Wednesday, January 21, 2009

Aloha!!

We went to a national park and took a couple of pictures of Chinaman's Hat. It's said that at low tide you can walk out to the island. I believe it, the water is very shallow pretty far out around the island.
I forgot the place where this was taken, all I can remember is that it's famous. I'll ask Miguel and edit the caption for this picture later. (hours later on the edit) Miguel just told me that this picture was of us at Nu'uanu Pali.
This was at the Dole Pineapple plant. We didn't go in the pineapple shaped maze but I was driving so I held the keys hostage until Miguel took this picture of me as a giant pineapple. Maybe I'll have Miguel photoshop a Santa hat on it and I'll use it for Christmas cards next year... what am I saying? I haven't sent out cards for the past 2 years, I'll have to make a bigger effort.
Dole Pineapple plant. It amazed me that groceries were so high: a dozen eggs was 9 dollars, a gallon of milk was 7 dollars, all that I can understand it has to be shipped from the mainland, but even pineapples were expensive 3 dollars a pound and there were no pineapples less than 3 pounds. I found a surf shop that sold cut up pineapple and it was cheaper and worth every penny, but seriously a native crop being that expensive??
This was at the luau. We attended Germain's Luau, according to the locals it's the best one on the island. Miguel made friends with the lift operator at work, evidently this guy's aunt works at this luau and got us in for a big discount. These luaus are expensive too but this one we could afford and it was awesome!!
This is the memorial at the USS Arizona at Pearl Harbor. What an amazing side trip. The memorial is so well taken care of and everything is so respectful. You can walk over the wrekage in the white square tube. At the opposite end as the door is a cut out of the floor looking down at part of the ship then the opposite wall as the door is a wall list of the men who lost their lives in the ship.



We got back from a week in Hawaii last night. It was definitely a trip of a lifetime. We drove up to Chicago and dropped Isa off with her godparents Bill and Jen, then we got up at about 3 am and drove to O'Hare and flew off to the beautiful island of Oahu. That's where we camped out while the midwest got pounded with some nasty cold this past week. We got off the plane back in Chi-town and were so glad to be near Isa again, it's the first time it's been cold outside and I haven't nagged about it. I hate being cold and if the majority of people I care about weren't here, I'd move to a warm tropical island and not think twice.

We went because Miguel was there on a business trip and I was the beach bum tag-along. While he was at the job site I spent the first day on the beach then the second day I took a hula dancing lesson and crashed a surf lesson. I got up on the surf board for a grand 3 seconds and proceeded to drink half of the Pacific ocean on my graceful fall off the board. The 3rd day is where the pictures pick up. I didn't want to leave the camera on the beach unattended while I was in the ocean for hours at a time.

There are so many more pictures and so much more to tell but one of the babies is up and I have to see what all the screaming is all about, plus all our luggage stinks like 2 day old beach.

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Amy's Animals Shout Out!!

Hey adoring fans of the Posse:

Amy, a good friend and fellow blogger has posted a link on her blog to help out her local animal shelter where she works as a volunteer coordinator. Please follow the link below and vote for the shelter so they can get $10,000. We adopted Zorro from the local Humane Society and without people like Amy who care about these 4 legged friends might never make it into our homes and make our lives better.

http://www.care2.com/animalsheltercontest/76558/

Thanks Amy.

This blog entry is sponsored by Zorro.

It takes the cake

I don't know how many of you have heard about this, but I found this recipe for what I consider the best chocolate cake.

I found this on the Coca-Cola website after I had heard about it. I use generic EVERYTHING but I made Miguel go out and buy Coke for this one and it was definitely worth it!

CAKE
2 c sugar
2 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c small marshmallows
1/2 c. margarine
1/2 c veg. oil
3 T cocoa
1 c Coca-Cola
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c buttermilk (you can make your own by adding 1 3/4 T cream of tartar to 1 c milk and letting it stand for 10 min.)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

FROSTING (yes, this blessed soul submitting this included frosting to die for also)
1/2 c butter
3 T boboa
6 T Coca-Cola
1 box (16 oz.) confectioners' sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 c chopped pecans (I don't add these but I bet they're wonderful!!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl sift sugar and flour. In a sauce pan add marhsmallows, mix butter, oil, cocoa, and Coke. Bring to a boil and pour over dry ingredients. Blend well. Dissolve baking soda in buttermild just before adding to batter along with eggs and vanilla extract, mixing well. I use a whisk and do this all by hand to make sure it all gets mixed without overbeating. Pour into a greased 9x13 pan and bake 35-45 min. Remove from the oven and FROST WHILE HOT!!


To make frosting, combine butter, cocoa, and Coke in a sauce pan. Bring to a boil and pour over confectioners' sugar, blending well. Again I use a whisk. Add vanilla and pecans (if you're adding pecans). Spread over hot cake. It doesn't look like enough but it is.

This is the best chocolate cake in my humble opinion. I was not a major chocoholic until I got pregnant with my daughter, she's a year old now and I can't get over this crazy chocolate thing. So thank you to Lee Avery Catts and the Junior League of Atlanta as well as the Coca-Cola website for this awesome recipe!

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

It's Been a While

This is a picture of Isa after a morning bath last Sunday. We all got up early to clean up that mess but the cute little girl eating her crackers in her duckie robe was worth it.



Isa loves Zorro. He loves her a lot more now that she's eating food that he doesn't mind cleaning off the floor. She also thinks it is hilarious to feed him off her high chair tray. This is turning out to be a very nasty habit to break but I guess the bond is worth it.

Isa is now into helping Daddy clean up Zorro's paws after he's been outside. I'm glad she does this because now Miguel understands how hard it is to get things done with a "helper" under your feet. (no matter how cute she may be) She pets Zorro and uses a high pitched squeally voice to talk to him and he licks her hand and makes her laugh. It's all very darling to watch.


The video is called "Late Christmas Present." As I was putting Christmas decorations away I had collected all the tablecloths and cloth napkins in a box and foolishly left the box in the middle of the floor after nap time. She does this exact same trick complete with self applause with laundry baskets, random boxes, her toy basket, suitcases, and her diaper bag.