Kristen 10/1/20 Kristen 10/1/20

Hamilton, haircut, beach + a playdate

Some fun stuff last week including a BBQ and a screening of Hamilton at Jerica’s backyard theater, I got dressed up like I was really going to a play, so fun. Nice surf session/beach gathering Saturday. And Zo got her first haircut in about a year, it looks so pretty!! Also kid playdate + Thursday night gathering.

This week’s been really busy with work. But next week is vacation yay! So excited!!

Happy Thursday!!

Kristen 9/22/20 Kristen 9/22/20

Newtie has surgery, SUP + Zo goes to Merrimans

Newton had surgery to remove a potentially cancerous lump and we all went stand-up paddle boarding for the first time! Thursday night supper club, beach day Friday, Luke had a playdate Sunday so we took Sis out for some Mommy and Daddy time, I worked lots…good week…

Kristen 9/15/20 Kristen 9/15/20

Birthday getaway

My parents sent me some money for my birthday to do something special with, and Jeff graciously agreed to wrangle the kids, and the kids told me they would spend the whole weekend eating broccoli and drinking milk and doing math…so I went away this weekend. To Lumeria, which is one of my favorite places on the planet, it’s a resort in upcountry Maui and I was the only one there, it was a once-in-a-lifetime situation. I am working on a book intended to help people work with their doctors to make the right choices for their situation; I spent most of my time working on that (and got so much accomplished). But I also swam in the perfect-temperature pool and did yoga every day and lay in a hammock and watched the stars, listened to the wind in the pines, ate some fresh fish from Pa’ia Fish Market, took some self-portraits, read, slept. A magical 3 days I will never forget. Thanks so much Mom and Dad and Luke and Zo and Jeff for SUCH an amazing gift!

Kristen 9/15/20 Kristen 9/15/20

Rainbow and "to school" walks + Zo wears a bike helmet for yard work

Great and short week with my family as I went away for the weekend. Some highlights:

Walking Newtie to S-turns and a big rainbow on that walk
One morning Zo wanted me to walk her into school (which is allowed, but I rarely do…wish I could walk them every day!)
Zo cleaning out the palms in the backyard with a bicycle helmet on because we needed to clean up the coconuts and I wanted to make sure one didn’t fall on her head (they’ve since been taken care of)

Happy Tuesday!

Kristen 9/7/20 Kristen 9/7/20

A Chinese cooking lesson + Mulan, a flotilla birthday party + magnatiles

Happy Labor Day!

We’ve had a such a good and social long weekend (all small groups and almost all outdoors). Thursday Night Supper Club, a Chinese cooking lesson (and delicious dinner) and the new Mulan (sooooo good) Friday, our first kid’s birthday party since lockdown (a “bring your floaties” party at the beach) and another dinner Saturday night. We lay low yesterday but are doing a beach/surf gathering later today as well. Labor Day kind of loses its “end of summer” meaning in Hawaii as there’s no need to get in all your summer fun. This year’s our last in Hawaii so going to enjoy the extended summer while we can (and work on not pining for fall…I’ll get fall again I know).

Kristen 9/1/20 Kristen 9/1/20

Tide pools, socializing + stuffies are spending the night away from home

Nice week around here, school and work, hikes and back porch yoga and Thursday night friends in the backyard, Saturday Jeff and I went on a little happy hour date while the kids watched themselves, Sunday beach and brunch and “Little Women,” which was so good. Kids were looking for shells, coral, sticks etc to spell their names out at the beach. Great tide pools which we don’t often get. Zo is also sending me to bed with a different stuffie each night and then welcoming them back the next day…she loves her stuffies so much. We’re doing some paleo baking out of a great new book. We’re reading Trixie Belden Book 3 too, having such fun with that series. Jeff and I have been joking that we’re “trapped in paradise.” All is well but we sure do miss Colorado!

Happy Tuesday!!

Kristen 8/26/20 Kristen 8/26/20

Pasta making, beach BBQ + Kula farmer's market

I’m tardy posting a recap of last week but kids had 4 days off school, and we did a lot, including our friend Bill coming over and giving the kids a pasta-making lesson, a beach BBQ complete with ‘smores (first of the summer) and a trip to the amazing Kula farmer’s market were kids got to pet a baby goat and they picked out some roses which we have loved having in the house. The smell is amazing! We also had a happy hour with friends (with kids watching themselves for a couple hours), people over in the backyard a couple times, and we were going to surf on Sunday but everyone was super overtired…so another time.

Happy Wednesday!!

Kristen 8/18/20 Kristen 8/18/20

Advanced chicken catching, Friday treats + still lots of relaxing around the house

Third grade is going great, I feel like the kids are really thriving being in a normal-ish scenario again. Grateful for this time they have in the classroom even if we do get shut down again. (Which I am totally OK with if it happens. Whatever we need to do to stay safe.)

Kids tried working together and using a box and bait to catch a chicken this week but no luck…and this week saw the return of the Friday after school treat yay!!

Other than that it’s pretty quiet around here, I’m working and writing, Jeff’s taking care of a lot of things around the house, I’m spending a lot of time with the kids…we’re reading Saving Winslow right now which is fabulous…I’m reading Pretty Little Lies…we’re watching Troll Hunters as a family and Jeff and I are watching Umbrella Academy…I’m surfing and hiking and yoga-ing on the back deck…

We sure do miss everyone on the mainland!! But all in all life is really good…

Kristen 8/9/20 Kristen 8/9/20

Hi third graders!

Well the whole world didn’t go back to normal this week but we did get a taste of how things used to be…school started! We’re feeling so lucky to be in Maui and attending Sacred Hearts. All sorts of precautions are in place and so far so good. Fun to take a few back-to-school pics.

Wednesday we had a gap between school being out and Jui Jitsu and went to Puuamana to read (we just finished the Little House series, love how much my kids have loved those books). And…Zo has decided she wants to catch a chicken! Wild chickens are everywhere here and I told her she could put it in the backyard if she caught one…she’s trying hard lol. Next week she and Luke are going to work together and they want to have a box too. Hopefully they don’t succeed!

Not much else going on as this was a big transition week and I didn’t want them over scheduled. They had some iPad time yesterday morning (snuggled in Luke’s bed) and we had a beach picnic yesterday evening, went swimming at Loniapoco, Zo made cookies today, tonight after dinner we’re going to start a new season of Tales of Arcadia, which is one of our favorite things to watch as a family.

Happy Sunday!