November: Zachary is Fast, Brett and Shireen Come Adventure, and We are Grateful

While Brady and Kate visited princesses, Zachary kept the Edwards streak alive and ran the Koloa Sugar Mills 5k.  He had been out of school the previous two days with a fever but decided he wanted to race and felt good the morning of the run.  

Zac, checking out his competition and our optometrist:

Three leaders raced in close together, and I was shocked to see Zachary coming up the hill behind them!  He was 4th place out of 260 runners, and 1st place overall in the age group up to 13 years old. He bested his time by two minutes with a result of 23:39 (7:37 miles)!  We were cheering loud for him.  The race directors lost the 1st place medals but promised to mail him one.

Later that day, we drove clear to Hanalei to find chocolate milk waters, and immediately returned back to Poipu beaches for a lovely afternoon with friends.

We finished off the night at Keokis.

When Kate returned home, she was so excited to download with Ava, who turned up from next door wearing the same leggings.

We took family pictures the next evening, an always-exciting task.  Groan.  We were rewarded by a spectacular sunset and my favorite green parrots squawking away in the palms.

Next up, Brett and Shireen came to town!  We convinced them to stay with us and spent our first night out at chilly, non-swimmable Polihale.  I promised shooting stars but all we had was cloud cover and the occasional peek through clouds.  We did have a lovely evening by the fire, catching up with them after more than a decade.

I forgot my sweatshirt on this chilly night and borrowed Brady's.  Then I forgot to take it off for this pic.

The kids chased each other endlessly before we finally convinced them to come eat.

The next morning, Heidi and Nic generously watched our kids for the day while we hiked the recently reopened Cliff Trail connecting Nualolo and Awa'awa'puhi trails.  It's been 11 years since we did this hike the first time, and on round 2, the trail was marked better so we avoided the daunting drop-offs of the goat trail we took the first time.  Unlike Polihale, Kokee performed perfectly on the weather-front with lovely, cool temperatures and stunning views.

Brett and Shireen can talk about anything and we had lively conversation the entire day.  It's so fun to realize you can pick up right where you left off with some friends.

They fed us Korean beef jerky, which ended up making a cameo in this photo.

We ate dozens of strawberry guava.  We did not eat the unique mushrooms we spotted all over the trail.

We took a picture by this raging waterfall and finished off the hike barely getting Shireen to a bathroom.  We all have one of those stories.

Nic and Heidi's family joined us for dinner at Keoki's, where we introduced our visitors to the glory of hula pie.

Thanksgiving snuck up on us this year, falling early in the month on the 22nd.  We opted out of the traditional route that involves me cooking and cooking and cooking (and, to be fair, Brady is always helpful in that process), and went for the hotel version at Koloa Landing.  This opened up the morning to football and games, time at the gym, and the least I've ever sweat on turkey day, despite hot temperatures and no trades in Kauai.

Kate was into football and dodgeball, but more into Baby James.

Grown up version:

Kid and tween version:

Pre-dinner photo op:

This year, we were joined by Clarks 1 (Kat and Michael), Clarks 2 (Nic and Heidi), Stebbins, and Hadleys for dinner.  

We died laughing when we saw Zachary's Thanksgiving feast chosen from the buffet.

Owen, on the other hand, got his money's worth with a plate of lobster and crab legs.  Granted, he was free...

We were stuffed to the max but squeezed ourselves into swimming suits and set off for a few hours at the beach.  I always, always want to do the beach on Thanksgiving after dinner, but this is the first year it worked out!  

I laughed hard when I turned up wearing the same suit as Heidi.

We met up with the Matsuoka and Ellis families:

Brady started feeling achy and tired, and fell asleep hard in his chair.  That night, a full-blown cold hit him hard.

When he woke up from his nap, he sent me to out to surf and I lived a dream surfing Waiohai on Thanksgiving.

We hosted a pie party immediately after sunset, cleaning up families in the outdoor shower and then gazing at these beauties before digging in. 

Mahjinka made the prettiest pie I've ever seen.  It is not easy to get crust to look like that in Kauai's humidity.

Pumpkin, chocolate pecan, lemon meringue, caramel chocolate, and apple.

We loved having so many kids, who charged all over the golf course playing "Ghosts in the Graveyard" for hours.

The rest of the weekend was lovely, with more friends and trips to the beach.  So many blessings.  So much love in my heart for friends and family.  So grateful for Brady and for our relationships with the kids.  Loving our neighborhood.  Loving our island.  Cherishing our days.  

So many blessings.  So much love in my heart for friends and family.  So grateful for Brady and for our relationships with the kids.  Loving our neighborhood.  Loving our island.  Cherishing our days.  

#luckywelivekauai

#grateful