Thanksgiving 2015

We just had our 9th Thanksgiving in Alaska. That means we should be getting good at some of our own traditions, I suppose. But it seems that while Christmas is laden with tradition, this holiday of giving thanks is a lot more flexible by the year. In 9 Thanksgiving holidays in Alaska, we have spent the day with 5 different groups of people. One of these years, it will be my turn to  host--but this was not that year. The weather is as fickle as we are at Thanksgiving Tradition.  Last year we had sheets of ice on the roads, and carrying food up a driveway and to the door was more than a little precarious. Another year was a major snow storm where we barely made it through the streets. This year we had wet roads with fog.

We were grateful to spend time with my second cousin Lindsay Weston and her sweet family. Lindsay is a beautiful and gracious host, and we always enjoy spending time with her family.

A table for the adults, then of course the kid table. Kenny and Lindsay Weston hosted, and their brother's family was there as well--Andy and Shalee Weston. It was a good group, and we really enjoyed the company.

This was the quietest, most well mannered kids table I have ever seen. I was so impressed with the appropriate level of noise and interaction at this table, which allowed for the adults to enjoy some adult time at the grown up table.

The kids had planned a super cute skit depicting--in completely original form--the pilgrims coming over from England. It began with 4 year old Kelsey shouting "Guards! Get them!" and it only got better from there. The Weston kids saved a spot for my kids to participate, but Alina was too little and David wasn't really interested. Until he found out they needed a tech guy. So he stood at the light switch and house lights went down then up with each scene change. (It was such a good reminder to me to let David shine where and how he wants. He's not a performer on stage as much, but he was bursting with excitement over his part as the kid that controlled the lights and fan.)

Lindsay had recently taken her kids to the high school play, so they didn't miss a single beat with what should be included in a grand production. Costumes? check. Memorized lines? check. Drama? check. Fan to make it windy on a stormy night at sea? check. Lights going up and down with each scene change? check.

Over the last week, I have reminded David several times that he is the family expert on the Pilgrims. We studied them extensively last year in our history home school curriculum, and he picked up a book by Rush Limbaugh that makes the characters come to life for him. He has read that book at least a dozen times, and many of the facts presented as historical fiction are well researched. David knows the story of the pilgrims really well. But he somehow doesn't know that he knows them. Next year I'll have to remember to pull out all of our short stories about he pilgrims so our  memories are a little better refreshed.

Aloha, Oi

We will fondly think of you, Hawaii . . . until we meet again.

Aloha, Oi.

We made one last stop before checking in to our flight, so we could eat dinner and hopefully induce sleep with full stomachs on our flight home.

Best Pizza on Oahu for several years in a row is around the corner from the airport at Big Kahuna's. Yummy. The pizzas are hearty, and their garlic cheesy knots were a real hit with our cheese loving boy.

We landed at 5:30 am on July 21. I think this picture says it all, with David sleepily making it through the airport with his ukelele on his back. We arrived at our house at 6:30 am, and no one stirred in their beds until Noon.

Around Oahu

We were staying close enough to the Dole Plantation that we made multiple trips to visit this little spot on earth. The Dole Whips were really as yummy as we had heard--light, and the perfect mix of tart and sweet to capture true pineapple flavor.

There were a few other highlights as well at the pantation. Like our gorgeous girl sticking her blonde locks through the patch of pineapple.

This--this was a sight to behold at Dole Plantation. The corner of the structure you can see is the edge of a feeding dock. The large gold fish would flock around the dock, and when food was thrown into the water, some of it landed on the sloping bank. I was amazed to see how the fish fought their way, some of them even coming out of the water to get the food on the bank. Once they got too far out, and their gills were out of the water, panic among the fish would ensue the and stressed fish would rush back to the safety of the water. Repeated, over and over, we really had fun watching the fish that fought to climb on top of each other's backs.

David climbed every tree he could find. This one was while we waited in line at Matsumotos Shave Ice.

We met up with everyone at Matsumotos for their infamous shaved ice. I wanted the authentic bowl, so I got the whole works . . . shaved ice, on top of red bean paste, with sweetened condensed milk over the top, in the rice bowl and with mochi balls to top it off. I would do it all again, without the Mochi balls or rice bowl. The rest of it was super tasty.

We stopped to get Mochi wrapped ice cream with the kids, and afterwards we wandered around a dock at the back of the shop.

Sam enjoyed this view from a lookout near Hanauma Bay. He and I had a guided tour of Hanauma Bay, and we loved it. I'm not sure if we saw any more fish than we would have on our own, but it was super nice to make our way around the bay with their high-end equipment--including float belts and really nice flippers.

We also spent an afternoon looking around BYU-Hawaii. We were really sad that the bookstore was closed while we were there, it must have been between semesters because the whole campus was very quiet.

On one of our last days, I took the kids to a splash pad on one of the bases. We were trying to keep cool, and this was a little less intimidating than taking them to the beach by myself while Sam was with some members of the family that ran a 5K grueller race.

Highlight, Lowlight

The lowlight of our trip to Hawaii was that on the 3rd day we were there, David removed his 50 spf shirt while we were at the beach. Because he kept his life jacket on, my eyes didn't see the missing shirt until we were cleaning up and I found it on our sandy blanket. I don't think he'll be doing that again. This burn was scary. I felt blessed to feel confident using essential oils when nothing else was relieving the pain. The picture on the left was Day 3 of the burn, and nothing was helping (we tried solarcane, aloe vera and tylenol). On day 5, I began spraying water mixed with lavendar, melaleuca, frankincense and a bit of helichrysum. On day 12, before we boarded the plane, I took a picture and this 2nd degree burn had not only completely vanished, there were not any  marks on his skin to show that he had been through such a painful experience. Over the last 4 years, I have increasingly used essential oils to promote healing within our family, and for these few days, I felt so grateful to be empowered with something to offer relief to my boy. 

The highlight of David's trip was getting this ukelele at the Aloha Stadium Swap Meet. He had saved up money for a ukelele before we arrived in Hawaii, then Pappy found a good deal and helped David with the last few dollars so he could get a nicer one. His cousin Evelyn also took one home, and I really enjoyed listening to the two budding musicians figure things out on their new ukes.

Hawaii Memories

When I was 16, my family moved to Oahu for the summer. Dad accepted a contract to work on Oahu for 6 months, so for the summer months we planned to join him as a family. Once the entire family got over there, Dad's contract was abruptly terminated because the company decided to move back to Texas, where doing business was more affordable. So we had three months as a family to enjoy the island. We let go of plans to do most of the tourist things like scuba diving or visiting other islands, and instead we enjoyed a summer on the beach. 

At the time, we had a private beach to ourselves. Our rental home was across the street--literally--from a wooded patch that led to a beach. Now there is a huge parking lot, and the beach is much more widely used. In the summer of 1993, we had this entire beach mostly to ourselves. We would start and end each day with time in the water, and the hottest part of the afternoon we spent inside the house. It was very important to me to return to the beach where we spent so much time that summer.

And here is the home that we rented, just off the Kam Highway. It looks a little different with the gated entry and the wrap around porch, but once I matched the address, I could verify so many memories from this home.

In 1993, the Polynesian Cultural Center had its 30 year reunion. Lots of the original islanders that performed in 1963 returned from the islands to celebrate. Because of our lengthened stay in Laie, we were able to get a "locals" deal on attending the reunion performances held every night for a week, after the regular tourists left the performance. From what I remember, the reunion performance would begin at 10 pm each night. We spent so much time in this theater, and to be back in it 22 years later was very satisfying for me. 

This road has special meaning to our family, and I was so excited to see that after 22 years, it looks the exact same. When we went to Hanauma Bay as a family, we were leaving in the only vehicle that my Dad was able to rent to fit our entire family--a golden rod yellow 15 passenger van with a large metal eagle spanning the top of the windshield. We were a sight to behold. As we left Hanauma Bay, the Park ranger asked my Dad to pull over onto this little road, instead of leave the park on the main highway. Initially Dad thought he was mistaken, so he said, "Oh no, we're trying to head this way." The park ranger got a little gruff in his voice, and commanded Dad to pull over onto this road. We were wondering what was going on. Dad had to provide his ID and vehicle information. At some point, the park ranger let Dad in on the fact that he was being accuse of running an illegal tour group. You have to imagine my family at this time. We were stair step teenagers, and we all looked to be about the same age. We had ages 18, 17, 16, 15, 14 and 13--and apparently we looked more like a tour group than a family. Eventually Honolulu Police Department showed up, and the officer asked Dad for his license. Dad stuck by his story that we were a family, not  a tour group. When he opened his wallet to give the officer his license, Dad stopped to show the ranger and the officer his family picture--with all of these stair step teens. The HPD officer looked at it, poked his  head into the van (where we were eating our go-to lunch of PB&J while we drove), and he burst out laughing. The park ranger was mad. He didn't crack a smile, but the officer kept laughing like this was the funniest thing that had every happened to him. The officer let Dad go on his way without any more questioning, and that is a story for our family history--the day we were accused of being an illegal tour group.

Our summer in Hawaii was such a hallmark memory of my teenage years. I've wanted to return ever since with my family. I hope we get to return again. This place just keeps pulling me back to the little bit of heaven on Earth.

Polynesian Cultural Center

A must-do on Oahu is the Polynesian Cultural Center. We loved it.

Our first stop was the water parade. This was the day after DAvid's really bad sunburn, so he was a bit in a daze. So he enjoyed everything more than he let on to enjoy it. 

We were able to return a second day to visit more villages, which was something we enjoyed with just our little family. On the bonus day, we were able to ride on the canoes.

One of my favorite pictures of my boy, ever. He found his own niche, and was curious to see how everything worked on the canoe that we were in.

We were hot hot hot--all of the time. Daddy and Alina on the canoe on our bonus day.

Watching the Maori performance.

David was asked to duck down at the water parade, so he peeked between the bill on his hat and the rock ledge.

David loved the boiled bananas with coconut milk from the Samoa village. He wanted to keep going back for more!

Alina tried to get all the freedom she could and she occasionally pushed her own stroller around instead of riding in it.

They gave you a pole, bait, and you could see the fish . . . but no one was having any luck.

David tried fishing for a while, because the fish were just right there.

Alina wandered around while David fished.

She was entertained by these funny ducks that were up and down the canal.

Because feeling big is better than riding in a stroller.

We were told that a lady would give ukelele lessons. So we searched until we found the right spot, and David was not disappointed.

His sunburn was so sore this day, but he insisted on strumming the ukelele so he could learn some chordsl

That is his expression of complete content and happiness. He is thrilled, but that thrill is hidden behind his painful sunburn. He was so happy to be playing this ukelele. The lady kept teaching him more chords and songs, until finally it was time to wrap up and head to dinner.

There it is--he finally cracked a smile. His happiness won out over his misery.

A quick family photo in front of the 5 Hawaiian statues.

Here we are as a group at the evening show.

David was happy to meet the performer after the show.

Temple Reunion

One of the reasons that Hawaii was such the perfect place for the Sponseller family reunion was because this is where Nick and Peggy were stationed in the Navy when each of them joined the church, then they met and were married in the Laie temple.

It was a must-do on our list to return to the temple for pictures as a large family.

Of course David found some view points more enticing than others.

What could he have been looking at? Just a little closer . . . 

His cousin Evelyn was coaxed out to be with him, but I think she quickly returned to the lawn at her mother's encouragement.

One of Sam's favorite things is teasing his sister, Meri. So why not try to photobomb their family photo?

Our sweet children in paradise.