September Days

When I look back at September 2015, I think all I will remember is sweat.  Drippy, yucky, muggy sweat.  There was no relief in water, either, which felt like bathwater.  There is something really disconcerting about swimming in a pool that is too warm.  Ew.  

One night, I called Brady and told him he could not come home without an A/C unit for our bedroom.  Now we have a very loud, ugly window unit.  We've only used it 5 times, but they were 5 very comfortable nights.  We got our dreaded electric bill and immediately noticed a spike, but there's nothing like knowing it's an option to sleep comfortably once in a while.  

Other September events: lots of soccer and soccer practice.  I've loved watching Zachary this season. Zac has always been fast, but now he is fast and skilled.  He can run into a group of kids and come out with the ball without trouble.  He's scored goals in almost every game.  It's fun for me and Brady to watch.  Both of us played soccer as kids but neither of us was ever a standout like he is.  His team definitely struggles but that's the glory of being a little kid learning a sport in a league that cares a whole lot more about learning than winning.  He still has a lot to learn, and it's funny to hear myself explaining things I heard from my dad after games ("Don't kick the ball to the middle of the field when you are defender" and "Throw the ball up the sidelines," etc.).  He gets bright red during the games and stays that way for an hour after.  Last week, his team lost 10-2, but he thought the score was 4-4.  This week, his team lost 8-2, and he asked us, "Can you BELIEVE the team we just played with such HUGE kids tied us 2-2???"  Hahaha!  I'm glad his competitive spirit doesn't wreck soccer fun for him.

I caught a three week fall cold, and passed it on to Kate.  Kate keeps saying, "It's lucky the boys didn't catch it, huh?"  We love how she always refers to Brady and Zac as "the boys."  Last Saturday, all we wanted to do after soccer, workouts and chores was watch football.  After two games, we decided we probably should do something with our gorgeous Saturday.  The kids found this labyrinth with Brady on a Saturday when I was doing IVF in Oahu many months ago, and were excited to walk me through it.

 I look at these pictures and I'm shocked by how much my kids have grown in the last 6 months.  We are busy uploading pictures to online storage, so we've scrolled through several years, and I can't get over the transformation of even the past few months.

 25-week belly on me.

Kate's involved in two preschools--the co-op we did last year twice a week and a co-op at a community church.  The new one has two hired teachers, so I only help teach every 5 weeks right now.  I love these girls and how much they have grown up together.

 Taking a little nature stroll around the neighborhood.

 The preschool moms and kids get together after school on Thursdays most weeks, too.

 I have a few girlfriends that are getting really into hiking.  That's exceptionally exciting to me and I try to join them.  They carry babies on backs, and Kate is just too big for me, so I can only go when she is in school or the hike is a distance she can manage.  Here are the girls at Horseshoe beach (I took this running back to the car to pick up Katers).

 Zachary was chosen as September's Student of the Month!  I help in his classroom regularly and I love watching him interact with his peers and teacher.  He works hard and is so friendly.  I've loved watching his progression with reading and piano.  I've read all these books lately that remind me not to value my child based on accomplishments, but I will always encourage him to do his best, be respectful and kind, and work hard.  (Kate made him the fruit snack lei.  When I told her he was student of the month, her eyes welled up with tears and she said, "When do I get to be student of the month?!?"  She is really excited to go to school next year, and can't wait to start reading and playing the piano.)

 Friday nights, we've been heading to Sheratons for some family and friends beach time.  I love the beach in the evenings.  It's getting dark earlier, which is a bummer, but being out there in the evening reminds me of the first few years we lived here and rarely missed a Friday night boogie board session.

 Yesterday, we planned to hike in the canyon, but we had yet another tropical storm and it rained all around the island.  We could hike in the rain, but it's not terribly tempting to go when you are pretty sure it will be miserable.  Instead, we went bowling.  When the rain cleared for a bit on the way, I was resentful that we were heading inside to do one of my least favorite activities, but it turned out to be so fun with the kids.  I think we've taken Zachary bowling maybe 3 times, and Kate once.  We loved watching Zachary run at the line like it was a soccer goal, and Kate jump up and down the entire time her ball CREEPED to the pins.  Brady had three strikes and a spare in one game and I did not.  I did, however, order garlic fries which were crazy good in the short term, but a heart-burning disaster long term.  Lesson learned:  bowling is worth it but garlic fries are not.

Today, we decorated for Halloween.  I'm not sure if the kids are more excited or the same level of excitement that I'm feeling, but I could hardly wait to cook up my first pumpkin pie tonight, hang up ghosts, and discuss locations for our decor.  Holidays!  Love them, love them, love them.

Old Man and the Sea

We started early.  The nicest boat in the harbor, Tai Pan, ready to carry us out on our fish slaying adventure.  A fifty foot luxury fishing vessel complete with three different sleeping rooms, kitchen, dining area and prepped with five different poles/lures.  We were all convinced that we would come home with mounds of fish--ahi, mahi mahi, ono.  I was accompanied by Jeff Peterson, Will Summerhays, and Dade Apao (summer intern) plus the boat crew.

The sky was beautiful and swells were large--a result of a couple hurricanes that passed well north of the island.  We headed directly east from Nawiliwili Harbor for nearly 3 hours.  I've never been sea sick on a boat, but I've also never NOT taken a motion sickness pill.  I decided to chance it and avoid the drowsiness that accompanies the pill.  I felt sick at the 2-1/2 hour mark.  Fortunately I was able to stave off the the urge and was okay.

We didn't have a single sign that fish were in that big ocean.  We had been trolling for about 4 hours and on our way back to the harbor when, BAM!  The line to one of the poles went reeling out.  No one was at the back of the boat except for me.  I jumped up and grabbed the reel and waited for the first mate to tell me what to do.  "REEL! REEL!"  My adrenaline started pumping and any urge to regurgitate was swallowed up in the intensity of the moment.  The moment that fish felt tension on the line was the moment the magic began.  A beautiful blue, silvery marlin surged up and started dancing across the water.  "Marlin!! Marlin!!"  The boat crew was ecstatic.  This only increased the adrenaline coursing through my body.  The captain yelled, "Put him in the chair!"  I put on the fishing vest and sat in the fishing chair and the center of the back of the boat.  The vest clipped to the pole and a safety leash clipped from the chair to the pole also.

The next hour was exhilarating and full of pure agony.  Each time I would bring the marlin close to the boat, it was muscle her way deep into the ocean losing all progress I had made.  Each inch of that line reeled in consumed nearly all by strength.  It was a constant motion of pushing with my legs on the floor pedestal and pulling the pole up followed by a quick drop and as many reels as I could.  Bertha came close to the boat at least three times and then dove.  The last time almost did me in. Finally the captain yelled, "The line is getting old.  We need to get her in!"  My back was cramping in two spots--one at the upper left and the other at the lower left.  I yelled at that fish at the top of my lungs. "Come on, Bertha!! Bring it!!"  I finally got her close again to the boat.  We had been fighting for an hour.  We then strategized the determined we needed to work together to bring her in the rest of the way.  Two guys held the pole in front of me.  They both heaved the pole up while Will helped me reel on the way down.  Bertha ran out of gas.  She couldn't fight any more, but it felt like we dragging 600 lbs through the water. 

The energy on the boat picked up again the moment we saw color.  We were all a little shocked when the marlin made its appearance at the surface.  She was HUGE!  We had to gaffs on the boat and a baseball bat.  It took 5 men to bring the marlin in the boat.  I was still in the fishing chair when they open the back hatch and were pulling her in.  The spear of the fish was pointing right at me.  I quickly unhooked and scampered out of the chair.

The way back was like a victory lap.  It didn't matter if we caught anything else that day.  We were fisherman.  The marlin didn't fit in the fishing area of the boat.  The tail fin dangled out--a proud display to those at the harbor who began congregating to see what was hauled in.  We arrived at the fish pulley and 20-30 people gathered with cameras and phones.  Measurements were taken and it was determined the marlin weighed nearly 600 lbs.  The captain decided to cut the fish right there and hand out meat to the public.  I was shocked by how much meat was on that fish.  We used what we had--ziploc bags and garbage bags.  We probably handed out thirty bags of meat to those who came to see.  We of course saved some meat for us--even though marlin isn't my favorite. 

Fishing will never be the same.  This was a far cry from my lake trout fishing excursions as a kid.  A once in a lifetime kind of experience.

Cory and Kristen and Family "Drop By"

This is a sugar loaf pineapple.  Up to this point on Thursday, August 6, buying my first sugar loaf pineapple from my local fruit stand was the most exciting thing I'd done that day.  I was prepping dinner for Brady's high school friend, Richie, and his family, who were in Kauai for the week.  This pineapple is white inside and you can eat the core.  It is typically about $12-15, but my fruit stand lady sold it to me for $5.

 We were finishing off dinner with Richie and Julie on the back porch, when we got this picture text with Kristen and the kids ON OUR FRONT PORCH.

It was emotional, exciting, and chaotic.  Our kids couldn't believe their luck to have cousins here for 10 days, and neither could we.  After choosing to spend our summer vacation in Vancouver/Seattle and not seeing as much family as we normally would with a trip to Utah, we were missing family big time.

The first day of their trip, we spent time at Lawai Baby Beach, where the kids got comfortable with snorkel masks and played in tiny waves.  It was HOT, so we popped over for some shave ice before collecting Zachary from school and heading to Waiohai for more waves.  (I do not have many pics from the first few days!)

Kate fell asleep in my arms and transferred to the sand for about 15 minutes.  Hilarious.

Saturday morning, we went to Hanalei and spent the day playing in small waves and paddle boarding.  Cory and Kristen picked it up easily, and so did their kids.

Kate and Walker are 10 hours apart, but Zachary and Walker are the real twins, separated by 3 years.

Jump, jump, everybody jump!

These pictures make my heart burst with happiness.  The joy of playing together in the water was all over their faces.

Blake's got hops.

Kate talks about her cousins Rachel and Ellie non-stop, so having them here was a dream come true for her.  Her cousins were by her side almost constantly.

Ellie getting her shaka pic.

We capped off the Saturday with a trip to 1849, the new Roy's restaurant.  The food was delicious, and even though Cory and Kristen were the ones on vacation, we are the only ones that got a picture. Such a fun night.

After church on Sunday, Blake entertained us with a creative game of Dungeons and Dragons.  

I sincerely looked forward to playing this again with him, so I feel guilty that I looked like this towards the end.

But it was so, so hot and it was a Sunday afternoon.  Eek.  A bad combo for this pregnant gal.  Most of the time, we were all involved and really enjoying it.  Especially Zachary!  He was animated and excited by the prospect of killing scary, magical creatures.

"Did he die?  Did we get him???"

 Love this brother-in-law and love his haircut.

Cory and Kristen's kids tried so hard to fill my kids' insatiable appetite for board games.  They broke a record for the number of times you can play Candy Land, Trouble, Monopoly Fast Cash and Chutes and Ladders over a 10-day period.

On Sunday night, the family decided they couldn't handle another day without A/C, and they took off to stay at the Westin Princeville.  Just teasing, but we almost begged to stay with them.  The muggy heat here was ferocious (and weeks later, continues its soggy streak, turning us all into melted cheese).

 Monday, Brady and Zachary took a half day and we joined them on the north shore for the Wai Koa Loop trail and Stone Dam rope swing.  This time, we took the short cut in, so it was quick and easy.    But hot.  So hot.  When we arrived at the Dam, we saw a public notice letting us know there was a possibility of sewage overflow in the water.  Nice!  Cory and Kristen's family just visited Guatemala, so this was small kine.

 "Just don't swallow any water!"

 Kristen has clearly been lifting weights.  She had to get creative to catch this much height since the rope swing was lower to the water than last time.

 I made it sound like we were too good for the filthy water, but Kate and Brady jumped in, too.

The twins.

 So pretty back here, especially when you eliminate the brown water.

 This picture kills me.  Ellie the dance diva, showing Kate how to get her cool on.  I'm so happy we got a few days with Ellie before she was miserably sick.

 Kristen, Zachary, Rachel and I ran/walk the other side of the loop and we met up for the walk back to the cars.  It was definitely not as long as I remember it.  Rachel and Zac posed for me by the lily pads.

 That night, we bought some groceries for dinner and made burgers by the Westin pool.  The pool was fancy and my kids loved playing in it with their cousins.

Tuesday morning was my 20-week ultrasound appointment.  I was a ball of nerves because I am always a ball of nerves about these things.  I just wanted to hear that the baby was fine.  After our 90-minute wait at the doctor's office, we did find out that things look good and it is a BOY!  We all thought it was a boy, except for Zachary.  We're planning to name him Owen Brady.

Sonia sent me this picture of the girls at ballet just after we got the news.  I posted it as our gender announcement.  I'm suddenly all kinds of sentimental about not having another girl.  I wanted a boy and I'm excited for a boy, but there's something so final about realizing this is our family and we won't be handing down the tutus, princess dresses, and hundreds of other girl items we've acquired.  We will definitely pass them on, though!

 So happy I have my girl!

We didn't tell the kids right away and did the cheesy and overdone gender reveal cupcakes.  When Zachary saw blue inside, he was so confused.  "What?!?  I thought it was going to be a girl!?!"  He's very excited.  We were nervous about Kate's reaction, because she's been walking her "baby sister" around the neighborhood for weeks (even though she guessed it would be a boy).  When we asked her what she thought of a baby brother, she paused, then threw both arms in the air and squealed, "WHOO-HOO!!!"  Happy mommy/daddy moment right there.

These cupcake pictures come from the next day, since all we have is video of the reveal to our kids.

Rachel and the kids wrote books together and I got to snuggle these kids on my lap.  I love this picture because it motivates me to try harder for moments like these.

Tuesday night, Cory and Kristen's family came back down, leaving the A/C behind and coming back to our sauna.  By then, Ellie was running a fever.  On Wednesday, they decided to keep it low key and drive to Waimea Canyon.  Blake and Rachel stayed back and I had some of my favorite moments of the trip hanging out with them at Sheratons.

This is a lousy picture, taken directly into the sun, but captures a moment I want to remember: watching these kids walk and talk together, all of them a little worn out and content.

All during our vacation to Vancouver/Seattle, Kate woke up during the night complaining that Zachary was all over her.  I switched her places more than once and can verify her story.  We now have photo evidence of his nighttime infringement on personal space.  I do understand that Zachary is going to die someday about this picture, but currently he thinks it is hysterical that we captured him accidentally using Kate's bum as a pillow in the middle of the night.

Thursday, we did the Kealia bike path.  I loved this outing so much.  The path is always charming, but the giggles behind me made it that much better.

Ellie the sicko, trying hard to have a good time.

They let Kate be in their family picture.

Rachel took a bunch of pics of me and Kristen and I rejected them all.  She tried again and said, "There, I made you look skinny!"  It was impressive.  I do recognize that it's unfair I posted the most flattering pic of myself on Instagram and disregarded the wind blowing Kristen's shirt.  I think she looks really good still.  Silly details aside, I adore Kristen.  She is one of my heroes and I'm inspired by the life she lives and wants to live.  She's awesome at moments--living in them, planning for them, and looking for them.  I watched her on this trip constantly seeking to connect with my kids and with us.  She goes the extra mile (pun intended for this runner lady I can't keep up with) and her observations are candid and authentic.

The best part of the bike path was stopping for a few minutes on the swings.

Friday, we dedicated the afternoon to Polihale.  Kristen made our hot dog meal fancy with potato salad and fruit salad, and we arrived early at the beach.  Polihale has unpredictable wave conditions, so we were stoked the water was calm.

Ellie was a good sport, still not feeling well.

Rachel really grasped onto boogie boarding on this outing and never seemed to get tired of riding the waves.  Watching her reminded me of how I feel boogie boarding and surfing--one more wave is never enough.

Brady took Kate on some waves.

Daddy/Daughter moment.

Blake did well boogie boarding, too.  I remember him much smaller and more nervous with the ocean from years ago, so it was fun to see the transformation.  He knows how to enjoy it now.

Kristen gets mega points with Kate.

Zachary introduces drip castles.

And Rachel lets us know that Polihale is her favorite beach, too.

Before heading up to roast hot dogs, eat s'mores with Resees cups, and watch for shooting stars, Rachel challenged Brady to a race.  She is crazy fast.

 I love these pictures with the kids all together.  I realize the next time we take one of these shots, the kids will be taller and older.  Blake's already turned into a teenager since this was taken.

We got home late, late, late on Friday night, but learned that 4 adults cleaning up makes the whole process easy.  Cory and Kristen took a helicopter tour early the next morning and we met them mid-morning to kayak the Wailua.

Unfortunately, the waterfall was completely gone.  It has since returned with all the recent hurricane-related rainfall (as well as possibly a resolution to the water diversion debate), but we didn't bother heading there.  Instead, Brady, Rachel, Cory, and Kristen jumped off this "cliff".  Rachel was really nervous, but did it anyway, to the delight of the crowd watching below.

 That night, we went to the Kalaheo Ward Talent Show.  Zachary played his song flawlessly.  He was so nervous and shaky and we wondered how he would do under the lights.  After he finished, he stood up and stifled a big grin, awkwardly moving his arms and a little unsure how to handle himself. It was sweet to watch him so happy with his achievement.

Brady played in the house band, "Karl and Kalipaki All Stars."  They've practiced "Brown Eyed Girl," "What I Like About You," "Johnny B. Good," "I'm a Believer," "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" for months and they sounded awesome.

The kids were intimidated by the noise level.

 I thought it was hot (and not the melty cheese kind of hot).

The last day of the trip had to come.  We spent it at church, and they cleaned everything in sight at our house before leaving.  

 We unsuccessfully tried to escape the Sunday afternoon heat with a walk on the cliffs, where you are lucky to get a picture without your hair blowing everywhere.  The trade breezes were dead, but at least we saw plenty of turtles, including a couple baby turtles.

I hate goodbyes but I loved watching the kids give goodbyes.  I am so grateful we had these days together and my heart is full of love and gratitude.