Catching Up

Well, because I still have no time I am going to do my best to catch up. Restaurant lease-check
Remodel Restaurant - check
Hire and train Staff- check
Get menu Ready - check
Do EVERYTHING ELSE - check
Try and have time with our daughter or each other- no check


Needless to say we have been busy. My weeks are getting a little better
Open to Close Monday and Tuesday (10:00AM- 11.30 PM)
Wed thru Sat. I now take Lydia in with me until about 2 Pm and Friday and Saturday night I work to close or about midnight. I can't complain too much though as David is working just about every day open to close. I can't say Lydia loves it but I was tired of her thinking her Nanny Margo was her Mom.
We couldn't have been more blessed with Margo, my midwifes daughter, she was awesome, but just moved so now e have Bryn her sister.

Here are some pictures to catch you up they are of the restaurant transitions and Lydia I will get some current restaurant photos soon
Love to all

Welcome to my Crazy world..

It has been awhile since I posted, but life for us here on this island we call home just keeps on getting crazier. Our amazing little baby turned 1 year old on the 20th of January. I cannot even express my love and joy for her. I am so blessed to be her mother. She is so wonderful. She is full of personality and life. She is always the little social fairy and loves, loves, loves other little kids. She is walking so well and has been for about 3 weeks now. She sings and yammers a lot, but mostly calls everything dadada or whoa.

As for us we have been literally working day and night getting the restaurant open. We have less than 3 weeks to go and things are crazy. My in laws have been here for the past few weeks, Jerry helping Dave build booths and what not and Jan helping me with Lydia while I interview, clean, paint etc. We are so grateful for their help.
We are shooting to Open February 11th and hope that Kona receives us well. So far the feed back has been great, but you just never know. The menu is awesome and the restaurant has really made a great transformation. So while the work won't end when we open we are getting excited. Dave will still work long hours, but it will not be as bad, I will work managing mostly days because of Lydia, but some nights for awhile. Sweet Lydia has been very patient with all of this. She is getting very sick of spending all day transferring from the back pack to the Octagon(play pen). We still cannot let her loose in the restaurant, but she has been a trooper. She is becoming our official greeter.

Attached are some pictures of Lydia's birthday. Hope this finds yo all warm and well!

P.S on another wonderful note my sister had her baby...Maddeline Loraine Clark...and she is a doll!!!!!

Christmas Pictures

Mele Kalikimaka...

Here are some Christmas photos...no time to write, but will catch up later as well as add some Christmas video....Christmas was great...love to all

Christmas Photos...

We very quickly and at the last minute today, tried to get a Christmas photo of the baby in her Christmas dress....My Mom made the dress and it is sooo cute, so a photo in the family Christmas card is only necessary. The only problem is trying to get an 11 month old baby to stand where and how you want, long enough to get the photo...

We also saw Santa for the first time a week ago and the baby loved him! She did not even cry when we sat her on his lap!

On the restaurant front....Las Olas is currently under construction and moving along nicely!

Much love and Aloha to all

Hilo Hawaii State Zoo

Well, we decided to get some excitement in our lives, since it has been a bit sad around here lately. We took a little day trip over to Hilo (the "BIG" city on the east side of our Island) In Hawaii you can never predict weather because when it is raining in one place that doesn't mean anything even 2 blocks away. That being said we headed out for Hilo. We went through Waimea and traveled on the Hamakua Coast (think Lost or Jurassic Park) it reminded us how beautiful Hawaii is and that we are lucky in so many ways, anyway back to the point. As we headed over we drove right into a torrential down pour, flood warnings, crazy, crazy rain. We decided to call the zoo and ask, they said it was raining, but we kind of thought we were half way there and really by the time we got there it could be perfect, so we forged on. Well, I don't know which God was unhappy with us, but it was still pouring when we got to the zoo. The lady thought we were crazy, but we got some ponchos borrowed two big umbrellas and headed out. I mean why drive all that way for nothing. Lydia had a great time actually we all did rain and all. Non of the animals came out besides a few monkeys, non talking birds, and the Bengal Tiger. Which by the way looked very p***** off, but that did not matter to our sweet munchkin, she was happy to see all of the great new surroundings. So we enjoyed our quick trip and loaded back into the car. Dave and I were soaked, but sweet Lydia was as dry as she could be! Here are a few pictures. The bright side came five minutes after we got into the car. Sunny skies and a warm breeze. Go figure I guess dancing in the rain with our baby pleased somebody!

On another note, Dave and I may have either lost our minds or set ourselves up to be rich and famous! We signed a lease on a restaurant space right on Alii Drive. We will open the second week of February. We have decided to go Mexican this time. The name will be "Las Olas" which means "the waves" in Spanish. Wish us luck and patience we will need it. The restaurant space is kind of a wreck, we have a big challenge in front of us. One funny thing though is that the person looking to lease the office space below us is a funny celebrity type which I cannot name now, but I can say it should be interesting. Stay tuned as our world turns!

Love and Aloha to all

Oliver

We have had a very sad week. We had to put our sweet Oliver down today. Long of a short he had some sort of tumor pressing against his spine which basically paralyzed his legs. Looking back the signs have been there for a few months but we did not realize which is usual in these cases. He had a very rapid decline. He could not stand or walk and was in great discomfort. We were very heartbroken to have to make the decision, as he was only 5 years old, but we had no choice and hope the decision has left him in a place that he can roam free and feel no pain! We love our pets so much they are part of our family, which some understand and some do not. The vet came this morning and the dogs were able to say their good byes to each other and we were able to help him drift to sleep in the comfort of our arms with all of the family present. We will miss you Oliver!

Our Little Pumpkin

Aloha,
I have posted some photos of Lydia on Halloween in her music class.... Dave's Parents have been here for the last three weeks and we have had a great time...In just the last two weeks, Lydia has started to play peek-a-boo with her blanket, patti cake, clap, stand on her own (sorta)and yes we have made the move to the crib (however the crib is in our room). I amazes me how fast she is growing. She can point to the baby in pictures and loves to yammer away. Dave's dad helped Dave get our landscaping in along with many other things and they rented a Bob cat for a few days, so we couldn't resist getting Lydia's picture in it!. Hope this finds you all well!