The Mayan Ranch

The weekend before last, we had a little weekend getaway with friends out in Murrieta, CA. The ladies spent the morning of Saturday shopping for our food supply and we may have taken a little longer than planned, but no one complained after the meals were on the table. We frantically packed and got to the ranch with just enough time to watch sunset from the beautiful deck and ride around on the John Deere haha. 

Most of us **cough Vi cough** had cheeseburgers that night with the american slices we found in the fridge... they were a few years old and tasty. No one got sick. Glen and I also made pineapple habenero salsa for a side/weekend snack. That night, we had a bonfire equipped with delicious s'mores. About an hour into it, we heard a coyote and it sounded pretty close. The guys got excited, grabbed the BB guns in the upstairs closet, and ran out the door with the Gator keys. They were gone for.e.ver. The girls stayed in and watched Lion King, did yoga, and had a massage party. Smiles all around.

Sunday, we went to church and it was an awesome ward! They were all asking incessantly if we were moving in to stay -- Mormons, always looking for some more people to serve on a long-term basis, ya know? Glen and I had to do laundry after church because in the scramble to pack, I left our garments on our computer desk. Yay, me! We read scriptures and talked gospel until it was done. We had an amazing dinner of carne asada soft tacos, Mexican rice, a bunch of salsas, and a really good watermelon! Most people had homemade peach cobbler and homemade whipped cream for dessert, but I'm not too into that, plus I ate like a billion tacos. Also, I knew there were s'mores in my near future because we were talking about them all day (fast Sunday will do that). After dinner, we shot BB's at water bottles, a wood plank, graham cracker box, and some unripe grapefruit as the sun went down. After the bonfire that followed the shooting, we played Idiot and watched Pocahontas. We found some night-vision goggles and wanted to play hide-and-seek with them, but never got passed creepy-face staring haha. 

I woke up early-ish Monday to do some yoga on the deck. It was peaceful and amazing and I want a ranch with a sweet deck and a Gator and a bonfire pit and all my friends living nearby. That'll have to wait until we all die though because that's just too much to ask for. Glen and I rode around in the Gator picking fruit and trying to remember it all before packing up and heading out.

A mighty thanks to the Mayan family and all of our old and new friends! Let's do it again in a month or two ;)
Aloha

I Open at the Close

We landed last, last Saturday night and I almost threw up on the car ride home because we were not getting on a plane again next month to go back; good thing I hadn't eaten more than a package of Delta cookies and half of a Starbuck's blueberry scone that day. It has been a year since we were here last -- much has and much has refused to change. But let's reminisce on our last days spent on little O'ahu for the sake of... the sake (ref. not Professor X).

We should have taken it for a sign that we were supposed to leave when they hacked off another one of our coconut trees. Such a tragedy. It was hollow inside and could have caused severe injury if they hadn't, but it still seemed harsh. We're not there anymore so someone else can deal with burning the place to the ground for their misdeeds whatevs.

Gunstock ranch is some serious beauty. They have just got it going on -- especially at sunset. It's weird that our drive home won't have this view anymore.
We used to say that the country really isn't country anymore even though everyone says that about the North Shore still. And in reality, it isn't, just like we used to say... but the longer you live there, the more you feel like it is country. I mean, compared to town, it's crazy country for sure. Compared to actual country sides though, it isn't. It's this beautiful medium where you have to go an hour away for regularly priced (for HI) groceries and still have neighbors to laugh with/at while you walk up to your door. You get scenes like this one every day, but you can still circle island in a couple hours (traffic pending). We'll miss that.

Our last outing in our car was to the Billabong Pipe Masters; good choice, huh? The parking was horrendous, but the walk is beautiful anyway.

Even though we've seen this structure and others like it a billion times, I don't think it's possible to actually realize they build these things annually. Honestly, a three-story building for just a week or two of standing and then tear down? And then there's a completely different one that gets built a mile over for the next competition. Impossible.

Oh yeah, and these too.

On the way to the car, a hen and her wee chickadees were scavenging excitedly. Glen and I squatted down and drew the chicks nearer by tapping the ground (they naively think you've stumbled upon a heap of food so they come nearer; ha). The one in front was a brave little fella with almost no basic animal survival skills built in. It will learn quickly or will not get the chance to if you catch what I'm getting at. It'll die.

One of Glen's professors (Dr. Gold) is a beekeeper -- which means Glen is now intrigued with the idea that beekeeping can be a thing for us later... yeah, no. I'm fine if the bees are kept in a place far away from my place (wherever my place is at any one time). This was in Kahuku at some farms who've allowed the bee boxes of private owners.

He told us to wear things that make you look like dead plants; white being the least aggressive color to them. I wore my whitest cardigan and best running shoes. I stood on the edge of the truck bed to be as close to jumping down and running as possible because I wasn't chancing anything. I'm not specifically lucky in these types of situations. As it happens, I didn't get bee stings, but the mosquitoes took every opportunity on my ankles. Someday payback is coming to them and I hope I get to invoke it.

Staying far wasn't safe forever with Glen around. He brought one in the cab so enthusiastically I wasn't sure if he understood the beating coming to him or not. The bee (thankfully) turned out to be one of the queen's sex slaves, so it didn't have the ability to sting me. No, really; this guy's only purpose in life is to inseminate the queen. And there are more too. They get too big to fly for any meaningful distance so they literally can't get away. I'm not saying they want to, but who's to say? Glen was very happy about this whole experience; especially the part where we got a big jar of honey from Dr. Gold's house. Needless to say, it is an ongoing battle of the bees in our relationship. Thankfully, his mom is on my side.

So, to sum up... we love HI and HI can't do a thing about it. We're grateful to be in CA with family and friends again though! Christmas is tomorrow and I haven't been able to feel my toes in a week and a half. I think I'll survive 'til summer...

No bees.

Aloha Christmas Eve Wednesday and a happy birthday to Ashley McIntosh!!! Hope your birthday nap is filled with dreams of unicorns and platypi hugs.

Hulina Lani: The Simmons' Family

This adorable family will always be a fun memory for me! I babysat/taught these two little ones for the past year. You might remember I went to Jaxon's dominating break through into the soccer world (see here) a couple Saturdays ago. The only weird thing about this photo shoot was the amount of clothing and lack of food crumbs on the children.

Love them and how these pictures turned out!

Ending a year of friendship and just enough children-time to keep me off Glen's back about my empty oven (haha) was both sad and really fun. Seriously so grateful for this family and being able to teach and learn with their children. Hope I didn't ruin them too much(;

Aloha Friday