Baywatch

Today we just hung out at the beach.  First we snorkeled at Turtle Bay then we headed to the North Shore at Ke Iki beach.  Darren sought out the shade and read and slept.  It's a good thing that I don't live here anymore because I would probably die of skin cancer.  I'm trying to make up for the years of no sun and I'm soaking up as much as possible.  

The shore break was huge today.  There were orange flags out warning people not to go in the water.  After a little while we could hear some girls screaming.  Right then a lifeguard drove up on a quad and jumped off running toward the water.  We ran over and he yelled at us to call on his radio for backup.  Darren got on the radio and called to the other lifeguards.  We watched as this woman got swept out over the ledge and into the heavy surf.  She was being dragged towards some very sharp rocks.  It was a helpless feeling but if we had gone in without any floatation devices we would have been swept out too.  Within about three minutes we could hear sirens and even more lifeguards came on quads and a jet ski. By the time the lifeguard got the lady out of the water she could barely breathe.  She couldn't stand up.  They took her up to a beach chair and the EMT's put an oxygen mask on her and after a little while she was doing ok.  That made our lazy beach day into an exciting but kind of scary beach day.  Then we went down to Pipeline and watched the surfers.  Big waves today.

Can't get enough of the sun!

Darren seeking shade whenever possible.  Smart boy

And when he left the shade of the trees he had his umbrella

Shore break.  It is way bigger in person

Lots of EMS showed up for this lucky lady

Watching the surf at Pipeline

Sunset at Turtle Bay

Friends in faraway places

We have been very lucky with the weather this week.  I was dismayed earlier this week with the forecast of rain, rain, rain.  But I now see that it is just an estimation.  We have had a little rain.  And on that rainy day (Monday) we went to the other side of the island.  Other than that Darren has liked that it's not super hot.  It has been perfect.  Warm and breezy.  

Yesterday we met up with Beau and Adam.  Beau was in my ward 21 years ago here.  He took our engagement photo on Laie Point, which we tried to recreate (see pictures following) but I think we need to retry.  Maybe if we have him do the photo instead of a stranger he would be able to recreate the moment.  

 

We all went on a hike to Kahana.  Adam brought his kids and his niece Noelle, who was a little kid when we were here.  Now she's a return missionary.  It's been fun to see old friends.  We jumped off the bridge and did a small hike up to what they called the lower pool.  The kids wanted no part of hiking up to the upper pool and waterfall so we played on the rope swing and played sharks and minnows in the lower pool.  The water was cool and refreshing.  Afterwards we kayaked and had a barbecue.  I love how laid back the lifestyle is here.  Of course I was not so laid back when I lived here and was in school and working as a massage therapist in town.  But it is nice to be back and just go with the flow.  

Adam used a small pillow and boogie board as a roof rack.  

Karate Kid jump.  That's as fancy as I could get

D's jump

Adam got some serious height for a gainer

Beau and Darren.  D trying to be a girl

Looks like Beau is walking on water but he just let go of the rope

Laie Point.  There were whales jumping off shore

Just another day in paradise

I started my morning with a run up to the beach.  This is to make up for all the pie I've been eating.  Plus it's such beautiful scenery and it feels so good to be outside.  

We met up with Michelle again in Haliewa at the beach.  My friend Kimo lent us some SUP boards (stand up paddle) and we gave it a try.  I think that we could have used some bigger boards for more stability but we still ended up doing alright.  

Our friend Adam Palmer did a photo shoot with us this afternoon.  He's a photographer here on the North Shore and we've known him since he was in high school.  We've known his family for 20 years. Afterwards we went to his mom Pam's house and hung out for a while and talked about the good old days.  I even got in on a game of Scrabble.  

Malia riding her dog Poop

The view out of our condo at Turtle Bay onto the golf course

Michelle and Malia

My morning jog :)

SUP'ing in Haliewa Bay

My friend Kimo's dog Bear.  He weighs 160 lbs.

Darren and Adam.  Just like the good old days.

Island time

We arrived in Hawaii Friday night at about midnight.  Long flight.  The day after my 44th birthday.  This vacation was way past due.  

On Saturday Michelle came to Turtle Bay (where we are staying) and we went to the beach.  She has a darling 18 month old daughter named Malia.

We went to church and met up with our old friend Beau.  Beau is the guy who took our engagement photos on Laie Point 21 years ago.  Then we sat down in Sacrament meeting and my old cross country coach was on the stand and gave a talk.  So funny.  Coach Kaluiokalani (Coach K).  Time sure flies.

Beau, me and D

We've pretty much been pigging out.  All day every day.  Not saying I had pie for breakfast....  More like second breakfast.

We are so used to having no down time.  That's all we have now and it's fantastic.  We rented a nice condo for a great price and we are truly taking it easy.  It's been fun seeing old friends.  Last night we met up with Adam Palmer and his fiancé in the hot tubs at Turtle Bay.  So fun to catch up with friends.  

Since we are eating like pigs we decided that we need to exercise as well.  This morning we went to Hukilau Beach and went for a run.  Then we did some log jumps, pushups and pull-ups.  We even had a dog who joined us on our run.

Hukilau Beach.  This is where I used to live.

Our new running partner

Doing some CrossFit on the beach.  Log jumps.

dRaMa and school projects

We are boring.  Darren and I are boring parents.  Drew told us so.  Funny, because I would have loved to go skiing on weekends and waterskiing in the summers and riding on my horse whenever I wanted when I was a kid.  But we are not like the Pedigos.  Jared takes the kids for rides on his tractor.  Joelle's family plays board games.  Us...... we just work and make our kids work.  We don't have a movie theater room in our house.  And we don't own a huge farm (Drew's friend's parents own Lord Hills farm and Remlinger Farm).  I told her that I will take her to Tijuana Mexico and she can see the kids selling Chiclets on the street and probably living on the street.  She said "At least it would be sunny!  That would be awesome!"  I don't think that I got through to her.  Unfortunately we will probably never live up to her expectations.  I sure hope that when she is a parent that she is way more exciting than us.  There was a half hour of tears about the whole sad situation of our pathetic life this past weekend.  Darren and I did get a good laugh out of it later though.

The Pedigos are cool.  They take kids on tractor rides.

Drew has also been worked up about her science project.  It involves white carnations changing color as food coloring is placed in the water.  Exciting stuff.  Certainly not boring.

When Gavin puts his mind to something he really gets into it.  We worked on a WW2 map.  He did the map and I made an SS officers Nazi uniform with pockets so that he could put the map and a journal that he wrote in German in the pocket.  The he taped a baggie with red paint on it and shot it with his 300 Win mag.  Pretty legit.  He even tucked an old black and white photo of my grandma (Dera) in the pocket.  NOT boring.

And for more drama around here.....  Darren and I have figured out that we are probably not cut out for dog breeding.  However, it may be too late.  Buster, our neighbors dog from the "rez" (the trailers down the road) has been hanging out a lot.  I've caught him with our sweet Shadow several times and we have shot him with BBs several times.  He doesn't seem to care.  He just comes back every day.  Gavin went and asked if he is fixed and they said that they didn't think so.  From afar Buster looks like Holly but up close he looks more like a wolf.  So, we may be having half-wolf babies.  Sigh.  I think it's time to get her fixed.

Just a random day at the ranch

When the sun actually shows and the sky is blue it means abandon whatever you are doing inside the house and get the heck outside.  So Drew and I decided to pick Gillian up from the bus stop.  I tried to drag Eli (who I am going to rename Eyore) on a lead line behind me and Chuck.  It was like trying to drag a semi truck with it's emergency brake on.  Chuck was prancing and I was practically pulling my arm out of the socket trying to coax Eyore to catch up.  Finally I abandoned him at the gate and rode on to catch up to Drew.  Luckily Rodeo is such a great and dependable horse that he doesn't mind the girls doubling up on him.  By the time we got back Eyore hadn't gone far.  I swear if he was human he would be the biggest stoner ever.  He seems perpetually half-baked.  He falls asleep when he's getting saddled and when he's getting his hooves trimmed.  But he is sweet.  

It has been brought to our attention by our vet and other people that Roxy has a bit of a weight problem.  So I've been getting her out of the house more.  She ran down to the bus stop and back up.  I must say she does a fine job of keeping up with the horses. 

Last night we did rope climbs at our gym.  I'd never done them during a workout so I was excited to try it out.  Nobody else seemed to want to and opted to substitute pull ups and pushups for the rope climb. Not only did I have the rope to myself but I felt pretty proud that I made it to the top 4 times.  I found out that I need to wear long socks next time.  I also found out that you shouldn't try to slide down the rope like it's a fireman's pole.  This is common sense.  Maybe everyone else was just smarter than me.

Rope burns..... OUCH!

I went to Petsmart today and just couldn't bring myself to buy doggie diapers for Shadow's current condition.  So I improvised with a pair of Gavin's old boxers.  Poor girl, she looked so dejected.  But hey, I haven't seen any blood droplets in the past hour since she's had undies on.   : )

Gillian made mustaches for Darren and I.  I chose the blue one because it's my favorite color.  And for some reason Darren found Drew's kindergarten crown and wore it.  Yep, that's about as exciting as it gets around here at night.  

Slug Trails

There is one person and one dog in this house that leave a trail everywhere they go. 

Gillian leaves a trail of socks, shoes, clothes, or anything else that she has on her person that she gets tired of carrying around or wearing.  She also has this magical power of making anything that was once on the counter fall onto the floor just by walking through the room.  It is perplexing and maddening.  It would be easy for me to just pick it up but I've been trying to make her come back and pick things up.  

Shadow leaves a trail of dirt.  She has a habit of leaning on everything....people, walls, etc....  I kept wondering how a dirt streak appeared going up the stairs, or down, depending on how you look at it.  Then one day I saw Shadow sliding down the stairs while leaning against the wall.  She literally rubs her way down the stairs.  I cleaned the wall for the wedding, so as you can see she has done a good job of leaving her mark in the past three weeks.  This is not the only trail either. The other day I came into the kitchen to do the dishes after feeding the horses in the morning.  I noticed nothing strange until I turned away from the sink to move on to the laundry and I noticed 3 blood drops.  At least I assumed it was blood.  It had obviously dropped from somewhere and I instinctively looked at my hands and arms, checked my nose.  Nothing coming from me.  I've obviously watched too many scary movies because I looked up at the ceiling fully expecting a bloody zombie or corpse hanging from the ceiling.  Nothing.  Hmmmm.  Then more blood over by the back door.  Bingo, Shadow is becoming a lady!  She's in heat.  And she's in heat because we never had her fixed because we have the crazy idea of breeding her.  Because I obviously need 7-10 baby Labs.  I know, I may need an animal hoarding intervention soon.  We would sell the pups for sure.  She's just such a good dog that we want to make more Shadows for others to enjoy.  I will need counseling for sure when and if this occurs.  

Maybe Shadow is the zombie, because her eyes sure look creepy

The shadow of Shadow