so here's the thing...

What can I say?

After Tay brought the plague back from Hawaii, (making it both the best and worst trip we've ever had), which tuned into pneumonia, which turned into cracked/seperated ribs, we finally rolled into softball season. Fun tournament trip to Tri-Cities. Some busy stuff. And then Taylor caught the flu again. As in...my Easter Sunday was spent holding my girl's hair out of her face while she *ralphed*. Not the best Easter memory. And then she rebounded, and we had another few tournaments. And she caught yet another version of the flu. And then she got well. And then she caught a terrible cough/cold. And then another. I don't know how many days she's missed this trimester. Pretty bleak. She lost 10 pounds, which on a little 90 pound body is scary. Her softball pants are too big, and even her belt is too big to hold them up. I think we've finally turned the corner.

I hope.

And amidst all that, my poor sweet dad-in-law got sick. And then sicker. And he just couldn't battle back quite enough. And then it was cancer. And so in the space of a few short weeks, we lost him.

I've been trying to keep up with Project Life, but there are just so many pictures of Taylor on the couch or in bed to show the highlight of the day. I've been trying to get with the clever pictures like the inside of my fridge, or the yard, but really? For the last 3 months, if Tay's not sick, she's pushing herself to play softball, and then hitting the couch again. And we've had too many sad days. And it's tough to get jazzed when you're living in the lovely wet, gray Seattle drizzle, breaking records for the coldest year on record. And the wettest.

So I just turned the calendar to June. Summer must be lurking.

Bring it.

April 7th

Not supposed to look like this, is it?

Thick, sloppy stuff, but last night when it was falling it was so pretty....Taylor made the requisite snowball for the freezer. And then changed her mind and ate it. Should I be concerned about radiation?

And so today we are supposed to head out to Eastern Washington for the Tri-Cities Ice Breaker Tournament. Fitting title.

This doesn't help my cause for living happily ever after here. Nor does the fact that we've nearly passed the average rainfall for the entire month of April in just 6 days. And...the ginormous snail that was stuck to the side of my car the other day. IN MY GARAGE. Eric has had two trips to Arizona and one to Las Vegas, and that doesn't help much either. Oh! and here's a happy statistic our friendly weatherman just threw out: tomorrow will be the first mostly sunny day we've had in 6 weeks. Wanna come live in our neck of the woods?

Hawaii Day 8

We woke up bright and early...well the guys hit the course by 7, we slept in.

Off to Starbucks and shopping for knick knacks, then as we headed back to the condo, there were auntie Meke and Lisa! I dropped Tay off and scurried back to pop a load of laundry in and run a load of dishes. Down at the pool,Taylor needed a few "rests" and it was soooo hot. We finally decided to clean up and go out to our favorite restaurant for some lunch. As I was getting ready for lunch, Tay needed to have another "rest" on the sofa. Hmmmm.....mommy radar not working, I guess....Finally, as we sat down at the restaurant, Meke said "does Tay feel okay?" and I put my hand to her forehead. Yep. Burning up. Mass confusion on my part, scurrying to get Eric, get Tylenol, soup, make my girl feel better.

Essentially, Tay and I spent the last day of our vacation on the master bed....watching Sponge Bob et al....

 

 

 

Hawaii Day Seven

The guys were up before the sun to head out to golf. Taylor and Mom went out for a nice breakfast at the Macaroni Grill and then to Target to shop for Lia's birthday present. Back for a scrumptious lunch at their place, with Dairy Queen cake for dessert. And same stuff, different day, we went to the Mauna Kea beach. Great surf. Amazing waves. No serious wipeouts, just fun wave jumping and boogey boarding. And then everyone headed back to clean up and come to our place for dinner. What else? Steak and chicken....with some yummy ribs thrown in for good measure. Taylor made her special carrots in the oven....and we had leftover DQ cake! Sooooo yummy!

Hawaii Day Six

Christian was up and ready (sadly....) to head home early this morning. Little glitch when we realized his thongs were not really airport wear, and his shoes wouldn't fit over his bandaged toe. So we ran to the ABC store and got some nicer flips and he was off to the airport.

The guys went golfing and Taylor and I hung out with Sam for a few hours. Can I just say doing a puzzle with Miss Samantha is like shoveling snow in a driving blizzard blindfolded with one arm tied behind your back? Phew! We hung out at the pool for a few hours, where Meke and Sam had a monumental fight over the life vest. Meke won the fight....Sam left the pool for an early nap. Taylor and I walked down to our beach with Elsa and the snorkel gear and found 4 turtles hanging out, resting on the beach - so, so cool. Taylor tried snorkeling, but it was very rocky and cloudy, and sadly....another damaged toe in the family. Not too bad, but a scrape bad enough to end the fun.

Back for hotdogs at the Lanctot's and then off to another beach! This time we went to Mauna Kea with Uncle Todd and it was spectacular. No crowds ( they keep it to 30 cars only - strictly reinforced ) and great surf. Well....sort of. Taylor got out a little too far and couldn't touch, and she started to panic. There was a strong enough current that we couldn't get to her, and she couldn't get to us. Uncle Todd saved the day, and after tears and "hating Hawaii and never wanting to go to the beach again", she recovered. It was a harsh wake-up call from Mother Nature. Warning heeded.

Back for a quick clean-up and then Todd and Sunkyu and Lia came for dinner at our place. Early to bed, for a 7 a.m. tee time for Eric.

Hawaii Day Five

Saturday morning already! How did that happen?!?!? Okay, good news is Christian's toe doesn't look any worse in the light of day, still ugly and sore, but Eric and I went to Target ( the best, biggest Tarjay I've ever seen, and I would like to live there, thank you very much! ) for some supplies. So waterproof bandages and we were ready to test it out at the pool. Seemed to hold up okay, so after a quick lunch at the condo, we were ready for another adventure. Well....sort of. I read about this Kealakekua Bay which was supposed to have the best snorkeling on the island. But on the way, I read some more, and it sounded like you needed to go on a tour boat, or rent a kayak to get to the good stuff. Bummer....But we kept driving, and finally after about an hour of complaining, grumbling kids....we busted out at the top of this incredible bay. We went from elev. 1100 to the water in 5 minutes and it was a really, authentic, genuine Hawaiian beach. I guess it washed out in a hurricane about 20 years ago, but there was just enough to enjoy. Taylor snorkeled for the first time and loved it - lots of big fish. And we had a few Hawaiian families and some hippies hanging out, so while we felt very touristy and out of place, I was kind of proud of myself for finding a little gem. Couldn't hang out for more than an hour, though, since it was CJ's last night and he requested a dinner out. SO off to Merriman's with the entire group - party of 16 - yummy good dinner - and then a little time just hanging out on Meke's lanaii.

Hawaii Day Four

The guys went golfing, so Taylor, Christian, Nik and I went with Uncle Todd and Sunkyu and Lia on an adventure. We turned off the highway onto a dirt road. Nothing but a marker to show you where the "road" was. Bumpy, rocky track for a few miles and then we came upon a little black beach. I've never seen black sand, and it was so cool. NOT so cool was the sharp lava rocks waiting to bite us. And not so much about the 2 dogs romping around us, trying to get us to play with them. It was really cool, and without kids would have been fun to explore. But my crew mutinied...and so we headed to the beach from yesterday. Great times were had boogey boarding and jumping waves.

 To end the day, we had dinner with the Runges at the Lanctots....and a very bad thing happened....CJ was being a good big brother, playing tag with the kids in the grass, which was wet. He jumped up on the lanaii, and sliced the end of his toe open on the edge of the concrete. Scary, bloody toe....and kind of a fun-sucker for the evening.....

Hawaii Day Three

Wow we had some thunder and lightning....while everyone was over for dinner last night, it started waaaay out to sea. And slowly got closer....until I woke up at about 2 am and the place was lit up. Not tooo loud at that point, but spectacular. Finally, at about 4:30 it started to roll over us. Taylor sprang out of bed at 5 and was shook up. I got her to sleep with Daddy, and really....about 6 o'clock I felt the building shaking. What an amazing, scary tropical storm. Phew! I dozed a little, and woke at 7:30 or so to pouring rain. And get this: snow back at home!!!!

At first we were kind of bummed...rain all day? but then the sun busted out and so we hit the beach! Boogey boarding at it's best. My highlight was watching my kids just loving the surf, and Sam and Petra giggling with total delight as the waves "chased them". So, so cute.

Back for a really nice lunch, comped by the Runge's and Lanctot's (we'll have them for dinner any time!) and then a quick dip in the pool.

We went to Todd's for dinner - yummy grilled romaine, bread, chicken, steaks -

Hawaii Day Two

And so we anxiously awaited CJ all day...he texted as soon as he was at the airport ( I warned him about angry stews... )

We checked out the pool while the guys golfed. Really nice facility - and we walked down to the beach, which was crowded and kind of rocky....calm water...nothing too special.

Had lunch with Lisa and the kids, and then we took Elsa back to our place. And when Eric went to the airport to get Christian, he hit Costco....then dropped CJ off at the pool to swim and we ran to the store to grab whatever else we needed to have everyone over for dinner. 13 for steaks. YUMMM....

Day One Hawaii

And so....off to Hawaii. I'm becoming a real world traveler. Not.

Pretty much the usual stress, and me with my head in the sand up until the last minute, then running around like the proverbial chicken, forgetting too much and worrying and worrying. We had a pretty smooth flight, save for a little lecture from the flight attendant about our carry ons. Turned out she was mistaken, but would not admit it, and if I hadn't had Taylor with me, I might have carried the fight on, or asked for a supervisor....but with my luck, I'd have been dragged off in handcuffs, so I backed down and settled for glares.

We were at Honolulu airport and Eric looked up and said "TODD!" I thought he was kidding, but really, there they were. Thought they were coming tomorrow.

We got in and checked out our place - amazingly nice, but it could use a deep cleaning. Oh well, that's why I hate to travel and stay in strange places. Germs. Dirt. Yuck. I spent some time washing bedding and towels for my peace of mind....wish I could really mop the floor, though. At least the bathrooms are clean :P

So after we were a little settled, we headed to Meke's for pizza and yakking. Todd showed up finally about 8:30 and everyone was ready to hit the hay soon after that.