The Hiemstra Hide-a-way

I think that's what we've decided to name our new place.  It was either that or "The Money Pit".  Time will tell if we chose the right one. I found this quote in my "This Old House" magazine and I think it fits...

A place belongs forever to whoever claims it hardest....wrenches it from itself, shapes it, renders it, loves it so radically that he remakes it in his image."

I know that's kind of deep stuff from me who isn't usually very deep but I think it works in this case.  I do love this place.  I think we can transform it into our home.  It's just going to be a lot of work...and money. 

We've been doing a lot of destruction.  Basically if it was a wall on the first floor, we took it down.  Obviously we didn't take down the studs yet because then the house would collapse.

Taken from what will be my dining room looking into the kitchen.

Taken from what will be my great room looking at the stairs that are getting moved.  Oh, we decided to take down the wall behind the washing machine too.

This is taken from the kitchen looking into the great room.  So that wall with the border on it is going to go too.

This is actually a hole in the ceiling, looking up to the second floor.

I guess we took down walls on the second floor too.  This is looking into Holly's bedroom from will be the loft.  See the cedar lined ceiling that used to be her closet?  That is where the stairs will be moved to.

This is taken from Holly's room looking into the loft and beyond that, Sam's room.  The stairs will no longer be there.

This is taken from the loft looking down into the dining room.

I told you it was going to be a lot of work.  Think we are crazy?  Don't worry, we know we are.  On days when it's just a little too overwhelming I go outside and do a job I can finish.  Like sweep off the driveway.

So, there will probably be lots of blogs about The Hiemstra Hide-a-Way in this new year. This blog is my scrapbook and someday I'll want to look back and see our progress. Some good friends of ours like to make New Year resolutions that rhyme so I'm going with "spend some green in 2015".  By the way, this is going to be my house until we move next door to these aforementioned friends into a condo in a retirement village somewhere warm. 

Christmas Festivities

Our Christmas was awesome.  A wonderful church service.  The rest of the day spent with loved ones just eating, game-playing, and then eating some more.  Present time with the kids where everyone got "just what they always wanted". (edited to add...except Holly who REALLY wanted a Christmas kitten...) Hope your Christmas was just as JOYful.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

(clay nativity made by Sam)

Before Christmas Festivities

We came home from Hawaii and dove right into Christmas and all the fun that comes with it.  Choir concerts, orchestra concerts, recitals, school programs, special music at church... 
BTW, did you know we have two musicians in the family now?  Sam started the cello in September.  He's awesome.  It makes my heart real happy when Holly and Sam play together.

The day we got home, Sam had his 5th grade Christmas chapel.  He played the hand bells.

The orchestra played.  These kiddos have only been playing their instruments for a couple of months and I thought they did really good.  I might be a little biased though.

Sam and I have to have a little talk about the placement of his music stand though.  This is all I could see of my boy!

And the choir sang. 

Sam claims he doesn't like to sing but I think all fifth grade boys say that. 

The next week was Holly's turn.  First up was her choir concert.

I want everyone to know that I only cried a little.  I was actually doing fine but then I looked at her friend's mom and saw that she was crying which made me cry...but just a little.

The next week was orchestra.

 She had a solo.  It was beautiful. 

Her friend that is a boy came to watch her.  Katie insisted on being in the picture.

Holly and a bunch of her girlfriends got all gussied up one night and went to a dance.

 The Boyfriend Bear gals.

Somewhere in all of these festivities was Senior Masquerade. Basically the senior class dresses up and go bowling.  Holly and two of her friends went as M&Ms.  They had to be the cutest girls there!

Then it was the princesses turn.  She had her white-cape-red-crepe-paper-bow-program.  This picture is blurry but I love it because she spotted her Daddy in the crowd and started waving to him.  This is not an easy thing to do.  There are a lot of people there.  There are about 350 kids in the Christmas program.  I don't know why I didn't get a picture of the whole group.  Trust me, it's a lot of kids.

 She sang her heart out!

 Afterwards was her class party!

 Aren't first grade girls just the cutest?

 Actually, first grade boys are pretty cute too! 



I bet their teacher never has a boring day!

Hawaii #12

I'm finishing up Hawaii today.  Prepare yourself.
We started out our last full day in paradise with another hike.  This was the Makapuu Point Trail.  It was another completely paved trail, they make it real easy to hike in Hawaii!

John took this picture because it was the first prickly pear cactus we saw.  It reminded us of my Mom and Dad.

This was suppose to be a good place to spot whales but unfortunately for Mark and Edie they were with us...John and I NEVER see whales.  I'm beginning to think they don't exist.  I'm pretty sure the ones I've seen in zoos are animatronic.

 

 A coast guard plane few by while we were up there.  It looked like we could reach out and grab it.

 

After our hike we headed north to the Polynesian Cultural Center.  Another tip...you need all day at the Polynesian Cultural Center.  We got there about 1:30 and there was WAY more to see and do there than we had time for.  Very cool place.

I convinced Edie to get a tattoo.

I am a very bad influence.

The Polynesian Cultural Center is run by students that attend the nearby Brigham Young University.  What I didn't realize that almost all the students are actually from the Polynesian nations (Hawaii, Samoa, New Zealand, Fiji, the Marquesas, Tahiti and Tonga).  It was interesting to just talk to the students about their home country and what brought them here.  Very cool work study job.

 We watched a water parade.  The perfomers made dancing on a canoe look very easy.

 I drank from a coconut.

 Watched some neat shows.

See the guy way up in the coconut tree?  That was one of my favorite parts!

We rode in a canoe.

John and Mark learned to throw spears.  We learned Mark rocks at spear throwing.

Checked out some re-created villages.

 And went to a luau.

It was a fun day!

The day we flew home, we woke up to rain.  I'm pretty sure Hawaii was crying because we were leaving.

Every morning at breakfast our hotel had entertainment.  On our last day, they sang Christmas songs.  It is kinda cool watching someone hula dance to Silent Night.

Our plane didn't leave until 10:30 that night but we really had no formal plans for the day so we packed up all our stuff and just drove to see what we could find. 
We found a Costco.  Look at how much one gallon of milk is!

 They also sell surfboards...in December!

After Costco and a scenic drive, we ended up back at Hanauma Bay for more snorkeling.  The sun never came out but it quit raining and the water was warm so it was no problem.  And guess what? I saw an eel!  Gross but very cool. 
We ended our Hawaiian vacation with a nice Thai dinner.  Then it was back to the airport to catch a flight back to cool, rainy Washington...but in cool, rainy Washington were three beautiful children that I was really starting to miss. 

I'm not sure John was quite so anxious to go home.