The Family Room

Expansion of our family

2010-07-02T12:59:00.001-07:00

Meet Tita- she is the biggest of Hoku's seven puppies

This little brindle pup is Bully

This little girl is Stella because she looks the most like Hoku

(both names mean "Star")

Here is Hoku! The proud mama.

This little guy is Bandit! He has a patch on one eye like a pirate!

This is Tristen- you can see the white spot on his head- it is one of three.

He is the runt!

This is Ginger- she's our redhead.

This is Bella- nicknamed Sweetie because she is such sweetheart (mama's fav)

here is Hoku with her pups

Ginger

Here is Tita

The crowd sleeping

Hoku had 4 girls and 3 boys (just like every true Bolton) ;)

So needless to say: anybody need a puppy?

7 Years

2010-05-31T19:35:00.001-07:00

MAKAIO AENEAS BOLTON

MAY 30 2003

Mele Kalikimaka!

2009-12-29T13:06:00.000-08:00

The Grannies

The Old guys

Makaio & Christian

Journey & Stracciatella

Home Sweet Home

Mermaid Part VI- off with her head!!!

2009-09-03T12:03:00.001-07:00

Notice the surgical marks

Matt the cosmetic surgeon operates

The incisions have been made

Journey, Matt's medical assistant continues the procedure

operation is a success! Ready for live hair implants...

She looks great!

Mermaid Part V

2009-09-02T19:18:00.000-07:00

The Mermaid... Continues

2009-09-01T10:53:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay

2009-08-31T12:05:00.000-07:00

I had to post these photos of the King crab dinner for the King of Mauna Lea Manor- our father's day feast!
(better late than never)

Mermaid Part III

2009-06-15T13:27:00.000-07:00

We have filled in her first "grout" coat. Now she is ready for

next coat that will be carved into skin and scales and long fishy tails!

Kiholo Bay

2009-05-26T14:39:00.000-07:00

Malia was camping at Kiholo Bay and invited us to join her & friends for some fun at the beach.

Playing in the underground freshwater river caves

This kid's name is Keoni. (he wanted me to take his picture)

Kite Flying

2009-04-27T13:39:00.001-07:00

This is how we spent our weekend...

Mermaid Part II

2009-04-27T13:36:00.000-07:00

I was almost sure that it was a lewd sort of person who went about with their plumbing hanging out but our mermaid has done as much for about a week now.

Fish Tale

2009-04-23T15:36:00.000-07:00

Guys will be proud of any ol' thing, won't they?

The Mermaid- PART 1

2009-04-06T18:23:00.000-07:00

Matt and I thought it would be cool to make a concrete mermaid for our little pond in the front of the house. We are constructing the metal form here (I was the model!) ... and I did help form it too, but we have no pictures to prove it, since I am always the one taking the pictures!She is going to be a water fountain, witht he pump in her tail and it sends water up her torso and out her hair which she will be "wringing" out with her hands. So far so good- she fits! Now we have to mix the concrete... another weekend project.

FooFooFauxFaux

2009-03-19T21:39:00.001-07:00

Matt redid the floors. New chic beveled grout- rustic style.

FoofooFauxfaux walls!

Slave Labor!

This is what I call it when i faux paint the walls- do you like my FooFooFauxFaux?

We all worked hard to get the Golden Cottage ready for the new tenants... even the boys!

My husband is trying to give me a panic attack!

2009-02-22T19:44:00.000-08:00

I was painting a woman floating in a lagoon amongst floating plumerias... relaxed; at peace; when all of sudden I heard this loud crackling noise that grew louder and Louder and Louder... I looked up out of my window to see this...

Just about every mother's nightmare: wild blazes smoking only a few feet from her house, garden, and KIDS! (We just replanted the garden today- I know it just looks like dirt but it really is a garden full of veggis and herbs- I promise!)

I think my husband really, deep down wants to be fireman.

Making the mags again....

2009-01-26T01:12:00.000-08:00

BUT THIS TIME IT WASN'T ME!

MATT was in this Sunday's At Home Magazine!

(and this wasn't the picture shown- my scanner is on the fritz)

It was really strange though. A friend called in the morning to tell Matt he was in the newspaper. "Oh no- did they post bench warrants again" (we were both thinking- hehe)

Fortunately that wasn't the case- some of his concrete work was featured in the At Home Magazine insert (a monthly publication you can find in the last Sunday West Hawaii Today newspaper of every month).

So we rushed down to the neares newsstand to check out which house it was.

We were really surprised to see that none of the houses were houses he had worked on. But we did see the picture that was attributed to Matt- it was his work but it was not at the home they being discussed in the article... it was just randomly popped in there, near a home with similar concrete work. We weren't sure what to make of it.

We don't know if the people at the magazine were trying to let the community know that "By the way Matt Bolton does work like this too- see" or if they needed another photo to fill space and happened to have this one... in any case, we just hope that the guy who did the work on the home the article was writing about doesn't get offended at the plug for Matt right beside his own work.

I think Matt enjoyed seeing his work in print though- it is sort of a surreal experience that can't help but be a little bit of a thrill.

New Year's Day

2009-01-02T13:39:00.001-08:00

On New Year's Eve we went down to Makalawena to camp with some friends.

That night we ate some fresh caught Opaka'paka that Matt fished out of the sea the day before, Ian's delicious Teriaki Chicken, Alena's bartending concoctions, and fresh local organic salads start from our lovely box (picked up on the way down there).

We brough some sparklers for the boys but Matt's buddies had huge boxes of firework madness and the inner pyros were let loose.

The following day was gorgeous!

Matt caught lots of waves in the monsterous surf.

Mommy caught up on some reading in gnarly tree over the swampy little pond by our campsite.

Christian tried out Daddy's surfboard and built lots of sand creations (castles, "snow" men, etc.) and found a very interesting tree to climb.

Journey was the waterbaby- coudn't get him out of the ocean.

Poor Makaio, wasn't feeling very well and didn't want to get wet or play. He had a tummy ache so we took him home instead of staying an extra night as intended....

Or actually Matt took us home and he went back out to camp another night. We had New Year's Day dinner with Tutu, Papa, Grandpa, & Uncle Rory. Tutu showed us her herd of elephants carved so small that they fit inside a tiny seed and have to be viewed through a magnifying glass even to see them.

Polulu

2009-01-02T13:05:00.001-08:00

We decided to go for a trip to Hawi this last weekend and hike into Polulu Valley to play on the blacksand beach. It was a very steep trail but the boys did really well. The waves were crashing and the clouds were moving along over our heads in the rush of a wind we couldn't feel down below. Journey was very excited about the mushroom he found under a rock.
Once we reached the valley floor there were campsites with some big swings that someone had built and left behind. We want to return to camp there sometime. It reminded me alot of Waipio (six valleys away).
Of course, as soon as our feet hit the sand, the batteries in my digital camera went dead :(.
We found an abandoned driftwood "castle" to play in and lots of gorgeous red cinder lava stones. Someone had been building many rock towers of balancing rocks all over the beach. We wrote messages in the sand and raced from one end of the beach to another... Christian always winning.
We ate the lunch I packed: turkey/salami sandwhiches, waters, and red vines. Journey dropped two vines in the sand and was very upset about that. We decided it was time to go when the clouds became dark on the water and we could see the wall of rain approaching. We raced it up to the top of the valley where our car was parked. Feeling little spits of rain, we made it to the car just before it reached us, pounding down hard on the car like someone turned a faucet on just over our heads. The rain continued all the way back to Kona.

Christmas 2008

2008-12-26T14:54:00.000-08:00

This year we have adopted a new family tradition...

Every Christmas we will each receive a special ornament that commemorates the year.

I heard that doing this is sometimes hard for the little kids (finding an ornament that illustrates the year for them) and it was a little difficult- not thinking of something but actually finding that thing you thought of!

I actually ended up make-shift making some of my own.

Like Matthew's... he got his fishing boat this year. So I wanted to get him something that would remind him of that. I ended up hooking up a lure as an ornament. His boat is called Kahele which means "Journey" in Hawaiian but I think "The Mistress" would have been more appropriate.

For Christian, who learned how to read this year (and who is totally obsessed with Santa Claus), I found a little Christmas book about Santa.

For Makaio, I really wanted to get him an ornament with a big yellow school bus on it, since this was the year he got to ride "the big bus" with Christian: the thrill of his short life so far. But I couldn't even find a school bus matchbox car or anything close. He also got his first baseball bat and glove this year. All the boys did actually. So he got a little baseball player.

So here is also Journey's baseball player. I thought I would be getting him a surfer ornament because he was so close to standing up all by himself surfing- but not quite. Maybe next year.

And for me, this was the year I put on my first Art Exhibition. I did it at Divine Goods, so I was going to buy myself an ornament from that store to remember it- but as it turns out, I didn't have to. Dear Kathleen gave one to me.

It was a really great year. Looking forward to another one, come 2009!

Here is a picture of the boys with their new baseball gear... they are really excited about their new baseball stuff. Thanks Nana & Grandpa Skip, Nanna & Grandpa Ron!