We Love Summer Corn

Since it's summer, and since summertime means fresh, sweet corn, corn on the cob has made its way to our table a few times lately. Madeline wasn't sure about the stuff at first, but she caught on quickly.

Corn on the cob is perfect for Madeline, because she is all about self-feeding these days. We've practically given up trying to spoon feed her because she's so much happier with finger food. She's particularly fond of frozen blueberries, frozen peas, bits of cheese, any pasta, and scrambled egg yolk. (No egg whites yet!) Of course, the best food is food that's on somebody else's plate!

Like Madeline, Kathleen loves corn on the cob. She also loves food that's not necessarily hers. We had corn on the cob for supper on the fourth of July. While Mama was changing Madeline and Daddy was checking the ribs on the grill, Kathleen was briefly alone in the kitchen with a pot of uncooked corn...

Yes, those are bite marks. She tested every single one!

Aren't you glad you weren't eating at our house?!

You Win Some, You Lose Some

Well, friends, we've got orders. Hooray! We ship our household goods in the middle of next week; we fly to mainland at the end of next week. It's going to be a busy ten days, but at least it's all happening!

So, there's the good news. That, in case you're wondering, is the part we won.

The part we didn't win? Well, I suppose we could look at that as winning, too: Kathleen won the virus lottery!

After my last post, Kathleen's high temperature hung around for a few more days. It was uncomfortably, but not dangerously, high. We pushed fluids and fever-reducing medicines and tried to distract our cooped-up toddler with crafts and books and DVDs from the library. (Thank goodness for Veggie Tales!) Eventually, though, the fever broke. We all sighed a big sigh of relief, ready to move on to good health. Our relief was premature, I'm afraid. Shortly thereafter Kathleen broke out in a whole body rash. Roseola, we think. The poor child is covered, head to toe, in a bright red rash. Our internet research indicates that there's nothing to be done for roseola, so we're just waiting it out. (Speaking of internet research, if you're a concerned mom who's doing a Google Image search for a photo roseola, one of the first ten photos that you get is of our sweet friend Anna. At least we're in good company!)

Anyway, as near as we can figure, Kathleen came down with two different viruses right after another -- the first virus with the bug-bite-like spots and then the second roseola virus. Honestly, what are the chances? Now we're just hoping that Madeline has somehow evaded the virus... and using our house-bound days to prepare for our big move.

Of Moving, Maladies, and Other Miscellany

Moving

We're moving. Really, we are. And yet, no orders. We think we'll have them Monday. That's our prayer, anyway.

Thankfully Jim was able to get some sort of memorandum yesterday that has permitted us to make appointments to ship our household goods and car. So, at least we know that much. We'll be able to get plane tickets and such when we actually have orders... And once we have plane tickets to the mainland, we'll be able to start figuring out how to get to California, visit Illinois, and househunt, all on a much tighter timeline than we'd originally anticipated.

So, Monday. Monday? Let's hope Monday.

Maladies

Poor little Kathleen has been sick since we returned from Kauai. While we were there we noticed three funny spots on her back. At first we thought they might be bug bites; they were sort of clumped together as though some little insect had been munching on her on a trek across her shoulder blade. So we washed the bedsheets and didn't worry much more about it. At least, we didn't worry until the spots started showing up when we were home. On her neck and on her face. We took her to the doctor, who diagnosed it as a (non-chicken pox) virus, and instructed us (us being Daddy, who made the trek to Tripler -- Madeline and I were home for naptime) to keep her away from other kids for the weekend and to keep an eye on how things were going.

The spots didn't seem to bother her at first, but eventually she began to scratch at them and they got infected. (I can't tell you how quickly that seems to happen here. When the Childri were visiting, Madeline scratched her ear with her fingernail and within three days it was horribly infected. Kathleen's been treated for drug-resistant infections twice, one of which left a little scar. Ick.) Enter a nice, strong, pink antibiotic, which we're hoping will help clear up the infection, if not the virus.

I'd like to report that she's nearly recovered, but although we haven't gotten any new spots in two days, she had a 101 degree temperature at naptime today.

Our superhero pauses to drain the last of her Tylenol.
She's also resting her finger on a bag of frozen vegetables,
because she had taken a nasty spill and smashed her finger
between the floor and a pot lid. Ah, the trauma.

Mercifully, Madeline hasn't acquired any spots. However, she posted a temperature on and off last week. So, everyone's health has been a little iffy. We've been working on keeping a pretty strict sleeping schedule and hoping that rest and healthy food do the trick...

Miscellany

We sold the Jeep. The Army will ship one car to the mainland for us, and the Jeep just wasn't going to be it. We'll be taking our small, fuel-efficient little Versa instead, so the Jeep is staying in Hawaii -- with new owners. It happened so quickly we could hardly believe it. We listed it on Craigslist on Sunday night and by Monday evening it was gone. We'd thought that the interested party would look at it on Monday night and then we'd do the transfer on Tuesday, after we'd filled a chip (again!) in the windshield that had prevented it from passing the Hawaii safety inspection. But the buyer was so enthusiastic that he handed us cash and said he'd take care of the windshield and the inspection himself. Done.

It faithfully carried us around Europe, the mainland, and our island.
Sure, its air-conditioning had given up the ghost, but we told
ourselves we preferred the island breezes, anyway...

Mama and Daddy were sad to see the Jeep go. Honestly, he'd been a pretty good car. He carried us all over Europe. He brought Kathleen home from the hospital. He took us to the beach -- a lot. But no one was quite as sad to see him go as Kathleen. When we explained how it had been sold, she cried. And she still asks for it: "I want my Jeep!" Let's hope that whenever we replace the Jeep (with something big enough for carseats and people and groceries but small enough to fill with gas) she likes it just as much.

Although Madeline's been feeling under the weather, she's been very much on the move. She's discovered doors, especially cupboard doors, and loves to pull them open. She loves emptying the contents of the cupboards nearly as much as she loves opening those doors. And as if that weren't injecting enough danger in our lives, yesterday we turned around to discover Madeline doing this:

Watch out, world. Madeline can climb!

A Recap of Kauai

Here you are, my friends: a photographic recap of our time on Kaua'i. What an island!

Katherine and Sarah stayed with us for four days. We'd rented a two bedroom condo. It was gorgeous, and suited us just about perfectly. We hung out together on our lanai...

from which we thoroughly enjoyed the mountain view. (Can you make out that waterfall?) We could see the ocean from the front door and various other places in the condo.

We spent our days at the beach, where Sarah learned to surf. You go, girl!

Kathleen, however, preferred the pool. I mean, the kid lives on Oahu. A beach is a beach is a beach, as far as she's concerned. But, a pool? Now there's something to get worked up about! (Wait until she finds out about motels on the mainland...)

Sarah was our go-to babysitter. She and the girls hung out at the condo together one evening so that the grown-ups could enjoy a relaxing dinner at a "real" restaurant. (That was the evening I discovered my love for ceviche. Mmmm... ceviche!) Another night Katherine and Sarah both stayed with the girls so that Mama and Daddy could have a date night! Although we'd talked about a fancy dinner, we opted instead for the uber-casual. We hiked to Queen's Bath for a swim (man, I wish I'd had my camera for that!), and then drove to Ke'e Beach to watch the sunset. Ke'e Beach is the very end of the road on Kaua'i's North Shore. Beyond it is the Na Pali coast, which can be seen only by boat or by helicopter or, for the very adventurous, by hiking through it. We settled for the view from the beach.

And the sunset didn't disappoint, either!

We enjoyed every minute we had with Sarah and Katherine; we just didn't have enough! We're so glad they managed to visit us before we left Hawaii.

Once Sarah and Katherine had departed, we tried to keep busy. We found it was the best way to distract Kathleen, who would intermittently cry, "But I want my Sarah!"

So we headed back to the beach.

We discovered we have not one, but two little mermaids!

We visited the Kileaua lighthouse, which Kathleen insisted on calling hers. She was a little put out when other tourists wanted to go inside it, too.

I was particularly excited about stopping at the lighthouse because we got another stamp in the girls' National Park Passports. In case you didn't know about the passport program (and I didn't until a few months ago), you can buy a little passport book at almost any National Park bookstore. Then, when you visit almost any National Park, you get a stamp in the book, recording your visit to the park! I think it'll be fun for the girls to look back one day and see all the places they traveled when they were so little. They now have stamps from Oahu (the USS Arizona Memorial) and Kaua'i (Kileaua Point National Wildlife Refuge). Sadly, we didn't have the passports when we visited the Big Island, so we missed out on the stamp for Volcanoes National Park. I'm sure we'll more than make up for that when we start hitting National Parks on the mainland...

Anyway, enough about that. While we were at the lighthouse we did some bird watching. Kathleen loved the binoculars.

What would vacation on Kaua'i be without shave ice? Fortunately, we'll never have to know...

Otherwise, we just goofed around and played away the time, enjoying each other's company.

And now we're home, still waiting for orders. We know we'll be moving soon; we just don't know when!

A Mad Dash About the Island

Daddy's sister Katherine and her daughter Sarah arrived the day of the hat and tie party, making it a truly red letter day for our little circus. Anytime you can combine a party (especially one with a bounce house!) and vistors' arrival, you're approaching nirvana, at least as far as Kathleen is concerned. And visitors don't get better than cousins. Kathleen decided that very first night that bedtime stories were best read by Sarah. Kathleen endeavored to spend every waking moment with "her Sarah and Kack" -- and some days came close!

We spent that first evening up on the North Shore, checking out the sea turtles and enjoying a tasty dinner at our favorite Thai place, before returning our exhausted family (visitors and little girls!) to their beds.

The next day was Sunday, which we all used to rest up a little. We had church in the morning, and Bible study in the afternoon. While the girls nappped, Daddy and Katherine and Sarah took a little tour of post. But otherwise, we just enjoyed a day to relax and spend some quiet time together.

The next two days were a mad dash about the island. We had only two days to give Katherine and Sarah a taste of Oahu, and we made the most of every minute! In fact, we were rushing around so much that I hardly remembered to take photos. And that's just for the part I was there. The girls and I missed some of the sight-seeing. We were trying to be faithful to our schedules, getting our overtired babies recovered from the 4th of July extravaganza.

Anyway, I don't have any photos from the time at the USS Arizona Memorial (or our impromptu sidetrip to the Koa Pancake House to pass the time until our tour), or dinner and shopping down on Waikiki, or the visit to Waimea Bay. But we do have some from the Pali Lookout...

Katherine and Sarah pause for a photo at the Pali Lookout. They're as pretty as the view!

and from some time in the sun at Lanikai...

Hey, I think Madeline might be playing peek-a-boo under that hat!

Kathleen gets some early surfing lessons from cousin Sarah.

And then before we knew it, we were home, packing our bags for our next big adventure -- exploring the North Shore of Kauai! Everyone was excited about the trip. Sarah was excited to go to Hanalei Bay to learn to surf. Katherine was looking forward to spending some time checking out more beaches. And doing a bit more shopping. (And waiting for the best time to taste her first Mai Tai.) Kathleen was beside herself in anticipation of going on an airplane (or, an "airpoplane," as she prefers to call it). We'd made an excursion to Kauai just before Daddy deployed, and we just loved the island. However, it had rained a lot during that last trip, so we were looking forward to seeing the spectacular mountains and beaches in a little bit more sunshine.

And, as it turned out, everyone got what they wanted in Kauai!

Sorry for the Silence

Sorry for the silence there, friends. The circus just got a little more circus-y than normal for a bit. No, we've not moved to the mainland yet. (We don't even have orders yet. But that's a topic for another post entirely!) Immediately after the hat and tie party (as in, Daddy left from the party for the airport), Aunt Katherine and cousin Sarah came for a visit. We spent a few days dashing about Oahu seeing sights with them before we all boarded a plane together, bound for Kauai!

We brought the camera and the laptop with us to Kauai. Our gorgeous condo even had internet access. I had every intention of blogging... but had forgotten the cord for the camera, so I couldn't! Oh, well. It was a great vacation. We'll be posting all about it, soon.

Our Royal Circus

Okay, we don't actually wear these all the time. Our friends Sheree and Barry threw a hat and tie party, and we were just testing out our attire. . . Since we knew that we'd be able to convince Kathleen to wear a tiara, we decided to use the royal theme for the whole family.

Our royal court


The king and a rather surprised princess

As it turned out, Daddy agreed to be the jester for the party, and the rest of us were royalty. And we had too much fun to take pictures, so these are all we have!

The Fourth in Review...

Our fourth of July was chock full of fun!

The post's fourth of July celebration is pretty spectacular. There's a carnival with rides and games for little kids, there's a concert, and another concert. The day caps off with a fireworks display that is the largest on the island. And best of all -- this happens just blocks from our house. Far enough that we don't get much traffic or noise, but certainly close enough to walk! So, after morning naps, we walked over to the carnival, thankful for our house on post.

Kathleen was just old enough for some of the kiddie attractions. She loved the rides and the games run by family readiness groups. She certainly loved the little prizes! She's been carrying an inflatable princess wand around since then. The much-loved and very messy candy bracelet didn't survive that long...

Anyway, Kathleen truly enjoyed the carnival. She slid.

She dug.

She threw.

She rode.

As is often the case, Madeline didn't get to do any of that fun stuff. She did look awfully cute as she watched, though!

After all that fun, we headed home for afternoon naps, a bit of a swim for Kathleen, and then dinner. We missed the big musical guest (Billy Ray Cyrus -- rumor has it they were hoping for the daughter, but settled for the dad), but made it in time to take a couple turns at the carnival's fun before camping out on the field with church friends to listen to the 1812 Overture and wait for the fireworks.

The fireworks were amazing. I don't have any photos of them or of the girls, for that matter. Our camera isn't great in the dark. But the show was spectacular. And the girls loved it. Kathleen sat snuggled in her daddy's lap, mesmerized by the display. And Madeline was just as enchanted. She kept reaching out, as if she could grab the fireworks right from the sky! And when it was all over, we walked our exhausted girls home to bed.

It was a full and happy fourth!

We Love the Red, White, and Blue

Happy Independence Day, friends!

Madeline on the move!

Without any fun visitors, Madeline has taken it upon herself to inject some excitement into our little circus. Although she's been taking steps for a few weeks now, over the past few days she's really begun walking. This clip is a little long, but I love it because it not only shows Madeline walking a little bit, but it also shows what a sweet little snuggly baby she is.

Her pajamas say "hug me" -- we couldn't help but hug that sweet little girl!

We Love Our Mike...

This week we said another goodbye. Our good friend Mike left today for Fort Riley for training for a Military Transition Team (MiTT). He'll spend about three months training in Kansas and then serve a year-long deployment in Iraq.

Mike was the First Sergeant while Daddy was in command, and the two of them were a great team. (I'm not entirely sure that either of them would have taken their jobs in the company if it hadn't been for the other...) Mike is also one of Kathleen's favorite people.

When the guys returned from Iraq in November, Kathleen took to Mike almost immediately. Mike and his wife Linda (a dear friend of mine and one of the people who helped keep me sane during the deployment) were over for dinner just days after redeployment, and Mike was all Kathleen could talk about. It was hysterical. Since then, Mike has solidified his position as one of Kathleen's favorites by offering her candy whenever we visit Daddy at the office, letting her play with their dog, and bringing her fun presents. (This weekend he brought a giant water gun and toy fish to swim in her pool. She loves them!)

As we get ready for the 4th of July weekend, I'd just like to ask you to pray for Mike and for his family. Even though they've been separated and will be separated a lot, they're choosing to serve and they're doing it well. They're like a lot of other military families out there, and they're part of what makes this weekend's celebration possible. For that, we're truly grateful.


*In case you were wondering, the title is an obscure reference to Dr. Seuss: "We love our Mike and this is why: Mike does all the work when the hills get high!"

Aloha, Childri! A Hui Hou!

On the last day of John, Marie, and Anna's visit, we headed to the North Shore for an enormous breakfast at one of our favorite spots. (How big are the breakfasts? Jim and I split one!) When we'd eaten our fill of breakfast burritos, we headed over to a nice, quiet stretch of beach across from Dillingham Airfield. Our plan was to fly kites and to let the girls play on the beach. We hoped that it would be a good way to spend a morning on the beach without nearly as much clean up as a "real" trip for swimming and sand play.

Things didn't work out exactly the way we hoped. We'd brought three kites. Two wouldn't fly at all. And the third was extremely tempermental. It crashed more times than I care to remember. But Daddy persevered and eventually it made its way up in the blustery sky. At least for a while.

When the girls tired of the kite, we wandered down to the water's edge, where the girls played with sand. About half a dozen sea turtles were bobbing in the surf, and we spent quite a while watching them play.

I wish I'd been able to get photos of the turtles, too, but they just look like black rocks, no matter what I do. The girls are cuter, anyway!

Was it a cleaner activity? It might have been, had Kathleen not discovered some charcoal on the beach when no one was looking...

Madeline never made it out of the car. Poor girl, she was exhausted from all the fun.

And, then, before we knew it, the morning was gone and we were home, the Childri preparing for their big trip back to North Carolina.

Not every friend would travel halfway across the Pacific for a visit, much less make the long trip with a toddler. But we're so glad the Childri did! We had so much fun with them, visiting beaches and island sights. But the best part of all was just being together again, talking and visiting. It's amazing how, even after years of not seeing one another (we'd last met up briefly when Kathleen was about 8 weeks old), we were able to pick up again as though we'd not been apart. And I loved the opportunity to see my friend Marie in her role as mama -- so gentle and patient with her sweet girl. And, boy, is that Anna sweet. And funny. And remarkably well-behaved! Kathleen and Madeline just loved her. Even now, days after they've left, Kathleen still asks for her friend Anna. (Today we placated her by making a picture for Anna. Watch the mail, Anna!) Thanks so much for visiting, friends. We miss you already.

Aloha, Childri! A Hui Hou! Goodbye, Childri! Until we meet again...