THURSDAY - AND READY TO SLEEP - KICKIN' IN KAUAI

Chickens of Kauai:

We considered a scuba trip for Thursday, but thought that we might be too tired after our fun in Oa(boo)hu so we decided to stay close to home. I was glad we did. We had such a fabulous, relaxing day! We were starting to feel like we were going to go home from Kauai more exhausted than we were when we got there!

We started our day by exploring the Point at Poi'pu. Since that is where we were staying, it was a natural progression.

About four or five sea turtles greeted us. Do you realize how hard it is to get a picture of a sea turtle whilst in the sea? So hard! But after about 800 shots I got this.

Hallo there!

Scaly purple thingies on the rocks. Larry touched one and it did not sting him and he did not die. Our scuba instructor was VERY clear - don't touch anything! This is one area where I follow the rules and Larry does not.

Hello to my rock-loving hunny...

AGGGGGHHH! Who else is in there?

Heaven ... he's in heaven ...

More sea creatures:

Fingery thing.

I cannot remember what kind of fish this is but it looks like an eel but is really a fish.

Dead crab under Larry's foot. Gross.

This was in the tide pools but I think I saw something like this in a moldy closet in one of my apartments on my mission. The Pullman apartment - for Elizabeth and Jill, who lived there, too.

This black crab was wicked fast and JUMPED to the rock on the right side of the photo. We saw a TON of those black crabs. Creepy little dudes. On the lava rocks you can barely see them.

If you turn your back on the ocean, this is what you see. How beautiful!

Larry and Tracy exploring ... Charmaine and I waiting for something to happen ...

This is where I lovingly tease (just a little) my smarty-pants husband who thinks pocket protectors are a good idea, if only they were flexible, but doesn't actually wear one:

A rock. He explains to us the unique nature of the rock and it's something or rathers ....

And more from Professor Larry.

While we were exploring look what the boys nearly stumbled on:

Can you see it?

Now can you?

Hello happily sleeping monk seal. Did you have a big day in Oa(boo)hu yesterday, too?

We watched him forever. As the tide came in, he moved farther up on shore. Those rocks tore a hole in my pants, just from me sitting down, and he inched his way over them on his tummy. Tough skin.

Took a little swim and then settled farther up on the rocks.

My hat hair. And the seal behind me. We left him to sleep.

So lush and green. And yikes! Bees!

I'm allergic, so bees aren't my favorite. I know they want to kill me.

After the morning walk we went to Spouting Horn.

A very unstable spouting horn who did it's best spouting when we were swearing about the lame picture we just took.

We tried to trick it by moving to another location, but it was on to us.

Banana spider at the Spouting Horn kiosk shops where they sell everything made in China. By the way, banana spiders are not poisonous. They don't have to be. They are so big and scary looking that you have a heart-attack when you see it.

OF COURSE we had to stop at Puka Dog again:

Look at those smug looks - like we thought we could eat like this every day. How I wish ...

And of course I gulped down the fresh lemonade.

At the end of the Puka Dog I always have a little bit of bread so Larry throws it to the birds and chickens. (Of course we saw Spanky and PonyBoy and their hookers again, but Colonel Sanders was no where to be seen. Maybe he was someone's dinner.)

Haha! Look at this shot! That little tiny bird beat out two big chickens and Spanky to get the bread.

Here is your pretty flower picture of the day:

You are welcome. And yes, I took it. Check out the cool end of the stamina thingy. (I don't know flower terms.)

With full bellies we were off to Poi'pu beach for some swimming. It was cold and raining. Most people left the water. It was nice to us. I was still freezing when Larry took this picture, but warmed up. We had blue fish that were swimming around our feet that were about 12 inches long! It was awesome! Note to self - bring snorkle stuff with you EVERY where you go!

After the beach we booked it out to Polihale State Park for the sunset. The road was washed out over the winter and they just fixed it. There we discovered that my camera was foggy from all the humidity. Bummer. I do kind of like the etheral look:

And the actual look:

It's nice to just sit on the beach and watch the sun go down. Very nice.

The sun was setting in front of us, but this is what was behind us. It was remarkable the way the greens changed colors as the sun set. Of course, the picture is a lame attempt to show you that.

So long Nice Day! Thanks for the awesome sunset!

On the way back, in the dark we succumbed to the temptation to check out a sugar cane plant.

Larry was the brave one.

Now THAT'S A KNIFE! (name the movie)

Only one day left!!!!!! Where did the time go?!

WEDNESDAY - AND DROWSY - OA(BOO)HU

Wednesday morning we hopped a plane to Oahu with the intention of seeing Pearl Harbor, USS Arizona, and the Polynesian Cultural Center. We only saw 6 chickens all day in Oahu. That is NOTHING compared to Kauai. I couldn't even bring myself to take a picture of one.

We should have known where our day was headed when I realized that I forgot that I had made reservations for a car in Tracy's name. While we finding a car (and not ever my brain) I saw this sign and "Grace" is still giving me nightmares!

We figured it out and our car even had a gecko in so that's good luck, right?

At last! Tracy gets to drive again!

At last! We kick it in the backseat.

We went to the USS Arizona and Pearl Harbor first thing in our day.

Here we all are in front of the anchor. Guess how much it weighs? How'd you guess?! 19,585 pounds is right!

We got our ticket times and then we watched a movie about WWII and Pearl Harbor. I had this really HUGE thought while I was watching the movie and I am going to share it with you. You are SO welcome. I know it will change your life. Where was I?

Oh, yeah, huge thought.

So, as most of you know I am really close friends with a Hawaiian, Kuulei, and her family. She teaches my kids hula, I sew the costumes for her AMAZING Luaus (she thinks I am sewing right now -shhhhh, don't tell her!) She has a brother who wants to be king of Hawaii and wants Hawaii to secede from the Union. She has explained in her eloquent language all the damage done by the white man to the Hawaiians and how the US doesn't care about Hawaii, except for it's military strength and so on. Poor Queen Liliuokalani only wore black after her country was taken away and she was imprisoned. The US illegally took the country and on and on.

Basically, I have felt pretty bad about that. Not that I had anything to do with it, but we did kind of take over a little country doing it's best to survive. While I watching this movie I had an epiphany:

Hawaii was destined to be taken over. It is too centrally located. It was not a matter of if it could be conquered, it was a matter of when and who would do it. It could have been the Japanese, Chinese, Russians, but it was the United States and WE are a free country. This way the gospel could be preached and they can worship who or how they want. They still have freedom. They even have the freedom to protest being free.

Gosh. That just doesn't sound as good as I thought it. But it was a big moment for me.

Visiting the USS Arizona was a very good, very sobering experience.

So. This is the USS Arizona Memorial from the boat.

And at the landing dock.

The pier where the boat was docked.

One of the gun turrets is still above water.

There is a store at the Memorial waiting area and I found a die cast model of the kind of airplane my Great-Grandpa flew in WWII so I bought one and when we came I told the kids, "Remember how Great-Grandpa Harding flew a plane in WWII and got his thumb shot off?" The kids all nodded their heads. I said, "Guess what I found at the store?"

Daniel said, "Grandpa's thumb?"

Well, now, a die cast model of the plane isn't nearly as cool as that.

Then we went to the Aloha stadium for the swap meet. We were only there for one hour. We ate plate lunches from some little trailer that was totally nasty. We did not get sick. Miraculous! I could eat plate lunches all day long.

We then drove to My plastic surgeon is better than your plastic surgeon Waikiki Beach. We weighed too much to even get out of the car. The best part was all these really old trees in the park across the street.

The roots grow down from the branches. It's awesome.

A rare sight - a tree without a garbage can or mostly naked people under it.

Please park your car right under the coolest tree, even though there are parking spaces all around you...

After playing around in Honolulu, we decided to head to Laie for the Polynesian Cultural Center. We started up the short road (there are only two ways to get there -the long way and the short way. Traffic is a two-lane, winding road. It was slow from the start but it got progressively slower as the day went on...

Until we stopped, cars in front and behind us for as long as we could see. People were walking back from in front of us and walking faster next to us.

I started taking pictures of signs, as we contemplated, we are only 10 miles from Laie, do we stay on this road and wait for it to clear, or do we go ahead and turn around and drive BACK and then around the long way?

This was our awesome view for a VERY VERY long time. I was relaxed, I was good. We were in Hawaii! It's not like we were hungry or hot or cold or uncomfortable. It's Hawaii! Even being stuck in traffic is better than the mainland, right?

Right?

Eventually, we talked to some people walking back, they had left their tour bus, to walk back 4 - 7 miles to catch a different one. They told the people on the bus that if they waited it would be at least 4 hours for the next bus to make it. Apparently two oil tankers collided head on and closed both sides of the road. For hours. We turned around.

And took the long way, which was breath-takingly beautiful!

SOOOOO pretty!

Here is your pretty flower picture for the day. You are welcome.

We FINALLY made it to the Laie temple!

Even under construction it was beautiful! We talked to the sister missionaries and I thought was a great gig a mission to the Laie Temple Visitors Center would be! You even get to wear a mu'umu'u so who cares if you eat too much for dinner?

Then we hustled over to the PCC to see what was left of the day ...

I think everyone who has gone to the PCC has a picture like this from the Samoa village. Very funny show!

We stopped by Tonga and played this game. I can't remember what it's called, you throw big dried beans and try to knock off other dried beans. It's kind of like shuffle board. I wish they sold it, we would have bought it!

Next was the Luau.

Here are the manly men pulling the pig out of the ground. Rachel would have drown in her own drool there were so many Hawaiin chocolates there!

Everyone knows Cousin Benny, right? Cousin Benny grew up across the street from Kuulei and he is better than her brother. I wish I had known that before we left, maybe he could have helped us out with the rest of our trip.

We watched the luau dancers and I was impressed.

Impressed with Kuulei and the Luaus she throws up here. Our girls may be haole but they dance at least as good, if not better, than everyone that we saw. And the food is just as good, too.

I'm sorry. I still don't like poi or lomilomi salmon. I LOVED everything else. Especially the sweet potato salad. I could eat that all day. And the dinner rolls. And purple is my favorite color.

Relaxed, happy, slightly sunburned.

We got the pineapple drink with pina colada inside. Yum! You can tell by Larry's face he has already realized something that I am refusing to face.


It was going to take as long to get back to the airport as it took to get to Laie (more than an hour) and we had to return the car to the Alamo who's theme is "hay bra ... whach you hurry fa?"

I began to cry.

We left without seeing the nightshow.

It breaks my heart. And here is why: Not just because I wanted to see it and I am spoiled that way. (I'm not.) I lived in Hawaii when I was little. My dad at the Church College there and he ran the lights and sounds for the PCC back it was tiny. My mom learned Tahitian dancing and basket weaving and stick dancing and poi balls and all kinds of stuff. The Polynesian culture has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I really wanted to see all the villages and the night show because I remember so little, but kind of remember a lot. If that makes sense.

And maybe I was tired.

And deeply disappointed.

Heartbroken in Hawaii is not any much better than heartbroken anywhere else.

Like anywhere else, tomorrow is a better day.

TUESDAY - I'M DAPPLED ... NAPALI COAST AND FORBIDDEN ISLAND AND PUKA DOGS!

Chickens of Kauai:

We found this little lady at the Puka Dog where she was being chased relentlessly by the roosters you will meet later in the post. She must work out. Check out her legs! Hubba hubba!

We started out on a 90 mile Catamaran ride across the Napali Coast, over to Niihau (the Forbidden Island), snorkeling near Lahue, then back to Port Allen.

We listened to the instructions. Our captain was very funny.

Charmaine did NOT like getting splashed and opted for the indoor ride.

Larry and I discovered that we could walk out to our left in that picture and be right at the end of the boat and catch the wind and the waves. We got soaked but we loved it.

This is what the sky looked like as we left...

We saw whales from afar and then the dolphins were everywhere!

EVERY.WHERE.

Do you know how hard it is to catch a dolphin jumping? They are very very good at it!

I did get them blowing their ... blowholes (?) a few times. They sound like Larry does when he snores.

And then the sun came out! Notice the lighter blue water. That was the only thing that changed - the sun!

See how that one in the upper corner is actually spinning? Maybe that is one reason these are called spinner dolphins.

This is where I gratuitously put more pictures of dolphins on my blog because they were so cool!

Look at these three amigos! You could also see the ocean floor at time when the sun was out. Too cool!

We also saw a mama whale and it's baby. Too cute. No pictures.

The clouds broke away just long enough for us to get to see the Napali Coast.

Remember yesterday when we were in the clouds? We were at the top of these mountains.

To give you an idea of scale:

You could place the Empire State building on top of that green grass and it would still be shorter than the mountain behind it.

You know by now - Larry's favorite - a cave that is actually a tunnel! We also saw some sea turtles here but we didn't get any pictures of them. Yes, the water was that blue.

In the cave. LOVING this cruise!

Here is Tracy, also known as Tugra, our dot-indian tour guide.

And another cave. Happy Larry not pictured.

The clouds came back in. This location was where they used to bury the chiefs. It still is accessible only by canoe, or kayak.

Our tour guide/captain told us that there is a legend to these hills. One of the goddesses who had children, let them play on earth, at night, while the humans slept. They had to come back before sunrise. One night they did not come back in time and she turned them into these hills that are pictured above.

I wonder if my kids grew up on that story, would they listen to me better?

This is where we went snorkeling. I had a cheap, disposable water camera. If I ever get the FILM DEVELOPED (?!) I will be sure to get a disk so I can put the pictures up on here.

This is keyhole rock on Lahue. The guy on the right hand of the picture lost his breakfast and lunch.

The forbidden island where about 150 people now live, pure Hawaiian, and speak Hawaiian. They don't want to be bothered by anyone.

On our way back we saw a whale ... frolicking ... in the ocean!

So we saw one fin and were like, WOW!

Then he jumped a bunch of times for us!

And did some dives. We were agog!

As we pulled away - the captain had an afternoon cruise to do - he began flipping both of his fins, while lying on his back! It was so cool!

Here is your pretty flower picture for the day.

We went back to the resort absolutely EXHAUSTED. We all napped and then headed out to Puka Dog for ... puka dogs!

Okay, these are fabulous! I am kicking myself for not buying some of their papaya relish!

I don't like hotdogs, but I could eat these all day!

The buns are totally cool - they are like round bread - not cut on one side, but with a hole in the middle and they drop the dog down the hole. I also recommend getting a fresh-squeezed lemonade. Perfect!

It was at Puka Dog that we met Spanky, PonyBoy and Colonel Sanders.

Here Pony Boy (who was injured on his leg - had a big thing sticking out of the middle of it) chased Spanky for messing with his woman (or the village hooker - it was hard to tell and I don't want to judge).

Colonel Sander oversaw the entire outfit.

Okay, I can't even look at this next picture without laughing out loud!

Spanky had a very peculiar crow and I was so pleased that Charmaine got the shot right at the end of it - as he began gasping. Instead of cock-a-doodle-do it was cock-a-doodle-cough-choke-hack-wheeze. I will have to figure out how to add an audio file, if it can be done and I'll have Larry imitate it for you. Better! Maybe the O'Donnals got it on disc.

A fabulous day!

MONDAY - ... NO PROMISES TO KEEP ... WAIMEA CANYON

Chickens of Kauai:

We met this young chap at one of the lookouts near Waimea Canyon.

Tuesday morning we got up and drove across the island to Waimea Canyon.

On the way we ate Lapperts icecream.

I am kind of an icecream snob. I am not tempted by off brands. This icecream was so smooth and creamy and cold... oh, so delish! We looked at the view as we drove and ate our icecream:

This picture is for my mom. It is a wall that was made by ancient Hawaiians. How many times in my childhood did I hear, "Look kids, there's an ancient wall made by the indians!"

Much like my mom can spot a wall a mile away, Larry finds caves. You can see why he delighted in this section of the road!

In Hanapepe there is this statue of the notorious Captain James Cook.

According to our kayak guide (still to come) the first time Cook came to Hawaii he wiped out 75% of the population with the white man diseases. The second time he killed off 1/3 of the 25% that survived his first landing with more disease. The natives showed their love for him by eating him.

So we drove up Waimea Canyon and we did the hikes to the lookouts.

We viewed Niihau and promised to visit her and her little friend, the rock Lehua, the next day.

When we got to Puu Hinahina lookout - wow! What a scene!

As we drove all the way to the end of the road we were enveloped in clouds.

At first it wasn't bad but then we really got into it:

Clouds are wet and cold. What is the difference between fog and clouds? I don't know, but these were clouds because we could see them and they blew across the trail and came back in.

Clouds make it so you can't see the other side of the canyon - or the sides right below you.

It was a little disconcerting, not being able to see, but the clouds so thick they looked solid.

We hiked down a trail that looked like this for about half an hour.

Here's another shot of what the "trail" looked like.

With Tracy around we didn't only hike.

Tif and Charmaine on the trail.

I caught Larry and Tracy behaving!

On the way back down the mountain and around the island we saw this cool little stopping point:

To be truthful, it was hard to miss what with the seventeen rental cars all pulled off to the sort-of side of the road and all the people climbing around.

I think it was worth the wait.

Those purple Keens will forever be slightly orange on the stitching. I wish I had gotten a red dirt t-shirt. Did you know that the Red Dirt t-shirt company uses only one gallon of red dirt mud to dye 500 shirts?!

We hustled back to the resort for scuba lessons.

It was super fun and our teacher was like a mini-me Jim Carey, his facial expressions and jokes. We were cracking up.

Like I really believe that Bacto crap kills off all the germs in the masks? I am sure that I will get an unidentified lip fungus from that situation. Or swine flu.

Another pretty flower for your viewing pleasure.

SUNDAY - I'VE GOT NO DEEDS TO DO...

Chickens of Kauai.

I am going to make a photobook called that. They are everywhere. There are several stories about why. First of all, there are no mongoose on Kauai. Chickens are a favorite snack of the mongoose. Second, Kauai is 80% Philippino. In the Philippines they still do cock-fighting so it has carried over to Kauai, where it is illegal, of course, but since the police are related to most of the offenders nothing gets done. Third, the roosters are out because of a big hurricaine that blew through and let them out of their cages. Now they are the rats of Kauai.


Sunday we went to church in Lihue because we heard that it was really cool there. It was. First, it took us FOREVER to find the chapel. After Sacrament Meeting they asked all the visitors to stand. Then the ward members went to the front of the chapel and sang a beautiful song in Hawaiian and the Relief Society presidency went around and gave us all leis made out of yarn. We stayed for all three meetings and they were very nice. The boys (Larry and Tracy) wanted to go on their Father-Son Camp Out which was on a beach.

After church we headed up the east side of Kauai to the Northside.

And it should be said that traveling with Larry and Tracy was often like having twin deacons in the car. Or twin seven year olds.

But Tracy pointed out that it would have been really boring with out their energy and that is sooooo true.

This is Larry and me at Hanalei Valley lookout. Then we drove down the hill and there were all these one lane bridges with signs that said, "Hawaiian courtesy is seven cars." The problem is car number eight doesn't know that seven cars have already driven by. But who cares? It's Hawaii!

This is us on the lookout near Sunset Beach. It's a fast trip to the bottom behind us.

Dry cave. So cool.

Then we played in the water, sort of. We didn't bring swimming suits (on the day trip) and it was Sunday ...

but we got wet.

Larry in the jungle near Dry cave. We were eaten alive by mosquitoes and Larry found a cane spider and I got my hair in it's web. Believe me, it was not my happiest moment!

A pretty flower. It is unbelievable how many flowers there are there. They just LINE the roads. It is like ... I don't know ... amazing!

Onto Wet Cave. Which is wet ... a scummy pond. Larry found three other geo-geeks to discuss rock formations, etc. with while we were pondering the pond and so he was very happy.

We went to Ke'e beach - which is the end of the road. Literally. The road dead ends at the beach and you have to walk around the rest of the island.

It was here, in the parking lot of Ke'e Beach that we met Stubby. He was our first named Rooster, and believe me we saw hundreds. Only a few got named. If you can't see why Stubby is so named, click on the picture to make it big.

We went to Ke'e Beach with the plan to do the hike to the Napali Coast before sunset. We were told it was "about 2 miles". When we got there, the map said it was 11 miles - one way! We didn't have time for that. Thank goodness Larry wanted to look at the map to see where we would be going before we left, I just wanted to head up the trail. That is the way we do most things in life, by the way. Me - headed out and him pausing to read the instructions. We are a good match.

Since the hike was out we explored Ke'e beach. Check out this ginormous tree! Specifically, the roots on this tree. Too cool.

I accidentally took this picture while putting my camera away, and then I liked it ...

We saw a monk seal taking a nap!

There are only 1300 of these left in the world. They are officially endangered and you aren't supposed to touch them when they are on the beach because 1 - they will smash you and 2- (and perhaps more importantly) they need their sleep. They can only sleep on the land, so if they can't get enough rest they swim and drown. So sad.

This guy was not disturbed by the crabs that were crawling near him or the people that came over to watch him - all of them from behind the police tape, very respectfully. He snoozed on. Sweet dreams!

Here we are, with the Napali Coast behind us, waiting for the sun to set.

The sunset!

One week in Hawaii is like one day on the Mainland. It went so fast!

I am taking the blogging of it one day at a time - much more managable this way!

SATURDAY - FEELING GROOVY - ARRIVE IN KAUAI

I was TOTALLY hoping to find one of these for a souvenir! And if it could be a lamp - even better! But I couldn't find one! When did they stop painting coconuts! How rude!

We flew from Spokane to Seattle to Honolulu to Kauai. Crazy, no?

The view of the clouds over the ocean. I totally recommend Hawaiian airlines. The O'Donnals and us compared our flight experiences and Hawaiian kicked it on Delta.

As we flew to Honolulu I got this shot of what I think is Diamond Head and Pearl Harbor.

Chickens of Kauai:

Chickens chickens chickens. Everywhere!

Larry and I arrived a few hours before the O'Donnals and so we drove to the nearest beach - Lydgate State Park and walked along the beach. Since the timeshare is Tracy's and Charmaine's, we had to wait to pick them up to check out our digs for the week:

The view from our lanai at the Point at Poi'pu.

We had a convertible for the week, which was a lot of fun for us. I mean, neither of us has ever had one and we don't rent cars enough for this to be common place.

After we checked into the resort we drove back to Lihue, to Costco and WalMart.

It was kind of funny because we ended up coming to WalMart almost every day - more bonine (for Catamaran trip - excellent idea), more sunscreen, Solarcaine, that kind of stuff. There were other stores and little markets but I just couldn't stomach the thought of paying $8 for 4 bonine. We were pleasantly surprised that at Costco the prices were the same that they are in Spokane, including the gas for the car.

The first night at WalMart we saw these baby wild boars. Every time we went after that we looked for them. There are also a TON of feral cats.

One night we saw a lady putting out dishes of milk for the cats. The boars would come over and eat the milk and she was trying to chase them off. It was pretty funny. I thought I had a picture of her, but I can't find it now. Bummer.

When we were looking for something we asked the guy in the far left corner of this picture (totally cut off) where it was and he told us, "Go tree mile back" and pointed. After that we called this the "tree mile store". Late at night things looked VERY suspicious. Dark tinted windowed cars, hands in and out of pockets, looking around.

Here is the pretty flower picture of the day. I didn't take it.

THE LONGEST TRIP

First of all, let me say, I LOVE THIS BAG!! It is absolutely the most fabulous traveling bag EVER. Thank you, Anna Maria, for designing it! Thank you, Mom, for teaching me to sew! Thank you, Tina Givens for the fabulous fabric design!

Back to the trip:

Last Friday morning at 4:30 AM Dad Sant drove me to the Spokane Airport where I boarded my plane to Denver and talked the entire way to a very nice auditor who was expecting her first baby. I sipped my Starbucks signature hot chocolate, ate my cinnamon swirl coffee cake and we talked about the economy, politics, babies, stay at home vs. working, church, families, etc. We didn't always agree but we were nice and it was a blast.

LOVELY. ALL BY MYSELF. A BIG GIRL. ME.

In Denver I got my boarding pass, joked with the airline workers until they laughed and smiled and treated me like a human being and walked around lugging my HEAVY carry-on because I didn't want to deal with check-in. It was fine. It was fun. A mechanic's truck pulled up outside the plane we were to board and activity began. This is where my new BFF's at the airline desk confidentially told me that the coffee machine on board wasn't working, but they announced it was a water issue, it was really the water getting to the coffee maker, every thing else was fine.

Eventually, I gave up walking around and sat next to a very old lady going to her grandson's wedding. She asked how long my layover in Houston was. I told her 1 1/2 hours, she said, "Well, these repairs are burning those minutes right up." (Said in a very old, shaky, croaky voice.)

Did I mention our gate was DIRECTLY across from a Starbucks?

One hour and ten minutes late boarded the plane. Then the captain announced that because we were delayed, we would have to take an alternate route to Houston because of a storm over Texas. I got a free TV on Frontier because I traded seats with a mom and a baby so instead of watching TV I turned it to real time GPS and watched my flight. Below is my own recreation for you. The red is what it was supposed to be, the black line is what it was:

A flight that was supposed to be 2 hours and 10 minutes was almost four hours. Needless to say, when we landed in Houston, my plane to Baton Rouge was long gone. I wasn't the only one. The lines to the different airline desks were HUGE. The crowds were horrible. People were not nice. I smiled anyway. I was polite. I was on an adventure!

No more planes to Baton Rouge until Sunday.

No more planes to New Orleans until Sunday.

No more planes to Lake Charles, Lafeyette (pronounced Laugh - EYE- ette), Shreeveport until Saturday.

All announced to me by Radik. Who spoke heavily accented English - accented both East Indian AND southern. I could barely understand him. It was hilarious. Except I was starting to panic. I didn't want to spend two days in the Houston airport!

I called Larry and his company rented me a car to drive to Baton Rouge. I scurried down the car rental place as about six places put up signs that said, "we are out of cars". Good thing Geo had reserved me one on their account.

Then they announced the Houston airport was closing due to "rain".

Rain?

I don't think so.

More like the sky was a huge BUCKET dumping it's contents on Houston.

Really, I can't describe it.

The car rental places were out of cars, the people were massed. You had to shove your way through the crowds to get where you were going. It was so humid in the airport my shirt was sticking to me and I hadn't even been outside.

Eventually, thanks to GeoEngineers, I got my new little Honda - 56 miles on it - and headed out of Houston. I also had a GPS. I programmed it and started following it.

I was euphoric. I felt like Thelma and Louise in one person. Just me and the open road. "Two hours" everyone told me. Just two hours to Baton Rouge. I called my mom and dad and they looked up my route online.

Uhmmmmm. Wait. You are not headed to Baton Rouge. You are headed to nowhere, followed eventually by New Mexico. Or the ocean.

So my mom and dad were my GPS system for me and navigated me back through the outskirts of Houston and eventually onto Interstate 10. Thanks mom and dad!

Did I mention it was raining? Pounding. Pouring. I followed a semi, figuring his tires displaced the water on the roads, and I could barely see his taillights through my madly swiping blades. I was dangerously close. I mentally practiced ducking to the side, if I started to run into him so I didn't get my head cut off by his bumper. On the interstate there were ponds that slowed you down by 20 or 30 miles an hour as soon as you hit them. I had to gun it through them. It was disconcerting.

When he exited some 18 miles later I wanted to send him a thank you note. I am sure he never knew I was there.

Still, I was in good spirits. Sure, I hadn't eaten since 5 am, when I had my cocoa and now it was 6 pm. But, it was all good. I pulled off to a McDonalds at one point and they told me they were closed although they served the cars in front of me and plenty of people were inside ... and it wasn't even 7 pm.

Three hours later, Larry met me in Lake Charles (he had been there since Wednesday) and we returned my car to the airport there and drove together to Baton Rouge. His GPS worked just fine.

We got to our B & B in Baton Rouge about 11:30 pm. It's not a 2 hour drive - it took more than six! (That does include about one hour of wrong way and backtracking).

The next day I found out that Houston had a record rain storm of more than six inches in (the some amount of) time. I drove through that. Thanks to mom, dad, Larry, and Geo.

The Stockade is BEAUTIFUL. The food is fantastic. Miss Janice, the owner and operator is so nice, knows every thing and everyone and every where. If you ever have reason to be Baton Rouge (and I don't know why you ever would) I would totally recommend it.

Saturday morning, despite the time difference and exhaustion from the day before we went to the Baton Rouge temple.

See, for some crazy, unexplainable reason, Larry and I have felt like we should look into this Baton Rouge job thing. It's been offered before and we scoffed. We LOVE Spokane. We LOVE our ward. We want to live here forever and raise our children here and our grandchildren. We've turned down other promotions and transfers because we love it here. This feels different and it's kind of weird. We need to be inspired.

The temple is EXACTLY like the one in Spokane, before they made the bigger entry. Except I didn't understand 9/10ths of what people were saying. And it is really quiet. No one even whispers, they mouth their words. Even harder to understand.

After the temple we went house lookin'.

This home is nearest to our current house. And the cheapest. It is in a subdivision of seven homes. Four of which are empty and have never been bought, for two years! This style of house did not catch on with Baton Rouge people. But I sure LOVE the six HUGE bedrooms, ginormous backyard, and loft.

The two main styles of homes in Baton Rouge are Acadian* and French Creole** and combinations of the two.

Acadian.

I love these homes! Most of them have gas front lights. Full covered patios in the back with several fans on the ceilings. Notice the HUGE ROOFS! Ceilings are 9 -12 feet high and in the attic they are about 18 feet high. They are brick and stucco.

The French Creole:

We liked this house. It was just the second in the subdivision off a busy street through.

And another one. Notice how the doors are double, with glass, and inside a hallway thing.

Inside the French and Acadian houses we have beautiful unique arches like this:

Full wall builtins. Usually out of cyress wood, which is quite orange. Yuck. The bugs and water hate it too, so that is why it is used.

The back patio is covered by the roof line, so the ceilings are tall and because mosquitos will eat you alive they often screen in their porches.

You could access this porch from either the family room or the Master. LOVE it. But the house was too small.

We LOVE the Acadian and French Creole style homes and sort of feel like, if we are going to live in Lousiana, lets get a house that LOOKS like Louisiana. Also, we will want to resell it in a few years. But those style home are MUCH more expensive and much smaller.

Our kids are going to be sleeping like this:

Saturday night Larry's future office manager and his wife took us out to dinner to a little hole in the wall Italian restaurant (Larry told him I didn't like seafood). It was delicious and he is a very nice man and his wife and I talked the whole time.

We went to church in what will probably be in our ward on Sunday. The building is just like our Stake house, if the gym was smaller, and it only had one hall on the side, nothing along the back or the Stake offices or the other side with the Family History Center. Primary Sharing Time is in the Chapel. Priesthood in the overflow. This picture makes it look much bigger than it is.

The ward members were all VERY nice. The prayers were VERY long, sincere and again, I didn't understand 90% of what they were saying. They seems to drop the plural and the last syllable. I had the following conversation:

Person A - "hi, my name is kee-ohm"
Me (thinking she doesn't look polynesian) "Kee- Ohm?"
Person A - "No, Keeeeeee-Ohm."
Me - "Keeeeeee- Ohm?"
Person A - "No, KEEEEEEEEEEEE-ohm"
Me - "oh! Kim!"
Kim - "that right".
Relieved smiles from both of us. (Me thinking "oh boy, am I in the United States?", her thinking, "yankees are morons".)

(I later told Miss Janice the story and she quietly told me that was a Mississippi thang, not a Louisiana accent. In fact, whenever they were going to say something "bad" they whispered it. Like our waitress who said, "some of the schools are ---whispered --- ghetto")

Everyone at church calls each other Sister and Brother and then their first name. Like Sista Amy taught the lesson. I sat next to Sista Gretchen, who was real nice. Sista Francis is in charge of the roll. And so on. Sista Lah - REN (Lauren) was just baptized. We have three sets of elders in our ward. The feeding calendar was practically empty after it went around the room.

Everyone apologized for the "unseasonably cool weather" (please say that in Ouiser Boudreaux's (Shirley MacLaine's character) voice from Steel Magnolia's.) I was laughing nervously because I thought it was hot and muggy already!

Another Sister, I can't remember which one told me she did not grow up in Louisiana, but she was from "up north" in TENNESSEE!

Sunday afternoon we looked at more houses. More of the same. More expensive and smaller than Spokane, no basements, of course. Most of the then are in neighborhoods with "lakes" which a fancy word for "detention pond". Some neighborhoods spiff them up with a floating fountain. You are not allowed to swim or fish in them. Our biggest consideration, next to school district is elevation. We are hoping for something around 20 feet. Most things are 13 feet. That seven feet can make a lot of difference, I hear.

During this time we were texting Sari maddly about her appendicitis and biting our nails to find out what would happen. Thanks to everyone who helped our family. Poor Grandma and Grandpa Sant got a lot more than they signed on for!

We saw about 15 houses and EVERY SINGLE ONE that was occupied had a room of some kind dedicated to LSU.

They take their football VERY seriously down there. They call their 100,000 seat stadium "Death Valley" and at one game against a rival, the crowd stomped so hard the earth moving registered on the Richter scale as an earthquake! While 100 grand attend the games, some 30,000 more tailgate in the parking lot.

Monday morning I looked at a few more houses while Larry told his work his concerns about moving, they told him those weren't concerns, all of those can be handled. Then he said, we would think about it while we were in Hawaii, but we were leaning heavily towards "yes". They were estatic! We are pretty excited, too. And nervous. Anyone want to buy a house in Spokane or know someone who does? We want to move right after the 4th of July (the day Joseph gets baptized.)

Monday afternoon we went to the airport. No tickets.

What? Our emails show that we were scheduled right but follow up show we were changed. SomeHOW our ticket dates were changed in the computers from April 20th to July 20th!!! ARG!!! They had no seats available for us. We were stuck in Baton Rouge for another night!

Clearly all of he!! was trying to keep us distracted and upset and discouraged. We still feel strongly that Baton Rouge is where we are supposed to be headed. No idea why.

Anyway, another car rental. The Bed and Breakfast was under construction. We stayed at a Drury Inn. Larry and I walked around downtown Baton Rouge and the Mississippi Monday night, while I fretted about Larry's poor parents having to take care of all the kids AND a kid in the hospital recovering from surgery.

Baton Rouge has these ENORMOUS live oak trees. Really, really super huge. They are so pretty!

While we were walking down a path that was about three feet from another "lake" I was thinking how sad it was that there was garbage next to the water and someone should clean that up. I've become such a tree hugger in Washington I even thought that if I had a plastic bag, I would pick up some of that junk. Then the junk started to move ...

What we thought we sticks and hiding under the junk was actually a cottonmouth snake nest! About eight of them swam out, created diversions while thrashing wildly, and some swam quietly over to one side, then they would thrash and some would move to the other side, then they would thrash and the middle and end would move toward us. They were trying to FLANK us!

Look how long this sucker is! Run away! Run away!

Tuesday morning we flew out of Baton Rouge. We had some ticketing problems. In Houston we walked from one end of that stinkin airport to another! People say that the south is laid back and relaxed, I say at times that is an excuse for slow and lazy. Most of our problems were due to people not doing their job the first time, the second time, or the third time. One lady was with a man who told us he couldn't help us, she heard everything. Later, she walked to another gate and helped us there.

We flew from Houston to SLC and sat next to a young mom with a 14 month old. He was very good but she was OVERWHELMED by about 40 minutes into the flight. Larry and I took turns entertaining the chap to give her a break.

We had a longish layover in SLC so my mom and dad picked us up at the airport and took us to the Red Iguana for dinner!

I guess this is a really famous place. The food was good. Teilani and Destry came and met us there, too!

After dinner Destry wanted to go to Leatherbys, across the street. So we did.

Here is Teilani and Destry.

We took a picture of all of us, but I can't find it on my phone now. Grrr.

Thanks so much, Mom and Dad, it was a blast!

Anyway, after that my mom and dad drove us back to the airport, we boarded and flew HOME.

HOME. My babies. The oldest four kids and Larry's parents were waiting for us. We told them stories, gave them their LSU shirts and then the Sant parents drove home and we all went to bed. Sari had come home from the hospital earlier.

This is Sari's description of her weekend:

Click on the picture so you can read it. Silly girl! She can go back to school on Monday and do PE again in three weeks. She was quite spoiled in the hospital with visitors and gifts and the like. She was so grateful, and Larry and I were, too. I think it helped keep her mind off the fact that her parents were 2000 miles away!

And I just need to clarify, I thought every one there was SUPER nice, just really, they take their own sweet time for EVERYthing. It's going to require some adjustments on my Type A personality.

*The Acadian house as we know it today is a blending of the maritime Canadian, simple lines of the Norman country house and the later West Indian house that were raised on piers. They also borrowed style attributes from Creole Louisiana. The typical mid-nineteenth century Acadian house had an essentially Georgian plan that was two rooms deep, and a central hallway and chimney. Most were one or one and a half stories high and had a steep gabled roof. This feature provided enough space for a sleeping area in the attic. Acadian homes are built of native cypress wood that is not affected by moisture or insects. They are typically raised on blocks to protect from flooding, termites and summer heat. Front and rear doors are centered and each wall has one or two windows. The steep gabled roof extends beyond the building frame to incorporate the porch as an open living area. A 1970’s renaissance sparked a revival in all things Cajun and Creole including their architecture. Then, a wave of Acadian style homebuilding began in the 1990’s and continues to provide strong evidence of pride in this interesting and colorful culture.

**French Creole architecture is an American Colonial style that developed in the early 1700s in the Mississippi Valley, especially in Louisiana. French Creole buildings borrow traditions from France, the Caribbean, and many other parts of the world.

French Creole homes from the Colonial period were especially designed for the hot, wet climate of that region. Traditional French Creole homes had some or all of these features:

• timber frame with brick or "bousillage" (mud combined with moss and animal hair)
• wide hipped roof extends over porches
• thin wooden columns
• living quarters raised above ground level
• wide porches, called "galleries"
• no interior hallways
• porches used as passageway between rooms
• french doors (doors with many small panes of glass)

MY PARENTS WENT TO BATON ROUGE AND ALL I GOT WAS THIS LOUSY SCAR - the actual story

Saturday night Sari told us she had a stomach-ache. We told her to take a bunch of Tums and sleep it off. She has a sensitive tummy and missed us.

Sunday morning she said she tested positive for the push in on your appendix and when you let it out it hurts so bad that you fall over in pain. Grandma Sant took her to Urgent Care. They said it was in a suspect place and Grandma Sant took her to Sacred Heart Children's ER.

They gave her morphine and did an ultrasound.

She got two stuffed animals. She was also told that her appendix was huge and infected and would have to come out. Now.

The O'Donnals visited before surgery on Sunday night and left her stoned (morphine) and happy!

Sari waiting in the OR Sunday night.

Right after the surgery. Notice how her smile is totally different depending on the level of drugs in her body.

On Monday Matthew went to see her.

A picture of her IV that she texted me.

Rachel brought her a Starbucks.

We got home from Baton Rouge, 24 hours later than scheduled, and a few hours after Sari got home from the hospital.

Extra thanks to Mom and Dad Sant and Rachel who went far and beyond the call of duty while Larry and I were checking Baton Rouge. (And THAT story is still to come - it's a doozy!)

WHIRLWIND WEDNESDAY

First thing in the morning I took a bunch of toilet paper, a plunger and Almond Joys candy bars to school. Rachel and her friend, Kelsey got out of choir (legally, of course) and decorated Ben Pugh's car. The sign says, "I'd be OVERFLOWING with JOY to go to Prom with you!"

There was a sense of peace about how to answer, once we realized that we could NEVER compete with the way she was asked, it was too incredible.

We were a little worried for a minute, until we realized Ben had taken his dad's car to work that day. He told Rachel later in the evening that when he saw his car he was so excited because it was all official. Rachel is super excited to go to Prom with Ben. He has been her true blue BFF for many years and she really, really wanted to go a dance with him. He graduates this year.

After school Rachel and I went dress shopping. I do enjoy sewing her dresses, but I will only be home 4 days between now and Prom (May 2nd), so buying was our only option.

First we went to Northtown Mall, or Ghosttown Mall, as I am calling it. There were only TWO stores with dresses and they were all yucky. We didn't even take any pictures.

So we drove out to the Valley Mall, but went to David's Bridal first. There were two that were fabulous (several more that were very nice). How I wish I had taken a picture of the back of this dress. It has a train and is super beautiful.

This was the dress Rachel picked:

She didn't want her face in the picture because her hair was in a braid. Haha. The dress is really classic and beautiful. It has a silver jeweled clasp on the side. Today (Thursday) after school she is taking a swatch of fabric to the tux shop with Ben to pick out his accent colors - they are thinking either paisley or silver. I really hope there is a paisley that matches. Rachel hearts paisley. It is genetic.

Clearly, the dress needs sleeves. We bought a shawl and I will make sleeves. While we were out we also picked up silver shoes, a sparkly clutch and a puffy slip (Rachel likes the dress more puffy out). She has silver sparkly stuff for her hair already.

Here is the bad news - I will be IN Hawaii the day of Prom!!! (They moved it forward a week!) AGH!!!!! I am SO SAD!!! I will actually be in transit on the way home. We get back at midnight. I told Rachel I wanted her and Ben to meet us at the airport so I can see how fabulous they look.

I have her a hair appointment, we are going to get a nails appointment, too. Grandma and Grandpa Sant will here to take pictures and send her on her merry way. They are SO LUCKY!

Because my house is a wreck, the laundry out of control, I am behind on hula sewing, and the kids played behind the couch and knocked down my fabric bins (I can't push my couch back to the wall right now), I have bookclub at my house tonight, and I have to leave at 5 a.m. tomorrow morning for Baton Rouge (let's pause a moment to give props to Mom and Dad Sant who came up last minute like to stay with the kids), I decided to sew a tote for the trip:

This is hands down my FAVORITE tote of all time. I love love LOVE it! It is huge, but not too huge and it has four outside pockets. I added a zipper pocket to the inside, I so LOVE sewing inside zipper pockets! I also love the fabric - can you see the little birds on the background fabric? So cute!

Larry is already in Baton Rouge. He sent us these pics last night:

The temple in Baton Rouge. It is about ten minutes from Geo Engineers.

This is the Bed and Breakfast we are staying at. It is called The Stockade. He said it was about 70*, sunny, and green. So, we know there is at least one tolerable day a year down there. He ate a crawfish place - there were a bunch of LSU football players there - and had his first ever PoBoy sandwich. This should all be very interesting ... I'll let you know on Tuesday.

YESTERDAY

This is what it looked like yesterday:

I can hardly wait for this:

THE BEST I HAVE EVER SEEN ...

Help! How does she answer this?!

And just to clarify - yes, this is the boy asking her - Ben Pugh, her BFF. The girl in the video is their friend Ashley Alley. He posted this on Rachel's facebook homepage.

If you have Facebook and we are friends, or you are friends with Rachel, you can see the original there. It is much better quality. I had to take a video with my camera of the movie so it isn't always clear.

And here is happy Rachel watching it! (And Sari learns ...)

HAPPY EASTER

SPRING BREAK 2009 - our trip to the Oregon Coast

SAND, ROCKS, WATER, CAVES

Monday we went to Shore Acres Gardens. It was a great place! From there you walk down to Simpson Beach. Shore Acres Gardens was the Simpsons' summer house, back in the day. Simpson was some railroad guru.

Matthew and Joseph on the walk to the beach.

This is either Simpson Beach or Sunset Beach. We went to both of them on this day and I thought I would remember but I don't. In any case, aren't the rocks so cool?

It's just wild the way things erode around these parts. Larry was in Geo-technical heaven.

This is more in Shore Acres. While we were eating lunch Jason and I saw a few whales. Ben saw one, too. The kids took a break from the walk (or waited for me and Matthew to catch up) and watched for whales. At this point, Rachel thought it was all a joke that Jason and I were playing on them. Later in the day, she did see a whale or two and she about freaked out! We also saw sea lions playing in the surf and that was so cool.

Which road to take?

Joseph is an emergent reader, so we encourage him to read as many signs as we can. Here he said, "gar - dens" and then "beee - auch" or beyotch in today's slang. We all cracked up.

In the gardens there is a fountain. Can you recycle the pennies for wishes? We hope so because that is what our kids did.

The gardens were so beautiful! Sari took one of the cameras and started her still life photography love. She took more than 300 pictures, but I will only post two:

She wants to make a photobook and sell it. She does have some pretty good shots.

Here's the whole fam damily at the pond in the gardens. It was a great day!

And now a bunch of beach and ocean and rock shots that show the kids and the diversity of the Oregon Coast:

Rachel and Ben by a cave where they thought they saw an octopus but it was a piece of wood.

This is maybe Sunset Beach?

My cute kiddos.

Sari loves science stuff and the marine life.

The wind blows right through you. Matthew got an earache on day one.

And other times, it was calm and warm.

We loved all the caves and tunnels on this beach.

Here is Larry and Joseph out on the rocks that were behind Ben in the top picture.

That must have been some storm to wedge that tree stump into the rocks like that.

Driftwood. Everywhere.

It wasn't all fun and games. Here Rachel gives me the baby-bird. Mostly because she was cold and cut her foot.

This was stick heaven. Do you have a little boy? Then you know exactly what I mean.

I guess you have to click on the pictures to fully appreciate the vastness...

Look at this delightful tunnel that opens to a beach on the other side - and all those beautiful yellow flowers grow on thorny bushes.

We were so lucky to hit most of the beaches at low tide - or within a few hours - and Jason told us that the tides are lower than usual this year so we got to see a lot of cool stuff.

This must be Sunset Beach, but I am not sure. We went there on Monday, not at sunset.

This was taken at Cape Arago Lighthouse, I think. The birds were very upset that we were on their rock.

And on this beach, instead of rocks the land was all flat, except for the occasional tree stump.

Must have been driftwood beach again.

Totally cool. If you haven't been to the Oregon, start planning a way to get there. It's amazing.

First the kids climbed this HUGE rock - Battleship Rock and then they climbed even more to the top. I was scared to death that someone was going to fall in. No one did. Thank goodness.

We just love natural tunnels in the rocks. Like I said, we were there at usually low tide so we got to see lots of them!

Sari points to the rock that cut into her foot. How rude!

On Friday we went to Oceanside and there is a beach with a little parking lot. On that beach there is a tunnel.

And in that tunnel it is very cold.

And very dark.

And very rocky in places.

But then it opens out into a whole different beach - only accessible from the tunnel or water.

Around the corner there was this amazing cave.

The water was starting to come in so we didn't stay long. Getting crushed against the rocks and trapped by the tide and/or drown was not on our agenda.

The waves can be sneaky even on flat ground, Ben almost got a little wet here.

On our way out of that beach, we met some older ladies coming in. Larry and Ben helped one of them down the rocks. We hope that she made it back. Her sister tried to help instead (which would have been pointless) but the lady said to her sister, "Get away! Why would I want your help when I have these strong young men here?" That will be Teilani and me in 50 years.

Did I mention that it was cold?

At least the tunnels offered some protection from the wind. Sometimes.

In a few hours this whole beach would be under water. Super cool.

I think I've mentioned how much Joseph LOVED the trip? And Matthew still with his ear aches. When we got home we took him to the Doctor and he had both ears infected and bordering pneumonia. He was a trouper though.

Not sure where this is, but I am sure I was nervous.

One of Rachel's highlights was driving the car on the beach at Face Rock in Bandon. We renamed it King Kong Rock because it looks like King Kong's face.

OH! I just remembered! Something important happened on our trip. You know that I call our Suburban a strong-boned Norwegian woman? Well, for some reason the kids decided to name her this trip - finally. We've only had her for EIGHT years. They kicked around names and settled on Svetlana. After that it was so funny to hear "Svetlana is really sandy" or "Svetlana won't let us down." or "Good thing Svetlana has 4 wheel drive." Svetlana. It really does fit.

FAMILY HOME EVENING ON THE BEACH

Monday night we went to Bastendorf Beach and had Family Home Evening with Jason and Trina's family. Jason and Ben coaxed a fire on the sand, in the wind. Very impressive.

It was cold enough that we could have used a bonfire. A really BIG one. Daniel, Rachel and Aubrae look cranky but I think they were happy inside. Right, guys?

Once Trina broke out the marshmallows all thought of cold were forgotten.

Even Matthew roasted one. I love my marshmallows burned. Then I eat the burned part and do it again. I have that treat approximately one time a year.

Did I mention how much Joseph LOVED every second of our trip?

WHO CAN RESIST A STICK AND WET SAND?

Matthew drew this hopscotch in the sand and the proceeded to play in it for quite a while.

Now isn't that sweet?

Daniel's art.

Rachel wrote the B's in the sand. That is just the kind of girl she is.

Matthew also drew a picture of himself and his dad.

And here he is, drawing a sand dollar.

INLAND ADVENTURES

On Tuesday, although we woke up to rain and clouds, we were not daunted, because we are Northwesterners, for pete's sake. And not just Northwesterners, but PACIFIC Northwesterners (I always thought we were Inland Northwesterners but Sari is studying that this year in school and said that Inland Northwesterners are a subset of Pacific Northwesterners and she should know, she gets A's.) and so we do not let a little thing like rain spoil our plans.

We headed inland in search of sun and the Gold and Silver Falls. On the hike to Silver Falls there is a rock that we named Sant Rock. Because it fits us perfectly. See?

Really. How cool is that? I love the whole Jurassic feel of the hike.

We saw a few Yeti.

The falls were HUGE this time of year. The river below was swift. The ground was slippery, muddy and wet.

Jason snapped the picture of us. We were getting rained on and pelted in the back by the splash of the waterfall. Awesome!

This picture of Rachel and Ben's shoes sum up the hike. When we came down from Silver Falls, we intended to eat a sandwich or two and go to Gold Falls. As we ate our sandwiches, in the rain, under the umbrellas, it began to really rain. Unlike the downpour, it was floodgates opening up. So we all remembered what Gold Falls looked like (and I thought of my family slipping and sliding over the rocks to get there) and we drove back to Jason and Trina's house for an afternoon of Canasta and wii.

LIGHTHOUSES

First thing Monday morning we headed to Cape Arago lighthouse. It is not open to the public. The Coast Guard owns it but it is giving it back to the Indians (who were nomadic and never claimed the land) until they hand over the keys, Jason was able to get us in.

Bur first we had to cross this bridge. There is a sign at the beginning that says, "Bridge not maintained by the Coast Guard". Really?

I don't like bridges but I sucked it up and crossed anyway.

Here is where we learned that Matthew is afraid of heights and/or claustrophobic. He HATED the top of the lighthouse and the stairs going up. We had to force him up there for the picture.

Then I took sympathy on him and took him back down to the great outdoors, where he was happy and I took the above picture.

But first I took this picture. Such a silly girl!

On the way back to the car I took this picture of Jason, Zya, and Matthew.

On Wednesday we took a trip down to the south beaches and our first stop was Cape Blanco.

It was wicked cold and windy. But we loved the inside of the lighthouse.

Except Matthew. As I said, he hates the inside. He wouldn't go higher than that bottom stair. But he was the first to spot lighthouses from the road and wanted to see all of them. From the car.

We were especially fond of this lighthouse guide who looked like a lighthouse man, with his beard and wool fisherman's hat. He answered all the kids' questions and was very complimentary of Joseph's thoughtful questions and connections.

COAST GUARD TOURS

Monday we went to the ship Coast Guard station.

Again, Matthew would have rather NOT been on the ship and FOR SURE was not going into the cabin area.

Unlike Jason, Aubrae, Sari, and Rachel. You would not be able to pay me enough money to sit down there while on the boat. I would puke a lung.

But I would be okay up on top. They have straps and seat belts so you don't fall out of your seats. The boat self rights, if it tips over, in 9 to 12 seconds. The guide kept saying it would be the longest 9 to 12 seconds of your life. I asked if that had ever happened to him and he said, that to his knowledge none of the Coast Guard boats had ever flipped over. I was then confused.

Sari, Rachel, and Aubrae in the place where the boat driver goes. Are you so impressed with my technical knowledge of shipping terms.

Oscar is the Coast Guard's practice dummy. Here Daniel mourns his demise. When you throw Oscar overboard he fills with water to weigh 200 pounds and then they practice rescue with him. I wonder what happened to his nose?

Tuesday night we got to go to the Coast Guard air station. Joseph and Matthew could hardly wait to see a rescue HELICOPTER up close!

Here is a different helicopter being cleaned. Jason said they have four (or was it five) at this base.

Here is Matthew in the pilot's seat. There are two pilots, one is the boss. Rachel is wear the other pilot chair would be but they had this helicopter down for repairs.

A different view of the pilot's seat, with Joseph in it. Can you believe all those little buttons?

Because my kids like to say, "Where is the picture with me and _______":

Sari.

Ben.

I just thought this picture was cute.

Daniel and Joseph are in the back where the swimmer waits and where they put the (hopefully) rescued (usually recovered) person.

Jason showed the kids how the rescue basket worked and I highly recommend one of these for your toy room. The kids did not want to get out of it. We have had similar experiences with a cardboard box.Except this was MUCH MUCH cooler because you had to lock the holder thingies up or they would fold in on the basket. Again, my technical language is astounding, I know.

Joseph deals with the clamp thing.

Here Jason shows the kids his suit that he wears when he flies,which is also a wet suit. While showing us the suit, he discovered a small hole. I hope he doesn't end up in the drink, but glad he found the hole.

Jason's call sign is Elvis, which my kids think is eternally cool. In fact, when Matthew went into the Elvis bedroom (named by us) at Jason's house he looked around and said in wonderment, "Uncle Jason ISTH ELVIS?" In any case, Sari, in Jason's flight helmet, shows the cool sticker on one side.

Now we have a row of gratuitous photos of the Sant kids in the helmet:

Ben - smiling.

Matthew giving the thumbs up. Notice the WWED - What Would Elvis Do? sticker on the front.

I am surprised Joseph wasn't having a stroke by this point. He was so happy!

And the back of the helmet.

Remember Cape Arago lighthouse? This is the light from inside the top. There are only FIVE bulbs inside. All the mirrors really do their job.

Jason lives across the street from where he works so it was just a block down the street to see the helicopter take off.

Again, I am surprised Joseph was able to stand, he was so excited.

On the way back to their house, I took this picture of the boys playing with Jason's helicopters while walking:

MARINE LIFE

A bunch of mussels all strung together. Last time we were at Jason and Trina's house we cooked one and opened it up. It was smelly and gross. This year we just remembered what that was like.

Starfish. Lots and lots of them.

Why do they always draw starfish orange? Most of the ones we saw were brownish-purple.

We don't know what this was -a flat worm? It was sucking a snail out of it's shell when we took the shell out to take this picture. Not to worry, we put it back.

At Oceanside, on Friday, we saw a TON of baby jellyfish. If you click on the above picture you can see two black lines that look like ... dna or genes or something. Super cool. Need to research.

There were lots and lots of jellyfish washed up on the beach. Some still had their hanging things.

This particular beach was literally COVERED with sea cucumbers. We all had a good time GENTLY poking them with a stick and watching them close.

A few more purple starfish.

This sea cucumber was bigger than Daniel's foot.

Ben watched this starfish detach and then start to float to the next rock. He grabbed it. Ninja reflexes!

See, not hurt at all - all it's little suckers were just fine. It was latched onto a snail, too. We set it back down where we found it.

I have no idea what these pod things are but there were everywhere. Daniel liked to puncture them with a stick, when he could.

WILD LIFE

At the Coast Guard station we saw these sea lions. First, we heard them. They were barking a storm!

At the gardens in Shore Acres Ben caught this slow moving salamander. It seemed like it was blind. In the middle of the pond they were quite large.

And seagulls. And geese. And cranes. And puffins. And some other little bird.

DEAD STUFF WE FOUND ON THE BEACH - you've been warned.

No family vacation album is complete without something like this. A dead badge being eaten by a hawk when we got there.

Looks like the hawk went for the private parts first.

Then gutted it. The kids took these pictures.

And a dead seagull.

Lots and lots of dead crabs. Here Larry enjoys one. Not really.

JASON and TRINA

Jason and Trina were kind enough to take on our entire family, give us delicious food at every meal and lots of snacks. This is the only picture I got of Trina.

My boys LOVED this game. But it was very noisy.

"This is like heaven!" said Matthew, when he opened the stocked fridge in the loft.

During the Coast Guard tour Zya let Rachel hold her. Lucky girl, Rachel! Zya started to get used to me towards the end of the week. She loved our boys from the start.

For some reason, Jason's wii is more cool than ours. He does have Rayman's Rabbits which is hilarious.

A little RockBand at the family gathering.

Miss Zya. Such a cutie-patootie!

Joseph adored Zya and it seems the feeling was mutual! They played and played and played.

See what I mean?

Remember horsy rides? I don't know how Jason's knees stood that.

While we were there Aubrae had Varsity cheerleader tryouts and ASB. This is her and her friend doing their skit at the election. Aubrae is busy enough for four kids. Seriously.

While we were there Jason let Joseph wear his medals. I told Joseph, "Be careful!" Jason said, "They are just metal, they are nothing special." I beg to differ.

FOOD

$45 at McDonalds in Portland. Yikes! McDonalds.

At Bandon Beach we went to one of the cafes that serves fresh seafood and had enough seats for our family.

Lunch took a long time to be served. I think they were catching the fish.

Sari and Ben's lunch included breaded oysters. Sari ate all of hers. Ben ate one bite of his. A few hours later - Sari was puking her guts. I think her oyster was bad. Are they supposed to look like this? I don't know.

Larry said, "Joseph do you like your shrimp?" Joseph said, "I've only tasted the tail." You can see that our kids are not exposed to different foods very often. It's a cost issue. And a priority issue. Like, I think shoes are more important than shrimp or lobster.

TRULY TREASURES - JUNK LADY on Bandon Beach

Across the street from Bandon Beach is this house...

Apparently, she just combs the sea shores and brings stuff home - and has been for 30 years. Then she sells it. It just sits in her yard through rain and storms and wind and waits for someone to buy it - ON THE HONOR SYSTEM! She has a slit in her front door where you stick your money. She has dishes and wrecked snow globes and shells - good and broken - and toys - you name it!

I HAD to buy something there. I just HAD to. I am sure you can see why. And I paid what she asked because I was afraid she would unleash some sea magic at me if I ripped her off.

If my parents go on many more Pioneer Trek hikes they could do this same thing. (love you, mom and dad)

OMSI

On Saturday we went to the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. They were having a special exhibit for Leonardo daVinci. We love their special exhibits - our favorite was Grossology, which we saw when Michael and Rayleen got married. But daVinci is cool too.

I managed to sneak in a few pictures before I was asked to not.

daVinci designed this portable bridge. They let the kids make one like his. Daniel and Joseph did this one. Matthew was in high pain with his ear ache. Poor baby. I spent most of the exhibit sitting on the floor, with him in my lap, asleep.

This was a chance for the kids to get to draw things in perspective.

This was sooooo cool! I really want Larry to make one.

In another part of the OMSI they had an electricity workshop. Here all the suckers in the family lined up and the guy shot electricity through them. I was electrocuted when I was about 9 (?) and that was enough for me. I don't even put 9 volt batteries on my tongue.

Our season pass (which was cheaper to buy than individual tickets and it came with more stuff) included a tour of a real submarine - Blueblack 581.

They cut the doors into the side because people were getting hurt going down from on top.

The kids in the submariners' berths. Just a LITTLE cozy in there. I barely made it through. Matthew didn't do well at all. I finally took him out again.

We ended Saturday with a trip to the FABRIC DEPOT - 1 1/2 ACRES of fabric!!!! Rachel, Sari and I were in HEAVEN. We were only there for one hour and saw only half of what they had.

Then Ikea. The teens LOVED it. The tweens LOVED it. The little boys LOVED it. What's not to love in Ikea?

And if you think that was perfect enough, we hit the Tri-Cities BARELY in time to get some lemon chicken take out for me!

What a perfect day!

BEFORE I GO...JUST A FEW THINGS:

Haha. Those are Rachel's feet dangling.

Here's something funny she said on April 1st when we said it was April Fool's Day. She said, "No it's not." And everyone in the car responded, "YES! It is!" And said, "Well, then, why are none of us wearing green? Huh?!"

We ROARED.

I don't have a caption. Do you? I'd love to hear it!

But I do have a funny story. Matthew's carseat is smack between Rachel and Ben and I think he suffers for that. At one point he had had enough of their teasing and he pretended his hand was a cell phone and he said, "beep beep beep beep...hello, police? Can someone come take this crazy person away?" That just made everyone laugh even harder.

LAST PICTURE OF THE COAST

So long Oregon Coast! We hope to see you again next year!

This post took two complete days to write. It probably took you that long to read.

THE OREGON COAST

post is taking f.o.r.e.v.e.r.

Here's a little something to get us both through ...

We all thought it was hilarious, I mean HILARIOUS that the "short bus" has "We're the Future" painted on the back of it.

Disclaimer - This is in no way a reflection of the school. Last year their seniors got like 3 million dollars in scholarships and there were only about 150 of them.

PREPARE YOURSELF ...

a super long, detailed, photo-filled post is coming!