Justin's turn!

Yesterday Justin celebrated turning 37!  As Caroline told me, "Now he's caught up to you mom!"  Why yes he has Caroline!!

Justin was able to get the day off and we enjoyed watching Eric at his swim lesson, going out for lunch, nap time (for Justin only), a family run, and dinner out with friends.  It was a pretty awesome day.  He even had several phone calls that involved singing!

 Justin's request for breakfast was homemade apple fritters.  They turned out pretty good!  Also requested was an oreo cake (no picture, yet).  Tonight we will have fried chicken, mac and cheese, and peas.

 Dinner with friends at Buca di Beppo was delicious.  His friend, Ken, celebrated his 40th birthday 3 days before Justin's.

Happy birthday, Justin!  This year will be full of wonderful, exciting adventures!!

A little break

This week was a week with no sports practices.  We did do gymnastics but there was no soccer, football, or swim.  Next week Will starts flag football.  So when I saw that the person Will is doing his book report/project on was doing a signing in a mall Wednesday, we went!  He chose Bethany Hamilton.  She's pretty incredible!  If you aren't aware, she had her left arm bitten off by a tiger shark when she was 13 (12 years ago) and still went on to become a pro surfer.  She is outspoken about being a Christian and how that has helped her.  She is now married and has a 3 month old.  She just competed in a surf tournament too.  We have been enjoying reading her book "Soul Surfer" out loud as a family.
I knew we'd have to wait in line for a couple hours to make sure we got a chance to get her autograph.    I'm not much of a stand-in-line kinda person (Crissman genes!) and we didn't stand in lines to meet characters at Disney either.  But... the Apple store was right beside where we were in line so the kids got to play on the devices while I sat on the mall floor, in line, reading my book.  It was a win win in my opinion!  2.5 hours after getting in line, I snapped the picture below.

The kids were thrilled, especially Will!  She was very sweet.

Bethany's husband, Adam, and son as they walked by the line.

Will even started crying on the way home and when I asked him why he said he was just so happy!  He kept thanking me too.  I was glad to be able to take them.

This week, while there weren't extra sports we were still plenty busy.  The kids started a couch to 5K program.  They want to run the Turkey Trot 5K with Justin on Thanksgiving. We celebrated Justin's birthday.  And a super hero appearance!

 Eric had his Halloween costume on to go pick up the middle schoolers one day this week.  I must have needed extra protection!

*I know his seat belt strap isn't on properly.  We were in the parking lot and he fixed it before we started driving.

 Yesterday's training run!  Justin and Miles joined us.  And no, I am not running (wish I could), I am on my bike keeping track of the time.

Beach to Ice Skating (all in one weekend!)

Friday night we had an extra kid with us for burgers and ice cream.  Zoe looks like she belongs with her blonde hair and we did get complements on how well-behaved our kids were at dinner!  

They love that the ice cream place shows a movie!

The tutu I made for the birthday party we attended today.  Elsa (from the movie Frozen is her favorite)

 Saturday after Will's last soccer game, we headed to the other side of the island for a beach day at Bellows.  The waves were pretty big and strong.  We all enjoyed some great boogie boarding!

 Eric caught some waves by himself and loved it!

 Then Sunday we went to a birthday party at the Ice Palace.  The kids have been asking since we moved here to go ice skating.  And today, attending a party, was the perfect way to go!  The kids were not ready to leave when I told them it was time to go.  This was Eric's first time, and no surprise he took right to it.  He could even go by himself!!

 Caroline and Will haven't been skating since we lived in MI and they loved trying again.

What a great weekend!  Happy kids, happy parents, and everyone tired at the end of the day!

Down, down, down, splash

I signed Eric up for more swim lessons.  Today at the end of his lesson he got the chance to go off the diving boards.  He went off the 1m and 3m springboards.  This wasn't the first time he has gone off the high dive, but this time I got the perfect pictures!  I was sitting in the shade while he was swimming and practicing treading water.  He hesitated briefly before jumping off.

His freestyle is also getting much better!  He's almost got the hang of breathing to the side.  He can do a dive off the side and come up swimming now too!

He loves to swim and wants to be on the swim team so bad.  He's almost old enough!  Great job, Eric!!

Birthday Season

4 out of 5 people in this house have birthdays in the next few weeks.  We start with a sweet, loving, handsome boy that just turned 9!  Will's birthday was Saturday.  We had a great day celebrating him even though it was rainy.  

First up was homemade donuts, by request.  He just wanted donut holes!

 After breakfast he opened his gifts.  He was supposed to have a soccer game but it was cancelled due to rain.

 Little brother was not far away during present opening!

 After lunch we walked to the bowling alley on post and played 2 games.  Eric won.  Then the rest of the afternoon he enjoyed playing with friends, putting together legos, and watching some football.

 Dinner was poppy seed chicken and for dessert homemade apple pie!  He likes apple pie when it's just our family and I will make him a shark cake (again this year) when we have a party.

Happy birthday, Will!!  And like you said... Only 364 more days until I am 10!

Adventure Fridays

Today's adventure was not on the extreme end.  And there were only 3 of us girls this time.  But we braved the gray rainy day and headed to Pupukea (Sharks cove) on the North Shore for some snorkeling while there aren't big waves.  I think we found the one no-rainy, some sun, spot on the island.  We set up our tent just in case and just had a relaxing morning before eating lunch out.

The mountains are covered with thick rain clouds, the water is flat and a beautiful green color, and I saw at least 2 dozen different types of fish while snorkeling.  Amazing!

The Pali Puka hike

Tuesday morning after dropping Eric off at pretty school, Justin and I went for a hike.  It was nice to not have to worry about getting a sitter.  Justin had done this hike with a friend and I wanted to do it too.  You start at the Pali highway lookout and go up.  It was pretty nerve wrecking in parts.  Seriously fall to your death steep but amazing views!  I'm not sure I'd do it again.  But I'm glad I did it.  It was muddy from all the rain we've had lately and the ropes along the way really helped.

View from the Pali lookout.

 See?  Really steep right on the edge of the path.

 Just don't look down!

 We made it to the puka (hole).

 It was easier to go down backwards for most of it.  Especially when using the ropes.

It was a great morning hanging out with Justin and I can't wait to do more adventures together!

A friendly competition

Justin and I enjoy racing each other in the water (I can't even try and keep up running or biking).  There aren't many opportunities where we get to start at the same time at a race either.  But a small race like the Turtle Bay Biathlon that we did on Sunday was perfect for some friendly competition!  

Caroline took some great pictures of us coming out of the water.  They tell a funny story.

I was struggling in the water.  Couldn't get much going and I knew I was slower than I'd hoped to be. But I was still teasing Justin as I got out of the water, just after him.  

 As I passed him coming up the beach he got a little love tap.

 Then some smack talk.

 As I officially crossed the timing pad before him!!

Justin then put on his running shoes and had a 5k to do.  I just tagged my partner and she did the running for me.  

I'm hoping we get to compete against each other some more because it's lots of fun!!  Win or lose

He's Baaaack!!

Today Justin came home!!  He's been gone a month.  As Will stated one morning, "It's harder than I thought it'd be with dad gone."  I hear ya buddy.  It sure is hard without my teammate!

So tonight Justin jumped right back into the swing of things.  I took this picture at getting ready for bed time.  Thankfully our bathroom is big enough for us all to fit.

Welcome home Justin!  We have missed you.

Oh, And I'm sure he heard "Dad!" at least a thousand times!