My Slice of Heaven?

We are back!

taken from the car on the Kohala Coast

  Back in paradise!

The ocean the morning after the Tsunami.  Taken from the Hilton Waikoloa.

 Back on the Big Island! 

 Honl Beach, Kailua-Kona, HI

I am so happy I could sing.  I would sing right in your ear.  It might not sound great, but you will know I have joy.

Then you would listen more closely and you would start to hear it.  The horrible sound of whining.  The sound of someone who is having a hard time adjusting to paradise.  Poor thing.  Boohoo!  I feel so sorry for you.  NOT!

Anyway... enjoy my sob story.

Welcome to my beautiful new home.

This is the back of the house.
The little building on the left is the outside bathroom, laundry room and storage area.

 I love my yard.

The girls love the freedom of all the unfenced space!

See what I mean by LOVE!

I love the carport aka the living room.

Notice my sweet hubby.  He never wears a shirt.  I love that about him!

I love the free bananas.

The first harvest of Apple Bananas.  They are sweet and delicious!  We usually get 40 to a bunch!

mmmm!

What!!!  I grow effing nanas in my yard?  SWEET!

You know what I don't love?
Brown walls.

This is the yucky color of the walls in most of my house.  
This  sweet gecko is a welcome guest.  He eats b-52's (but that is a whole other story).

So, you may think, "Gosh, I thought Ashtin loved the color brown."  Well, yes, I do, but I don't like poop brown on my walls or furniture.  Plus, this brown matches cane spiders perfectly.  (If you are squeemish, DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK!)  I HATE spiders and anything else that feels like it needs 8 legs to scurry around.  Why people would eat a crab is beyond me.  Spiders of the sea.  SICK!
Anyway, if you clicked on the link you know what the following means:  SERIOUS!  EFF THAT!  NOPE!  NOT HAVING THAT!  WHAT THE...   I CAN'T....  AHH... AAAHHHHHHHHHHH!


But I did.
I did have that.
IN.MY.HOUSE.
Insert my horrified face,  or look at these cute ones.

I sure love this face!

I love her too!
Is there a more perfect setting for an outside bath?  I think not!

See, it almost worked.  I almost fooled you.  Sadly, once you have seen the 8 legged spawn of satan in your house you will never be the same.  You will:

*Stare at walls for hours on end just in case there is another one around, all the while hoping you NEVER have to see another one.  And if you do,  praying it doesn't move because that makes the whole ordeal 100 times more scary.

*Duck around the halls.

*Sleep in a tent... 

I even have a full size mattress in there!

In your living room... 

fyi, my sweet husband came up with the idea.  Actually, we bought his huge tent for $15 dollars at a yard sale and we had set it up for a "fun" surprise for the girls... little did we know it was going to become the master bedroom!

For SEVERAL weeks... 

Like 4!

Okay, I know you are thinking... is she crazy?  Maybe.  I guess you could say that this fear has taken over my life.  Maybe what I am doing is unhealthy. I don't care.  I am sleeping, and I am not afraid.  Ha!
Tell me what you think.  What would you do?

12of12 Challenge 2011

January

1. 30 years and 7days: someone should have told me about all my sun spots! 2. packing a snack for Liv 3. what to wear? The joys of girls! 4. Sweet girls eating breakfast (Cheerios) 5. Mirror on the wall. 6. Dancing 7. Twirling... she just loves to dance! 8. Animal, Vegatable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. What did you expect me to be reading? 9. Our brief plane ride in the January air. 10. Fishing poles on the Jetta. You never know when you will see a good fishing hole... 11. I made the mask for Christmas. It is a snow fox and she took it for her Share Day at school. Gold star for me! 12. Computer time. I was trying to pick a movie on Netflix.

Here it is, friends, the first day of my 12of12 Challenge: 12 pictures of the 12th day for 12 months. This sounds so fun!
It is another way for me to remember that I am living a life less ordinary.

Ridiculous!  Do you know that I started this blog in 2006 and only have 113 posts, this being 113.  I am so LAME!  Okay, now you know.

So.... My Auntie Ploppy gave me an awesome bike. 
She is a CUTE robin egg color cruiser that is called a Pacific.  Perfect name.  I ♥ the Pacific.  Pacific NW, Pacific Ocean, Pacific rim, Pacific Islands, Hawaii.  Wait.  That doesn't have a title with the word Pacific in it!  Ah!  I make everything about Hawaii!  I love that place... I love that mental escape.  Am I romancing the idea of Hawaii?  Maybe.  Do I care?  No.  Is it the most wonderful place on earth?  Yes.  Anyway, back to the bike.  Even with the PERFECT name I felt the need to re-name her Electra.  Weird.

 

Why do I have so much anxiety around naming things?  Livie turned 1 on Saturday and while chatting with Becky tonight, I asked if it was too late to change Livie's name to Juno (that was her name when we first found out we were having baby #2.  My friend , Suzanne, suggested that her middle name begin with an A so her initials would be JAH- fitting. 

Anyway, I was just kidding (again!), but really?  End the joke.  End the uncertainty.  We named her Livie Sunshine!  That is who she IS.  She was born smiling and hasn't stoped for 368 days.  She LIVES SUNSHINE. 

Well, back to the original point.  I took the girls on a ride today.  Livie was on the back and Lola was riding her own bike.  We rode to the park about a mile from our house.  Lola and I just rode along talking about the color of the leaves, counting magleeshes while Livie rode on the back trying to put her hands down my crack and poking my back dimples saying bell-ba (belly button). Needless to say, it was awesome. 

On the way home  I had a flat and had to walk the bike home.  My first instinct was to be annoyed.  It was just the lazy in me.  Turns out walking was so magical.  I got to walk right next to Livie and I was able to have wonderful conversation with both my girls.  I was able to really point things out to Livie.  Usually I am pushing her in the stroller, and although we are still together, there is something so sweet about walking side by side. 

Although I like to spend time in my fantasy land of Hawaii

 I love spending time in Boise. 

 My here and now is pretty amazing.  I love my life.  I love my family.  I love being a mom.