What a treat! Diane and her girls stayed with us in mid-August (thus the absence of blogging). Although I have gotten to know Diane, particularly through my wedding where so was such a participant, this was also the first time I have really gotten to know the Diane's girls too. What a treat. Diane's three girls are a pleasure to be around, and such great company. At 14, 11 and 8, they are they type of girls you wished you were cool enough in school to hang around.Well, maybe YOU were, but I sure wasn't.
We had such a great time with them. We took them to the North Shore to see the Turtles; luckily the turtles were there and VERY active! We also went on the Dolphin swim with them. The Dolphin swim is pretty cool, but very pricey for the 30 second dolphin ride, 10 second dolphin kiss and 5 minutes of various interaction. But - at least we can say we've done it, it WAS cool, just not sure its the life changing experience I hoped it would be. Although I kept poking around at all the girls to see who would be willing to fullfill my dream of becoming a marine biologist (since they are actually smart enough to pursue said dream)...but it appears as though none of the three girls were interested in pursuing MY career ambitions for their own. I hiked Diamondhead with them too - Jeff and I hadn't done that yet..so it was pretty cool. Now I understand why people do it - the view is staggering. The walk up isn't as bad as I thought it would be, and its totally unforgetable once you get to the top.
We had a couple of OY VEY moments; perhaps the one that will probably go into the history books is when we all ran outside to get Diane's rental car on the way to the North Shore. We came to a screaching halt when we saw that her car wasn't where we left it...it had been towed. NIIIIIICE. That little situation cost us a couple of hours...and about $200.
Having 3 girls in the house only reaffirmed my perso
nal desire to have girls...although it might have reaffirmed Jeff's desire to have boys. I love the giggling and whispering and sly smiles when they think they have one over on you...I love the insight and wisdom that these ladies showed. I love the eye-rolling, footstomping, "she took my shoes" chaos. I can vividly remember being their age and sometimes, it breaks my heart (14) all over again or reminds me of my own precipice of "tomboyness" and being a girl (11). I feel Sarah's sense of responsibility at being the oldest and see Claire's experience as the youngest through the adult eyes that I wasn't able to see as the older sister to an 8 year old. However, having 6 people in our house only reaffirmed that either we need a bigger house, or less than 4 kids. I 
am voting for both, BTW.Having Diane and the girls here on my b-day was also a special treat. They made me cake, dinner and gave me my first birthday gift: girlie goodies for the feet (which is MUCH needed here with the flip-flop wearing, sand walking, volcanic rock street nightmare to the pedicure that Hawaii is).
All in all, it was a great trip - having them here was a blast.
Come one come all, we'd love to have you hear too!!
