Watching a movie over the Pacific.

Porter started walking 2 days before our trip. I though he would want to run immediately, but he proved that we are indeed related to monkeys, because all he wanted to do was climb.

Luckily there were many seats, in many airports, for him to hone is new climbing skills.

We could have done a Dr. Seuss book about all the different chairs to climb.

He got his own seat on the first leg of the trip. It was nice.

You can tell this is the beginning of the day.

Watching all the “voom vooms” prepare our plane in San Jose.

Same movie, different time.

Ah, we arrived. This is the view of sunrise from the porch of the cabin.

We stayed on a ranch with sweeping views of the ocean about 7 miles outside of Hilo.

There were goats and sheep.

The long driveway. We stayed in the cabin with a green roof on the left.

Porter made the long walk to the top of the driveway. There were dogs, many dogs.

And horses. Or “neigh” as Porter calls them. These sweet horses were in the parade we went to.

Instilling the love of driving in my child. Shoot.

According to Luke, Porter is channeling his great grandpa Alton in this picture.

Have an egg salad sandwich on the road.

Luke and I got away for the day before we left for home. This will be happening at the beginning of our next vacation.

Waipio Valley

Hot spring pool tempered by cool ocean water, believe it!

Porter got to see his first parade. It was in celebration of the Merrie Monarch.

The king and queen.

Miss. Hula Hawaii. We watched her dance, she really was the best.

“Neighs!”

Pooper scoopers disguised as a Maui Onion.

It’s not a parade without a mini Miss. Hawaii.

Lava Tube!

It was wet and soggy inside the Lava Tube.

This is for my brother. Yes, we went to Ken’s House of Pancakes, open 24 Hours.

Every time someone ordere the breakfast with 6 scoops of white rice the waitress rang a gong and everyone shouted “SUMO!”. There was more gong then you would have thought.

Half order of veggie benedict with hash browns and a pancake. It was good.

Porter had papaya with cottage cheese. It was the only good papaya I’ve ever tasted.

At Tex Drive In we got malasadas. This is a mango one. Can you say jelly doughnut?

MOCHI!!!!

The biggest mochi ball you’ve ever seen.

Rocky road wrapped mochi and strawberry sweet bean mochi.

We visited the volcano. Disappointing that there’s no lava to be seen though.

Akaka Falls State Park

This was serious jungle. These pictures don’t do justice to the size of this place. It was awesome.

Bamboo, MUCH BAMBOO!

Ti Plant

It was the perfect hike for Porter to practice his walking.

Banana Flower

Ginger

The original living wall.

Porter got lucky and Grandpa carried him the last bit.

Which canopy is your favorite?

Baby Loaf feeling the aloha.

Today I got an email from Anna, my SIL, requesting a birthday gift. It wasn’t your usual gift, but an invitation to join her team, the Discontinued Twinkies, in the Dirty Dash. It’s a 5 mile race where you end up muddied and messy and covered in earth. Sounds like my kind of race!

Having completed a few triathlons (motivated by Chelsea, an Ironman), and being recently inspired by her (yet again), I figured a 5 mile race is a good place to start a little training. Although, I have no plans on racing any more triathlons, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Just yesterday I started my April challenge of doing basic squats, sit ups and push ups. Nothing too crazy. Luke is even going to do it with us, in honor of his sister’s birthday. I suppose I should start running again since I haven’t done it in years. Anyone have suggestions about where I should go to get shoes? Let me know if you’re interested in joining our team, I’m sure you’re welcome to come get dirty with us.

March is over! Thank goodness. Who knew that taking a photo a day would become such a chore? I imagined myself becoming the next Ansel Adams, or seeing simple images from a new perspective. Needless to say, it was more demanding and less rewarding in the creativity realm than I expected. The culmination of this months photography challenge did lead to a an actual photo shoot for my friend’s new rental property. You can see the photos I took of their rental here.

I also thought this challenge would be easier than the first two, Spend Less and Sleep More, because I wasn’t sacrificing something. Not the case.What I did gain is slightly more insight into my new camera, but I have much further to go on that journey. Maybe it’s time to read the manual? I also gained motivation to post almost everyday. You guys kept me accountable, and while it was difficult at times, it felt like an accomplishment. It also increased my blog readership.

Since doing this challenge, and for various other reasons, I now have plans to expand my blog into a bigger more focused platform. I want it to be a place that I can share not only tender times but that can serve as jumping off point to educate people who might be interested in living a lifestyle akin to my own. I’m not sure who that may be just yet, but I’m pretty sure I live a great life and other’s might be inspired by some small part of it. On a daily basis I am inspired by other bloggers, so I know there’s an audience out there somewhere. Onto April’s challenge!

Since being pregnant, having a baby and having been born with a sweet tooth myself, I have been battling a sugar addiction. I freakin’ LOVE the stuff in ALL of it’s forms. There have been times when I’ve squirrelled it away so I wouldn’t ever run out. As a child I dreamed of eating Oreos for dinner. In college I lived that dream. During my pregnancy I was addicted to Double Stuff Oreos (don’t you dare tell me what that creamy goodness is between those crunchy cookies, I want to leave that blissful time intact!) After Porter came along it was difficult to find time to sit down and eat an entire meal. After about 6 months, when Porter started solids, we started eating dinner at the kitchen table. That was a first step.

Now that Porter is over a year old, and eating a lot of solid food himself, I felt that my mind and body were ready to get back to some semblance of sanity and to finally get rid of the baby weight. I gained 40 pounds. About a week into March 2012 I gave up sugar and most carbohydrates altogether. The alarm goes off at 6am and I pop get out of bed and make an egg and veggie breakfast for the family. There are nuts and cheese for snacks. Porter and I both sit down for lunch together. I have a gigantic salad with chicken (prepared the night before), and lots of veggies with a side of meat for dinner. I allow myself a small Americano with cream and black tea lemonades if I get a hankering. We also get take out from Chiang Mai every Friday night (guilt free) Thai Green Curry for me and Porter with a side of Crab Rangoon. At the end of the day my belly is full and I’ve lost 10 pounds overall. Only 15 left to pre-baby weight, and hopefully pre-baby wardrobe.

Just about everyday, Porter and I go for a 30 minute walk. I’m feeling good. Making good choices for myself and being a good example for my kid. This is where the resistance training comes in. In losing weight it’s very real that I’m probably losing muscle along with the fat, and the best way to keep said muscle is to use it. My arms and back get lots of use picking Porter up and down all day, but I don’t think it’s enough. So, for the month of April I will be doing squats, push ups and sit ups. Everyday I will add one. Today I will start with one of each. By the end of April I’ll be doing 30 sit ups, 30 squats and 30 (knees on the floor) push ups. Hopefully it will stick and I’ll keep doing them…forever.

There it is! April’s challenge. Maybe not as inspiring as buying nothing, or as creative as a photo a day, but just as necessary. For those of you who follow me on Facebook, I’ll try and post after I’ve completed my exercises, since I now know that it helps keep me accountable. No foolin’ you guys are the BEST!