caged up in the pacific ocean from tara whitney on Vimeo.

music : adem, warning call
video taken with: the flip and the underwater casing [santa brought it]

we have nothing left recorded that we both want to watch. damn you writers strike!

during yet another live commercial:

“see? this is how we can make commercials fun. we can make out through them.”

“get me the phone. im cancelling tivo.”

as we drove glumly away from heather and kivalu’s house, we had to do something to cheer the kids up, so we came up with a game called “i went to hawaii and i loved [insert thing here]. each person had to name something and then the next person had to name the things before and their new thing. this was how it went:

i went to hawaii and i loved……

nate: the shrimp
drew: waimea bay
anna: swimming with momma in the ocean
tara: backyard bbq’s
jeff: fireworks
nate: jumping on the tramp
drew: making new friends
anna: the waterslide at the pool
tara: snorkeling
jeff: shark cage (HOO HA HA)
nate: going crab hunting
drew: jumping off the big rock
anna: playing with te’a the doggie
tara: shaved ice
jeff: room service

that pretty much sums up all of the fun things, but here are some others i dont want to forget:

braving a lot of my irrational fears about the ocean and just going for it. just be FEARLESS!
like
swimming in the ocean. in warm water. and being able to see my feet.
and
snorkeling in hanauma bay and seeing a sea turtle! anna was a bit too
hesitant so she took turns riding on our backs like a turtle. :)
and
riding three miles out into the ocean on a boat and jumping into a metal cage, about a dozen 10ft galapagos sharks swimming around me. watching drew and nate do it too.

sleeping in everyday-the kids playing on the trampoline just outside our front door

the best mango’s i have ever eaten in my entire life

drew making a new best friend and telling me that they were both going to pick out constellations to look at and remember each other by until they saw each other again. exchanging emails and promises to ichat.

nathans utter amazement about room service-you mean you just call them? and tell them what you want?AND THEY BRING IT TO YOU?! spoiling them and letting them all pick desserts and cokes with their dinners.

spending the day poolside at the turtle bay resort – having drinks and food brought to me poolside while reading in the sun is my idea of heaven.

jeff and i relaxing on the balcony after the kids were asleep.

sitting on the beach while it rained – knowing it would pass in five or ten minutes

bonding as a family (amazing how good it felt to share things wtih
the kids and show them and teach them about a different way of life)

getting anna and nathan into the ocean with us on the last day-before
that-they just played in shorebreak

the boys jumping off a twenty foot rock at waimea.

lighting and blowing up about 500 fireworks on new years eve – all of
my kids were in pyro heaven