Hiking Sticks and Sunsets by the Fire

We bought a step stool to use in our new house.  Many of the cupboards are too high for me, and Brady was sick of seeing me stand on the counter tops to reach things.  Kate has claimed the stool as her own, and stands by me to cook every day.  (And yes, I am wearing an APRON.  The ultimate sign of domesticity, I suppose.)

It feels like our pictures are few and far between the last couple months.  Kate was missing a ton of teeth a couple months ago, and now she's got a mouthful of them.  This picture is most notable because it does not also include a runny nose.  The poor lady has been sick for 8 weeks of the last 10.

 I hope her deep blue eyes never change.

 Kauai's "trade winds" have felt more like mini-tornadoes lately, so we passed a couple weekends doing hikes.  Kate joins in the fun now for at least a mile of the hiking--slow going but completely worth seeing her learn to love the outdoors.

 A subcontractor made Brady this hiking pole a few years ago.  We truck it along with us on every hike, and our kids now think you have to hold sticks to walk in dirt.

Not only used for balance, but also for "horsey rides."

  (Yes, it took us almost an hour to reach the trail head from this dirt road.)

  We love this hike, and we've never done it in the late afternoon.  We went later because I was in charge of a primary activity that morning, and while I prefer the canyon in the morning, it was stunning with the light shining the opposite direction.

 I love the painful expression in this picture--trying to look cool and confident in front of the "waterfall" while saying, "CHEESE."

We try to go camping every six weeks or so, but with our move, the holidays, and the windy, cold weather, it's been a while.  Brady and Lance picked a day and we all headed to Polihale.  We worried about wind (Polihale with strong winds=sand in the eyes and miserable conditions), but it was perfect.  Everything was perfect.  The Chadderdons, Atkins, Petersons, Israelsons and Smiths all showed up for a gorgeous sunset.  Chad got stuck making everyone's foil dinners, which turned out delicious, and we talked and laughed, played in the water, ate smore's, and watched the kids zoom around with glow sticks late into the night.

 This is Max's first time back at Polihale camping since the burn accident.  Sweet little kiddo.

 Polihale is not just my happy place.  My kids love it here, and so does Brady (although I don't have a picture of him rolling around in the sand).

Two weeks ago, Mary and Chad delivered some very sad news:  they are moving in three months.  Chad is Zachary's favorite adult, and Mary is my surf buddy and dear friend.  We love them both.  I've cried and cried over this, but I'm happy for them, and hope things work well in Canada!

 Melissa and Lance decided to join in the fun and announce they are moving to Oahu before the end of the year, too.  Seriously?!?  Oh, it is hard to be left behind!  We're glad we have a little more time with them!

 Saturday morning, we made blueberry pancakes and watched Karl stoke the coals from the fire.  We packed up early because Brady had to be to work by lunchtime.  We hurried to play in the waves for a while, then started to leave.  We noticed a text saying Brady's subs had gone home already so we stayed for hours at the beach.  The kids sledded down the sand on their boogie boards, jumped around in the water, and made sand castles.  Kate took a nap in my arms while Brady boogie boarded in the crazy current and played football with Lance.  Karl made my month by loaning me his surf board, and I rode whitewater dozens of times.  So.  Fun.  We came home happy and finished off the night trying out a new (to us), delicious Thai restaurant.

The only downers of the weekend:  1) Brady lost his wedding ring (#4!), 2) I lost my sunglasses, and 3) We found out we didn't get the lot we bid on.

Our friends are leaving, and we are heartbroken about it, but we are so grateful for the memories!

VDay, Zachary's First Surf Session

It feels like all we've done the last month is look at house plans, talk to builders, crunch numbers, and look for a rental, but it turns out that we have done a few other things, too.  While nothing (and I really mean nothing) has panned out for us on the real estate front and we will be homeless in 80+ days, there have been notable moments where that is not the first thing on our minds.

First was my cousins Brian and Emilie visiting.  Brian and I are very close in age, and some of the oldest of my 70+ cousins on that side of the family.  We didn't see them much while they were here--they travel like we do with every minute packed full of hikes and beach time--but we had a fun time visiting with them at night.  They are probably the only guests that will use our ohana.


Next was Valentines Day.  Zachary made Batman valentines for his class and brought home darling homemade ones for me, Brady, and Kate, as well as some friends.  It was so sweet watching him spell out all of his friends' names.  I can't believe he'll be reading soon.

To celebrate Valentines this year, Brady took me out with Curtis and Courtney, and Nic and Heidi to Roy's, our favorite restaurant on the island.  Delicious.  The kids and I surprised Brady with an ice cream maker.  Hopefully the next batch of ice cream tastes better than the first, or that was a total waste. 

 Despite how terrible it is to feed these things to my kids, I think sugar cookies are a right of passage and sugar cookie days are some of my favorites.  I think there are several holidays that merit the creation of (yucky) cookies topped with endless sprinkles, and Valentine's Day is one of them.  This year, the Hadley boys joined the kids.

 Exact same poses below, all grunting, "Mmmm!!!":

 They're not called sugar cookies by accident:

 Tanner helping out Jack:

 February was cold.  Notice the sweatshirt on the beach.

 We went to Hanalei for Zachary's first ever legitimate surf session.

 Brady coached him and pushed him into waves.

 Zac was cold and needed some bribery.

 He had a few fails,

 but he also rode three waves before declaring that he'd had enough (he had a burn on his finger and the skin was ripped off, plus it really was freezing).

 These next pictures remind me why we are so intent on living here, even with our housing nightmares.  I want to raise my babies here in the sunshine, water, and sand.