(mis)adventures In Paradise

Since Ryan and I both had yesterday (Wed the 17th) off, we decided to take a little kayaking adventure to Goat Island. It's a quaint little island that's a sea bird preserve so there's no camping or pets allowed. Also, you can only walk on the outer perimeter of the island as the middle is reserved for shearwater and other ocean fowl.

Here's a little fish that kept swimming alongside Ryan. There aren't many good pictures of him because he wouldn't get farther than a few inches from Ryan's face (and Ryan had the camera).

An egg we found on the walking path. We also saw some baby sea bird chicks but we didn't want to disturb them so we didn't take pictures.

Things I learned this trip:
1. Despite what everyone I have talked to has told me, I do not float while pregnant. I sink. Like a rock.
2. While everyone has seen, on tv and movies at least, a kayak flip roll or flip sideways, if taken out on big waves it can flip vertically. I do not recommend trying this for fun, you feel like you've been hit by a truck afterward.
3. Those killer abs I used to have... yeah they're gone. After the kayak flipped I tried to swim for shore. It was much harder than I remember. Also climbing into the kayak was very difficult.

So here's the whole story, coming back from the island the wind had picked up and the waves were larger than when we had gone to the island. Well, we caught probably the largest wave of the day right at the wrong moment, it picked us up vertically and broke right on top of us. Ryan flipped the kayak upright and after much struggle I climbed back in (not easy to do 30 lbs. overweight, 7 months pregnant, and in water way over my head). But the waves were just too strong and too big, every time Ryan got on the kayak we got flipped again (luckily we rolled sideways these times). Three times Ryan turned the kayak upright and, amazingly, I got back in only to be thrown back into the sea. The fourth time he flipped it over I told him to get in, paddle to shore, and I'd swim in, I just couldn't do it again (Ryan said he was impressed that I did it once, let alone three times). No sooner had I spoken, I hadn't even had the chance to hand him my oar, when another big wave caught the kayak and pushed Ryan all the way into shore. So I swam in lugging my paddle (it's amazing that both of us kept ahold of them during this whole thing).
Oh well, just another day in paradise.

The improbable (but seemingly less impossible) dream

Earlier this year I found out two of my sisters were going to have babies. It was rumored then that my mom had expressed a dream or wish to see all of her daughters (except Cali, she has announced that her family is complete) have babies within a year. Ha! Impossible, I said. I laughed her off so fast! Ryan and I weren't even thinking about kids. I had just managed to get hired on after assuring my boss that I was not going to start a family for at least another year. I had posted online that I was not ready, eager, or otherwise willing to have a baby any time soon. Fast forward six weeks when I find out (surprise!) I'm eight weeks pregnant. So that's 3/5, I start to think this dream my mom has just might be possible. Now with the most recent announcement of the Guffey family, that's 4/5. This crazy dream of my mom's seems to be slowly turning into a reality.
So Hillary and Jake, anything you care to mention at this point?

29 Weeks (and two days)

THE END (for now)

Adventures in Life

I have found that the best way to get unsolicited "advice" and "help" from strangers is to have a baby. It makes even the most shy and timid of women break out of their shell in order to tell you what you're doing wrong. I've learned to smile and nod and take it with a grain of salt. Since I know these are not women who are wanting to hurt me or prove their point, they are just genuinely concerned, I thank them and tell them I'll keep their advice in mind.
I've been lectured on just about everything: working with dangerous horses, drinking empty calorie soda, eating non-organic produce, cooling off with sugar laden otter pops, riding on a deadly motorcycle, being out in the sun too much, eating food that isn't cooked right, lifting stuff that's too heavy, etc.
So my latest stunt that raised the ire of innocent onlookers:

That's right. It was a beautiful day so Ryan and I went kayaking. I did not over exert myself, we stayed close to shore, and, as with everything I do, I listened to the messages my body was sending. However that did not stop a kindly young stranger, who happens to have three children of her own, from approaching me back on shore and expressing her sincere concern that I wasn't being careful enough and that I didn't fully understand the delicacy my condition.
I smiled and thanked her for her concern. It's all part of the adventures in life I guess.

A Year's Supply

So when the prophets say to have a year supply of goods, I don't think this is what they meant.
Two weeks ago I mentioned going to the Turtle Bay employee appreciation dinner. They gave away several awesome door prizes including free helicopter rides, free kayak tours, $50 gift certificates to restaurants, gift baskets, and even a stay down at the Waikiki Hilton. Ryan was a fortunate one who won a prize that night. As he brought the envelope back to our table we eagerly opened it anxious to see our prize.
It was....

AYears Supply of Pepsi.

You can add that to our bribe list. Just how much is a year's supply of Pepsi? Well for one adult Pepsi Co figures it out to be twelve 24 packs or 288 cans. Yeah. So crack open a nice cold Pepsi, we'll be doing it for a while.

For (my dad) Papa Lowry

So for my birthday last year my dad got me an underwater camera. And since we live in Hawaii and are not vacationers we; don't get to the beach as often as we would like, and when we do we forget to take the camera, are pansies when it comes to cold water and have had a lot of rain this year which makes for limited beach time and murky water. We did try to take it out one night but when we got it out in the water we realized it didn't have a flash.... Oops. So today was beautiful and the water a little chilly but we sucked it up and took the camera across the street....forgetting to put in the memory card :?(. Here are the pictures that were clear enough to see what was in it.

So there you have it. Did you know that it is really hard to take a picture while being tossed by the waves? And the fish don't really hold still for you to take there picture, go figure. I can't wait till I can take it to 30 or 60 feet deep where I won't have the buoyancy problems and maybe get some goot shots. The camera did work great though and we had a lot of fun trying to take pictures until we got the "memory full" screen only 12 pictures later. Oh well, next time we will remember the card.

That's a New One

So having a semi-unusual name means people usually call me by the wrong name more often than they use the right one. And it's never spelled right. The number one mistake? Star. In college so many people called me Star I quickly learned to just answer to it. Other common offenders are Skyler, Ty, Summer, Sunny, and even Rain. But tonight at a Turtle Bay party I got a new one that I hadn't heard, one of Ryan's coworkers called me Song the entire night. The jury's still out on whether she forgot my name, she had had a few too many glasses of wine, or a combination of the two.
So good night from your Summer Star Song!