Jumping Straight into September

After the Michaelis family left, the kids were interested in snorkeling all over again.  I love this series of pictures with Zachary charging to the water in full snorkel gear.  

 We had some beautiful beach days to cool off from the end of summer heat wave.

Brady and Kate, far out on the reef.  The end of summer also meant way fewer people on the beaches, roads, in stores, etc.

 Owen is down to one nap a day, except when he's not.

I love that he is sound asleep with hundreds of scattered sand grains on his face.  Kauai baby.

 Owen helps me do chores around the house.  He helps by putting all the things we find on the floor in his mouth, by taking things out of the bathroom cupboards and putting them in his mouth, and by sticking his hands into buckets of sudsy water and then putting them in his mouth.  The other day I had to check in with Poison Control because while I was in the bathroom with him, I heard him smacking his lips, looked down, and saw him wearing his own brand of lipstick, made from Monistat.  While this stage of toddler is hard to keep up with, I find it so endearing to hear him say new words each week, watch him try so hard to be a big boy by setting the table and brushing his teeth, and eat at the table with a fork and spoon.

 This lucky little dude goes to the park four or five mornings a week.  He asks to get out of the swing only to go straight to the swing right next to it.  I convince him to run around and go on slides a few times before we go home, but slides can't compete with swings.  Kate, Owen, and I also play at the park every other day while Zachary practices with his soccer team.  The kids prefer water and the beach but Owen is happiest at the park.

School starting did little to slow the lizard hunts at our house.

 Another Sunday, another Sunday stroll.

 Chasing chickens is a Kauai rite-of-passage.

 Right after this picture, he fell down and got a few scrapes.  He spent the next hour saying, "Ow.  Ow.  Owie," and pointing to his knees.

 August 31, Brady's company hosted a work retreat and flew spouses over to Oahu for a dinner and Casino night.  We were lucky to have my good friend Jenny available to watch our littles.  I left early with Heidi and shopped for tile and at a few stores in the mall before we met up with the boys and headed out to dinner.  We have no pictures of dinner, although we were all dressed up.  The funniest part of the night was during dinner.  I choked on my salmon bad enough to throw up, and throw up, and throw up.  Thank heavens we were sitting at the table with only one other couple and they were our friends Dawn and Jeff.  I was also discrete enough with napkins (there was no making it to a bathroom in an unfamiliar restaurant) that I am almost sure no one knew outside our table.  I was so excited to tell Nic and Heidi about my mishap, only to find out later that 3 of us at the Layton dinner party choked and threw up at their tables.  Kind of wild.

No pretty dinner pictures but here is a tile sample from that day.

 A shot of Heidi and I drinking our Shaka Shaka taro smoothies for lunch.  They were delicious, minus the tapioca which reminded both of us of sucking up eyeballs through a straw.

 The next morning, I woke up to my 6 month anniversary post knee surgery and celebrated by running outside for the first time (I'm usually trapped on the treadmill).  Brady joined me for a 4 mile city run complete with way too many stoplights and enough cars to remind me that Kauai's grass is greener than Oahu's.

 Nic and Heidi joined us for the highlight of the trip--the hike to Ka'au Crater.  We read about it and decided to give it a shot.  The first parts were fine but nothing extraordinary.  It was a little rainy, and very lush and tropical.

 We reached the first falls where we saw some people who told us that they were turning around after this fall.  We were a little short on time and considering a surf session in the south swell that day, and almost made mistake of turning around, until another couple passed and told us that there were 9 more waterfalls ahead.

 We pressed on and were rewarded with a true adventure--climbing up and down waterfalls using rope systems, scurrying around rocks and taking in view after view.  Ironically, we did not quite make it to the crater before running out of time but this is one hike I definitely want to do again.

 It was incredible and made all the babysitting arrangements and coordination worth it.  What a bonus to have Heidi and Nic there to go with us!  Last time we were in Oahu with them was back in 2007, a couple weeks before Zachary was born.

After sitting for three weeks waiting on our tresses to be built, our house finally made some progress while we were gone.

 Kate and Zachary love to explore the house and ask to see it almost daily.  They were too young to express that much interest last time around.  It does crack us up to hear them guess where things are in the house, pointing to the den as our kitchen or bedroom as a closet.

 Holy 13' garage.

Soccer is in full swing.  I'm coaching Kate's team with Jennie.  Two kids in soccer on Saturdays takes up huge chunks of the day, and with the house, we end up not having much time.  I've been able to squeeze in some beach and pool outings between our daily soccer/dance/piano routines, but we were definitely excited for a free day.  On Labor Day, we went to Sheratons to surf and then had permission to use the pools at Koloa Landing with Nic and Heidi's family.

 Zac thinks this picture is hysterical.

 Holiday shave ice.

 The busy schedule is a little intense for Kate, who falls asleep in the car a couple times a week.  She is loving soccer, even after getting a ball kicked in her face by a girl twice her size last game.  We wondered how she would bounce back, especially because she brought up her fears and concerns dozens of times during the week, but this week she charged the field and even took 5 shots on goal.

 Zachary's back to reading Harry Potter.  He said he wasn't interested in reading it again and then picked up a book and has not stopped, except to play soccer and with friends.  He scored three goals on Saturday at his last game!  His team was barely spared the ax for not having enough players but we combined forces with another team and now have exactly 7 boys to play.  All 7 are on the field the entire game and it does not take long for Zac's face to turn the color of the shirt below.  He works hard out there and it's fun to see him make good plays.  I'm not sure how things will shape up for them this season because his team is so inexperienced but the first games were entertaining.

 Aloha Friday at Sheratons!  Owen climbed out of my lap and planted himself on Heidi's the minute they showed up.

 I love seeing them soak up the ocean.

 We had so much fun Friday that after soccer, we went again on Saturday.  It meant Brady watched football under the umbrella for part of the time, but he took one for the team, and that team he still valiantly cheers for is not looking good...again...  Sheratons was pretty flat but there were good waves at Koa Kea, and I convinced Zac to surf with me at a new break.  He is so intimidated by new breaks but he flew down the face of wave after wave.

 Today at church, Owen left our bench to sit with Levi, his nursery teacher.  As soon as the meeting let out and it was time for nursery, he gripped her hand and walked off with her.  Where's the heart emoji to put in my blog?

Some days are slow.  Owen fusses in the afternoon, homework and piano and responsibilities require constant attention and affection and I'm so worked by the evening that I do not know how to possibly do one more thing, like laundry or work on my class.  Those days, time goes fast but feels slow.  Collectively, though, it is so fast.  It zooms by and before I know it, my baby is completely comfortable walking to class without me.  Pretty soon, Zachary will out-surf me and laugh at me for not wanting to be inside barrels.  He is a couple years from passing me up on classical music skills.  Kate is so thoughtful.  After a sleepless night this week, I woke up to a sticky note that said, "Come to the kitchn."  I walked in and she had three varieties of cereal placed around a bowl and spoon plus a darling love note she wrote to me.  I'm not always good at soaking up moments and I can be way too consumed with what needs to get done, but being present is something I will keep working on so that I recognize that these fast and slow days are the ones that matter.