Wednesday, April 25, 2007
Series 65
This might not be the most exciting thing to post, so I'll make this quick. I finally passed the Series 65 exam. I sure took my sweet time in studying for it. If you're a normal person, you have no idea what that is or what it means. Since I am in the investment industry, there are several different professional designations. The Series 65 designation means that I am a "Registered Investment Advisor" and that I can now charge a fee in order to manage an account. The way things are now, I'm salaried. So I'm not sure that my having the designation will change anything....but at least I have it. Yay(?)!
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Spring Break and Easter
We spent Spring Break in North Carolina (even though Andy and I technically haven't had a Spring Break since we graduated from college). Andy's parents, Carol and Jon, came with us too. Andy's daughter, Emma, lives in Wilmington North Carolina and we were able
to be with her from Wednesday, April 4th to Sunday, April 8th--our longest visit with her yet. We had a lot of fun and thanks to a calendar I created, the week was filled with all kinds of activities. This first picture is of Andy and Emma at Carolina Beach where we hid a Letter Box. Letter boxing is a lot of fun and is something we picked up from Andrew and Amy (my brother and sister-in-law). Essentially, you go online to http://www.letterboxing.org/ to find where letter boxes are hidden and then when you find them you can stamp their notebook and stamp your notebook. It's basically a free, fun way to learn about new places that you wouldn't have known about otherwise.
Grandma Carol made a rainbow quilt for Emma that is absolutely amazing. It has a black kettle at the end of the rainbow that you could put things in and so each day that we were there, something magically appeared in the kettle. There was also a sun that hid under a cloud that could be attached with Velcro. The flower buds were also detachable with Velcro. She even had Emma design one of the flowers that had pink petals and a heart-shaped button in the center. Emma loved the quilt and played with it quite a bit.
We spent Wednesday afternoon at the Wilmington Children's Museum. It's a really fun place. It's got a huge pirate ship--complete with a cannon that fires foam balls, a craft room, an animal room, a science area, a grocery store, a dress-up area and an outside play area. There's a lot to do and we have a lot of fun every time we go. This time, Emma gravitated toward the craft room where she made a birthday cake out of play dough and then made little animals that attended the ensuing birthday party. (Her birthday was April 9th and she was very excited about it too!) It was a lot of fun.
On Thursday, we mostly hung around the beach house (where we stay when we go to NC) in Carolina Beach. We built a fort and Emma colored a crown--which we cut out for her to wear so she could reign over the pillows.
We also spent some time at the beach on Thursday. Being the spoiled Hawaiian beach lover that I am, I must say that I was very impressed with the beach in North Carolina. The sand was very fine and there were no rocks or seaweed. Overall it was a very nice beach--the water was a little cold, but nice. We picked a great day to do beach activities too because the rest of the week got gradually colder. We built sand castles, collected shells, made sand angels and Andy and Emma danced in the waves (my favorite part of the whole experience--Andy is a very talented dancer!!) We had a lot of fun and avoided getting sunburned too--a major feat for our haole skin!
On Friday, we had arranged with the local aquarium to join them for an Alligator Egg Hunt. It was really cool. There was a group of about 16 kids (and countless parents) who had signed up. The kids all colored and made alligator egg baskets out of milk containers and were each assigned a number. The kids were led out into the garden area of the aquarium where the egg hunt took place. The kids were instructed that they could only pick
up the eggs that had their number on it. Emma's number was 8 and while she g
ot off to a slow start, she found all her eggs and had a blast doing so. We then went into an auditorium for a presentation on alligators and to watch a movie about alligators. We spent some time walking around the aquarium as well. Emma showed us all kinds of fish. 
For lunch we went to Chuck E. Cheese's. Emma beat Andy at a game of ai
r hockey--definitively. The pizza there is not the best, but kids seem to love it anyway. Emma redeemed her tickets for a purple ring and a spinning top.
On Saturday, we colored and hid Easter Eggs at the beach house. We had several rounds of Easter egg hunts. I think Emma enjoyed hiding the eggs more than she enjoyed finding them. I also think that Andy enjoyed the hiding and finding of Easter eggs just as much as Emma did.
Whenever we're with Emma, we typically spend hours playing with Polly Pockets. Polly Pockets are a manufacturing marvel! They are 4"-high dolls with tiny plastic clothes and accessories. It's absolutely amazing to see the little clothes and shoes and everything they have invented. Emma just loves changing their clothes and imagining up activities for Polly and her friends to do.
to be with her from Wednesday, April 4th to Sunday, April 8th--our longest visit with her yet. We had a lot of fun and thanks to a calendar I created, the week was filled with all kinds of activities. This first picture is of Andy and Emma at Carolina Beach where we hid a Letter Box. Letter boxing is a lot of fun and is something we picked up from Andrew and Amy (my brother and sister-in-law). Essentially, you go online to http://www.letterboxing.org/ to find where letter boxes are hidden and then when you find them you can stamp their notebook and stamp your notebook. It's basically a free, fun way to learn about new places that you wouldn't have known about otherwise.
Grandma Carol made a rainbow quilt for Emma that is absolutely amazing. It has a black kettle at the end of the rainbow that you could put things in and so each day that we were there, something magically appeared in the kettle. There was also a sun that hid under a cloud that could be attached with Velcro. The flower buds were also detachable with Velcro. She even had Emma design one of the flowers that had pink petals and a heart-shaped button in the center. Emma loved the quilt and played with it quite a bit.
We spent Wednesday afternoon at the Wilmington Children's Museum. It's a really fun place. It's got a huge pirate ship--complete with a cannon that fires foam balls, a craft room, an animal room, a science area, a grocery store, a dress-up area and an outside play area. There's a lot to do and we have a lot of fun every time we go. This time, Emma gravitated toward the craft room where she made a birthday cake out of play dough and then made little animals that attended the ensuing birthday party. (Her birthday was April 9th and she was very excited about it too!) It was a lot of fun. 
On Thursday, we mostly hung around the beach house (where we stay when we go to NC) in Carolina Beach. We built a fort and Emma colored a crown--which we cut out for her to wear so she could reign over the pillows. 
We also spent some time at the beach on Thursday. Being the spoiled Hawaiian beach lover that I am, I must say that I was very impressed with the beach in North Carolina. The sand was very fine and there were no rocks or seaweed. Overall it was a very nice beach--the water was a little cold, but nice. We picked a great day to do beach activities too because the rest of the week got gradually colder. We built sand castles, collected shells, made sand angels and Andy and Emma danced in the waves (my favorite part of the whole experience--Andy is a very talented dancer!!) We had a lot of fun and avoided getting sunburned too--a major feat for our haole skin!
On Friday, we had arranged with the local aquarium to join them for an Alligator Egg Hunt. It was really cool. There was a group of about 16 kids (and countless parents) who had signed up. The kids all colored and made alligator egg baskets out of milk containers and were each assigned a number. The kids were led out into the garden area of the aquarium where the egg hunt took place. The kids were instructed that they could only pick
up the eggs that had their number on it. Emma's number was 8 and while she g
ot off to a slow start, she found all her eggs and had a blast doing so. We then went into an auditorium for a presentation on alligators and to watch a movie about alligators. We spent some time walking around the aquarium as well. Emma showed us all kinds of fish. 
For lunch we went to Chuck E. Cheese's. Emma beat Andy at a game of ai
r hockey--definitively. The pizza there is not the best, but kids seem to love it anyway. Emma redeemed her tickets for a purple ring and a spinning top.
On Saturday, we colored and hid Easter Eggs at the beach house. We had several rounds of Easter egg hunts. I think Emma enjoyed hiding the eggs more than she enjoyed finding them. I also think that Andy enjoyed the hiding and finding of Easter eggs just as much as Emma did.
Whenever we're with Emma, we typically spend hours playing with Polly Pockets. Polly Pockets are a manufacturing marvel! They are 4"-high dolls with tiny plastic clothes and accessories. It's absolutely amazing to see the little clothes and shoes and everything they have invented. Emma just loves changing their clothes and imagining up activities for Polly and her friends to do. We celebrated Emma's birthday on Saturday. We had balloons, she picked o
ut a birthday cake and of course there were presents. We let Emma cut her cake and she did an excellent job. She cut each piece in a
triangle that was no larger than about two bites! It was great. Jon and Carol gave her more Polly Pockets and they brought some Polly Pockets from Evan and Seth (Andy's nephews). Andy and I gave her some Barbie Fairies and a board game, Sequence--for kids We played Sequence a few times and I'm not sure if Emma didn't quite pick up on the strategy of the game or if she was trying to let one of us win, but she preferred to put her token on the animal she most preferred rather than the one that would let her win. Regardless, she won all four rounds! 
ut a birthday cake and of course there were presents. We let Emma cut her cake and she did an excellent job. She cut each piece in a
triangle that was no larger than about two bites! It was great. Jon and Carol gave her more Polly Pockets and they brought some Polly Pockets from Evan and Seth (Andy's nephews). Andy and I gave her some Barbie Fairies and a board game, Sequence--for kids We played Sequence a few times and I'm not sure if Emma didn't quite pick up on the strategy of the game or if she was trying to let one of us win, but she preferred to put her token on the animal she most preferred rather than the one that would let her win. Regardless, she won all four rounds!
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