My apologies to the man

who pulled into the parking space after me at school today.

He probably stepped in a puddle of puke. 

It was like any other morning.  I pull into the school parking lot.  I open the door to let Mo out. 

“My stomach doesn’t feel good.” 

Then, she does that telltale cough/burp sound.

I pull her out of the car and she pukes.  And, pukes.  It would be the one day that she had a big breakfast. 

I grab the phone and call Miyo.  She’s pulling into the parking lot.  I ask her if she can walk KT into school since Mo is now naked after having pulled her pukey dress off her.  She says yes. 

I start working to bag up Mo’s pukey dress and the wet wipes I used to clean up her hands and face.  KT starts yelling from in the car “I have to go to the bathroom.” 

Of course you do. 

A happier Mo.

this girl

is now four.

She asked for a "rainbow party and to play Polly Pockets."  Check and check.

things you don't want hear from someone behind you

Katie went biking tonight while I ran.  She's behind me on the path (where there are plenty of people)...

Katie:  Whoa mom, you're huge!

Me:  What?

Katie:  Your shadow, it's huge!!!

drowning

... in fun, that is.  

That would be body surfing ladies and gentlemen even though the particular shot above may look otherwise.

We've been keeping busy with friends and family, parades, fireworks, camps and a short road trip this summer, but we've still managed to clock the minimum requisite beach time for our family (which is admittedly lot).

The other day we didn't have enough boogie boards for all the kids, so they decided to go back to the old standard of bodysurfing. 

We hit the beach one day with our out of town cousins.

This little guy won me over that week.

Another day Katie finally braved getting on Papa's stand up paddle board.

Papa said she was white-knuckled holding onto the board.

She was quite proud of herself afterwards.

Man, I love summer.

summer o' football

Little Wickie reaction upon seeing players' kids on the field after the championship game this weekend.

Mo:  Ooo!  Sparkly!

KT:  I wish I could be there with all that confetti.

Not "I wish I could meet Fernando Torres," or "I wish I could be at the final Euro Cup game."

I suppose it's kind of good thing, throwing metallic confetti on them is way more do-able than meeting Fernando Torres or attending a final Euro Cup game.

Next up: Olympic soccer and other Olympic sporting events.

What are you watching with your kids this summer?

the band

Katie and her friend Parker have been talking about starting their band for awhile now.

They've discussed playlists, literally drawn out who will be playing what instruments and where they will stand.  A litany of friends will hypothetically be "in" the band in any given discussion.

They've done just about everything except actually play together.

The other night they test-drove some instruments at Parker's house.

"I think I should still play the ukulele and Parker play the piano though," Katie told me later.

Can't wait for the first time they "play out."

In the meantime, here are some "performances" for you fans (a.k.a. uncles, aunts and grandparents) out there.

Father's Day song.



Video from her school's variety show.

happy

WEEKEND!

this post is really about books

I can not tell you how much I dislike running.  I do it, 1) To keep in shape for my old lady soccer games; 2) To keep my weight in check and 3) To be healthy.

Truth be told, the order of the list is pretty accurate as well -- which I know is sad.

Another good thing about running? 

I see things I wouldn't normally see.  Example #1 -- Katie's desk.  

Example #2:  Last week I was running and went past this old fence which had an abundance of yellow wild flowers growing around it when I realized it was really picturesque.  

So, I dragged the kids out there later to take pictures of them.

Okay, onto what I wanted to write a post about...  Books (squeezed between pictures of my kids for the grandparents...)

Summer is approaching and I feel like it's time to starting reading some truly entertaining books.  While not a romance novel reader, I do tend to lean towards books that are well, a little on the "soapy" side.  I also love witty/funny books.

What are you reading?

Here's my current "To do" list which I may or may not tackle anytime soon.

1. Drop Dead Healthy - I really enjoyed his A Year of Living Biblically and look forward to getting my hands on this one, maybe when it goes to paperback.
2. Steve Jobs -- also one I'm waiting for paperback or perhaps for the library to have less than 75+ holds.
3. A Moveable Feast - I just finished A Paris Wife, and it's made me want to read Hemingway's account on his first marriage.
4. Gone with the Wind - I never get around to this one, and I don't know why. 
5. The Lord of the Rings - I've got a soft spot for the pseudo sci-fi/fantasy -- e.g., A Wrinkle in Time, Hunger Games, The Princess Bride, Percy Jackson -- and haven't gotten around to reading these (or even seeing the movies!) 

Here are my top 5 Favorite Fun (& Easy) Summer Reads

1. Valley of the Dolls -- A cult "classic" it's a step above a traditional trashy romance novel.  Think soap opera meets Sex in the City meets a lot of alcohol and pills.
2. Persuasion -- My all time favorite Austen novel.  Read (or re-read it), then watch the BBC series.
3. Tales of the City -- Fantastically entertaining first novel of a series about the crazy intertwined lives of a handful of people living in San Francisco in the 60s.  Saw it on stage a couple of months ago and it was great.
4. Orlando -- Don't be intimidated by Virginia Woolf, this novel made me laugh way more than I thought it would. 
5. Pride & Prejudice & Zombies -- While I don't usually like spin-offs or parodies of Austen, this one is totally worth the read if you are a P&P fan.  Plus, they are making a movie out of it next year if you can believe it.

While I'm making lists, here are three novels I think BBC should consider...

1. Shirley -- Love how strong Shirley's character is in this generally passed up Charlotte Bronte novel. 
2. Sandition -- What can I say, I'm an Austenite at heart.
3. Sister Carrie -- I found myself really liking this one and could see it being translated to the screen.

Katie is starting to read chapter books.  Any suggestions?

Happy summer reading!!!

the old gang

A million years ago (okay, maybe more like 14) four young folks met in Evanston, Illinois during grad school.

They became great friends.  They hung out a lot, they even took mini vacations together after they graduated.  Then, jobs, families, etc. took over our lives and...

BLAM...

10 years went by.

This month we met up for an extended weekend in Arizona.

We did a little touring around.  We hiked in Sedona and visited Taliesin West -- Frank Lloyd Wright's final home and for lack of a better word commune -- which I highly recommend checking out if you are in the area.  We also saw the Heard Museum and ate at a lot of great restaurants.

But mostly we just caught up with each other which was really great.

Clearly I need a wide angle lens.

And, yes I finally got an iPhone (the guy at Radio Shack literally chortled when I produced my antiquated phone from my purse during the purchase).

So here are some shots I took with my fancy new phone.

performances galore

This year has been filled with a number of stage performances.  (This post will probably be most appreciated by the grandparents).

Most recently Katie played Annie (again) in a talent show.

Unfortunately she didn't wear the wig during the performance (she thought people would laugh at her).



In a milestone performance Katie actually talked her sister into performing with her which was huge as Maddie seems to shy away from the stage.

Here is their rendition of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" from the Lion King.



I also realized I hadn't posted her talent show performance from earlier this year for those of you following Katie's career closely...

best of the best

Katie made a little book at school for Mother's Day.  

This was my favorite page by far. 

And, to clarify, I'm telling Papa Wickie to stop snoring (this is according to the artist).

Hope you had a good one.

mo and her fighter

I was quite the tomboy growing up, always playing with my brother's G.I. Joes, watching Transformers, constructing spears out of bamboo in the backyard.

I've been realizing lately that we have a very girly house.

We recently received purple swords at a friend Jake's ninja party and these are recent tidbits of conversation from Mo.

"Mama, you hold onto this part, and boom with the other purple part."

"Where is my fighter!?" (referring to the sword)

"Mama! (crying) Sissy says this isn't a gun!!!" (waving the sword around for me to see)

uke school

Halmoni was gracious enough to give us some spending money for our vacation last month.

With her permission we decided to buy ukuleles -- one for Katie and one for me and Papa Wickie.

Ironically, we bought our ukes from this guy (below middle) whose picture we saw at the nearby Kaliua music store.

Later we bought his album which is pretty good!

We purchased a soprano uke for Katie and a concert uke for the grown ups.

We have been having a ball with them.  We've been trying to get Katie to strum with her pointer finger, but she's intent on doing it her way for now.

Our friend Will has promised to give us some actual lessons soon which we are looking forward to immensely.  But until then...

shave ice, noodles, rice and tofu

All Little Wickie favorites -- and in our favor, all mainstays on a vast majority of menus in Hawaii.

Okay, I've been to Hawaii at least a half a dozen times and have to ask:  Did they always offer ice cream under your shave ice?!  How could I have missed that before?

No one cared for my green tea and lychee shave ice, which I personally thought was delicious.  More for me.

Papa Wickie was most happy at the Kaliua Farmers Market which I have to say was outstanding.  A great mix of prepared food, baked and locally packaged foods and fresh produce.  

He is STILL talking about the Ahi appetizer and Ahi entree he had that night.

In fact, later in the week the draw of food was the only reason he agreed to go to the flea market.

Mo loved the plethora of frog instruments to play with at the flea market.

We let Papa Wickie do a bit of shopping as well.  He keeps talking about getting a SUP now.  I'm not entirely sure where it would fit in our garage with the current bevy surfboards and bikes that already claim residence in there, but we'll see.

And, of course there was plenty more water play.  We checked out the lagoons at Ko'Olina.  The whole place was eerily man made and perfect (the Disney resort is one of the resorts adjacent to the lagoons).

But, there were fish to see and the kids really did like the lagoons.

On the North Shore we saw a ton of fish at Shark's Cove by just wading in the water.

And, after a good hike, we took a dip in the falls at Maunawili.

At the airport on the way home we had a celebrity sighting that went something like this.

The guy checking in our luggage:  Hey, you see that haole over there with the yellow hat?
Me:  Yes.
Guy:  You watch the cooking channel?
Me:  Not anymore, it makes me too hungry.
Guy: He's some famous guy from that channel.

Not to leave you in suspense, it was Guy Fieri.  I, in fact, had no idea who he was (my culinary-trained sommelier brother did of course).

The plane home while less exciting for the girls went very smoothly.

Man, I can't believe our vacation is over already...