Do You Miss Hawaii?

People always ask me "Do you miss Hawaii," and I always answer the same way, "Yes. Every day."

Today a woman came through my check stand with a maika'i card on her keyring. I was torn between bursting into tears and jumping over the register to hug her and kiss her once on each cheek. Instead I stumbled through a story about how the check stand lady at Foodland gave me her Polynesian turtle shell bracelet after I commented on its beauty. Just like that. Gave it to me off her own wrist. I'm pretty sure the lady was ready to just hurry up and pay for her groceries after that awkward moment.

Little things like this happen to me ALL the time. At least once a week. Sometimes once a day. Little bits of Hawaii pop up and call to me and then I end up trying my hardest not to cry. Just last week we were in a store at the mall that had a TV on playing a song by Jason Mraz and the video had scenes from I believe Kaui and I just stood and froze and watched it and let my heart hurt and my two year old run around in the store window display until it was over.

I have a picture of Waimea by my favorite artist Bill Braden that I bought at the Haleiwa Arts Festival hanging in Choob's bathroom. Sometimes when I go in there to pee I close my eyes so I won't see it and get sad.
The worst thing is that I am starting to forget. Dan and I will be talking about something that we did in Hawaii and it is fuzzy when I try to recall it. It's been too long. Two years too long. I'm forgetting.

I'm forgetting what it's like:
to walk down the beach with Dan
to surf/snorkel north shore
to jump off really high rocks and land in really shallow water
to know all the lyrics to Hawaiian radio songs like "I like fish and poi, I'm a big boy....."
to go up/down the Kehoe's driveway in the rain
to lose power because some has hit a telephone pole again
to stare out at the sea from the top of the pupukea heiau
I'm forgetting the taste of:
ted's breakfast
a snorkel in my mouth
poki cakes from Angels
taco bell in Kaneohe
a matsumotos flavored with li hing moi and ice cream on the bottom
I'm forgetting the sight of:
those trees on the way to costco that Dan calls "canopy makers"
chinamen's
The Nimitz Hwy sign
Sunsets
shark box
"fat carty" the 500 pound shirtless golf cart driving guy on the way to kaneohe
Palms dancing in the wind
Everything North Shore
stray Chickens and cats
Gray whales from the Kehoe's deck
Rainbow School
Waimea Falls and Bay
I'm forgetting the sound of:
The drums at the PCC
sudden rainstorms
Dr. Shimizu and the lawn chairs in her outdoor waiting room
big wave season
my baby's squeaky stroller as we walked the bike path

I'm forgetting the smell of:
dozens of sunday dinners at TVA from dozens of different countries
Pineapple fields
Surf out at V-land
Maui Babe tanning lotion
Mold
Early morning waimea, when not a soul is on the sandI'm forgetting the feel of:
Sea Turtles
humidity
a wet bathing suit worn all day
sand-on my skin, in my hair, in the car, in my food, in my sheets
laying out at turtle bay
driving with the windows down
humility

alohaIt's been too long. Two years too long. It's time to go back for a visit before the hole in my heart gets any bigger. Melodramatic I know. For all you readers who still live there (Beck, Steph, Molly) don't forget...you live in paradise.

Dare I Say It?

I think The Choob is potty trained?!! While it has been only two weeks, he continues to astound us with his potty-ing. He's peed at Lego land, the library, the grocery store, and Grandma's house. No Accidents in 13 days. He even wakes up from his naps completely dry. Who is this child? No tantrums. No bribes. Just, "I'm ready to go pee momma" and he runs in there, "force pushes" his underpants down like a true jedi, and does his business. Unbelievable. It's going to be weird walking out of costco without the huge box of diapers in my cart. And by weird I mean TOTALLY AWESOME! We love you Choobie!

[Feb 10] Almost Too Big for the Toddler Pit

He's almost 36 inches tall. Almost to big for the Toddler Pit. He has been crawling around this toddler pit since he was four months old. I can't believe it won't be a part of our Sea World routine anymore. Please stop growing up my little Lukey Boy.

[Feb 10] Learned Something New

Crawling through the "snake hole"

Jeff taught Choobie how to use this thing. Choob thought it was a blast once he got the hang of it.

[Feb 10] Luke's Favorite Things at Sea World

"Buggle Nets" and "Wobble Bridges"

Going down the curly slide backwards

If it were possible, Luke would spend his entire life on a wobble bridge.

[Feb 9] Last Time At the Birch Aquarium

Our passes to the Birch Aquarium were about to expire so we headed over to see some fish and escape the rain. Apparently every other mom in san diego had the same idea too. It was really crowded!

Choobie is afraid of sharks just like his dad.

Despite the pouring rain, Choobie wanted to go in the shark mouth so Uncle Jeff ran him out in the storm.

The boys in the shark mouth.

My favorite is the octopus. Here it is inside a jar. Pretty sweet.

[Feb 8] A Wild Animal at the Wild Animal Park

Just a weekend morning at the Wild Animal Park.

The Boys on a log

Then we spotted a real wild animal. A little bunny nibbling on some grass near the herb garden. Choob needed to go investigate.

We told him to sit on the rock so he wouldn't spook the bunny. He was making all these nuzzling sounds and resisting the urge to go up and squeeze the bunny and burrow his nose in. He loves all things furry and fluffy.

Animal lover through and through. What a sweet boy.

[Feb 8] Introducing The Burrito

We had this tradition. Every friday night we'd blow up the air mattress and watch movies. The air mattress was supposed to remain blown up throughout the weekend and then be put away during the week. This never happened. The air mattress became a permanent piece of furniture in our very tiny living room. So permanent in fact that Dan bought a Pirates of the Caribbean bed set for it, you know so it will "look nice when people come over."

After MONTHS of having the air mattress as a permanent pirates of the caribbean monstrosity, we decided to take the it down. I'll admit, I really miss it. Especially when The Choob wakes at 4 in the am and is up for the day. I just want to lay on that Jack Sparrow pillow and doze in and out of sleep while my child watches TV until the rest of the world wakes up.

So now, what do we do with the Choob when he rises at the butt crack of dawn? Enter "The Burrito":

Dan came up with this lovely invention. He gets all of Choobies blankets (nana's) and builds a little burrito around him while he's in the chair. The first time Dan built The Burrito, he made it really entertaining because Choobie wanted the air mattress. So Dan took each blanket and named it as part of the burrito (tortilla, cheese, beans, meat, even garnish). I thought it was cute and Choob LOVES it.

The only problem deals with the fact that Choobie is OCD Child USA and has to have the burrito made EXACTLY the same way now. Every morning. The burrito. With the blankets in the right order and a pile of binkies as the garnish on top. No exceptions. I don't know whats worse, having to stare at an animated version of The Kraken while my visiting teacher is over, or having to meticulously construct The Burrito every morning for the rest of my life. Geez, the things that cute kids get away with!

[Feb 3] Introducing Smokey Cow

This is Choobie's humidifier which he appropriately named "smokey cow". Little did we know that smokey cow would not only increase the humidity in Choob's room in hopes to minimize the cough attacks, but it would also provided HOURS of entertainment for said Choob. I was out in the kitchen doing the dishes and I hear Choobie singing the darth vader theme song at the top of his lungs so I went to his room to investigate. Below is a picture of what I found:

He took the lid off Smokey Cow and then got his Star Wars Guys (aka boy barbies) and let the good times roll. He was making Darth Vader "pump up out of the smoke" just like he does at Disneyland in the Jedi Training Academy. Sometimes he would let Luke "pump up" too. He did this for HOURS and I even had to re-fill smokey cow a few times throughout the day.

Here is a little video of him in action. I wanted to catch him singing the star wars song but he was too shy.

BitterSweet

Tomorrow morning my brother and Choobie's best friend in the whole world is flying out to New Mexico for the Border Patrol Boot Camp. He won't be back until May. It's good for Jeff, starting a career and all that growing up and becoming an adult stuff but it's REALLY sad for us because I'm not sure how The Choob is going to do without him. It's like Jeff doesn't know that the world revolves around Choobie or something. hello?!!

Choobie adores Jeff. It's like they are in their own little world when they are together. Tonite they said goodbye and it was sad because Choobie doesn't even know that he won't see his "Goosey Doosey" for three months. We just told him that Jeff was getting on a plane to go to work. It was even sadder for me seeing them say goodbye and knowing that I'm gonna have to be the one to drag Choob in the house when he is out on the front porch calling for Jeff over and over and over again, not understanding that he can't come over. Lets just hope that the time goes by fast and the Goose will return home to us safe and sound. At least I can use this time to correct all the naughty behaviors his uncle taught him.We'll miss you Goosey!

Happy Friday the 13th

Tonight we attempted to make these. Cake balls. Red velvet cake/frosting dipped in white chocolate. You can see my original inspiration HERE. I chose a much easier version because I don't have seventeen hours of free time. Here's how you do it:

1. Bake a cake from a box
2. Let it cool. Make sure it's cooled ALL the way
3. Using your hands, Crumble cake up into a giant bowl
4. Add one can of frosting and mix together with cake
5. Shape cake into balls and put on cookie sheet or stack them in between layers of foil in a cake pan/baking dish6. Freeze until cold or refrigerate for like six hours
7. Melt chocolate in microwave. DO NOT USE white chocolate chips! they are too waxy and look/taste disgusting. I recommend the ghirardelli chocolate

And so does Choobie

8. Roll balls in chocolate
*Note: At this point you can also choose to stack the balls like a snow man or squish them in your hand just for fun

9. Allow to dry on wax paper lined cookie sheet10. Eat

LEARN FROM MY MISTAKES:
1. Make your balls much smaller, mine were way too big2. One bar of chocolate only coats 4 balls
3. If you want them to look pretty, make sure your 2 year old is in bed

PS: How Cute does Choobie look in his little underpants?!! Seriously I want to kiss his face off every time I see it.

All the Cool Kids Are Wearing Them

Underpants! I couldn't get Choobie to put them on until I showed him that two of his best friends can wear underpants and be perfectly OK.

Puppy and Darth Vader. In Underpants.

I know, so disrespectful to The Force. Dan is going to kill me when he gets home and sees a humiliated Darth Vader in underpants.

Today marks the first day of actual full on raging potty training. I purposely waited until we had used up all the diapers so Dan & I won't cave. Plus he turned two and a half yesterday! There is no turning back now. He has done amazingly well so far. He peed his pants first thing in the morning and hated it. After that, he's peed AND pooped on the potty ever since. I haven't even started bribing him yet. Hopefully it will continue to go this smoothly for the next few months. We are so proud of you Choobie! Way to go!