Meet "Chicken of the Sea"

Sara is afraid of the ocean and the sand. We're having a lot of fun asking her, "Sara, do you want to go swimming?!" because she is so emphatic that no, she does not. (And stop asking.) Her favorite thing to do at the beach is crawl into her stroller to keep her feet from the sand. We keep telling her that she's a Hawaii baby now and so she needs to start enjoying the beach, but we're afraid she will tenaciously insist on remaining an England baby.

We're slowly settling into a routine. My mom left on Thursday (wah! I'm all alone now) and I spent all Friday sketching out ideas for how I'll arrange our days and fit in Leah's homeschooling. (It's fun to see how Caleb hangs around us while we work on letters and how much he seems to be learning.) The kids are getting to bed around 7, 7:30, and we're working towards a 10-6 routine for us. Out here, it feels imperative that Jeff get into work as early as he can. Part of it is the time difference (he needs to coordinate with mainland coworkers), and then there's traffic. Earlier is better.

Caleb is finally being potty trained! We bought him a Cushie Tushie -- he adores saying that -- and 12 pairs of briefs. He's had a smattering of accidents but he's also taken himself to the toilet several times, including three #2s. It must be the beauty of potty training when the kid has been ready for nearly 6 months. This is easy! I love that our house has tile floors on the first level and so I really don't have to worry about any accidents. Just stay off the couch, Caleb!

I took Leah to observe a ballet class on Saturday. I think she'll start classes either this Thursday or Saturday -- whenever her clothes arrive in the mail. She is terribly excited (though it's mostly about the clothes, not the class). The teacher wanted to watch her move since she is between two class levels but Leah refused to budge. She told me later that she didn't want to get hurt. "I can't dance in sandals! You need pink shoes to dance!" Nevermind that her prospective teacher simply wanted her to bend her knees and do a little shuffle. I hope ballet teaches her some focus and let's her spend some time with kids her age.

I went snorkeling for the first time on Saturday. Jeff had been at the beach for over an hour when Leah and I finally returned from our ballet scouting mission. I found snorkeling to be a bit panic-inducing. I kept wanting to let the tube go and breathe with my mouth. It felt so odd to be breathing while underwater. I'll keep working at it and maybe one day I'll paddle along in the lagoon, all three feet of it!

And finally, I think we have our house. The owners are moving to another neighborhood in Ko Olina because they want a yard. They would have sold except that the market is so soft -- and they love us because we want to rent for just under three years, long enough for them to avoid capital gains and (hopefully) then be selling in a stronger market. It's a good fit for all of us. The house is really well priced and it has more than we ever dreamed we'd get in Hawaii: two walk-in closets in the master bedroom suite (we've decided that one could be a future nursery), and a computer desk built into the upstairs landing. Voila! The house has suddenly become a 4 bedroom. As soon as we saw it, we both knew that this was where we wanted to live. Now we're just waiting for the paperwork on their new house to go through and we'll be able to sign a lease.