Jivin' Jake

On March 31, 1977, a versatile artist, functional potter, butt shakin' dynomite dancer, know-it-all thinker, barrel rider, surf seeker, roly poly turned adonis, falafel eater and hummus maker, silly name come up with-er, daily walk with Amaya taker, mild dyslexic but classic-literature only reader, independent movie critic, pasta cooker, omelet perfectionist, up in the mountains hiker, waterfall jumper, friendly commentator, calm counselor, monkey enthusiast, theory engager, complaint listener, sunday school discusser, cockroach killer, loyal brother, funk singer, tax return non-doer, milk-chocolate-only-aholic, guava peel muncher, rose apple-mountain apple-lilikoi-strawberry guava- gatherer, baby toter, physical comedian and joke inventor, fisher who doesn't like fish, all the treats in the house eater, laundry doer and folder-upper, exotic food restaurant tryer, fire starter, self-motivated ceramics and wood sculptor, constant move around and can't relax-er, new music listener, silly voice speaker, juicer, acai bowl creator, huge bowl of granola in the morning pourer, banana and peanut butter combiner, chainsaw wielder, pig catching discussioner, 3x per day shower taker, shell finder, save the bowl licker, checking out the waves Grandma Tanaka driver, orchid collector, and my favorite person, was born.

Hawaii Bound

Jessika will be 14 this summer so we signed her up for her first EFY. This is my first year doing this stuff so I didn't realize that all the other moms did this MONTHS ago... Almost all of the EFY's are full except for LAIE, HI... So we snagged it. We'll be there July 7-13??? Now we just have to earn airfare... (I say we because I'm hoping to tag along and have some one on one time with Jess before she starts HIGH SCHOOL) Time is flying.... We just got back from our Spring break. Went to Disneyland and Santa Barbara. Check out the photos on our blog and also some footage of my brother being the guinea pig on our new ZIP LINE...heheh Love you all!!! Hopefully if I go I can visit with family there...I'll call later...

P.S. Check out Jared's blog as he attempts to read the B.O.M. ....too cute...

Shinjuku Gyoen Cherry Blossom Viewing

Jesse, the kids, and I went to Shinjuku Gyoen to participate in the annual cherry blossom viewing. We've heard that this park has the oldest cherry trees in Tokyo. They're really spectacular. The kids were especially excited to get out since we'd been inside for a few days. M sprained her ankle on one of our "fun" spring break outings. After an early morning and long afternoon walking around Tokyo, G took the 2 minutes we were waiting for the subway to fall asleep. Maybe she's turning Japanese.



More photos here.

Minami!

Natalie's Birthday

Happy Birthday to Natalie! 72 years, believe it or not! David's invited local family over for Italian food tonight. Natalie is good and a very devoted big sister. She's the oldest yet so childlike. When we go for a walk, she gathers some of nature's gifts. She has accomplised a lot, yet never seems in a hurry. Also she created the stories of "tip and tap" for those who have known of them (bedtime tales). She has been COUGHING for too many years to count and just last week a specialist diagnosed asthma and says she won't need to cough anymore now she is on the medicine. She was happy realizing (if he turns out to be right) that she can SING in the choir. Or sing anywhere. I love you Natalie! As they say, "I am HAPPY you were born!"

FILHO!!!!!

This was the day that I stopped leaving the house because I had a car stop and scream outside of their window how huge I was. The day before Chris and I were out dancing and someone also made a scene when they found out that I was really pregnant and not holding a balloon under my shirt. I still don't understand why on earth I would go to a party with a balloon under my shirt. This was 3 weeks before Enzo was born. Can you tell by my face that I was READY for him to come out?


Well, since I won't have internet tomorrow I decided to post today. 2 years ago I was in labor and readier than ever to get him out.



He finally did arrive and 2 years later I am happier than ever that he's our filho. I had no idea how much fun this age would be. He makes us laugh everyday and even through our many frustrations I love him more than I ever thought possible.

Hawaii and Easter!

here are some pictures from Easter and Spring Break in Hawaii. We had a lot of fun. evenythough we missed everyone.

Feliz Páscoa

We haven't started our festivities so I don't have any recent pictures but here is one from last year.

Happy Easter from Brazil. It's fun that this blog is being read in so many different parts of the world. How do you celebrate Easter where you are at? Here we give big chocolate eggs that are hollow inside. The adult eggs are usually filled with more candy. The kids' eggs are filled with cheap plastic toys that the parents hate but the kids love. The other great thing that happens is that we have a big B-B-Que. Most people who lent give up meat and so today is the day to make up for the 40 meat less days. We are going to have a B-B-Que at my grandma's house. I want to help more but even though I love cooking I don't make the cut for helping at family functions.

Have a happy Easter and please share some pictures from the traditional egg hunt. Last year was the first time I ever did an egg hunt and I loved it.

Beijos, Dá

It's GONE!

I'm sorry I'm defacing the Palmer blog with my missmatched post. If you just turn your head, and think about the pictures in reverse order then maybe you'll understand what I was trying to do with the pictures. Since this haircut is Pammy's dream come true, I figured it was blog worthy.

When I was a little kid, my mom made me have short hair and people always thought I was a boy. I felt stupid and refused to have short hair since I was about 9 or 10. Well, I'm in a new country, with a lot of time on my hands and making a lot of changes in my life. So to symbolize my inner change I thought I could represent it with an outer change, and I'm not one to be subtle about things like this. So every time I look in the mirror I can be reminded of my goals. It may seem silly but I've never claimed to be normal and don't plan on it any time soon.

Happy Birthday Mariah!!

Can I just say that I love Mariah. Not just because she's my sista, but mostly because she is the coolest, smartest, most creative, most unique, and beautiful girl. I love talking with her about philosophies of life, art, music, polotics...anything debatable pretty much. Monet really bonded with Mariah early on. She stayed with me for a few weeks when I moved back to Huntington after having Monet. Since that time, Monet has been attached....and who wouldn't be really? My dad recently brought back a home dvd from one of their trips down here. Monet was constantly with Mariah. If we wanted to know where she was, we just had to look for Mariah: laying on the couch together, reading together, coloring...it was pretty cute.

I love you very much Mariah. Happy 19th birthday. And many more...la la la la.

Arrived in Brazil

this is actually christian. We arrived in Brazil in one piece. Enzo can go for a very long time without sleep. He gets pretty wired though. He loved watching sesame street podcasts on the ipod which made everything a lot easier, plus the huge bag of all of his favoite foods (apples, rice cakes, trader joes cat cookies, honey whole wheat pretzels, chees crackers,ect). Our layover in Miami was actually a good thing. We slept in a real bed, ate good food, and got ready for the next leg of our voyage. It was good to see Damaris´s cousin and family as well. Since weé been here Enzo loves playing with Bruno and basically jut follows him around which is nice. Its good to be here. We all got a good night´s sleep last night which makes all the difference in the world. Although Enzo got up at 6:30 and has been a little crusty. He´ll probably get used to the time differenc right as we´re leaving. I´m at the mall using their computer and my time is about to run out.
Christian

Still not a runner

My favorite neighbor came to visit us and we sat in solidarity of each other. We went through Shelly and Steve withdrawal when they went to Hawaii. We were so happy they came back for their weekly Santa Cruz life. This week is the last week of the quarter and Enzo has started pretending that his foot hurts whenever he needs attention. Steve gave him some good attention taking him outside and playing with him. This week I also got an ankle brace. I was positive that by now my foot would be healed. It still hurts a lot and I have to use crutches. I'm pretty upset. I guess this wanna be dancer with a dancer's fracture will have to drop out of the ballet class I was signed up for. At this point I'm just hoping to start walking normally again. I'll start physical therapy when I came back from Brazil.

We leave on Sunday, arrive in Miami on Monday, (15 hour layover in Miami) then arrive Sao Paulo on Tuesday. My family doesn't have internet and the only place to really get it is the Mall. Our favorite place to spend out time while we are in Brazil. Anyway, if you guys need to reach us just call my mom's house at 011-5511-3501-2001.

I can't wait to see my family. My grandma has been really ill so we'll probably spend most of our time actually with her. I am also excited for Enzo's birthday feijoada. I wish you could all be there. Hopefully one day you'll all get to meet the rest of my family. Everyone is pretty cool, Iris is the coolest. As for Enzo's birthday we are having a birthday party for him the first Saturday in April here in Santa Cruz if you live in California you should definitely come!

I hear that there will be a big gathering in Hawaii. Shelly and Steve are going back on Tuesday to be in with all the fun. Can't wait to see everyone in the summer!

I finished my piece where I interviewed Kaity and Danny. I posted it on my blog if you want to hear it I had fun with it.

Beijos, Da

Ni Hao ma? I guess I've been reading this blog over Pammy's shoulder for long enough and it's about time I contributed on my own (now that and I'm too far away to look over Pammy's shoulder) For those of you who don't know, I'm doing a two month internship in Tai Chung Taiwan (the same place Jesse lived when he was here).

You'll never guess who I ran into at church...That's right! ELDER OLIVER PALMER! I couldn't believe it!! I was so excited and I didn't even start talking to him, he started talking to me. I was just talking to some ward members introducing myself and he was in the foyer waiting to go to the other ward. He heard that I was from Hawaii and he stopped me and asked if I knew the Palmers. I just looked at him in unbelief. Do I know the Palmers? I've been adopted by them. I more than knew them. I lived with them. I was so excited, I was on the edge of hysterical, I was completely giddy. Just to be in contact with a member of my favorite family. I wanted a picture with him just so I had proof but he needed his companion and and his meeting was starting. I made my roommate wait for his meeting to get out but I got my picture (which is totally awful...where's Adam when you need him). It was a tender mercy from the Lord just when I needed it. What are the chances on meeting him when there's a million missionaries here and the one related to the Palmer family would be in the same building as my branch.

finals

So I'm heading into finals week....Feeling pretty good about it, as can be seen in the photo to the left. :-/

On the other hand, I'm so excited to go home!!

naughty, naughty

Having my foot broken and also a combination of beautiful weather and time has made Enzo more independent. We share a gated backyard with other families which is very nice. Usually he wants one of us outside with him but recently he goes out by himself and is content in playing outside with other kids. He can open our back door, our little gate and away he goes. Needless to say Christian and I are really enjoying this new independence. We hang out at home and once in a while we check and see where he's at. It's not great parenting but very convenient parenting. The other thing that has been happening lately is that both he and Avi, who lives on the other side of the yard, will go to each other's houses. When this happens we usually call the other parent to let them know that their kid is with us. However, their rambunctiousness leads them to only stay at each other's house for about 10 minutes and then run outside and then go to the other persons house. Needless to say it's kind of hard keeping up with them (not really but we're lazy and relaxed). Today Avi came over and stayed for a while. Then his parents Ben and Victoria came over and hung out. Ben took Avi and Enzo followed. Victoria stayed talking to us for about 15 minutes. When she left I asked her to call me in case Enzo WASN'T at her house. Of course he wasn't and she called frantically and running back telling us that he wasn't there. Great, where was Enzo? Had he opened up the main gate? had he climbed the gate and escaped as he has done before? We found him at another neighbor's house sitting on their couch in the dark eating their goldfish crackers. To top it off these neighbors weren't even inside their house. He had opened their back gate, their back door and went in. luckily he was fine, a little too fine.

Feliz Anniversario Da

Mariko beat me to the first post but I figured I had to post independently. I was even wondering if I could find a way to make Mariko's post become a comment in my post but I'm not that blogliterate yet. Plus I wouldn't want to risk any ire. In commemoration of Damaris' 25th birthday I will share a story about the first time I thought I might marry Damaris. I remember riding down in the car with a friend Mary to eat at a Brazilian dinner Damaris was cooking in Amherst. I thought I hadn't really been invited but Mary convinced me that I was and I don't usually pass up free Brazilian food. We were talking about qualifications for future partners. I was turning the discussion into typical rant about consumer society, my future sustainable home, international living, and all my other crazy ideas. Mary was trying to gently inform me that girls like to have nice things (matching furniture, new clothes), and live in non-scary places (the US). But she as nice and wished me luck in finding a girl to accompany me on my wild adventures. My lack of serious compatibility in earlier interests made me suspect she might have a point. As luck would have it, I didn't have to wait long. The next day (Damaris had convinced me to forgo my ride home and stay the weekend) I was having a similar conversation with Damaris and was getting way more positive feedback. That afternoon I realized that there was some serious potential although it took a little bit longer before I way hooked. But some central elements were begun on that first weekend, good cooking, amazing conversations, and uncanny agreement about all of the most important things in life. The more we talked, danced, cooked, skated, hiked, and generally hung out the more I realized that I had found the perfect person for me. Five years later I'm more convinced than ever that Damaris is an amazing, wonderful, beautiful, and basically perfect. I'm super stoked she was born 25 years ago.

Da Da Da Da Da

This is kind of Enzo's birthday song, but I thought it appropriate. Although my present may be late, at least my birthday wishes won't be. I'm really glad that Damaris took the chance to get to know me, even considering the fact that she was scared to meet me. Christian told us over the phone that he was dating a Brazillian girl, and it sounded more serious than I cared for (at the time), but I had already made him promise that any girl that he was considering marrying had to meet us first. I mean, Christian's kind of a package deal, and anyone who can't accept that is outta there. When Damaris showed up in Hawaii I wasn't sure what to expect, but what I was definitely NOT expecting was how Christian was so romantic, dancing with her in the living room, holding hands as they walked down the street, patiently waiting and helping her during the hikes-- I figured, any girl who could bring that out in Christian was definitely a good catch. Damaris was the one who cooked the first amazing Brazilian dinner that I'd ever had, and topped that off with lilikoi mousse, and she basically had me from then on. I am always delighted to find a kindred spirit in tastes. I never knew how to cook red meat at all before I watched and ate her cooking. It was always a mystery to me how to pick the right cuts and cook it the right way, even after I studied the Joy of Cooking's meat section. Since then I've been cooking her recipes fairly regularly. We were able to get to know each other better when Jake and I visited them in Conneticut, but when they came here to live last year I was pretty excited for them to be close by. I enjoyed being baby-obsessed and food-obsessed; hopefully she did not get bored with my only two subjects of conversation. I'm always sad when people leave Hawaii for "bigger and better" things (quotations not because I don't think that grad school is worthwhile, just because I'm making myself feel better about not really wanting to leave here, ever) because I enjoy having such accessible and good friends close to me. I'm not one to make friends easily (laziness? snobbery? both?)and I like to think that is because good friends don't come around very often. I've really missed having play dates with Amaya's fiance as well. Happy Birthday Da! I hope your day is perfect, and filled with good food. Eat some chocolate chip cookies for me.