Beach Day in Laie

Our day on Monday got slightly hijacked by Uncle P and his friend. We were going to head to do some snorkeling/playing in the tidepools, but friend M invited us out to "the perfect beach" where his aunt/uncle live in Laie.

It took us quite a while to get ourselves sorted out and there. We had slightly divergent mornings, so our crew (me, Papa, and the kids) stopped at the store, and then at the mac nut farm (prices have risen, so no mac nuts were purchased, although some were sampled), and met up with everyone else at Kualoa Beach Park, where the kids got some play-time:




Before we drove on to Laie. The beach, was, indeed, perfect. Perfect clean sand, lots of sandy area without a lot of reef, but plenty of things to see while snorkelling. The menfolk took spears and went out in search of dinner (they were successful), while the rest of us just played.






The kids got a chance to try out a newish quasi-sport, stand-up paddling. BittyPrincess wasn't quite up to standing and paddling, but the other two caught on quickly.







Home as evening hit, with just enough time to hit the pool yet again, get cleaned up, and watch the fish-cleaning and crab-cooking festivities.

Honolulu Zoo, Kailua Beach

On Sunday we attempted an early start, so that we wouldn't die at the Honolulu Zoo (I've just not ever been there and had it be a comfortable temperature). It mostly worked. There was much complaining but no dying.

Lemurs. Many move-it-move-it jokes:



We had the hippos:



And the rhinos:



So, unfortunately, there were Hiphopopotamus vs. Rhymenoceros references.

BittyPrincess was, of course, most enamored with an animal easily found anywhere:




While Boyness' favorite was at least slightly more exotic:



Laulau at home for lunch, and then off to Kailua for more beach time. The water was unusually calm again, and for a Sunday afternoon it was really quiet, even for our favorite stretch of beach (through a public access path but far from the Beach Park).



Back home, the kids jumped in the pool for an additional hour of swimming as the sun set.

Judd Trail

Yesterday, a slow start, lots of pool time, and then a hike. Parked at the trailhead:



At the beginning of the trail:



We have tried to do this trail before. We got lost and wound up MUCH higher in the mountain than we should have been. Not so much this time. If you figure out accurately how to leave the clearings without also leaving the trail and following a wildlife trail or false trail instead, it's actually a pretty easy hike that took us through several different layers/types of forest.













A detour to Jackass Ginger (waterfall/swimming hole):

Day 2, Ala Moana and Uncle M

After the NYE celebrations, the kids slept in.

Not.

BittyPrincess was up and complaining about the birds at 7am. "Why are there so many biiiiirds...mama how can you sleep with the biiiiiiirds...." Um, I could sleep with the birds. Just not with you whining in my ear.

Oh well.

A slow breakfast and off we went to Ala Moana beach park.





And an obligatory picture of sloppy-bellied me, complete with boychild in my shadow:


Back to my parents' house after the beach, to spend the afternoon lazily visiting with my brother M and his girlfriend.

New Years in Hawaii

Yes, we are outrageously lucky to get to be in Hawaii in the middle of the PNW "winter." And yes, I am going to rub it in.

Flying with all somewhat older kids was different and awesome, even though the flight was longer than it could have been (something about wind, blah blah blah, 10 minute pilot explanation that made no sense...took an extra hour of flight time). We arrived around 1pm Hawaii time. The kids wasted NO time when we got to my parents' house, heading for the pool as fast as they could. Once that was played out for a few minutes, we ran out to Kailua for some beach time; the waves were perfect for the kids, just big enough for them to feel the force and bodysurf a little, without needing to worry about handling them at all. Unfortunately it was raining as we got there so the camera didn't come with us.

We got back and did some NYE snacks and fireworks:




This was not by any means the end of the firework celebration, but it got too smoky to take photos after that. We were very much not the only family doing fireworks in the (tightly packed) neighborhood.

BittyPrincess didn't quite make it to midnight:





But everyone else did! We sat on my parents' back patio and watched Honolulu erupt. It was awesome. I'm not even going to bother trying to explain the craziness that is New Years in Hawaii to people who have never been there. But it is a spectacle.

We all stumbled to bed shortly after midnight. Thanks to a (new since I've lived here) law, it was relatively quiet shortly after the celebratory midnight eruption. WAY NICE.

Winter in the PNW

I know that some people like winter in the PNW. These people, IMO, are crazy. Sane people don't like it being dark 16 hours a day. I don't want it to be 4pm as evening falls. I like the sun.

Nevertheless, particularly in years like this one when the sun makes occasional guest appearances, winter in the PNW can be beautiful.

Spoiled Children! aka The Christmas Frenzy

BittyPrincess, our solstice baby, is now officially 5. Where did THOSE years go? I can't believe it. If she was our last baby, we'd have all school-aged children. WOW. On her birthday, she requested shrimp pasta and a sunshine cake. Done and done, although the sunshine cake was really just a 11" round cake with triangle cut-outs and cream cheese frosting+food coloring. For some reason the cake wound up tasting a little like cornbread; strange considering the volume of sugar I dumped into it. It got eaten (a lot) anyway. No pictures, 'cause we suck.

From Boyness' birthday through Christmas, I must have used the stand mixer almost every day. I love that thing. I was considering how much it would suck if it broke the other day, when I accidentally smeared cream cheese into one of the venty-looking things that must help cool the little enginey-thing (how technical I am today!). I might cry. Cry, and never make angel food cake, frosting, or whipped cream again.

Anyways, ON TO CHRISTMAS! While our broke-ass little immediate family was firmly nonconsumeristic (not that you have a choice when your bank account is already negative) this year, spending (Santa included) just $20 per child, our extended families MORE than made up for it. In fact, Christmas at MIL's was like an overprivileged holiday marketing frenzy. Not that the kids minded. They each got top items from their wish lists from their uncle and his GF. The only thing that saved me from feeling upstaged (honestly, not that I would have minded, I was actually kind of counting on it) was the fact that they swirled around showing off the "magic" cloaks I made them all day.

We got very few photos. So here they are, the few photos we do have:





I told you we didn't have many. None at MIL's.

On we go towards a new year! Today, a day of recuperation from the gifting frenzy at MIL's. The kids are happily exploring their new toys and games. And I am needing to clean the last remnants of Christmas baking/cooking mess left in my kitchen and figure out what to do with the rest of the baked goods we do have, since nobody here has a serious enough sweet tooth to go through THAT much cheesecake or THAT many cookies.

By the way, having kids that are old enough to clean up after themselves (mostly) is AWESOME.

Been a While, Hasn't It?

There really wasn't going to be a totally appropriate time to restart this blog. So I'll just jump in. Again. With a massive batch of updates.

I am indeed completely done with midwifery school, no lie, actually completely graduated with all the licensing exams passed and fees paid. I even updated my blog headline to read "midwife" instead of "student midwife." Done, done, done, done done. Done.

I am also pregnant. Totally, miserably, planned-ly pregnant. Yes, they can go together, we can plan to get pregnant and then it can S.U.C.K. So far, my list of things that suck in pregnancy:

• Morning sickness. Extreme morning sickness isn't a fun, dangerous sport. It sucks.
• Gallbladder issues. Talk about a poorly designed organ.
• Ligament pain. Why don't we just have rubber bands there again?
• Blood expansion. Hello anemia. Let's just pile inability to carry oxygen on top of the other reasons to feel tired during pregnancy, shall we?
• Hormones, hormones, hormones. Usually it takes, well, a lot to make me cry. Now I can't make it through a commercial break.
• Relaxin (technically I could have included this with "hormones"). Could we not just produce this as we go into labor or something? How much snap-crackle-pop is a barely-30-year-old woman supposed to have, again? And how does this translate into inability to stand all the way up for the first 10 minutes of the day?
• Food aversions. How is it nutritionally beneficial for me to turn into a vegetarian?
• Maternity clothes. Just because skinny jeans are the "in" thing doesn't mean you can't carry anything else. "Buy your prepregnancy size"...BULLSHIT.

I'm sure there are many more that I'm not thinking about right now. I can't wait for this to be over. Distract me, please, somebody, something, the internet, I don't care, just make the time pass faster.

In the meantime, the kids have grown and been very kid-like. They are probably enjoying me being home more, but are showing it in strange and highly annoying ways. Boyness turned 8. BittyPrincess is turning 5 tomorrow, but we celebrated on Saturday in our typical disorganized holiday/birthday combo...we'll have to figure that out a little better next year, since I suspect she's actually starting to care that we're rolling two parties into one.

We're broke but the kids' Christmas wishes are modest this year.

I can't work because the timing is all wrong, and I feel only marginally better than shit anyway. I'm due April 20. We'll see how far postpartum I get before I get stir-crazy and set up my website and insurance contracts. I'm guessing not long.

I fully intend to start posting again. If for no other reason, because this blog has in the past been a great picture album. We'll see what happens.

Zoolights

Yes, I am posting this nearly 4 weeks after we actually went to zoolights. Don't get too down on me, now, I *am* posting.

We went (as it seems we do every year) on a whim. The PDZA has changed their policy and apparently members have to pay 50% of the admission fee now. BOOOOOO HISSSSSSSS NOT HAPPY. Really not cool of you Zoo. Maybe half price the second time you go, but FFS, I have a membership to this zoo and you'd think if it was open I could use it.

Anyway, despite having to pay for admission, we still appreciated that it was a gorgeous, clear, not-too-cold night. Full moon and all.






The zoo had even more lights than last time around, and even more of them were the new superbright LEDs. New this year, a tunnel of rapidly flashing rainbow-strips of lights. Very rapidly flashing. We stood under it for a while just to make sure the kids didn't have any seizure disorders we hadn't known about. Nobody lost consciousness, so I feel like we can pretty safely mark "no" for that bit of their medical histories for the forseeable future.

The zoo was gorgeous, the kids were highly Christmas-spirited, and we came home to have hot cocoa and revel in the oh-the-Decemberness of it all.

Cooooookies!

"They" (I'm not sure who, but a lot of people, so "they") say that baking is more like a science than an art. Like it's chemistry.

Bah, I've always thought, as any of my friends can tell you. On those somewhat rare occasions when I find enough time to bother cooking, I certainly don't have the energy to worry about things like where the tablespoon is. If baking is like chemistry, than I'm more an experimental chemist than a lab tech; maybe not so bad as the truly nutso 60's-70s "what will this do to the brain, better try it on myself!" sort, since I have yet to do anything truly ridiculous (like try to put bacon in chocolate chip cookies...yes folks, it HAS been done).

And then I made PERFECT chocolate chip cookies. Seriously completely totally perfect. A little bitty batch, just enough for the family to eat while they watch a movie. And, of course, no recipe.

BAH! I didn't even have a base recipe this time! No chance of recapturing this magic, ever!

Ah well, forward. The next time I have the inclination to bake, I think we'll be mucking about with brownie batter. Maybe I'll pay a little more attention to what I'm putting in the bowl, but somehow I doubt it. What's life without a little peril, after all?

Endings

This past weekend I attended my last birth as a student. The birth itself went gorgeously, nevermind the mind-bogglingly frustrating ordeal with the lab afterwards.

Leaving my site isn't so cut and dry. It is an agonizingly slow ending, seeing people postpartum that I like well enough and all, but at 20 dollars per round trip (usually to see just one family per trip because there are so few left) and with no compensation, it's getting old, particularly since I'm having to do some pretty financially stupid shit to keep the bills paid.

It is weird not to be pushing myself constantly. To arrive at that place I've been "almost" at for months now. Where I'm off call and life doesn't take quite as much planning.

Time to start up my own business, kind of. I'm not licensed yet, and can't accept insurance yet, not until I've got all my papers pushed and credentialing done. It never ends, truly; I'm sure it will hardly feel like I'm licensed when I'll have to start renew my credentials for the next year.

Website design, business cards, practicalities of sole proprietorship, here we come.