The Search for Miss Direction: Come on, I wanna 'lei' ya!

(Yes, I have been waiting MONTHS to use that as a post heading just in case you were wondering...)

Well folks, you heard it hear first - the Gatchel family is expanding! We made a big new addition today that is currently sitting in our driveway. (Don't worry, our human population is done expanding at Casa de Gatchel) As of this morning we are the proud new owners of a 2012 Honda Odyssey. Grant went and signed the paperwork this morning and brought it home. The kids LOVE it. When he got home from work Grant took them on a quick test drive before dinner and it was all we could do to get them out of the car. It has its own DVD player with wireless headphones which is of course their favorite feature. The fact that it seats up to 8 comfortably is my favorite part. And while it has been something we've been avoiding for a lloooooonnnnggg time, I'm glad it's taken care of. Now if I can just get used to driving a boat it'll be all good.

We had a great day around here. We were hoping to head off to some friends this morning but after a few misfires we ended up having some of the girls and their adorable kiddos over here for playtime this morning. It was chill and laid back (it was a doing laundry, kids running wild, chatting away and letting the kids eat cake off the floor kind of play date. I love the fact that we were all completely cool with that.) Then I managed to finish up the laundry, clean-up a bit (I figured chocolate frosting being tracked through the house probably wasn't the best thing...) and then got some odds and ends done with the Bean before I went into work.

I got Noah from the bus and the kiddos got out the really neat "create your own robin eggs" treat that Miss Cassandra sent them. I told them could decorate them and then could snack on them while we worked on our project tonight. You'll have to see them hard at work on their candy designs in the pictures. Then after a quick bath and the test spin mentioned above we sat down to catch up and have some dinner.

Tonight, in continuing our island theme I made Grilled Chicken Pineapple Sliders and Hawaiian Coleslaw. The sliders which were on Hawaiian rolls (my favorite! Makes me think of BBQ's at Aunt Gladys', Mom!) and were loaded with a citrus grilled chicken, grilled pineapple rings, crisp lettuce and a slice of red onion - yum! I'm not sure if I'd do the coleslaw again (this one was for Noah as he loves coleslaw) as I'm not a huge fan of pairing citrus and mayo. Glad I didn't make a full batch. It had been my intention to make Portuguese Doughnuts for dessert, but they were so excited about their candy that I decided that we'll hold off on them until breakfast this weekend instead. See, I'm flexible ;-)

After dinner we sat down to work on this week's craft project, making our own Hawaiian leis! If you noticed, in last nights pictures, I had made leis last night like this to 'welcome' the kiddos to Hawaii week. I came across all different kids of leis to make, ribbon leis, crepe paper leis and fake flower leis. Tonight we did a pretty simplistic version of the fake flower ones together. I actually found a whole different assortment of leis at the Dollar Store, cut them all apart and then let the kiddos assemble their own again however they wanted, with lots of different colors. They had a blast! I explained to them how symbolic a lei was and that there is even etiquette that goes with its wear, use and storage. What a great island project for them tonight :)

Not sure what tomorrow looks like other then probably some errands for the Bean and I in the morning (I am on a mission to track down some authentic Kona coffee to go with our meal on Thursday night) and then tomorrow night we're feasting on Hawaii's take on grilled cheese and then we're going to be building our own volcano! Can't wait :) Until then...

Hawaii Fun Fact of the Day: Hawaii is the most isolated population center on the face of the earth. Hawaii is 2,390 miles from California; 3,850 miles from Japan; 4,900 miles from China; and 5,280 miles from the Philippines.