Fiji One

First major stop on our trip was to our niece Halani's School for her birthday. She turned 7! I remember holding her in my arms as a little baby, and now she is such a beautiful little girl. Finau sent down lots of little goody bags for all the kids and every kid in her class got a Happy Meal from Mc Donalds. We will just say that she was the Queen of the Class... it was so fun to see all her class smiling from ear to ear and all the other little kids from other classes peeking into the classroom trying to score some Mc Donalds. We had a great time. I especially liked watching giant Inoke maneuver around the classroom serving cake to all the class. It was quite comical to watch the small little boys get up the courage to approach Inoke for a second piece of cake.

Halani's Birthday

I'm Back.

For the few who read this, it has been a while since my last post. The last two months have been crazy. Hopefully I am now on the upswing of things and life is getting better again. In a nutshell I had surgery in Sept. It was supposed to be an easy in and out thing but with complications... it became 9 days in the hospital and a cut from sternum to just below my navel. Not so cool. Inoke was a super nurse/housekeeper/chef/husband. Seriously when they say if this doesn't kill you it will only make you stronger.... that was us. I couldn't lift more than ten pounds, and for the first 5 weeks I couldn't even sit up without help ( funny how much you use those stomach muscles to do everything) I spent six weeks trying to recover enough to go on our trip to Fiji. The doctors weren't going to let me go all the way until three days before we left. So when I finally got the green light for travel I ran around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to figure all the things we needed to pack. Dressing an open wound in Fiji requires serious supplies. We did it and I survived our trip very well. (More on the trip to come). So that is my lame excuse for not blogging in a while...

Proud to be an Alaskan...

I know it is shocking that a Political Science Major doesn't really follow politics these days. I think politics lost their flare a while ago for me, but did you see that GOP Convention yesterday?!?! WOOHOO. Go Sarah Palin. Living in Hawaii everyone is going on and on about Obama and how wonderful he is... I was going for Mitt Romney in the beginning but once he was knocked out of the race the political race lost its savor. So I have admittedly been rather blase with the Presidential Election. Not that I have given up totally, I mean I am very grateful for the right to vote... I just haven't been as interested of late. Well that all changed when I found out McCain picked a fellow Alaskan Girl for a running mate. I was a little cautious as I have lived in Hawaii for a while and the last time I was in Alaska Frank Murkowski was Governor. I have read up on the various opinions on a Beauty Queen Governor... and the scandal about her teenage daughter's pregnancy. None of that mattered after I heard the speech last night. The woman has talent. She made me proud to be an Alaskan Girl. I have never been so enthralled with a political address. Kudos to the writer.. but big time kudos to the Hockey Mom who pulled it off. She rocked. Now I am finally into this election process and excited to go cast my vote. Inoke is way excited too, as he is officially an American Citizen this election and now can exercise his right to vote too.

Mais Oui... une Wii

I don't know if I am getting soft in my old age or if Inoke just is learning how to push my buttons, but he definitely is getting really good at getting what he wants. This weekend we were at the mall and Inoke stopped in at his favorite little shop the Game Stop. Personally, I don't know what is so fascinating about video games. My indifference might be largely attributed to the fact that I have never been particularly skilled at them. I remember when we had a Nintendo and playing Super Mario Brothers only to get totally creamed by my 5 year old brother... yes. I was the kid that could never get past the first level and was jumping for joy if I ever made it to the swimming around underwater level... Usually I had my little brother finish off the ending to get me up to the next level since I never could coordinate how to jump on top of those HUGE mushrooms.

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Inoke on the other hand is amazing when it comes to video games. He is the guy that will sit and figure out all the shortcuts and special secret weapon moves. He will sit for hours trying to master each game and then move on to the next challenge. I have accepted the fact that he loves Madden Football and every year he HAS to have the next Madden game. He likes his video games like I like my pedicures.

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So this weekend Inoke was trying to convince me that we NEEDED an Xbox 360. Hmm, nope not going to happen. We don't need an Xbox 360. I however wasn't on top of my game and said, "No way! If we are getting another of these game systems we will buy a Wii." Cuz lets face it that commercial when the guys are playing Wii and the one guy throws his remote at the other guys flat screen tv on accident, the Wii looks way fun. Well Inoke took that reply and ran with it. Pretty soon he was showing me all the cool games that I could have if we had Wii and how I could get a yoga mat thingy and an air guitar and all these cool "exercise" games. I lost, he won, we got a Wii.

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I actually kinda like the Wii. Especially the bowling, because that was the only game that I could beat Inoke at. He creamed me at tennis, golf, and I didn't even want to try the boxing or baseball. I will have to work up to it. We had heaps of fun, here are some pictures of the excitement.

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Api and the boys came over to join in the fun.

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While Inoke, might never admit it... Loren actually beat him at a couple of the tennis matches. This kid has skills. :)

Look at that smile. Someone is a happy camper.

995 Reasons Why...

Inoke so kindly reminded me last night that it has been a while again since I have updated this blog. I asked him what I should update everyone about, and his reply was "You'll think of something, you always do." One day he might regret that sentence. So for the last two years or so since he fried the hard drive on our old computer; Inoke has been bugging me that we NEED a laptop. I really don't know why he has this fixation with laptops. I am perfectly fine with out a computer at home... well probably because I sit at a computer for 8 hours a day at work. So about every month or so he will bring up the subject of needing to buy a laptop. I know it isn't nice, but normally I pacify him with the "I am looking for a good one... or We will get one next (major holiday sale), etc." Usually I can get his mind onto something else for a while and side step the issue. Well usually, last week on his day off Inoke went to town. When I came home from work that day I found him with his shiny new laptop.

There are three things I would like to point out on this subject...

First, some people think I am a slave driver because I always am sending Inoke to do overtime shifts or to work on his day off. Contrary to popular believe I am not a mean wife, I just know what trouble my husband gets into when he has idle hands...

Second, this isn't the first time he has pulled something like this. When we were first married and waiting on his work permit to come through I went to work. One day I came home and found him with a brand new Play Station... uhh huh.

And third, this is why I am a meany and don't let him have the credit card in his wallet for "emergency purchases" because to Inoke a $995 laptop is an emergency.

So the credit card is back in a secure place and Inoke is very happy with his new toy. I have to admit it is a great laptop and it is saving us lots of money usually spent on phone cards to Fiji... I love Skype!

Blood, Sweat, & Tears...

Last night I learned a valuable lesson about charity and service. One of the girls I visit teach told me that she loves Pani Popo and she is moving in a couple weeks. So Adrian and I got together after work and made a couple batches of Pani Popo for the girls we visit. In the old days I was known to be the Pani Popo Machine. Seriously when I was in college I was the Secretary for Samoan Club and every function we had I made big batches and trays of the coconut buns. Now a days it is a rare occasion that I will slave over the stove for 2 1/2 hours to make the dessert. Only if Inoke really begs for it. I have heard of using frozen dinner rolls instead of making them from scratch... but I am just old fashioned and I like the taste of soft home made rolls. So I digress... after we finished baking we headed over on foot to deliver the trays. As we were walking carrying the trays my slipper broke and I totally bit it on the asphalt. Seriously, it was a doosy of a fall. When I was going down the only thought in my mind was "SAVE THE PANI POPO!" So I sacrificed my leg and the tray didn't even spill. It was a miracle. I didn't even twist my ankle, which was another miracle because I was wearing those 4" slippers... But as I stood up I looked down. Even in the dark I could see the blood starting to drip. So I hobbled over on one broken slipper to deliver the trays. Lucky Mariko was kind enough to invite me in to clean up my leg. Now here come the tears. Have you ever poured hydrogen peroxide on an open wound??? HOLY SMOKES! Seriously I was biting down on a towel to keep from screaming and it didn't just sting when we poured it on, it kept stinging for like a half hour. Ouch! Here is a photo of the wound.

Look! Now I have matching war wounds with Inoke!

Lesson learned. No more 4" slippers. At least we got a good laugh about it all and I actually did my Visiting Teaching this month....