Hawaiian Beaches

Maui is known for their beautiful, giant beaches. So it goes without saying that we spent the majority of our trip at a beach. Changing it up from day to day - Big Beach, a lava rock beach, a quiet beach and a windy beach.

In essence, we'd sit on the beach and read. The eyes would get heavy, so we'd nap. Get too hot, so go take a dip in the water. Get beat up by the crazy waves. Reapply sunscreen. Maybe drink a Hawaiian juice. Eat our homemade PB&J's. Relax. Boogie board, paddleboard, surf (I got up 3 times!). Reapply sunscreen again. Then more relaxing. I would occasionally try to find the shade because heat and I don't always agree.

Sigh, oh Hawaii, I love you. And I miss you dearly.

 Ryan surfing!

 Lava rock beach!

Smitten

Little Fiona and Gustav Sherman have quickly made themselves at home. In our laps. On our bed. In our spots on the couch. It took them less than an hour to get their "we own this home" attitude, as most cats do. Then, every time we opened a new door of an undiscovered room, they would revert back to Kitten Detectives - sniffing and tiptoeing around with catlike tread.

We can't get enough of their loud, motor-like purrs, fluffiness and the cute little butt wiggle that kittens do before pouncing on their prey (i.e. their brother, sister or our poor scratched legs).

Now I will share their thoughts from the first few days in their new home...

"Geez, the Olympics are boring.Wake us up when the Kittylympics are on. In the meantime, this lap looks comfy."

"Hmm, what does this taste like? Yummm." (We have a lush on our hands, friends!)

"I can feel you staring at my adorable polka dot belly, Mom. Look away; you're making me blush." (Her post surgery belly is hands-down the best kitty belly of all time.)

"See Dad? I'm sooooo big. I can take up your entire seat."
 

"What? She's comfy. It's how we roll."

"Hey guys! We found our bed. Now where exactly do you sleep?"

 

"Yep, we like it here. A lot. You guys are pretty neat. We'll keep you after all." -Gustav Sherman

"Hey, what's that red dot racing around on the carpet??" -Fiona

These pictures don't give an accurate picture of these crazy kitties. Sleeping comes second to SHEAR MADNESS PLAYTIME! But all of those pictures are blurry :)

P.S. Check out Itty Bitty Kitty Committee's goodbye post on our little buggers. Thanks for the fond farewell, Laurie! Also, thanks for taking such good care of Fiona and Gustav Sherman for their first few months of life.

The Vic-Maui

Before I get into the details of our much-needed tropical getaway, let me first tell you about what brought us to Maui. The Vic-Maui: a sailing race from Victoria, BC across the deep, blue ocean to Maui. Maddie, Autumn, Joe and I met RyRy and the rest of the crew of the Double Take (the sailboat) at the finish line. And guess what?! Double Take won first place, finishing in 10.5 days! Let me tell you, Maui loves the Vic-Maui - race updates were taking over the local radio stations and the sailors were celebrities! Needless to say, we had a blast celebrating with the whole crew throughout the trip, which may have involved one or twelve Mai Tai's :)

Congrats to RyRy, Tom, Brad, Tim, Nat, John, Max and Jay! 

And thanks to RyRy and Autumn for inviting us!

 Isn't it a beautiful boat?!

Life is rough.

We are certainly enjoying paradise. Be back in a week!

P.S. Thanks for house sitting, Mom!

Hikin' in the Rain

The weather has been absolutely gorgeous lately, so what better way to take it all in then plan a day enjoying the Great Outdoors? Riiiiiight. Why is it whenever you plan something outdoors, it starts to rain? After some debate in the morning, Steph and I decided to stick to our original plan in the hopes that by the time we made it up to the mountain, it would be clear. We opted for Rattlesnake Ridge because, in my opinion, it has one of the most rewarding views from the top (here's my trip from last year). While the rain stopped up top, there was a hazy layer of fog that hid the spectacular view. On the other hand, it did have this eerie, spooky, are-vampires-going-to-come-out-of-the-woods feel. I mean, we do live close to Forks and all... So it wasn't your typical summer hike, but still a wonderful time! 

Next up, Mailbox Peak? You up to it, Stephers?! 

 

Contrary to how this looks, I am in fact wearing shorts :)

I covet

This dress belongs in my closet.
I don't know what it is, but I really like it.

The Kiddos

Would you hate me if I obsessively started posting about Baby Fiona and Gustav Sherman? Are you considered a "mommy blogger" if you blog solely about kitties? And seriously, don't you just want to just squeeze these little fur balls?! They aren't even at our home yet, but I can't stop thinking about the little buggers. Only a few more weeks until they come home with us!  

Let's feast.

My dad has kindly offered to build us a table and bench with lumber from my Grandpa's house - it's truly gorgeous stuff, so I'm really pumped. However, we didn't want to rush him - after all, he is leaving for Alaska this week and when he comes back, he'll go right back to teaching. So, we decided to take on a little DIY project - buy something cheap and fix it up as an interim table for the next year. I must say, it turned out to be an awesome interim table! One that is ready for a little dinner party, wouldn't you agree?

First, we picked up this solid wood table at Goodwill for $13.

We took hours to sand and sand, then sand again.

After we thought we sanded enough, we picked up some stain and varnish for about $12.

Turns out, on the very edge of the table, we didn't sand the varnish off enough and the stain didn't soak in enough. Since we're both perfectionists, we sanded it all down AGAIN and reapplied the stain. Then applied three coats of varnish. (We used satin finish, so it's not too glossy.) As for the legs, we tried sanding them all, but it was going to take ridiculously long because they had a thick coat of white paint on them - so instead of sanding and staining, we painted them a dark brown to match the stain, which was about $10 with a lot to spare.

With a little elbow grease, look at how beautiful the end product looks!

Don't you think it looks so good in our dining room?! All for the bargain price of $35. Not too shabby. We might look for a few additional cheap chairs, but I do like it with my chairs from my two-seat dining table from my apartment.

P.S. This is the before shot of our living room - as staged by the real estate agent. Don't you love the green color we chose? It's even prettier in person, in my opinion :)

America's Birthday

I've said it once and I'll say it again: I love the 4th of July. I love the food, the friends and family time, the sun (most of the time), the Samish Island parade, and did I mention the sun? After all, it is the official kick-off to summer in the Northwest. So thank you, America, for throwing such a fun party, year after year.

Now look at how festive my man, Joe, is getting. 

He now fully understands the glory of the 4th of July.

The annual ladies shot at the Knutzen's - with Kami debuting the baby bump!
As always, thanks for having us Stephanie, Kathi and Greg!

Low tide.

Dad was manning the Firetruck in the parade. Kam was hiding on the other side!

The parade often features unusual animals like goats, llamas and mini-horses. 

This year, this guy got the prize for "Most Exotic Animal"

Without fail, there is always a pirate float.

Mads and me on our deck at home.

Oh, and did I mention the patriotic jello shots that Maddie made?

Yep, I'm thinking this was a start to a new tradition.