It's getting kind of stuffy in here, smells sorta funky too. Like monkeys at the zoo...

Yesterday I posted a blog and on the bottom I put a video of the turtles my family have. If you haven’t read Scott’s comments you really should. It’s really bad that it makes me laugh but they do. His comment reminded me of a incident that happened years ago. When we lived on the Big Island we had mice for pets. Lots of mice. At one time I think we had around 50 of those little guys. We would sell them back to the pet store fromtime to time. Well by the time we left the Big Island they were all gone. I don’t remember if they had all died or we sold them to the pet shop all I remember is that we no longer had any. Fast forward about 2 years. We had discovered a wild mouse in the house. Through the use of brown paper bags we caught the mouse. We decided to keep it. Like I said we (us kids) decided, dad was a harder sell. We begged and begged and finally dad gave in. After we had it for a little bit and I was going to move him into a bigger cage. I had both the bigger cage and the cage with the mouse in it outside. I was tipping the smaller cage cage into the bigger cage when the mouse jumped. It jumped about a foot from midair and got loose. A bunch of neighbor kids were around and so we all tried to catch the mouse. Well the mouse was heading right for dad and so dad put his foot down, to as he says ‘block and redirect’. I guess either the mouse was going faster then he thought or dad’s reflexes weren't particularly fast that day. Yup you guessed it he squished the mouse. I think there is still a grease spot where it happened. Needless to say we were all upset and dad’s name was mud for awhile.

As if my house wasn't a zoo enough we add in a bunch of pets. I was thinking of all the different pets we've had over the years. There have been many. Many, many different pets. So far it’s been:

• 2 guinea pigs
• tons of mice
• 4 turtles
• a rabbit
• 2 cockatoos
• a bunch of parakeets
• lots of fish
• 2 dogs
• 3 cats
• a horse
• 4 ferrets
• at least 30 hamsters
• a gerbil
• 2 lizards
• a squirrel
• a canary
• and a sugar glider

Like I said a zoo!

Here's a picture of my mom's sugar glider, Charlie in case you don't know what a sugar glider is

Everybody was Kung Fu fighting...

It's been a bit again since I posted. Though not a lot has happened lately so that might by why. I've been the opposite of poor Scott and Keao. I haven't been out of the house much. I missed mini church and church this past week. I was bummed but what can you do when your grandma is really tired and doesn't feel up to taking care of grandpa. It's a good thing I got that break when I did. I've been sleeping on the couch since last Wednesday. That's ok though, because then I don't feel guilty when I go back to sleep for a couple hours after gma gets up. I never sleep very well when I sleep on the couch, probably because I'm half awake all night listening out for gpa. It really stunk when I was home because I was still getting up a couple of times a night to go to the bathroom because my bladder is used to getting up at night with gpa.

The last time I was out was Sunday when I went with a friend and her grandkids to go see Kung Fu Panda. Great movie, I loved it. I laughed, I cried, it moved me Bob. As some of you know I'm a cartoon junkie. I freely admit it. I attribute it to the fact that I have a Peter Pan complex. Why grow up when being a kid is so much more fun. Well other then the whole not being able to drive thing of course. I've pretty much seen every cartoon movie that has come out. If it's by Dreamworks e.g. Kung Fu Panda, Pixar e.g. Finding Nemo, Blue Sky Studios e.g. Ice Age, Disney e.g. The Lion King, or Big Idea e.g. VeggieTales. I love them all.

If you have ever gone to a movie with me that's funny you know that I'm rather loud in my enjoyment. I saw a movie one time with a bunch of people from church and afterwards Scott told me that they could tell when I thought a part of the movie was funny. Another time I went to a movie with Ruthie and Reuben and we got shushed by a 10 year old! I kid you not. I've been told by a friend of mine that she knew I was in the audience of the play she was in because of my laugh. Yeah I know it, I'm loud.

Here is something else that always makes me laugh. My family has these turtles that they've had since the turtles were about the size of a dollar coin. Whenever someone walks by or goes near to the tank the turtles always freak out. Probably because they are little piggies and they want you to feed them. You should see them when my dad goes by them. It's hilarious! Btw, I did feed them after this.

I'll be thinking of you...

My sweet youngest sister Katy and her best friend Jillian sang this song for me right before I left last Oct. Jillian wrote it for me the day they sang it for me. I just love it! And I had so much fun making the video. Thanks guys!

On Sunday I went to Krystie's bridal shower. It was nice, my uncle was able to come over and stay with Gpa so Gma was able to go to church. And that meant I could go but I had no car. Thank you Keao for letting me catch a ride with you. It was a good thing I did too because I would have been so lost. As it was we passed the little road we needed twice. The shower was at Krystie's grandma's house. It was such a beautiful place. We joked around that Krsytie and Vinnie should just get married there though no one would be able to find it. I'm sure too that the neighbors wouldn't be to happy with all the cars parked in front of their houses.

Of course being that it was a bridal shower there were the requisite games. They can be really fun or really bad, depending I think on the people who do them. We had alot of fun. We played the guess how much candy is in the jar game, then a guessing game where you have to feel a brown paper bag and guess the contents. And the toilet paper wedding dress game. It's always fun to see the end results, to see what people can come up with. My teams dress won. What can I say, we're good! Well it it also helped that we had such a beautiful model. And one of my fellow designers could make these amazingly looking t.p. roses. I think that put us over the top.

The beautiful, blushing bride

The contenders: Vinnie's grandma, that for the life of me I can't remember her name, Jaclyn, Lisa, and the bride to be Krystie

On the way back from the shower we had to shop for gas. Keao got out to pump then I got out join her. After she was done pumping we were going to get something to drink. So I get out and stand on my side of the car when I suddenly hear a tap on a window. I look over to see the guy in the little cashiers box thing motioning me over. All I could think was what did we do wrong? So I go over to talk to him and what he told me was completely out of the blue. He told me that he had to compliment me. When I first got out of the car he thought I was nice looking and that the front is just as nice. He told me I was a "sexy lady". Needless to say I was a little bit shocked and my response was a lame "uh, thank you." I kid you not, this happened. I walk back over to Keao and she asked me what he said so I told her. Well the whole time I'm telling her my back was to him so he kept motioning to Keao to have me turn around. She just kept shaking her head no. We go into the store and get something to drink and on the way back to the car I got a whoooo and I guess as we were driving away Keao said he was blowing me kisses! We got a good laugh over it. That was a little weird to say the least.

Country road...

On the 15th of May the part of my family that could get away got while the getting was good. We went down to West Virginia for a vacation. As I think I mentioned before a great couple in the church lets us use their little getaway house. It's kinda sad to see the bad rep that some of the southern states get. West Virginia is amazingly beautiful and the people are incredibly nice. In alot of ways the friendliness reminds me of Hawaii. I have to admit, though, when we were first going down there I was one of the nay sayers. I had never been there before and all we could think of was hillbilly rednecks and how bad it was going to be. You wouldn't be able to walk around because if we wandered into somebody elses property we would be shot! Isn't that horrible. I know, I'm such a bad person. My parents heard our concerns but made a command decision to go. We once again got a 'later' start (that's very typical for my family) and so it was dark once we got down there. We got off the freeway then we started driving farther and farther back into the country. All we could think was, "Where were our parents taking us?!?" Finally we turned off of the road that we were on that was paved and 2 lanes, onto a small, one lane, windy, kinda paved road. Then it didn't help that it had started to rain. Needless to say we were freaking out. We passed 'that house' you know the one with cars on blocks, various parts and things and I kid you not, a washing machine. All we could think was all our fears were true. So here we are following my parents van in my mini van. We have no idea where we are going or how much longer we had to go. And we couldn't even stop and ask for directions because who knows the reception we would get. Then we got to a part of the road where it started to go back up hill. We started to go up when all of a sudden my dad started to back up! We were going nuts! Here's the scenario, pitch black, rain, and having to back down the hill and around a bend in the road and try not to go over the road into the mud. My sister is my hero! I was glad I wasn't the one driving. After we safely made it down the hill we pulled into a driveway. To get to the house we were staying at we had to cross a little stream that was part of the driveway. Except because it was pouring it was no longer a 'little stream'. We waited to see if my dad could over it first before we attempted it. Aren't we nice? You know we had the best time and like I said it's just amazing down there.

The drive down takes any where from 6 to 8 hours. That especially depends on how many pitstop we take. With a group of 9 that could be quite a few. Actually I don't think we did all that bad this time. Though once we hit West Virginia it started to rain and the van I was driving was having some problems going up the hills with it raining. So it took longer. We got there safely and not much longer then what we planned for.

This time we did something different. I drove one van and my dad drove the other. Which isn't different because we always have to take 2 vehicles but this time in my dad's van we packed all the luggage and the food stuff. And in my van I had all the kids. The fun mobile! Though they pretty much watched the dvd player the whole trip down. I always think about how crazy that is. Mainly because I remember when we first moved to the mainland we drove from L.A. to Ohio. It was a two week trip and all we had was coloring books and toys! How times have changed.

The trip was so great. I was really able to just relax and enjoy my family. I even hit the hammock a couple of times! This time we went to a bunch of parks we haven't gone to yet. This is about the 5th or 6th time we've gone down so we've done quite a bit of scooping out the land. The really great thing is that where we are in the state has alot of state and national parks close by. It was so very nice. I took so many pictures there is no way I could post them all. I'm really glad I talked myself into getting my camera before I went.

To help all of you who don't know my family or the order we all fall in, I have these pictures. For all of you who know my family here's some new pictures of us for you to enjoy.

This is my oldest sister Angeline. She got married last year.

Number 2: my sister Dara. She got married last year. She is due the end of November with the first niece or nephew and grandchild of the family.

I'm 3rd in line

Number 4: Melody

Number 5: Chrissy

Number 6: Rena. She is engaged and planning to get married next spring.

Number 7: Josh

Number 8: Katy

Number 9: Joe

Number 10: Jon

They call me Mellow Yellow...

On the Saturday before Mother's day I was kidnapped! I knew about it before hand though, so does that make me accessory or victim? Hmmmm. Anyways like I said I was kidnapped. Three of my sisters were unable to go down to West Virginia with the rest of the family. Needless to say they were quite upset because I only had about a week and a half to spend with them before I left again. You know it's really crazy how a month can be such a long time and such a short time at the same time.

That Friday night my parents and a couple siblings and a brother-in-law decided last minute to go watch Iron Man. I really liked it. I think I liked it better then Fantastic Four. Did you notice that in the movie the good guy used Macs and the bad guy used a Dell? Interesting huh? I'm just putting it out there, you make your own conclusions. So the movie started at 8:50 and by the time we picked up my younger brothers from my oldest sister's house it was 1:00. By the time I went to sleep it was 1:30, 2:00. That wouldn't have been bad but I was planning to go to a prayer breakfast at my sister's house...at 7:00. Yuck! Needless to say I slept through my alarm set for 6:30 and all the subsequent little beeps. But they called me and I actually woke up. Rats, that meant I actually had to go. It was really good so I was glad I went. Even if I lost sleep.

After the breakfast we were off to a fun filled day of shopping, Cheesecake Factory, and girly stuff. Yea! We started out at Salvation Army. Being from such a large family all of us tend to be pretty frugal. And one of my sisters who got married last year is pregnant and was in search of deals in maternity clothes. I'm so excited, my first niece or nephew! The poor child is going to be so spoiled. All the Aunties and Uncles, the first grandchild and great grandchild. Poor kid.

After Salvation Army it took us a little drive to hit the next stop. Cheesecake Factory! Yum! I've only eaten there twice but both times were such a good experience I don't know why I don't do it more. We decided to order two entrees and split them between the 4 of us. It's a good thing we did because the plates were huge! And though we stuffed ourselves silly we still had lots of leftovers. It was as good for breakfast as it was then. If you ever go I highly recommend the Chicken Mediera and the Chicken Costotella! The Macaroni and Cheese appetizers are also incredible. I know, you think weird but it's really, really good.

The Cheesecake Factory

Dara, Angeline, and me

Me and Chrissy

Actually I tried not to eat too much as after lunch my wonderful sisters were treating me to a massage. The massage was absolutely amazing! I think I'm still mellow from it. I don't know why I've never done one before. I would love to do it again.

Yon know how if you start a diet you always seem to get irrational cravings for the things that you can't have. Well I was doing that with Starbucks. It wasn't readily available so I wanted it all the time. I told you all that so you can understand the next part of the story. By the salon where I got the massage there was a Starbucks, so of course I had to get one. After we got the Starbucks I was forcing my sisters play tourist with me and take pictures. One of the places we took a picture was in front of a fountain. My coffee was placed safely on the ledge behind me. Well maybe not so safely as one of my sisters knocked it over changing places. To add insult to injury not only did it spill all over but it spilled all over my foot! I was so sad and my sister felt horrible. She offered to go get me another one but I told her that that's ok. Now I can hold it over her head... just kidding :). Kinda.

After the infamous coffee slaying

The world's saddest picture

That night, after more shopping and girly stuff, we went back to my oldest sister's (the coffee killer) house. Her husband spent the whole day slaving away making us a wonderful dinner. He made us lamb with potatoes and peppers. Zucchini in a Hollandaise sauce. Then he made three different deserts. A Strawberry and Rhubarb pie, a Lemon Meringue and Meringues. What a guy! It was so good. What a great day. I could definitely get used to that!

Chrissy

Dara, her husband Ray, me, David (the cook) and Angeline

I'm baaaaacccckkkk!

Well I'm back. It was so good to be back in Ohio with the fam. I have really missed them. It helped though that I wasn't gone for as long this time. On Saturday my parents and three of my siblings took me to the airport. I did ok though it got hard after mom started crying. One of my sisters told me that when I go it's like the sunshine in the family goes. That was so sweet but it's kinda like just rip out my heart, why don't you. I really have to say that God has really blessed me with my family. We're all so close even though they're so many of us and there is such a wide range in our ages. My youngest brother is 19 yrs younger then me! I got in Saturday night around 8 which isn't that bad but you figure that that's 2 o'clock in the morning. So though it wasn't late it felt really late to me. When I woke up Sunday morning it was strange because it felt like I didn't even go!

Well I guess it's on to the explanation of why it has been so long since I wrote a blog. On the 12th of May my parents and I went done to District Counsel. District Counsel for those who don't know is basically the annual business meeting for the Assembly of God pastors of Ohio. I went down with them because I wanted to see the guy who was speaking on Monday night. Well not so much speaking but doing a stand up routine. His name is Tim Hawkins and he's a christian comedian. He was hilarious and I had a great time hanging out with just my parents.




We got home Wednesday and on Thursday morning we headed out to West Virginia. After a 6 or 7 hour trip we were there. We go down and stay at a friends house down there. They very graciously let us use their getaway place. It's wonderful. It's way back on the back roads. I think it takes us 20 minutes just to get to the freeway and 30 to 40 minutes to get to the nearest grocery store. It's so great but the downside is that cell phone reception is pretty much non- existant and they don't have Internet. It's amazing how used to that you get. I didn't even have a cell phone until a couple months before I moved here 3 1/2 yrs ago and the only Internet I had was the library until a year after I moved. But now it's hard to not have it for even a week! And we were down in WV for 2 weeks. So I'm trying to catch up now. I'll going to try to talk more about the trip and have pictures in the coming week or so.