New Years Hawaiian Style

The first New Years Eve we spent here in Hawaii, we were warned about one of the biggest traditions on the island- firework mayhem. 4th of July in any major city does not hold a candle to the poppin bangin flashing screachin craziness that ensues on December 31st. On any holiday you usually hear some sets of fireworks, but after Christmas the celebration gradually builds until the New Year. As Hawaii is a cultural melting pot, the Chinese tradition of lighting fireworks to scare away bad spirits and bring luck for the new year is one that stuck. We were hardly prepared for it. I'm not talkin spinners and roman candles and a few bottle rockets...I'm talking hundreds to thousands of dollars of fireworks, per family. From dusk on, the island is blanketed in smoke and the sounds are what you might imagine a night in Baghdad might be like.

Yesterday was a busy day of running errands and clinic appointments. Lil's counts are still good. After talking with our surgeon, the decision has been made to do a gastronomy tube as opposed to a juju tube, as I like to call it. Apparently that tube gets misplaced or pulled out a lot and Dr. E said that especially in a 3 year old(who does not like to wear clothing) we would spend a lot of time in and out of procedures placing and replacing the tube. So we are going to give the gastro tube a shot and hope that it will get foods and meds into her without her continuing to throw them up all the time.

Phillip was hanging with the Turner boys and as the girls and I returned home, Kiera wanted to know why he got to have all the fun. Mind you we had just gotten her a new DS game, she got to spend her xmas money AND we went to lunch...but apparently Phillip was having all the fun. That's my Kiera. We always have a quiet night at home for New Years. The one year we planned to go out, we got all dressed up and our sitter stood us up- we had so much fun playing yahtzee and other games that we declared every New Years from then on, family game night. Fast forward to Kiera complaining about her lackage of fun...so I decide to take her to the Turners for an hour of swimming and socializing and then we'd come home. Bella was crashed out on the couch and Phil was working on the computer so he volunteered to stay with her. Since Lily's counts were high- I thought she might enjoy a quick dip in the pool. Phil didn't think it was a good idea- so I called Carrie to get her professional opinion- knowing as the co-owner of the pool, nurse, mom and lover of Lily, that she would be honest about Lil's best interests. She said the pool was clean, not too many people were there yet and it was a go for Lily swimming. So off we went. 5 minutes after getting there- Lily was swimming and splashing and having the time of her life, so it was worth it! It was her first "public" outing in awhile and it was so much fun to see her hanging with all the big kids. Before I knew it she was goin down the water slide and chattering like crazy. Close to dinner time she was getting cold so we had to declare the pool closed for the night to get her out. The big kids went about their business playing with fireworks and sorting poppers. I'm telling you.. it's a different ballgame here! We grabbed some of Aunty Carrie's famous BBQ, Lily had 3 1/2 helpings of baked beans- I was worried about the fireworks THAT would lead to- but so far not too bad! We came home to set off our 6 spinners and couple of boxes of sparklers and conclude with game night. I probably should be a little more superstitious and consider buying my weight in fireworks for luck, but as our luck would have it - I'd set the house on fire or blow an arm off and really that doesn't seem like it would make our year any easier.

We return home to Bella already freaking out about the fireworks. She does not like fireworks. Birthday candles send her off in a tizzy- add a big bang and she loses her mind. She spent the next 2 hours jumping down from my lap and running inside, coming back and repeating the process. We finally put a movie on for her- extra loud. I was impressed at what pyromaniacs the other 2 had become in the past year. I guess when you've been cut open twice and poked repeatedly- a sparkler and spinners aren't nearly as frightening. I was worried about all the smoke- knowing we will all be coughing and snuffly for the next few days and the streets will be littered with paper fragments, so we called it a night at 8. By 830 the girls were bathed and out. By 9, I was questioning my endurance. Phil kindly pointed out it was New Year's in Colorado and I could go to bed...Yeah! I did miss game night, but he was just as happy practicing his guitar solos. Plus, my wake up call comes at 5 ,regardless. I mean I guess that technically is midnight somewhere! Happy New Year!