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January = not so many pictures :(

This pretty much represents all of the pictures I took in January. Pathetic. First up, I was stressed out and busy at Hazel's party and didn't take a single picture. Luckily, Ross stepped in a took a few. But, birthday #4 is going to be poorly represented. *sigh*

AND THEN!! the Sunday after Hazel's birthday (January 3, the day that will live in infamy), I woke up with a bum back/leg. Come to find out, I herniated my L5 disc. Awesome. Thus, I spent most of January trying to lie down. Except that it didn't always work because (a) I have a kid and (b) January is the busiest time of the year at work. I sucked it up enough to go to work and that was about it. I knew I was in trouble when Hazel clapped because "mommy is getting up". Little did she know, I was just getting up to pee. 2010 will be the year of the bad mommy*.

I had an epidural cortisone shot on Friday. The dye they shot into my back was apparently made of battery acid and snake venom but the cortisone was fine. Or I was still in pain numbness from the dye. Anyway, I can take my pain killers and anti-inflammatory meds again so I am doing better (or at least adequate) and tired of being a gimp. My right foot is regaining some feeling and movement but still trips me up. A lot.

Moving on. I have a few pictures.

Hazel's birthday party. I did not get a cake made but Costco came through and we decorated it with Playmobil mermaids.

Hazel loved everything she got for her birthday (half of which we stashed away for later)
Wig from my work white elephant party. Our maintenance guy ended up with it and did not want it (shocking) and was kind enough to let me have it. As expected, Hazel loves it.
She made a snowman at the library story time. We love the library. Dang, I should have taken a picture of Hazel and her new library card.
Swimming lessons are not going well.
Unicorn horn. She is obsessed with unicorns and made herself a horn from Play-doh.
Happiness at going to a tea party with Auntie Michelle (who was kind enough to take the Hazel while Geoff took me to the hospital to have a giant needle stabbed in my back.
And that is it for January. I vow to not let pain nor numbness slow me down in February. You hear that sciatica!! I am done with you and your lameness (ha!)

*Currently, she is not feeling great, with a vicious cough and has been throwing up from the coughing. I am tired of changing her, washing her and her clothes and whatever she spits up/barfs on so I am back her cough into a garbage can. It has been working great because I can just rinse it out. Still, I feel bad. But, she seems happy with the arrangement.

December (really, December)

I used up most of my sitting tolerance uploading pictures so there won't be a lot of writing. I tried to type on my beloved iPhone, but couldn't figure it out. So, I will just be quick.

We had fancy brunch at the Little America for Christmas. Hazel was extra fancy and wore her Cinderella dress.

Tayvia went regular fancy, not princess fancy.
The Santa was horrible. He had a weird look about him and wasn't very good with kids. Bad job, Little America.
Ha! My kid is a pill.
They had an awesome gingerbread house in the lobby.
Sometimes my kid is less of a pill.
Driving to my dad's on Christmas Eve. Hazel was exhausted and fell asleep. Being an awesome mom, I took a picture instead of removing the tiara. Also, I think I am currently driving on the freeway while taking this picture.
Jenni read Hazel a story.
Both Gloria and Hazel had crowns.
Cookies we made (from scratch!) for Santa.
Our stockings
Nova and Jenni spent the night too. Nova pondering eating the overbearing child.
Santa left us moustaches in our stockings.
Yeah! More food for Hazel's kitchen.
This is from a massive snowstorm we had on 12/30/09. Hazel went outside and played for at least an hour-and-a-half while I was working. A good break for both of us.
Cute!
My next goal is to get January's pictures uploaded. Including all the birthday pictures. Not today, however.

Maui Part 4: The "other" camera

We only have a few beach shots, as our waterproof camera broke. Gah!! It doesn't recognize the door as shut. I say we override the sensor but Geoff wants to send it in to be fixed. Pshaw.

Anyway, the beach. The beach is great. The weather was perfect. It was really a fabulous week. I cannot thank Geoff's aunt Susan enough for the use of her condo. The location was great and it was nice to have the full kitchen to cook.

We built many a sand castle.

They were necessarily pretty but they were big.
And we made a mermaid tail for the little mermaid child.
She was blissfully happy about it. Later, she had us dig a moat around it and then "fill it in". As if you can fill in a moat with a tiny sand bucket running back and forth to the ocean. Have I mentioned the sciatica?!?! Luckily, she was fairly happy with the just mermaid tail, as long as we kept her somewhat damp.
And here is where Geoff broke the camera. Or it spontaneously broke itself. Grr. At least he got a couple of nice fish shots.

Maui Part 3: There are a lot more pics on the card without 200 pictures of waves

Continued from the previous post, I loves me some jelly fish. And even more than that, I love this creepy shot with Geoff being reflected in the glass. And even MORE than that, I love the Geoff.
Okay, this is a less creepy shot.
Hazel played tour guide.

This is a shark.
That is a sting ray.
Moving on from the aquarium.

We went to Lahaina (and had a crazy delish shave ice from ummm.... random shave ice stand. Look for it!) And we saw the banyan tree. Oh, I am sorry I meant THE Banyan Tree. Blah blah blah banyan blah blah.
Awesome family shot with the time.
So, I like family shots. I like to see all of us and to have proof of our happy-family-ness. The last time we went to Hawaii was in 2006 (ack! so long) and we took this shot in Hosmer's Grove.

2006:
And a similar shot in the redwood forest in 2009.

2009:
Holy cow, we have all changed so much. Of course, the kids is 4x older so she has changed the most but still.

We also went to Santa's photo-opportunity-land in the Queen K's Mall. Alas, Santa was sick. But, we took a picture anyway. A prior day we saw another Santa at the Maui Mall and we was creeeeeepy. We have a picture. But a physical picture, not digital. Come to my house and I will show you. Technically, it is at my work, but I will bring it home for you.
Oh, this is at the redwood forest, I should move it. Not gonna.
We also went to Iao Valley to hike around (which is awesome when (a) I gots the sciatica and (b) we are facing a 5.5 hour plane ride and thus my sciatica will be even worse if I inflame it by walking around. Also, I am old.)

Moving on. We saw a cat that looked like Rufus.
And we played in the houses.

And Geoff carried Hazel on his shoulders. That is the Iao needle in the background.
And, of course, we made Hazel keep up on her studies since she missed so many days of preschool.

I have a couple more shots from the little camera. But I am trying to boost my post count. Mwa hahahahaha

Maui Part 2: The kid (not just waves)

Hookipa overlook.

I made this awesome dress for Hazel. I wish I had a full body shot of it, because it is truly adorable. Hopefully, it will still fit her in the summer and she can wear it again.

We also went to the aquarium.
Where Hazel learned to shoot water out of her fingertips.
And we saw the jelly fish. I love the jelly fish. There is a big tube of them in a dark room and they are awesome. It is my favorite part, hands down.
Hazel liked the sharks, and the aquarium tube.
Shaka.
But still plenty of attitude.
Okay, I have more, but I am uploading now.

Maui Vacation Post #1

So the story starts out while I am unloading a plane. I notice a bunch of well protected equipment going to LAX that will be connecting to my flight to Maui later that day. At first I thought it was a band, but it looked more like filming equipment.

Several hours later, I find myself heading on a plane bound for Maui, and luck would have it that I am sitting across the aisle from guys talking about some sort of film project. I ask them if the equipment I saw earlier was theirs (it was) and asked them about their project. They told me that some of their crew left France earlier that day so they could be there to shoot Jaws. The biggest swell in 40 years was supposed to be hitting, so film crews and professional big wave surfers were making the voyage to Maui to surf Jaws.

I knew where we were going the next morning. Yep that's right - Supercuts to get the whole family new do's....... No no no! That was a test to see if you were really paying attention. We were off to Jaws! Not an easy trek. Its about a 2 mile hike through cane fields if you don't have 4 wheel drive. We parked and started to walk in and someone offered us a lift. We were not so lucky on the way out. Anyway you are here to see the pics, so without further ado, behold the awesome power of nature! (click on each pick for a larger image)

I love the spray on this one!

Another one of my favorite shots.

A behind the scenes look. Multiple jet ski / surfer pairs, 3 helicopters, supply and filming boats.

Say cheese!

Perhaps one day I will see the footage this guy took of me.

Two surfers, a helicopter, and a monster wave!

They were doing this for 3 days. I took pictures for 45 minutes. I doubt I filmed the biggest wave, but it was still amazing to watch, hear, and feel these rare waves in person. Jaws only breaks during the winter season, and only under the right conditions. I am doubtful that I will ever witness this again.