Halloween Fun

The trick or treating gang. It is always funner with friends (and no rain helps too:-)

After reading The Wizard of Oz, Madison decided she was going to be Dorothy for Halloween last spring and in typical Madison fashion she did not waiver from that decision once. Nora on the other hand a tougher time deciding. But when she discovered that our neighbors were decorating their house in a Wizard of Oz theme she decided to be Glenda the Good Witch.

So nice to have a perfect photo shoot right across the street!

There's no place like home!
Beware of the Flying Monkeys!!

Oh dear, what have I done?

Tom and I had some Halloween fun on Saturday with 2 great parties. I am definitely NOT meant to be a blonde:-)

Mud Bowl 2010

End of the season game for Nora was wet, cold and MUDDY!!! It is so funny to watch different kids' reactions to when they fall in the mud. Some become paralyzed, others cry, Nora just pops up and keeps on running!! She had a great season, with fabulous coaches and really impressed us with her hustle and focus on the game. Soccer season is always fun, but we are also very happy when it is over to have some freedom in our schedules.

Madison has a very late afternoon game still. It should be very cold and rainy but luckily she plays on artifical turf so the mud factor will be eliminated. We are hoping it will be dark enough to play under the lights for the last game. She has really improved over the second half of the season. We are very proud of her progress and hustle. Their entire team has improved dramatically over the season, which was fun to watch.

Letters Home #6

Hi girls,

Woke up this morning for our last day here to find grey skies. I guess that means it is time to go home. We have had perfectly sunny weather the whole time we have been here so I guess we got really lucky. The next few days are supposed to be overcast and wet.

Yesterday we went on a longer drive to check out to Waimea Canyon also known as the Grand Canyon of Hawaii. Beautiful scenery and we took lots of photos.

We went on a few hikes in the canyon that involved lots of climbing up.

We also hiked to the "highest swamp in the world." Although Kauai is in the middle of a pretty bad draught right now so it wasn't very swampy. The good news is that meant no mud to deal with. The bad news about that is that most of the waterfalls on the island are dried up waiting for some big rains so we didn't get to see those. There was one we were hoping to swim in today but it was completely dry.
We ended the day with a beautiful sunset on the beach.

We will be getting on the plane tonight after you are in bed and will be home tomorrow to meet you off the school bus. Can't wait to see you and give you lots of hugs and kisses!!

Love,

Mom and Dad

Letter Home #5

Happy Sunday Girls and GO SEAHAWKS! Did you wear your shirts and sing our special song? I can't believe that this will be our last full day on the island. We will spend most of Monday here but get on the plane in the evening and then fly all night to land in Seattle on Tuesday morning.

Madison, congratulations on your game winning goal! We are so proud of you and wish we could have seen it but it is great that Grandma got to see you score a goal!! Nora, it sounds like you had a good game too. Hope you didn't get too muddy.

Today was a bit of a lazy day for us. We decided to take it easy and not do any huge adventures today. We started out with a late breakfast and a little shopping around town. Then we rented some fun beach cruiser bikes and rode the 5 mile path that follows the beach. It was a really nice ride, although VERY hot.

See that beach behind us? On our way back we found a small path down to it. There was no car access anywhere near so it was almost totally secluded with just 3 other people on the whole beach. We found a nice tree to lay down under since it was way too hot to sit in the sun. We spent time reading and napping listening to the waves. It was lovely. Then we rode back into town.

We had a very nice fancy dinner tonight. We had hoped to catch the sunset on the beach but the dinner took to long, or the sunset came too quickly.
Hopefully we can catch it tomorrow. We have more hiking and exploring tomorrow on the south side of the island.

Love you bunches and miss you tons. 2 more days and we will be home.

Mom and Dad

Letters Home #4

Hi girls,

Madison, we really enjoyed your comments from yesterday. Nora, good job finding Mercedes when she got lost. I am sure Grandma appreciated your help.

Today we had an amazing adventure. We took a guided tour called the Kipu Safari Zipline. We started out kayaking 2 miles up river. Then we hiked and took a tractor pulled wagon ride through some beautiful scenery. Many famous movies have been filmed in this area, though none you have seen. Maybe some day you will watch Jurassic Park or Indiana Jones or Pirates of the Caribbean and we can show you where we were.

Then came the most exciting and scariest part. Ziplining over the canopy of the forest. I was quite nervous but it was amazing and beautiful. We got to go on 3 zipline rides and once I got used to it, I wish we could have done more. We have a video of us going down the longest one we will show you when we get home.

Then we went to a large pond that had a short zipline that dropped you into the middle of the pool of water. I LOVED this one and could have done it all day!

We ended with another short hike and then a boat ride down the river. It was a pretty incredible day. Hope your soccer games were good and not too rainy!

Love,

Mom and Dad

Letters Home #3

Nora - I am so excited to see the stars you learned how to make!
Madison - Daddy has a chart of fish in the ocean and he has circled all the ones he saw. We will try to bring it home to show you.
Katy - thanks for the recommendations. I didn't see your comment before we did the NePali hike but I am assuming it was the same one. I will have to try your suggestion for the next shaved ice I have, it seems to be becoming a daily treat!!

Today was a day for a BIG hike on the Nepali coast. We started with a climb up a cliff with the ocean right below. We could see and hear huge waves crashing on the rocks. There was some amazing views at the top.

Then we went down the other side to a beautiful beach.

Next up was hiking through a jungle with lots of bamboo groves.
The hike ended at an amazing HUGE waterfall. It was tough to get a good picture of the full waterfall but we will get a postcard to show it to you. I even got brave and swam in the pool under the waterfall and stood right under the water coming down. I have always wanted to do that. The water was VERY cold but it was lots of fun.

We then had the 4 miles to hike back out with all the great views again. It was a pretty tough hike with lots of rocks to navigate and even streams to cross. It was a great day with perfect weather and lots of beautiful scenery. We are feeling pretty tired now but so glad we did it. More adventures are planned for tomorrow.

Love you bunches,

Mom and Dad

Letters Home #2

Hi Girls,

Our first full day in Hawaii was really nice, although it started a bit rough. We got our snorkel gear and headed right out. I quickly realized that my motion sickness was going to cause a big problem with snorkeling. I loved the 10 minutes I had in the water, but it took 3 hours to feel better. I was pretty disappointed since I was so excited to learn to snorkel, but I enjoyed sitting on the beach and relaxing. Daddy did much better and snorkeled at 2 different beaches. It was pretty tricky to get good photos but here are a few, including the sea turtles we found on Poi'Pu beach. Luckily they were close to shore so I could wade into the water to see them too.

I had my first shaved ice and it was DELICIOUS! I am sure I will have a few more while we are here. We also had a yummy dinner and drove around exploring more of the island.

Have a great day. Love you bunches and miss you tons!

Mom and Dad

Letters Home #1

Dear Madison and Nora,

We arrived in Kauai and it is beautiful. It was quite the change from leaving home at 40 degrees and foggy to arriving here where it was 85 degrees and sunny. Most of yesterday was spent in airports and on airplanes. Here is the view from the plane as we were getting ready to land.

We were up very early this morning, since 5:00 Hawaii time is 8:00 our regular time. We were able to walk out to the beach and watch the sunrise.

We are hoping to try out snorkeling today and investigate a few different beaches. I am also hoping to have my first taste of shaved ice. Hope you have a wonderful time at the Halloween party today. I am sure Karin is going to have some delicous treats!!

Love you bunches,

Mom and Dad

Ten on Ten

It was a family affair for Ten on Ten photos today on 10-10-10. Pictures taken by

myself (LNK), Madison (MKK) and Tom (TRK)

Birthday Breakfast in Bed (LNK)
Phone calls (LNK)

Pastry Chefs (LNK)

Entering the Ipod world, just a bit late (MKK)
Adventure Ready Camera (MKK)

More Birthday Fun (LNK)

Carousel Reflections (LNK)

First ITunes Purchase (LNK)
Lisa turns 7, about (TRK)
10-10-10 10:10