Laie, Hawaii Temple

Randy's sister, Jan, invited us to join them at the visitors' center at the temple today. They were coming down with the missionaries from their ward, I think to show someone the Joseph Smith movie. The temple is 5 mins from our home, so we joined them for the afternoon. While everyone else was inside watching, I volunteered to stay outside with Kara and Micah. We walked the ground and took some pictures to keep ourselves occupied. After the movie, we convened at a nearby stake center for a potluck. Good food.

A few notes on the pictures. The TL is the view from the top of the temple grounds. That's part of new running route. The TR is Randy's sister and her family and ours. Note the twins, Micah and his cousin Raiden. The kids and I on the BL goofing around. The last one is the potluck afterwards.

Beach Party at Kekela

After a week of being water-logged at camp, we went back for more. My cousin Diana had called last week to invite us to a birthday party for two of her children at another old stomping ground for me --- Kekela (my memory of Kekela beach were of having ward camp there, along with almost drowning from the rough waters). Anyhow, I almost never say no when family calls, especially family I haven't seen in a while. Diana and I have known each other since 1986! Wow, don't count how many years that is, it's too many. In my opinion, she looks the same from when I last saw her, except now she has a husband and 4 children to boot. 

It was so fun seeing her again and her family. Her brother Sam was there as well with his 5 children. He was the older brother who would tease us when we were only 10 y.o. We sat around and reminisced about the old days and caught up with each on what's happening now. The kids had fun playing chopstick race, sham ball, crafts, and pinata. We ate too much food and just had a great time. We drove home tired! Good thing it was only a 15 min drive. However, those of us gung-ho people mustered up what strength we had left and went down to BYUH for the free movie "Spiderwick Chronicles". By the way, good movie. 

Ward Camp at Hukilau Beach

My kids and I just got back from ward camp at Hukilau beach. Boy was it a lot of work to go camping for a week. Randy was unable to take off from work, so I braved the grounds myself with the kids. During the week, I tried to cook over a grill, shower in cold water, sleep on a cheapy air-mattress, sleep through winds and rain. At the end I asked myself, "WHY?" Why did I put myself through that, as well as my children. Well, the answer is below. I was able to capture those moments of why we love to camp. Enjoy. (PS this is a new thing I'm trying).

Under construction

Okay everyone, I know, I know . . . Finally!!! The cable has finally been hooked up ---- everyone together now, "YAY!" Right now there is a line forming at my computer with my family, everyone has missed the internet. I must say though we have fared well without it. I'll admit I did cheat. Randy got me a fancy phone that allowed me to go online. Anyhow. We are in the middle of ward camp right now. Wards here in Hawaii go camping for a week. I'm just glad that we are only 5 mins from the campsite. I'm taking lots of pictures and will be working feverishly over the weekend to post everything that has been going on. I'm also working on a new layout. I have been though checking up on everyone else's blogs. Check back in the 24 hrs (hopefully). 

It Finally Came Out!

Today, Micah reached a milestone --- he lost his first tooth. He is a little young I think for this to happen, but I think he may have hit that tooth a while ago, which led to its premature loss. Either way, the toothfairy will still come. Truth be told, I'm a wimp when the kids have loose teeth. I can't stand to see it being wiggled. During the whole sacrament today, he kept pushing it with his tongue, and you could just see that there wasn't much holding on to it. Apparently, people were watching him do it, because after the meeting, ward members were commenting on his loose tooth. Oh and by the way, he wiggled it out on his own. 

Temple Valley

Our goal today was free entertainment for the kids, so we took them to Temple Valley. It is a Buddhist Temple that is actually hidden in the green hills on the windward side of the island. To our big disappointment, we had to PAY to get in (wasn't like that before), and with cash even. My how times have changed. We paid the $8 fee and we were on our way.

Isn't it just beautiful. Yup, definitely worth the $8. I love coming here, and the green mountains in the backdrop is my favorite site. They've used this location in movies. The most recent was a brief moment in Pearl Harbor. 
You have to cross over this bridge to get onto the grounds. We took our last official family pictures here.

My kids thought this sign was cool. I thought it was hilarious. I love how they are formal and say "therefore".

All the kids got a turn to ring this gigantic bell. I think there's a sign that says if you ring it, you will have peace (or something like that). How much do you want to bet the monks who live here hate that bell.

Off to the side are these stairs that lead to a water feature and pagoda. There aren't any pictures of that because while we posed, we were literally being eaten alive by mosquitos!

I love the angle of this shot that Randy took. I need to get him a good camera.

Can you tell which child of mine is the shy one? Do you see the japanese rock garden in the back? Randy and I joke about what would happen if we had one in our yard. Instead of peace and tranquility, it would cause us much anger and frustration from having to rake it 10x's a day from kids running all over it. 
Lots of Koi. They remind me of oversized goldfish.
You know you all want to say it. All together now, "Heeeeere fishy, fishy, fishy, fishy!!"
Another cool angle. The kids liked looking at the fish. They'll eat whatever you drop in the water.

See how deep in thought my children are. They're are thinking, "When are we leaving?" Nah, they did enjoy it, especially seeing the gigantic statue of buddah.

Beautiful. It looks so mystic.

Perks

One of the perks we get to enjoy from Randy working at BYUH, is their game room. It used to be open to the public, but now is limited to only students, staff (that's Randy), and dependents (that's us). We took the kids over there for some fun. They have a bowling alley. We all bowled, while Tyler played XBOX instead (can you tell we deprive him at home). The kids love to bowl as well as Randy and I. After bowling, Kara, Randy and Micah joined Tyler in some video games, while Leigh tried her hand at ping-pong for the first time. It was fun chasing that ball all over the place. She and I got a good workout. Kara and I did a little Dance-Dance Revolution before calling it a night. I do have to share that we only spent $16.00 for the whole night. Randy and I actually want to come here for a date night and just play.