Waaaaa Whoooo! What a ride! We celebrated Neil’s 50^th birthday taking a tandem Skydive jump. You can share a little of our experience through the photo collection Neil put together. (Neil and I took the photos on the way down from 12,000 feet!) It was awesome!  

My birthday celebration this year was a little more sedate but no less special. Our anniversary is five days after my birthday and we rented a cabin at Wai`anapanapa State Park for a quiet little get away. I love the walks along the black lava cliff with the surf pounding and the waves crashing carrying the spray high into the air. It was too rough for any snorkeling so just enjoyed the walks and watching the ocean. And some time catching up on reading (okay, a little Sudoku too.)

We always welcome whale season when the humpback whales winter in our warm ocean. We had a great show last night as a mom and baby were breaching just off shore. Hope we get more of that as the new babies get strong enough to learn to breach. We took a whale watching cruise last week to get a little closer and enjoyed more of the whales’ surface activities.

I took a trip to Ohio in September to spend time with Dad and Jane. I was able to attend a reunion of Dad’s cousins and visit all the great-aunts as well as see old family friends. Plus worked out great that Mom was also visiting Ohio for her high school reunion. I got to see her along with having a gathering of all the Kreischer klan. I then spent a few days visiting Neil’s aunt and uncle in Chicago and some of his family in Iowa. I took a pair of shorts being hopeful but lived in my long pants and sweatshirt even in September. Guess my blood has thinned living on Maui.

Last spring when I was shopping for new shorts, I was confronted with the creeping weight gain I had been ignoring over the years. A friend told me about The Fat Flush Plan book by Ann Louise Gittleman and it was at just the right time for me. I was thrilled in October when I could fit back into the shorts I wore when I moved to the island nearly 14 years ago. Of course Neil still fits into the clothes he wore in high school. (And I think he still has a few of them!) We had a bumper crop of mangoes that all ripened at the same time this summer. We enjoyed fresh mangoes every morning, stocked the freezer with as many as we could fit, and shared with friends who would come get them. I am still enjoying mango smoothies every morning!

We started another new hobby this year planting a vegetable garden. It started when our neighbors to the south cut down all the trees on the property line outside our kitchen window. They were growing across into their yard and wanted to put up a new fence. They did a beautiful job and it gave us a lot more “sky” from the view out our kitchen window, but now we see a lot of white fence instead of green trees. We are working to get Red Ginger and Heliconias to fill in the fence area using starts generously given to us by friends. They are coming along and slowly growing up in front of the white fence. In the process, we expanded the herb garden in front of our cottage and enjoy the flavors in our cooking. At the back of the house we had an un-maintained area that was looking pretty ratty. We got energetic and removed the dying vegetation and Neil tackled the plumbing problem of rerouting and reestablishing the sprinkler system. We did grow quite a few selections for our table and it's now time to think of “spring” planting again. What seems to do best are pepper plants and mint (I am told mint is basically a weed so it always does well). It must be a weed because the bugs leave it alone! We also have gotten quite a few eggplants from our bushes.

Neil started to rebuild his computer in the fall, and in the process needed to order quite a few parts. As he researched the web for the greatest new components, he basically ordered parts for building two computers, one for himself and one for me. I am now working a new fast desktop instead of my ever slowing laptop computer. Also in the process, he installed a new ventilation system to exhaust all the hot air from the computer systems during the summer months. His other new toy is a wireless weather station. He climbed up on his mom and Morley’s house to install the wind and rain gauge so it is clear of the trees for a more true reading. That involves wires through the attic and underground for the best reporting of information. His mom served as inspector on the project. Neil says this is the closest she's been to a shovel in decades!

Our mothers have been and are now in good health, but both of them gave us a scare this year. On my birthday morning in October we got a call from Morley that Jean had gone to emergency in an ambulance with chest pains early that morning. The second blood test showed evidence of a heart situation so they flew her on the air ambulance plane that night to an Oahu hospital. We waited here ready to hop on a flight if a procedure would be needed. Fortunately the angiogram showed no heart damage and it was diagnosed as Takotsubo cardiomyopathy. Jean and Morley flew home the following day and since then she has been diligently increasing her walking distance and building back up her strength. 

Audrey, my mom, fainted on Christmas Eve while shopping the closing day of Mervyn’s going-out-of-business 95% off sale. She had both arms full of precious purchases and a bystander told Bill she fell like a tree and hit her head hard. We think the fainting was probably from low blood sugar combined with dehydration, but the hit on the head caused a hemorrhage and concussion. They took her by ambulance two hours from her home to a hospital with neurosurgeons on staff but fortunately the hemorrhage stopped on its own therefore no need for surgery. It still involved a 3 day hospital stay over Christmas. She was surrounded by love with her husband Bill, his daughter Lorie and two grandsons, and Pamela and Chris who drove up to be with her (and many prayers). Pamela stayed with her for the week. I flew to California and spent two weeks with her at their home. She went through a bad week of headaches and nausea but has bounced back beautifully. She is doing great now. I am glad for the time I was able to spend with her and Bill, my sister Pamela (and lots of time on the phone with Melanie and Warren.) Neil teases mom that “Shop 'till you drop” is just an expression. Mom and Bill are talking about coming to Maui for R&R in February!

Neil's daughter Mailea is in her second year of her three year Masters in Biology program at University of Rhode Island. She and Greg and their two cats moved into an apartment in downtown Newport. They are loving the location and taking advantage of the east coast culture. Neil's daughter Ari got her Biology degree from University of California, Santa Cruz, last year and is taking further courses to prepare to enter a Nursing Master’s program. She is considering becoming a nurse practitioner. She is currently working full time for the bio-tech company in Santa Cruz where she worked as an undergrad. She and Eric have been dating for nearly 2 years and we haven’t had the chance to meet him yet which we look forward to in the future! We hope to make a summer/fall trip to be able to see them as well as visit other family and friends. 

I have a new great-niece, Justice Alana Beamer, born December 5, 2008. She is the second daughter of Jason and Crystal Beamer. They are still living in Enid, Oklahoma and Jason works for company that provides cell phone customer support. Crystal’s mom lives there as well so lots of good grandma time. Pamela and Chris were able to visit them last spring. You can see photos of their trip and of Journey in her first year on their new index page.

Quentin is now eight years old and I enjoy spending time with him as he grows up. He got a Wii for his birthday and he loves the lego Star Wars. I have not yet consented to play it with him. I tell him I won’t shoot things. Yesterday he was telling me there is a character that doesn’t shoot so I could try that one. We spent some time Christmas Eve and Christmas morning with Quentin and Sophie and family. Very fun to watch them open their presents. I have a few new pages of photos of them which you can check out from their index page.  

We had a wonderful Christmas. It began with the wonderful news that Mom was awake in the hospital with no need for surgery. After spending time with Quentin and Sophie, we shared an incredible feast at the home of Roger and Wanda Stephens, with their parents Bill and Peggy, and sister Julia Stephens and other friends. In the evening we had yet another feast with Jean and Morley around the Christmas tree we helped decorate. This Christmas was a precious time to celebrate family and friends.