Twin A's New Room

My inspiration for Twin A's new room design came from this beautiful vintage black and crystal chandelier as well as a memory from a Paris Boutique we visited a few years back. While I sketched, my husband taped off the walls and together we executed the transformation with great "ardeur." Armed with black, white and pink paint we rolled out the room in one day. The touch up was another story, the wall was already textured and that made the black paint bleed through our tape, not good. Today after church, we spent the afternoon covering up our mistakes. Not bad though. She loves it. It's tres beau!

Puppy Chronicles

The newest members of our family, Dolce & DaVinci are the cutest little bundles of love. They are brothers and look like twins. We can only tell them a part by the bottom of their front paws. They hop around like rabbits when we take them outside. It's hysterical to watch. They think they are fierce when they play around with each other, this is funny because they only weigh 3 lbs. 13 oz. right now. Their little voices start to get loud with growling sounds and my husband assures me they are not hurting each other. He reminds me I would never have made it with a house full of boys and it's a good thing we had girls. We are now realizing where the term "puppy dog eyes" come from. We are all suckers for it and scoop them up to give them love.

It's not all a bed of roses though, they seem to be having a digestive problem and after a visit to the vet we are now giving them medicine to stop the diarrhea and prophylactically treat for worms while we wait to see the results of the samples we submitted. DaVinci has decided that the duck B gave the twins is his favorite chew toy. Dolce loves his blankey. So stinkin cute, literally!

First Day of School, 5th Grade

This morning came very early. The girls set their alarm to wake up with plenty of time to take care of the newest addition to our family, (2 chocolate Havanese puppies 9 weeks old) before heading off to school. They took them outside to do their business and fed them while they went upstairs to get ready for school and I made breakfast. We wanted to arrive at school early enough to take pictures with friends and chat with people we hadn't seen all summer; traffic didn't quite agree with our agenda. We made it to the parking lot and felt lucky we had a place to park, as parents and students were flooding into the campus. Carrying in the requested lot of school supplies, we made it to the quad in plenty of time for photos. It was great seeing their little faces light up with enthusiasm to start school again. As for me, I was left with beloved free time as I took the day off work. Ahhh the thrill of what shall I do? Turns out nothing exciting, but still it was bliss. Later, I picked them up and it was non stop talking about how much they liked their teachers, how great it was to see their friends and how they already had homework. I think it's going to be a great year!

Jet Skiing in Kaanapali

Jet Skiing in Kaanapali with our girls was awesome! We drove up to Kaanapali and parked at Hanakao’o Beach Park (aka: Canoe Beach). After walking past the canoes parked on the beach, we found the red umbrella and red cooler in the sand labeled Pacific Jet Sports. The very nice girl that checked us in looked about 16 and the guy that drove the motorized raft out to the dock wasn’t much older than that. Twin b thought he had a great job shuttling customers back and forth all day and asked if she could do that job when she was in college. My response knowing full well this too shall pass, “maybe for a summer job.” We climbed into the raft and thank God I knew what to expect because there were no instructions as to what the little girls should do once aboard the raft; clearly this guy had a schedule to keep. In the blink of an eye and as if I was on automatic pilot; I quickly positioned the twins sitting down twisted forward with their hands gripping the rope in front of them. The young man gunned the motor and up went the front of the raft over a wave and over the edge would have gone my daughter, had my arm not been around the small of her back gripping the rope myself.
Once at the dock we put on our mandatory life jackets and proceeded to become educated on the do’s and don’ts of safe jet skiing. The girls listened intently and after the exchange of who gets to go with Mom /who gets to go with Dad, we concluded we would switch passengers at the 30 minute mark.
We had so much fun! The hour went by so fast and although we lost a pair of sunglasses (my husband’s) we did manage to rescue my hat.
We finished up the day having a picnic at Hanakao’o Beach and watched 3 Sea Turtles near the shore.

Crisp Watermelon Summer Salad

90 degrees outside, tropical breeze and the barbeque is ready for grilling! Here is an easy accompaniment to serve with the all American family standard…..grilled hamburgers.

Crisp Watermelon Summer Salad
Cube up one small seedless Watermelon, toss with mixed greens, chopped scallions, halved yellow and red grape tomatoes.
Vinaigrette: 2tbsp. Champagne Vinegar, 1 tbsp. soy sauce, ½ tsp sugar, 1 tbsp.EVOO, salt, pepper, small pinch of dried crushed red pepper and 2 cubes of watermelon crushed into vinaigrette, mix well, drizzle over salad.
Enjoy~

Lanai Weekend

The island of Lanai has been our favorite “go to” weekend escape for many years. With a population of only 3000 people this small island offers a tranquil environment with all our favorite things: golf, beach, food and spa. There are 2 main hotels on the island, both are Four Seasons contracted properties, one by the water “Manele Bay Hotel” and the other up country “The Lodge at Koele.” There are no traffic lights on this island and most people live right in town called Lanai City near The Lodge at Koele. For a fee, there is a transportation shuttle between hotels with one stop in Lanai City which showcases a small, quaint B & B style hotel and wonderful restaurant now called Lanai City Grille. This restaurant has a long history and use to be called Henry Clay’s Rotisserie (amazing chef who moved on to Arizona). The restaurant received a face lift a few years ago and now resembles something you would find in the Napa Valley. Our meal did not disappoint! If you visit, try the catch of the day, Pecan Crusted Ono. Amazing!
Lanai has a small airport but we always take the ferry over from Maui. It’s a beautiful ride over with views of 5 islands, Maui, Molokai, Lanai and Kaho'olawe and on a really clear day you can see part of the big island. On most trips over to Lanai, dolphins will chase the boat as you near Lanai Harbor.
The golf course at Manele named "The Challenge at Manele Bay was designed by Jack Nicklaus, a dramatic, unspoiled natural terrain with stunning backdrops from every hole. This is our favorite course.
"The Experience at Koele" was designed by Greg Norman and offers stunning views of mountains, lush greens and the ocean in the distance. The course begins on a plateau nearly 2,000 feet above sea level with views of Maui and Molokai across the ocean channel.
Koele also has an 18 hole miniature golf course played on real grass, which the girls love.
Although we like to stay at Manele Bay both properties allow you to use the services at each hotel.
Hulopoe Bay is the beach at Manele . It is a protected marine preserve and on most days you will find 30 plus dolphins playing in the bay.
This trip we taught the girls how to play shuffle board in the game room. It was a nail biter championship tournament with the parents winning! Crazy Eights is also a favorite card game we play after dinner and this year we played for the blue dolphin Twin A made out of fusing beads at Kids For All Seasons, a fun organized activity time offered by the hotel so mom and dad can golf.
Our weekend away was perfect and felt very far away from tests and sickness. There was a moment on the beach where the girls were playing in the surf out in front of us, the beach serene like a post card and I couldn’t help but feel blessed for how far we’ve come. My heart felt full.

Make a Difference, Teach a Difference

To make a difference you have to teach a difference. That said I strongly believe in teaching my kids the cause and effect of helping others. Each summer the girls work hard organizing our recycles and when the car can’t possible hold anymore garbage bags full of cans and bottles we head off to the Recycle location where the twins turn in their items for cash. They empty the garbage bags into cage like barrels and then drag it over to be weighed where they receive their little piece of paper for payout. After they wait in line to get their cash we set off to Safeway where they proudly push their own cart up and down the isles searching for food deals like buy one get one free or 10 items for $10. They calculate how much they’ve spent as they go along and sometimes put things back in order to get a better deal on something else. They talk about what the family who will be receiving the items might think of their culinary choices. Twin B says things like “protein is important” and Twin A comments on wanting to give them treats. The choices are all theirs and they patiently wait in line to pay with their own money. Once the food has been purchased we make our donation to Maui’s Food Bank where over 5000 children go hungry on a daily basis. A far cry from the 5star hotels lined up in Wailea where the charge for a hamburger is $16.50. Although I could write a check to the organization and hand it to them to donate, I want my kids to know that even a child can do something to earn money, do the work, have a plan, and contribute to helping others in need. I want them to experience that feeling. I’ve been doing this with them for 5 years now. Each year they look forward to it and each year they take more ownership of the process.

This year we’ve added to our philanthropic projects. We stumbled upon the Keiki Cupboard a non-profit organization dedicated to providing essentials to Maui's school children. Their goal is to have a cupboard at every Maui school, which will contain necessary supplies for children who are unable to afford these items. Teachers, counselors and school administrators will have the opportunity to supply these children with basic needs without the delay of the usual "red-tape" of government programs. We all got involved with this one, even my husband was in on the hunt for great deals and handpicked the backpacks himself. After 2 stores and loads of bags to the car we delivered our supplies to the twins old school. The ladies in the office remembered us and were so happy to receive our contribution. If you would like to help this great organization that goes directly to children from Kindergarten through 5th grade, visit www.keikicupboard.com.