Quilts and Gardens

Just over a month ago this is what it looked like here. Luckily the snow melt is here and it is beginning to look like spring.

I also finished the Birthday quilt for little Mary Alice (Maggie).

And finally, I noticed something exciting happening in my flower beds. Last year we dug up the beds and sorted out all of the bulbs and then replanted them. Now they are peeking up through the ground.

And finally, these last pictures are for Darryl so he can see how much the snow has melted.

Spring is almost here!!! Yippee!!

OUCH!!! No Wonder it Hurt!!

It happened around the 1st of March. I was running down a quiet street in Laie, Hawaii when a sharp pain shot through my ankle. I had a lot of fun still waiting for me in the Aloha State so I wrapped it up tight and kept going..... for the next 10 days.

It kept hurting and nagging me but I was undaunted. I was a little shocked at how swollen it got when I flew home, but it was bearable. I even taped it up on Saturday and power walked my first 5K. Sunday it was extremely sore, more than normal and last night it hurt so bad I had trouble sleeping. This morning I had enough and finally went to the Dr. to get an X-Ray.

Diagnosis: Broken Fibula in the ankle. Miraculously, it was still in alignment, so the Dr. put me in a knee high stability boot for the next 4-6 weeks. I hope I am a quick healer! I want to get back to running.

A Message From Parker

Hi everyone, it's me, Parker. I want to tell you what a great Saturday we had here in Idaho. It was a fun day. (Hey.... Don't you love my new outfit that Nana got for me?)

First thing Saturday, Mommy and Grandma went to the park to run a race. Well, Mommy ran but grandma just walked it real, real fast because she had a hurt ankle.

Mommy was fast and beat grandma by a lot. Probably because she's an experienced runner, but she was proud of grandma for not wimping out and going the whole 5k distance.

Yea for Grandma Cindy!! And to think that a year ago she couldn't even walk without a handful of painkillers or a cane. Grandma's time was 44:41. That's walking a 14:32 mile. I don't know if that's good or not but for grandma it's great!!

This is Adam. He works with Grandpa and Grandma at Dome Technology and this was his first race. He ran the 10k race.
He and Grandma are the "DOME RUNNERS".
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Saturday afternoon was the best!!!!

Sunday is Gideon's 3rd Birthday and Mommy and Daddy threw him a BIG Party on Saturday!!!!
Mommy put on a great buffet with lots of delicious food.

Everyone ate and visited and then it was time to ......

Play Games!!! It was a Back Yardigans party and the game was stick the bow tie on Pablo!

The little kids didn't have to use the blind fold. I didn't get to play.. I was keeping Papa busy.

After Games it was time for Gideon to blow out the candles on his cake. Where are the candles you ask? They are the little stars on the sticks. Gideon is good at blowing out the candles. One puff and they were all out!

Then Gideon opened TONS and TONS of presents!! Wow!!! He is soooo spoiled. But it's okay because he always shares with me.

After the presents it was time to eat cake and Ice Cream. Ashlynn and Eden did the serving.

Grandma, I am so proud of you for doing your race today I am going to give you a big surprise!!!!

A great big slobbery wet kiss!!! I love you grandma!

Oh.... and this is Gideon's new girlfriend Eden. He calls her Edie. I guess those college guys better watch out. Gideon is stealing their girl.

That was our Saturday. I hope your's was just as fun.

ALOHA... and some Random Hawaii Pictures

I have a few pictures that I left out of other posts and some new ones. Above is a sign I had made for Skye at the Dole Plantation. I stood there as the artist painted it. He charges $1.00 a letter. It took him all of three minutes to make this beautiful sign.

...and above you see a picture of Skye and I on one of the 3 sets of steps / stairs as you climb Diamond Head. This set has 99 steps.

Gunstock Ranch in the rain. It is beautiful.

Tuesday Skye and I got a ride to Hukilau Beach and walked down to the Malaekahana State Park.

It was a pretty day for a stroll on the beach...

Then we waded through the water, sometimes up to our waist, and went out to Mokuauia or "Goat" Island which is a Shearwater Bird Sanctuary.

We were the only ones on the Island and the day we went was lovely. We snorkeled for a while and then hiked around the perimeter of the Island before heading back to shore.

We came to shore at the state park where Skye's sweet neighbor, Carrie, came and picked us up.

Carrie and her boys, Caleb and Matthew (Bubbers). Carrie was kind enough to take us several places and loan us her car on occasion.
Thank you Carrie!!!

Some of the Ladies from Church wanted to learn to quilt, so on Thursday the Feb. 24, we tied a quilt and today I bound it. Here is Colleen and Shawna...

Sister Tofa, Rhoda and Sister Lakatani and myself. We had so much fun. These ladies are the best and they just adore Skye and Ryan.

Here is a picture of the apartment house where Skye and Ryan live. Their's is the middle door on the left. Their Studio Apt. is 10'x20'. It has been cozy!

It has been a wonderful 22 days and I will be sad to leave Skye and Ryan and my new friends, but I am excited to get home and be with my kids in Idaho. Hopefully Darryl will get home from Mississippi before too long.

Aloha!

ROAD TRIP!!!!

On Tuesday we packed our bags and headed to the leeward side of the island and the resort community of Ko Olina to house sit for friends for a few days. BTW/ the domes built by Dome Technology in 2000-2001 are almost visible from their house.

Ryan and I rode the motorcycle while Skye (who was still sick with her cold) stayed home and rested until Ryan picked up the car and went back to get her and our luggage. It was a fun ride but my bum was sure sore by the time the 1 hour 15 minute ride was over.

Tuesday it was drizzly and cloudy most of the day. We drove up the coast in the evening to see what was up there. The sunset was beautiful but I forgot my camera. We made up for the mistake by spending time that night at the pool and hot tub. Se la vie.
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Wednesday was Swap Meet and DIAMOND HEAD day.
I have no pictures from the swap meet. I mean, it hasn't changed at all in 3 1/2 years. My sprained ankle was killing me so we decided to eat lunch and rest my ankle before taking on the climb. We ate lunch at "The Counter". A build your own burger place in Kahala Mall that served up one of the best burgers I have ever had, and the sweet potato fries were fabulous. Hillary, Daniel Dae Kim is part owner of the restaurant, but we went because of the great food reviews.
Then off on our next adventure.
Yes folks, even with a sprained ankle I decided I had to climb Diamond head. It was worth it!

Skye leading the way up the main trail after getting off of the sidewalk.
This was not a smooth path.

Skye and Ryan on the path going up.

Coming out of the tunnels and winding stairs.

The views from the top.

Somehow I missed putting the pictures of the stairs on this post. There were two sets of steep stairs. The first has 78 steps and second 99 and probaly 30 on the spiral stairs at the top. I will post them later. I just kept telling myself that if my 81 year old mother-in-law could climb the 200+ steps of the Daytona light house with her bad heart, then I could climb this. BTW, Peggy climbed Diamond Head when she was in her 60's.