A Few Malihinis: 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.