Lost at Sea

To all of you who think we have fallen off of the face of the earth, we haven't but if the world were flat we would be close. So much has transpired since my last post that you will have to get the condensed version as I have no time to give the long version.

We had a great visit back to Boise, despite thinking a month would be long enough to see everyone, we were wrong, so to any one we missed we will see you next time. We have decided though on our next visit we are staying in the little house and posting a time sheet, Anyone who wants to see us or the baby, can sign up for their time, thus eliminating the need to tote from one place to the next, saving time, sanity, my back, Lydia's nap time, and ahh yes gas money!

When the baby and I got back, David was working away on our house trying to get it livable. After two weeks at a local hotel and I mean very local brah, we decided that since we had an outdoor shower working we would rather camp up at the house. That was a great decision for the baby and me, but has made it rough for David to work on the house the way he would like. Despite all of the set backs we are almost finished, we have a bit of finish work on the inside and the landscaping.

For those of you that care about the dogs, they are doing well. They may think their existences as they knew them were, much better before as they now live in a bed of lava and dirt, sleeping outside, and have no grass, but they are still happy. They are a bit more in shape from running up and down the hill for water and definitely very dirty, but still get, shelter , walks, water and love. I can say I never thought Maggie would be an outside dog, and I guess if we didn't live in Hawaii she wouldn't be, but as the local bums will tell you, its the best place to live on the land!

As for our social life, well with a young baby you can imagine, but now that the crazy pregnancy is over and we are almost done with the house we have been taking some time to go to the beach and meet some people. Lydia started music classes last Friday and she loves it. It's either the rattles or the sound of Miss Mary's voice, but she is in heaven. She will be starting swimming lessons with David next week with Adrienne at Kukio beach. It is a little keiki pond that is protected from the main ocean by lava rocks and reef, so in my laments terms, the sharks can't get in! I have started swim lessons as well. I figured if we were going to be here awhile I better know how to swim and get over my fear of sharks.

Lydia is making so many new noises, she laughs so hard she makes herself toot, and then laughs some more. She is officially sitting up now, which is a relief for me, as I was starting to wonder, and rolls and scoots every where. She is a crack up, I cannot believe what a happy baby she is. Her favorite past time right now is jumping, her new nickname is the jumping bean.

Its amazing, as I could not wait to get the heck off of this rock, I have found some new joy in being here. It has brought David and I closer, and afforded him priceless time with his daughter I fear he would have not had on the mainland. There is no keeping up with the Jones and the laid back pace is starting to be a bit refreshing, it has really opened my eyes to the fact that life is short , why rush through it, sit in traffic, and be too busy to enjoy it. I never though I would say it , but I have actually grown fond of this crazy place. Do I wish we had a Target or Cost plus? Sure who wouldn't, but it makes you appreciate the visits back all the more. No one here cares what you wear, how your house looks, and who you were in your pre- island existence. CEO's are now cabana boys and bussers. When you live in a place that everyone leaves there shoes at the door it says so much. So long of the short I think we may be here awhile, not forever, but awhile.

I will upload more pictures as soon as we get the main computer hooked up.

Much love and aloha to all

Name Change

After months of thought we have changed the name of our blog. We did it for many reasons, but mostly I was not feeling very creative when beginning this process, and spelled beginning incorrectly, thus our last blog name. However as we have a had a very big start, I also figured it wasn't very fitting. So we will keep the old blog up for awhile, but take note!

Mauna Kea 200

First things first, David is 40 and I never pictured myself being married to a 40 year old, that may be because it used to seem old to me or that I still view myself as 19. That being said now that I am no longer in my 20's and I have to face that fact 40 is not old, my perspective has changed a bit. I am telling you all of this because at 40 David still has "it". Intellect, good looks, he's in great shape, he hasn't started growing ear or stray chin hairs yet, and he can ride like a "demon".

We just finished the race at Mauna Kea and Dave took 5th place overall (100+)riders. Now let me brag. The following are the top reasons I think that Dave's placing says a lot about him.

1. He has not been on a dirt bike for over 3 years
2. He did not have a chance to ride the coarse or practice the terrain at all before the race. In fact a 3 hour ride two weeks ago was his only warm up.
3. He has never ridden jungle terrain like the first part of the course.
4. He rode injured.
5. The first 4 finishers set up the course, talk about advantage.
6. He got no sleep the night before Lydia decided that would be her contribution!
7. The rest of the riders talked about how much they trained for the race.

We were up at 4 A.M. Sunday arrived at the start just outside Hilo, HI
by 5 A.M. Race started at 6 A.M.. Dave rode 36 miles through some crazy jungle terrain. Elevation started at 800 feet and finished at 6300 feet to the first check point. Second Leg, 63 miles around Mauna Kea volcano which started at 6300 ft went to 9700 ft then back. The best part was each leg had a significant period of pouring rain, and when I say pouring were talking cats and dogs. So between temperature, weather and elevation alone it is a crazy course. I wont even get started on the terrain.

We had a great time, met some nice people and I got a rad tan that resembles something of a raccoon crossed with farmer john (even with SPF 55). Happy to report for all of you that think I am too overprotective with Lydia, she even got dirty!

Long of short he rocked the race. Lydia and I are very proud of him.
Go Daddy!

Mauna Kea

Pictures

Pictures

I had a few minutes so here are some new pictures. Approx. from April until now. There are also some pictures of our house in there as well. It is quite funny because as soon as Lydia realizes she is getting her picture taken the fun stops and the seriousness begins. She has already made it quite clear that she will not be performing on command! Enjoy!

Oh FYI the red mark on Lydia's face is called a strawberry hemangioma . It is a cluster of vessels under the skin. It is supposed to stop growing by 6 months and go away by two years.If it doesn't go away on its own then you can have them lasered off and yes we would if necessary. I am telling everyone this because I am so sick of being in the store and having complete strangers come up to me and ask what is on my babies face and if it will go away. YES IT WILL and even if it doesn't she is still the PRETTIEST BABY EVER.

Team Todd

Today we are headed up to Mauna Kea the Volcano closest to where we live. Well I guess I should say the tallest and coldest because our house is on Hualalai an inactive volcano, but that's not the point. Anyway, David is going to race in a motocross race tomorrow. We are excited because it is cold and there is actually snow on Mauna Kea. We have scrounged up all of the babies clothes that are now too small for her, but warm and are headed out. Lydia and I very quickly made a "Team Todd" beanie, cap, and onesie for her to wear in support of her daddy. David's nickname when racing and growing up was "Demon Dave" (fitting I think :), so we figured Lydia has to be "Demons Darlin'". Anyway I will post pictures when we get back along with others we have. Also after months of technical difficulties I finally figured out why my "comments" wouldn't work on the blog.So, now I say post your comments! Take care and we will see most of you in a few weeks!

Bad Blogger

I know I have not posted in awhile and some of you may be wondering why? Well, the answer is between trying to get packed, help David with the house, the baby and the dogs, I just don't have time. As for us, we are moving out of our rental on the first of June. Where to , you may ask? Well, we don't know quite yet! We are then heading to Boise on the 3rd for a few weeks. I am staying a bit longer than Dave. My husband is coming home to frantically try and finish our house and well I will be of very little help in Boise showing the baby off.

Lydia is wonderful. She is getting so big, today is her 4 month birthday! She is cooing, laughing and yes throwing little tantrums (which she totally gets from her Dad).Her new trick is sticking er fist in her mouth and making herself gag. It is actually funny and kind of not all in the same moment. She is generally a very happy baby, but she is starting to teeth, so she has her moments. Each morning when she wakes up she is so happy, she grabs my nose or lips to give me the wake up call and then laughs and smiles for awhile. I often lay there wondering how we can be so lucky. We went through a lot and worked very hard for her and couldn't feel more blessed. I am totally in love. I never thought it was possible to love someone so much. Some of you may know Kara, the sweetest and kindest person I know. The one I am trying to model my parenting after(along with my Aunt Jocelyn), but am not as laid back so it may not be working quite as well. Well any way, I used to spend a lot of time with them when her oldest daughter Tatym was a baby. In fact Tatym was actually my first baby. You know that magical child that you fall in love with and wonder if you will ever think your own child is as cute , wonderful, or special. Anyway back to the story. When she was little and she got a snotty nose, she couldn't blow it yet (obviously) and well didn't really love that nose suction things and to be honest how often are those on hand anyway, so Tim, Kara's husband (if anyone ever thinks they have had a hard time from me, well they should talk to Tim, he had it the worst)would suck the snot out of Tatym's nose so she could breath. I used to be repulsed by this. I mean who the heck sucks snot out of their kids nose. I use this story to illustrate on special point. I love Lydia, so much that I would actually suck snot out of her nose so she could breath freely and wouldn't even think twice about it! I now say, way to go Tim!

We can't wait to see everyone that lives in Idaho!