The Graduate

Last week, David John graduated from Joy School. The graduation ceremony was a big hit. It was held at a friend's house and everything was perfect. It was beautiful weather, they had a lovely fenced in backyard complete with an awesome playhouse, everyone brought delicious food, the hosts grilled some amazing burgers and they even had a garage full of puppies. I am not kidding. Adorable, floppy little golden retriever puppies just waiting to be held and cuddled. It was a childhood fantasy land.

Anyway, when it was time for the actual ceremony David John looked adorable wearing his little cap and holding his diploma but he was a little reticent about singing the songs for the program. Benjamin, on the other hand, was belting out the words from his seat in his audience. David John kept hissing at him, "Stop it Benjamin!" The hissing got louder and louder until it was a full on shout. When that didn't stop Benjamin from singing, David John finally decided he would just out-sing his little brother so David John gave a big finish for the last song. It was pretty hilarious.

While I am relieved that Joy School is over for my sake (it was pretty harrowing trying to teach a lesson with Tobias and Benjamin running around like crazy monkeys) I know that David John will miss it. I want to send a huge "thank you" to all of my fellow Joy School moms who were so loving and patient with my rambunctious little guy. You guys are the best.

A Dozen

Yep, a dozen years, today. That's how long I have been Mrs. Ricks. I thought it would be fun to post one picture of each year we have been together. Please forgive some of the more awkward ones. Apparently before we had kids we took very few pictures of ourselves, or at least I don't have very many scanned in. Pre-digital era, ya know? Anyway, the time has flown by.

Marc and Sarah Ricks Family established May 25, 2002

2003- Ohio

2004- Utah

2005- Utah

2006- Philippines

2007- Maryland

2008- Washington D.C.

2009- Ohio

2010- Utah

2011- Ohio

2012- Ohio

2013- Ohio

2014- Arkansas

12 Years

11 Jobs (at least!)

10 Phone Numbers

9 Popcorn Poppers

8 Addresses

7 Vehicles

6 IVF Cycles

5 Kids

4 Degrees

3 Fish Tanks

2 People

1 Love

Hawaii Days 5-6

On Day 5 we did something crazy. We got up at 2:30 AM. Now, we have gone to bed at 2:30 AM before, but getting up at that hour was a new experience. The real miracle here is that we found an activity so enticing that Marc Ricks was willing to get up before dawn to do it. Despite the insanely early start, this was our favorite thing we did on Maui. We drove to a little bike shop which rented us bikes and protective gear then drove us and the bikes to the top of Haleakala, an inactive volcano whose peak rests more than 10,000 ft above sea level. We got to watch the sunrise while a park ranger chanted a traditional greeting to the morning. We were so high, we were watching the sun come up above the clouds. The volcano was so big that when we turned west, the shadow of the volcano looked like a separate mountain range. The photos don't do it justice. The colors were so much more vibrant in person, but here is a little taste of what we saw:

This is the shadow of the volcano when you are looking west.

Once the sun was up, we got on our bikes and coasted the 27 miles down the volcano and back to the bike shop. When I say "coasted" there were two hills that we had to peddle up. Since the bikes had no gears, those two hills were pretty painful but the ride and the view were worth it. At one point, we flew past a radar which clocked us at 23 MPH. We stopped half-way and had breakfast at a charming little restaurant where some anonymous angel picked up our tab for us. We hope to pay it forward. Everything about the ride was heavenly.

Everyone uses the "shaka" or "hang loose" sign in Hawaii. Urban legend has it that it was started by a traffic cop who had lost his 3 middle fingers in an accident.

After a long nap and after Marc attended his afternoon classes we had dinner under the most incredible Banyan tree in Lahaina. When we first saw it, we thought we were entering a grove. I've never seen anything like it. It was planted in 1873, stands more than 60 feet tall and now takes up an entire city block. Just incredible.

Yeah, those are not trunks. Those are supports growing off of branches of this massive tree.

Our last day in Maui was bitter-sweet. We were excited to see our kids again but reluctant to leave paradise. We spent the morning at a rocky beach marvelling at the life in the tidal pools. Then we ate lunch at Mama's Fish House. This is a must. It was expensive, but it was worth it. Everything we had looked beautiful and tasted exquisite. Apparently, it is the #2 restaurant in the entire country. Truly divine.

This is not a brochure photo. This was our view out of our open-air window at Mama's Fish House.

We ate the other courses before thinking about getting a picture, but at least we captured the chocolate caramel pie we had for dessert.

We spent our last hours on the island driving through some little towns and then hiking to some gorgeous waterfalls. We noticed as we were departing that the tourism was really starting to pick up. We were so grateful to have been there when the beaches were quiet and we could often feel as though we were alone in this most beautiful place. We will always have fond memories of Hawaii.

Hawaii Days 3-4

On Day 3, Marc finally started what we were supposedly there fore- the medical conference. For the record, he was extremely diligent and went to all of his classes. He was very worried about me being bored without him around but I assured him that I would be just fine. I did yoga, took naps, read books, shopped, walked on the beach and through lush gardens WITHOUT CHILDREN. It was a very different experience from my daily routine at home. I loved it.

I did most of my shopping in a place called Whaler's Village. They had an outrageously priced miniature whale museum there which we did not pay for, but we happily looked at the two free exhibits including this skeleton of a sperm whale.

I had no idea that whales had fingers inside those massive flippers! More proof, I guess, that whales are mammals and not fishes. In fact, humans and whales are both placental mammals and have a common ancestor that scientists guess looked like a weasel-thingy. So, the next time you meet a whale, give him a high-five. He totally has the digits for it.

Our big adventure for Day 4 was a submarine ride. It was kinda cool, but not for what it cost. We were so excited to see fish up close and different species than you might see when snorkeling. The problem is, despite the brightly colored brochures, when you go underwater and the sunlight is being filtered you lose most colors. So those super bright tropical fish you see in aquariums? Yeah, they look kind of silver-blue from the submarine. Here is our photo-evidence:

This was probably the coolest fish we saw. That guy at the top center is a trumpet fish. That black skirty part is actually his tail. They like to disguise themselves as gently waving sea plants before they pounce on their prey.

Everyone pressed their face against the windows when our naturalist exclaimed that he saw a very rare yellow sea sponge! Do you see him? Bottom right corner, goes by the name of Bob, is square, wears pants.

Just look at all those brightly colored parrot fish!

I do have to say, the naturalist they had on board the sub was both informative and funny and they played mission impossible music during both the descent and ascent. Probably the most amusing anecdote we heard though, was about the sunken ship which is now an artificial reef. The Atlantis Submarine company bought the ship, The Carthaginian, from some people who were using it as a maritime museum. The problem was, the museum was slowly sinking and eventually the government got wind of the safety hazard and "suggested" that it might not be safe to invite tourists aboard a sinking ship. No one wanted to buy a sinking ship, except the submarine company who wanted the ship to sink so it could drive its tourists by the wreck. They bid $1 and became the proud new owners of a leaky boat. The company didn't want to wait for the boat to sink, and they wanted to make sure that it sank in such a way that it would look cool and provide a reef structure for aquatic life. However, in order to sink the ship they had to do environmental impact studies, file permits on a local, state and national level, hire lawyers to review ocean property rights etc. etc. The cost of sinking that $1 boat which was going to eventually sink anyway? More than $300,000. Bureaucracy at its finest.

Hawaii Day 2

We spent the morning at the famous Dole Pineapple Plantation. We cannot wholeheartedly recommend this activity. Firstly, it is a tourist trap. It is pricey for not a whole lot. Secondly, it paints a very rosy picture of a suspect history. On a positive note, they sell some pretty amazing pineapple treats and our trip gave us a lot to talk about while we were waiting for our flight to Maui later in the day.

I'm not sure what I imagined a pineapple plant would look like, but it wasn't this:

It might have been worth going to Dole just to see pineapple plants up close. They are crazy looking! We were intrigued by the small pineapple garden, so we bought tickets to ride the "Pineapple Express" train which supposedly would give us a tour of the plantation. Also, if you buy a train ticket, you can save $5 on the official "Pineapple Express" CD. This is a deal you won't want to miss, if you are a big fan of elevator pop music with painful lyrics. You too could own the title song that croons, "Don't move fast, better relax... feel the locomotive on the smooth train tracks. Get on board the Pineapple Express!" I am almost regretful that we did not buy the CD because apparently you cannot buy it online and I can't link you to any song samples, but you can buy other CDs from the group ManoaDNA on their website.

Anyway, the best part of the train ride was the walk through the beautiful gardens to get to the train station. Here are some of my favorite foliage pics:

This tree is not painted, that is the bark's natural coloration.

The state flower of Hawaii. I love that it is yellow.

I finally understand why these are called "bird of paradise".

You can buy a separate ticket for a self-guided audio tour of the gardens but I wouldn't recommend it. You see, the Dole Plantation is also the home of the world's largest maze and I am almost certain that the same engineer which designed the maze also designed the garden and audio tour. I watched several people with their headsets looking around in bewilderment. Not only were there confusing switchbacks, sidewalks that literally went nowhere, parts of the garden which were not connected to the rest at all but could only be reached by walking across a large grassy area which one felt ought not to be walked on but there was a complete lack of arrows or other helpful signage. There were placards with little numbers on them indicating which track of the audio tour coincided with this part of the garden. However, these numbers were not in any particular order and some numbers seemed to be missing altogether. Walking through that garden was a little bit like walking through a print by M.C. Escher. Nothing was quite as it seemed. I almost missed the train because I had been sucked into the vortex of the garden. I finally ended up leaving the paths and cutting through some garden beds. I'm still not convinced that there was a path which actually led to the train station.

To be fair, we learned many interesting things on the train tour even if the view was underwhelming. We learned that pineapple is not even native to Hawaii. Shocking, right? Pineapple actually comes from South America but at one point the Dole corporation was providing 90% of the world's pineapple which is why Hawaii and pineapple are so closely tied together in our minds. The process of growing and harvesting pineapple is also fascinating. Each plant only produces one fruit at a time and can take up to 3 years to produce a mature pineapple fruit. All the pineapple plants have to be planted and harvested by hand. The poor pineapple farmers have to wear head to toe heavy protective suits so they don't get cut by the sharp leaves. Just the thought of wearing a heavy canvas suit during a Hawaiian summer makes me want to pass out. Whenever the tour had us really interested the narrator would inevitably choose that moment to say something dumb like "Phew! That was a lot of information! Let's take a break and listen to some music." This gave us the opportunity to look at the endless fields of pineapple and large wooden cutouts of agricultural workers doing various tasks. All of the workers looked extremely happy in their sweltering uniforms. They seemed to be saying "There is nothing I would rather be doing than hauling this 70 lb sack of pineapples for the Dole company!" The history they gave was certainly biased. For example, the tour mentioned that early plantation workers were imported from China and the Philippines. Workers lived in "cultural camps" where they could fully celebrate their cultural heritage. This was a nice way of saying that the company practiced indentured servitude and forced their workers to live in tightly packed ghettos. But the workers loved it! I'm sure! Of course, you can find all of this information online for free which is much cheaper than flying to Oahu and riding the train.

After the "Pineapple Express" we had some frozen pineapple treats and gasped in horror at the cost of everything in the gift shop. I was tempted to buy these because I just couldn't believe that such a thing existed but I resisted on the principle that I am cheap:

I mean, is there anyone who would readily admit to liking SPAM? A food generally held as so vile that unwanted email is now named after it? Clearly, at least one SPAM-lover is on the marketing board for Hamakua Plantations because those really are SPAM-flavored macadamia nuts. Just why? Macadamia nuts are so good and SPAM is so.... SPAM. And why are they ten dollars?

We bid goodbye to Oahu that afternoon and flew to Maui. The drive from the airport to Kanaapali beach was just gorgeous. Those are sugarcane fields.

The Westin resort was also beautiful. This was our lobby:

There was a waterfall. And flamingos. And black swans. In the lobby. I love Hawaii.

We watched the sunset on the beach and found a beach-side restaurant to eat dinner at. We were asked by various people during our stay if we were honeymooners. All of them were shocked to hear that we had five children and would be celebrating our 12th anniversary later that month. We certainly felt like honeymooners. I guess Maui just does that to people.