Tommy's weekend project

Tommy has been working with the contractor that our landlord hired to make some money before his job starts. This past weekend, he finished this project--an outdoor dining area under our lychee tree. Doesn't it look great? Please, come for dinner!

Windward Sunset

This picture was taken at about 6:15pm, overlooking the mountains next to our house. I am frequently not home yet at sunset, and on this particular day I was so excited to beat the sun that I ran outside to document its colors as it passed over the mountaintops. Spectacular. My crappy camera does not do it justice.

We have lots of giant snails in our yard.

And here is photograph.

Maggie cuts her hair. A bit.

So, Maggie got her hair cut. She felt it was a lot. It was, after all, over 4 inches. However, it was apparently not that dramatic, as even Tommy had difficulty detecting the difference. The Hawaiian sun has lightened it quite a bit, which is nice because it is free.

Sunday Surfing

This afternoon we headed out to Cockroach Bay (or "Little Makapu'u) to go surfing with Cameo. Tommy went out on a borrowed board, though there were pretty lame waves so he mostly just floated around, worked on his rashburn, and exercized his arms by paddling. :) Cameo caught one wave before it fizzled out. Maggie sat on shore and watched for the most part, though eventually did some snorkeling. The process of getting into the water was a bit of a physical comedy act, as there are many lava rocks at this beach and the surf combined with these rocks made getting into the ocean wearing large flippers very challenging. Tommy just stood at shore and shook his head. Once in the water, Maggie was able to swim briefly side by side with a large sea turtle and several pufferfish. The water was rather dark today as it was cloudy outside, so the turtle was a little scary in the shadows of the ocean. Maggie decided that any large sea animal is kind of scary when you are alone out in a bay like this with no other humans and deep reefy water with little sunlight. Anyhow, Maggie had Cameo's underwater camera and took some shots of the turtle...hopefully at least one of them will come out. Tommy described Maggie's emergence from the surf as her being "belched out of the ocean". Clearly not sexy or athletic in any way. More like crazy, as Maggie waddled toward the shore in her fins screaming "Turtle, turtle!", lost her footing and fell straight forward into the sand and rocks with snorkel waving madly off the side of her head and mask causing her hair to balloon into a huge seaweedish mess. Too bad...Tommy was not holding a camera at the time.

Brad & Joy's Wedding

This Saturday, we attended the wedding of Brad and Joy at the beautiful Koolau Golf Course ( ) here in Kaneohe. It was a beautiful event in a breathtaking setting. From the wedding site we had a view of the Pali mountains and in the distance, the ocean. We especially loved that they selected the theme song from Karate Kid 2 as their recessional song....this was awesome. We love Brad & Joy! After the wedding we were treated to a reception full of laughter with two hysterical bonzai toasts and lots of funny commentary from the wedding party. The food was delicious. We felt so grateful to be included in Brad & Joy's very special day. The videos that I have attempted to upload in the past have been unsucessful for undetermined reasons. I will therefore try to upload one of the bonzai toasts to YouTube and then post it....

GOOD NEWS!

We are very happy to announce that Tommy received (an accepted) an offer for a job as a Practice Development Specialist with the Child & Adolescent Mental Health Division of the Department of Health here in Hawaii! This is a really great opportunity, and we are so excited that Tommy is gainfully employed! Within this position, he will be working for the State to provide training and support to community therapists, particularly in the area of evidence-based practice of mental health services. This is a bit of a shift from his past work in direct service, though his clinical experiences will clearly inform his new responsibilities. This is more of a policy/administrative/supervisory position...a big step forward in his career! Maggie is so proud and happy that she could just burst. :) To find out more, you can see the websites below:

CAMHD Practice Development Division:
www.hawaii.gov/health/mental-health/camhd/practice/index.html

Friday on Kauai

This Friday I had my second opportunity to travel to our neighbor island of Kauai for work. This trip I was alone and without the companionship of my fellow post-docs. I had a wonderful and very busy day visiting with the therapists who are a part of our study. On this trip I traveled to a few new places, including Kapa'a on the windward side of the island. As 87% of Kauai is uninhabited, it has a very peaceful and remote feeling, even when you are relatively "in town". I am hoping that Tommy and I can travel here again soon to do a backpacking trip. I also saw a bit of the 30 million dollar bike/running path along the coast which is currently under construction and wished for such a nice flat, auto-free zone on Oahu!

I have included some pictures from my trip....
1. View of golf course and mountains in Lihue
2. One of the schools I visited to see a therapist
3. Decorative stone work at the school
4. One of the signs at the school--note the Hawaiian!
5. My rental car, pulled off at the side of the road so that I could breathe in the salty air

The Building Where Maggie Works