Planting papayas

We got papayas the weekend we went to the ancient Hawaiian village and the other day we planted the seeds we'd saved from them. We're told we'll have papayas of our own in about 18 months.

XO

Luke's first cross country race

Luke's first-ever X-country race was Saturday and he did great! It was a 2K and K-8th grade ran together. They haven't been training long and the kids were told walk if you have to, just keep moving, which is what he did. He stopped along the trail to pick up a monkeypod and crossed the finish line with it in hand. We had a talk about not stopping to investigate things in the middle of the race. :) He did a slide into home base kind of finish...too cute. Looking forward to the next race next weekend!

XO

Zoey's first cross country race

Zo's first ever X-country race was in Kapalua on Saturday and she did great. It was a 2K and K-8th grade ran together. Zo is far left in the light blue shirt in the first picture. She ran hard and was about the middle of the pack. It was raining and muddy and she slipped and pretty majorly skinned her knee but she got back up and finished...so proud of her!

XO

Homework time!

Kids have about 15 minutes of homework a day, which the do before their daily screen time. I supervise getting it done, Daddy double checks it when he gets home from work.

And by the way the kids had a spelling test today and both got 6 out of 6 words right. Proud of them...

We have Friday off for Statehood Day and Monday off for something Catholic-related...will be fun to have a different pace the next four days although I'm super happy with how school is going so far.

Happy Thursday!

XO

First day of cross country

Kids joined the cross country team which has meets every Saturday through September. I'm volunteering at practices. It's been really fun so far! 

Funny things said at practice:

1. Principal (overheard): "I'm going to go surfing with the priests tonight."
2. Me to coordinator: "Where should I stand?" Him: "Yeah, just go makai." (Which I vaguely knew means either towards the ocean or towards the mountains, I didn't know which but I headed towards the ocean and figured they'd let me know if that was wrong.) (I was right.)

First race is Saturday, can't wait to cheer the kids on.

XO

Bubs helps Daddy with the generator

Palm trunks as Lincoln Logs, our house is finally feeling like home + snorkeling today!

1. We worked so hard on the yard and the house yesterday: cut down 10 trees (our palms are really overgrown) and left the trunks for the kids to play with...they built a boat with them...trip to the dump, mowed the grass, went to Ace, cleaned the house top to bottom, Jeff switched out all the electrical in the bedroom and hung a lamp for me, did 5 loads of wash...I don't know why but doing all that our place all of a sudden felt a lot like home to me...
2. We're watching American Ninja Warrior with the kids which is a contest with really tough obstacle courses...the competitors are incredible athletes and the kids want to be ninjas, it's so cute...
3. And speaking of athletics, their school has a cross country running team and the kids want to sign up and I'm going to volunteer to help on the team...excited...
4. We're going snorkeling this morning up in Kapalua Bay...Zo's pretty scared of going out past where she can stand so I'm going to work with her today...one of the few times she's asked for me and not Daddy...and Luke and Jeff will go out together...
5. Been sleeping really really well the past couple nights...think I'm finally overall settling in and things aren't feeling so foreign and off kilter...grateful for that...

Happy Sunday!

XO

Rainbow shave ice, socializing + working out again now that the kids are back in school

1. I lost my phone today and Sean the shave ice guy picked it up and held it for me...he had it when I called it...so when the kids got out of school we did rainbow shave ice with a big tip for Sean...
2. Coffee with a new friend and also this afternoon a nice chat with a stay-at-home mom I met while the kids were playing at the splash pad...we swapped numbers and talked of meeting again...
3. Really liking the kids school...
4. Misty clouds over the mountains so lovely tonight...
5. Got my workouts for the week done, yay!

Hurricane Hector, a lunch-hour hike + Daddy checks the homework

1. Hurricane Hector is passing to the South today, lots of wind and rain and swell...
2. A hike on my lunch hour with crazy blowing wind and crashing surf and soaked from the rain but so warm still...smiling most of the time about being in this stunning place and I'm on my lunch hour...
3. So much easier to get work done with kids in school...and I'm totally done by the time they get home...
4. Eating Paleo and feeling good...
5. Kids are liking school...I help them with their homework and then Jeff checks it, he's so great with the kids and I love how involved he is already...

XO

First day of school cuteness

Kids started school yesterday...so early here but they get lots of days off and shorter days in general. I'm really happy about the school we picked for them and they seem to be too. A whole different routine for us! 

These pictures--in their new uniforms!--were taken in our backyard, which is filled with palms. At first I thought the palms were yellow because they were sick/underwatered, but Jeff's chief botanist said they're a species from Madagascar and are supposed to have some yellow. I love them.

Kids' teacher is named Mrs. Talboys and there are 16 or 17 kids in their class--mostly kids with Hawaiian and/or Asian ancestry. Quite a change for Colorado kids but I feel like it's terrific for them to be exposed to people of different backgrounds at a young age.

Looking forward to the year. I have first graders...my goodness...where does the time go???

XO

Kristen