Chasing Fall

I say it every year, but I miss October on the mainland.  I miss leaves crunching, late night football games, the smells, the cooling temperatures, and busting out sweaters and jeans.  This year, we never lost our trades like we do almost every other year.  I even bought a new sweater for the evenings and had a couple mugs of hot cocoa.  Perfect.  

Kate's soccer season with the Cutest Coaches of All Time finished out.  They performed "Watch Me" for all the parents before the last game started.

 She had some long drives down the field to finish off her first season.

 When we came home that night, she asked if I could make sure her trophy had a special space on the shelf she and Zachary share.  "Zac has a ton of trophies and I only have one so far.  I want it to stand out."

The kids played on inflatable water slides for an hour and then we took off to chase fall in the canyon--the place where jackets are necessary in fall and the air almost, almost smells crisp.

 We were lucky to convince Heidi and Nic to come with us last minute.  We love hiking with friends.

 Owen loves the pack.  I think he prefers being in the pack to crawling, and he really loves crawling.

 We stopped at the picnic table to watch the Clarks eat their rice cakes.  Ew.  Owen liked them.

 We were graced with a rainbow (and lots of gusty wind).

 This series of pictures made me smile.  First Zac and Kate, then Tate and Kate, then the whole gang joined in.

 When I bought my first camera, my Dad taught me to never take a picture of someone taking a picture.  I don't think Nic learned that rule.

 We accidentally matched jackets.  I had mine first, by about 4 years.

 Nic keeps going on hikes with us after scary illnesses.  Last time, it was heat exhaustion recovery.  This time, it was a severe kidney infection.

 I looked at this picture and started picking my face apart, then I looked again and saw happiness.  I love this baby so much.  I love hiking so much.  I love Kauai and this life we have here.  I've had some rough patches the past few months since the kids returned to school--feeling isolated and lonely.  I've been reaching out more to friends and other moms, and started taking an online class to feel a little intellectual stimulation and work towards being a highly qualified history teacher in Hawaii.  (The definition of "highly qualified" changed right after I graduated from BYU, and my minor in history is no longer adequate.  I need 9 more credits to be "highly qualified" in Hawaii.)  These changes are not why I see happy in this picture, but I don't like to paint a picture of rosy perfection.  Every life choice comes with pros and cons and I've been working to combat the cons.

 It takes ages to get to the entrance of this hike but every time we capture the views, I believe it was worth it.

 "My Daddy!"  I love his clenched fist.

 The kids are so into piano right now and take turns going first each day.  It's my favorite when they all play together, though.  They get a kick out of Owen stretching out to bang on the keys.

 See?  He really likes crawling.  He also crawls on all fours like a "normal" baby now, and no longer keeps one knee off the ground at all times.

I still miss fall.  Always will.  But until our next October trip to the mainland, we'll be sure to hike Waimea Canyon.