Easter in Hawaii

We had a good amount of Easter celebration in Hawaii. And you know what I love about Hawaii? There is none of this PC stuff about not celebrating Christian holidays. Hawaii is a pretty spiritual place in general, so faith is a common practice. However, Hawaii is the third most unchurched state in the union, with less than ten percent of folks attending a Bible believing church. Given all of this, no one blinks an eye about celebrating Christian holidays in the work place or in public. I love it! Plus, you can talk about your faith and people do not absolutely flip out, because that just wouldn't be showing aloha. People are willing to listen, even if they don't agree.

So, the first part of the Easter celebration started with goody bags at school. In celebration of Easter, the kids exchange little cellophane bags with treats with every kid in the class. Think Easter basket in a bag. That meant tons of Easter candy. And good candy, too. One other thing about Hawaii. You give good stuff or it is goes noticed! No, there was no Jesus in the bag. But it was in celebration of Easter, not "Welcome Spring."Next, we were invited to an Easter egg hunt up the street. Now this is what I mean. This is truly local style, and I loved it. We were invited to an Easter party. This was not a Just For Christians kind of a thing, even though the party was focused on Jesus and His resurrection. There were about fifty kids there, and they were broken up by age group. Son1 was in the under 5 group. It started out that kids no older than three went first to collect Easter eggs with treats. I got funny looks because Son1 is tall and in the youngest group. He was taller than some of the 4 and 5 year olds. I explained he wouldn't be 4 until August, and he was a real three year old. After his group started, then the 4 and 5 year olds ran and picked up the eggs. There were two bounce houses that were each about 2 stories tall going around back. Then, there were Christian Easter crafts offered in the garage and in the driveway under the easy up tent. (That is a heavy duty tarp to all of you on the mainland. They are called easy ups here.) Also, a Christian drama skit was performed. Delicious local food was prepared for everyone there. Later that day we went to another Easter party for Hubby's work. Son2 had his first cotton candy. He chomped it right down. There was an Easter egg hunt, bounce houses, egg coloring, and several other keiki (Hawaiian word for children) activities. We did concede and torture our children by asking them to sit with the Easter bunny. They hated him, and I can see why. He is scary looking, isn't he?

Easter Sunday we went to church. Brunch was served local style. Buffets here are described as served local style. Now, I learned from a group of local friends early on that when you serve local style in Hawaii you always have too much food or it is considered rude not to have enough. Also, you should have enough left over if people want to take some food home. Well, the brunch line was several tables long and then four tables of desserts, pastries, and fruits. This brunch at our church is one of my favorite Easter in Hawaii memories. We are sitting under an easy up tent. The boys were dressed in matching shirts, and people commented on how cute they were. Something I have learned with having boys is that they too can be cute! I am wearing a green top that matches the stripe in their shirt. This goes back to us dressing like a team! It was special to have GG join us. She enjoyed watching Hubby play the bongos for worship, too.

The end of our Easter story is that everyone in our family was really sick. We didn't stay after church for the children's program, with the empty Easter egg hunt, praying for those that don't know Jesus yet, decorating shirts for children in Uganda, or getting the real Easter candy with the craft project. Nope! The boys were both on prescription medicine. We spent the rest of the afternoon at home sleeping.

Ono in Hawaii

Ono is our way of saying something is delicious here. If it is onolicious, it means it is super delicious, in a local kind of way. Here is a little bit of this week's ono at our house.

My neighbor is on the state's professional competitive skin diving team. He shares fish with us every now and then. This time he brought us what is known in Hawaii as Ulua. Since the fish was under twelve pounds it is called Papio even though it is the same fish. If it is over that then it is called Ulua. The Ulua fish is the most sought after shore catch.The fish has white fillets. Hubby breaded it here for us and it was definitely onolicious!
Hubby brought home a special treat for Son1. An island favorite with the kids is Choco Boy. It is actually a Korean snack in the shape of a mushroom, like Choco Boy. The stem is made of a shortbread cookie and the mushroom cap is made of chocolate.

Corny Surprise

Hubby was coming back from the North Shore, and he called me to tell me he had picked me up a surprise. Now, the North Shore is what we call "up in the country" on our island. A lot of the land is designated as rural. There are a lot of road side stands where folks sell their goods. He brought me these and some avocado.I love ears of corn, but Hubby doesn't really. That's usually because I can settle for the frozen ones, and they don't taste so good. But there is just something about farm fresh, even Hubby can appreciate. He made these last night with our fillet mignon.

Wonderphone

Even after living in Hawaii for three years, I learn something new every day. A group of Son1's friends had a tentative play date for Friday at the park. E. called and we couldn't decide if we could beat the rain for a playdate. I suggested she call T. and call me back. "Do you have Wonderphone?" What was that? I asked her if I had a what?

"Ohh. So you can get get another call coming in, but you can't make another one going out?" No. "Ohhhh. Wonderphone, you know...that's what you folks on the mainland call three way calling, right?" I just cracked up laughing. "YES. I guess that's what you call wonderphone?" We never went to the park, and I didn't talk to T. because I don't have Wonderphone.

Later that night I told my neighbors my new vocabulary word. So they taught me another new one, pilau pronounced pee-lau. It is a local pidgin slang that means dirty, filthy, or with a stench. Here it is used in a sentence:
Brah, yo clothes stay pilau. You no like go wash um or wot?

Other words of interest in Hawaii:
rubbish- used instead of the word trash. We don't have trash cans. We have rubbish cans and rubbish trucks.
wagon-used instead of shopping cart.
all pau- pronounced pow...means all done
pau hana-celebrating the end of the work day
pu pu- pronounced pooh pooh...doesn't mean going #2. Word used for any heavy appetizers or finger foods.
doo doo- going #2....very important if you want to be understood with a little one.
shi shi- going #1

There are several others...I'll teach them to you when you get here....

Just Had To Go Back to Waikiki

Saturday morning started out with some running errands with the two kids in tow. Our plan was to run around for a little while, and then get Son2 home in time for his morning nap. The baby started to fuss, and Son1 started with, "Don't cry baby! In the Farmer Family..." Now I have to stop the story right there. We have started to teach Son1 little proverbs that start with "In the Farmer Family..." They include, "In the Farmer Family we share," and "In the Farmer Family we talk nicely to one another." You get the picture. He has started to repeat them with great enthusiasm. But on Saturday morning, Son1 came up with a new one. "Don't cry baby! In the Farmer Family we..." and he paused for a breath, and resounded with "GO BYE BYE!!!" Ohh Hubby and I just cracked up. Yeah, Son2. Get ahold of yourself. We are just out to have fun in this family. HA! We did get him down for his two naps.

Saturday evening came, and we chose to go back to Waikiki for dinner. Soon after we arrived, we heard the blowing of the conch shells announcing the close of the day. The Village Guards precision rifle team led the torch lighting throughout the grounds to the rhythm of island drums.
Once we were seated at our table, Hubby came up with a great idea. I should go and get my food at the buffet while he and the boys went to see the penguins before dark. What a treat for me! No hurrying, no rushing, and no policing anyone under three and a half feet tall.
Turtles and fish swam through the water, while the penguins knew it was almost bedtime.
Hubby came back with the boys and we sat down for another family dinner. Well, we sat for awhile, anyway until I decided to hit the desserts. And once again, I offered to take Son1 with me, only to lose him, like last week. But I knew right where to find him.
After dinner we headed for the park. Once again we enjoyed it all to ourselves. This time Son2 was not content to just watch the fun. Nah...he knew better this week!

Yesterday's Giggles

Hubby and I shared our days with each other last night. Some of the stories made us giggle:

1. I turned on the radio on the way to preschool. The Dave and Dawn show was on the FISH. Every Wednesday morning they have a What's Four Dinner? segment. They share a dinner recipe consisting of four ingredients. This week's recipe was a shrimp tomato rice salad. Obviously, those made up the three ingredients, followed by Italian salad dressing. Oh it was so funny, but you may not get how funny it was if you don't live here! They were stunned that mainlanders would call tossed rice, salad, and shrimp a salad. No lettuce??!?! No, we call that shrimp chop suey here! I died laughing in the car.

2. My funny look tipped off the preschool teachers when we walked in the door. "We can't really read that look," they said. "What is it?" I explained how every morning I throw Son1 in a jacket for him to wear from the car to the door of the classroom in 70 degree weather. Now, he doesn't need a jacket. It's warm. It's not like it's 69 degrees. But every other kid is donning a jacket. I suppose it is winter. Son1 dislikes jackets. He's a smart kid. IT'S WARM. I insist he wears one from the car to the classroom because everyone else is wearing one. Yeah, some life lesson I am teaching him. Do as everyone else does, just so I can look like a good mom.

3. Hubby's work is having a Biggest Loser contest. They left a hospital scale in the main hallway for people to self weigh, and then to record their weights. This contest fits in with his New Year's Resolution. He is entering! He steps on the scale. Oh....wait a minute. It read he weighed 20 lbs more than expected. He tried again. Now wait a minute. This scale must be off. So he stepped off, moved the scale weights down to zero. Hmm. The balance marker read zero. A marine sensed his confusion, and offered to try. He usually weighs 181, but suggested he might weigh 185 in uniform. So he stepped on the scale. He weighed 189. He told Hubby it must be 4 lbs off. But Hubby didn't buy that! How could it only be 4 lbs off for the marine and how could he weigh 20lbs over his own weight? Finally, a colleague admitted to Hubby that he stood behind Hubby with his foot on the scale, accounting for the extra 20lbs. The joke was on Hubby. They all had a good laugh. Later, he saw a colleague self-weighing. The person slid the weights into position, volunteering they must weigh about 175. Oh no! The scale read 195. Oh this person became so flustered! The person was about to try again, but Hubby confessed himself. This person was so relieved! He had this person going they really weighed 20lbs more than expected!

Kailua Beach Park

We spent a large part of the day at a baby luau at Kailua Beach Park. A baby luau is customary for Hawaii families, regardless of race or ethnicity, to celebrate a child's first birthday. In local culture, a baby's first birthday is considered a major celebratory milestone. The parties are huge in number, and the entire family is invited. We have been to the fancy shmancy kind that are on par with a wedding reception, and also the beach kinds, where parents still shell out some big four digit bucks for the party, too. The best thing about today's baby luau was the balloon guy. He is by far the most talented balloon artist we have seen.

Son1 is in absolute boy bliss.

His second balloon sculpture was an octopus with some cool eyes.

Food at baby luaus is generally buffet style. Starches of rice and noodles are usually served alongside whatever else is served. Son2 just refused to be left out. Just like his brother, he will be raised on local food. Rice and noodles will quickly become favorites.

The luau was just at the top of this hill, a few feet away, in the grass. But Son1 always seems to find the water if it is nearby. It is amazing he stayed in the bounce house and out of the water.

Fishing on Christmas Eve

Hubby and a group of guys from church went fishing on Christmas Eve. They arrived at the docks at 5:15am to hit the deep seas. After sunrise they had a view of Diamond Head in the distance.Hubby is fishing with Captain Sonny of Aikane Fishing. This is a 40 foot boat. It is the only deep sea fishing company on the island that allows you to keep what you catch. The boat was rocking and rolling on 4 to 5 foot seas. It was pretty rough. Almost the entire group of guys got sick overboard on multiple occasions. When they weren't fishing Captain Sonny suggested that they lay horizontal to feel better. Hubby was super queasy but was one of the only to not throw up. He decided not to touch any of the food he brought, so he was starving when he got home.

One of their catches was a twenty pound Mahimahi.

Captain Sonny raised the yellowfin tuna and mahimahi flags to symbolize what was caught.

Six yellowfin tuna and a mahimahi.

At the dock Captain Sonny filleted the fish for the guys. He also cut up some yellowfin and gave the guys some sashimi. Sashimi is the name for yellowfin tuna (also known as ahi) when it is served raw. Captain Sonny also gave the guys some ono (delicious in Hawaiian) secret recipes.

Hubby had a good time. He plans to go again, perhaps later in 2008 when the water temperature is more ideal and the fish are more plentiful.

So here I am with my appetizer for Christmas dinner...sashimi. I wasn't too sure about it, initally. But I have learned a lot about eating fresh fish here. It doesn't taste fishy. I don't know how to explain it...but it is like a whole different flavor. Hubby made the yellowfin for me three different ways: breaded, grilled, and raw.

Christmas Field Trip

Hubby came home on an earlier than expected flight from his trip back East this month. He traveled about 13 hours home, and got home late on a Thurs night, with a 5 hour time difference. This was great timing. I was going to skip Son1's field trip, but since Daddy could watch the baby, and nap when the baby napped, I was able to go. Well, that made sense to me. But not to my three year old.

"Mommy is going to go with you on the big bus today."

"Noooooo, Mommy! YOU stay home with Son2. DADDY is going on the big bus with me."


I was disappointed. But I let it go. He had been clamoring for Daddy to come home for 2 weeks. So off they went, a jet lagged Hubby and a thrilled Son1.


The first stop was City Hall. For the last 23 years the mayor and the city council has hosted the Honolulu City Lights tour at City Hall. The decorations are amazing.

This is the Lanakila train, which means victory, named for the royal train that once rode O'ahu rails. It is in honor of Queen Lili'uokalani, who enjoyed riding the train. A menehune (warrior) hangs out giving the shaka sign (hang loose).


See the snowmen? He is wearing a Hawaiian shirt and the little one is holding a surf board.


The landmark Christmas tree decorated with huge candies and pointsettias at the foot of it, along with Hawaiian gourds.



Inside of City Hall different businesses set up a Christmas display.

Then the kids headed toward the Fun Factory at Ala Moana shopping Center. Daddy treated Son1 to Islands and took Son1 to do some shopping for me. It was an exhausting day.

Our Pancake Paradise

Earlier this year when I was pregnant with Son2, I was talking story with our neighbors about this breakfast place I had never tried, called Sandy's Cafe. They went on and on about this place and the stuffed french toast, crater pancakes (as in a volcanic crater), the kalua pig plate, the fruit crepes, Hawaiian syrups, and the spinach and cheese omlette with whipped eggs and special cheese cream sauce, ALL HOMEMADE LOCAL STYLE. My body yelled, "Stop! Stop!". I went inside and told Hubby I knew where we were eating breakfast on Saturday. He agreed.

Sandy's is located in a gated retirement community by my house. We arrived at the front gate and punched in the code to the restaurant. Just as we parked, Hubby got a little skeptical. Ugh. Not now...please, my pregnant body couldn't handle him backing out now. He was uneasy about intruding in a senior citizen community. Oh, but I insisted!! We pulled open the door to the restaurant, and half the people inside were young families. Sandy's is a good little secret. They cannot advertise, per the homeowners association, and their prices are reasonable, for folks on a fixed income. Sandy's is all just word of mouth, and full every time we go for breakfast. The breakfast food is like no other on this island, not even Eggs and Things. Life is just slower at Sandy's. We get undivided server attention. It is family owned and run. They remember our family's favorites. They don't have the speediest service, but for some reason, no one seems to care. Maybe it is the Hawaiian music playing.

They all know Son1 and what he likes: fluffy pancakes, homemade strawberry syrup with whipped cream, and a side of fried rice. Every now and then they will also make him what they call "over hard" eggs.





I usually try and feed the little guy before we go, but earlier this month he proved to us that he is ready to eat at Sandy's, too!!

Riding on a Horsepowered Open Flatbed, rather than a one horse open sleigh, HEY! Jingle Bells....

Friends of our family have a flatbed trailer that hitches to the back of a flatbed truck. At Christmas time they throw a ton of hay on it and we go for a hay ride and go caroling. This year, Son1 and I went by ourselves while Hubby stayed with the sound sleeping Son2. Oh well...Son2 went last year, in my tummy.

Giving the rules.

It is really past Son1's bed time, here. From last year, I learned that it is best for us to ride on the back of the actual truck rather than on the back of the open flatbed trailer. When it is time to make a sharp turn everyone has to jump off the flatbed, and sometimes they even have a few guys pick up the trailer to make the sharp turns over the bridges.

A few teens were on foot and on rollerblades. They knocked on the doors and shouted "Merry Christmas!!!" Then we would launch into several carols. But our ride on the truck's flatbed only lasted until we got to a converted home for seniors. The kids jumped off the truck and trailer to carol in the driveway so they could be seen and heard. Son1 was wise to this, and insisted we sit on the open flatbed. SIGH....so we sat on poky hay rather on the nice compact bale we had claimed. We sat with a group of boys that were about 6 and 7 and I regulated the throwing of hay.

We pulled out of the gated community and into several apartment complexes. Patrons took our picture and some even videoed us. I wonder if we are on the internet somewhere. One family pulled out a conch shell and hailed us some good will. Only in Hawaii.

We jumped off the trailer at one point again to turn around. I heard a teen age male voice say, "Mrs. Farmer?" somewhere in the dark. I looked up, surprised. Usually I talk to moms and the other little kids. I made out the figure in the dark.

"Is Mr. Farmer here tonight?" he asked, rather expectantly.

Ahhhh. I knew where this was going. "No, he is home with the baby. Were you hoping to play chess with him?"

"Yeah, kinda," he said sheepishly.

"Ohhh, I'll have to tell him you asked about him. I am sure we can figure a time that you can play him." Here is the truth. Hubby loves to play chess. He was even on the team at a couple of high scools, until he made the Varsity chess team and his picture was in the yearbook. That was the end of that. He was a Varsity football player and a played a few other Varsity sports. No way. Couldn't ruin his image. Off the chess team. But now, word has gotten out among teenage boys that he plays chess. And they love to play him. HA!

On the way back, the song leader let Son1 hold the lantern he used for the songbook. This was some big stuff to a three year old.

We got back to their house, and all kinds of yums were served. Everybody brought something to share. That goes without saying. The hosts did not ask, but when you are invited to someone's home in Hawaii you ALWAYS bring something. That was one of the first things my local friends taught me when I moved here. (I was trained like that in the Beltway, too.)

So, the kids didn't have shoes on because we went into their home. But when they decided to run outside for a hay fight, they all were in socks and bare feet. Son1 is local, I tell ya.

But these hosts are smart. After the hay fight all of the kids had to bag up the hay and sweep the truck.

A Christmas Day

Just as hard as it is for the Farmers to be away from family, it is hard for the grandparents, too. They don't often get to do all of the grandparenty kind of things they always imagined they would. So I planned a Christmas grandparenty kind of day. Saturday morning started out with a Christmas parade in our town. My mom is wearing a shirt that says...There's Snowone Like my Grandkids.


A nice church along the parade route served a continental breakfast, provided parking, and provided chairs. They even took a family picture for us.

Our high school band with decorated instruments.

There is actually a man in that lion suit. The kids went nuts over him.

Ridin' local style.

Yeah the man in the red suit is driving.

Look, it's Flo from the movie, Cars.

Adults and children were Chinese dragons. The smaller dragons with the kids were too cute! Obviously there is a large Chinese population here.

These folks from a local church gave out Christmas leis and played the hand bells in the "Hawaiian station wagon." Gotta have a truck.

My favorite float, and NO that is not a guitar; it's an ukulele.

Engine 50 is a refurbished 1929 fire engine. We will be riding in it later in the month.

We were total amateurs. This is the first time we have gone to the parade. Every participant in the parade handed out candy to the kids. The kids next to us brought shopping bags to save their candy. They knew what was up. Uh huh...T.I.H. This is Hawaii. We threw our candy in the bottom of the stroller.

I rushed the family home after the parade. Son2 needed a nap, and Son1 reached a milestone: gymnastics in the 3-5 year old class, sans Mommy or Daddy. Nice. We picked up Grandma B. and we were on our way to "town." That is slang for east on the H1.
We stopped by the Winter Wonderland at the Hale Koa. Son1 pet the animated reindeer.

By this point we were starving. So we headed toward the mall 1.5 hours before the Christmas performance. Grandma B. treated us to Islands, and Son1 chomped down his meal with the promise he could ride the Candy Cane Express....the candy choo choo train that travels through the mall. The train is based on the book, The Gift of Aloha. Here is the final scene from the performance, and Son1 went nuts over snow in Hawaii. Well, Son2, did, too. I was a little concerned about him licking the wet soap bubbles...you know what ingested soap does, right?

We tried to purchase Candy Cane train tickets after the show, but they were sold out until 8:40. :( I had to tell Son1 that even though he had been the sweetest little boy, and had eaten all of his Islands dinner, we just couldn't wait that long. That would put us home and getting the 2 boys to bed at about 10pm. Not good for getting everyone out the door for church the next morning. Besides, I knew we could always come back. He cried and was heartbroken, yet again. Ugh. Here I was heart broken, too. But a few minutes later, he knocked out in the car on the way home. It was a full, full day.

Too Many Papayas

We have been refrigerating our papayas because we haven't eaten them fast enough. Our papayas are BIG. My mom kept asking if Son2 could eat them. So I did a little research. Yup, papayas are actually a great first food for babies because they are less acidic than other foods. To think this kid went nuts over our apple bananas...he practically inhaled the papayas the last two days. They are definitely his favorite food so far. Too cool to think his first foods are tropical fruits from his back yard.

Fruit on the Farm

This is an exotic fruit commonly called Star Fruit or Five Finger. It is grown all over the world, primarily in Asia. In the US it grows in Hawaii and in Florida. These were given to us from Son1's preschool aide at the Thanksgiving banquet. Star fruits are crunchy, and have a slightly tart, acidic, sweet taste, like pears, apples, and sometimes grapes. The fruits are a good source of vitamin C. Its seeds are small and brown. They have a tough outer skin and a tangy white inside.

When they are cut into their five sections they look like five fingers.

When they are cut across they make a star shape. These are often in exotic salads at the fancy shmancy restaurants. When we take a salad to someone's house we put these in there, too. The only time we have gotten Star Fruit has been as gifts from people's yards. You can buy them, but they are a little expensive and not always available.

Another one of our banana trees is flowering. See the banana buds poking out?

It's also a papaya week. We have gotten 2 ripe papayas this week. We have three or four trees. This one is flowering at the top, too.

Hubby goes on a mosquito fest...er, field trip!

I thought it would be cool for Hubby to chaperone Son1's field trip to the Lyons Arboretum. So I signed him up. The arboretum is a botanical garden that specializes in woody plants and is part of the University of Hawai'i. It is one of the few accessible rain forests on this island, is about 200 acres large, and averages 165 inches of rain a year. Hubby called it a mosquito fest. It was hot, muddy, and buggy. He was slightly annoyed when he got home. The coolest things he saw:

1. Leaf skeleton- Bugs eat the entire leaf and just leave a skeleton of the leaf when they are done.
2. Popping leaf pod-The leaves pop and seeds go everywhere.
3. Planting a sunflower with Son1.


Hubby was a good chaperone, though. The preschool teacher even wrote me a note and sent a huge mahalo my way for all of Hubby's help. Oh, he was so nice. He even took some pumpkin cookies I made, and shared them with the teachers.

Backyard Bananas

Son2 tried his first fruit last night, straight from our backyard. Mmmmm he loves apple bananas. Mmmm down the hatch they went. I said "mmmm!" and he said it back!

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Why paddle?

Hubby and some of the guys surfed today. Swells were three to five feet on the South shore. Why paddle? They each paid $5 to get out past the wave breaks by boat. They drop off where you request and come get you at your specified time. Drop off 1:30, pick up 3:15. Here is the kicker. Hubby rode in a wave so far and so long that he really had to work to get back out to the guys, no boat this time. He ditched riding his board back out to the guys when the wave sets got somewhat high and the board became a hindrance, and he swam through the waves. Since he was purposely leashed, he came home with a slight chest bruise. Still he had a great time with the guys.His surf board might as well be made out of gold. I probably could buy a year's worth of diapers with this thing.

Goin' (Apple) Bananas

Nearly two years ago we were given these apple banana trees by some of Hubby's co-workers. They are not a cross between an apple and a banana. They are just particularly sweet. They are over 2x as expensive in the store as regular bananas. My neighbors to the right of our house (not pictured) were in our backyard with me a short time after the trees were planted. They asked me if Hubby was sure he knew what he was doing planting these trees. Banana trees multiply quickly. I assured them he knew just what he was doing by planting these trees. My neighbors to the left (that's their house just beyond the bunch of bananas) mentioned once they could see in my kitchen window. HA! Hubby put a stop to that and planted three of the trees on the side of our house, blocking my kitchen window. Our neighbors spoil us, though, even when they could see in our kitchen window, too. This tree grew somewhere between 20 and 30 feet tall.

See that pointy little thing in the foreground? That is called a "keiki sucker." Right before a tree starts to flower, these little keiki suckers sprout. Keiki is the Hawaiian word for child. So the tree births a new little tree shoot before it will give fruit. It can birth lots of these around the stump, but no less than one before flowering. The dead brown leaves around the base are rich in something that helps the tree to grow, so they are not supposed to be trimmed back while the tree is growing.

The fruit has been on the tree for about six months. It is time to pick the fruit when the star tips of the banana fall off the ends and one banana turns yellow. See the one at the top of the bunch? That coily thing that is coming out of the bottom of the bunch used to be the stem to a beautiful flower that bloomed before the fruit arrived.

Each apple banana tree will only give fruit once in it's life. After the fruit has been cut down then the tree must also be cut down on an angle for it to regenerate.
The trunk was far thicker and denser than we imagined. Even with an electric saw we still had to pull it hard and down to get the trunk to fully snap. The problem was that it was naturally leaning over my neighbor's wall already. When Hubby sawed it down the weight of the tree catapulted the majority of the top heavy tree over the wall. Our neighbor came to help.

We ended up with approximately 80 bananas. We gave some to this neighbor. He is a professional skin diver and brings us huge fresh parrot fish amongst others. We shared with our other neighbor as well. We have an open invitation into his back yard for all kinds of fruits and herbs. But this particular day he traded us fresh guava for apple bananas. It is rude in local culture not to share. We are all about some aloha love here.


Son1 was really intrigued by the massive leaves that once towered over our yard now blanketing the ground.

This leaf was chopped before the picture was taken. It used to be larger and more gigantic. Son1 must know this is a "gone native" pose. He is about to give the Hawaiian shaka.

These are the trees we have left on this side of the house. We have more around back. Many of these trees stared out as just keiki suckers.

Halloween: Hawaiian Style

It was pouring on the 31st. I was so bummed. We usually get about 200 trick or treaters. 5pm ticked by, and then 6pm, and I was quite sullen. Halloween Hawaiian style is crazy fun, and it just wasn't going to happen this year. No trick or treaters rang our doorbell, until it was a quarter to 7pm. Hoooraayyyy!

I herded my fire fighter and dalmatian, husband, and guests out the door with umbrellas and strollers for the babies. We quickly took a few streets by storm, quite literally. They call this a rainforest for a reason.

We were soaked and had pity on the babies and headed home.

Baby Lincoln as the Beetle

I put my little dalmatian to bed, while Hubby closed off the walkway to our house. The futura stone that leads to our house was so so slick that we watched a few people walk up to our house and take hard falls. We popped open our garage and let Kathy, Buddy, and Marty hand out candy, along with the pumpkins Kathy and Marty carved.

An aside: Earlier Marty had asked Son1 if he was "J. zee arteest." Son1 sneered at him. He asked him again. "Are you J. zee arteest?" in a French accent. Son1 answered with some attitude and seriousness. "NO!! I am J. Farmer." We died laughing!

These guys...boy did they live it up with the kids that came by. They asked the kids to show them their best tricks for candy.

That left Hubby and me to take Son1 out again while Mark and Kelly watched the crawling beetle and sleeping dalmatian. And three of us had ourselves some happenin' Hawaiian Halloween fun.

We see stuff here that we haven't seen on the mainland. This was set up in someone's driveway:

Shootin' hoops for candy

Go fish for candy

This house had an inflatable pool with peanuts in it for the kids to jump in. Son1 found a preschool buddy. Her older sister said, "Oh...her boyfriend is here!" Uh huh. My casa nova has a following.

Now Hubby has a personal favorite when it comes to Halloween. He loves him a Trunk or Treat. Usually it is sponsored by the church in our subdivision. Folks decorate their trunks and the kids go from car to car to get candy. It is really fast and we yield a lot of candy in a short amount of time. But with the rain, they had to move the Trunk or Treat inside the elementary school cafeteria.

We are posing with the pastor's wife of the Trunk or Treat church. Maybe we don't go there for a reason. :)

P.S. I am in a sweatshirt much too huge for me....it