They say it's your birthday

Ok, I guess "they" would technically be Facebook (same thing, right?) but I wanted to give a big Happy Birthday shoutout to my favorite SIL Kelly. And to celebrate her special day, here are just a few of the reasons why we love Kelly... She makes fabulous flower arrangements (which means that Cynthia and I get out of having to do this for the luau each year:)
Yeah for Kelly and her flowers!!
She sat through the "Grandparent's Day" program at my kids school--
and she's not even a Grandma! I know my kids would say that they love Auntie Kelly because she bought them a cat. Here's a pic of when Kelly surprised them with their new pet.

I just figure that anyone who marries into our weirdo family--and can live to tell about it--is pretty great. Happy Birthday Kelly.
Hope you had a great day!

Our Vegetable Garden

I realize that when most people talk about a vegetable garden, they're usually referring to multiple plants. But this year, you are looking at a photo of the entire Tevaga Vegetable Garden. Earlier this spring, Kobe brought home a cabbage from school--probably part of some homework assignment I didn't know about. I wasn't sure if the little guy (the cabbage--not Kobe) was going to make it because of all the spring snow but luckily for us, Kobe must have a green thumb just like his Grandpa!

Anyway, I had made the decision not to plant anything else this year since we were going to be gone to Chicago and then off to Tahiti for two weeks. I'm also starting back to school the beginning of August so I figured I didn't really need to worry with the hassles of weeding and harassing the kids to pick the tomatoes and zucchini like I had to do last year.

So when your veggie gardens start overflowing in the coming weeks, think of us. And our cabbage. I told my husband to pick it yesterday for some food he was cooking but he said we needed to wait for Kobe. So it looks like we will be eating cabbage on July 30th for Kobe's "Welcome Home from Tahiti" meal.

I Love Tahiti...

I realize that Norm and I have been back from our vacation for over a week and I have yet to post about our trip. Yes, we did actually go on a trip to Tahiti ( I have over 400 pics on my camera to prove it:) but between getting unpacked and everything else I am just now getting around to this post. Anyway, here are some of the top reasons why I love Tahiti...

1. The Beach--I have to admit, I love the beach. And although I am not a fan of getting sand EVERYWHERE, one of my favorite things to do in Tahiti is to go to the beach. Here is a photo of us a "PK18", our usual beach hangout. Kobe and Tehani had a ball using their goggles to check out all of the underwater fishes and coral. And I did my best (though I don't know that I really succeeded) at trying to get a tan. But even if I am still white, I had fun none the less!
   
2. My Grand Parents House--I spent almost every summer when I was growing up in Tahiti at my grandparents house, so this place really is like a second home to me. It was my first time coming back since my grandmother passed away last year so I was crying like a baby when we got there (I'm sure my Grandpa was thinking "Why are you crying--I'm not dead yet?") Anyway, there's a Tahitian old wives tale that you are supposed to bury your kids belly buttons in the ground--so they will always return to their homeland. Here's a pic of my grandparents patio where my belly button is buried:) I like to think that's part of the reason I go back so much--I am inexplicable drawn there!
   


3. Our Family--This is the only time that we get to see our cousins in Tahiti--and now that we are grown, it's fun letting our kids play together when they can. And although Kobe often requests to have a "translator" when trying to talk with other kids, Tehani just jumps right in and talks...really...slowly. AND...LOUDLY...(as if that will magically make her french speaking cousins understand her :) Here is a photo of Tehani playing with her cousin Rarahou. It's funny because I had asked Rarahou to write the numbers on the chalkboard in French so that Tehani could practice. Not exactly what I had in mind (but I guess that is my own fault for not being specific enough with the 8 year olds :)
   
4. The Market--My grandparents are just a few blocks away from the big open-air market in downtown Papeete. So when you need veggies, fish (or anything else for that matter) you don't head on down to the WalMart--it's off to the market for some locally grown whatever. Norm's favorite thing to do each morning was to head over there to buy fresh poison cru--Tahitian raw fish--and a Fanta (apparently THIS is the breakfast of champions!)
   
5. The Roulots--In case you haven't had enough food with your morning trip to the market, you can fill up at night as well down at the warf. These little "rolling" restraunts come out at night and you can have your choice of chinese, tahitian, waffles (dont' ask) and anything else that you can think of. Here is a photo of the one night that we went with my cousin Tuamtahi and the rest of the fam. Yum!Well, that is it for now. I have so much more to post about but I don't know where to start. I promise to get caught up (the kids are coming back soon from Tahiti so I better get caught up)

Da Plane

Although today is the official start of our trip to Tahiti, I don't know if I could actually consider this a vacation day...

Get dropped off at O'Hare International Airport to catch da plane to Los Angeles. Our flight was at 6:30am and since ORD is such a crazy airport it was way too early. Tehani was very excited to not have to "dress up" to fly today--they majority of the time that the kids travel, they fly on my mom's buddy passes (which means dressy clothes for da plane)

Arrive at LAX and wait for da plane to Tahiti. We had at least a 6 hour layover which is a long time to hang out in an airport. With all of this time on our hands, Norm even walked down to the In & Out Burger thats a mile away from the airport (it's not like he had anything else to do!) and brought us all back some lunch. Yum!

Get on da plane for the 8 hour plan ride to Tahiti. Cynthia had been a little worried about how Charlotte was going to fare on her first trans-oceanic flight and she is a natural! I ended up with a seat by myself (which is much more relaxing that having to keep Thing 1 and Thing 2 from kicking the seats in front of them!)

Next stop, Tahiti!!

Let's Luau

So if the fam and I have travel out to Chicago during the summer, it can only mean one thing--it's LUAU TIME! The Anderson Annual Luau has grown into such a tradition I don't know what we'd do without it. And my mom has been throwing this luau for so many years that we've really gotten all of the party prep down to a science (besides the fact that we actually have "Luau Book" that tells us exactly what to do!)
This year's party was yet again a great success. My Mom and Dad (and 100 or so of their closest friends) enjoyed all of Norm's tasty creations from the grill. I started getting worried that maybe we were going to run out of food (which would be a bad, bad thing at a luau) but everything turned out perfectly. It even waited to rain until that party was over that night.

Here's a pic of my Dad with two of his cousins and two nieces.

And our dancers--Cynthia, Tehani and Mallory--entertained the crowd with a few traditional numbers. (I know it looks like Cynthia is doing a booty shake but I promise it was a hula--it's a luau party, not a dance party :)

Tehani is still partial to doing her poi balls EVERY time we make her dance so I think we are going to have to teach her a few new non-poi ball numbers for next year.

So if you happen to be in Chicago in July 2010, let me know and I can get you seats to the best Luau in town!