Happy Fathers Day!!!

The greatest gift I ever had Came from God;

I call him Dad! ~Author Unknown

Happy Anniversary to us!!!

One more year!!!

Stacey & I were married on June 18th, 1997 on the island of Kauaii in Hawaii. We had already been together for about eight years before we eloped and I loved our wedding day.

Stacey & I at the baby
shower his co-workers
had for us when I was
pregnant w/ Charlie.

June 18th, 1997

Stacey & I with a new
Charlie. Aren't I pretty!?!

Us & boys at a Royals
game in 2006.



We were up before the sun & out to the docks to meet the crew who would be taking us deep sea fishing. The fishing boats over there are all pretty much restaurant sponsered. Meaning, they take you out fishing (for a fee, of course), you catch the fish, & they keep it & serve it to their customers. You do, however, get to go to their restaurant & have a portion of said fish for free, sides not included.
So... It was the farthest I had been out to sea on a boat, Stacey & I were so far gone with sea-sickness. There was a kind of an enclosed area where we rested while the boat carried us out to sea, the floor of this area was a few inches lower than the rest of the deck. That was a kind of a sick, really unlike any I have ever felt before. Neither of us actually GOT sick (Stacey has not even thrown up in the 20 years that I have known him)(that's ironic really, 'cause HE'S the one who, I feel, is responsible for a lot of MY throwing up! ;> ), & I was to the point that I had absolutely no interest in catching a fish. But, as luck would have it, a fish struck Stacey's pole & we were immediately improved. We were up & working at reeling the fish in & too busy to think about feeling bad any more. I don't think it took too long for Stacey to pull the fish in, I had no idea of what to expect, I know he had to work hard for the time it did take. Meanwhile, there is another newlywed couple on the boat, who have retreated to the enclosed area. And when I said WE were sick, man, they made us look the peak of health. They were sick, all over the place. Did I mention there was no kind of drainage in this sunken, enclosed area? Jeez, it was disgusting. (but I can't help laughing a little just now). So, we get the rush of reeling this mysterious 30 pound fish in & it's not anything I recognize. Turns out it's an ONO, or a Wahoo, common in that area, & sometimes shipped to meat markets & restaurants in this area. When the fish is finally pulled onto the deck we are warned that it has small, sharp teeth. And then they beat it to death with a small aluminum bat. I don't know why there would even be a metal bat that size, except to maybe pummel a toddler sized fish to a messy & somewhat slow death. I mean, the first few whacks were not quite enough, it started to flop around again after a moment of rest & they had to give it a couple more. I kind of started to feel sick again after that. What an exhilerating morning that was! Boy, I did not see this story taking quite that turn, sorry, but I guess I just wanted to paint the whole picture. As we were unloading from the boat, one of the crew was trying to sweep & hose out that little enclosure...

...sorry, I was just laughing to myself again.

Okay, so after all that, we needed a nap. We had some time, we weren't getting married until 4p.m. And would you be surprised to learn that we were late for our own wedding? No, I thought not.

It was a beautiful late afternoon in Hawaii. We had scheduled our ceremony with a woman, Beverly, who has a few of Hawaii's most glorious acres, really pure utopian paradise. Our wedding picture, that you see above, is her back yard. The ocean. The Pacific ocean is her backyard. As we stand there, we are facing the rear of her house, with Makana looking upon us. We were married, however, in her front yard. The estate was beautifully landscaped, so green & tropical, bordered on one side by a swift, but quiet stream. The whole scene was overlooked by the mountain, "Makana". The woman called her 'business', "Wedding's with Makana", as the mountain serves as a witness to the marriage. Our 'human' witness, & the only other guest to our wedding, beside Beverly, who was ordained to marry us, was our photographer. We were married in the gazebo, it was simple & quiet, & better than I ever could have imagined. Would you be surprised to know that I was a blubbering idiot? I didn't think so. Beverly & the photographer left us following the ceremony, so that we could look around & take our own pictures. And when we found the stream alongside the property, I realized that further upstream was a swimming hole,utilized by the locals, that my family & I had found & enjoyed in a previous vacation. Kind of a full circle moment for me.

Later, Stacey & I had dinner at an old plantation-turned-restaurant. It was a quiet celebration, with nobody around us to know we were just married. Pretty laid-back, probably no big surprise there.

The following day we went to the restaurant that took us deep sea fishing. We had our "Wahoo", & it was spectacular!!!

; >

EH ALOHA PAU OLE

(may your love be everlasting)

Charlie's Gr8!!!

Happy Birthday to Charlie!!!

This was the first birthday day that has also been a school day. All the kids are summer (or almost summer) birthdays. I'm a summer birthday too & I thought it was great that Charlie could go to school & be the center of attention for a while! So I got to make cupcakes for Charlie & his friends. I made so many that Charlie got to help pass the extras around to the other teachers, because it was also teacher appreciation week, & there were STILL cupcakes left over!

That night we had a small family dinner at Habenero's & opened family gifts, mostly Star Wars stuff.



Later, Charlie had a 'Video Game' party with just a few of his best friends. And of course, there were more Star Wars gifts!

Here's some more on Henry's preschool graduation.

Here Henry is giving a big hug to his wonderful teachers for the year; Miss Fenton, & her mom, Mrs. Fenton

Here are the kids gathering to perform a song they had been practicing all year long, but now it had a new & special finale! It was really cute with the kids using their BIG voices & their quiet voices, lots of hand movements. And at the end, the new & special finale, all of the kids tossed their graduation caps into the air. Everyone... except for Henry. I can only imagine how excited the kids were to rip off those caps & throw them wildly into the air! But Henry, he kept that cap on until the very end!

Well, now it's been two months since I have posted, shame on me. For so long nothing was happening, & then we just had tons of stuff. The end of the school year is so busy, lots of field trips, field day, programs...

Henry graduated from preschool, possibly for the first time. He had a screening for kindergarten & he's borderline for being ready, he is one of the youngest in his group. We had this same issue with Charlie & had to learn the hard way by starting him in school & then pulling him out. Lone Jack has such an awesome program, with the screening & the kindergarten prepardeness he's in for summer school right now. These things may not completely get him ready for kindergarten this year, but it may help to ease Stacey & I into waiting another year. He's so darn smart, he's got all the stuff he needs to know, he's just too busy to hold still yet for a classroom. We'll see...