What Summer Vacation Means...

Dentist/Doctor Appointments...Hanging out at the Pool...Vacations...Home Improvement Projects. That is what our next 8 weeks will consist of. We love most of them, the pool, vacations. The home improvement, not so much. It's just the cost of the home improvements that get us (more Steve than me ;) )

We've done the vacation thing, and will continue with two more in the coming weeks. We've done the pool and continue with that as well.

This week we did some home improvement projects. Our front was in some major need of cleanup. We removed the rose bushes, planted more of the poofy purple flower thing (not sure what it's called. I never was good with plants), transplanted bushes and put out new bark.

Our front tree has never faired well. The soil under the sod is just sand, thanks to the homebuilder for that. We decided to dig the grass around it out, place new soil there, top it with bark, and surround it with a border.

Hopefully this Miracle Gro will perform a miracle! Some of them are just stuck in a holding pattern.

I wouldn't call this an improvement, but it does fall in the category. This one is courteous of our HOA. The deemed it necessary that we all have the same color fence. Now, with all of the options out there you would think that they would have found a nice stain or at least "wood" color that coordinated with the color of the homes. Maybe even made the decision on a tract by tract basis since the color schemes are different. No. They chose this milky, yucky, disgusting color for our fence. It blends right into my house! The previous color was a brown that was used by most of our street. It contrasted well with our houses. This color is just terrible. Being the good little HOA members (like we had a choice) I painted the fence today. It had to be done by July 1st. They did give us 3 years notice, but I was hoping they'd change the color.

Another summer adventure consists of the multitude of appointments that we get in. Doctor, dentist, and optometrist. Here is Tabby getting her eyes checked. (sorry for the blur). No change in her prescription and if she wants, she can have contacts! We are trying to convince her...

Hawaiian Adventures Part 3

Steve found this guy who had all these parrots along the road near our hotel. We had been camped out at the beach right across the street. Tab is MIA because she was with me on the beach.

Whatever you do, DON'T POOP!!

Hawaiian Adventures Part 2

We did a lot of hanging out on the beach whether it be tanning, swimming, or snorkeling.

Jake asked, yes asked, Tab to bury him in the sand. She of course happily obliged. We all got a laugh out of it. He didn't stay there long and was soon back into the water.

We went up to the North Shore next to the Turtle Bay Resort to snorkel. It was a quiet lagoon and a great place for the kids to learn.

Tab was a bit reluctant to get in at first, but was soon the Little Mermaid that she is at home.

My little man strutting his stuff.

Hawaiian Adventures Part 1

A room with a view. We were upgraded to a room on the 27 floor. This provided us with unobstructed views of Waikiki Beach.

This was the view from the back window of our condo.

Another view from the balcony, or lanai. (mom, the Sheraton was next to the little pink hotel.)

Aloha!

Our days in paradise are coming to an end. It was a great week in Oahu. It's a bit more crowded than I would like, more like Vegas (without the casinos) than Maui is. We had a great time anyway.

The first day we

yep, sat on the beach.

Day two we

Yep, more of the same.

We strolled the beach in the evening, got up close and personal with some parrots, hiked Diamond Head, visited Pearl Harbor, snorkeled, and body surfed some awesome waves up on the North/West shore. We have loved our condo (2bed/2 bath, full kitchen, washer/dryer). i highly recommend the Waikiki Beach Tower. Tomorrow we leave, but will look forward to continuing our relaxation at our pool....after all, all we have is time this summer! (love that teacher's schedule!)

A Special Day

Aren't these beautiful? No, they are not mine, they're Kel's! and YES a BOY gave them to her! We have entered the land of boyfriends in this house. Here is the story:

Kelsey and Joe have been friends since sometime during their freshman year (about a year and a half). She has liked him for a while and he has liked her. A couple of weeks ago she came to me and said that they would like our permission to finally date. Oh, BOY. We had a big talk (about as much as she could handle), Steve and I had a big talk, and then Kel and I. We told her that it was OK with us. We had met him a couple of times, seems like a nice, respectful BOY, gets good grades, etc... (insert my mom chucking here...). She passed the message on to Joe last week and has eagerly been anticipating him asking her ever since. He came by the house today and asked to speak to Steve and I. He wanted to personally ask our permission to have Kel as his girlfriend! How sweet is that? Steve laid down the law to him, wish I could have recorded that. Then we let him talk to Kel. The following is what happened.

(I couldn't let them see my camera so the video is of the wall, turn up the volume so you can hear the audio!)

Isn't it just adorable?? Their first date is to dinner on Friday. I told her she can't wear a t-shirt!

TGIF

Concussion: A traumatic injury to tissues of the body such as the brain as a result of a violent blow, shaking, or spinning.

What a week this has been. I received a call at 1:30 from Jake's principal. He was in the health office, but was OK. He was playing basketball at lunch and got hit in the head, after which he fell to the ground and knocked his head on the asphalt. He was dizzy and complaining of a headache. Great. Steve was on his way to Seattle, I was already trying to leave early in order to get x-rays on my back. After some creative sub-getting by my secretary I was on my way. Jake was really out of it. Now to make things even more complicated, Tab had to get to a party right after school. How as I going to get her there when i needed to take Jake to urgent care and me to the imaging center? Their principal (who is a friend of ours) said no worries, she would take her. What a life saver. The good news is the concussion is only mild. Just need to watch him over the next 24 hours. He is very tired. I got my x-ray. Now maybe I will get some relief before Hawaii. 

Of course, the 1 day I forget my camera at home and didn't capture any of the excitement :(

Go West...

Tabitha had her play this week as well. Off we went to school, again, to see "Go West". She and her friend Kristen had a bit part (didn't realize I could use the video on my camera until too late). She looked adorable and had a lot of fun. Don't you just love her dance moves??

Finding Viking Roots

Jake's 5th grade play was Monday night. I drugged and dragged myself to school to watch him. He was Leif Erikson and had a solo! We were very excited and proud. He borrowed the hat from Grandma and Grandpa, I made the hair and Daddy made the stache.

Spasms.....

This little pill has been a life saver this week (little white pill, not the little blue pill ;) )This has been one tough week. I awoke on Monday at 12:15 am, YES that's AM, to major back pain. It was impossible to get back to sleep. I got a sub for school and headed to the doctor. She said she was pretty sure they were back spasms and gave me a prescription for muscle relaxers and ibuprofen. I was in tears as I drove from the dr. office to the pharmacy to home. Now it's Thursday and though I am still very uncomfortable and a little pain, it's nothing like Monday and Tuesday. Needless to say, my report cards that are due tomorrow won't be done.