Holly’s Blog

Lots of at home time and new ‘firsts’ to record.  Here are some more photos for those of you who have been asking.

As if you haven’t seen enough photos of us… I just had to share a few more.  Enjoy!!!!

Well, to be honest… a little of everything.  She is quite the active, talkative two-year-old.  It’s been so fun watching her personality develop over the past few months.  She has quite the sense of humor and love to make us laugh, “I’m cracking you up!” she’ll say.  Unfortunately she did give up her afternoon nap this summer… much to early in Mommy’s mind.  Especially for a 8 month pregnant Mommy who wanted naps herself!  Sigh… we have instituted a “quiet time” instead now… which was quite the fight in the beginning but now she goes willing (usually!).  Annika has an active imagination and it’s fun to watch what she’s come up with next.  Her latest is making voices for different “friends”… parrot (“Squack, may I have some seeds please”), Whale soap pump (“thank you for the soap… You are welcoming Annika… The whale talked to me”)… and even the new baby has a voice too!

On a quick trip to Washington (too quick for my mainland-sick soul!)… we visited family and my dear childhood friend Jennifer and her family.  Then back in Hawaii we hosted visitors and had fun whether packing boxes or sightseeing around the island.

Well, I have made quite the trend of not posting for a while and then bombarding you with posts and photos over a day or so.  It’s been way too long since my last post… so hold onto your hats.  Here comes a lot of them.

Here are some photos of life in Hawaii.  There are ups and downs… and well, just different things.  One of the “ups” is the lime tree that is in our yard.  It goes though cycles of producing fruit and currently there are 15+ limes growing.  Needless to say, I’ve been doing some research on recipes using limes.

Another cool thing is that my dancing-loving-self has gotten to learn yet another style of dance – hula.  First of all I have to say that hula is very different here in Hawaii… different from what we as “mainlanders” think of when someone says “hula”.  The hula that they do here, the local Hawaiians… traditional hula is not coconut bras and skimpy grass skirts.  Hula is a peaceful, beautiful, worshipful dance.  They wear long skirts or dresses… and of course flowers and leis!  I joined a hula group with the church we attend.  It has been fun to learn and meet the other women.  I was even able to perform with them a few weeks ago.  Daniel and I jokes that Sat. night was my debut and Sunday was my finale performance… but more on the reasons for that later.

We live in the country, as I have commented about before, and that has challenges and perks.  One of the perks is that we had a monk seal on our beaches (in Kaaawa) for a few weeks on and off.  Annika was more than thrilled to see the monk seal, even though it was only sleeping.  On this day’s stop I told Annika it was sleeping.  When we were saying bye-bye to it she added “Don’t let bed bugs bite.”

There are geckos here… they live in and around our homes… and are our “friends” because they eat the bugs.  Though they usually stay up high on the wall and sleep during the day, we’ve had to learn to look before we act when we see something running across the floor.  Sometimes it’s a gecko and sometimes is it something we want to kill.  Below is a photos of one outside our kitchen window.

Chickens, Roosters, and Chicks… they are everywhere here in the country.  Well, actually everywhere in Hawaii but even more so in the country.  The below photos is on our street… just one house down from ours.  I’ve watched a few broods (is that what a group is chicks is called?) grow up.  They are mostly wild, though some people keep them as pets.  Not sure why, but they do.  The annoying part is when the roosters crow at all hours of the morning.  Our first night spent in the house, we awoke to a rooster crowing at 3am.  Sigh…

We were blessed to escape on another three day weekend.  This time to check out another of the Hawaiian Islands, Kauai.  Daniel found a great rate hotel on the Coconut Coast (east side of the island), and we hopped over.  (Lesson learned:  Open seating is not so much fun when you have a child, a stroller and carseat to gate check, and the airline is unorganized not telling anyone what’s going on with the flight!)

In spite of colds, sore throats and generally fussyness… we all fought back and had a great weekend.  The weather was a bit chilly (for Hawaii!) and so we didn’t spend as much time at the pool as we expected.  On Saturday, we relaxed around the hotel, drove north into Kaapa, and did let Annika play around in the pool.  And Sunday, we explored further north… all the way up to Hanalei Bay.  We stopped to visit a lighthouse, walk on the beach, explore caves, and found a great little cafe to have lunch.  Then on Monday, after checking out of the hotel, we drove to the south side of the island.  We checked out the old sugar mill town, Koloa.  Then headed on to Poipu… known for the gorgeous beaches.  And it did not disappoint.  It was hard to come back and fight the crazy airline ‘game’ again… but we have great memories to look back on.

(Note about the chickens:  We have gotten used to life on Oahu… and the chickens.  They are just wild and everywhere.  Our first night in the house, we were awoken by a rooster crowing at 3:30am right next door.  The neighbor had been feeding them, according to another neighbor… and they were trying to get them to quit feeding the chickens.  We typically see a hen followed by a bunch of chicks running across the street in our neighborhood.  But we quickly learned that on Kauai, the chicken problem is on a whole different level.  They are everywhere… seriously, everywhere.  And in huge numbers.  They have a whole new industry there… “Rooster Eradicators”!

Christmas morning was full of laughter, generous presents and constant motion from Annika.  We were thankful to all be together this year.   I’ll let the photo captions tell the story for the day…

It was wonderful to have everyone together for a Linquist Family Christmas Eve meal.  Annika all dressed up in her Santa skirt.

Oh, that reminds me of a funny story about “Santa”.  Early in December, Daniel, Annika and I were driving though Kaneohe.  All of the sudden we heard her exclaim from the back seat, “Noah!”.  I wasn’t sure what she was taking about since her Noah’s Ark set was at home, not in the car.  But then we looked out the window and saw a white bearded “Santa” face.  She saw it and thought it was Noah… the only white bearded guy she knows!  We laughed and laughed.

And one more Santa story while we are on the subject.  Just last week, I was out with Annika and she said, “Santa” seemingly out of the blue.  But as I looked around I spotted what she had.  A jolly old man with a full head of white hair on his head and a full, long white beard on his chin.  Again I laughed.  Then as he was walking away, past us again, she says, “Bye, bye Santa.”  Kids say the funniest things!

Grandma (Sharon) and I made Christmas cookies with Annika.  We had a blast, but as seen in the photos, not as much fun as Annika.  Please bear with me being a “mom” here.  I know this is way to many photos of her… but I had a photographer (Thank you, Jessica)… and you don’t want to know how many were on the unedited list.

The first few need an explanation.  We got Annika’s new “Christmas present” apron on and stood her on a chair.  She helped me roll out the first batch.  I turned by back for a moment, and when I glanced back she was face down in the dough… coming up with a nose and forehead full of flour.  She was smelling the dough.  We laughed so hard and left the flour on her face… it was too cute!

I also have to say that she lost a bit of interest in cutting out and decorating once she tasted a cookie.  Yummy, yummy, yummy!

With all Daniel’s family in town for Christmas… in Hawaii, the land of sun and sand…  we had to have a beach day!  After loading up the tent, chairs, towels and sand toys, we headed north to Waimea Bay.  It was pretty big surf that day, so no one went swimming.  But that didn’t stop everyone from enjoying the sand, sun and gorgeous blue water.

Then on the way back we stopped at the famous North Shore Shrimp Shacks… so yummy.  The best shrimp I’ve ever had.  Delicious.  We all dug in and got messy… did I mention how yummy it was?!?