November meant a few more weeks of 3 times a week t-ball games. Owen could hardly wait to go after school and on Saturday mornings. His hitting progressed and he was lightening fast between bases. The two of us practiced catch every day after school and that was my very favorite part of November.
Tourney time!
Owen and Kelly got so excited every time they found a classmate on another team.
The weekend of the tournament in Hanapepe, we got him carnival tickets and he and his teammates raced from one activity to the next. On the mechanical Wipeout inflatable, the high school-aged technician put the speed high for the older kids in the arena. Owen was hit hard and flipped up and around, landing on his neck. I thought he was out cold but he was mostly just scared. He was sore for a couple days and never wants to play on one again. The redeeming factor was watching wipeout videos online the next morning in my bed. He laughed and laughed watching people get worked.
T-ball is the cutest.
Coach Dave's after game speech and "Hot Dog of the Day" award ceremony.
Zachary and Brady went to Oahu on Veteran's Day to attend the temple with the youth. They left early and got home late. Zac seemed to really enjoy it.
Kate and Owen did their best to convince me to take them to Hanalei the morning the boys left. I am not hard to convince. Ruby came along for the day.
Owen surfed two separate sessions! Hooray!
The waves were small so the girls had the most fun tandem surfing.
Owen and I played endless rounds of trampoline ball.
It turned out that half of Koloa was there, and Owen had plenty of friends to boogie board with as well.
The weather was mostly warm with one short, hard rainfall. Excellent for Hanalei in November!
We introduced Ruby to Wailua Shave Ice on the way home. We made it to Kuku'i Grove in the nick of time to pick up race packets for the next morning.
Zac, Kate and Owen registered for the Koloa Sugar Mill 5K. The race started after a burst of rain but it was dry for most of the race. Owen and Kate's speedy start cracked us up: for the first 50m, Owen is in 1st place overall! Haha!
Brady, still unable to do an all-out effort, joined Owen in the 5K, encouraging him along. He ran his heart out, winning 1st for his age group. Not pictured: Kate and Zachary and their finishes. Kate won first place for her age group, and Zac was 4th in his. Kate ran a 24:00 flat. So proud of these kids and their hard work running the last half of that race uphill!
Immediately after Owen finished, Brady took him to his t-ball game. Kate stayed at the finish and captured pictures of my 10k. After 4 years without racing (maybe more, I need to look it up!), I ran 7:30s. Based on my once a week, 9:30/mile "training" runs--meaning the one day a week I let myself run a week--I figured I would be lucky to get 8:30s. Adrenaline is fun, though, and I felt amazing pounding the pavement again. I actually won for women overall. I remember from years past that the serious runners go for the half marathon, so it left the 10k up for grabs even with a slow time.
Post-race shot:
Zac and Cedric. Zac was kind enough to stay back and pick up awards. I knew Kate and Owen would really appreciate their medals. Zac said it was "so embarrassing" to keep going to the podium for his family. Ha!
Kate rushed off to dance and I drove to Ele'ele to watch Owen's last game of the season.
He was tired from the race but had magical hits and excellent running.
When kids advance from t-ball, all the players form a tunnel as each advancing player runs the bases one at a time. I didn't expect to feel emotional but was a bit teary watching him run to the bags with pride. I remembered wanting to avoid baseball with a 12-foot pole after four seasons with Zachary--the kind of seasons where I'm driving to Kekaha with a newborn immediately after school and getting home past bedtime, and the kind that runs 6 days a week. Coach Dave talked us into it. Owen claims it is the "best sport ever" and he plans to play "processionally."
He had Hanalei's fine sand and the Ele'ele red dirt bothering his eyes bad enough that after he got away from his team, there were anxious tears. We drove to Long's for eye drops, applied them, and he promptly fell asleep for two hours.
Zac gave him the medal after his nap and he wore it the rest of the day, including when we went to a neighborhood service project for Nic and Heidi's friends battling cancer. With 15+ others, we yanked weeds, mowed, landscaped, painted, and sanded neglected areas for three hours, and it was the best three hours of my month. The kids were so into it, too, and I hope they remember the feeling they had working hard for someone else.
Owen and Kelly vowed to keep playing together after school even though they were placed on opposing teams for Coach Pitch season. They live a short distance away--we park and walk him to his house.
Beach playdate! The boys giggled and boogie boarded for 2 hours straight.
Owen participated in the Kukui'ula bag drive to earn money for Koloa's art room. He ended up being the face for the campaign.
We had our family photos taken Friday night by Hannah McFall at Mahaulepu. We all dread the experience but it's not so bad with older kids! The kids did all try to play King of the Boulder early on which could have been disastrous but otherwise it was an easy hour. Kate ran off to Shay's birthday party and Zachary went to Stebbins so we had Owen with us on a date night at Kalaheo Cafe for the evening. He liked the experience but noted that "the food takes forever."
Kate competed in the school spelling bee the following week. We bribed her for motivation, offering her some cash she could spend on our winter trip to Utah for each day she spent an hour studying. She worked hard and learned the majority of the words from her school packet, focusing primarily on the difficult words. She remembered that last year during Districts, none of the easier words were even asked, so she reviewed them but didn't study them. She also said she was competing with "robots" who knew every word and that she would get out of the competition first. I told her again and again that it did not matter to us how she performed but it did matter to us that she put her heart into it. She did not want us to attend and we honored that request, until she called 20 minutes before and asked me to come (and her school is 25 min away). I had not brushed my teeth or hair, but at least okay clothes on so I could come straight from Owen's school drop off and make it before the first round. I called Brady and he listened to the bee with my phone on silent while we texted back and forth furiously with updates. I left an hour into competition to make it to my classes, and she spelled for another 40 minutes. She borrowed a teacher's phone and called me immediately afterwards, telling me, "I won," casually and with pride.
Celebrating with her afterwards, I asked how she was feeling. She was anxious about the words she had only reviewed as opposed to studied, but when they got to the harder rounds, she knew she could at least place in the top few students because, as she said, "Kids were dropping like flies." When both of the "robots" she predicted would win went down, she said, "I knew I could take it!" Once she made it to the top 2, she knew she was headed for districts. It was her and another contestant for several rounds and then she won. She said, "I didn't know if I wanted to make districts because that means I have a lot more time studying, but as soon as I knew I was headed to districts, I just HAD to win." She is a fighter. I cannot WAIT to study more with her. It definitely improves my spelling, too. She remembers words much better than I do, and anything that requires a crisp memory will be a good career choice for this girl!
Zachary had the entire Thanksgiving week off school, while Kate, Owen and I had school all the way through Wednesday. He opted to skip seminary those days and spent time lounging, sleeping in, making waffles, and building legos. He also had soccer practice every afternoon, so that at least got him out of his room.
It makes me so happy that he still builds, even when his room looks like this for several days straight:
We hosted Thanksgiving this year, and it started with just a couple families and built over time to 28 people. I went to the grocery store too many times to count and while Bill Cosby makes me squirmy, I kept thinking of the Thanksgiving episode where he fights the weather and crowds over and over to get "one more thing." Our island was PACKED and the grocery stores drew the crowds.
Brady got off work early and did the yard, picked up tables and chairs, and worked his heart out. I went surfing with Nic. I had so much cooking to do, but I have learned that when there are waves in November and you haven't surfed in a week, an hour and a half in the water is worth being up late cooking pies. That night, we watched Hunger Games with the Zac and Kate while eating omelets. Kate just finished the book and was excited to watch, and we turned it on after creating 8 mini bouquets of flowers together. I finished the pies and raspberry salads, and everyone hot glued the appetizer turkeys--a cute little tradition but one we eliminate going forward.
The wind forecast for Thanksgiving Day predicted 25-45 mph winds--much too windy for any eating outside and possibly for any outside play. At 2am, Brady got up and staked down the trampoline. It's a special style of trampoline and very heavy, but the winds were raging. In the morning, the rain was coming down hard but the entire family packed up and went to flag football. I stayed back for an hour prepping the spices for the turkey. Football was a party. Due to lack of advertising and the weather, most of the die-hard players stayed home and we were left with 6 families, including kids. We all played and encouraged and laughed in the face of heavy wind--but no rain! Lucky us!
I'm less than thrilled about my picture-taking, but the dinner and afternoon was lovely and our huge group melded so well. It did not feel overly crowded, kids were able to run around and play outside for most of the day, and everyone's food was delicious. Heidi's stuffing, her meticulous apple pie, and her sweet potatoes were essential parts of the meal:
Alyssa brought homemade rolls, rolled pumpkin cake, and Kiawe Roots-inspired brussels sprouts. Her college brother and wife joined us and he was so nice to the kids at football and throughout the day. I'm so impressed by young adults who have the maturity and confidence to play with kids and make them feel like gold.
Hilary was hurt badly in a hot yoga session earlier in the week, so their plans to attend as a family ended up with Derek and Selah joining for a couple hours later in the day. Hilary has burned both ends of the candle for months and it led to a concussion and stitches, but she is healing nicely now, and sometime very soon, we will be surfing together every Thursday again.
My pictures are mostly a bust, but I snagged a few after dinner.
Nic brought Jackpot games and it was entertaining, especially all the jokes about the turkey. Brady researched and decided on his perfect turkey combo. He followed directions but ended up with a Turk-tastophe--an undercooked turkey. We ended up nuking sections and, let me say, it was DELICIOUS, but he was pretty embarrassed. All the turkey jokes at his expense were a welcome relief to his embarrassment.
Our house ended up a really good venue for hours and hours of post-dinner play. I loved how well the kids all played, the adults that got into games, and the conversations of the day. My favorite part was watching Marley play with Alexa's young girls, who were so nervous and shy, and watching them play all day with their new older friend.
Thanksgiving is exhausting but fulfilling. I'm so grateful for our community, and to be surrounded by a bunch of people who watch out for others.
