Hawaii-Our last day on Maui- Snorkel Day!!

Monday was our last day. We designated it our snorkel day and set out after breakfast to Honolua Bay. You get there by a beautiful walk through the jungle.

Honolua Bay is all volcanic rock. There is no sandy beach, so it's extremely difficult to get in. Ken was very patient and helped me down into the water. It took forever. I won't ever go again, but I was sure glad I went this time. It was SO, SO fun. This is how the whole shore is: Rocky!!! We rented an underwater camera and I had a BLAST taking pictures as we snorkeled. I loved it. You think this is a lot of pictures. I had to be very selective, as we took over 200. My self portrait:

See the eel! They are so fast, I felt so excited that I got a picture:

Hi Guy! He swam right for me:

Big blue fish:

Here's that big blue fish again. He's my favorite species:

Turtle:

These little Puffer fish are very shy.

In the afternoon, we headed to Black Rock to snorkel. I love Black Rock because you always see turtles there. But, alas, we never made it. It was thundering and lightening and the rain cut loose and it just poured. We got soaked literally to the skin. It actually was kind of fun!

We ended the day with one more of those delicious Shaved Ice. We decided this Hula Cookies Shop made the best ones. Goodbye, Hawaii!

Mom' Favorites

My sister, Pam was recently looking through old stuff and found my Beehive Girls Handbook. She gave it to me. Most of what is in there is embarrassing as it reveals my immaturity as a 12/13 year old, but there was one page I found very interesting. As a Beehive girl, I was to interview my mother and record some of her favorites at the time. So here are my mother's favorite things back in about 1968. I figure this picture of us was taken about then.

My Mother's favorite:

Color is . . . pink.

Song or composer . . . Pacinni (Puccini)

Food is . . . whole wheat toast, pineapple

Flavoring is . . . vanilla

Sport is . . . tennis

Performer is . . . Katherine Hepburn

Kind of entertainment . . .an opera

Book or author . . . Henry Longfellow

Flower is . . . the rose (pink)

Hobby is . . . Playing the piano

Style of furniture . . .French Provincial

Outfit in her wardrobe . . Moo Moo

What is something she wants? . . . a mink stole

What is the household chore she dislikes most? . . . washing

What is something I do which irritates her? . . . stall while practicing the piano.

It's so fun to find a glimpse into my mother from so many years ago. Happy Mother's Day!

La's Orchestra Saves the World

La's Orchestra Saves the World by Alexander McCall Smith
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

It's no secret that I love Mma Ramotswe and the Detective Agency Series. So, I was excited to read this non-series book by the same author, Alexander McCall Smith, set in WW2 England. I wanted to love it. I loved it's theme: music saves the world. But it just wasn't as well written as his other books. It starts well, giving details of La's life and troubles, as well as other characters, but then the plot gets thready, covering many years in just a few chapters. The reader views the story through the eyes of La, the main character. But I didn't like her much. And though it's theme was that music and normalcy during wartime is what saves the world (great theme!), I just didn't see that developed well in the book. It's a clean, easy read, and certainly not objectional, but I just didn't enjoy it much. Maybe my expectations were too high.

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"Mom Moment" in Hawaii

We just returned from Hawaii. We had a marvelous trip (post soon to come.) But with Mother's Day this week, I just have to share a sweet "Mom Moment" I had while there. One afternoon, I was shopping in a little gift shop and found "Wicked Wahini" perfume. My mom LOVED Wicked Wahini perfume. She always bought a bottle when she went to the islands and wore it frequently. They had a sample bottle, so I sprayed some on my wrist and breathed in my mother. Just then, the Hawaiian background music playing in the store switched to the song, "Lovely Hula Hands." My mother could do the hula beautifully. She had learned when they lived in Hawaii before I was born. Her teacher was some famous choreographer, but I don't remember her name. Anyway, Mom loved Hawaii and Hawaiian things and doing the hula. She was so graceful. When I was growing up, my mom taught us hula lessons, and then she would take us to perform for luaus all over the valley. Loris Stewart and his little combo would play, we would dance "Hukilau" and "Little Brown Gal" and, I think it was called "Hawaiian Warrior Song" and mom would always do a solo of "Lovely Hula Hands." She was always the star of the show.

So, there in that little shop, I closed my eyes and pictured her swaying hips, her beautiful smile, and her graceful "fingertips that say Aloha!" I smelled her smell and remembered her grace and whispered, "Happy Mother's Day, Mom!" It was a sweet "Mom Moment" in Hawaii.

Mackrory's Visit

We had such a wonderful two week visit with Kristen and the kids who came from Wisconsin. I picked them up in Vegas on Monday and Tuesday we headed for SLC where Kristen met up with her mission companion visiting from Japan. They attended the temple together with a couple from their mission- The Booths.

It was such a nice reunion where eternal bonds were reestablished.

We enjoyed the grandkids and got to know Jacob.

We played in the park,

Basked in the St. George sun

Played in the sprinklers,

and decorated Grandma and Grandpa's house.

We played with Whirligigs,

and bubbles

and airplanes.

We enjoyed a picnic at the park and splashpads

Each of the kids had "firsts" while they were here. Jacob tried Creamies for the first time:

And learned to sit up by himself!

Nathan learned to button his shirt. Ta Da!

Brielle did monkey bars all the way across and

Learned to snap! We dyed Easter eggs

And went on an Easter picnic

Nathan caught a caterpillar which he cleverly named "Caterpillar"

and Grandpa caught a lizard with a fishing pole.

The two weeks went by too quickly. Thank you, Mackrorys for coming so far and spending so much wonderful time with us!