Lightning Ninja Dragons, Halloween, Polihale, and the Sugar Mill

 Zachary finished up his second year playing soccer in the U6 division.  He was the fastest kid on his team, although not always the most aggressive.  His footwork improved for dribbling the ball, and while he loved the games, the practices were far more exciting.  His coach, Eric, did a great job keeping a huge team of 7 little boys occupied, enthusiastic, and focused.  (7 really is large for this league.  They only have 20 minute games, with three kids on the field and no goalie.)

 Zachary's first game was his best, but he did score 4 goals this season.  Next year, he moves up to the U8 league, with a bigger field, bigger goals, and a goalie.

 His tongue wags when he chases the ball.  I love that so much.

 He said he liked playing better this year because he "won a trophy and a medal."  He doesn't realized that he "won" a trophy last year, too, but we didn't pick it up in time...

 I used to laugh about participation trophies and blow them off as ridiculous, until this moment when I realized that he is more proud of this thing than any other possession.  He's shown it to every friend who will listen, skyped with it, and even sits on the coach with it.  He says he won it because he worked so hard at soccer.

 "Go, Lightning Ninja Dragons!"

 Besides the trophy, Zac had another first this year: the FIRST time he did not need bribery of any sort to put on his costume.  This is his FIRST Halloween costume that actually got put to good use.  He wore it around the house for a week, and attended party after party plus a costume parade at his school.

 Kate is Hello Kitty.

 The best part of this costume is the swords, of course.

 The best part of this costume is the "twirls."

 It turns out that Kate is allergic to this face paint.  She broke out in hives and required Benadryl.  No yellow nose and whiskers for the actual Halloween night.

 We attended our ward Trunk or Treat.  It is the responsibility of the Primary to run this activity, and I was just released as president a couple weeks before.  I woke up in the middle of the night three times the week of the activity, panicked about all the things I hadn't done yet for the party.  It took a few minutes to focus, realize I was not in charge, smile, and go back to sleep.

 This year, Kate got into the pumpkin carving.  She dug out all the guts.  Zachary still won't get his hands dirty with this--he literally gets chills watching Kate dig in.

 This pumpkin design was drawn up by Zachary (the papers below are his trial sketches).  He wanted a pumpkin that was really creepy, and one eye did the trick.

 Zac is in a decoration phase.  Every Sunday, he wants to do craft after craft to decorate his room.  Here's a few of the best:

 The end of soccer season meant we could finally get out to Polihale for a camping trip (yay for open Saturday mornings)!  It was chilly but so nice to be out there.  The Israelsons came with us.

 The current was rough, so the kids did not do much in the ocean.  We tried surfing and boogie boarding without much success.  However, it was sunny and gorgeous, so not a wasted day!

 Our IVF was put on hold shortly after our vacation to Utah.  We are looking into genetic testing for Kate to see if she carries the gene for EB, the skin disease she was diagnosed with via biopsy.  This could be a long process.  We'll see.  We have an appointment for her on Tuesday with the geneticist and genetic counselor to determine our next steps.

In the meantime, I had cut back big time running--both for the IVF, and for my broken toe from Kalalau.  The darn toe is still very swollen and pretty painful at times, but it is healing up.  Months ago, I planned to race the Koloa Sugar Mill Half Marathon, but my IVF doc said no way.  He wanted me to cut back mileage to prep for the procedure.  When it was put on hold, I immediately decided to train for the three weeks before the race and do it anyway.  I've been sidelined from races all year, due entirely to fertility attempts and injury.  I was healthy, so I broke my rule about not racing if you aren't trained appropriately and went for it.

 It was SO FUN.  It's been a year since I raced and I forgot the adrenaline, anxiety and joy that accompanies a long, strong race.

 I hoped, hoped, hoped to finish under 8 min/miles, but my goal was 8:15s.  My longest training run was a ten miler, and I ran it as hard as I could, finishing with 8 min/mile pace.  When I finished, I knew I couldn't run another step, thus my goal time of 8:15s.  The last three miles of this race are uphill, so I knew I had to gut it out if I wanted to achieve that.

For many reasons--the cooler weather, the adrenaline, and the slow start--I ran a really solid race.  Not a single mile was over 8 min, and I finished at 7:43 min/miles.  Definitely not a PR for me, but much better than I anticipated.  I felt so good.  I love to run, and now I'm making myself crazy trying to find another race.  (P.S.  See my right foot?  That is toilet paper, aka my distance-runner insurance.)

We are the king and queen of forgetting our camera lately.  Other noteworthy events:

-Zachary's costume parade:

 -Kate's Tutu and Me:

-Kate and I were invited to go on a boat ride with some friends a week ago.  We saw spinner dolphins and turtles, and even jumped in for a deep water swim.  I was so impressed she would get in with me, but once she jumped, she clung to my neck for dear life (she was wearing a life jacket).  I finally got her to relax after I understood what she was asking, "Mommy!!!  Are the TOOTLES and DAFINS going to GET ME?!???"  No, baby girl, they aren't going to get you.  After that, she swam around, happy as can be in the deep blue.

I love the way Zachary and Kate play together.  It makes me so content and grateful at this stage of my life.  They fight plenty, but they adore each other and that makes me so happy.

Last but not least, Brady has worked 2-3 hours every single day for the past six weeks on our new house.  Our plans are hopefully getting the final sign off this week from our architect, and then we apply for our bonding, permits, and lending.  Brady's worked on take-offs, meeting with all the agencies that have to approve our plans, bids from subcontractors, design adjustments, and the hundreds of particulars that go in the pre-construction of a home.  He says he loves it, but it is a ton of work.  He would probably love it more if I didn't apply so much pressure.  Way to go, love.  Here's to hoping we really are building in a couple months!!