Partying with Tinkerbell

Lucky little fairy girl HeaBug had the best time at her gal pals birthday party!

Tinkerbell showed up and HeaBug was as excited as could be!

Reflections Art: Top of the Hill

J.T. entered into the National PTA Reflections Art program with another photography entry this year. Well it was really last year since entries are due in October.

Almost a whole school year later, we found out that he won the Award of Excellence (aka 1st place) for his division and category in our school district.

This is so exciting. He was thrilled!
This is his SECOND time winning this honor. Last year he won with a piece called "One Mile Shoes". Mr. B joked that he is going to have to branch out past taking pictures of shoes.

Here he is at the Reflections Event.

 

This is his winning entry. The theme was "The Magic of a Moment".

Last year, we went for a run together and on that day, he used my phone to capture this image. His artist's statement read: 

The magic of a moment is when you are climbing a hill and you finally get to the top. 

So young, so deep... sometimes.

 Congratulations J.T.

The OC Half Marathon and Completing the Beach Cities Challenge

The Health Expo volunteers,
assisting with the check in process
and handing out t-shirts and bibs
were tons of Elders and
Sister Missionaries from my church.
It really threw me off at first and
then, I just realized it was plain
rad. 

May 5th.  Beach Cities Challenge. Check.

A few months ago, I ran (ish) the Surf City 1/2 marathon. It was the second race of 3 to complete the Beach Cities Challenge. Long Beach, Surf City, OC.

It's been a goal of mine and today, I finished.

The OC marathon is point to point. You don't run a giant loop. It was my first experience with this and as far as races go, I think I prefer the loop.

I hadn't been running a whole lot but Mr. B and I have been enjoying OC Fitness Boot Camp, working out together and with a group of great people three mornings a week before the kids get up. We got a deal on Groupon and it's been a rad way to hang out together. Some gnarly decline, jack knife hand walk outs totally pinched something in my neck and I was on the desperate search for chiropractic attention. Thank GOODNESS a friend referred me to Dr. Ryan of Lampson Family Chiropractic. Whew.

My sweet pal Ash was also running OC as the first race of her Beach Cities Challenge so we carpooled that AM. The event requested to park at the OC fairgrounds (where the race would end and the finish line festival would be held) and then catch a shuttle to the starting line (at Fashion Island in Newport Beach). The organization was lame and we ended up waiting over an hour to catch the shuttle (even though we arrived well before our assigned shuttle times) and got to the starting line 45 minutes after the gun. All these people? We're getting off the bus and just going. We stopped to take a quick picture before a quick stretch and getting on the good foot. 

I am not a fast runner. But right now, that's not my goal. I'm still focusing on the JUST FINISH mentality. As I got dressed that morning I knew I'd wear my compression socks which make a huge difference when I run over 8 miles. I decided to wear a skort and a sleeved shirt. I don't really do shorts but the more I question why, the sillier I feel. Another post about body image coming very soon. I feel the need to think on these words a little more before pushing it out there.

I wore my Dodger hat (which I've worn for every race)... I kind of feel like it's lucky. And even if it isn't lucky, it helps with the sweat that will inevitably happen due to my crazy thick Hawaiian Girl hair. So Thank You hat... and I love you Dodgers. (haters gonna hate)

 Save for my hat and phone I left all of my other gadgets, support equipment at home. I usually wear a hydration belt that holds water, chia drink, electrolyte replacement liquid. I generally take pieces of gum and maybe clif shot blocks or a gel/goo packet. I decided a few weeks ago that I would approach this run with a different mind set. That I would avoid the hullaballoo. The unnecessary, the over anxiety, the worrying, over thinking... yeah all of that. Rubbish.

A few days before this race, I did a hypnotherapy session at Unwind the Mind with this super cool chick I met at Book Club! She is so cool and has this amazing and super calming voice. I figured I could give it a try. I feel generally pretty balanced in the rest of my life and was looking to her to help me control and maintain that level of peace during this run. Most of running is mental anyway. She gave me a key phrase, "Pass it". I practiced worrying myself silly over things that brought feelings of tension and then just "Pass it". After a few rounds of that, I really felt like I could apply that phrase to so many different things.

So that's what I did. I took my three cough drops in the key pocket of my skort, my excellent playlist and the knowledge that my love and best friend would be there at the finish line and I ran 13.1 miles. According to my GPS, with the weaving I did 13.75 but who's keeping track?

There were hills. Like no joke hills. The other races that I've done have been fairly flat, with a few inclines but nothing too drastic. Wowzer there were hills. It's all good though, one of the best parts about climbing a hill is getting to fly down the other side.

With 3/4 miles to go to finish, I took out my head phones and let myself enjoy the noise around me. The cheering at the finish. These people don't have to cheer for me and I appreciate their energy so I repay that with smiling and waving and putting some pep in my step.

 I saw his face first, then heard his "Alright Babe!" immediately after. 

I would go to the moon for this man. 

I smiled so big and did a little jig when I crossed. I made my way to the snack bags (which the kids would raid when I got home), post race photo, and went in search of my medal. See that sucker? over .75 lbs! Yeah. That's what I'm talkin' about. 

So that post race high lingers for quite a while. I felt great. Didn't limp to the car, didn't fall asleep right away. We got home and after I showered we went to Brunch and then took the kids to see Iron Man 3.
I was pretty sore the next day but got up to go to our bootcamp workout anyway... just trying to cement that Like a Boss feeling.

Woot Woot!

St Joseph's Parish Fair

Spring nights. On this particular Saturday, it was nearing bed time but we'd gone out for a late dinner at Fusion Sushi. This amazing, lit up, no joke, school/church carnival had taken up residence for the weekend near the house. We passed it every day that week on our routes to and from school. They were obviously excited. I'm never too excited about huge crowds, price gouging and "Carnies". But thanks to us having been together for so long thus giving the ability to silently communicate (with the help of eyebrows and eye shifting), we agreed we'd surprise these munchkins with a trip to the Parish Fair. 

 And thrilled they were!! What? It's 8:30 Mom. You guys are the best ever! You mean we don't have to go home right now? We can go on rides?

Mr. B did have to climb into the kiddie fun house to retrieve Ms. HeaBug. She got scared and got stuck. She wouldn't budge. Dad rescued her. 

 Flying swings, little coasters, ferris wheels... All of which cause little knots in my stomach but I pushed that to the side in favor of allowing them to experience this fully.

 Bumper cars for Mr. B and JT. HeaBug didn't reach the height requirement so she played a $3 game to win a pink monkey that was cheap and cheesy and totally made her night.

 JT's face says it all for me. This is how I feel at the top of a ferris wheel on in a sky bucket or on a ski lift... But I kept a smile on my face and encouraged them to do so too. Once they got over the initial, WHOA... They soaked it all in with delight. (Mr. B laughed at me the whole time.)
It's great to live in such a big city and still access this small community living. Love me some LBC!

Spring Break 2013 in Hawaii

10 months ago we booked 5 tickets to Hawaii using miles on our Hawaiian Miles Visa. Complete, roundtrip. bam. Two weeks later, that awesome Mr. B suggests we take Maga as she was celebrating her 50th. (It's actually what we gave her as her present). Mr. B got the airline tickets and I was put in charge of finding us a great place to stay. Since there were six of us, we were looking at two hotel rooms. Alternatively, I decided to look at renting a house. I found the most amazing place! As we didn't pay for the flights, I figured we could splurge a little on the stay and MAN was it worth it.

Poor HeaBug was still fevered and JT was coughing like he had the plague. Our flight was in the evening out of LAX on a Monday. Since we'd booked the tickets so far in advance (for a 12pm flight) the flight times were changed (to a 5pm flight). Our first 5 tickets were placed on hold, not canceled but not confirmed seats either. Good thing Mr. B got it sorted out the few days before we left! We had the confirmed seats but they were scattered throughout the plane. Traveling with two little ones, that is just not an option for me. We asked the lady when we checked out bags and she says there is nothing she can do, flight is full. Once we got through security (Which we flew through considering, little shoutout to my bugs for being awesome travelers) I went up to the desk to work my politeness. I let the Hawaiian in my voice come out a little and took poor sick, sad Hea up on my hip. This lady was happy to help. She accommodated us to put the kids in between Mr. B and myself, Breezer was one row back to the right and Maga was right behind us. What a little Mahalo can do. AND they had leis for HeaBug and JT at the gate, with wishes of "Hope bebe feels better". LOVE!

After the 5ish hour flight, we were all feeling a little like junk. We originally rented two compact cars as it was cheaper than getting a loser cruiser  mini van. But the lady at the desk said she could hook it up with a mom-mobile van. It's all good, we could all ride comfortably together. Plus, cheaper was better!

We left Honolulu, crossing the island to get to Waialua on the North Shore which was where we were staying for the week. Putting faith in Google maps, we finally pulled into a cul-de-sac and it said we were there. Looking around, the middle of the night, it didn't feel like we were in the right place. It was dark so it was pretty hard to see. Mr. B pulls out his flashlight and we get out of the van and walk down what looks like an alley or a driveway. Thankfully it was the latter of the two. We opened the wood sliding gate and pulled the car into the space. There are two units. As we used the garage door opener in the garage, it accidentally opened the other unit's garage. We must have scared them something good! Ground level was the garage, in the front door and up a flight of stairs, we walked into an amazing living room. Even at night, we knew this place was cherry. The 2nd floor held the living room with a fold down queen sized futon situated in front of the full wall pocket doors, dining room kitchen, bar a hallway and a full bath. The 3rd floor housed a bedroom, laundry, full bath, and the master bedroom, also with full wall pocket doors and a balcony with an en suite powder room and bath.

This is what I woke up to the very next morning. Not even out of bed, just looking to the right. Happy girl.

Looking off the balcony.

And THAT sunrise. My oh my, Waialua I love you.


We knew we needed to snag some breakfast before we went to the PCC, which was our plan for the day. So we headed in to eat at Cafe Haleiwa. Yum.

Polynesian Cultural Center was lots of fun

 Fun fact... if you've visited the Samoan Village at the PCC... this is the SAME GUY!

 Ali'i lu'au. Even though she was sick, girfren got up to do the hula.

 We toured Iolani Palace in Honolulu. Even the kids listened to their own audio tours walking through time.

 We celebrated Mr. B's birthday at the Chart House. Poor sick girl was still sick. At this point I was also full on sick, JT was coughing like he had the plague and Mr. B was getting sick. (Breeze was two days behind).

 We loved playing in the "backyard".

 The Dole Plantation was good fun.

 Hiking up to and swimming in Waimea Falls was amaaazing. The water was SO cold when we first got in but we were fine after a minute.

Still a little grumpy

We ate at so many awesome places! We got to catch up with a mainland friend! Thank you Yelp, we were never at a loss for food options.

 We were finally well enough to breathe through the snorkels so we visited beautiful Hanauma Bay.

Hawaii was amazing. We were all sad to leave. The kids and Mr. B are convinced we need to buy a place so we can come back whenever we want. The property we stayed on was so beautiful, it felt like a little slice of heaven on earth. Best Spring Break.