ohio and back

we are alive (although barely!!!!) it was a seriously action packed week in ohio.

we had 26 people in my parent's house for the week, and my little sister made the truly most BEAUTIFUL little bride you can imagine. it was mass chaos for about 97% of the time, but in the end it was the prettiest and most creative wedding ever. I am tucked into bed with two tired (and one sick) little girls. hoping to make it through the next 2 days of work, and then a 3 day weekend with my little sweeties. many pictures to come!!!

for now, i will just post this one pic with my sisters Becky and Betsy (doesn't she look like a little princess?!!!)

Congratulations: Kaori Tamura, PhD, ATC

Posted by: Cris



Meanwhile in Hawaii...



It has only been a little over a week and today was only the first day of school and I'm already going crazy missing my girls. The only plus has been that I've been getting alot done including making good use of the Craftsman wood chipper (now the second best piece in my tool arsenal) I recently bought in an attempt to regain control of the jungle's advancement while I was on the mainland.



Today the school year got started with a bang. In events that were very near and dear to my heart, my friend and now former student Kaori successfully defended her doctoral dissertation and joined the ranks of proud UH PhD grads as graduate #3 all-time from our program. This completion was particularly special for me for a number of reasons.



As a first year PhD student, I got to know Kaori in working with her as she finished her Master's thesis. I'll never forget the week we sat in the biomechanics lab over Spring Break as the ONLY 2 people in the department who were even still in town and hammered out the final analysis of her thesis. After a year out working in the real world, Kaori invited me to meet her at Starbucks and talk about whether she should come back and start a PhD. I of course told her I'd be mad at her if she didn't. :)



So, Kaori's first year in the PhD program was my final year finishing my dissertation and Kaori was part of a faithful crew that spent many long hours in the lab helping me collect my dissertation data.



During the last 3 years, I have enjoyed many good times working with Kaori and I hope that these experiences have been as valuable to her as they were to me.



Unfortunately, in about 10 days Kaori is moving to Taiwan which means no more hour long nerd sessions sitting in my office talking about some bit of biomechanics theory or weekend seminars in the anatomy lab standing over a cadaver while Kaori translates my attempts at explanation into coherent Japanese.



But, I will also miss Kaori for another very important reason...



She has always LOOOVED my girls...



And as you can see, they have always loved her:





Godspeed Dr. Tamura - I will miss you more than you know!

sick....

i thought saturday night was kind of rough, with the whole vomiting incident. however, i think saturday night was just to prepare me for what happened last night. i am really not sure where all of this is coming from, but last night at about 2 a.m. nova woke up crying and with terrible diarrhea (and vomiting, but what's a little vomit thrown in when you have diarrhea everywhere??!)

so, we kind of had a repeat of saturday night, with the changing of the beds, and the trips to the shower, etc. I did feel soooo bad for poor little nova, though. she would fall asleep and then wake up with a terrible belly ache and she kept saying "do something mommy, please do something". well, believe me, i would have done something if i could have...but in spite of 11 years of medical training, i had no magic solution for her GI virus, so we just stuck it out. Juneau joined in the fun at about 5 a.m., but she handled it a little better. a few trips to the potty, and she was feeling ok. Laura and the girls spent most of the day just bumming around the house and pulling out some Disney movies from my 150 disney movie box set courtesy of the Afghanistan DVD Company (the Afghani's may not have mastered how to train a functional military, but they sure do know how to pirate DVD's!!)

anyway, by the time i rolled through the door at 5 oclock, the girls were feeling pretty good, and ready for some fun with mom.

Nova was working on re-hydrating after a rough week... Jbug was re-feuling with her favorite costo treat- fruity sorbet...

The girls have been rather obsessed with this little fan lately. they like to sit in front of it, and hold various objects in front of it. i haven't yet taught them how they can use a deep voice to say "luke, i am your father" into the fan to get a realistic sound effect...maybe we will work on that tomorrow....our cute little bug...

sometimes your backside just needs a strong breeze....

and what one sister does, the other must do as well...

Juneau wanted me to take a picture of her "Scary face". it's kind of cute, but it actually does scare nova, and juneau gets massive amounts of enjoyment out of doing this right in nova's face. which of course sets nova into fits of tears, which results in a time out for juneau, but apparently the punishment must be worth the crime because we go through that cycle at least 5 times a day!

toddler tip of the day....

sorry daddy, no pics today! we had a super busy day of running all over the place, and the camera sat on the kitchen counter untouched!



so today i will share a quick and easy toddler tip that has transformed our mornings. The girls are EARLY risers. The usually make their way over to our room around 6 a.m. For several weeks when we first got to colorado it started to get earlier and earlier, and we were seeing 2 smiling faces standing at our bedroom door at the ridiculous hour of 5:30 a.m. Finally, enough was enough, and we had to do something to maintain our sanity.

Cris (aka super hero daddy), connected their lava lamp to a simple outlet timer from home depot. The lamp comes on at 7 p.m. every night, and turns off at 6:15 every morning. if they wake up and the lava lamp is on, they have to stay in bed. if the lava lamp is off, they know they can come over to our room. it is a genius master plan, and we we are really on our game we change the timer to 7 a.m. on the weekends!!! ahhhh...sleep is a beautiful thing. and they actually seem to like the system because it helps them grasp what time it actually is.



well, today was busy. this mama is tired. Had a nice day at work. saw some very cute and sweet little pregnant ladies, then came home to 2 excited little girls who were VERY happy to see their mom. We headed over to our tuesday night run club at Jack Quinn's Irish Pub. I have been very diligent about running with the run club on Tuesdays. Not only do i appreciate the motivation to run 3.5 miles every week, but i also get a FREE Jack Quinn's t-shirt after 10 runs. And as Grandma Kavanagh alway said "whatever is free, take lots of it" (that is a little inside joke for my youngstown college buddies!). but cris can attest that i live by this motto of Grandma Kavanagh (who i am not even remotely related to, for the record). I particularly annoy my handsome husband by enjoying every single free sample at Costco during our shopping trips. ahhhh i am laughing to myself just thinking about cris grumbling as we fight through the crowds of carts to get that tiny bite sized microwaved philly cheessteak sandwhich. haha.



anyway, back to the events of the day. 2 weeks ago Laura and I braved the afternoon colorado rainstorm to complete our run. then last week it was 97 degrees, then this week, we were back to rain. but i bundled the girls up, and ran anyway, and it was great. Pushing 70 pounds of toddlers for 3.5 miles is not fun, BUT, i do enjoy the weekly run. I especially enjoy the running motivational narrative from Nova. "Are we going to win it today mom? Are we? I think we can win it. You are doing some SERIOUS running today, mom. great job.". However, as we started coming up the big hill about 2 miles into the run, she started into "mom, you have to run SUPER FAST or we are not going to win. i'll show you". So out of the stroller she comes, she sprints for all of about 20 seconds, just to demonstrate how i am SUPPOSED to be running, and then hops back in the stroller and cuddles up in her beloved "brown blankie" and gets back to the motvational speeches. ahhh....sooooo much fun!!! :)



anyway, i am off to bed, then wake up and do it again!

the new norm (again!)

after i wrote the title of this post..."the new norm"....i realized how many "new norms" we have had over the last 3 years! haha! so, i gues this is technically the new, new, new, new, new norm!

Today was our first official day with daddy in hawaii and mommy back to work....and the verdict is.....i think we are going to be able to pull this off!



juneau and i spent a little time working on her reading after i got home from work today. She learned the word "the" today, and then was able to read, and then write the entire phrase "cat in the hat" with very little help! she was VERY pleased with herself! Now it is MY turn to take pictures of the girls skyping!! They have been SUPER excited to skype with daddy. and i am SUPER excited to have a skype connection that actually works (it got a little old to get cut off every 30 seconds in afghanistan!). Cris took the computer all over the house with him, and the girls absolutely loved getting to see their bed, and their toys, and their dogs! Daddy found one of their favorite books (a gift from the Alfords) called "Nova the Robot", and cris read it to them over skype! they had a blast!

Helping daddy read the book via the webcam!

so....we we are off and running with the year. hoping for a smooth 2 months until we all head to hawaii for a good long visit in October!

aloha daddy

well, we have survived the first 48 hours without daddy. it's a rough transition. not only do these girls adore their daddy, but they have such a special and unique relationship. Cris has been the primary caregiver for the last 2 years, and it was really, really hard to send him to Hawaii alone this weekend. I think it was probably a good thing that he had a 6 a.m. flight, which meant he caught a 4:30 a.m. shuttle from the airport hotel, so we didn't have to have a traumatic airport send-off.

we spent the day in denver on saturday, and checked out the Denver Botanic Gardens....which were really amazing.

Saturday night at about midnight Nova started crying, and when i went into her room she just said "look, mom!", and pointed to their bed.....and a giant pile of partially digested spaghetti noodles. She had perfectly aimed her vomit to be sure that both of their mattresses were involved in the mess.....so i tossed nova in the shower, transferred the girls to my bed, and stripped their beds. Nova had been in my bed for about 45 minutes, when round 2 of the spaghetti vomit made it's appearance. At which point i realized my novice mom mistake....no vomit protection in the clean bed. I tried to catch the spaghetti in my cupped hands, haha, which did not go well, so now my bed, nova, and myself, are all covered in puke. So back to the shower, stripping and remaking my bed (now thorougly covered in giant beach towels), and back to bed. poor little thing couldn't fall back to sleep, so we snuggled for a few hours until she finally drifted off.

Not sure if she caught a little virus, or if it could possibly be the fact that i had caught her ealier in the day drinking out of a baby bottle that she had filled with water from the wading pool that had been standing in the sun for 2 weeks and had bird feathers (and i'm sure LOADS of bacteria) floating around in it.... (i know!!! just the thought of that makes me want to vomit right now!!!) We'll just chalk that one up to beefing up her super-human immune system :)



so, enough puke talk!!! on to the pictures.



The girls were the lucky recipients of this super cool jeep that one of our friend's kids had outgrown and passed on to us. They definately grasp the concept of the gas pedal, but steering still needs a little work!

Do you see future 16 year olds in this picture??!

later this afternoon we headed over to our little local park for some "energy expenditure" before bed. The park has a ton of sand, which makes nova really happy!

Gogurt always hits the spot! The girls have been having a blast on their tricycles lately. I have been trying hard to get them to use their new balance bike, but they are still pretty obsessed with the trikes...we will keep working on the transition!

super busy work week ahead. A full week of clinic, then 12 hour shifts all weekend :( But once i gt the crazy work week out of the way, it is off to Ohio for my little sister's wedding!!! Can't wait to see the Ohio fam!

crazy but fun....

i thought Laura might think i was just a TINY bit crazy, when i brought up the idea of taking the girls to the "Pixie Class" at the roller rink today. Luckily, Laura is just as crazy as i am, and thought it was a great idea! haha!! so, she loaded up the girls, and bravely headed to the roller rink. and it was a success!!! :)

Don't you just love the classic roller rink carpet!!! It apparently took a while to figure out how to keep her legs from getting all twisted up... Nova seemed to think the best technique was to just shamelessly cling to the wall.

There were clearly some spills taken!

But they caught on!!!!

By the end of the day, Nova seems to have mastered the "Squat and roll"

And they evne tried the Limbo bar!

I think they were pretty wiped out by the end of the morning!

Can you tell that Nova adores "Miss Laura"?

Juneau told me "mom! they even knew that i LOVE the Lion King because they played Hakuna Matata for me!"

Finally, I have to finish off this post with my new very very favorite thing. I REALLY want this amazing globe chandelier. There is a perfect spot in our house for it, and hopefully Cris is prepared for me to be collecting vintage globes (i need 15!) so he can figure out a way to string them up in some sort of fancy chandelier arrangement :) isn't it cool?!

weekend getaway - Boulder!

We are running out of time around here! I feel summer's clock ticking quickly....I am anxious to squeeze in lots of summertime fun before our first snow fall! Also, this is the last weekend before Cris officially heads back to the Aloha state, so we really have to cram in some super fun over the next week!
Juneau is totally down with the idea of cramming in lots of fun!!! the best part of any hotel stay is jumping on the bed! love all that shiny black hair!!! :)

We (and by "we", i really mean cris and juneau) spent lots of time in the hotel pool. Nova and I preferred the hot tub...the pool was REALLY cold!

Nova spent most of the pool time playing with her babies "Sweetie Baby", and "Tiny Little Baby"

She did take a break for a quick kiss from Daddy

Juneau has been mastering some new pool tricks....This one is the Balancing Trick.... see...it's COLD! Juneau's blue lips are evidence!

This trick she calls the "cottonball" (aka Cannonball!)

Finally...on to some climbing pics. We headed up to the Eldorado Canyon to try some world famous climbing routes. We met up with our good friends Justin and Dee and baby Luca. Luca (at a mere 7 months old), was a trooper, and actually made it all the way up the approach with us, but the sun was intense, and there wasn't much of an area for a 7 month old to chill out, so Dee and Luca explored the town a bit, while the rest of the gang spent some time at the Crag.

Don't you just love that little dimple!

cutie pie j-bug....

So, this is our challenge for the next trip to Boulder....We will have to either find a babysitter, or wait a few years until the girls can climb up this multi-pitch 5.8 route...I tried to talk cris into just putting them in a haul bag and hauling them up with us, but he didn't seem to think that was the greatest idea :)

Nova found this little boulder at the bottom of the route we were climbing, and she must have climbed the boulder 15 times. She named it "Princess Rock"

We found a great little place for the girls to climb...they loved it!

Juneau reflecting on the route :)

Cris and Justin climbing...

Of course we have to include the inevitable picture of Nova looking dirty and forlorn!

This morning we headed up to the Flatirons area for a little hike. The hike started out rough, wiht lots and lots of whining and fussing that they didn't want to do it, but it didn't take long for the girls to get into the groove of the hike, and they really had a fantastic time once they got used to the idea. We probably hiked a litlte over a mile round trip, but there was a decent elevation gain, so it was a bit of a challenge. Fortunately, the trip highlight was finding the ACTUAL woods where Snow White escaped from her wicked stepmother (at least it was the ACTUAL woods according to Nova!)

Juneau showing us her "heart" Mommy and the girls halfway up the hike

Flatirons All in all it was a really fun weekend. We planned to finish the trip with a stop by the new Denver Ikea. I have NEVER set foot in an Ikea, and I am not even kidding when i say i actually had butterflies in my stomach as we turned off the exit to the gigantic blue and yellow building. It should have been a warning that there was actually a traffic back-up to get off the exit, but somehow i didnt expect that there woudl actually be turnstiles outside of the store, with a huge line of people waiting in 96 degree scorching sun to get into Ikea! can you believe that?!!! so, we decided to postpone my first Ikea trip for a few months until the madness clams a bit. Oh well, that will just give me something to look forward too!