It's Not All Sunshine in Paradise

Once a week blogging is a piece of cake when it rains all week/weekend! Nothing much to report, besides 8.5" of rain in "Sunny Poipu," out of their annual 36" per year, in 2 DAYS! It rains more in Lihue than Poipu, but I don't know any exciting stats for Lihue's rainfall the past few days. I just know the clouds are daunting and the ocean looks like chocolate milk. Ew.

At least we had some Christmas parties to look forward to. Friday night was the work party, and Zac sat on Santa's lap, with the above result. That's alright: "Santa's" son even cried his eyes out when he sat on his dad's suited-up lap. Ha!

Our ward party was Saturday. Funny story: Our bishop is very "stern." He was bound and determined that no children would be running around in the gym during our ward dinner and program. To prevent such racket, he personally set up chairs in the back in a huge circle, and surrounded the chairs with Christmas lights and other décor, intending to blockade the play area. It was delightfully tacky. With my running background, I saw it for what it really was—a TRACK! Within minutes of the party starting, the kids were RACING around the track. I asked bishop if he wanted me to time them. I don't know if he appreciated my humor.

I hope weather is better for Natalie and Steve in a little over a week!

Surf 'N Sand

I think I whined enough in my last blog about missing a day of planned surfing. When Saturday came around and it was beautiful, we jumped on the opportunity to head to Hanalei (the beach we'll be taking Steve and Natalie on Christmas Day--rain or shine). We heard there was a swell, and waves are generally good sized on the North Shore. Needless to even mention, we weren't cutting the inside of these babies, but it was fun taking our longboard for some good runs.

We went with two other families--the Clarks and Hadleys--and Zac had fun rolling around in the sand with them. It was also fun to talk to them while we took turns in the water.

Zac loves other kids. Mostly, though, he likes their toys.

I told Kristen that it's not easy to get good surf shots. You look up from playing with Zac and notice the other person up, whip out the camera, and you catch the tail end of most runs. It's still fun to get some pics of each other up.

One thing we learned is the new board was a great investment. We both loved it. The best part is how easy it is to manuever your body on it. You can take steps without sliding off, really pull your weight to one side or the other, and mostly just feel more confidence in your ability to hang on.

Zachary crawls madly over to any pets on the beach. These two dogs let him play for a little while. Zac kept squeeling with delight.

18 days until Christmas! Here's to hoping for more sunny days in December.