Happiness is...

Michelle pushed me beyond my 3 mile jog to a nearly 5 mile course in just 1 week.  So grateful and excited.

We were headed to the beach to hop in the water and find some turtles but the waves were massive due to a storm off the coast of Alaska.  We chose to watch all the surfers catching the massive waves instead of swimming in them.  (We were told 'good call' all afternoon.)

The surfers are a little small looking in the water, but they were spectacular to watch.

Michelle snapped photos of Ethan and Sydny in their car seats as we drove and caught a look from Sydney that reminded me of a teenager.  Really?  Or is she just too cute? 

Friday night we went to the temple with Elder and Sister Winn from Salt Lake City.  Bro. Winn was Doug and Michelle's bishop and stake president at different times when they were growing up.  They are serving a mission here at the Laie temple and we've had a great time hearing their stories.

Polynesia

I am not sure how many times I've visited the Polynesian Cultural Center.  Really, not sure.  It is always a treat though...especially to bring family to see it for the first time.  Michelle's former mission companion, Auntie Kathy, worked there (and has for decades) and she met up with us and treated us to a delicious buffet dinner.

We took our first-ever canoe ride that wasn't haunted.

A Fijian dancer thought it would be fun to stare Ethan down and jump onto the canoe from the grass.  Ethan stared right back, and then burst into tears.  He was a little traumatized.

We discovered a little hut next to the water and even though it was roped off, E&S didn't know the difference.  They went right under and had a great time playing with Aunt Michelle.

After picking up Doug from work, we had time to get to the Tongan show.  Doug was called up to learn to play the drums.  They call up 3 men, and there were only 4 men in the audience.

He won this really great hat for being an excellent drummer.

The men in my life are so handsome.

The evening show was spectacular as usual and Ethan and Sydney left with Doug during intermission.  It was just the right amount of time for them to enjoy the show and avoid the cranky 'we're-tired-of-sitting' portion of the show.

Aloha Aunt Michelle!

We were thrilled Monday when Michelle walked off the airplane and into our lives for one full week (and a bonus day)!  She spent hours reading to Ethan and Sydney which they loved...completely.

They had a friend to play with outside and to show her all their new tricks.

We took a kayak to the river closeby on Tuesday and went upstream.  While Michelle and Doug hit the water, I chased Ethan while he chased the chickens around the grass.  They were filming a new TV series called "The River" while we were there, so there were a lot of places for the chickens to hide.  He was in heaven.  I think there were dozens and dozens of chickens and some baby chicks.

Can't wait for the adventures ahead of us this week.

Let's Go Fly a Kite

Doug's cousins left a kite when they visted a few months ago and we finally broke it out for our Sunday picnic with the Kunz's in Kailua.  We discovered a pretty great park with swings, playground, and lots of open grass.  We dragged our bar-b-que to the park as well and had a great dinner. 

Sydney mostly preferred to sit in the swing.

We have criminal records because of this...

Yikes. Next time Doug wants to go on a hike, I am going to make sure he knows it's legal. Saturday morning, we woke up to Doug being able to take a break from internship applications and found ourselves wondering what we should do with our new-found freedom.  When Doug proposed hiking to sacred falls, I said, "let's go!"  Afterall, he had asked his boss if it was okay for us to hike there and he said that all the "no tresspassing" and "closed" signs were there to protect the state from liability and not because they really care if you hike.  He was wrong.

There were 8 deaths near the waterfall in 1999 when boulders came crashing down on hikers and that state had lost millions in settlement.  As a result, the park is now closed with signs everywhere telling you to stay out.  We passed all of them and even snapped a photo for fun to celebrate our risk-taking.  It's not so funny anymore.

Ethan and Sydney loved the hike--the mud, the rain, the running on the trail.  They are excellent hikers.

Wish I could get this photo to turn vertical...despite several attempts, I thought I'dd throw it in anyway.  You can turn your head to the side...now.

On our way down, only minutes from the trail head, a police truck pulled up on the trail.  The friendly officer was kind as he wrote us tickets for misdemeanors that will require a court appearance for us before we leave the island.  Ethan and Sydney received a verbal warning, our photos were taken, and we were eaten alive by mosquitos because we had stopped for nearly 1/2 hour (30 bites on my exposed legs alone). 

Hopefully this won't affect Doug's getting hired for an internship this next year.  It's pretty competitive, so we were a little nervous when it all 'set in' later.

Rain or shine: We will play

This has been the rainiest week we've had since moving here.  We whipped out the rain jackets today for the first time to take Doug to work and I even left them in the PJs to stay warm.  It was in the low 70s, but when you don't have air condititioning, your body thinks mid-70s feels chilly.

I sat in the car and fed them breakfast (oatmeal with raisins--I bought a box of rolled oats at Costco thinking we'd use them for oatmeal for the kids.  Wow. We've barely made a dent!) and hoped the rain would stop so I could go for a jog.  I thought about braving the rain, but knew there would already be some serious puddles due to the weekend of rain.  After sitting there for 30 minutes, I left.  Bummer.

I let the kids play in the backyard for a while in their rain gear as it continued to rain off and on. 

They loved it and thought their jackets were awesome.

That afternoon was sunny and warm.  They discovered how to wear sand buckets as hats.  I just wish I would've gotten the remaining sand out of them before they plopped them on their head, but it was too late.

Driving a zoo

You get desperate when you have a 1 hour drive every other week to go to town and stock up on groceries at Costco.  I had made a few notes in my phone so I could remember some things to keep the kids entertained on the long trip while I drove to town and on the way home--so they wouldn't fall asleep!

What does a _____ say?

Dog
Cat
Fish
Snake
Pig
Cow
Horse
Lion
Elephant
Bear
Duck
Bird
Chicken
Rooster
Monkey
Sheep
Goat
Turkey
Owl
Bee
Frog

I also sing many, many songs.  I also made a list in my phone so I could remember a tune in the moment I needed it.  These are their absolute favorites:

Incy Wincy Spider
Ten Little Indian Boys
Five Little Ducks
Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree
Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed
Little Red Caboose
If You're Happy and you Know it
If all the Raindrops were Lemon Drops