Paint Nite!

It's no secret that I have the artistic talent of a wombat. My stick figures are barely discernible as people, and asking me to draw anything beyond a sun (circle with lines) or a moon (circle) is like asking for the for my dad to like a new recipe. IMPOSSIBLE.

Lately I've seen advertisements for these painting sessions that guarantee a completed painting in a 2 hours. NO ARTISTIC ABILITY REQUIRED. I wanted to do it - partly to prove them wrong. There's no way they could get ME to paint something that I wouldn't throw away in disgust by the end of the night.

So I brought along a few friends, and I have to say - it was a BLAST! We were a little disappointed at first - the painting we signed up for online looked almost nothing like the one the instructor had on display for us to paint.

Here's his painting:

And here's me in action . . . FUN!!

My St Louie chickas and their paintings. All different, but so so fun. Grace's painting on the far right was the closest to what we actually signed up for.

I went in with pretty much NO expectations. I figured if I produced something good enough to hang in a bathroom, I would be happy. While of course mine is nothing that would sell in a paint gallery, it actually looks pretty good! And now I've got the artist bug and I want to go again!! (Sistahs . . . next May? We have to do it!!!) In the mean time, I think I'll start practicing drawing dogs and dinosaurs - I've gotta have SOMETHING manly to draw for little Gus when he comes out. (Gus is just the fetus name. Real name yet to come.)

More Hawaii (and a fun surprise!)

Two months after the fact, its time I finish up Hawaii. Enjoy the photo dump.

First - we had SO much fun announcing to our families in person about the arrival of the next Ditto baby!!!!! We are beyond grateful and feel so blessed.  It's been a LONG couple of years getting to this point, but we trust in God's timing and know this miracle comes from Him. At an ultrasound a couple of weeks ago, our little one was proud to show us that he is a man!! Bring on the blue, the cars, and the dinosaurs - we are stoked! He will make his arrival in February and so far we are both doing fine and healthy as can be.

That's a fortune cookie. This announcement made sense to the families . . . promise.

Back to Hawaii - Ditto boys love to jump off high things into water. The next few pics are of the boys jumping The Point. It's high. And I was grateful for the excuse of being pregnant so I didn't have to do it.

Hang Loose! Moments before jumping.

Matt and the famous Go-Pro

From the top looking down. Holy smokes.
And yes, the water really is that blue (actually, its bluer in real life)

The view from The Point. When I look at this picture I think,
"Why don't I live here?"

The "Lost" trees. Many a famous person was filmed here.

Remember the Hurricane that wasn't? We were there. Other than some wind and
an hour of rain, all we got were some giant waves. Husband and Jon are somewhere in there.

I didn't dare put a toe in that water - I would have
drowned in 4 seconds flat. If you look close you can see the surfer.

  

Go Kahuku High! Husband's alma mater (it kind of resembles a prison, so I guess
its kind of miraculous that he has so much school pride). Thanks to the hurricane that wasn't,
the football game was cancelled so we didn't get to experience a game. Total bummer.

At the Polynesian Cultural Center. That place is seriously amazing. I'm holding a little
fish that I made out of coconut tree leaves. And if I look like I'm in the middle of the first
trimester, its because I was.

At the Pali Lookout. I wanted to bring a book and sit there all day. So peaceful. And beautiful.

The next few pics are from our trip to Goat Island. It's a small island we could see from the backyard of the house we stayed in. When the tide is low, you can walk/swim to it on the reef. We chose the PERFECT (and most beautiful) morning to head out there, and we had the entire island to ourselves, which was super cool. This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. And it was so fun to see husband in his element - Hawaii is definitely where this island boy belongs!

We took this just after arriving. The shore we walked from is behind us.

Husband LOVES animals and little critters. He caught this guy in about 5 seconds. Look at
his face - that is the face of pure joy.

Gross. And cool.

Gorgeous!

Proof that I was there.

Sea cucumbers. When you push them, they leak water. It was gross.

Our little point and shoot camera took this. It was seriously a photographers dream - the sun
was rising in the perfect place and all we did here was set the camera on a rock
and turn on the timer. Yes, we know we're cool.

Adios, Hawaii! Favorite quote from Husband as we were driving to the airport,
"Leaving Hawaii is akin to going through a bad breakup."
It's so true!