Tara's Amazing Art

I'm still trying to put in to words how much I LOVE this piece. For once, I'm speechless!!!

Have a grape day

Some scenes from our visit with Jacqueline...

Arianna wants you to know

Fingers taste yummy, especially when they're your own. Not only can I grab things with my little monkey toes, I can reach out and hold my soft animal books in my very own hands now and I especially love to run my fingers through my puppy Kimo's curly white fur. I'm also holding my head up high for the few minutes I can bear of tummy time - you see I'm much too interested in sitting forward to see the world pass - than to struggle to move around on my belly. But I can assure you all that will change as soon as I can figure out how to get my knees under me long enough to crawl. I like to smile at everyone but my big old belly laughs are reserved only for Mikayla - she cracks me up. I have a special wiggle dance I like to do when I'm super excited and I'm practicing singing for my new show I plan on debuting soon. I do have a cute voice! Mom says she'll film it and post it as soon as I have it perfected. Doesn't she know I'm perfect already??? Hugs and bubble kisses to everyone ~ Arianna xo

Quarter Update

Mission accomplished...we now have all 50 state quarters AND 3 new additions I wasn't even aware of: District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. Thank you Raymond for responding so quickly to our plea's - and please tell the lady at work I said thanks for giving up her Hawaii quarter.

Family

Aunt Dee is finally here. We've been counting down the days and now I find we're almost halfway through our visit. Being away from family, which in our world consists of much more than just blood relations, is the down side to this exciting traveling life we are living. And when you get one of them in your grasp, you just don't want to let go. I'm still aching from my way too short July with Tara. And I'm not even sure when I get to see Lolly again. But today we have Jacqueline Jeanne here with her 24 hour smile,and her up-for-anything 'tude and I am "home." I want to savor every second. I now know that she volunteers two days a week for Meals on Wheels and she has a goal to visit one new country a year but most importantly I know that she loves her life. She gives unconditionally in love and friendship and expects nothing less in return. She is a devoted daughter and a Mets fan. Okay, so aside from the Mets thing she's pretty much perfect :) We'll miss her soon enough, but for today, she's all ours. I love my family!!

Halloween countdown

In our house its never too early to start planning Halloween costumes. Will it be a pirate, a mermaid, a vampire cowboy (Mikayla's latest idea) or a colorful butterfly? What I am sure of, is this year's themes should be the best ones yet. Stay tuned for more...

Ode to Kaulani or Explanation of Video

So, the video below was taken when my very bestist friend Lolly, who I've known since I was five years old and worshiped for being the coolest tomboy that ever lived, came to Hawaii to surprise me. She brought along a new friend - Kamila - who captured us surprising each other on this little snippet. You see I somehow figured out she was coming, so as she was sneaking up my road, I was inside waiting for her to pull up. One of the best parts of this story is that at the time, her two teenage boys were back in NY and she didn't want them to know she was so far away - for very obvious reasons - so she would call them each day and say she was probably on her way back from the shore that night and they would buy it!!! Hey anything to avoid high school house parties, right?! Needless to say, we had the greatest time ever and Kamila even ended up staying behind for a few extra days which cemented a new lifelong friendship among us :)

The ode to Kaulani part of this story is that the house that they, and countless other friends and family came to, is now in the hands of a new couple. Last friday they probably walked through the wooden screen door, across the shiny wood floors of the living room, past the built-in cabinets in the hallway and peeked inside each of the bedrooms with visions of a new life and new memories to be made. If the windows were open they would have smelled the salty trade winds that will save them from ever needing air conditioning, and when they dream at night they will hopefully feel the love and good times we have all shared between those walls. They will have fantastic neighbors who smile and wave across the lawns and at night it will be dark enough to spot all the brightest constellations overhead. ALOHA KAULANI - a very special island home!

Watch your back

http://www.wimp.com/goodsamaritan/

Worth the watch!

Coastal Cleanup this weekend

INTERNATIONAL COASTAL CLEANUP, SATURDAY 9/19This Saturday 9/19 is the Ocean Conservancy's International Coastal Cleanup, the largest volunteer effort of its kind. Since 1986, volunteers in more than 125 countries have picked up millions of pounds of trash on one day each September.
The International Coastal Cleanup is more than a one-day effort to clean up marine debris. It's a year-round effort to keep trash from getting into the ocean in the first place. The Ocean Conservancy uses the marine debris data to help raise awareness, inspire cleanups, and shape policy decisions.
For additional information about the International Coastal Cleanup, and to sign up to be volunteer, visit OceanConservancy.org.
FACT: Of the 43 items tracked during the Cleanup, the top three items of trash found in 2008 were cigarette butts, plastic bags, and food wrappers/containers.

I'll be out there doing my part

Birth-day for Cadence

Happy 5th Birthday Cadie girl, my sweet Hawaiian Humane Society"haole girl." We've run miles of pavement and beach together, hiked the dirt trails above and beyond Lanikai and spent many long lonely months together waiting out deployments. You are our guardian and most patient playmate and now hold the title for best big sis to brothers Max and Kimo. We will never know for sure what breeds came together to make such a stunning creature nor do we care. You are part of our family now and we love you.

Under the Sea

Sunday was another early morning for us. I've been so excited for weeks for this day to come. I am one dive shy of being open water certified, but not for long. I began my life as a part-time mermaid/diver off the west coast of Oahu and was told not to expect the same kind of flashy, fishy show here considering the waters are completely devoid of coral reefs - the spot most fish like to party at. But that was okay with me because I was finally going to get to dive with my lover and partner in search of new adventures, Mike, who already has his advanced water certification. He's been waiting for me to grow some balls and finish up my own certification I started four years ago. Luckily, one of the guys at work is a dive instructor so he agreed to take a bunch of us out for an easy beginner dive. As soon as we began descent I was blown away by hundreds of white fish with black tails swimming towards us to welcome us to their world. Next came little brown guys with black spots all over, and what do you know, they even have rainbow colored fish here. Not bad for the first few minutes out. Next Mike spotted a squirmy thing that looked like a very large millipede scurrying across the rocks. Turns out it was a fire worm and stings! Good thing I like to keep my distance from eel-like looking creatures. The water was so clean and clear and I remember looking up to see the water glistening as the sun's rays hit the small ripples above us and then looking down as Michael swam beneath me face up, smiling through his eyes...ahhhh pure happiness. A few feet from here we spot two statues. They look like Greek goddesses and behind them stand a few rows of columns upright on the sandy bottomed floor. Now I'm totally bummed that I don't have a water camera to capture all of these snips of time, but then again, who wants to waste even a second of dive time posing in pictures? Not me, I want to keep moving forward, I want to look in all the cracks and crevices and see what is hiding in there, I want to see the light dancing on the waters and I especially want to see those eyes smiling as we float along.

Happy Birthday James

Happy Birthday to James the Great!

Saturday's in the saddle

Saturday mornings are my favorite day of the week. I am willing to forego the weekend sleep-in just to wake early. The roads are still empty and my babe sleeps soundly. It is the most peaceful part of my day. Me and my little horse lover Mikayla head out to the stables for our weekly ride. I’m a little jealous now – Mikayla was just invited to join Pony Club after a summer of half hour lessons. This allows her to spend the entire morning learning about grooming and riding the horses. She will get a true hands-on experience oiling the saddles, cleaning the shoes and even mucking the stables and I think she is absolutely the luckiest girl in the world. Me, well I’m only getting that half hour lesson, but in that 30 minutes of time I am in pure bliss. I haven’t ridden English since I was about 9 years old. Once I rode a Western saddle I was convinced I would never go back. I always thought all the pomp and circumstance of posting and dressage were a little too snooty for my taste, but I’ve been proved wrong yet again. The high I get as soon as I’m in the saddle lasts the entire weekend and I’m dreaming about the day I finally get to jump the posts. But for now I’m learning how to post properly in a canter, doing 3 and 4 point serpentine turns and best of all - riding in a full gallop, sinking way down, deep into the saddle – it’s one of my childhood dreams come true. The owner Helen runs the place with such passion and compassion. Many of her horses are rescued race horses and she’s also opened her heart to abandoned dogs, cats, pigs, ponies, ducks and donkeys. Its one of the many alternative lives I would have chosen to live. I know the labor of love she has with her farm and I know what a hard life it can be, but I can tell you I have never seen such a happy person. She is up at dawn, seven days a week caring for all those who depend on her and she greets each day with a smile because she is living her dream – how romantic!

Brother can you spare some blood?

So I tried to do the right thing today and donate blood at the 9/11 commemerative blood drive organized here in Nicosia - but they wouldn't take me. Turns out you can't donate blood for one year after receiving blood transfusions. But that was exactly why I wanted to donate...I owe this blood bank some serious bags o' blood. I think it was like 5 bags that coursed through my veins the day after I had Arianna (no need to re-visit that whole story). And it was that blood, that beautiful crimson Cypriot blood - that finally stabilized me after a long, long night. I've never donated before, and its like so many other things in life you take for granted, until you desperately need it you just don't realize what a very simple act of giving can make. So thank you to all that have donated before, and thank you for all that will go and do it after reading this, and thank you, thank you Michael for doing it today. I'll be making my deposit May 23, 2010.

James goes to kindergarten too!

Since there's only one James and two Brynn & Tess, I thought it was okay to post his picture twice as he heads out the door for his first day of kindergarten. Besides its always great to see Jim and Stacie looking so proud. Go get' em JJ!

Brynn & Tess go to kindergarten

They may not be identical twins to eachother, but I'm 100% sure Brynn & Tess are the mirror images of both Sandi and Dan as children. Happy 1st day of school ladies :)

9.9.09

September 9, 2009, (an "11" in numerology) shines bright and brings a strong sense of awareness and compassion -- as well as intuition -- to this date. There is an undercurrent of interconnectedness, of brotherhood. 11 is the diplomatic peacemaker, and the number of the heart, but is probably best known for drawing people together. To go a step further, consider this: one of the darkest of human tendencies is to separate ourselves from our fellow man, to alienate. This makes it possible for mankind to cause death and mayhem among their own kind. When that sense of distance is lessened, we are unable to cause each other such profound pain.

Now, let's look at the number 9. This is the number of completion and finality, but 9 is also the number of sympathy, love, selfless sacrifice and morality. You could think of 9 as the "Mother Teresa number." And even though 11 is the most prominent number in this date, 9 appears in three places, making it a very hard-hitting number. While 11 sets the tone for the day, the number 9 is the driving force.

Astrologically, nine corresponds to Sagittarius and the Ninth House. There is a sense of expansion and a world where life has meaning and everything is interconnected. Nine is the perfection of three when multiplied by itself. There are nine planets, nine major gods in the ancient pantheons, and larger pantheons are often divisible by the number nine.
Numerologically, however, the date 09-09-2009 translates to the number eleven (9 + 9 + 2 + 9 = 29, or 2 +9), a "master number" and the number of angelic presence. Eleven is associated with Aquarius and the "lightbringers." Eleven is the number of spiritual ascension and connection to multidimensional reality.*
*(info compiled from beliefnet and tarot.com)

A very good day indeed!

Gone walking

I’m a walker. Always have been…until Cyprus. I’ve blamed it on my total lack of sense of direction in a new land, my pregnancy (can’t use that one anymore) and all summer I’ve used the extreme heat as my latest de-motivator. Until today. With stroller, spare diapers, camera and my most positive attitude in tow I headed out the door at 9:30 this morning with promises of making this the new morning ritual. Now, as most will agree, I didn’t always see just how lucky I was to spend a year and a half in Helsinki. Well all that changed when I got about one block away from my house today. First of all, don’t even think about being handicapped in Nicosia. Those little ramps on and off the sidewalks of most everywhere in the world just haven’t caught on here apparently. And I guess olive and lemon trees were given precedence too, as most houses have at least one growing right smack in the middle of their “so-called” sidewalk. Car parking on – not along - sidewalks is another Cypriot favorite so you’re basically better off walking on the road, except there you risk your life because even though they do drive on the “wrong” side of the road in terms of right-side, left-side, they just drive on the wrong side of the road ALL the time. Coming around corners you never know which side of the road you’ll find them turning on. Helsinki on the other hand had miles of walking and biking paths and you would find just as many pedestrians as you would vehicles year-round. No shit, Tara and I once spotted a guy biking with chains on his tires through the snow! Rainy, dreary windy days, dark cold winter days, and of course, the fleeting warm midnight-sun days of summer were all the same to those guys – out they go – which makes me see just what pussy’s the rest of us are when it comes to weather and being outside. So, as I thought about all this on my walk today, I made a few decisions. First of all, Helsinki was pretty damn cool and I take back anything negative I may have once implied to my time there. Secondly, no matter what weather, lack of walkway or extreme temperatures encountered here, I am up for the challenge. And lastly I vow to live this and every moment with gratitude and wonder, for today, for the right now, to decide that deciding to see it good is all that it takes to make it good. You see, I realized that those messed up sidewalks and cars all over were really a gift of reflection and an opportunity to slow down and take a good look at things. So, go take a nice slow walk today and look around. You may be surprised at what you really see!

Happy Birthday Bones!

September 5
I know every girl thinks her dad is the best but in this case it happens to be true! Me and my dad go a long way back now and no matter what stage of my life I remember with him, it's all been good. He was my prince charming and the first man I planned on marrying. He's also been my go-to guy when monsters and burglars kept me awake at night and my favorite deep sea fishing buddy every summer. My love of cars, my love of horses and my love of good food all stem from him, from the days of drag-racing, signing me up for riding lessons (instead of my idea of having my own horse I could keep in the garage and promised to ride every day down at Highlands school track), and his next-to-expert skills in the kitchen and on the barbecue! My sense of right and wrong and good old fashioned honor were learned not just from his words but his every day example he sets, right to this very day. And no matter how far, or how long I am away from him, I thank the heavens that it was he who became my dad and I his daughter. I LOVE YOU DADDY AND WISH YOU ALL THE GOODNESS YOU HAVE GIVEN ME AND EVERYONE YOU KNOW. If my kids one day feel that I have just 1/10 the inspiration and love I feel from you I will be damn proud and know it all stems from the greatness that is YOU! HAPPY BIRTHDAY BONES, JOE-JOE, DADDY, PAPA-JOE, BELLS Jr. the great! xoxoxo

Call for Quarters!

Okay, you may not think its a big deal, but I really miss our quarters. In fact the only time we see our currency lately is when the tooth fairy stops by. We started collecting the State quarters a few years back, and have even added to the collection out here - thank you very much Stacie and Tara - but we're still missing a few. Can anyone help? Ive got some nice shiny euro's I'm willing to trade! Looking for: Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico, Alaska and Hawaii...I know someone in Hawaii must have at least one they can share :)

"Hybrid" diapers and being green

Our new diapers have finally arrived!! I always wanted to be that mom who saved our landfills from mounds of diapers, but I just couldn't take the leap to cloth. Now I am almost there. These new earth friendly diapers use biodegradable inserts, so you can flush 'em, compost them, or even toss them and they will break down in 50-150 days. I've even got some cloth inserts for those stay-at-home days and I'm working on perfecting my re-usable wipes recipe too. If you read up on the time it takes for a "regular" diaper to break-down you too will be appalled - I've read it takes anywhere from 355 to 500 years for just ONE to decompose...I am SO sorry Mother Earth for not doing this sooner!!

I've also switched over to using white vinegar, lemon and water for most of my cleaning needs and some good old baking soda for scrubbing. We pack school lunches in re-usable containers and buy as much as we can locally. Nicosia is already being "water rationed" so we are super careful with our consumption (they only pump water to the house two times a week so we have to be careful not to use all the water in the tank). Recycling is not mandatory here but we finally found info for pick-up and have noticed a few of our neighbors are now doing it too! I just read there is plastic floating in the north Pacific that is the size of Texas...TEXAS is huge...we have to stop polluting our earth today! Please tell me the things you do to put an end to pollution, overconsumption and waste and I'll compile it for all to share -

1st day of school

New notepads, glue sticks and colored pencils in hand and off Mikayla went to 2nd grade. I'm already missing our lazy days of summer and one of my bestist buds!

New fav salad

The first week we were back from the hospital with Arianna we were totally stoked...about ten families had signed up to bring us dinner to get us through the first weeks. Every night we were blown away by homemade breads, ethnic dishes and some really dazzling desserts. My new favorite is actually quite simple and I have to thank Amy, a mom of six (all under the age of 11) for this one.

Ramen Coleslaw
chopped cabbage (1/2 head?)
1 pkg. ramen noodles
sliced peppers or carrots or green onions (try colored peppers and shredded carrots)
small broccoli florettes
almonds (slivered or sugared or sliced)
chicken chunks (optional)

Dressing:
1/4 c. vinegar (I USE RICE VINEGAR)
1/2 c. oil
2 T soy sauce
season pack from noodles
sugar (2 T?)
black pepper

I ALSO ADD SESAME OIL (a little goes a long way)

Yummy!