KOLEDOLE

I went to the doctor yesterday to see why my skin is breaking out all of the time. And IT TURNS OUT....... I have adult acne and am 10 lbs overweight! I know, I know....weight has nothing to do with my face (kind of), but I almost fell over when I read the numbers on the scale!!!. The numbers on the scale said 1 6 0 . 0 !!!!! Keep in mind that I am only 5'5", and the highest number in my "healthy weight" group is 149. We passed 150 and now we're onto 160. Here's another little tidbit of info: I weighed 163 the day I DELIVERED McKENZIE!! 9 months pregnant! I'm 0 months pregnant and almost weigh as much as I should at 9 months pregnant!! WHAT HAPPENED!??!

I'll tell you what happened... MATT CAME HOME! And ever since he came home, every day has been a celebration. And what do we all do when we celebrate? WE EAT!! Well, I do, anyway.

So BOO to those of you who keep telling me how good I look!! I USED TO look good, but now I don't because I kept saying to myself "Oh! I look so good, I can eat whatever I want!" LOL! I'm joking of course, I know it was purely MY fault for letting myself get here. But it's just really frustrating. I know 10 lbs. isn't much, but it makes a huge difference in the way I feel all around. My back hurts more, I have less energy, my clothes look like they're painted on..... We gotta fix this!

SO, ever since I came home from the doctor yesterday, I am DETERMINED to get in shape again! I live in HAWAII, for heaven's sake!! I'm done looking like a beached whale on the beach. We all know the best (and definitely HARDEST) way to lose weight: DIET AND EXERCISE!! eeeeeew! those words ring in my ears!!

Just so we are all on the same page, I need to share with you what I have to go through to lose this weight. Besides learning how to portion control, I have to EXERCISE! Here is what I look like after I exercise:

Gorgeous aren't I? I LOOK LIKE I JUST SPENT THE DAY IN A TANNING BED!! And, no, I am not sunburned! My face just gets bright red when I work out. I hate it, and it stays red for the rest of the day. I wish there was a way to get rid of it, but it's not. I'm definitely one of those girls who doesn't "glow" when they sweat. SO NOW YOU ALL KNOW WHAT I HAVE TO GO THROUGH TO LOSE WEIGHT!!!

But I've also learned that exercising can be fun too!! Matt got another 4-day weekend for running the Great Aloha Run on Monday, so he exercised with me today. We ran/walked (60 sec. of running/90 sec. of walking) for 4 1/2 miles today. It was a great run. I was just about dead. But when we finally made it home, I wanted to take Matt on a fun hike that I took with the girls from church.

So, we hiked up Kolekoke, here on Schofield.

If you can't read it, here's what the sign says:

KOLEKOLE PASS ROCK

THE PATH ON THE RIGHT LEADS TO A LARGE STONE

WITH A UNIQUE NATURAL BOWL & DRAINAGE TROUGH THAT HAS

ATTRACTED CONDISERABLE ATTENTION OVER THE YEARS AFTER

THE OLD WOMAN WHO WATCHED PEOPLE PASS THE STONE THAT

SERVED AS A TERRITORIAL MARKER. SOME SPEAK OF THE

ROCK BEING USED FOR SACRIFICIAL BEHEADINGS OF

DEFEATED WARRIOR CHIEFS.

The beheading rock!

Me ready to get my head cut off
(sorry about the tongue out in all of my pictures today...)

Matt ready for his beheading

A big 'ol radio tower that I'm always scared to walk past

(I think it's gonna ZAP me!!)

Following the beautiful sun-lit path

Matt's first hike up here

The first viewpoint
(looking towards the shooting range on Schofield, close to where we live)

Almost there.....

THE VIEW FROM THE TOP!
It was definitely worth the hike

Here's Matt jumping off of the side of the cliff!!

The hike was a lot of fun. It was beautiful at the top, and we spent a lot of time yelling "HUI" to listen to our echoes. Well, it's more like a "hoo-WEE" sound. It was fun.

It was about 10:30 by the time we left, and we still hadn't eaten breakfast, and Jamba Juice had been calling Matt all morning. And I know that just because Jamba Juice is a drink, DOESN'T mean it's low fat! Those things have over 400 calories in them! So much for exercising! So I went with the 16oz Jamba Juice Light with only 150 calories. Not too shabby. But, dang it! Jamba Juice is right next to MAUI TACOS!!! I couldn't help it. We ate BRUNCH! I love Maui Tacos, and it was worth every bite.

As many of you know, Matthew's 8th birthday is coming up, and this morning he felt free to let me know what he wants. He wants a Hammerhead Shark necklace that our friend Tafu carves by hand from bone! They are seriously awesome! Matt and I both have one, and even Matt's MOM got one when she came here to visit. I highly encourage all of you to go check out his website and see his work! His carvings are AMAZING!!

http://hawaiibonecarving.com/

They are worth every penny! So, after Matthew's request, I remembered that Tafu has a stand at the Dole Plantation. So I suggested that we all go to the Dole Plantation to see the necklaces and to ride the Pineapple Express Train, since I'm the only one who's been on it before.

Dole Pineapple Plantation - Wahiawa, Hawaii

First, we bought Matthew's necklace from the coolest girl in the world... SARA!

Here is Matthew's Hammerhead Necklace:

Here are our necklaces
(mine's on the left/matt's on the right)
I still can't believe he carves them by hand. Just him. He's amazing!

So anyway, after we chit-chatted with Sara for a while, we went on our TRAIN RIDE!!!

"CHOOO-CHOOOOOOO!"

To tell a family secret... I hadn't even changed out of my workout clothes when we went, and I had NO intentions of all to buy the above picture. But, Dang It! Everyone looked good (except me with my no makeup at all and still pink face), so I bought it with the intent on liking it in 5 or 10 years down the road.

Here's Matthew, Nathan, & Natlie having fun on their train ride!!

Natalie & Daddy

My cute Kenzie

A Video of us on the Pineapple Express:


BANANA TREES!
(and Matthew's finger pointing)

COOL FAKE WOODEN DUDES TENDING TO
THE PINEAPPLE PLANTS

More video of the Pineapple Express
(please enjoy the lovely "Pineapple Princess" song! LOL!)



Matthew

If you look really hard at the picture below,
you can see pineapple growing out of the top
of the pineapple plants!

The ? Reservoir
(it had some Hawaiian name that I can't remember)
SUGAR CANE!!
a real purdy garden

Then the train ride ended...
GOODBYE PINEAPPLE EXPRESS!!!

Here is Kenzie the hula dancing pineapple

Matthew the ukulele playing pineapple

Can you find Natalie & Nathan in the pineapple field?

We ended up staying at Dole until it CLOSED just talking with Sara!
And our fun-filled came to a perfect end with this beautiful
picture of the sun peeking through the clouds.
(i tell the kids that those are the kid of clouds that Jesus is going to come out of)

I count my blessings every day for living in such a beautiful place. I am definitely not taking Hawaii for granted!

AND WE ARE HAVING ANOTHER FUN-FILLED DAY TOMORROW OF BBQ'S BY THE POOL AND MONTGOMERY GENTRY / BOWLING FOR SOUP CONCERTS!!

STAY TUNED.......

Oh, and go to Tafu's website: http://www.hawaiibonecarving.com/

P.S. Now only those of you who live in Hawaii can appreciate my HILARIOUS title to this blog "KoleDole" (get it? Like kolekole, but koleDOLE! haha. miso funny!)