First I'd like to say Grandma Tuy made it on island last night safe and sound. We picked her up from the airport last night and the kids were SUPER excited. They gave her the tour of the house, showed them their bedrooms and played with her until bedtime. And then they got up super early this morning because they knew she was here.

I also got up early- I ran the Kapi'olani Womans 10k(6.2miles)  in Waikiki. It was for women only and a great time. I beat my goal and finished in 56 min. The run was around Diamond Head crater and by the ocean- it was so beautiful!  To get an aeriel view of my run click on the link to the right.  I ran it a lot faster than I thought I would and passed tons of people because I started out it back. I just have this competitive streak that comes out in races!

When I got dressed this morning for my run I thought to myself how my black running skirt and black tank top did a good job to hide my baby bump,- but then I saw myself from the side in a car window reflection as I was running--- yeah, I definitely have a belly- but not an obvious "pregnant" belly. A "gee, that girl needs to get on a diet" type of belly. I am thinking about running another 10k next month and if I do I will have to get a shirt that says "I'm not fat, I'm pregnant."

On friday I took all three kids white trash style to the hair salon. I needed  a hair cut. And with Chris working so much and the kids hardly in school (thanks, Hawaii school system) then came with me. I made sure to dress nice and put the kids in something descent (no swimsuits, at least) and I threatened them to within an inch of their lives. It went something like this:
 
"DO you SEE my hair? I NEED a haircut. You are all going to come with me and you will SIT in your chairs and BE QUIET. You will keep your hands to YOURSELVES. If you need to move you will ASK ME FIRST. If you do not comply there will be NO Christmas, birthdays or food for the REST of the DAY!" 

They were actually really good in the hair salon. Only one minor meltdown that I quickly resolved with one of my many "mom- threats". It was a successfully trip- my hair cut was great AND the stylist even said my kids were really well behaved.

Well, Chris is home today (Yippee!) So I am pretty sure we are going to go out and have some family fun.  I will post pictures later.

My house is a mess. Why of course you are all thinking, you do  have 3 children. But no, it is not due to the fact I have 3 children. It is do to this....

There are "Vagie debris" all over the house. Random article of clothing (she  changes 3 times a day!) Toys littering the stairs, in the kitchen, in the hallway. And not just TOYS. Vangie also gets entertainment out of things like getting all the toilet paper rolls out and so now I have 5 rolls of toilet paper in random places around the house. The other two schmittlings know  to pick up after themselves or risk the wrath of mommy. Vangie just doesn't care. She knows I am full of empty threats. She knows her cuteness can get her out of pretty much anything. Its gonna be a long, messy 15 more years of this kid.



Another Mess Maker is THIS thing....  See all the little food particles all over the floor? Stella takes her food all over the house. I am constantly vacuuming up her FOOD and her little white hairs. I am warning you, do not wear black here. I can wash her and I can brush her but she has hair that keep on shedding. She is lucky she occupies Vangie so much or she would have a first class ticket to dogpoundsville.

Another factor to my rapidly deteriorating house is my tub. The chaulking was starting to mildew so I told Chris I was going to re-chaulk it. It sounded so easy! Well, i spent at least two hours and countless tools- a razor, screwdrive, plilers, butter knife... trying to remove the old caulk. It was so hard. I got about 1/6th of it off- enough to not be able to quit but still such a long way to go. I gave up. I told Chris when he got home last night that I was just going to re-caulk the tiny bit that I got off and forget about it. He told me that he would take care of it. "You won't be able too, its too hard!" I called after him as he took a screwdriver and went upstairs. And your screwdriver is too big, It'll never work!" (I wasthe expert, having already tried everything all afternoon!) Well, Imagine my surprise (and delight) when Chris had ALL the caulk off in under one hour! His secret??? Elbow grease. (Which I was just fresh out of) It is obviously a mans job. Or I am obviously a spoiled woman. (probably a bit of both.)  But Chris looked so HOT removing the caulk I had to take a picture. (I do have the hottest husband in the world. Why else would we have 3.5 kids?? I tried to get him to take his shirt off but he wouldn't.)

So today I was going to RE-caulk the tub. Until I read on the label that touching it or inhaling it has been proven in California to cause birth defects. Okay , I know this is not California but Thor doesn't need any help srouting a few extra toes.  Chris can re-caulk when he gets home from work in 28 hours. (Isn't it funny how MY job turned into HIS job? Ha ha ha. )

I haven't been posting as many awesome pictures of Hawaii lately as I used too- being tired and sick on the couch has cut into my hiking/picture taking. So today I decided to take some pictures of some things that I see everyday. First, there is the view from my back sliding glass door...We are lucky in that we get a pretty



Unobstructed view. In the morning the sunshine glows behind them and it is very beautiful. Then I walk the kids to school and one of our favorite trees is this one:

It is a reaaaalllyyyyy tall palm tree. Then On the way back from school I began noticing all the different colors of flowers on the trees. First I noticed Yellow:
 

Then right across the street from our house is this beautiful tree with orange blossoms:  This orange tree is one of my favorites, it is so beautiful and tall. It peeks out over the tops of the houses. And lastly, on the sidewalk right outside is these white flowers which smell AMAZING. :So there you go, a little taste of Hawaii for all of you!

Well friends and family, we are still here. The tsunami fortunately did not materialize into anything dangerous or threatening. There was no flooding or damage at all. I have added a really cool time lapse video of Hilo Bay  ( on the Big Island) on the RIGHT. So click to see the water receding and then coming back in.

You know you are in Hawaii when you wake up to the tsunami siren! Actually I had no idea what it was- I opened the front door and stuck my head out thinking "what is that noise?"  Then I turned on the news and was like "Ahhhhhh, THAT'S what is was."   I checked the phone book and our house is NOT in an evacuation zone- thankfully. Even though I can see the ocean from the sidewalk out front, we are up on a hill and about 1.5 miles from the water.   I am SO THANKFUL we do not live in a mandatory evac zone- driving somewhere and parking all day with three kids and a dog would be too much- I think I would just take the kids upstairs and tempt fate.  

The estimate arrival time for the tsunami is 11:05am. Supposidly 5-10 waves lasting 5-15 min are expected to roll in. Chris went to the store to get bottled water, donuts (for him) and cottage cheese (for me).  I will keep you all updated as the day goes on.  We plan on just hanging out. Thankfully Chris is HOME from work today , othersise I would probably be freaking out, but since he is here I feel safer.