Keanae/Hana

Now...this week has been very cold.  Like my skin is burning off my face cold.  Like I just peed my pants and my jeans have started to freeze to my leg.  The raccoons are hungry and they are desperate for food for their babies.  And though, when I think of the little fuzzy babies that sit waiting in the den, longing for nourishment, I feel bad and get kinda sad, my chickens will not be sacrificed on the alter.  And my boys see the sun in the morning and race to get outside only to be frost bitten and within about 10 minutes, come back in with bewilderment and haste.  It took like 15 minutes to get them layered and dressed and it was just a walk to the swing, the realization that the shovels are frozen solid in the green turtle and the disappointment that there is no mud.  Their spirits are squelched and they come back to the door, red and smelling like fresh air. 



I want mango bread and
I'm far from mango bread...


This week (in Bremerton) Eli took a big fall down an embankment at the beach.  Him and a friend were playing too close to the edge...it was an accident. His face was bleeding in 4 different places...his gum's turned black...he cried for so long.  We raced to the dentist.  He is going to be fine.  But his heart was left with a bruise.  He was scared and didn't understand why it happened.  Wednesday was hard...







While on our way to Hana we stopped and met a new friend.  Linda and Charles moved to Maui a few years ago.  Their kids had grown up and Charles was a native.  They are living in a house they are restoring and she's midwife and a beautiful artist.  They opened their home to us and showed us all their hard work. Oh and she has chickens!

And My Toes.  Warm on the dash...

Silas also broke out in hives this week.  He hadn't had milk in that last four weeks...we usually don't have it in the house, but I needed a change from oatmeal every morning so I started buying GF cereal.  Well since we got back from Hawaii we hadn't drank it.  Then this week we got some and he has had hives off and on all week.  I finally put all the pieces together.  So next week I'll give him some milk right before his doctor appointment and see if it happens again.  Wondering if it's all dairy or just milk?

This photo here...
It's a real place.
It's on the side of Maui that's mostly uninhabited.  But it's real and I keep it in my heart.  I drive this road and fill my heart with the light.  And I stand tall.

Eli had his first soccer game today.  He was a champ and ran like a wild man.  He started out strong then kinda crashed in the end.  He sat down on the field during the last bit of the game and said "MOM I WANT TO GO HOME"  ***que all parents looking at me*** great!  SMILE!!!
Really though he loved it and he's so excited to go back.

Ok I have so many photos it's sick...
So I'll start with this and relieve myself of the overwhelming notion that somehow it will all get done in one post.  And I'm coming off of my first week back in school and a birth.  The lines in my head and heart that connect my thoughts are somewhat fuzzed and the only remedy is sleep!  And I've waited to do this post because honestly, truthfully, without lies...I'm still not really to be home.  And I cried for the whole day we where leaving, little tears that no one could really see.  I like this place, it feels like home.  But really it's just that I like US when we're here.  We work well and it brings out our best. 
The beginning of the story starts like this; we left our world and went to another.  The world was warm and soft and rich.  We drenched up as much sunshine as she would give and lived in the pool and sand.  And in the mornings Jeff and I sat out on the back patio, drank Kona, watched the ocean move and ate eggs and sausage.  We woke up sun-kissed and warm and we put on our swim suites. I read books and watched my boys play.   






I slowly disconnected and found a big ocean that was all mine.
There is a super sweet kids park across the street.




These are my toes...they are swinging.

Eli and Silas all ready for the boat to Molokini.  And this is the first day that Eli snorkeled in the "deep-end ocean", as he calls it.  I was a bit of grouch this morning.  Slightly irritated that we all had to be out of the house by 7:15 only to find out that my sweet husband got us there a whole hour early.  Not really his fault, but I still had some poop in my pants.  Oh and the parking spot that he picked was like a mile from the boat and I was like...come on park down there, and he was like, will you please let me drive...and I was like, well if you would just park down there it would be better..and well you know the rest...
Just trying to keep it real...




Now you should know that just a few moments after this photo was taken we started to notice that the kids were looking kinda green.  They slunked down on the bench and went horizontal.  Being on the top of the boat was ruff...fun and pretty, but ruff.  So Jeff took one down and soon after I took the other one down.  My dad stayed with Mo.  And on the lower deck, on the back of the boat, where all the noodles are for swimming and where all the scuba gear is kept, the boys upchucked...in cups.  Actually Eli said he wanted to go into the bathroom, which makes sense for him because it's important that you throw up in the right spot.  But he didn't make it that far and we stopped at a garbage can instead.  Once that was over they were fine and life continued.  The boys even got in the water and Eli snorkeled.






Eli' first big snorkel.  Now the back story behind this is that he's been practicing for weeks in the bath tub.  And then in the pool the first few days we where there.  His hard work had paid off and he was untouched by the depth of the ocean and the amount of swimming creatures below him. Totally a natural.

 Me and my dad!



 Our attempt to give the kids lunch on a boat.






At the Iao Needle hike...which is really a large poky mound on the top of a short walk up some stairs that looks like a "you know what"!




But it was fun to get out and try something new.  We hadn't done this yet and I had always wanted to. 


 OK more to come later!