Welcome to our World

In part of Leslie's last blog entry she defended the people of Islam & I completely agree. No one religion has a monopoly on the good or bad people of the earth. Since I too have received slanderous e-mail, I write the following: Stereotyping Muslims gets to me on a very personal level. My mother moved to Baghdad (Iraq) when she was 7-years-old because my grandfather was sent by the US Government to help the people of the Middle East with agriculture techniques. They also lived in Kabul (Afghanistan), Lahore (Pakistan), & Tehran (Iran)... my mother did not return to the United States until she was 18-years-old & began college. While my mother grew up "abroad" she had the opportunity to meet many individuals who were not of her Christian faith. Most of her friends were Muslims and some of the most kind people she has ever met. When she asked her minister where her Muslim peers & their families would go after they died, she was told they would be sent...

The turbo jet flight was a blast to Honolulu. Kaelah enjoying sitting right behind her Aunt Amylynn & Uncle Scott. Amylynn was well supplied with yummy suckers & Kaelah didn't even have enough time to finish it before we landed. While in Oahu we visited the Polynesian Cultural Center (where Dan got a kick out of my speaking Mandarin with employees instead of paying attention to the presentations), Waikiki Beach, the USS Arizona Memorial, the Aviation Museum of the Pacific (which my grandmother was one of the founders of), and took a tour of the USS Missouri. Dan & my favorite part of our short stay in Honolulu was the USS MO & the fire dancing during the show after our luau at the PCC. (Hi, my name is Sarah & I like very long sentences & use parenthesis too often in my blogs.) Kaelah liked everything except when she didn't get her way. (: Our trip home went soooo much better than our trip out. Precious Kaelah was spreading sunshine better th...

From San Francisco we flew straight to Lihue. 5 hours is a long time, especially if your baby develops a sudden fever which will later result in the cutting of 2 new teeth. But I'm sooo grateful we didn't have a layover in the middle of all that! Once we arrived at our condo in Princeville we were impressed by all the ammenities that weren't even labeled on the website! There was really nothing we ever needed (besides food) while staying there. And the island! Although I suddenly remembered why I quite disliked the weather in Taiwan several years ago, we were on vacation which made the whole thing much better. Snorkeling, snuba diving (a combo of scuba & snorkeling), kayaking, hiking, hanging out at the beach watching Kaelah play, enjoying breakfast on the huge porch or shave ice from "Paradise" after a long day... the list could go on. Although I've only been to 2 of the Hawaiian Islands, I am convinced we spent almost an entire week on the ver...

... people loose their hearts in San Francisco!  We had an absolutely wonderful time there & were sad to leave.  But, alas, our flights and rentals to Hawaii were already paid for.  (:  Above are just a few of the 100 pictures we took while we were there.  All 3 of us simply adore California.  I was lucky enough to see friends that I haven't seen for years!  And Dan has wanted to see the Blue Angels for years, so we are all very happy people.  (:

My Houston friends should love this:  Last night we were invited to come along to our first ever professional soccer game:  the Colorado Rapids vs. the Houston Dynamos.  CO got outplayed, but it was so much fun to watch!  Yeah, I can admit it. The atmosphere was so much different than what we're used to (pro baseball).  The music was great -- must be what the young folk are listening to these days -- and I've never heard so much booing in my whole life!  And the acting: the replays were a hoot b/c they would show in slow motion where the player got hit (like the shoulder) & then you would look down on the field & they would be on the ground holding their ankle.  Sandy warned me they liked to act!  (:  Thank you so much for letting us tag along and providing the babysitting and jerseys too!

Due to a certain 4-year-old's intense admiration of fire fighting, I set up a trip to a fire station.  We had a wonderful time and were highly spoiled with lots of attention, hats, & stickers.  The men were very impressed as to Isaac's vast knowledge... and how silent the 2 little girls were the entire time.  (: