Granddaughters Gather Together, April 8, 2006
(left to right) Anna, Rykell, Klailea (standing), Emily, Gabrielle

They are all so special and we were excited to gather all the granddaughters together for a picture. We had a marvelous time with them all and their families early in April. With their brothers, it was a fun filled week visitng. (Since we couldn't get all the grandsons together, we'll just have to wait until Christmas when there is a good possibility that we'll get all the grandchildren together in one family picture. It was also Mom's birthday and we got to celebrate some other birthdays also.

Thanks to their parents for making this possible. Your pictures will be on their way. Just thought you'd like a preview.

Celebrating a Spring Day!







Sometimes it takes both sisters to travel to a halfway point to meet. In this case, they both travelled from opposite directions to meet at our home in Utah. Also with their older sister, Leslie, it was a great visit for all the families.

















Going back to old family albums, often you couldn't tell whose picture we were looking at, Rachel's or Nikki's. Since their five years apart, its good that they turned out the way they are now.




























Rachel (Above) Nicole (Above)


Actually happened today! Ipo stalked the easy prey for their ice cream. Look at the culprit in action.






Hmmm. Let's see who hasn't finished their ice cream cone yet? There must be someone still with some ice cream!

Ah Ha! I've found my easy target! Oh Gabby, you are so good to "Po Doggie."












Ethan in a moment of quiet contemplation. He just witnessed Ipo picking off the ice cream cone from his sister Gabby. (Wow! Ipo was sure fast.)












It's fun to set up the tent and have a spring campout in the front lawn. (Gabby, Ethan, and Bun Bun, aka Elijah)










We're enjoying our time with Nikki and the kids. Po doggie is making the most of it, as seen by the above pictures. Elijah is mastering his "army crawl" and is making his way through out the house pretty good.

Buy back started at the bookstore and Jo has been busy their. I've been overcoming my residual pnuemonia and almost licked it. It's been a miserable two weeks. The kids are resilient and bouncing back from bronchitis and soon, we will be free from the coughing, snot, and gala gala. There's a good chance we will all make it to church tomorrow. Since Easter is over and no more lilies and we are getting over our coughing, we'll be where we should be on Sundays.

We hope you all will enjoy this short blog message. Bye

Celebrating a Spring Day! Sometimes the only way to enjoy the season is to get the family together for a wagon ride to the park. The kids really enjoyed that ride.

Going back to March, that was a big month. We celebrated the birthdays of George, Henry, cousin Audrey, and Auntie Nikki. Jo went to Hawaii to help out with George and Henry, and yeah, their Mom, Dad, Aunt, Uncle, and cousins Klailea and Rykell.

While the intentions were good, the weather wasn't. It rained for most of the time, recording record downpour, flooding, mudslides, and frizzy hair. We all thought that it was paradise there. I guess we were not exactly right on that one.

Back on the Mainland, Po doggie and I suffered extended winter weather, and the blahs of being in the land of brown.


In paradise, when there were some sunshine, the kids and Jo made the best of it with sightseeing and shopping. This picture is a great example of sun shining here but on the other side of the island, it continued to rain.








A trip to the Honolulu Zoo.

















Just a short break to rest in the shade of the tree and look for wild animals.

















George and Henry in a moment of contemplation.

















It didn't quite rain for 40 days and nights but it got people thinking, "learn to thread water".
















This picture is not at all what you may be thinking about George and Henry. This was waiting in line at Matsumoto's Shaved Ice Store in Haleiwa. Policemen also brake for "shaved ice".

Jo had some fun times with the daughters Erin and Rachel and their families. Though we miss them all, glad she's back home quilting. Well, bye for now and there's more to catchup on the blog. Aloha to all the family and friends.

Grandchildren Gathering at our home.



Grandma Jo and 3 granddaughters and 3 grandsons (Anna, Klailea, Elijah, Christian, Ethan, Gabby). Just look at our Polynesian Princesses in their dresses.)

Here below, some of the grandchildren were lounging and playing.





Family, this is what it's all about!

Since the last week of March, its been "grandchildren time". We've been busy, even up to this very point in time with the visits of four of our children and their families. Even though the visits seem to be staggered, we managed to visit with most of the grandsons and granddaughters. Wow, what fun.

During the last week of March, Jesse and Amy brought their two boys for a short visit on their way back to the east coast. (See last blog entry) Then Nikki and Dan brought Ethan, Gabrielle, and Elijah to visit us. While Dan left this morning to return to work, Nikki and the children are visiting a while longer here. Last week, Rachel, Jason, and their two daughters, Klailea and Rykell came back to Utah for a visit. They left for home this morning. Also, Leslie and Troy brought their children, Christian, Anna, and Emily for a visit. With all the family visits, we were lucky to get three out of our five children in at one time.

Our hope is that at Christmas time, we can get all of them in for a visit. We certainly had a great time seeing the little cousins play together and everyone visiting. Sometimes I seriously wonder how we don't do this more often.

At least, Mom and her daughters got to do stuff they enjoyed most, shop for fabric and stuff. Dad and the sons went out for some outdoor recreation, golf. Even though the weather was a bit shakey (wind, hail, cold temperatures)it was the best golf ever, no one else on the course, just us. In the evening it was off to dinner at Papa's. Great smoked ribs, good sides, private dinner room, all of us at one long table, someone to serve, and someone to clean up. Wow, what a great evening.

We did hold our traditional Easter egg hunt early to accomodate the grandchildren. It was a blast, even though we missed having four grandsons and an awaiting granddaughter (?) there. Though we may have had our own agendas during the entire visit, some of the adults played a game "Killer Bunnies" and got hooked on it. I've yet to figure out the strategy for the game but it was just fine seeing them not arguing but having real fun.