Happy Birthday to Holly & Me

I have a friend, Holly, that shares my birthday.
So..a group of us went out and celebrated.

I am thankful this year for surviving a pretty yucky year and coming out on the other side with the two people most precious to me in the world, my children.

Charity Knitting

I moved this box of knitting from the old house to the new one and still, the items did not have a home.

Well, today I was reading Suzi's blog and saw she was collecting knitted items.

So...off these went with the exception of the shawl (long ago given away and the mittens).

SWTC Karaoke in a biased garter scarf.
Same pattern with Lion Brand Magic Stripes.
Flying V from Esquisite Little Knits in burgundy Karaoke.
Bejeweled in the same Karaoke. You see, I am knitting through the stash of Karaoke.

Christmas & Knitting

We finally decorated the tree. Here it is at the beginning. I had to do some supervision since Simon thought a good way to tell if an ornament was glass was to tap it on the tile since he wasn't allowed to hang glass ornaments. Yeah, well, an ornament from 1976 is now history using that testing program. Ah well, that is the way it goes.
Finished. As you can see, it is filled as far up as the oldest child could reach. I am going to leave it that way.
I knit two Tudora's this weekend. The bind off was a bit fuzzy for new knitters but I figured it out. I need to find buttons for them but each of them is made from stash, worsted weight, Southwest Trading Company Karaoke.

KNITTING

Ok...the new Knitty came out and there are two items I can make that I actually have yarn for!!!

The first one is the cover shot, Ice Queen.
I was recently gifted by Miss Kelli with a ball of Kidsilk Haze in Vino that she received in a swap. I have been eyeing but had yet to come up with a pattern that uses only 1 ball and then along came Ice Queen. I also have red bead from my WIP Mystery Stole along that would match perfectly. I would have started it already if I could find US 8 size circulars ANYWHERE in my house. Um, not so much so there might be a new set of needles in my future (tonight even) so I can use my gorgeous yarn.
The other one that caught my eye was Tudora because it looks to be a quick knit that I can use small amounts from my stash.

A Stash Sale...

Keri was having a stash sale...so of course, I had to buy some stuff.

Stitch markers!!

And a Lantern Moon Silk Tafetta Bag (that I need like a hole in my head) that is really pretty!
Thanks Keri!

Pali Lookou t& Wednesday

I forgot that on our trip around the south side of the island, we stopped at Pali Lookout.
The views are breath taking and the winds strong!
On Wednesday, we stuck close to home and spent most of our time on beach!
We had dinner at a restaurant that had a HUGE tank in it and watched them feed the fish during dinner.
On the way home...we bought souveniers. Hannah & I got rings and Simon a Hawaiian Beanie Baby.

Rest of Tuesday....

There is a blow hole on Oahu so of course, we had to visit.
There were some nice eruptions while we were watching.
Next stop was Sea Life Park.
We enjoyed seeing the animals and the kids fed the tortoise.
And we saw a dolphin show.
My winkies in the cut out.
That evening, in leiu of a Luau, we went to Ono Hawaiian Food. It serves traditional Hawaiian food you might find at a luau without the hefty price.
We tried poi, chicken and salmon. I thought it was good but the kids were less than impressed.
Oh well, at least they tried.

Diamond Head

We started day 3 with a hike up Diamond Head. The car valet at the hotel didn't think the kids could do it but, I thought we would give it a try.

It actually wasn't a bad hike with a lot of switchbacks and relatively mellow inclines, until you got to the end. See those yellow things in the background? They are stairs that lead into....
this tunnel that lead to....
this set of stairs that led to a smaller spiral set.
However, it was definitely worth it! The view was spectacular!
A cool down reward, shaved ice.
Next stop, the blow hole & sea life park.

P.S. This is a stupid shoe photo. This lady had on a pair of kitten heeled mules for climbing this trail. I saw more women in cute but useless shoes on this hike but hey, maybe they wanted to look good.

Monday: A visit from Hilo

Monday, my friend Sonia, came to meet us in Honolulu.

However, before she arrived, I needed to find the missing piece to Simon's nebulizer so, we took a leisurely walk on the beach on the way to the doctor's office.

We picked Sonia up at the airport and headed to Chinatown. Up until last Monday, Sonia and I had never met in person. We have been part of a cooking group online for 5 years. Once we met, it was like we had been friends forever!

There were many small shops in Chinatown that sold food....
and flowers.....
and beautiful lei's.
Sonia & the kids checking out produce.
There were also butcher shops that sold roasted ducks and squid. The thing to the right that is kind of orange is a roasted squid.

We had lunch at an amazing Dim Sum place. It is nothing to look at but the place was standing room only.
You just picked what you wanted and they marked your card....
A basket of goodies.
If you are ever in Honolulu, eat here. Cheap ($21 for the 4 of us and the kids had an $8 fried rice) and really tasty!
We had to go to the beach.
And then had drinks afterward...can you find Simon in the lobby foliage??
HUGE Shirley Temple's.
Sonia & I!
The hotel also had activities that included making your own lei.
A great day and I thank Sonia for showing us the sites of Chinatown and making the trek to Honolulu especially to meet us!