Aloha and Happy Easter !

So we, meaning me, have been a bit behind in our blog posts...and in general to get information TOO Isreal, we did actually get cards and such to mail but wouldn't you know the UPS store doesn't sale international postage- you have to go to a Post Office, which I know my grandmother would have laugh at me but who goes to a physical Post Office anymore? I mean really?? where are those ancient dinosaurs and even worse, what are the hours? not after-office hours but I digress...I haven't been good at email though either, despite the two phones, 3 email addresses and all the possible communication devices known to mankind but of course none of those worked in Hawaii....this is me at the Lava rocks, what a very cool adventure that was !! we of course did NOT read the safety video and went right up to the Ocean to take pictures, we found out later that 40 acres fell off into the ocean last year, I guess its still HWH (hard way holly) as Dad would say !! but it was fun and relaxing, we went to the Black sand beach, the green sand beach, Mauna Kea, Hawaii volcano national park, Po-lo-lu lookout which has amazing views of Maui and the northern coast of the big island...we cooked, played scrabble, played wii and generally had a great time ! one minor note is that if you don't buy maps and expect the GPS to give you directions, you must be in cities with satellite reception- which most of hawaii does not have! But again, we had a great time and it was really just incredibly relaxing, it took a couple of days at work (as opposed to the 3 hours it usually takes) for me to be back in the swing of things and my brain caught up the following week....
So we have been getting the house ready for our guests, we had Davey in from Hawaii (although he is en route to move back to Houston next week) and had a great time with him. He was here to try out for Shear Genius, a bravo TV Show which he didn't get called back but it was a good experience. We went and ate at Chloe's for breakfast, had hamburgers with Dennis (more on that later) and got to spend a couple of days in the very warm sunshine...it was 80 degrees this past weekend and of course with Melissa coming its back down to 60 degrees...we just can't seem to schedule the weather for the girls !!
So other news is that we did get rid of the armoir I hated (which really happened last year) and finally got the credenza, TV, picture frames and ipod dock for the spare bedroom, so we are now a full service hotel with all the modern amenities...the room looks so much better, I finally have a place to rest when I am sick and best of all that huge armoir is not there ! we still need to get plants and we're going to paint the alarm box but otherwise that is all done...We bought a side table and coffee table (I just had the thought that I know all of this rambling sounds so incredibly insignificant from jerusalem, or africa, or really anywhere !! but I digress again) for the living room, the coffee table didn't work, so it went back (and I tell you what an ordeal, we did however save almost $300 picking everything up ourselves so we didn't have to ship it, using Paul's van and car, but whew that was a lot of work and running around) to the store, so I still don't have a coffee table (10 years later, can you believe ?? but of course now that I think about it I don't think I ever owned my own coffee table, hmmm) anyway, its been a long time and I want a coffee table. my friend Nelli from work suggested I go to Ethan Allen, showed me a really great coffee table but of course I had to say that I was biased against it because my mother buys her furniture there and although it is of hte highest quality, we have very different tastes ! ha ! but it was nice, there is one around the corner from work, so we ran up there one afternoon to look but didn't really like it, so back to the proverbial drawing board !!
Next topic !! Big exciting news is that we have the girls coming in this weekend, I assume there will be a couple of good blog posts, we already have maegan fired up about rip-sticking but I am not sure the weather (or my knees) will cooperate with us, we're going to have to play it all by ear...Dennis is unfortunately out of town for Kristi's birthday, so we're going to have to go solo without him...Paul is having the annual fancy easter dinner after church, so that will be exciting- I am making a lemon poppyseed drizzle icing cake for dessert that is a Jamie Oliver recipe- I did review 6 recipes with paul for pre-approval and that was the agreed upon dessert...I am hoping we can scrounge up some frozen or canned veggies but will have to see, its not likely :D but it will be fun and of course the table settings will be beautiful ! anyway, we are all very excited to have our girls in town, hopefully noone will end up in jail !
Speaking of jail, we did go fishing on Sunday, its two weeks from opening weekend which I am going to miss because I am going to be in Houston for Lynette's 20th bday (april 24th weekend)...we did not catch anything on Sunday, a friend at work (one of the russians) said that he has fished there alot and never gone home empty handed (aka we don't know what we're doing) but again it was very warm and sunny, so we had a good time catching up..we are going fishing the first weekend in may since that will be the first time we are both in town after the opening of trout season...I am hoping to have some great trout adventures to write about this summer, of the monster fish I am catching or wild trout I continue to hook in the high sierras, I can't wait to really participate in my first full trout season, the different hatchings (BWOs or caddis or Humpys)...I am considering taking some fly casting lessons just to make sure I don't get creative and start bad habits and we will be getting a guide in May with Dennis but otherwise, I have mapped out (with my 8 maps, books, etc...) many options for the summer, so weather willing, it will be a productive season....So other than that, the usual life irritations of losing my drivers license (because of that silicon blackberry case), having the transmission replaced in the smart car, work and people- life is perfection ! ha ! still going to meetings, still being of service and looking forward to my family being on the same continent again ! Work has unfortunately continued to be crazy as we struggle with operating as a public company but we still have high hopes, its just not happening as fast and smoothly as we think it should...its great having Dennis around though and of course taking each day as it comes, I still really love my boss and the bay area, so we are here for now...Claude sure does send all his love to the family, Dana says hello and happy easter, hope ya'll are eatin as good as we are !! Here's a picture of springtime almond blossoms we got blown up to hang on the wall....I have enjoyed some excellent books lately- The Nine, Yiddish Policemans Union, Memoirs of an Anti-Semite, Speaks the Nightbird, Fire in the Blood, if anyone is looking for some good reading....anyway- enjoy and au revoir !