high chair

i found this adorable chair insanely cheap and couldn't resist.

i heart vintage!!

now if i could only find a house that's about 100 years old that doesn't need new windows, wiring, plumbing, insulation, ductwork, heating & a/c, flooring...

is it normal to love a machine?

yesterday, i decided to clean up and do some other often-neglected household chores, like shredding. i pulled out our little shredder and our bag of assorted papers to be shredded. our little shredder took one peek at the bag and literally gave up the ghost. the thing wouldn't even turn on, no matter what outlet i tried. little stinker. happily, that meant a trip to sam's club to look at shredders and a lifetime-supply bucket of mayo! what we found, was this baby:

it can shred 12 sheets of paper at one time. *gasp!* and (drumroll, please) it nevers stops! our previous (cowardly) shredder would take "naps" after shredding for a while, so you would have to do something else for a while, and then hope it would turn on and resume shredding when you returned. not this tank. i shredded papers for two hours, and this bulldozer never even hiccuped. bliss! to be honest with myself, i don't think i'm actually in love with this marvel of modern technology, but i might have a baby crush on it.

(the aftermath of the shred-a-thon. amazing!!!)

it's a hard-knock life....

....for kawelo. poor guy - he's had an eventful week. first, he has an allergic reaction to something at a pecan shop in georgia on the drive home from florida (it was even a nice nut shop - not the nasty neon orange ones!), then he gets an unexpected shot at his dr's appointment on friday, and then, while running around like a crazyhead last night, he takes a tumble (shocking) and bonks his eye on a plastic bin. (you can kinda see the bruise under his right eye in the photo.) but, what can i say? he's a boy, he's the last-born, and he's fearless. seriously, kalei had not had a scraped knee until she was learning to ride her bike without training wheels last year. kawelo regularly is scab-city. (on a side note, it's a nice teaching tool when talking about how our bodies make their own band-aids - always helpful to have a visual aid handy.) poor kid. however, i know exactly what would cheer him up: a mini cooper. sure, you might be thinking that a mini might be more for his mama, but, trust me, i know he'd love it. and i'll take extra-good care of it for him till he's old enough to drive it. if you'd like to contribute to this worthy project, feel free. we accept cash, money orders, and blank checks.

see, he's just imagining us in a mini-cooper! he doesn't even care that he has ketchup smeared on his chin! (not that he, um, ever cares.) you can help make this dream a reality!

beachy keen, jelly bean

ah.... the beach. where the waves are big enough to jump in, but not big enough to carry you off. where the sand is as fine as flour, and the shells are plentiful. we'll miss you.

attraction distractions

we started off our attraction distractions with homossassa springs wildlife park. the kids got to see manatees up close, as well as flamingoes, a panther, a bobcat, a few bald eagles, etc.

our next stop was the florida aquarium. the kids really enjoyed it. kalei's favorite: catfish, of course! (although the dwarf seahorses were a close second.)

our last attraction stop was friday - the tampa zoo. this place is really great and has been voted #1 in the nation (by whom, i never saw, but someone reliable, i'm sure). it has everything: regular animals, baby animals, rides, water fun, and (most important) shave ice. perfect! this year, we speed-walked thru the different animals that everyone wanted to see, and then high-tailed it to the water fun area. the weather was mild (for florida), the crowds were few, and the kids had a ball.

it's hard to see, but in the bottom right picture here, koa is cheesing next to a giant grasshopper that was hanging out on the outside of the penguin enclosure. the thing was at least 4 inches long - huge! but koa didn't hesitate - just cozied up for a photo. he's really come a long way from the boy who was scared of everything!
long story short - the kids have had a fabulous time exploring the places available here. there's just one more must-see attraction: the candy kitchen!!

land of the free, because of the brave

we hope you all had a fabulous 4th!

m.i.a.

okay, so we've been on vacation from everything for almost two weeks and it's been awesome! thanks, mom & dad, for making our visit full of wonderful memories! but..... now we have a bit of a backlog on blog posts, so bear with us while we play catch-up. we hope everyone is having a wonderful summer!