Serious Cereal

I know it looks like we're breakfast nuts but we've somehow gotten ourselves to the point that we can't seem to eat one kind of cereal. We like having a combination.

Our kids were rather aghast at our breakfast ritual. We alternate oatmeal on one day and a mixture of cereals on another day. We also add raisins or cranberries and bananas to our cereal.

It all started innocently enough with us just mixing two kinds of cereal and then we kept on adding to it. Sounds like my chicken soup. I just don't know where to stop!

Sunday! Sunday! So Good to Me....

(Apologies to the Mamas and the Papas. I know it's supposed to be Monday, Monday.)

It's been a quiet week but we had a LOT lined up for today!

8:00 - 10:00 AM: We helped our friend, Jeff with his eagle scout project, painting over graffiti and cleaning the skate park and community center.


There were a lot of glass doors, windows, mirrors and ceiling fans to clean.
The skate park really looked new and spiffy after the clean-up and paint job.
It's my brother, Dennis' birthday today and I was proud of him for using his birthday to help out another Boy Scout. He and Art were both Boy Scouts.





10:00: Rushed home, showered and drove out to Waikiki for a 1st birthday party for Art's cousin's grandson.
The birthday party was at the Waikiki Sheraton. We've never been to such an amazing 1st birthday party. The food was out of this world (ate too much) and we had fun seeing all the relatives, many whom we hadn't seen in years. There was even a buffet line just for the keiki's (children) to be able to reach on shortened tables. The bouncy inflated tent had children jumping merrily. A Wii video game was set up to also entertain children.



First Birthday parties in Hawaii are typically a joyous time for extended families to get together to meet the new addition to the family as well as spending time catching up on each other's doings.


The favors were the famous Big Island Candies macadamia nut candies.



Art's cousin's son had hired a balloon sculptor. She said it was a family business. They're called Adventure Balloons. She made the MOST incredible things just by twisting her balloons.




Art decided to get a balloon for Dennis. Won't he be surprised to see this at his party tonight?

As we left the hotel I thought the scene was so "Waikiki." I told Art I felt like we were living next to another world.

When we got home, mom was already preparing her popular Lemon Chicken and kabocha. I prepared a salad and we were ready for Dennis' belated birthday party.





My nephew, Barry and his wife, Miho brought over a scrumptious strawberry cake that we polished off with no hesitation. Here's Cody helping his brother light the candles for his dad.


Poor Barry and Miho! When they were bringing the cake into the house, the box tipped and the cake slipped which smeared the birthday sign. It sure didn't hurt the taste of it at all.



As I said, it's a hectic Sunday, yes! But satisfying?... Absolutely! Wonderful? Definitely!

Creative Cooling

We watched our neighbor's construction from our second floor for several weeks and were perplexed at the shortness of the ceiling height and lack of windows or room partitions. It didn't look like the ceiling height could possibly be 8 feet high.


We bumped into another neighbor who explained that they added that second floor to cool their house because these homes didn't have a ceiling to help insulate the house from the Hawaiian heat. They're planning to use the space for storage and wouldn't be using it for living space. Ahhhhhh.... that explains it.

I think air conditioning might have been cheaper but then again, storage space in Hawaii is at a premium. Still, this seems like a drastic solution to me. Fun, but drastic.


We just noticed another neighbor choosing a cheaper option to cool their house. They're painting their roof white to reflect the sun's heat.

Poison, Pineapple and Papayas

Poison: We've been getting an awful lot of ants and roaches so we hired our termite person's company to apply some insecticide around the perimeter of the house. We noticed quite a few dead roaches the following day. We're a little nervous about the herbs in our garden though. I think we'll wait until there's a goodly rainfall before we eat anything from the garden.


Pineapple: We were so surprised at how sweet the pineapple my mother has been tending tasted that we decided to go ahead and plant its crown also. We stuck the crown in a jar of water until the roots formed. Now we'll be able to plant it in soil.


Papayas: The papaya tree that we thought would never bear fruit has finally given us a fruit to harvest.


Mom has been watching the fruit ripen for several days and insisted that Art go out and pick it this morning. It's still pretty firm though so we'll wait a few days before we have it for breakfast.


See that other papaya tree quivering in the background? I just threatened it with the axe if it doesn't start doing something soon.

Memed by Meggie!

OK... you can come out from under the bed now, Peg...

Peggy of Musings of Meggie just tagged me with a meme. I can't take the stress of passing on awards or memes but I'll play along just because Peggy is part of my blogging family and you know how hard it is to say no to your family. :-)

"This meme is a simple one. Collect the book that you have most handy, turn to page 161, find the 5th complete sentence, and cite the sentence on your blog. Next (of course) is to pass it on to 5 others."

Here it is, drum roll:

Book (right on my desk next to me where Art left it for me to research): Lonely Planet Japan


5th sentence: "An Asian restaurant that's been on the block for years is Erawan, where spicy curries and green papaya salad are served in a setting reminiscent of an outdoor Thai cafe on some southern shore...except here, you get a glittering urban view from this top-floor dining venue."

I guess now everybody will know that we're (Art actually) is planning another trip to Japan. We're going to Japan again because it's the only place my mom is willing to go to. This isn't a problem at all because there's a WHOLE lot of Japan that we have not seen. My mom hasn't been to these places either so it'll be another adventure in spring. She says that at 80, her traveling days are over. We've told her that at 80 she needs to see as many of the amazing places there are in our world as she can.

If there's anybody else who'd like to pick up this meme, please, please do! It would make me and Peggy happy.

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

We finally got around to seeing Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince late this afternoon. We took my mom who didn't quite understand what was going on. I thought it dragged at times. We haven't been to see a movie in maybe a year so it surprised me that there was almost a half hour of commercials and previews before the movie started at the Pearl Highlands Theatre.

Now then... is it just me or does anybody else feel like Harry should have ended up with Hermoine? I thought so after reading the books. Even in the movie, there was more chemistry between Harry and Hermoine than between Hermoine and Ron. At least that's what I thought but then again, I'm just a muggle.

Bed Update 4: Prone to Depression

After three nights on the Serta Felicity Latex Mattress from America's Mattress I'm sad to say there IS a depression again. You can't see it as much as on the very soft Tranquility mattress we tried first but.... by golly.... it's there... AGAIN! You can definitely feel it. This is a much firmer, flatter mattress so it's not quite as pronounced (yet) but it's there.

The latex mattress series is touted for having a quicker bounce back than foam. However, because of the fiberfill layer on top, you don't get to that bounce.

There's no other mattress we can exchange it to because I think this is a trait you can't get away from in this line of mattresses. Therefore, unless it caves in further... we'll have to live with this.

The only thing we can say worked for us on this mattress is that it could make it up to the second floor because latex is flexible.

Final impressions:

We wouldn't recommend the Vera Wang latex mattresses because of the depressions.

Make SURE you get the comfort guarantee. I don't even know if all the America's Mattresses have this same guarantee because one of the salespeople at the other store even in Hawaii said they didn't.

Really lie on the bed without the salesperson for 15 minutes in every position you sleep in. This won't tell you if the mattress will have a depression because you're still on it for a short time, but you'll get a better feel for it.

Price doesn't guarantee the best bed for you. Boy! Have we learned that!

Good Night, KC...

Tiffany called on Skype this afternoon. It was 4:30 PM in Hawaii but 9:30 PM in Chicago. It was much too late for KC to still be up but she insisted on saying, "Good night" to grandpa and grandma before she went to sleep. I have a feeling she's still not completely adjusted to Chicago time.

Yesterday, I was busy putting toys away, storing baby gear in the attic and cleaning up smudges here and there. Without thinking, I wiped away KC's hand smudges on our hallway mirror. She liked standing there sometimes to look at herself and would often touch her reflection leaving lots of smudges on the glass. I'm rather sorry I cleaned it up.

However, seeing KC's face briefly this afternoon because the connection was so bad gave us a lift. She was actually chatting with us in the dark so we couldn't make her out clearly. Still... it was enough.... almost.

Trying Aerobics!

My friend, Joanne suggested that we take an Aerobics class together. Joanne is also the friend who introduced me to Line Dancing.

We signed up together this afternoon and I met our Aerobics teacher. She just celebrated her 80th birthday and after meeting her, I hope I can keep up. Seriously. I've never taken an Aerobics class before. She said to bring an exercise mat, towel and a bottle of water. I think she's expecting us to sweat.

I'm not too good with sweating. We'll see how I manage this.

Bed Update 3: Princess and the Pea

We went to America's Mattress about a week ago and chose our replacement mattress. This time we went to the other extreme. Instead of the too soft Vera Wang latex Tranquility mattress, we went with the firmest Vera Wang latex Felicity to avoid the padding which we were not trusting to form a depression again.


However, looking at the tag when it was delivered today, I saw that there's even less latex percentage wise. Consumer Reports won't even rate mattresses because all the different companies create their own "recipe." You can't compare apples to apples. Therefore, if any salesperson tells you it's 100% latex, check the label. But you know what? At this point, I don't care anymore. I just hope it's comfortable enough and doesn't have a depression in it after two days. We'll see. It's supposed to have a 30 year garantee but who knows where the company will be then?


The Felicity mattress was delivered today by the same cheerful guys who delivered the Tranquility. They looked at the hilly mattress and said, "Oh, you've got a mountain in the middle, hunh?" He told us that they would be taking the mattress back to where it was made in Waipahu and find out who made it. Apparently the name of the person who made it is in the mattress. Interesting.


So we've got a new mattress... again. It seems like it's almost half the height of the other mattress and I'm feeling like the princess looking for the pea. Luckily, I've got a prince already sound asleep on the bed right now. But then again, he could sleep on the stone floor of a castle just as peacefully. I'm looking for a happy ending here.

The Saddest Time of Aloha

Aloha has many meanings. It can mean hello, love or good-bye. I guess it's sort of like Shalom.

Today, it was farewell and it hurt even more to say good-bye to my daughter, Tif and our granddaughter, KC than I thought it would. I was dreading this moment so I tried to put it out of my mind but today's pain was always looming in the background.


Tif and Art started the morning by getting some Beard Papa's cream puffs. The store is very close by but we never get them because we figure anything that tastes that good has got to be bad for you. For KC it was love at first bite.


Then she had lots of energy to go outside and do some sweeping... at least that's what she said she was doing.


She thought it was rather funny to play peek-a-boo with her broom. She may have been a bit tired of me following her around with my camera trying to record her every move.


KC loves flowers so she made it a point to water the orchids one last time.


Too soon it was time to go to the airport. KC seemed to understand what was going to happen.
"Grandpa come, too?" she asked.
"No, KC but we'll see you in spring," Art said.
"Grandma come, too?" She tried another tack.
"No, I'm not going but you'll be seeing your friends soon and Daddy will be picking you up at the airport," I reassured her.

She grabbed some toys we'd bought for her to play with during her stay and asked Tif if she could bring them with her. Tif said she could select one if grandma said it was OK. I wondered what she would take. What she chose wasn't a toy that she played much with during her stay but today that toy horse was imbued with strong emotions and significance.


The toy never left her side from her ride to the airport to the security gate.


Tif hand carried two heavy backpacks (filled with snacks, diapers and assorted baby stuff), KC's carseat, a laptop, a stroller and sometimes, KC. I have NO idea how she does it. I'm just grateful she's willing to do this just so she can spend extra time with us. It's a red-eye NINE hour flight back to Illinois non-stop. As I write this post, she's been in the air 5 hours and I'm feeling her tiredness.

I asked KC at the airport what she was supposed to do on the airplane. She said, "KC quiet."
I asked her what she should do with her feet. She said, "Down." I hope she remembers so the person in front of her doesn't get foot jabs on the flight.


The house is too quiet now. Much too quiet. If I close my eyes I can hear Tif talking to me. I can hear KC's shrieks of laughter. I can feel her arms around my neck. I can almost smell her baby smell. As she looks at that toy horse, I hope she can see us, too.

This is so painful.

But then... tomorrow, we'll have Skype!

The Last Beach Day

Yesterday was the last day at the beach for KC and Tif. KC still won't step or sit directly on sand even after three beach day attempts but she LOVED the water and shrieked with piercing delight when we pushed her in her floatie toy.


When we got home mom said we really needed to harvest our pineapple because it was getting very ripe. This time, Tif got to pick the pineapple. It was the sweetest one we've had yet. It was rather surprising how very sweet and non acidic it was. This motivates us to try planting another pineapple. Now if only it didn't have such sharp leaves.

KC has been a little reserved around her great grandmother. We thought it might be because my mother doesn't speak much English and because Aachan is always busy and doesn't get to spend a lot of quality time with her.

Last night, KC decided she needed to spend LOTS of quality time with Aachan. She asked to go and find Aachan. She then climbed all over Aachan and asked her to read her a book. Aachan can't read English very well but she improvised using a mixture of English, Japanese and pidgin English. Once the book was done, they looked at family photos.

They both had a beautiful time bonding and getting to know each other better. When Tif went to get KC for her bath, she did not want to leave her great grandmother. I love the fact that KC took it upon herself to have a loving relationship with her great grandmother on her own terms, in her own time.

Happy Tuesday

We had a very full and happy Tuesday.


It started with this fun license plate we saw in front of us. If you enlarge the photo you'll be able to see that it says, MY BICHON FRISE IS SMARTER THAN YOUR HONOR STUDENT.


Tif wanted to take KC to the Dole Plantation to see the different pineapples growing there. We were hesitant because it's really a tourist trap with rather overpriced souvenirs and food.


We brought KC there last year when she was a one year old and she was unimpressed. This time she was running from pineapple to pineapple shouting excitedly, "See the red pineapple." "See the green pineapple?" "See the pink pineapple."








At the fish pond, she had a ton of fun dropping fish pellets into the koi pond and watching the fish gobble up the food.


A few months ago, Tif had KC try a train ride and she was not happy with it. This time KC could hardly wait to go on the Pineapple Express train ride.


If you asked KC what her favorite part of the expedition was, she might say the pineapple soft serve.

I still think this place is rather a touristy thing. But what the heck! To a two year old, it's probably a little Hawaiian Disneyland.


To cap off a terrific day, my brother, Dennis, nephew,Barry and his wife, Miho came for dinner. KC could hardly get enough of them. We heard squeals of delight throughout the evening. Could it have been Barry's funny faces that had KC clinging to him all evening?

We have only a few more days with Tif and KC. It's going to be really, really hard to say goodbye to them. However, I won't think about that now.

Neighborly Bounty

Our neighbor just had a friend come to visit from the outer islands who brought with him lots of veggies and fruits. He shared some of the bounty with us.

We could figure out the limes, lichees and eggplants but the bitter melon is something we don't usually cook. We finally figured out the last veggie (round, brown root) which must be jicamas. (Our neighbor called it Chinese taro.) I remember my Venezuelan friend, Daisy making us a salad with jicama. It had a sort of water chestnut consistency and flavor. I'm going to use it tonight in a salad to serve my brother, nephews and niece-in-law. This will be interesting.

Now... those bitter melons.... hmmmmm.....

Car Buying Aggravation

When we met with the Toyota salesman at Servco he was quite eager to have us try out the Prius and to sell it to us. We did and we liked it. Our salesman said it was in the computer to have the car built in July and delivered to us in August. If another car came up sooner we might get the car in July. We put down our $500.00 deposit and were happily on our way.

THEN we got this letter saying not only that it would probably get to us in October but that it wasn't a promise either since we don't have a "vehicle identification number" yet. What the heck?

Art called our salesman and he said he was sorry we misunderstood him... that he really was saying it MIGHT come in August. Excuuuuse me? WE misunderstood him? Arrrghhh! Why do you suppose then that he felt it necessary to underline the possible October delivery date in RED?

Servco has a monopoly on Toyota cars in Hawaii so we have no choice. It's just so aggravating.

Tif told me how when they were buying their Mazda in Illinois, they negotiated a certain finance interest rate but when the paperwork was shown to them there was a different rate. When Tif's husband pointed it out to the Finance manager they said it was a mistake and corrected it.

Beds! Cars! Argghhhhh! I'll bet that's why we buy our cars only after we've had it more a decade and doesn't run anymore. This bed we're buying better last the 30 years it's advertised to do because I want it to be the LAST one we buy!