Jacqui's Birthday Celebrations

I (Danielle) wanted to do something special with Jacqui for her birthday, so I decided to take her somewhere that for the past year, have been meaning to take each girl separately to. We went to a tea room in Kailua called "A Cup of Tea". It is something completely out of the ordinary for our family to partake in. We are usually not into doing "girly-girl" things, but had such a great time doing it. Jacqui was so very polite to the waitress, always using "please" and "thank-you". She also spoke in a very quiet voice the entire time we were there. I wonder why she doesn't use these skills at home????

There was a hat stand with lots of hats on it for us to adorn while we were having our afternoon tea and desserts.

Here is a picture of our scrumptious desserts, minus one that we had already started eating!!
Jacqui had "bubble gum" tea and I had a beautiful vanilla tea. They served us both a pot that would have taken each of us hours to drink. I think we did an O.K. job and even brought Bill and Gabbi leftovers home. I look forward to taking Gabbi there someday soon. And the girls already have it planned to take Nonni there when she comes for Christmas!!

Jacqui wearing her beautiful hat.

The waitress also gave Jacqui some tiaras to pick from to wear. She loved the tiaras so much, that after tea, she decided to spend her own money on purchasing one.

On Jacqui's birthday morning, we took her and her 3 buddies to the Honolulu Zoo. We had a really fun time. It's actually quite a cool zoo!

One of the two Indian elephants

Stella, Jacqui and Gabbi hanging out with the giraffes.

Jacqui wearing her new halter-top that I knitted for her (my second knitting project since we moved) near the Rainbow eucalyptus tree (my favorite tree here)

Gabbi taking a rest.

The girls had aerial fabrics class after the zoo and then we went for a hike at Manoa Falls.

On Monday, we had a little birthday party for J on the beach down the road from us. It was a beautiful afternoon, but too many portugues man-o-wars in the water to enjoy a dip.

Gabbi and Daddy fooling around

The Orangatan cake!!

Opening gifts and cards

Leslie, Gretchen and myself

Lynn and Oliver

"Happy Birthday to You"

And the evening ended with a fresh-squeezed lemonade stand and a sleepover!!!

Happy Birthday Jacqui!!

How is it possible that our little girl is 7?!?!






















She's one of a kind!! We love her beyond words!

Summer Solstice

This past Saturday, we held a little solstice ceremony at the beach. We went to Kalama Beach, which is about a half mile walk from our house. After constructing a windbreak shelter for our altar of flowers, we had a picnic supper while we watched the surf and filled up our bellies for the ceremony.





Danielle had done some research about solstice ceremonies and rituals and prepared the agenda. Unfortunately, it was a little too windy to use the candles that she had planned for. The rest of the "event" was wonderful!

Danielle had put together a sachet of herbs that we each held and put any negative thoughts that we had in it. We then buried those thoughts with the flowers.




The final piece was for us to each say what we needed strength and patience for in our lives.

It was a really wonderful way to celebrate the solstice. Thank you Danielle!!

Jacqui's Ballet Recital

Our Beautiful Ballerina

Jacqui's ballet recital was a couple of weekends ago. She was the most beautiful ballerina I have ever seen (not that I am biased or anything). Her costume was black and green and brought out the beautiful green in her eyes.

Jacqui backstage waiting for one of the "aunties" to do her makeup and glitter.

Jacqui and Gabbi hanging out before the show.

Gabbi and Stella anxiously awaiting the opening of the curtain...

Jacqui performed for two nights. Bill, Gabbi and I went on Friday night and then on Saturday night, I helped out backstage. It was too cute to see her on stage. She looked a little nervous when she came out. Later on she told me that she thought they were going to rehearse first and was not expecting to see all the people in the audience when she came out. Her buddy Talulah was also in her ballet class.

Talulah and Jacqui

Backstage with buddies.

It brought back lots of memories for me and my days of dancing on stage. My mother said that she looked just like me, but I think she is far more beautiful than I was.

No flashes were allowed....so this was the extent of the quality of stage pictures

Jacqui and Talulah with their leis and bouquets of flowers after a job well done.

Jacqui was rightfully proud after her performances. It was nice for her to shine all by herself! We finished the night with a yummy ice cream from Baskin Robbins (really the best place for ice cream in our town....Hawaiians pride themselves for their shaved ice, not their ice cream)

Great Barrier Reef

All right, I am really going to try to finish up our Australia trip entries (and get an entry in about Jacqui's dance recital 2 weekends ago...)

One of the activities that was very high on my list of things to do was a snorkel trip to the Great Barrier Reef. After looking through a dozen or more brochures at our condo, we picked an outfitter and made our reservation.

It was really a great trip, despite the rocky seas on the hour and a half long boat trip out and back. Gabbi and Jacqui both got seasick while we were in the 2 meter seas. Finally, when we made it to Michaelmas Cay, the boat steadied and we got our sea legs under us. When we signed in, we found out that the trip included an introductory scuba dive! Gabbi and Jacqui were quite jealous as Danielle and I took turns being guided down to about 15 feet under. It was an incredible experience. I really enjoy snorkeling, but this really was completely different. Usually I will take a deep breath and get down to 15 feet or more during a snorkel trip. But, it involves diving down quickly, maybe equalizing, taking a quick look around, and shooting back to the surface. The 20 minutes or so that we spent with anemone fish, wrasses, and the chance to put our hands into a giant clam was quite enjoyable.

Danielle retuning from her scuba adventure.

Gabbi and Jacqui in their wetsuits!


Gearing up for the descent...

Gabbi and Jacqui (as usual) were incredible snorkelers. They are constantly pointing out interesting coral formations, fish (did you see that Moorish idol?), and sea cucumbers. Gabbi has gotten the hang of diving down for a closer look as well.

Looking up at Jacqui as she works her way through the water.

We were really impressed with this sea cucumber! It was quite different from the smooth black ones we usually see.

Gabbi diving by...

The coral was quite stunning!

and the giant clams were absolutely amazing!

On the return to Cairns, we enjoyed a glass of wine and endured the salt spray that kept us fairly drenched!