I'm That Mom

I'm that mom that let's her kids watch TV and play video games to their heart's content. I also do not have parental controls over the Internets. They've all been huge learning resources in our home, as much as they've been entertainment. I believe in broadening their horizons, not limiting them.

I'm also the mom that is not the least bit threatened to know that, as a homeschooling mom, I didn't teach them a thing. They learned it all for themselves.

I'm also the mom of very long haired boys. I DO believe it is up to them, and they DO have a say-so. I care how they look, but I care more about how they feel.

I'm the mom of kids that like to use cuss words. I'm happy that my kids feel safe to be themselves and express themselves however they want, and equally happy that they are choosey in who they allow to hear those words.

I'm also a short order cook. I show them how to make most of their favorite things, and put these things within their reach, but I also realize it always tastes better when Mom makes it. So, yeah....I'm THAT mom.

I'm also the mom that sat and listened and talked with a nine year old girl at the pool the other day, and within five minutes she asked me, "Can you be my mom?"

I remember many times as a kid saying, when I'm a Mom I'll never "X", or I'll do "Y". Of course then I would just hear, "What until you're a Mom! Then you'll see!"

I'm happy to say it is possible to be.... THAT mom and still have great kids.

** This post was inspired by Ronnie's spontaneous blog carnival idea inspired by Flo's post.

*** Leave it to unschoolers to start an impromptu blog Carnival

**** Cause you can't plan shizz this good

***** I'm also that mom that is last to join the party

Finding Gems

There are days when we set out to spend a whole day at the beach, but more often than not, our beach outings are often on a whim.  Once we get there we each have our “thing” we like to do.  Jonas heads straight for the crashing shorebreak, Jewel follows with her goggles on, Jake waits until his bones are thoroughly heated enough and he finally gives in to the draw of the cool water. Me? I like to find a small pool to swim with the little fishes.

And Joey?  Joey can usually be found bent over, looking for treasures………

Along with jewelry and spare parts

Six Months

It's been six months since we "moved" to Hawaii. I tried so hard to let it be known that we LIVED here, dammit, and were not just tourists. Why that was important to me, I still can't exactly figure out. What makes it even worse when I think about it is the fact that the Hawaiians actually LIKE the tourists. They visit, and then go home. What they don't like are people like us that move here, and worse yet, get one of the precious, hard to come by, J.O.B.S's.

Now after living here in Hawaii all this time I've begun to question the fact if I even consider myself living here anymore. Obviously I live here and have the rent and utility bills to prove it, but I am constantly looking for a new waterfall to uncover or a new mountain to drag my family up. Even if it's just a cell phone, I always have a camera on me, and almost always come home with at least one picture.....even if it is just of the food I picked up at the 7-11. I listen with HUGE ears wide-open any and every time I speak with a local, hoping to learn a little bit more about their culture, the names of the flowers and how they really feel about the United States.

I'm still learning these things, but in the process, have learned something about myself.

I AM A TOURIST.

A BIG FAT APPRECIATIVE ONE.

Turtle Beach

Tucked in between two small resorts is a beautiful, clean, and soft, sandy beach that some call Turtle Beach. We first discovered it back in ‘04 when we scored a week stay for free in the below condo. Up until then our stays had always been in either the Plantations or the Towers, up country. It was beyond our wildest dreams to actually stay right on the beach. During that week the waves were insane, too! I remember sitting on the lanai (patio) watching the huge waves, grow bigger by the day. That’s also when I learned that each size wave brings out a different group of beach goers. The large waves by the rest of the world’s standards, but small by Hawaiian standards would bring out the elementary school kids. The next day with larger waves brought out all the junior high kids. By the times the waves were so huge that they decided to just cancel school since no one was showing up anyway, brought out ALL the high school kids and twenty something’s. We’d have front row views of boogie boarders doing tricks in the extremely dangerous shorebreaks, and of the unsuspecting tourists losing their tops! It was better than T.V. We saw one girl lose her top and her boyfriend was more concerned with covering her up then getting safely out of the water so then they’d both take another pounding. It wasn’t funny, I know, but we laughed so much just from people watching from up there.

This stay was also the time I was snorkeling out about a hundred fifty feet from shore when a sea turtle popped up out of the water right next me. I yelled to Joey on shore who immediately brought Jonas, who was five at the time, out to me, making it both of our’s first time swimming with a sea turtle. I can still remember his excitement! The turtle swam with us for a while, diving below to grab algae from the rocks then coming up for air, within inches of us. I wanted to touch him but we were too chicken, besides I think it’s illegal. He didn’t seem to mind us being there at all, either. That is until he decided to dive below us and then relieve himself! We literally had to move quick to get out of his torpedo zone. For the record, turtle poop looks just like human poop ….and it floats. You’re welcome.

We’ve been back to this beach a few times this trip, with two of the times being right after hiking Maunalahilahi. Once with Jewel, and the last time after completing the hike with Joey. And then this time with the kids.

Each time we’ve floated on the water and said “I could just lay like this forever”.

It is such a relaxing place.

Jonas is snorkeling, while Jake lets the waves softly push him up the beach.

And Jewel lets the shorebreak gently tumble her over.

The only downfall is knowing that there could be people up there on their lanai’s watching ……..and waiting. And with my track record, it’s just a matter of time before I do something to embarrass myself or anyone around me, so yeah…….we don’t go here too much.

Turtle Bay on Dwellable

Pray 4 Something

  This is by far our favorite beach, and even though we call the beach barking sands, we don’t actually know the official name for this particular spot, this rocky spot that houses those bathtubs the kids love to play in.

One day we were out here when the water was not this calm and after testing out the pools for a bit decided they were just too big of a risk to enjoy. At he same time there was a young couple from Japan walking on the beach who just happened to see Joey coming out of one of the tubs. They went in them right after we got out, while the water was calm, so had no idea they’d soon get a swell washing over them. It wasn’t a pretty sight. He got pushed into her, pinning her to the side of the pool, and then the water was so strong it drug them right out of the pool, belly side down over the lava rocks, dragging him on top of her. I felt bad for her little skinny self, but hope they learned to watch the waves for a while first.

In the above photo I’m standing on the rocks, above the cave, that’s in the below photo.

The cave that Joey noticed tunneled below the rock and said that one day when the water wasn’t so rough he was going to see how far he could get in that tunnel.

Jewel beat him to it.

With the help of some little local boys, which she was so shy to talk to, they showed her the way.

We also carefully climbed that big rock in the center…….just to take in the views.

The local teenagers like to jump from this rock, something that we see more and more of everywhere now that the huge winter swells are gone.

And now we officially know the name of this great little spot. I had heard there was a place the locals called Pray 4 Sex but never knew where it was, and now thanks to some local vagrants not only have they revealed the location for us but they’ve solved my biggest dilemma for me (as to what to call this spot) ……………………. Only, since this is the, approximately, two feet of water they’re jumping into below, I think I’d be praying for something else!  

                                                                           

Another time Joey and I were out here alone with only another person or two within sight, just floating in the water and then walking in the sand, when a man from Iowa walked up to us, completely puzzled, asking:

Why is there nobody out here?

We’re still trying to figure that out ourselves, but ……………we’re not complaining.

west coast, east coast

We can go weeks with never leaving the west side of the island, but occasionally we feel like a cruise to one or more of the other sides. Yesterday was one of those days. We made plans to meet friends in Waimae Bay for a little paddle boarding, rock climbing, snorkeling, and rock jumping and figured the Fourth of July party goers would be long gone from the beach and back at work…….we couldn’t have been more wrong. Hawaii had Furlough Friday last week so I never expected them to also have monday off. It was quite possibly the busiest I have ever seen the island. It was crazy! Haleiwa had lines fifty people long waiting for shaved ice. SHAVED. ICE. The traffic was also at a crawl, and every parking lot along the North Shore was overflowing with three cars waiting for one parking space. We basically went from Shark’s Cove to Waiamae and back, and then repeated, and then circled again, then popped into Foodland for some fresh fruit and poke, then searched some more for a parking spot. Our friends decided to turn around and head home before they even caught up with us, but we figured we’re in this mess, we can’t give up now.

Only we did give up on the North Shore. We headed east to Kailua where we did find parking, but for what..?

A friend of ours took his kids to the beach on Father’s Day and when I commented that we didn’t go because it was so crowded that day, he called us spoiled.

**************************

West side beach:

I guess we are.