AlooooooHA!!!

well, it's been a while but we have been up to many, many things... on 6/28, hana had her first plane ride!!!! which she handled like a pro - flirting with all of the people on the plane. she handled the trip very well and we nursed during take off and landing so that her ears wouldn't pop too much.

our plane ride took us to hawaii for a whole bunch of other firsts too... we landed in kona and stayed in town that night. then we drove out to pahala town, which is in the rural ka'u region along the southern tip of the big island for the wedding weekend of some good friends, maxine and josh. anyway, we did manage to get pictures at the reception and the rehearsal dinner. those that grow up in hawaii have memories of listening to music while laying on lahala mats under the stars and drifting off to sleep. well at the rehearsal dinner, there was a grammy winning slack-key guitarist, who just so happened to be friends of the family who played into the night. hana fell asleep laying on my skirt, nuzzled in her blanket and cuddling her "cuddle snuggle".

the wedding the next day was beautiful. (for pictures, check out their web site) it was on a private ranch, overlooking the southern coast of the big island. it was perhaps the 2nd most beautiful wedding i'd seen (ours being the first of course). we took some pretty special family pictures at this sight, laying in the grassy meadow with the wind blowing giving the grass the look of a massive green ocean... however our memory card conked out and all of those pictures were lost forever. it's pretty heartbreaking. so if your out there in the ether and you happen to have pictures of the ceremony, please feel free to send those along to us...

the reception was a blast! my good friend simone played with her band into the wee hours. jon had taken hana back to the cottage where we stayed but the music could be heard throughout the town. so he could still enjoy, if only from afar. i stayed at the party and danced the night away.


the following day we checked out and stopped a the black sand beach on our way back to town. this was hana's first beach. she liked crunching the sanding in between her toe. she seemed most interested in stealing her dad's sunglasses. we arrived in keahou (at the end of kona) to our condo right on the water and settled in. we shared our travels with our good friend mindy and tom and their son (our godson) benito. the trip was pretty relaxed. there was a pool in our complex where hana had her first taste of swimming. she LOVED it!!!! if it weren't for this silly job, i would be taking her to swimming lessons. on july 4th, we all went to the beach which was a good time for the most part. because it was wednesday (a day when state beaches are closed anyway) and a holiday, the beach was "closed", which really means the access road is closed. so we had to walk in ( about a mile or so on a paved road). it was down hill on the way in, but the climb out was a little tedious. and despite our slathering on of the suncreen, we were all burnt on the walk out... some of us painfully so (fortunately, me and the kids were spared). but the beach was great! she loved the sand at this beach. it was a lot softer and smoother. this was her first experience with the ocean and she loved that too. jon took some really cute pictures. so cute that i am willing to expose parts of my body that i rarely allow to see the light of day, let alone be photographed, so that you can see her in the surf. i can't wait to take her (and me) to more beaches...

we flew home on july 6th so that i could be home for my 35th birthday on 07/07/07!!!! jon threw me a surprise cookie party. i don't yet have any pictures from that but it was fun. there were A LOT of cookies and A LOT of babies (5 in all and 4 toddlers). it was a good time.