Lemons make Lemonade

My friend Maggie has a lemon tree in her yard and she brought me a bag full of lemons.  When friends give you lemons, make lemonade!

 I have never made real lemonade before, I had no idea how easy it would be!  I looked up multiple recipes for lemonade, they all had the same 3 ingredients (water, sugar, lemon juice...pretty simple).  Each recipe called for a different ratio of these ingredients so, I decided to let my taste buds be my guide.  When I was finally satisfied, this was my recipe:

6 cups water

1 cup of sugar

1 1/3 cup of lemon juice (for me this was 4 lemons, but my lemons were pretty big)

I also had some old(scary, almost moldy) strawberries, I put them in my poor-man's "magic bullet" and  voila! Strawberry puree :)  I added a spoonful to each glass of lemonade....it was de-lish!!

A day at the beach

It was a beautiful Saturday so we decided to head out to the beach.  This was Baby Love's first time and it started out great...............

We were all smiles

Hanging out with Dad (thanks Auntie D for my awesome outfit :)

and Mom

We were having a great time, but it was getting a little hot.  So into the ocean we went......

Daddy tried first

ummm, not so much.......

Then Mommy tried

Yeah, still not really into this whole "beach" thing yet.  At least we tried.   

Walking in Hawaii

In an attempt to lose the "baby weight" every morning I put Baby Love in the Bjorn and we are off.  We live in a valley, so I always feel like I am Dora the Explorer;  pass the mountains,  into the grass forest and through the land of trees....{I can hear Boots' voice in my head as I say it}

pass the mountain....

into the grass forest......

and through the land of trees.

In order to have a successful walk there are a few rules:

1. Never leave after 8am, you will die from sweat and sun burn

2.  Always face Baby Love out in the Bjorn {even when he is too little and doesn't have good head control}  Otherwise he will scream the ENTIRE time.

*3.  Always keep an eye out for the local animal species

*3 is very important!  During early morning walks you will encounter two types of animals; feral cats and wild boars.  Both of these are no joke and can be scary!  The wild boars are the easy ones, most of the time, they run back into the grass when you get close.  However, every so often a big Papa boar will stand his ground and even take a few steps toward you.  That is why I always know where the nearest light post is so that in case Papa decides to charge I can quickly climb to safety {I am serious}.  You might be asking yourself, cats...really?  Yes, until you have had a pack of stray cats start following/chasing you with all of their diseases {cat scratch disease anyone?}, you have no idea how creepy it can be.  I am not a cat person to begin with and when they start rubbing on my leg I want to kick them.  I  do refrain, but I may "gently" nudge them yet, they keep coming at me.  Then I pick up the pace and say things like "go away" or "RARRR" to scare them.  It doesn't usually work.  After a block or so they typically give up on you and go back.  Sometimes I just start to run...sometimes it helps to run screaming {again, I am serious}.

My little walks can be quite the adventure.  Feel free to call me Dora, I go on adventures, I have a backpack {aka bjorn} and a little friend that goes with me.  Only problem is I am not 4, tan with brown short hair, nor do I speak spanish, but whatever.  I enjoy the fresh air and getting a little exercise.  Baby Love enjoys........well, let's be honest, he's just a baby :)

*unfortunately the one time I bring my camera there were no wild boars and very few cats out.  I will have to follow up later with a few pictures of the local species.

So I guess it's been a while....

I'm jumping back on the blog waggon.  I've been meaning to for some time now, but life kept happening.  Now I am so far behind on the things I would have wanted to write about, I am not sure where to begin.  So, I present: "a year in review" ....

Last May, I quit my job at Central Christian School and decided to go back to teaching full time.  Of course this sounds ridiculous, but I was super bored working part time.  I had very few friends and Big Love was traveling all the time, I needed something to do.  I applied for a teaching position with the DOE. In Hawaii you apply with the state and once you are accepted your name goes on a list and you wait for a call.  I was a little anxious to start over again (for those of you who don't know, due to my many moves, I have taught at a new school every year for the past 4 years), but I was also ready to be back in the classroom full time.  So I waited........and took a little intermission the whole month of June........in the form of a trip to Italy :)  

Font Di Trevi

But, first we had to make a pit stop in Germany so Big Love could do a little work

Not here specifically, but wow!  Isn't this gorgeous!?  Germany was beautiful!

Venice

We visited 5 main cities/areas; Venice, Cinque Terre, Florence, Tuscany and Rome. 

Cinque Terre

Florence

 Ponte Vecchio

We were able to catch part of the Palio in Siena.  It's hard to tell, but there is a full fledged riot in front of us.  We were able to witness an Italian beat down!  At one point Big Love actually picked me up and ran!  It was definitely one of the craziest experiences of my life!

View of Tuscany from our balcony

 The Vatican

Colosseum

Needless to say, we had an amazing time!  Despite my month long intermission during prime teacher hiring, I was hired as a Jr. Kindergarten teacher at a school only miles from my house.  I was so blessed, it is seriously one of the best school to work at on the whole Island.  I got the job the week we returned and started the following week.  For all of my teacher friends, I am sure you can relate to how stressful the beginning of the school year can be.  So imagine the added stress I had when I was suffering from what I thought was jet lag and generally ill feelings ..............well, I guess this little guy was making himself known long before I ever met him :)  Apparently we had a REALLY good time in Italy.

With a face like this, it's no wonder he was making my life difficult :) 

That pretty much sums up the last year.  Wow, it's crazy to think how much things can change in a year.  I went from being a stay-at-home wife, to teaching full time, to being a stay-at-home mom.  God has amazing timing.