Sea Turtles, Sand Castles, Sunsets, and a Full Moon Rising...

and it all happened in just a half an hour this evening!!

(between 6:30p and 7:00p)

WOW!!

The sea turtle came ashore for sunset...Staser thought it was pretty cool!

His sand castle was also pretty cool... And we turned around just in time to catch the full moon rising...

How cool was that!!

A perfect cool day on Kauai!

Then we were off to get a shave ice!

It was so scrumptous!

Another Island Car is making it's debut!

My husband saw a similar car at the craft show

last weekend and thought it woud be a fun car to

tool around in here. He kept buggin' me about the

idea until I finally looked at Craigs' List to see

if any were around...and low and behold,

there was one...it had just been posted...

looked really sweet...price was right...

so now it has a new home in our jungle.

Cute, huh!!!

perfect car to drive the beautiful road

between Wainiha and Hanalei!

(p.s. hope it doesn't leak when it rains though!)

"Christmas Tree" Bush

That's not it's real name...but it's what I have affectionately named it.
I just read that it only blooms in the summer months in the northern hemisphere...
it is native to the southern hemisphere...
however, the University of Hawaii horticulturalists are attempting to develop a
December blooming for the floral Christmas decoration business.
So I'm not the only one who thinks this is a "Hawaiian Christmas Tree"...only in June!
In the floral world...it is a "scarlet heliconia"...also known as a "hanging lobster claw".
It seems like overnight the flower appears...with it's brilliant red and yellow color...
and the edges painted with a hint of green.
Then, magically, each day the petals start to open up...

And then...magically...it looks like a Christmas tree!

It's amazing!

All things [truly do] denote there is a God

Look What Moved into The Neighborhood Yesterday!

Hanalei neighborhood...to be precise.

It all happens in just a few hours that

these "movie sets" move into town.

(It happens a lot here...for instance...

since January...there have been film

crews here for 3 different films. George

Clooney was here in March...we all tried

to catch a glimpse!)

I read online that the filming for the new

"Pirates of the Carribean" began here last week.

Parts of it are being filmed on the NaPali Coast. No wonder I've been hearing so many

helicopters fly over our place! The NaPali Coast

is just 5 minutes down the road from us.

It's our favorite place for incredible sunsets!

What an amazing backdrop for a movie!

I'm sure you'll agree...it's a beautiful place to work!

Set includes trailers for the stars...
A tent to serve food to the film crews...

I'll have to keep my eyes open for Johnny Depp!

All is well in Paradise!

It was brought to my attention this morning that

I haven't done a blog post since April 12th!!

Wow!! I thought to myself...where did the

time go this last 7+ weeks...what did I do?!

It's a cloudy, rainy day today...

good day to blog...so here's a quick recap...

Right after my last blog, our faithful and trusty

island car broke down. It's an older car, so the

tiny part that broke had to be ordered in from

the mainland (name used by us locals to identify

the other 49 states). It took almost 2 weeks!

That's when you really know you live in the

jungle. Timing is always bad when your car

breaks down. We were busy packing for an extended

adventure which would take us to the

"mainland" (Utah) for family events, and then to China.

(another "mainland")

It's takes too long to explain "why", suffice it to say...we accompanied

The Raging Red Choir from Dixie State College, (located in St. George, Utah),

on it's China tour to Shanghai, Hangzhou, Beijing, and Qingdao.

We came back exhausted!! In 10 days, they did 9 performances...

they were way more exhausted then us! But they're young...right.

Since we've been back, Lar and I have both had computer issues.

Mine was minor...fortunately...and was an easy fix...

But Lar's was major...with lots and lots of hours on the phone with

tech support...missing a few naps, and not sleeping very well...

New parts are on their way for the old computer...

Also...a new computer is on it's way to the Jungle Cabana...

Our computers are our everything here.....

phone, tv, internet, video conferencing with the grandkids...

It's our big time link to all of you!!

So, they have to work!!

We've still been doing our QiGong 3 days a week.

Our weather has been stunningly gorgeous.

So, even with all the stuff that has broken and tried to discourage us...

All I do is get in our car and drive to Hanalei...

that 5 miles which takes me 10 mintues...is the

most stunning stretch of road anywhere!

It puts everything back into perspective.

I just can't get discouraged.

All really is well in Paradise!

Cleaning the floors---Hawaii Style

"New slippers" you may ask...

"Yes" I would answer...

But not the "kine" to wear to the beach.

This "kine" I wear around our cabana to clean the floor!

With my 409 in hand...I'm off to "dance" around our cabana...

and clean the floor!
I really can multi-task now!
It's the only way to clean...no more hands and knees stuff!
Just "Arthur Murray" my way around the cabana...Hawaii style!
Yes...living in the jungle...the floors get very dirty!
Yes...my cleaning slippers really do work!

More Road Signs....

2 more signs went up this week...
A Happy one...!

And a not so happy one... (I'm getting a little concerned about the safety of our street.)

Road Signs

This is the road we live on.
For me...the island flavor of this road is it's "road signs"
Here we go down the road........

I've always wondered who put up some of the signs.........
(I feel fairly confident in saying it wasn't the city)

Just about every palm tree or phone pole has a sign...........

Keep reading.........the story continues in the following post

Road Signs continued...

This sign is in front of our neighbor's house. His family has lived on this road for generations. I'm sure there is more traffic now than generations before, and the traffic will continue to increase for generations to come. His kids will probably live on this road when they grow up.

Then you turn into our driveway...this is our sign. I recently did a facelift on our sign with some gorilla glue and a fresh coat of paint. (all facelifts should be so easy when you get run down & old!) However...the sign of all signs
was just posted last week on the palm tree along the road in front of the first house on the road. This has now become my favorite sign of all!

A few days later...this last sign came out. I LOVED IT!! It cheered up my whole day! Yeh!!

I learned so much.....

Thank you for not just pouting and blaming and being resentful and angry...

Thank you for asking....
Thank you for receiving...

Thank you for showing your gratitude and saying "Thank you".

It was so simple...it is so simple.
Thank you for sharing your gratitude

How much would you pay???

Let me start off by saying, I wasn't "paying" attention when we purchased this candy bar yesterday.

The store clerk was raving about how incredible it was, and we definitely got caught up in the moment!

They actually print their mission statement on the inside of the wrapper...I've never seen that before. I read it. I learned a lot about chocolate and the production that goes on behind the scenes.
So, I was really getting into all the science and nutrition of chocolate and that the bar provides an ideal protein and perfect source of nutrition to fuel our bodies and minds...until I read the last sentence..."The less sugar the better"...

I ask myself....why eat a chocolate bar and pay $8.99+tax and not have the enjoyment of sugar! You really have to like the cacao bean to justify paying that much for a candy bar.

Just my opinion...it didn't do much for me!

Our Jungle Cabana

Lots of you have been asking me...about our cabana...so here it is!I added pictures of Hanalei...(the little town where our mail is delivered).I also added pictures of the beachesnearby that we love so much.I threw in a picture of Lar flying over the taro fields of Hanalei in the trike.The local flora are all flowers on thecabana property.ENJOY!! I don't know why this is a black screen...just click the play button to change the screen & start the video :))

Malasadas

This last Wednesday night, our YW activity was to learn how to make malasadas.
I was so excited! I love malasadas!

My love for malasadas began during my flying days...
specifically, the ten years that I only flew to the islands of Hawaii...
(eight round trips a month...flying to any one of the islands...Oahu, Maui, Kauai, Hawaii)
(I got paid to do this! It was definitely some of the best flying of my career.)

Anyway...back to malasadas...
The flight attendants who were from the islands turned us all onto malasadas.
If we had a morning departure from Honolulu, they always had our van driver stop by Leonard's Bakery on the way to the airport so we could pick up freshly baked malasadas.
It was heavenly!
So, when I found out I was going to learn how to make them, I was so excited!
It brought up so many fond memories of those days. They turned out sooo good.
So, I was curious about the history behind malasadas...

In 1878, Portuguese laborers from the Madeira and Azores came to Hawaii to work in the plantations.
These immigrants brought their traditional foods with them, including a fried dough pastry called the "malasada".
Mardi Gras ("Fat Tuesday"), the day before lent, is also known as Malasada Day in Hawaii.
Being predominantly Catholic, Portuguese immigrants would need to use up all of their butter and sugar prior to lent. They did so by making large batches of malasadas, which they would subsequently share with friends from all the other ethnic groups in the plantation camps. This led to the popularity of the malasada in Hawaii.

So, hooray for lent!

WaLa!!!!!!!

Introducing.....

Makenzie Maxine Gibson

arrival day: February 7, 2010 (Superbowl Sunday!)

arrival time: 12:29pm

weighing in at 7lbs 14oz

18 inches long

(The time on the clock is 3:47pm on Feb.7)

(I'm a very lucky grandma!)

Mom and Dad are very proud parents!
Many thanks go to Sean's parents for taking care of
their son, Brennan...making it possible for me to be with

my daughter and new granddaughter for this beautiful event!
I think this is as good as it gets!