Bounce Houses, "Just Kalipaki," and Kate's Song

Last Saturday, we headed up to Anini Beach for Brady's company party.  Anini is a place we don't really understand--it is a park area where people love to camp, but the beach is very shallow, has plenty of rocks, and is not even very scenic.  It's also on the north shore, so it rains a lot.  However, we had a lovely time for the picnic, and spent almost the entire time watching kids race up and down the bounce house.  

Zachary was in heaven.  We calculated that he went up and down this slide at least 75 times and more likely 100.  There were treats galore and tortillas for lunch (and even JUICE!), but he couldn't care less.  It was all business for this fellow and that made me think we are very alike.

Kate went down maybe 5 times, but absolutely did not love it.  When she got to the bottom of one of our runs, she said, "Mom, I not brave."

Love this take-off:

 This weekend, we had our ward luau in the evening and some things to set up in the morning.  The night before, we discussed options for our Saturday, and when Brady suggested we paddle board in Kalipaki, I shot him down flat.  In the end, we decided that really was our best option with the time we had, so we took turns running the golf course, paddle boarded the afternoon away, and played in the sand and the water with our kids.

It was a perfect day.  Sunny, gorgeous, and a lovely amount of play for all of us.  I love that building sand creations is still one of Zachary's favorite things to do.  I love that Kate is getting in on the sand fun and wants to build holes.  I love that Kate wants to be in the water and wants to actually swim.  I love that Zachary will practice skim boarding 80 times--and has an audience on the beach cheering him on.  I love that even though it is "Just Kalipaki," it turned out to be one of our best family days in a long time.

Katers decided she was brave enough to go out paddle boarding, too.  When she got off, she told me "I brave!"

 They went out pretty far--probably 75 yards.

Zac's snowman and tunnel creation:

 The bay was super calm so we hugged the edges of the cliffs in the distance.

 Zachary's skim boarding (at some point, we will get him a real skim board):

 Love this fall:

 We do not have a picture of Zac on the paddle board.  He is still spooked about being deep in the water.  He can self sacrifice dozens of times on his boogie board, but that is close to shore and in his mind, much safer.  To his credit, he got on the paddle board with Brady for about 10 minutes, but it was while we picked up lunch, so no pictures.

 Brady's paddle session:

 Jillian commented that Kate is getting so tall recently.  It's true: the girl has grown out of so many of her clothes lately, and everyone that sees her thinks she is 3.  She is loving our twice a week "Tutu and Me" preschool days (Mommy and Me style), and she is pretty sure she can do anything she sees Zachary do.

Tonight, we went out and played baseball with the kids after dinner.  With school starting, it seems like there have been a lot of irritating moments--tired children, whining, ears turned off, obnoxious dinners, etc.  This weekend was the perfect reminder of why we deal with those moments.  Running around with the kids, hearing them giggle so hard they can't breathe, working together in the sand, and watching them roll around hugging bring the best feelings in the world.

I need to get video of the song, but for now, here are the lyrics to Brady's latest song.  I told him when he bought his fancy guitar that he could get it as long as he wrote songs for our kids, and he's kept to that.  It melts my heart to hear him sing to the kids at night.

This song includes her favorite bedtime song, "Twinkle, Twinkle," but with a different tune.  At the beauty spin part, she jumps up out of bed and twirls like she is wearing her dress.  More magical moments that drown out the shrill screams and food on the floor.

"Kate's Song"
 G Am C D.  Chorus C D F Em

Twinkle, twinkle little star
How I wonder what you are
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky

Lay down and close those eyes
Mama sings a lullaby
Dream of flowers and butterflies
Your Daddy's here until the sunrise

Chorus:
Hold on and let me catch up babe.
Before you know it you'll be sitting in the first grade.

Slow down the sound of little feet, girl
Show me to the place where life stands still.

Ooo, just stay my baby girl.

Home from work had a crazy day,
You come running up the driveway.
Your little laugh and shrill scream too,
Beggin me to play with you

Hello Kitty and little pink shoes
Kitchen sets and jewelry too
Your beauty spin in your Sunday dress
It's never better than this.

Maybe some day, you'll remember
This day, life seemed to rhyme
One of these days, I'll need to let you
Go--it's just a matter of time

So...(chorus)

End of the song includes a chorus and "Ooo, just stay Daddy's girl."

The Boys Do Kalalau

"Perhaps Kauai's greatest treasure is found at a..."  This is Brady's starter line for a gorgeous post of Kalalau.  He and the guys did the 22 mile round trip in June.  He claims to be disappointed with the pictures from the trip, but I think that is ridiculous.  Seriously, just look at them.

Brady hates it when I text from his phone, so I'm sure he'll revise "his" commentary below as well.

Chadd and Dave:

"The Tree": we have dozens of pictures of this tree.

Todd got a little jumpy looking over this ledge:

Hanakoa Falls, at mile 6.5.  I promise to take my wife here soon.  These falls look more spectacular by air than by land.

Coming into Kalalau Valley:

We thought Spencer (bottom right) was a hippie at first.  Pony tail knotted high on his head and covered by bandana.

We are smarter now and don't pack in tents.  A hammock and tarp do the trick.  I also put my brand new Jetboil to use.

Adventure Day 2:

"The Shower"...and drinking hole.

We hiked back in the valley to the waterfall.

Boys do tricks.

Nature's (dangerous) water slide:

Karl is crazy enough to go head-first, but kept it together enough to deliver his baby on the side of the road a few weeks later.

Possibly our last adventure with Lance before he moves to Oahu in a couple weeks.

Curtis and I explored the valley a little more that afternoon.

Karen's favorite picture from my trip:

Hippie paraphernalia:

Karen's other favorite pic:

Sunset shots of the boys:

We swam around the bend and checked out my favorite beach.  No pictures...

Todd and I hiked/ran out of here in 3.25 hours.  

While the boys are away, the girls will play.  Karen and friends got together and stayed at Waiohai for hours and hours.