Lychee, home school and "can you believe it?!!"

Last week, we were driving home from the Library and saw a huge sign calling my name-
"ice cold lychee". I didn't have any cash on me but, luckily one of the girls had a $10 bill. I pulled over so fast, you can probably see skid marks there still. I bought a pound of lychee for $5 out of the cooler in the back of some guys truck. Where else can you do THAT in the U.S.?? After Mikes comment about having lychee in La Reunion I was excited to try it. The fruit is about as big as a big marble, maybe a little bigger. The skin is tough and bumpy- like you would imagine a hard raspberry to feel. They are really easy to peel and once you get your nail into it, the skin just comes right off. The inside reminded me of a fourth grade science day where our teacher dissected a cow eyeball for us. It looked just like that... round, white, slippery, and "mois'".
Mike had warned us of the seed inside so we took a small bite, not knowing when we'd hit pit. Turns out the seed was about as big as a sunflower seed inside its shell, and was the color of an apple seed.
After the pickled mango I didn't know if Justin would taste the lychee but he was the first one in. He described it like a white grape flavor, which it was. Over all we would give it a 7. No one LOVED it but it was pretty good. We'd eat it again. The missionaries came over that night and we gave some to them. They hadn't had it before but said they'd tasted something like it... I wonder what THAT was???
On Saturday we went to Costco and I saw a fruit called a pluot. I think its a mix between a plum and an apricot. It looked really good and I'll have to budget in for it next week.
The two older girls got invited to a princess birthday party for a girl down the road. They got to dress up, paint nails, do make-up, play games, got a tea cup and candy and had a blast! The mom had hired someone to come in and do the party for about $300!!! I told Justin we should go into that business because I do all that all the time with the girls anyway.... may as well make money doing it, right?
No, wrong.......
I shouldn't do it anymore than I already am!!!

We started our home school last Thursday since all the kids here are back to school already. For the first week or so we will be doing a unit study on Sea Turtles. I wanted to start with something fun but new to the girls so they would get excited about home school. Its mostly for fun but we have already learned tons- there are 7 kind of sea turtles, what they eat- each specie eats different things. We studied their life cycle, we learned about their shell patterns and that they always come back to the same beach they were born to lay their eggs. All of these topics have brought up different ones like- what is a reptile, what is a carnivore, herbivore, omnivore, etc. We've had fun. The girls have made sea turtles, written stories about them and looked through books about them.
We also do small topics each day like learning our new home phone number, (yes, we finally got one), learning question words - who, what, when, where, why, how- and how to use them. Today we talked about being good homemakers and what we can do now to help them be good homemakers when they're older. They are doing a "homemaking contest" this week and can each win a prize for how well they do at the end.
We have worked on letters and numbers a bit but not too much until next month when school will really get going. I have a list of benchmarks for them from the Hawaii Board of Education, which I'll use to guide me in our lessons. I feel like I'll learn just as much or more than they will this year!

Oh, my word!!! Can you believe it???? Addalie is only 18 months old and already trying to potty train HERSELF! She takes off her own pants and diaper and says "change". She's used the toilet a couple times, and is constantly saying "potty?" I caught her making "the face" and she said "pooping?"
I don't know what to do, this is the first time any of my kids has been interested this young. I'm not sure I'M ready for her to be trained yet..... she is so little and I don't want to drag her around the island looking for bathrooms all the time!
The biggest problem???? How in the world will we find panties small enough?

New responsibilities and pickled mango

WE SAW SEA TURTLES!!! Justin and I went to the beach for his birthday- without the girls this time- and decided to pick a new one. We were walking into the water to snorkel and almost stepped on a turtle! Later we went for a walk down the beach and saw about 10 more sticking their heads in and out of the water. We knew how much the girls would love to see them so, of course we went back the next day. They loved it- except for Bella who for some unexplained reason wouldn't go in the water that day. (I think she was afraid of the turtles even though she wouldn't admit it.)

We've also had some excitement at church in the last couple of weeks. First off they called and asked Justin if we would speak in church, then they asked him to help with the sacrament, which he hasn't done in years. Then, that same day they asked if we would give the sacrament mtg. prayers, and then just when we sat down in Sunday School someone came and pulled us out to give Justin the calling of Executive Secretary! Whoa! After church that day Justin said (jokingly) that he felt a little picked on. You definately can't coast in the gospel out here- it'll be good for us. Our ward is having a campout this month that goes from a Thursday to the next Tuesday! A week long ward campout???
So, we gave our talks on Sunday and survived. Justin almost didn't since he had to re-write his whole talk Sunday morning because his computer went psycho on him. The funny part was that a portion of his talk on gratitude was about being greatful for our trials. I guess the Lord was helping him have a first hand experience the morning of!

This week we're focusing on getting homeschool put together so we can start in the next few weeks. The kids here start school in a week or two and we'll probably start at the same time. This is one of those things where I know its best but I can't believe I'm actually going to brave it.

We finally tried pickled mango. Justin was the first to try it and almost threw up, so what do you think the kids expected? Of course, no one liked it. I gave it a fair chance and although its not worthy of Justin's reaction, its not my favorite thing either. Its not the "pickled" you think of when you think of beets, its just a sugary, syrupy coating all over the fruit that gives it a red tint. We probably won't be buying that again...... until one of you come visit!!! I was hoping to try some lychee, which is a small, red fruit that grows in clusters like grapes. You have to peel it, I guess and it resembles an eyeball or maybe a grape. We looked to buy some but found out that they are going out of season. I hope we can find some before we have to wait till next season. There used to be signs all over that said "ice cold lychee" I should have stopped sooner.

Only 17 more days until our first visitor!!! I can't wait!

Repairs

This week we havn't been on-the-go as much due to some technical difficulties at home. Our hot water heater has been leaking so we waited at home all day for the plumber to come out and repair it. The washing machine isn't draining and I think its either a broken belt or a clog somewhere (maybe a gecko or a cockroach). Justin is super busy and I can't move the thing over myself to try to figure it out so we're waiting for the fix it guy to come out but just got informed today that it won't be 'till next week.
MMmmmmm... 7 people, one of whom changes her clothes several times a day just for fashion's sake (Lilly), one of them a baby, one of them a hard working come-home-dirty kinda guy...... this isn't the best situation to be in. Justin suggested going to the laundromat this weekend but I can't justify plopping my money into a washing machine when I've got a big soaker sink in the garage. I've been hand washing all week... what's one more???

The other reason we've been at home is to water and take care of the grass seed we planted on Monday and Tuesday. With the sun shining all the time here I don't dare leave for too long and have it all dried up when I get back. We'll all be so glad when the grass comes in and the girls finally have a grassy backyard to play in.

We're still trying to decide what to do for the 4th. We'll go to the beach for sure and watch the fireworks- maybe hike to a waterfall with the kids or try some pickled mango!!! We're sad we don't get to be there for Savhannah's birthday but we're sure she won't even remember us once she sees Hannah Montana LIVE!!!