The Wise Man Built His House...

And the rains came down. Holy smokes did the rains come down on Laie yesterday. To say it poured would be a gross understatement. One of the joys of living in Laie is that every couple of years we get a good dumping. It is pretty much inevitable that the rain will come and instead of getting all worked up about the inevitable flood damage people still go out and "play." What never ceases to amaze me is how fast the water gets soaked back up into the ground. This morning our yard was "dry." I am truely greatful that our house is up on stilts and built upon the sand... cuz the water just kept on rising up those back porch steps and even though we had about 6" of standing water in our yard and the carport was totally flooded our house stayed dry. The worst I suffered was the loss of one of my work shoes that was left out on the steps... (I found the other shoe floating around in the back yard). Here are some pics of La'ie.

Our Newest Addition...

Last Friday we welcomed Baby Nadia to our little family. Uh, no you didn't miss nine months of pregnancy, I am really not that great at keeping secrets. We are adopting her, she is Inoke's sister Finau's little one. She was born on October 15th and we have been anxiously awaiting her arrival to Hawaii for the last seven weeks. She is amazing. Truly amazing. I love her curly dark hair, and her big black eyes mesmerize you with her stares. We are all adjusting and enjoying having family around for the first little bit. Finau and Jay came down with Vaka and Nadia; then Inoke's parents arrived from Fiji on Sunday, so we have a full house. It is a pretty close call as to what Inoke loves more; having Nadia around, or having Finau and his Mom cook all his favorite Fijian foods. One thing is clear though, that little girl has Inoke wrapped around her little pinkie... uh oh I can see how this is going to be...

Ba Humbug...

Today I was talking on the phone to my sister, in the background I could hear my little 3 year old niece singing Christmas Carols loudly. It was making us both laugh to listen to Olivia and her little versions of Jingle Bells so Olivia got on the phone to sing a private concert for me. "Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way. Oh what fun it is to ride on a one fa na la bay." That little girl can bring a smile to anyone in a matter of seconds with her Innocent and genuine actions. It got me thinking how totally Ba Humbug I am around the Holiday Season.

For example we have a Christmas tree... that has been set up once in the last four years. I even tried to sell it at the yard sale last year because it was taking up too much precious space. In the beginning Inoke used to ask me all excited like if I was going to "decorate;" sadly over the years he has come to know me better... now he doesn't even bother to ask. I have the decorations all packed nicely in a box collecting dust in the back of the spare closet.

It goes further than just not decorating... I don't even bother to cook special meals at Thanksgiving or Christmas any more. It doesn't help that Inoke refuses to eat turkey... but still I have become so lax in this area. Last Thanksgiving we BBQ'd ribs and hamburgers. Yep, forget about the stuffing, cranberries, and pecan pie; A hamburger and some Doritos will hit the spot.

That is if we even spend the day together. The last two Christmas' Inoke pulled double shifts at work and I spent the day catching up on laundry. This morning someone asked me if I had plans for this Thursday... my response. Yep, Inoke is working and I am going to organize the kitchen. There is one good thing about my lack of holiday cheer, I don't have to worry about gaining ten pounds from eating all the leftovers for a week after the dinner.

I've never been huge into holidays... but lately I have realized that since I got married I have totally been slacking in this area. So in an effort to start new "family traditions" with Inoke I am making a new resolution to do better at trying to bring some sort of holiday cheer into the house without grumbling too much.

Fiji Nine

So overall we had a great trip. I miss waking up at 6am to Yaca and Juju asking for me to fix their hair or put on make up. I even got to see Inoke's Elementary School and his old house in Waila. It was fun to imagine him as a little kid running around barefoot in the school uniform. As usual trips to Fiji are few and far between. The last time I was over there was 2002. So we never seem to have enough time to see everything that I want to see or do everything that I planned to do. I do have lots of fond memories though, like sleeping outside on the porch under a mosquito net because it was sweltering hot in the house. I guess we will just have to take another trip back to see all the things on my list... the Hot Bread Kitchen is calling my name.

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