Kauai, Life, Christmas, and 2014 Wrap Up

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The past few months have been completely crazy. I took on way more work than I should have and that really affected my Holiday spirit. It kind of sucked the life right out of me and though I know the kids are happy I feel like I really failed in the mom department. For 2015 I will plan better and make sure I stick to my guns when it comes to scheduling holiday photos for clients. I need days off and I need rest and that's that.

Some of the big things that happened this year were a couple trips to Honolulu as a family and one with just Peter and I (can you say BRUNO MARS?!?!). We hiked the Stairway to Heaven, which is a once in a lifetime type event. We went to Hana several times and completely unplugged from everything telephone/internet/tv - it was heavenly! 2014 also saw the birth of Nico and Abra's first baby, Arlo, which Kai has deemed Arloha and Grandie and Pops getting back together. We are so thankful for these things!

I started my second company over the summer and it's slowly but surely grown over the past few months. It's been a little stressful but ultimately Peter and I see it as a way to grow even further and eventually may even provide jobs to our kids if they ever want to work with us!

We closed out the year with a trip to Kauai. I hadn't been since I was pretty young and Peter too. So this was a great way for us to experience it with the kids. I love where they are right now. They are such great travelers and so much fun to be with. I am so stoked that Cruz is now at an age where he's going to remember these vacations.

We just had Christmas morning today, the 26th. As usual Peter's work schedule had us change the date. When Christmas is on a Friday or Saturday he'll get it off. But it was just fine changing the date. It actually kind of extends the holiday a bit. The kids are all occupied at the moment, playing with this and that while Peter is putting together a Lego boat for Kai. We'll see if I get around to posting pictures! haha

Ok here comes the picture overload....

Cruz, Nana, Eligh and Chayce. Cruz loves hanging out with his cousins and Nana as much as possible!

No fear Cruz going down the waterslide on Kauai

Cruz was pretty stoked to be in the water all day

Kauai Adventuring at the Kilohana Plantation Train

Whirlpool in the pool!

Visiting Hanapepe town, the home of Lilo and Stitch and the swinging bridge!

Really like Hanapepe

Kai picked out a baby seal to be his toy from Kauai. His name is Umo

Honey straw addicts

Waiting for the train

I don't know why Cruz looks so unhappy - he was so excited for the train.

Feeding the chickens and pigs

The old Koloa Sugar Plantation - now closed. You know me and sugar mills (love)

Yep, he's peeing on the side of the road

Hanalei Town Overlook

Lumahai Beach playtime

Huge surf at Lumahai

Hanalei Bay was storming and big surf - all that mist is sea spray!

Hanalei Taro Fields

Somebody loves deep bathtubs!

Pops and Arlo

Pops, Grandie, and Arlo

Polo Beach right before I splashed my mom

Turtle swam right next to me!

The boys have expressed interest in helping with dishes - score!

On our first morning on Kauai we were driving to the train and then were planning on hitting up Waimea Canyon. We were driving and a truck in front of us swerved onto the right side of the road, hit mud, and careened across the lane into oncoming traffic hitting a car and killing the driver. We saw the entire thing happen right in front of us. I told the kids to look away and gave them my phone to play with while Peter ran to check on the guy that was hit and helped direct traffic until the police arrived. Sadly, it set the tone for the vacation because I think we were all just so shocked, sad, and couldn't understand why something like this could happen and that hit happened so fast. It still bothers me these weeks later and I guess there just isn't any understanding. There is no rhyme or reason for it - only a lesson to be learned that life can change in an instant and every second needs to be savored. The kids still ask about it and I give them the best answers that I have and we all express thanks that it wasn't our car that was hit.

As 2014 winds down and we're looking toward 2015, I want to promise myself to not overextend myself so much, to have a couple more days to be totally present with my family and not so wrapped up in work, and to take the kids traveling more.

May 2015 be full of peace, hope, love, and thankfulness!

The 5 of Us

 Car selfie!!

 Those sweet faces LOL. This sometimes happens when I ask for a nice smile.

Below is the Dagupion Ohana together at Japengo for Marissa's birthday.

Below: School pictures. Aren't they awesome? HEHEHE

Halloween!  Kai was Ironman, Ry an Egyptian, and Cruz Bumblebee. We went trick or treating in Kehalani, but Peter got a sore stomach so we had to head home early. I let the kids eat as much candy as they wanted, but they were naughty the next day so I threw it all away.

 We sign waved the day before the election for the YES vote to test the safety of open air chemical testing. The initiative passed, but true to form Monsanto is now suing the county.

Family Updates:

RYENNE - Ry is doing great at her new school. She is starting to make a couple of friends and loves the positivity of her new teacher. She is having an issue with enlarged adenoids and after a pretty bad infection over the last couple of weeks, we have a surgery scheduled in February to remove them. She is really looking forward to being able to breathe through her nose! Her biggest hobby is reading and we will often find her reading books in bed late into the night.

KAI BOY - Boy has Kai been excelling in the past couple of months. Turning 6 was a turning point for him as he now says that since he's 6 he has more control over his thoughts. We just had his school conference and his improvement over last year is remarkable. He now knows all his letters upper and lower case and is starting to read. But numbers are what he really loves and he likes talking about multiplication even though they are doing addition only right now. He seems to have jumped onto that concept really quick and it's interesting to see how Ry loves reading and language and Kai is totally opposite. Kai Boy is loving positive reinforcement and is really flourishing right now.

 CRUZ - Cruz is coming into a really cool moment in his life. He's totally expressing himself more often and talking about his feelings. He is very easily embarrased and does "the face" which is this lip puckering type face that my brother Koa does and my dad does as well. It's hilarious how a trait like that passes through the genes. Cruz still doesn't realize that he's bigger than Kai and so he takes the brunt of any tantrums that Kai has. I'm just waiting for the day Cruz knows he can clobber Kai. Cruz is extremely sweet and still sneaks in at night to snuggle with me. I wake up to his face just about daily.

PETER - Peter is doing great on the day shift at Andaz. It is SO NICE to have him home for evenings. We have probably been going out to dinner way more than we should, but it is really nice family time. He totally picks up the slack on dirty dishes and has been helping me carry dirty laundry baskets and anything heavy around the house. He's been helping the kids body board and they love jumping into big waves together.

MARIAH - The past few months have been somewhat of a blur. Photography Holiday season is in full swing and I've been shooting/editing 7 days a week while trying to balance both businesses and family life. I think a date night is needed soon. I photographed a proposal down the beach in October but the couple was gone by the time I could get over there - I put it out on social media and it ended up being broadcast on Hawaii News Now and then Huffington Post picked up the story as well as Cosmo magazine. We ended up finding the couple and it was a really neat experience! Shoulders still hurt all the time but I've now been getting the massage to put the tendons back where they belong 1 - 2 times per month. It's been helping quite a bit.

There have been several child abuse cases that have been in the news lately and it's really bothered me. Caused me to not sleep well and dwell and I have to figure out a way to let it go because there is nothing that I can do but love on my kids and be thankful that they have a good home with parents who love them.

Ah sleep.... sleep has been terrible for the past 2 weeks or so. My brain just won't shut off. Totally get that from my dad.

In a couple weeks we'll be spending three days on Kauai and I can't wait. I need the break so badly!

Cruz

Lots to post and have been slacking. But this was yesterday:

Cruz walks into the living room with a sad face. "Mom, the bee. It only has one wing. Can you wescue it?"

And there in his hands is a honeybee holding onto life with one wing.

"Save him mom. You can do it."

I explained that I can't save him. I explain that the bee cannot live without his wing and that he'll die. I ask Cruz if he wants to smush the bee so it doesn't have to suffer - a quick end. He looks up at me with a hurt face, "Hurt the bee? Nooooooo!" And I can tell that he's not quite understanding my way of 'helping'.

So I told him that we can't save the bee but we can find the most beautiful flower and put the bee in it. And that's what we did.

Lots of writing to do!

My poor neglected family blog! I promise to get better.

Things have been SO BUSY around here. Seriously. I don't even know where I left off so let's just talk about October!

October is always a great month because it starts out with Kai Boy's birthday. Kai Boy turned SIX! We were supposed to celebrate with a family trip to Kauai but had to cancel because Peter's vacation time wasn't approved (queue the boo, hiss). But it was still all good because Kai wanted to try going to the county fair.

I really loved how his teacher put him up in front of the class and let his classmates describe him. He was so proud!

We have tried the fair before and it was extremely overwhelming for him. So much so that last year resulted in screaming and a complete shut down for his little system. But this year he said that turning six made him  brave and we talked about the loud sounds, the crowds, the visual stimuli... and he said he was ready.

We parked the car and started walking in and he put his hands over his ears. I thought to myself, "uh-oh, we're not even inside yet and he's shutting down." I stopped, and started talking to him to let him know it was ok if he didn't want to go inside. He said that he would be ok as long as he didn't ride anything. He actually DID do a ride! He did the fun house with Peter and was super proud of himself. He did FANTASTIC! Ryenne got to ride the swings with her friend Lily and Cruz got to ride the cars with Peter.  Everyone was fed (us five plus Lily) and I was super stoked to make it out of the fair spending $100 even. That place is so expensive! I think next year we'll try talking the kids out of it and putting the money toward Disneyland - which has been moved to December 2015 since Kai said he wasn't ready to go this year.

It's been an incredibly busy season of photography. I love it and am so happy that I'm getting the business. Peter's work schedule is also great because it usually works out that he can take the kids to the beach while I'm shooting. I love that they can follow along and then I can join them when I'm all done.

We also got to meet Chef Sheldon Simeon - he opened Migrant in Wailea and just in case you don't know who he is - he was on Top Chef Seattle representing Hawaii and he came in third. He's probably one of the most humble chefs you'd ever meet and I love his restaurant!

Letsee.... letsee...

Oh yes... Kai Boy had yet another dental procedure. One of the teeth that was worked on earlier this year had abscessed and he had to have it pulled. He was SO BRAVE - I was just praying we wouldn't have to do another hospital visit. He pulled through fantastic and now has a space retainer where the molar was to help keep his teeth straight.

I have also switched schools for Ryenne. Wailuku was just not working out for her. She cried every morning before school and for a girl who LOVES school, this wasn't right. I contacted a friend of mine who is a teacher at a really wonderful school and she helped me get Ry accepted. She started last week and LOVES it. It's very nurturing, positive, and offers a ton to help her mind grow. I will keep trying to get Kai in and Cruz for kindergarten next year.

Cruz is on a growth spurt and he is the same height as Kai and outweighs him. He REALLY wants to start kindergarten already and it's hard to explain to him that we have to wait until next year. He gets frustrated wondering why he can't just walk in with Kai.

 Cruz and his buddy, Sassy, who lives next door. They like to hang out together all the time. It's adorable.

It's also Election time over here. I've never been very involved with it because I feel like the system is incredibly flawed. But this year we did register to vote because of the really important GMO issue. I feel like there is a people's uprising going on - we don't want that stuff on Maui. However, Monsanto and Dow have deep pockets in here and the campaign has been pretty nasty. We'll see what happens.

That's it for now I think...