Color Me Happy!

I have been feeling the creative itch lately...haven't...quite..been able....to reach it......ahhhhh!
Now I feel better. My friend's boy is having a birthday coming and so I thought I could make something. Not my original creation, however...what is it that people sometimes say...the Japanese are not good inventors, they just like to take an idea and make it better...well something like that.

Anyways, thought the ribbon that you often see on "crayon rolls" was a cute touch, but not as practical as a boingy cincher-upper thingy. So here you are a great way to tote your kids colors with a little bit of style and practicality (even comes in a small purse size)! It's made for the "twist crayons"...no sharpening...no losing them in the pockets because they are to short!

Future Leaders of Our Country

For our craft project today we decided to celebrate President's Day with beards and hats! There is nothing quite as fun as pretending that you're the Head of State! The boys monkied around in front of the mirror with their disguises on making very silly faces...sadly enough, perhaps not far off from some of the actual activities that have been taking place in the White House today. What would Washington and Lincoln say?

Hawaii!!! Finally!

So its been about 2 1/2 months since our very first honeymoon to Hawaii happened (and for those of you doing the math, yes we have been married for 10 years). I realize that the glorious vacation got smothered by an avalanche of tragedy, however "love concures all!!!"

We tried to hit all the highlights of the little island of Kauai. This was one of our exciting stops. Kauai Coffee was a wonderful spot to buy gifts for those who so generously helped us to have this wonderful experience, so in vacation style we both pulled out all the stops and tasted every single type, flavor, brew of coffee they had. Needless to say I had more coffee in an 15 minutes than I have had in my whole life time collectively and Steve.....well I think the picture speaks for itself!

I always thought that it wouldn't matter what time of year that a person was in Hawaii, that the off season would be as marvelous as any other. Well it turns out that even in Hawaii some things are better enjoyed during the on season. Here we are standing on what looks like any other beach. We were in search of "Queens Pond", unbeknownsed to us, what we spent nearly an hour in search of was hidden just beneath the waves right out in front of us. We stood right in it actually, innocently asking the only other two tourists on the beach where the "Queens Pond" was, they stopped splashing in the waves just long enough to say "No", but when we find it to let them know so that they could check it out too! Talk about not being able to see the pond for the waves!

Here is another great stop. As many of you know Hawaii is known for their shave ice. Wow! That stuff is good stuff! Especially with the macnut icecream! And by the way...the best places on the island were the ones that were all run down and funky looking!

We went on a CRAZY 12 mi. hike on one of the days. It afforded us some extraordinary sights, but in the same breath it was an arduous journey. I thought that I was in shape...that trip kicked my butt! However, here Steve is smiling in triumph at the trails end. Notice the the angle at which the picture is being taken. Laying down was an involuntary thing.