Naialani

I took these 2 pictures Winter 2010..There will be no Winter pictures from 2011 because I still have not replaced my broken camera. After years of walking around with a camera attached to my body I find I miss it terribly! Its a hard adjustment. I plan on replacing my broken camera in January 2012. Its winter water here in the islands, so this is a really good time to catch up on YEARS of things I have been letting go. You will KNOW the minute I get the next camera..LOL... I miss the Ocean...BUT my daily life is slowly taking on a more organized appearance...I best organize to the maximum..the minute I reattach the camera to my body, I will hit the water running...My animals will think I'm a stranger when I enter the front door, the beauty shop will think I died, my friends will scratch their heads and worry and I will start getting phone calls on my where abouts.... The funniest coming from my adult children,"MOM, WHERE ARE YOU?!" I am an Island Gal.......

I notice MORE and MORE people out at sunrise..... This song and watching a sunrise can cause your brain and body to gyrate into the incurable, completely fabulous body aliment known as Gyration.... Careful if you are watching a sunrise on a cliff... it could get dangerous!

A couple of months ago a woman my age was found floating in the ocean on the East side of the island of Oahu,expired.. gone.. Witness said earlier they had seen her walking on the rocks of the shoreline.... The rocky shoreline u see in this picture is VERY slippery.. Huge turtles use the slip and slide of these lava rock and sandstone shorelines to glide their bodies over the rocks and eat. In order to get this picture I had to LAY, belly down and "Slide- Crawl". That's a word I made up just for this activity. "Slide-Crawl"... As Thanksgiving approaches I am EXTREMELY grateful for the safety that has been given to me over the years. If you are visiting Hawaii, keep the "Slide-Crawl" in your mind. It could save your life! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!! I am an island gal.....

My son-in-law on R&R from Afghanistan took the following pictures. They right away have become priceless to me. There is a small plastic blow up ball on the reef, it is headed for the open Ocean.. There was NO WAY i was going to watch that happen, so I started over the very slippery reef lava rock that is covered in algae, determined to retrieve it. My granddaughter see me and is on the shoreline behind me in a flash.. " STAY there Malia", I say. "These rocks are slippery!" As soon as I had the ball, I turned and said," I GOT IT!!" Explaining to my granddaughter how plastic and the Ocean don't mix was a joy for me. Her knowing that a turtle, a dolphin, or a whale could eat this piece of plastic and how that was not a GOOD THING was an important message .. Once i got back to the sand,she takes the ball from my hands and says, " We need to GET rid of this!" Little eyes.... Great minds!!

Just being silly and carefree while swimming is fun. I took the above picture by accident. I was in the ocean upside down pretending I was a whale, when my camera went off. This picture is positive proof, that I Leilani use the ocean as one big beautiful playground.... When my kids were younger they didn't like swimming at the lagoons of the Koolina Resort. They called them "Baby Pools". "MOM! YUCK! nothing to do there, those are BABY POOLS" So I found it amusing that my children and I ate our packed picnic one evening at the "BABY POOLS"....they have children now so the shallow and calm of these little lagoons are perfect for the children. I sat, ate my dinner and smiled, I swallowed the urge to shout,"YUCK, nothing to do here,these are BABY POOLS!!!".... We have come full circle...... I love it!

The Ocean is my passion....I figured IF i would of followed that passion from an early age my life would of been quite different. Since everything happens for a reason, the things Ive been thru, have allowed the life I now live... including the presense of my children. Ive come to accept the fact that I have never ever been a "NORMAL" mom...What I do know for a fact is that I adore my children. Being together these last couple of weeks has been awesome....they are amazing adults!! I want them to know...... My Love follows them where ever they go....

Mother Nature at her finest. A full on big time storm during sunrise... The sun and the rain combined with a fierce wind all in a battle to see who was going to win. I was in heaven... taking pictures during a battle of the elements is one of my favorite things to do. It was quite obvious on my way back home that neither the sun, the wind nor the rain had won.... On this once in a life time day 11-11-11.... It was the patient Rainbows that finally won the battle.... their peaceful presence a mediator between the sun, the wind and the rain.... I am an island gal........

My daughter and son in law heard me. While driving I grasped the steering wheel and said," Universe, hi, I would like very much for my granddaughter Malia to see a Hawaiian Monk Seal. They are so endangered by our modern day world, Universe, that if you wait she may never see one. Please...." I kept driving.... When we got to our destination, a beach on the south side of the island of Oahu called White Plains, there was not ONE but TWO Hawaiian Monk Seals basking in the sun. That's them behind my granddaughter. As she ran to get her poppa to tell him the good news, I stood looking at the view... Diamond Head in the far background, the city of Honolulu rising to meet it, the sea breeze whipping up the top of the waves into a white meringue, that looked good enough to eat, the Hawaiian Monk Seals basking in the sun. Man, woman and child enjoying the sun, sand and sea. I had lived here my whole life and up until 3 years ago, had never ever been to this be...

After 2 months of agony I am finally moved into my new place.... when i say new, i mean new... floors to and including the ceilings and EVERYTHING in between are new. I would say i got lucky... but as you can see from the sunset view, and the rainbow that plays outside my front door, luck is not a strong enough word... Looks like Mother Nature and the Universe thought it time I had an "All New" place... I am an extremely grateful Island gal.................

Ive noticed lately I hum to myself alot. Any song, made up songs, I just hum... sometimes I break out in song....lalalalala!!! I just have to watch WHERE i choose to let loose. Monday...it was Halloween and I sat in front of my granddaughter who is visiting from Boston. She was celebrating Halloween as a Black Cat and I was attempting to draw on her little face, whiskers and a red nose. I didn't notice it at first,but shortly realized, that the whole time she stood in front of me, while I drew her whiskers, she was humming. I looked into her little brown eyes and I went back in time... spinning... I had forgotten about my childhood humming... I loved singing and humming so much I spent all of High School in Concert Glee. A position I had to audition for. It dawned on me right there as I was looking at this precious girl, that I had somewhere, in my early adulthood, LOST the SONG in my SOUL. Ive always had a hard time describing how the dolphins have changed my life... My grandda...