt CHILDREN. Yes, I have the fingers of a ten year old ADD sufferer. Fingers, that like my children, would rather do something teh the fast, sloppy way, even it it then means they have to go back and take even longer to RE-DO it than it would have taken to just do it right teh the first time. And of course, add on the 15 minute minimum of whining about having to do said task.  At least my fingers can't whine.

Okay, back to teh subject. OMG. Seriously. I'm just going to change the flipping SPELLING OF "THE" (Typing slowly, I can do it) to TEH. No I won't, it looks dumb.  I'm going to force myself to type THE fifty six THOUSAND times until I can get it right.

Where was I? Oh year YEAH (this is getting ridiculous.  I need to go brush up on my typing skills, I'll post about my money making ideas later) 

brb (see that?  I typed the acronym thingy for 'be right back' and did NOT get the letters out of order!  OMG!  I just typed THE without messing up.  I did it again!  Wow.  I must stop this, it could go on forever.  The 56,000 time threat must have worked.  I AM incredibly visual, because just reading a threat helped.  Or maybe all the attention I put on it.  Either way, I wish I had done it long ago.

I wonder what kind of threat would work for my children.

Tomorrow I shall post photos of my children writing things down 56,000 times:)

I am uploading some videos from the Luau we went to. It was a very interesting night. The host explained the different traditions and whatnot behind their native dishes, we even got to hear about and see the huge hog uncovered layer by layer from the pit it had been baking in all day.

During the feast, I discovered that although it looks like elmer's glue, I actually really enjoy coconut jello (although, to be honest, it took five bites before I came to that conclusion... it grows on you:). We also got to watch a show by local hula dancers, demonstrating the different dances from all the surrounding islands throughout history. It was really interesting to me, especially, and I really wanted to take some Polynesian dance lessons to add to my Zumba forte! For the finale' of the dances, they had this guy come out and do a "fire dance"... it was amazing. The guy was in amazing shape too ~ I swear there wasn't an ounce of fat on him. Its no wonder, though, as the routines he did were an extreme workout... not to mention, he'd have to practice a lot! No inspiration like NOT catching yourself on fire to motivate you to do well!

Anyway, the very very end was when the hula girls and hula guys came out to the audience to pick men and women from the audience to go onstage to 'learn' the hula. Of course, I got my hubby to go up there. When he finally came back, he said, "So, I wonder how long before this ends up on youtube?" Lol! I hadn't thought of that yet... but of course, that is what I'm doing right NOW:) I love my hubby... even if his hips really can't figure out the hula:)


If I get a chance I'll also upload the videos of us on our boogie boards trying to learn to use them without killing ourselves!

Saturday, April 26th: Left Oklahoma. Discovered that I do not in anyway like to fly in small airplanes. Also discovered that I have no love of big airplanes either. SPent most of the trip remembering lines from Ron White's Routine about when the engine went out on his plane... "How far do you think the other engine will take us?"... "All the way to the scene of the crash. I bet we beat the ambulance there by 20 minutes"   That evening, we arrived in Hawaii to rain and a lot of griping and grumbling passengers.   The rain was gone by the time were we at our resort.

Sunday, April 27th: Did our Touristy thing, bought lots of presents to bring home to the kiddoes. Walked along the beach, watched the waves, took tons of photos of everything. Had a lunch buffet that was scrumptious.

Monday, April 28th: Went for my shiatsu massage, which was heavenly. Then we rented snorkeling gear and explored the National Historic Park "The Place of Refuge"  Pu'uhonaunau, the home of the native royal families.  We then walked up the beach a ways to theHonaunau Bay and went snorkeling.  Wow.  Amazing experience (once I got over my horrid fear of sticking my face underwater).  On the way home we bought the most exqusite tasting chocolate covered coffee beans EVER.

That night we went to the Royal Kono Resort for our "Lava Legends and Legacies" Hawai'ian Luau.  It was awesome.  I took lots of video of all the dances as they demonstrated historical dances and stories through dance from the surrounding islands.  It was wonderful:)

Tuesday, April 29th:  Went to Waipio Valley... where the Roayls went for their vacations back in the day.  This place was gorgeous!!!  You can read more in depth here:  

Then Dh tried to break his neck whilst body surfing in one of the more dangerous beaches.

Wednesday, April 30th:  Patrick left early in the morning to go to the south part of the island and explored the volcanoes.  I started going through our photos and uploading, editing and tagging, as well as trying to catch up on journaling about our adventures.  Then I walked down to the farmers markets and explored the local shops.  I spent the rest of the afternoon on the beach, alternately reading and playing in the waves:)  It was a very relaxing day... That evening Dh and I went out for dinner and met Tyler and Raina, the bartender and waitress who invited us to go kayaking with them the next morning... yay!

Thursday, May 1st   Met up with Tyler and Raina early in the morning and followed them to their house.  They let us use their other kayak and we went out on the ocean.  We 'cast off' at Napoopoo beach, kayaked about a mile and a half (??Dh says it was that far, but it didn't seem that far to me... it was WONDERFUL!) across the Kealakeku underwater park to "Cook Point" where we snorkeled for a while.  Dh saw a huge moray eel, at which point I decided I was finished snorkeling:)  On the way back, a tidal wave warning signal went off and gave us a nice burst of adrenaline as we tried to avoid being smashed on the rocks!

That afternoon we packed up most of our stuff at our room to prep for checking out the next morning.  Then we went and shopped for a bit, had some tropical drinks by the beach and talked with Tyler and Raina for a bit again.  We spent a nice quiet evening at "home"

Friday, May 2nd   Our last day (boo hoo).  We went out for a breakfast buffet that was... eh.  Local food, other than the fruit, tends to be a bit bland.  Then we headed for the "safe" body boarding beach.  On our way we stopped at several out of the way-secluded beaches and explored the gorgeous beaches.  OMG.  Beauty I can't describe.  The turquoise waters, the waves, the sand... ahhhhhhhhhh.

We finally found the "safe" beach and did our best at body boarding.  It was a BLAST!  I could have done that every single day.  The beach was definitely a popular beach, and we ver much prefered the more out-of-the-way beaches, but this was the only one where we didn't have to worry about being smahed on the rocks.  It was nice.

Found another secluded spot on the way back... nice little state park that about killed me on the way in (the "roads" left a lot to be desired!  I think they left them in that horrid condition so less people would be inclined to visit:)

Gathered our belongings and sadly made our way tot he airport.  We weren't ready to leave!!

Saturday, April May 3rd:  Arrived Home just in time for dinner... gave the kids their gifts and had some down time with the family.  A nice relaxing end to a busy adn wodnerful week!

Photos galore here in my photobucket  AND here in my lj:

I spent a lot of time uploading photos, sitting/lying on the beach reading and just chillin' (and a little shopping:) whilst Dh went to the southern part of the island and saw the volcano and asstd beach stuff. He wants to take the kids and I there for a few days when we're all here.

Tonight we went to eat at a restaurant-bar place with nice music. The bartender was really friendly, and after talking with him for a while, he invited us to go kayaking with him and his wife tomorrow morning. Yay! Kayaking with the locals... we should stay out fo trouble that way:) He and his wife spent 5 days (when they first moved here, before they even had a car) hitch-hiking, then hiking through the Waipio valley and several other valleys and waterfalls before hitching back to their new home. It sounded fabulous.... I am really looking forward to getting to know some new ~ adventuresome ~ people! He goes to Oklahoma City every year for the BMX Grand Nationals... small world!

Will post lots, I'm sure, at some point about our Thursday. We'll be kayaking and snorkeling at what is called... dang. I stink at the names of things. I told Dh that he really needs to post WITH me so people can know the names of things!

Okay, so I last wrote about our lovely day at the waterfall... and left you hanging with our plans to go body boarding.

With the 'scary' waves far behind us, we came back to tourist-ville and figured that the place where everyone was hanging out would be a great place to try our hand at the boogie boards.

Yeah.

We get to the beach, and I dont' know, THESE waves look just as scary to me. Well, not even the waves as much as those huge ROCKS at the shore. Even if you survive the waves, how do you keep them from throwing you on the rocks?

Daddy decides to ask one of the surfer guys if his fins/flippers things will work, or if he needs the kind they have. One guy looks at him and says, "Dude, you don't want to wear fins at all out there." Even though everyone else with a body board is wearing them, we figure.. okay... it must make it harder.

We sit and watch until Daddy is pretty sure he knows what to do. I am not so convinced. To me it looks like one of those things that people make look easy just to get you to try it so they can all point and laugh. I tell him that he should just go out and try it first, then he can come back and tell me if it was as easy as he thought it'd be.

I AM the smart one.

So, daddy goes and jumps in the water and starts paddling away from the shore.

Sort of. Actually he was paddling away from the shore, but the waves were so strong that he actually ended up just going mostly sideways. Occasionally, he's dive under a wave and get thrust a little further out. I watched and watched. He was easy to find because every other person out there was tanned a nice dark brown. And they all had hair. All I had to do was watch for the white head and blue board! I wish I'd had the camera.

Pretty soon I realize that a bunch of people on the beach are watching daddy too. I thought that was a little odd, but apparently they all realized that he had no clue and they were in for some entertainment.

I sat on the beach and watched as daddy got further and further out. Every once in a while he'd disappear out of my sight and I'd start to freak just a little. Dang. Vacation is scary with Daddy! Eventually it looked like he found a wave, but no such luck it just appeared to toss him about and spit him out.

Oh well, next try, maybe. Then I see him waving at some guy who is on top ~ riding a HUGE wave. I thought, "Well THAT'S odd. Why on earth are they waving at each other?" Then I realize that daddy is turned around and can't see that he's heading straight for a big bunch of rocks. I thought the big waves just carried him over them...

I watched for a while longer, trying to figure out why Daddy hasn't gotten this all figured out yet, and why he's not riding any waves. He finally starts making his way back to shore... sort of. I come over closer to the shore to see him as soon as he gets out. He's taking soooooooooo long to get out of the water that I am about to go in and get him. I'm just ITCHING to get IN the water myself.

He finally FINALLY climbs out of the water and says, "THAT was not a good idea" His toe was all kinds of cut up, he had a stinger thing from a sea urchin in his toe, along with other rocks and rubble. His knee was dripping blood... and my total sane, stable husband was shaking like a leaf.

Apparently going into the ocean at that point was scary as all get out. He got sucked out by a wave, tossed and turned and couldn't get his bearings. Then he could get back to shore either, so he was stuck. He said that was one of the scariest thigns he'd ever done. An hour later he was STILL shaky. It was starting to really scare ME.

We drove back to the store where we rented the board and daddy told the guy where he'd been... and NOW the guy tells us, "You went out in the water THERE?????? You shouldn't do that. People who do this all the time get hurt out there."

Yeah. Thanks. He did tell us the beach to go to. Small waves and a long SANDY beach. We'll go there on Thursday and try again. With no rocks to crush us!!!

We came home and changed, and went and sat on the beach for a long time, watching the surfers who knew what they were doing. The waves kept getting higher, from some storm off the coast. It was really interesting to watch, after hearing how hard it was. Its no wonder all teh surfers are so muscular and in shape!!

One surfer guy came past us and Daddy asked him how long he'd been doing this. He says, "Oh a couple of years." Daddy then told him that HE had went out in it today. The guys' eyes got really big and he says, "DUDE. You don't want to do THAT. You'll get smashed on those rocks over there!" Daddy was like, Yeah.... ya THINK???

Anyway... that's a brief synopsis of that incident.

I realize I still haven't written about the luau... but I'll post video for that one instead...

(I'm writing my posts to my kids for the rest of the vacation. I'm sure they're the only ones who'll have the time to read the whole novel anyway!!:) LOL... just to explain the use of "daddy" instead of Dh. Photos of this waterfall are here: http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii280/MsByn/Hawaii%202008/

Hi Kiddoes!!

We woke up 'early' again. We've both decided that our internal clocks are far more suited to Hawaii than they are to Oklahoma! Without much ACTUAL change in our schedules, we're up at 5:00 or 6:00am and to bed 10 or 11. Its nice... I can't believe its not even 11:00 yet, and I feel like it should be late afternoon! I wonder how you guys will do when you're here. I bet you'll love it too:)

Anyway, back to our exciting day yesterday. We woke early and Daddy went to do some last minute shopping for our trip to the north side of the island. I lazed around for a bit, reading, then had a nice long soak in that fabulous tub. Thanks to Tatianne, my mango scented bath bomb (I saved it from Paris' party), I got to have quite the decadent bath... aGAIN.

Daddy FINALLY got back after wandering about, watching the early surfers for a long while (You know how he is, always needing to figure out how everything is done), and after getting so distracted by said surfers, that he forgot what he'd went out to get. He never did remember. We are such a good team.

We both were anxious to try body surfing/boogie boarding, whatever its called, so we stopped on our way out to rent some boards. The guy at the shop seemed a bit... uneasy at us trying to do this at the beach we were going to, but he let us go with a small reminder about undertow so we wouldn't get swept out to sea.

The drive to the waterfall place was MUCH nicer this time around. Not so many twisty curving roads. We passed this enormous section of land that was still black from a lava flow that happened 60 years ago. It just looked like endless charcoal... except for the "graffiti". It was the strangest thing. I started noticing groups of white rocks everywhere. I finally realized that they rocks were arranged to spell out things. People take a bunch of white rocks to the lava flow and 'write' messages or names with them. It was really pretty cool to see. Some of the things were dated from 2006... all these rocks just sitting there all this time.

We eventually passed the Parker ranch area ~ apparently its the biggest family owned ranch in the USA. ?? It did seem odd to see cows all over the mountains, though. After that, things started getting all lush and green. It was gorgeous, driving down the highway with trees crowding the sky.

**At one point on Monday, I wondered aloud how they did any kind of road construction on the Mountain roads. They are all only two lane roads with little or no curbs (Sprite, you would SO flip out trying to drive on these roads!! I don't even want to do it! It gives me a big enough heart attack just being a passenger!) Anyway, I wondered how they'd fix them without having to close the whole road. Later that day, we came to a construction site... well, instead of fixing the road, they were having to trim the trees and plants that were overgrown and blocking part of the road. Yeppers, the plantlife grows so thick, and so fast that it takes over well used roads! Would not Jaedin be in HEAVEN here???

So anyway, back to my story of Tuesday's adventures... We arrived at the top of the mountain where we were going down. This waterfall/beach area was the vacation spot for the royal family way back when. After we put the Jeep in 4-wheel drive, we inched our way down the steepest road I've ever seen in my life. I was sure we were going to pitch forward at any moment. The road was so narrow, they had to carve out areas for you to pull over if another vehicle wanted to get pat you to go UP. There were so many trees and plants everywhere. I can not begin to imagine how this place must have looked before machinery and people took over, because it is STILL so full and green... and just wild. We made our way down to the most astounding valley I've ever seen. Daddy didn't want to leave. Ever. Well, excpet possibly to drive the Jeep some more. He was so impressed by the performance of this vehicle. He is bonding with the silly thing. He grunts and carries on like a cave man at the amazing capabilities of this 4 wheel drive. I think he'll have to talk to another man who can appreciate all the grunts and whatnot.

We jolted and were tossed to and fro as we drove through the deeply rutted "road" to the beach. We parked and considered putting on our swim suits, but decided we'd hit the water later. First we wanted to see the waterfall.

Oh. My. Word. Holy BEANS!!! That waterfall was GORRRRRRRRRRRRRRGEOUS. I am a sucker for waterfalls of any kind. I find them so beautiful and stunning and awesome and powerful... there is nothing I don't like about them other than the fact I don't have one in my backyard. This waterfall is called Waipio falls and is something like 600 ft high. I actually hiked and stood at the bottom of it. I can't even begin to describe what it was like to stand there, having to arch my back to see to the top of it, with the spray and mist washing over me. The power coming from this water was just amazing. It was like I could FEEL the energy coming off of it in waves. I've not felt anything like it before in my life ~ it was wonderful. Daddy kept saying, "Oh my God. Sprite is going to FLIP OUT when she sees this..." He took some photos, then I held the camera so he could go stand there. We were both giggling like little kids, it was so much fun! Then we hiked up to a little bit higher point where we could see out to the ocean and another part of the island. It felt like we were all alone in the world. It was an amazing feeling.

We realized at this point that our batteries were almost dead in our camera, and we were very very sad. I had packed two sets of extra batteries, one set that was charged, the other not... and daddy grabbed the set that wasn't charged:(

At any rate, we decided to put the camera in the car and go for a nice romantic stroll up the beach. Ummm... by the way, walking through sand with swim shoes on is not romantic. Walking with barefeet is better. Unless you're really really squicky about having critters getcha!

We decided that we were still a little hesitant to go out on the body boards because the waves were pretty harsh looking. That, and because this is not a real touristy place, there were hardly any people there. We didn't want to get washed out to sea with no hope of rescue! So we left the swim suits in the car and continued our stroll.

Pretty soon we had to go stick our feet in the water. Daddy was talking to me about hwo observant he is, and he said, "You know, I am pretty observ..." Just as a huge wave came and nearly knocked us both over! It was so funny. Our clothese were soaked, and we both cracked up SO HARD. We were laughing like a bunch of hyenas, and the other grown ups there were looking at us like we were nuts. We spent the next loooong while standing right at the edge of the water so that the waves would wash over us. It was a blast. I know it doesn't SOUND like too much fun, but it really really was. We were such kids, I tell ya. You guys would have loved it so much.

Anyway, after we were thoroughly soaked through to our very bones, and changing into our DRY swim suits so we didn't have to sit in our wet clothes the whole way, we headed back home. I slept most of the way home because I was EXHAUSTED after getting up so early and having such a busy time. We decided to come home and go try our body boarding at the local touristy beach. I'll write about THAT adventure in my next post... you will not believe what daddy did!

BTW ~ by this point in our day, I think it was about 4:00!

I shall be uploading lots and lots of photos. I just got a paid photobucket account, so I'll put most on there... here are some for my LJ friends:)

I LOVE the new camera, BTW, totally point and shoot... often from a moving vehicle and 99% of them turn out GREAT!

I will be uploading a few more photos... you can see them here for now:
http://pics.livejournal.com/msbyn/gallery/0006s6bc

( thumbnails... click to see larger )

The Luau was awesome, lots and lots of info presented in a great way. I took lots of video and will post at length later.

Today we're headed to the North side of the island where the skies should be clear and rainforest and waterfalls abound... I can not wait.

My husband is in love with Hawaii, and I just know that at the very least, my younger son would be ready to move here in an instant.

Photos tomorrow, hopefully.

I adore sarongs, and could happily live with having a closet full of creative, brightly colored, adaptable clothing! LOVE them! I will try on all the different ones I have, and tie them in all the styles I've learned and post a fashion show with my girls when I get home. They are SO FLIPPING NEAT!!!


I'll make a long post tonight when I'm too tired to do anything else!

Holy Cow. Holy Beans... Holy FISH!

After a nice breakfast on the deck with fresh pineapple and coffee, Dh and I headed to my shiatsu massage. It was extreeeeeeeeeeeeeeemely relaxing.

Then we stopped by a thrift store and found an awesome 70's dress that fits me perfectly:) AND a large piece of rolling luggage for $4.50 to take all of our gifts home in!

After a nice long (okay, hugely stressful pain in the butt for motion sick me), scenic drive along the highway after Dh missed his turn and neither of us knew it, we finally came to the beach. First we visited the National Park where all the ancient ruins of past royal families of Hawai'i lived (pre-Christians coming). It was amazing. I love history. I ADORE history in real life. I wish we could find one of their live shows where they reenact history... that wasn't on the only night we aren't able to be here! All the ones I've found thus far are on Saturday night.

ANyway, then we went to the beach where "Kuna Boys" recommended we do our snorkeling. We rented our snorkeling stuff for $20 for the week. We're now glad we did. Dh loved LOVED it. He was like a little boy:) He was just beyond thrilled. Me... well, I have some issues with not being able to BREATHE. Apparently, my mind thinks it is essential that all breathing points be able to breathe at any point. That and the fact that I've never even used a snorkeling mask before, never been in the ocean before and never really even wore flippers before... made for quite a challenge. My brain does not find sticking my face under the water and breathing an easy task.

I went in the first time just long enough to be absolutely amazed at seeing the coral and fish RIGHT UNDER me. Immediately there were these gorgeous bright yellow and black fish darting around, and this gorgeous coral that I've seen in movies and documentaries and of course photos, but NOTHING is the same as being there. I saw just enough and then tried to breathe. It was really hard just breathing in my mouth and I panicked. A lot. I then breathed out my nose and made the seal on the mask break and water was gushing in my mask. Then I opened my mouth and got water in my mouth and was seriously having a panic attack.

I tried again with the same results and finally worked my way back to the rock we had started from. I was freaking out a bit. I tried again and again, but every single time I'd put my face in the water, I would panic. I wanted to see those freaking FISH.... GRRR!! I finally got myself comfortable just swimming in the water calmly with my head totally out of the water. Then I put on the mask and snorkel again until I got comfy breathing through just my mouth. THEN I let just my mouth go under, and was finally able to just let myself float with my face under water.

It was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. I saw so many fish that I have never seen before. All I could think of was how much Kainan and Jaedin would be FLIPPING OUT with excitement. Dh and I have already talked about planning a month long Hawaii vacation for our family in two years. BY then we can afford the money, and DH can take a week and a half off work, then fly home for a week, then join us again for the last part of the vacation. This is our goal... if the kids WANT to, of course.

Anyway, I floated for quite a while and saw so many fish. Dh snapped up 27 photos on our disposable camera right quick and was diving down deeper. I didn't have the guts to try that one!

I finally got out after a while and just laid on the beach chilling for a bit. Dh came out and was telling me about the further out parts, so I decided to go out again. It was MUCH easier this time... until I swam out far enough to be RIGHT in front of thousands of fish. THere were so many fish, that if I'd kept going, I would be in the middle of them. THere was also this huge wall of coral.

I freaked out. I was faster than Cindy B with a snake on her heels, seriously. I think I was skimming the water all the way back to the beach. I may have knocked a few kids out of my way, I'm not sure, but I was not about to be eaten by a herd of fish. Yeah, I know, its a "school", but they looked far too vicious to be a "school". Wait, come to think of it... school was pretty vicious. I suppose herds aren't really vicious either. Poo. I don't know what to call it, but you get the idea.

ANyway, that was the end of my snorkeling experience. I'm sure they weren't vicious. I'm not even sure I saw them at all. I just saw a great bright colored moving wall and decided noe to take any chances. I mean, I was wearing a brightly colored bikini myself, so what if they thought I was a friend and wanted to greet me with a kiss?? Holy beans, I would have jumped straight up in the air. People would have thought I was a dolphin. There would have been photos next week in the National Enquirer about how dolphins are now wearing bikinis! I'm going to have to ask Cindy if she's ever been snorkeling. I bet that would be a funny story:)

ANyway, I'm going to try and calm down with a nice bath before we leave for our luau...

Over and out... for now.

Pray for me that no fishies end up in my tub.

And no, Jaedin, it would NOT be funny to slip one of your fish in my bathtub one day.

So, today we did a little bit of (okay, a LOT) of our touristy shopping stuff. And, btw, I was UP and about, easily by 7:00 am. Yes. Me. My body is apparently set for THIS time zone! Anyway, the very first store we stumbled on had a rack of post cards outside, so we grabbed some of those to send back:)

Then, We immediately found a business that's going out of business Tuesday and got some GREAT deals. We bought Abyni and Paris and Sprite (if she wants them) some GORGEOUS sarongs that they will love. I wore one today as a dress, and one of the small ones as a scarf because Dh was driving with the top down on the jeep and my hair was flying all over creation. We bought the boys each a Hawaiian style shirt to go with Daddy's new one as well. We found some other things, but they're a surprise!

We stopped by the farmer's market and got some fabulous smelling pineapples and papayas, fresh tomatoes and lettuce and some more gifts.

We were in a store and I found a wonderful gift for my mom that I think she'll love, when I saw a ring that was just to die for... but didn't want to spend $120.00 on it! I had to drag Dh out of that store right quick:) He's awful about wanting to spend $$ we can't afford on whatever I show interest in.

Then we brought our stuff back to the room here at the resort and got our swim suits on, and I put on one of the sarongs. We went back and strolled along the beach, being extremely touristy and taking lots of photos of the amazing flowers, trees and critters on the rocks. I think Jaedin will just love our photos more than anyone. I even got a really close up photo of a gecko or something like it today!

We had an early lunch at Rio's and it was awesome. Expensive (like most things are here), but definitely yummy:)

Then we drove around for a long while, found teh place where we rented some snorkeling gear and found out about other local stuff. We're going to rent a kayak and go out to an out of the way-unaccesible by any other way-beach where we'll snorkel and get lotsa photos.

At some point we're going to take surfing lessons or something, because the boogie boards look like SO much FUN!!!

Now we're back at the resort, cooking some bacon for our BLTs for supper...

It has been a glorious day so far. Wonderful, relaxing... and I LOVE shopping for gifts!! I could do that for another entire day if I had the cash to spend:)

Now for a chillin' night at "home" and snuggling up with our books... ahhhhhh...

In the morning I have a shiatsu massage appt. at 9:30, then I think we're going to go explore some beaches with our snorkeling stuff! Tomorrow night we are going to a real luau, I am thrilled about that as well.

This is so surreal. Seeing McD's, Wendy's and Cold Stone, surrounded by palm trees and TONS of gorgeous flowers. Its amazing. There are all of these 400+ years of these cool stone walls that are still standing EVERYWHERE ~ with no mortar or anything.

Oh, we also saw "The Painted Church" today on our excursion. Its this little out of the way Catholic church with murals all over the inside of it. It was really really interesting to see.

I still can't do the photos thing ~ it will wait until the day that Dh takes some time to go get a sailboat, while I stay home and NOT get sea sick!:)

Things to do differently next time:
Pack portable foldable coolers with cold water bottles and sandwich wraps/food for the trip away (airport food is RIDICULOUS!!!) and for the actual trip (touristy places have expensive food too!). Pack A LOT LESS CLOTHES
*Buy cool things like sarongs and local clothing for wearing and taking back with you!
*Take folded up, carry on sized luggage IN your checked luggage to take gifts back with you on the return trip.

After what DH says was a pretty uneventful flight (although I tend to disagree heartily, because he couldn't see the anxiety and panic going through my head, much less feel the gut wrenching nausea that chased me through the air all day!!), We arrived in Hawaii at 8:35ish last night to a dark island and light rain.

I can not believe how many grouchy and unhappy looking people flew with us. Sad.

Anyway, we're here at our gorgeous resort, had a quick bite of some Digiorno Pizza last night, because by the time everyone got through with the broken luggage thing and we were off in our rental jeep,

**pause** Dh just walked in the door with Starbucks...mmmmmmmmmoment, please...

ANyhoo, we found the hotel, settled down to juct chill... and recover from the flight (I have anxiety issues DRIVING over bridges of RIVERS, so you can get an idea of how much I was flipping out internally FLYING over an ocean...

I'm getting ready to take my Starbucks and my cinnamon roll out to our deck and enjoy...

(To my kiddoes, I'll post photos and private posts for all of you later... I love love love you all! I can't wait to bring YOU all here!!)

And I must say, I am astounded that my amazing hubby got us to Hawaii and back for $700.00. Wow.

Oh, and we rented a jeep for our excursions...

I missed the fact that when I changed my comment settings, that I somehow UNchecked the "enable comments" box... it should be fixed. So NOW you can all comment away...

Heavy sigh. This internet stuff is so hard:)

Anyone have any recommendations for where to get a heavy duty, rolling duffel bag that is at LEAST 24 inches tall (preferably higher) and at least 16" deep and 13" wide. It needs to be heavy duty and able to withstand heavy load. Local recommends are great, online is fine as well.

My Dh is building me a portable sound system for Zumba and I need the luggage to carry it in.

On Christmas we went with a local church group to pass out candy canes and lotions to the nurses and Doctors who were working. That was such an awesome experience for us ~ we couldn't believe how thankful they were to be recognized and appreciated. So I decided that we would do something similar for each holiday.

Valentine's was bearing down fast, and I am SO swamped with the play and Zumba AND all teh redecorating house stuff that we're in the middle of... so I ALMOST let it slide 'just this once'. I knew if I did, though, that next month it would be even easier to let it slide, and this is important to me.

SO, on Sunday we made sugar cookie dough. I invited two families over to help decorate cookies with us... it was SO nice to just have a nice relaxing afternoon decorating cookies and catching up with friends.

Tomorrow we will deliver cookies to the librarians who do so much for us, our mailman, the police and first stations, and the nurses at the hospital.

Then we'll race home, decorate and throw a surprise party with the cast for Ryan's 16th birthday. In case you missed it, Ryan is part of our adopted family. He calls me Auntie Byn or mom and I call him my future son in law because Abyni is totally smitten with him. Well, I used to call him that, I stopped after it became apparent that Abyni really has fallen hard for the boy. I'm glad he doesn't date or she'd be heartbroken. Often.:)

( Photos under the cut click to see a larger version. Its a SURPRISE, so don't let Ryan see!!!! )

  I need a logo, still, but here is the poster and info for the show for my local friends

C.H.E.E.R. Drama presents:

The Phantom

of the Op'ry

Produced & Directed by Patrick & Byn Always

Tickets: $6.00 for Adults,

$3.00 for students (16 & Below)

February 29^th at 7:00pm

March 1^st at 2:00pm & 7:00pm

at the Broken Arrow Community Playhouse

1800 South Main St.

Performed with permission from Pioneer Drama, Inc.

Book by Tim Kelly * Music by Gerald V. Castle * Song lyrics by Michael C. Vigilant

Blissful skin has revamped and renamed! I got my shipment of bathcake stuff yesterday and took lotsa photos for tatianne (I got FREE bath stuff in exchange for taking photos:)

Too Cute! More here http://s266.photobucket.com/albums/ii280/MsByn/bathcakedotcom/
( (large)Bathcake photos I don't know how to shrink them yet )
Welcome to Bath Cake Boutique
I sent this email out to nearly everyone I know. I would also like to extend the offer to everyone here as well.

Welcome to Bath Cake Boutique – a new, whimsical approach to bath and beauty products. On the menu is a sumptuous selection of Bath Cakes, Soapy Cakes, Body Butter, Bubble Cakes and so much more!! Each is hand-crafted, fresh, and made to order from the finest all-natural ingredients. Just how you would make it if you had the time.

I hope you will take a few moments to look at these exciting new products at www.bathcake.com.

Each gourmet, spa quality product is a one of a kind that makes a great gift and is even better to keep! The menu of items at Bath Cake Boutique lends itself particularly well not only to holiday and birthday gift giving occasions but also make unique, fun favors for showers, weddings, parties and corporate gifting as well.

If you have any questions or comments I would love to hear from you! As always, if you prefer not to receive updates from Bath Cake Boutique, simply let us know and you'll be removed from this list immediately.

To welcome you to the Bath Cake Boutique family, a special offer awaits -- your choice of any Bath Cake -- free with any order!! Limit one per order; offer expires February 29, 2008. Please indicate in notes of order which scent you would like in your free Bath Cake.

Sweet bathing!

Erin

Yes, I'm actually going to do this this year... and I have been taking photos.  I'm only going to upload once a week though.  At this point, my camera-computer set up is a pain and I know I won't deal with it every day.  So, on Friday or something, I'll post photos from the week under a cut for anyone who is interested.  There will probably be photos taken by the kids in there quite often as well, since they're always taking off with my camera.

 For those who are doing 365 for the first time, again or are on the fence about doing it again, here are a couple ideas that might help during the doldrums.

52 Blessings - make a point each week to take a picture of one thing your are most grateful for. This allows you to have a little direction at least once a week, while also offering a bit of a creative challenge. Furthermore, it allows you to document the things you are thankful for throughout the year. Here is a link to a Flickr group of people participating in this specific challenge: 52 Blessings.

Weekly Challenge -  take a theme related picture each week for you to take a picture of. An example: Week 1: Shoes; Week 2: Breakfast; Week 3: Hallways. This can sometimes help with direction during those times when you don't want to take another picture or have no inspiration for what to take. Make your own list or use the one provided by Flickr group Project 365.

Photojojo - for other ideas and inspiration read Photojojo's 19 New Year's Photo Resolutions. The 20th resolution should be to sign up for the Photojojo newsletter if you haven't already. They always have fun and inspiring newsletters specifically related to photography. ar