THE VISIT!

We just dropped Grandma Karen off at the airport tonight - so we finally have some time to start posting some pics and memories from an awesome holiday visit from Kristen's family. In addition to g-ma Karen, we had her brother Shannon, his wife Becky, and 11 year-old Simon out for Christmas.

The first really full day of excitement started out with a trip downtown to pay our respects to King Kamehameha:

And see some Christmas decorations:





Followed by a visit to Da Kine Bail Bonds (more pics of this later :)

A stop by the Dole plantation...

And capped off by a honu sighting and a stunning sunset at Lani's on the North Shore:







The night unfortunately ended with the untimely demise of the faithful 1999 Subaru Forester (RIP):

MUCH more to come...

UH-Cinci game pics from 6 Dec

(trying to catch up on the blog...)

Tim Brown totally hooked Randy, Marc Lammers, and me up with tics and field passes for the UH/Cinci football game on 6 Dec. It was a blast - and those players are freaking HUGE! All was going well until the 4th quarter when we had to witness one of the most painful Hawaii sports collapses in recent memory - but we had a great time nonetheless. Many thanks to Tim! NAPA ROCKS!!!



If you've ever wondered - this is what field turf looks like REALLY REALLY close up. Basically a mix of rubber pellets and shredded green plastic. Underfoot it feels pretty good - a little bouncy - but I wouldn't want to leap in the air and land on it.



If you've ever wondered - this is what THE RAINBOW DANCERS look like REALLY REALLY close up. Marc Lammers getting the scoop.



I got to meet Nick Rolovich - which was totally cool. Rolo (along with Colt Brennan and Timmy Chang) is a bonafide Hawaii QB legend. Look him up on wikipedia - he had arguably the greatest 3 or 4 game stretch of any QB in NCAA history.



View from the endzone - we watched most of the first half from the field. Great experience. Thanks again Tim.

Hawaiian Style Christmas Tree

Norfolk Island Pines are all the rage here - and despite a slight "Charlie Brown" type feel - they are really beautiful and it is hard to beat island grown and fresh-cut trees. Here are some pics from the tree farm up by Wahiawa - Olivia with some trimmings:

Jack had fun...

And Owen refused to have his likeness captured in digital form:

Ah - the winner (no we didn't buy a 15' tree - they cut the top 7 feet off - the stumps live on and grow another tree in a few years - cool):

Sewers - yummy

Well - it's not the best smelling surf site in Hawaii - and it's rarely breaking - but when it happens and you catch it with no crowd - wow. Thanks to Doug for turning us on to his favorite West side spot...

(yet) More pics from North Carolina

Mr. Hugh's Jim Carrey impersonation

The BELLY!

More pics from North Carolina

Art Tozzi (Samantha's dad) came down.

This is a rather large order of South 21 fish dinners (it is impossible to explain how truly wonderful this food is - you have to experience it)...

...and onion rings (oh my)...

Mr. Hugh

me and Hugh

Maw Maw's funeral trip

Was able to make it back to NC for my grandmother's funeral. Obviously a sad trip but it was good to see everyone. Here's a pic of all of the grandkids. From left to right: Geoff, Amanda, Jack, Anna, Allison, and me.

Maw Maw

Sad Day

Some really sad news today - our beloved Maw Maw (my paternal grandmother) passed away this morning. We had a tough talk tonight with the kids and if there is nothing more you can say for a 3 year old - they do have a way of lightening up even the most somber news. Jack kind of gets it - and Livy was really upset. We are all heartbroken and sending lots of love to BP, Paw Paw and Tudi, Uncle Ron and MJ, and my cousins.

RockingOwen

Hanging with Owen

Got to hang out with Owen this morning while Kristen took Jack and Olivia to some appointments. He got into the eggs...



...and then proceeded to ROCK!

HappyBirthdayTudi

Carhole of Scariness Part 2 - HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Halloween was a big hit this year - the haunted tent was magically transformed into Frankenstein's castle. The kids were totally into it - here are some of our many helpers posing with the creepy tombstone...



Here's a shot from the front of the tent - that lantern is a classic...



The "Science Lab" room - complete with sizzling black light, Electric Pickle station, bottomless pit, brain in a jar (carved melon), reanimated eyeballs au jus, and the restless severed arm.



And Dr. Frankenstein's infamous "Reanimation Chamber" - complete with power plant, fog machine, electric globe, strobe light, and giant 8' reanimation table equiped with restraining chains and jumper cables...



Not shown: the haunted graveyard (Pepper's ghost illusion) and Baron Victor Von Frankenstein "seeing eye" portrait. Mila took a lot of pics - so hopefully she'll have some good ones. More soon.... Bawahahhaahaa

Pumpkin Carving Night at Enchanted Lake Elem.

Good fun tonight - Kristen was in charge of the costume party/pumpkin carving night at Liv and Jack's school.

Soccer Action - Jack

Jack is having a lot of fun this year - he has a great coach and a really nice team (with nice families). We were able to catch a few good pics...

...including the rare "GOAL!" pic...




And check out Liv's short hair


Even Owen is getting ready - gotta love those hand me downs

Carhole of Scariness 2008 - part 1

The theme this year is Frankenstein's Castle... here is Brad doing some late night painting 3 days before show time. Bwahhahahaaa

Extreme Surfing

My buddy Ben surfs the Great Lakes - they scored some waves recently - check out these pics and then put on a sweater and a parka and drink a hot chocolate. These are devoted surfers.

blog silence BROKEN

I can't believe we haven't posted anything for over a month - shame. We've had lots of birthdays and all kinds of good stuff going on - including a nice visit from Grandma Karen. More soon...

Kids Say The Darndest Things...

The kids have been cracking me up lately. Thank God for their distraction through all of life's crazy seriousness.




Owen and Zachary are constantly playing Star Wars dress up and dueling with light saber swords. Here are some of today's snippets I've over-heard.

"I'm Obi-Ta-Nobi."
"Dude, we're going to California, get your light saber sword."
"You're the best mom, will you put this coat on me." (It's 90 degrees in this house right now and Zach and Owen are in full dressup gear including, but not limited to overcoats.
"Aunty Kristen, we have none rocket ships can we use this?" (pointing to my recliner in the living room)
"I'm gonna put you in the hot wava (lava) Zachary"


Other sweet quotes from the boys:

I made Zucchini bread last week and the kids were eating it and Jack asked for more Boo-kini bread. You know it's made with Boo-kini.

Owen asked to sleep naked the other night and I asked him why he wanted to. He replied cause Daddy does. So I told him he might get cold during the night and in his precious little 2 year old accent he said, "that's ok, I wike cold and I wike hot too".

Another night I was reading a Thomas the Tank Engine book to Owen and there is a Henry train in the book. So I told him that's your name too. You are Owen Henry Lemonds. And he looks up at me with tears in his eyes and says, "no I not Owen Henry, I Owen me-going" (we actually call him Owen be-going as a nickname)









The kids get a kick out of my wig. I never felt right in the wig. It looks way better on them.

Major Milestones!

Today is Jack's first day of Kindergarten (actually Kindergarten camp) and Owen's real, no-kidding first day of Preschool! We are very proud of them. Here they are dressed for success and ready to take on the world...



And we couldn't resist taking a pic of the yard - which, under the loving guidance of zoysia master Brian Felix, has taken on an Augusta-like splendor...