I survived!

My first day as a substitute teacher!  Last night I called the hotline to see if there were any jobs for me and there was... but it was at the elementary school and I was planning on going mostly for High School... that way, if the kids are horrible, you only have them for an hour and then you get rid of them.  I was so nervous last night I could hardly sleep, I mean who am I kidding, I don't know what to do with little kids!  I woke up early this morning, got ready and went to school.  Turns out the teacher was on campus just in the library, there were 2 part time teachers that came in at different times, and after lunch there was a school talent show and "Super Raider" assembly (to honor the good students).  I was happy to have someone else in the class who felt at home their, since its been quite a few years since I've been in the classroom.  The kids were great and I don't think I messed them up too bad.  

The biggest downside of today is that my feet are killing me!  I haven't worn shoes in forever... and I only had 2 pairs that were kinda dressy enough for a teacher... one pair that I knew for a fact were ridiculously uncomfortable (but cute) and the other one that I was pretty certain would hurt my feet but not entirely sure (but once again, cute).  *Note to self: next time you are buying shoes, put them on and walk around the store for at LEAST 15 minutes!  Then decide.  I vow never to buy shoes just because they are cute, they have to be comfy too!  I have a couple pairs of shoes that are SUPER cute, but I never wear them (they're from 3-4 years ago when it rained for 40 days straight... whats a girl to do when you can't surf...  I will take this time to blame Jana for that =) we went shopping.)  I'm not a "shoe" kinda girl.  If I wanna splurge on shoes...  they'll be slippers and they'll be RAINBOWS!  

Looking around at the feet of the kids, this is what I saw:

I was oh so jealous!!  I wanted to run free.  Only in Hawaii is it ok for you to show up at school barefoot.  And maybe only this side.  This made me think it would be ok if I wear slippers to school tomorrow.  That's right, I'm going back tomorrow.  This time its High School/intermediate.  Wish me luck!  

*Image credit: google images....  and I love this drawing/painting. So cute!

United

Don't let your frequent flyer miles expire. And don't be fooled into thinking they don't expire when they send you a statement with all your miles that you've accumulated and under expiration date, they leave it blank. That probably means they're already expired. If you do happen to let them expire, you have a few options to get them back.


1. You can buy back the miles that expired.
- Oh really? and how much would that cost?
- Lets see.... calculating..... it would cost you One THOUSAND, Three HUNDRED and Twenty-Two DOLLARS and Seventy-Six CENTS.

Are you serious? I might as well just buy the tickets I was going to use the miles for... it would be much cheaper! Can you say REEEEE-DICULOUS!! (I Can.)

2. You can sign up for the Flight Challenge Promotion that we are running.
- Oh ok, how does that work?
- Well you sign up for this promotion and if you fly a round trip flight with united before March 1st 2009 then we will re-activate the miles that you lost.
- So how much does it cost to sign up for the promotion?
- $199.
Grrrrr.....

There was one other option but I don't remember what it was.... something equally, if not more ridiculous than Option #1.



Also, when you get married among all the other things you need to remember to change your name on, don't forget your mileage plus account. Because when you sign up for that flight challenge promotion, the person named on the ticket, has to match the name on the account for it to work.

Oh bother!



I did it. I signed up for that ridiculous promotion, flew a round trip flight on United, sent in all the documentation for my name change. And now I'm waiting on the miles to be re-activated. Once they are we can go ahead and book our flights from here to LA so we can make our already booked flight from LA to panama in JULY!


Of course I wish that my miles had not expired but in the long run, it worked out pretty nicely. We would have to pay $600 at LEAST to get to LA so instead I spent that much to go visit Mahina and Mitch and the girls... plus.... we'll get our flight to LA on our miles and we'll break even if not better and I had a wonderful trip to visit Albuquerque (not my favorite place... but some of my favorite people!)


Oh United.... how you frustrate me but i'm happy to be able to fly your friendly skies!

"MALIA, ITS YOUR BIRTHDAY, AND NO ONE TURNS 26 BETTER THAN YOU!!"

Happpppppppyyyyyy Birthday Malia!

SO MALIA AND I WERE THE SAME AGE FOR 5 GLORIOUS DAYS BUT ILL HAVE TO WAIT ANOTHER YEAR TO CATCH UP AGAIN. MALIA IS GROWING SO MUCH IN HERE PHOTOGRAPHY AND ITS REALLY FUN TO HEAR PEOPLE COMPLEMENT HER WORK ESPECIALLY OTHER PROFESSIONAL PHOTO TAKERS. IM HER BIGGEST FAN.

CHECK OUT THIS BIKE!!!!!!



ISNT THIS AN AWSOME CRUISER?? I LOVE THE GREEN AND WITE TIRES...TO BAD WE DONT OWN THIS BIKE...I JUST FOUND THE IMAGE ON GOOLGE IMAGES... BUT MAN YOU CAN IMAGINE HOW NICE A BIKE LIKE THIS WOULD BE RIGHT? RIGHT? TRUST ME, I KNOW FROM EXPERIENCE IF YOU NO WHAT I MEAN.
BUT WE ARE GOING TO GO SHOPPING FOR BEACH CRUISERS THIS WEEK AND FIND THE PERFECT ONE FOR MALIA...
HAPPY BIRTH DAY MY LOVE


IF YOU LOVE MALIA LEAVE A COMMENT...

Surprise!!!

As you already know from reading my blog, I was able to visit my Sister Mahina in New Mexico! What you may not have known is that it was a total surprise to her! She had no idea! I had called Mitch the week before asking if it would be okay for me to come and visit... he said yes and then I asked if he could not tell Mahina about it and he said Of course!

Our family is pretty big on surprises. If its an option to keep it a secret, we always do! The baby was due on February 8th but I was hoping she would come early because I had booked my flight to be there on the 27th and leave the 8th. The morning of my flight I got a call from my mom saying that Mahina had given birth! She couldn't have had better timing! I would get to see her as a one day old baby (i've never seen or held a baby that new)!

I had a layover in LA and while I was walking off my first plane, my phone started to ring. 5 minutes earlier or later the phone would have been off and she might have been suspicious. I looked and saw it was Mahina. I should have just let it go to voicemail but I picked it up.... silly me. I was walking through the terminal to my next gate trying to sound enthusiastic while not actually listening to anything she was saying... you see I was preoccupied with listening to my background noise making sure she wouldn't here any announcements over the loud speaker giving away my location. Anytime there would be an announcment I would start coughing to cover it up. Apparently while I wasn't listening to her she asked where I was, but I didn't answer the question... I was probably thinking so hard to find an excuse of where I was that I didn't even notice that she asked!

After a while, I said I had to go because I was ready to check out at costco but I'd call her later that night. She bought it. I felt so bad and hoped she wasn't sad that she had just told her sister she had a baby and her sister had totally blown her off and wasn't listening to a thing she was saying on the phone... I felt better knowing that it was for a good cause and that she would be so happy to see me that any sad feelings would melt away as soon as she saw me standing there in real life!

Mitch and the girls picked me up at the Airport. They were surprised to see me too. Mitch had told them they had to stop somewhere before going to see Mommie and their new baby sister. 1/2 way there Nani said "we're going to the airport!" Mitch assured her that they weren't. A few miles down the road Nani said "Hey that sign says airport!" guess you can't pull a fast one on them anymore once they can read! So then she thought they were picking up Tutu Lady (my mom). Surprise its Auntie Malia!

They were so good about not saying anything when Mahina called and when they went into her room without me. I decided I would wait outside for a few minutes and then come in by myself. I knocked on the door and heard "come in" I walked in with suitcase in tow and said "I caught the first flight out as soon as I heard!"

And this was her reaction:



Mitch had gotten the camera out to "take pictures of the baby" but really this is what he was waiting for! What do you think... did she have any idea from our conversation on the phone earlier that I was coming to visit? I think not.

Lookin' Good!

I could hear the hair dryer blowing loud and clear from down the hall. I knew the girls had just taken a bath so I figured Mahina was drying their hair so it wouldn't dry funny. As I got closer, this is what I heard Mahina say:

"Man, Pink Bear is lookin' good!"




And then as I reached the open door this is what I saw:







And this:



What a good mom you are to your girls Mahina! Way to humor them and help style Pink Bear's hair... or fur, I guess.

Packing

I walked into the room I was sleeping in and the girls were making a fort with all the blankets from the bed... later that day I went in to get something out of my suitcase, opened it up and saw this:



if you can't see... there are a bunch of little stuffed animals packed in there... and no, I didn't bring them from home. I thought it was pretty funny so I ran and got my camera to take a wuick picture of it!

Dear Airport Bathroom designers....

I would like to make a suggestion. With all the Airlines doing this new thing of charging for any checked baggage, many people like myself are probably packing a little lighter and into a carry on item. When you have a little rollie suitcase and I do mean Little, it's still hard to take it into the tiny stalls with you! My suggestion would be to make the stalls either a little wider or a little deeper. You choose. I know I could go into the big stall and have plenty of room... but I wouldn't want someone who really needed it to come in and have to wait (I'm just nice like that=).


Sincerely,

One of your valued customers

(My suitcase isn't quite this cute in color and design...
but it is pretty cute because it is pretty miniture)

On a sidenote... there was a lady checking in in front of me whose luggage was 9 lbs over weight and she had to pay $125 extra for that! Can you say ridiculous?! It would have only been $40 if she had taken the 9 lbs out and checked an additional bag. She didn't have one and the check in lady suggested she go buy one upstairs where they sell suitcases. She paid the $125. Sad... but true.



*Thank you Free Internet Airport for allowing me to blog while I wait for my flight to leave! I have a 1 hour layover in Denver and then 2 Hours at LAX... hopefully those airports are just as giving with the free internet!

We're the Same age!!!!

Happy Birthday HUBBY!!!! I'm so sorry I'm not at home to celebrate with you... can you ever forgive me? I LOVE YOU! I hope you get to surf on your Birthday and you get an epic BIRTHDAY BARREL!!!

I'm coming home soon!!! And Cannot wait to see you!!! I'd come right now like you asked and bring the baby except I don't think I have what she needs... oh yeah and I don't think her parents would be ok with that... I'll see you soon! You're the best ever!


This picture kind of looks like you're sad and miss me (really you're just looking out at the brown water and sad that you can't go surf) but its one of the only pictures I have on the computer here...

Out of the mouths of babes... or 5 year olds

"... and please bless uncle Stuart that he won't be lonely..."

said by Lala in her prayer at dinner tonight. I thought it was so cute and that Stuart would get a kick out of it!


Stuart I miss you and love you! And I hope that you won't be lonely too!



This is who I've been snuggling up to for the last week and a half! I just love the smell of this baby! And her soft little head is irresistible!