Christmas Break 2013

This blog post is going to make Christmas Break 2013 sound like sunshine and rainbows.  That's because it was sunshine and rainbows.  Even with it a week behind me, I still feel overly emotional and nostalgic.  I love having my kids together.  I love having little adventures with them every day.  I miss Zac when he's at school.

My life isn't perfect, but it is full of perfect moments.

 These two adore each other.

One thing we missed about Christmas break (besides our extended family!) was Brady.  He worked the entire break.  He had to, in particular on our house.  So many things came together and had to be managed over break, so we are glad we went back to Utah in October.  This is our lot.  We rode bikes around our soon-to-be neighborhood several times, too.  It has some sidewalks (GASP!).  It's flat, and our house will be situated at the front so there is plenty of backyard space.  

We went to the beach with friends several times over break.  This is Kate "surfing."  Doesn't she seem so tall?!?

 Zachary with his buddies, Finn and Phoenix:

 Kate buries Zachary:

 Jes captures a pic:

 Kate's turn:

We made it to Hanalei again, this time with Nic and Heidi.  It was another gorgeous day, which made us feel lucky.  It rains on us so often up there.  We went to surf, but the waves were hard.  Nic fared better than all of us.  We had some fun enough rides, and enjoyed the time with the Clark fam.

 Zachary surfed willingly, but on his boogie board:

 Heidi entertaining the little ones:

 I love this picture of Shay:

 Nic and Brady drop in together:

Brady takes another wave:

 Get that hair out of your eyes, sista!

 Whenever Kate sees Tate, she squeals and says, "It's MY TATE! My favorite TATE!"

 Me:

 Seriously.  So cute.

 Zachary jumped off the pier (the small side) for the first time to Nic.  Nic also caught Kate jumping off.

 The every day, go-go-go of Christmas break wore out Zachary.

On New Year's Eve, we went to a party in the morning for children.  The kids rode bikes, played on the park, and jumped in a bounce house before lighting off sparklers.  Later, we headed to Nic and Heidi's with several other families and celebrated Nic's birthday and the New Year with fireworks, a projected movie, and plenty of food and conversation.  We even caught the fireworks of Poipu from their house in Kalaheo.

The next day, we put away Christmas decorations and then went on a new hike: Kahili Ridge.  We were the only ones up there, and the solitude mixed with a bit of fog was spectacular.  The kids were less than thrilled to go hiking, but once they started, they loved it.  Zac blasted his way through branches and Kate sang to us from "Bo on the Go," her favorite Netflix show.  "C'mon Bo Buddies!  When you move you give me ENERGY!"

 Kate loves to put her fingers by her mouth when the camera comes out.

 Zachary complains when we initially talk about hiking, and then loves it.  Every time.

 Near the top of the ridge:

 It got sketchy near the top, so we didn't make it all the way.  Steep drop offs without vegetation combined with small children is a no-go.  The views we got--including the Sugar Mill and ocean--were still great.

 Two filthy, tired kiddos:

Kate decided that week she wanted to ride a big girl bike, and within a few minutes, had this thing down.  Obviously, she's using training wheels, but watching her cruise around parks on this bike shocks me.  How did she get old enough for this?

 We made a couple trips to Lydgate.  My favorite day of break, we spent nearly three hours at the playground and another hour and a half at the beach.  It was magic.  The kids were so happy together.  (The worst part of the day was watching OSU lose.)

 Our New Year's hike reminded us that we hadn't hiked much with the kids lately.  Brady sent me to surf in the morning the following Saturday, and then met me in Waimea.  We headed up the canyon and spent about 3.5 hours hiking the Alakai Swamp Trail.  The views were clear and gorgeous going in, and the kids couldn't get enough jumping on up and down on the boardwalk.

Kate finally surrendered to the hiking pack when it got really muddy.  Brady laughed at her "munch, munch, munch" sounds right behind his ears as she picked through her favorite parts of the trail mix.

 It was chilly!

 Zac wiggling his tooth.

On the hike, we passed a couple guys.  They asked us a question about directions.  I knew one of the guys from somewhere, but couldn't figure out where.  I even thought to ask him his name and how I knew him, but they were off in a hurry after getting the directions.  I turned to tell Brady that I MUST know that guy from surfing or something.  I told him I was pretty sure we were friends, but I couldn't remember how. 

He laughed.  No, he told me, you are not friends.  He's a celebrity, a reality TV star from The Bachelorette, Jillian's season (Reid).  

That's my first celebrity sighting on Kauai!!  Stars visit all the time, but I am never in the right place at the right time.  Every time I fly through LAX, I get my celebrity laser vision on, and I STILL haven't seen a star.  I feel famous just for spotting this guy, although Brady gets the kudos for attaching the face to "celebrity."

 I love all the close-up foliage shots on this hike.  Way to go, Brady.  I don't remember stopping to get pics, which makes them even better.

 Zac's last picture with all his baby teeth.

 We should have taken pics on the way in, because the fog drowns out the ocean.

 Zac's first tooth came out that night.  Another reminder that my kids are growing up fast!  Zac wasn't sure what to do when it came out, then we started cheering and jumping up and down.  His face lit up and he grinned and grinned.  He could barely sleep, thinking about the tooth fairy.  Since then, he's shown his gap to everyone who will look.