Snap back to reality, oh there goes gravity, here comes insanity!

I normally don't find it necessary to quote Eminem, but today's blog title popped in to my mind immediately.

Glad to be home, in the warm weather.

On Sunday, when we went to go pick up Grandma Sue from the airport (she is officially a resident of Kamuela, HI), Cali remembered AFTER we arrived there that she wanted to get a lei to welcome Grandma - what a sweetie; couldn't she have remembered this while we were at Costco and 2 orchid leis are only $13 bucks?? Luckily Mom's bags were taking a while to conveyor belt out, so she and Terry went back to wait at the baggage claim, while unbeknownst to them, I drove 5 minutes up the road to a place that I remembered sold leis. I bought my brother, Josh, all his graduation leis from there and hoped they were still open.

So, there is a little sign on the side of the road that simply states, Plumeria Leis -->. I follow the signs to a driveway of a home. Is this right? I want to buy leis and I'm driving up someone's driveway. Yup - all the signs point there. I arrive at the end of the driveway, where a simple cardboard sign is taped to a retired drink cooler - Plumeria Leis Here. I park & walk towards the unmanned refrigerator. The family is home, sitting at a table with the sliding glass door open. They wave hello and greet me without budging. In the refrigerator there are fragrant plumeria leis and a cardboard box with 10's, 5's, 1's and some change. Yes, unmanned money. Pay for your leis and make your own change. I select the plumeria lei with pink plumeria intervals - $5 for one lei - put my $10 in and take my $5 change. I shut the door, waiting for someone to come out and make sure I paid. No one comes, so I walk back towards the car and wave good-bye. "Aloha!” they say, not rising from the table. At that point my hearts bursts with another realization that I love living in Hawaii.

Grandma is settling in nicely – did all my laundry and kept Kawena happy. She’s so thrilled to be here, and I’m glad to have her! Cali was late for school today, since we all overslept. "We" spent a few hours yesterday finishing a mobile project - I swear teachers assign these projects so that parents can get craft time in every so often - and it turned out nicely. Terry is back in to swing of work - "Commander in Chief" at Hali'i Kai, and is happy that things are settling down.

Work is crazy, nothing new. Can't wait to get all caught up and organized. My colleague/assistant gave her notice today; but everything has happened for a reason. She has committed herself to sticking around for at least the next 3 weeks while we get settled in to our new space. I love what she has helped me with thus far, and wish her nothing but the best.

Hope all is well there! Love and miss you, Washingtonians!

Spring Break 2008 - Yes, we left Hawaii to freeze in Washington!

Aloha!
I bet you have given up all hope that I would ever post to my blog ever again, but in typical Keala fashion, here I am!
We enjoyed our vacation to Washington for Spring Break (yes-we left Hawaii to freeze our brown behinds in the great WA-we're crazy people). The girls and I cam up first and brought Uncle Noah with us; Terry joined us a week later. We had lots of time to relax, Kawena got sick, and it was too cold to want to go anywhere (even though we made it out to Family Fun Center, Seattle, Bellevue, and Oregon).
Sorry we missed you Jess - things got too crazy and I didn't call (you can kick me the next time we are there, which won't be too far away).
Enjoy some pics from our visit. I'll post more after I get over this jet lag. ;-P

Oh, I love these trees...amazing.
And these flowers, can't even compare.
Jayleen & Cali - my daredevils.
Ranier in her glory.

Seattle through the eyes of a "Ferry Boat" (in Kawena's words).
Sisters!
Ooooh..it's freezing!
Cousins...oh how I miss them already.
All it takes is one silly idea and they all get crazy!

Mommy and Kawena

Here's a pic of me and Kawena today!

Sorry for the lack of updates...Life has been way too crazy lately!

I have a facebook now, and am finally learning my way around it...so I'll keep that updated as much as possible.

Me, My Mama, and My Tita

Oh, how I loved the time with my family.

Ohana

My Granny and Papa are celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary, so my WHOLE ENTIRE family is here! This meant family picture time! Enjoy! I'll be posting more when we return from our trip to O'ahu.

Hawai'i--Not A Place For Wimps!

So, the last few days have been exciting, to say the least!

1. Hurricane Flossie, which was set to hit Hawai'i as a Category 4 dissipated right before it reached us.
2. Earthquake with 5.4 magnitude.
3. And we are now on Tsunami watch!

Whew!

Monkey Monkey

I decided to be an early bird this year and order

Kawena's and Calista's costumes already, since they always sell out of the one's I want. Now, of course, she'll live in it, and it'll be useless by Halloween. ;P Anyhow, enjoy these preview pics!