Culture, part 2

I left out a few things worth mentioning:
+Hawaii is 5 hours behind Texas. Call us at your lunch time or later :o).
+Have we mentioned the ginormous mountains we drive through on the freeways? The tunnels are fun, but the "escape routes for runaway trucks" that lose control going downhill, makes me a tad nervous. It had just rained in this pic, and you can see the small waterfall between the crevasses

+ The Weather - it never changes year round. I can't get over it coming from Texas where you can have a 20 degree difference in 2 days. You have occasional rain, but that's it. The high ranges between 75 and 85. Wish I had the weatherman's job!
+The food- common at home meals here are pulled pork, shoyu chicken, various Japanese dishes, local fish, and unfortunately Spam. Everyone makes great rice in their rice cooker. I learned how to and love it, after being made fun of for my minute rice :0).
+In all the towns near the beach (including ours), there is a major homeless problem. It's really sad. There is no where for them to go and they can't afford a way out. It's a smart place to live - public restrooms and showers on the beach and always great weather. Some don't want to be helped, but my heart breaks for the ones who do. Wishing there was something we could do.

Here are a few pics from the waterfall we climbed to last week
Big boy on a rope swing

The Culture Here

Oahu is a hodgepodge - of people and plants :o). There are all kinds of different people and a zillion plants everywhere. I am blown away at God's creation. You look at the tropical areas, seeing so many different types of plants, bushes, flowers....just a glimpse of His creativity. It's all I can do on my morning runs to keep running and not fall down in worship. GORGEOUS, everywhere. I don't know how people can get used to this to a point where they take it for granted. Here are a few of my favorites.
The Hibiscus flower


Your basic palm tree. they are all mixed in around here. Brynne always walks around them because she is afraid of coconuts falling on her.

Plumeria trees. My fav - they smell awesome

Papaya trees. Between the fresh papaya, mango, and pineapple, it's a wonder we don't all have diabetes

the chinese banyan tree facinates me

The african tulip tree. I love the blossoms - they are beautiful mixed in all the green

The Myna birds walk around everywhere. They ALL sing at sunrise. Don't worry if you forget to set your alarm, they will take care of it.

As for the dialect - they have their own hawaiian language, but they mix it up like we do in texas (tex-mex). For example:
porch = lanai
appetizer = pupu
children = keiki
go to the restroom = go she-she (prob misspelled, but looks better that way)
neighbors/friends - auntie/uncle (instead of mrs/mr)
Hello/goodbye - Aloha
Thank you = Mahalo
There is a lot more, those are just a few. I never understand what people are talking about because it seems like every proper name here, whether it's a school or another location, starts with a "k" and has a lot of letters (mostly vowels) after it.
also - leave your shoes at the door of any home (even the nursery at church), therefore wear flipflops at all times
It's SOOOO humid - put everything in the fridge or it will mold. Forget about your hair. The good news is the beach will always make the humidity worth it!
The lifestyle is slower than Dallas that's for sure (except for school zones...no one slows down here for those). Slowing down the pace is definitely something we plan on bringing back with us. The girls are only small once :o(

As for Mother's Day, it was awesome..island style! Nice and relaxed. Had a great date night with the hubs fri, a long nap sat, breakfast in bed sunday and a North Shore drive. Great time with my favorites - mark it down as a great Mother's Day!
Aloha!

Travelin' Around

We found our favorite hike - The Likeke Trail
Brynne loves the adventure. She asks to go every Saturday!

Here is the view from the top

Brynne found a tree swing at the end!


The hike has an optional way down- an old road, which we took so Maddy could get down. Little Miss Priss thought she was so big.





We loved the Dole plantation. There is a fun maze, train, and of course, food!

Fun times with Daddy

We love it when Daddy comes home. He is good about spending quality time with the girls. They wrestle and play every night




And he doesn't seem to mind getting to be a kid himself...


Mommy's helper

Date Night. I always have to squint to see because it's too bright for my blue eyes. Beau says it's my asian heritage

Breakfast at Cinnamon's - one of our favorite places!


Update on the girls -
Madelyn's new words are "baby, happy, anana (banana), shhh (you're too loud), this, mimi (her grandma), me, Ben (Brynne), and a few animal sounds (dog says ruff, lion says roar). The girl has no fear, which is not working to our advantage on stairs, pools, the beach, nor the playground. She says "happy" all the time, which I honestly love because it's a good reminder of the joys in life.

Brynne - has gotten over her longing to stay inside all the time and is now asking to go outside a lot ( it used to be a struggle in Texas). I've really watched her blossom as she has had to make new friends and she seems more confident in talking to people. The girls love each other a lot, and for that I'm thankful. I know their days of fighting will come, but for now I'm enjoying where we're at. I looked down during my run today and brynne had her arm around Maddy and Maddy was cuddling in to her as Brynne sang. Love it. Brynne is reading simple books now, so we go to the library every week and check out some new books.

Take a Hike

People hike and kayak a lot here. Since it's pretty tough for us to kayak with the girls, we've been looking into the different trails we can hike with kids. Brynne loved her first hike...Maddy not so much. She was mad she couldn't walk like big sissy.


I know maddy is in the sling wrong...she was waking up from a nap and finishing it in the beginning of our walk. We pull her arms out over the top and she sits back to take it all in.

There was a fundraiser at the elementary school close by. We joined the festivities and got to play games, eat authentic hawaiian food, watch various hula dancers, and eat more food from local restaurants. I had to take this picture of Beau trying to teach Brynne to play putt-putt...and Maddy trying to help.

Meet our new friend. He is a chameleon that likes to hang around our townhomes