A few days after Mom and Dad left, we had friends come to town and met them at Polihale for a bonfire. These were friends we went to Polihale with more than a dozen times when they lived here about five years ago. They live in California now and it was lovely to catch up.
I'm so sad we never think to bring our camera on our Sunday night walks, especially with gems like this that I would love to blow up and put on the wall. I loved that we looked up and this was the scene.
I've known for 2 years that my Morton's neuroma needed to be removed, but I delayed it until I could not cope with the daily pain. After my knee surgery, I was especially apprehensive. Recovery is a bear and the disruption to daily life and activity is hard to deal with emotionally. I researched and went for another opinion before deciding that all the conservative methods had been tried and failed. Then, I scheduled it and got it over with. My surgeon said it tied for the largest neuroma of his career. While I was in there, I decided to try Topaz for my plantar fasciitis as well. My foot was one swollen, black-and-blue blob for a couple weeks. I was surprised how easy the recovery was with crutches and a boot the first week--nothing like knee surgery! By week 2, though, I expected to feel better than I did and now at week three, I'm getting a little impatient and ready to walk and stand without so much discomfort. Hopefully I'll get there in the next few weeks. I'm most anxious about my plantar fasciitis and desperately hoping the procedure stimulates recovery.
Three weeks later:
-4 mile hike that was awesome! I loved jumping over the water on the rocks.
-Learning how to play chess from my classmate Chandon and winning several games. Actually, a lot.
-Playing kickball.
-The really scary ghost stories.
-My perfectly golden s'more around the campfire.
-I was really good at Sharks and Minnows.
-I got to sleep next to my friend, David.
That weekend, Zachary had a birthday party so we took Kate to lunch and worked on house errands for a few hours.
Owen chooses the funniest ways to get into mischief. For example, eating asparagus right from the package for 10 minutes??? Today, he rubbed gobs of sunscreen into his hair. He feels like he has every right to sit on the counters and table and we pull him down 30 times a day. He gets on the computer and piano and bangs away. He loves drinking from a cup but it mostly ends up on the ground. He hates bibs. He loves drinking milk from a bottle. He brushing his own hair and hates it when I style it, rubbing his hands all over his head. He dresses up in Zac and Kate's clothes and loves his Darth jammies with a cape. He immediately finds a light saber and marches around the house to our ooohs and aaahhs.
The following Saturday, the kids both participated in a futsal tournament. I was so impressed Kate wanted to participate, and although she was cautious and nervous, she played and her team won their age division. Zachary was really bummed it was not a double elimination tournament, but had some great goals and passes.
That night, we went to Brick Oven. The kids played with their dough and died over the "pupu pizza" and Kate insisted on wearing her sunglasses inside "like a movie star."
Owen adores Nic. If Nic is around, Owen fights to get out of our arms and into his. He snuggles up and throws a fit if Nic is not the one to put him in the car after church. It's so adorable.
Sunday night pumpkin pie. The kids claim it is their favorite, which works nicely because it's my favorite, too.
I love this series of bro shots.
For Shay's birthday, she picked Kate to dress up and get pedicures. Kate felt like a princess. She loved how it tickled her feet when they were scrubbed and getting bumped around by the back massage chair.
Another couple brother shots:
It's a little strange to go to a Christmas performance before Thanksgiving, but it was darling listening to Kate sing her heart out with the Hawaiian lyrics. She kept a huge smile pasted to her face the entire time.
Kate with her good friend, Daysha:
Thanksgiving this year was the BEST. We may have found ourselves a new tradition--eating at a hotel! Every year, I slave away in the kitchen the day before and most of Thanksgiving Day, feeling annoyed because I'm cooking all kinds of food I never make the rest of the year (with loads of help from Brady). I love hosting the meal and I love gathering with friends, but we were in no position to host a big gathering in the house we are renting (plus my foot was not in good shape). Instead, we went to dinner at Koloa Landing with the Hadleys and Clarks. The morning was so relaxing and enjoyable. The day before was stress free. I thought flavor would be compromised with the buffet-style meal but it was fabulous, complete with crab legs, shrimp cocktail, sweet potato stuffing, incredible mashed potatoes, savory butternut squash soup, and pineapple lilikoi salad dressing for the kale salad. Zac's favorite part of the meal was the "Panda Express" rice. Kate's favorite was the crab legs. Mine was the sweet potato stuffing. Brady's was the potatoes.
Nic's nose was causing him havoc after getting pummeled at the football game.
I will say the only thing I missed was pie. I'm not into the tiny fancy desserts, and prefer a nice slice of pumpkin pie the last Thursday in November. Good thing we loaded up on Sunday pumpkin pies all of November.
Todd got us access to the pools, and the kids loved swimming even though it was so brisk and windy.
The kids also renewed their love of Play-Doh.
The house is coming along! In the past two weeks, it went from looking like a bunch of sticks to feeling like major deja vu now that the drywall is in!
We order mass amounts of products right now, which piles on credit card points and also a few surprises like this monster that nearly got Brady:
Christmas season: here already?!?
