Give Thanks

November seems like an abbreviated month--another February. Really, there were 30 days in November? Hard to believe.

I wish we had pictures of our first weekend in November. We left early on Saturday morning and booked it up to Hanalei to hit the surfboard swap meet, held the first weekend of every month. We tried this before, but I didn't like the selection and we went home empty handed. We got there and it was dumping rain. There was a small tent with about 45 people crammed underneath, and we all still got soaked. We kept thinking the rain would let up, and it didn't. We were standing in a field full of water. Finally, the kids had to get out of the car (the drive is an hour and a half), so they came and squeezed in under the tent, too. In the meantime, we eyed a few boards, looked up some reviews on Brady's phone, called our surf buddies, and finally got the one we wanted.

When it rains hard here, the water turns into chocolate milk. It's a recipe for an ear infection, but I did not care. Had to try the new board. We went to Kalipaki on the way home and I surfed in the dirtiest water I've ever experienced. Worth it? Yes. I've been out on it about 5 or 6 times since then, and I like the board more each time.

The second weekend was the Koloa Sugar Mill 10 Mile Race. Brady sprained his ankle playing basketball a few weeks before the race, so he was on kid duty while I ran. With the SI injury still plaguing me on and off, I had not been able to pull my mile times for distance runs below an 8:24, and that was absolutely cruising for me. The weeks before the race, I was upset because the joint was bugging me, and my heel had started to hurt, too. (Yay.) I went in expecting to run 8:30s, and hoping that I could achieve 8:15s. I couldn't believe it when I pulled in 7:34s. Obviously not a PR, but almost a minute a mile faster than my best training runs. I seriously felt like yelling, "I'M BACK!" It gave me a 4th place overall finish (for women), and first place in my age division (which doesn't mean a lot because only 100 people ran this race). It was super to race again--I missed the adrenaline, nerves, and excitement!

Saying "hi" to the kids:
Had to include this picture because I've given Kev and Scott a hard time about pulling a "Nufer face"--the hanging mouth and expressionless eyes more typically seen when staring at a computer or TV screen. Here I display it at the finish. (By the way, all the people around me are 10K/5K finishers, not 10 milers.)

So many young families have moved here recently that hosting a huge gathering for Thankgiving wasn't going to work this year. Instead, we split up into a few small groups. It meant more cooking assignments, but the food was great and for the first time in years, we had leftovers. Zachary and I made little turkey cups for the chocolate covered blueberries. I decided that I am not nearly as anti-craft as I thought. Making crafts with your kids is unbelievably fun.

Zac helped me with everything. Here he is breaking up the pretzels for our Edwards-style Raspberry Pretzel Salad. This "salad" cracks me up because it was the only thing I was ever assigned at Edwards family dinners for about 2 years of our marriage. Haha! No blame or anything...I could barely cook a baked potato at the time. Let me tell you, all that practice paid off: this thing turned out perfectly.

I'm always surprised by how easy things are to cook that I've been intimidated by for years. For instance: stuffing. I've always (mistakenly) believed that store-bought stuffing was just as good as from-scratch stuffing. Heidi was mortified that I was going to cheat, and offered to take on yet another assignment with her brand new baby. Of course that couldn't happen, so I went for it and now realize that it's the easiest thing to make for Thanksgiving dinner except for maybe the green beans.
Chad got up at 5am to start smoking this turkey. We called it our Hawaiian turkey--it looks toasted by the sun. It was delicious, and we abused our leftover rules (3 days and it's OUT) and had turkey in some form or another on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, AND Wednesday.
Heidi cooked up sweet potatoes, apple pie, blueberry mini-pies, and perfect crescent rolls.She also brought along Mr. Turkey Tate.Kate slept through the entire meal, which would have made me feel bad on child #1, but on child #2, I loved having free hands. She ate plenty when she woke up.
Chocolate cheese!

We've wanted to go to the beach on Thanksgiving since we moved here, and it's never worked. out. This year, the weather aligned and we had a gorgeous afternoon at Poipu Beach with one of the other Thanksgiving groups.


Nic was the cool dad tugging the kids along on boogie boards.









Check out the drool progression:


Chad buried Zac and Olivia to look like sharks (see the fin?). This is his shark imitation:

We caught the sunset, then went to the Kalaheo pool to eat pies and sit in the hot tub. I think there was one pie per adult. Very nice conclusion to the day!



Friday morning, we put out all our Christmas decorations. Each year, it is more and more fun to do this with Zachary. He remembers them and gets super excited with each box. We started an advent calendar and "Elf on the Shelf" this year, and he's loved the new additions. We had to start early, because we leave for Utah on the 16th.

That afternoon, we went to a new beach on the west side and had a bonfire. Shawn brought his paddle board and we all had a go on it. The conditions were perfect, again, leading me to claim that this is the best Thanksgiving weather we've had in 5 years.

Kate, Mary, Christina, Kim, Melissa and Shelley:
Zac played with Will and Porter for 2 hours straight without any adult intervention. I'm finally, finally becoming less of a helicopter parent.

Eva:
Brady was the fire man:

I love boys and their sand games!



Which sunset shots are better? Thursday (at Poipu) or these?




Saturday was windy and chilly. We stayed out late on Friday roasting dinner and s'mores, so we gave our kids a break and went out individually. I went surfing and Brady went on a bike ride. Here's his pictures:


Writing this post makes me feel refreshed all over again! Now, we are just looking forward to going to Utah and being around family for Christmas.

I Put a Spell on You!

Two years ago, I bought a Jim Shore Witch Figurine and it's our favorite Halloween decoration. By "our," I mean Brady's and mine--not Zachary's. We have it placed on our bar counter, and since we broke it out, he refuses to sit at the bar. Admittedly, the witch looks a little cynical, but the truth is, Zac hates Halloween. We took a few photos just before Halloween, and I had to bribe him to put his costume on. He got tears in his eyes trying it on, but toughed it out so he could earn his 25 cent piece of junk from the WalMart coin machines. Look at the painful expression in his eyes.

My favorite line from him, all choked up: "Mom, I don't want to be Robin Hood for Halloween. I just want to be your sweet, little boy."

Kate was happy to oblige me with picture after picture. I know that I post too many pictures of her, but I figure she's going to start running away and scowling at the camera soon, too. Plus, I got this costume for her a full 2 months ago, and was DYING to see her in it. Baby girls are fun to dress!

Zac's preschool did a performance of Halloween songs for the Moms and Dads, and one song was about a "Mean Old Witch." Zachary was a little confused by this, because, "Baby Kate isn't mean. Why is she a witch?" Seriously, this little gal really did put a spell on us!Pretty pre-spooky sunset:
The toy above was a cousin gift from Logan last year. Zac loves it so much that when one of his friends broke it, we got another one. The entire neighborhood shows up to play with it anytime it's out.
Friday night before Halloween was our Ward Trunk R Treat. I was in charge with the Primary again this year. Last year, we had 330 people show up. Our building is smaller than most, so that's about as big as it can get. This year was a success, too, but smaller numbers--probably about 75 less. I'm glad it's over, although I do get a kick out of planning these things. Our Frankenstein backdrop barely survived the night and is now at the dump.
Saturday morning, we busted out the door early so we could get back in time for another Halloween gig that night. We went up the canyon, where it was dumping rain. Somehow, we missed every bit of rain on our hike and it was sunny and beautiful at the lookout. When I pack up to go somewhere with the kids, I don't seem to forget a thing. When Brady and I both pack up, we almost forget the kids. This time, it was a spoon, bib, and diaper (that we didn't need...whew), which we packed in the car but not the hiking bag. Here's our white trash solution:
For the record, feeding an entire jar of pureed food with a carrot takes a lot longer than using a spoon.

We've tested Zachary on hikes several times now, and we were confident he could at least hike 3 miles. Now that we've been on island for 4.5 years, we feel too cool for the guidebook and overly confident in our knowledge of hikes. We "knew," for instance, that the lookout was about 2 miles, maybe 2.25 miles from the start of the hike. We passed the 2 mile marker, then the 2.25, then...we finally reached the 3.25 mile marker at the lookout. Eek. Zac seemed to be fine, but going back was completely uphill and we sweated it out a little wondering if he could make it.

I fed Kate at the lookout while Zac and Brady got a head start. I finally caught up to them over a mile later when they had taken a 10 min break, worried about me! I wasn't hiking slowly, either. That was a good sign, but we were still a little nervous about him making it to the end. It turns out that "beating Mommy to the car" is all the motivation he needed. He booked it the entire way back, including running the last .5 mile. I am serious when I say that Brady and I have never been so proud! 6.5 miles for our 3 year old!!
Showing us his muscles:
Shaka:
Kate was cooperative, too:
We picked up the island's last-remaining pumpkin on our way home. We call it our golden pumpkin--the darn thing was $15! Zac's friend Olivia helped us carve it. He was still not into getting his hands dirty, but at least touched it this year.

Halloween Day was my turn for preschool, so we did Halloween party games like Bean Bag Witch Toss, Coin in the Pumpkin Toss, Pin the Stem on the Pumpkin, Hold/Cold Pumpkin, etc. The kids dressed in their costumes, and surprisingly enough, Zac didn't fight me on it.The kids did a little show for their parents and we had a luncheon. I love this picture below because it displays preschool dynamics so well.
We took Zachary through our (deserted) neighborhood where he was the only Trick-R-Treater for the night, and then to the famous Kapuka road nearby so he could see what Trick-R-Treating was all about. It was a zoo, with kids and teens everywhere, drunk parents galore, and plenty of candy. It wiped out our little witch.Anyone else notice that Dum Dums and Smarties have all but disappeared? The junk candy is Zac's favorite. (Curse those mini chocolate bars--I ate way too many!)


A friend of mine said she wishes that Halloween were like Thanksgiving--one day, one event--rather then what it has turned into. I agree, but I won't spend the rest of the time preaching my opinion on it. Instead, I have to say that while it's a weak "holiday," I still love dressing my kids up and bargaining with candy for weeks.