Happy New Year! - Passport Diaries

The last day of the year! We finished off the year with some snowman building.

Eloise wanted to build a Rainbow Sand Snowman. So…I brought a rainbow scarf and beanie to the beach. That turned out to be unnecessary because there was already a rainbow at the beach, arcing over Kaneohe Bay just beyond Kailua Bay, where we parked the Picky Pelican in the sand by the boat ramp.

The first one turned out the best I think. The rainbow scarf lady ended up with weird seaweed hair and nose and creepy nuts for features. She looked like a deranged, bloated mermaid or something. Oops. All the storms last week deposited tons of crap on the shoreline—barnacled tires, plastic baskets, seaweed, huge ropes, and loads of coconuts. So we built a coconut snowman too.

As the sun sets on 2017 and firecrackers pop in the distance, let’s review the past year. We began 2017 with a family reunion in Poway, CA to celebrate my parents’ 40th anniversary. Chris, the kids and I were living in Grandfather’s basement while Chris finished training for Hawaii. I did a last-minute trip to Bolivia with the Children’s Heart Project in February, and in March we moved to Hawaii for Chris’ job with the squadron! We spent two months in three hotels, then moved into our house in May for a nice summer of unpacking, getting rid of crap, paddleboarding, going to the beach, and partying with my parents when they visited over my mom’s birthday. Isaac started kindergarten, and Eloise started preschool. Chris went to Nevada for training, came back for the kids’ birthdays, then went to sea. The kids and I explored and hiked and surfed and paddled and ate shave ice, and Chris got back days before Thanksgiving. We visited the Big Island and Kilauea Volcano as a family, and had a Mele Kalikimaka.

The year started in transition, and ends in tropical calm. Chris will be gone a lot in the coming months, but for now, we are enjoying the calm before the storm.

I forgot to include the kids’ school Christmas programs in the Christmas post. Isaac hammed it up for Jingle Bells, while Eloise clammed it up for Santa Claus is Coming to Town. She sang not a word, but looked at her classmates slowly out of the corner of her eyes, as if wondering, “don’t you know everyone is watching?!” This, while not totally unexpected, might come as a surprise to anyone who has ever seen Eloise in a department store or boutique. The second she finds a mirror, she dances, preens, admires, sings. I guess she’s only interested in an audience of one.

I tried to dance with her at home later. She gave me some side eye and said, “Mommy, don’t hula like that.” THREENAGER.

Some friends and I ventured out way after bedtime to join Honolulu hipsters taking photos of their drinks at the pop-up Christmas Bar, where you could order a Winter Sangria, Boozy Snowman or Christmas Martini.