Happy Halloween

This is as festive as it gets at our house.  Nobody wanted to go trick-or-treating; they only wanted to hand out candy.  Miles did put together this "costume" and went over to the neighbors' house for a few Kit-Kats.  Adam has never been into Halloween--the kids obviously inherited this gene from him.  Don't worry, they still took in their fair share of candy between school parties and the stash at home.  I caught Graham (naked) opening Starbursts and chowing down.  When we busted him and asked what he was doing, he replied very clearly and seriously, "I am going to eat this right now."  It was so cute that we had to let him have it.  Something about Starbursts and these boys!  They've been known to leave piles of wrappers (of candy they snuck) behind chairs and couches at other peoples' houses.

Hawaii, Part 2 (Trees)

We spent the second part of our trip in a little village called Hana.  To get there you take a winding, narrow road with tons of one lane bridges--along with places to pull over and look around/hike.  It took us four hours to drive maybe 40 miles (including our stops).  I was amazed at all of the different varieties of trees.  Of course, you get used to the plush flowering plants, but I wasn't expecting some of these others.... 

Huge (bonsai?) tree we encountered on one of our hikes in Hana.  The kids would have been in tree-climbing heaven.

As expected, there were plenty of palm trees.  This view is from one of the hammocks at the resort in Hana.  FYI--we were informed that more people die each year from falling coconuts than shark bites. 

This was taken on one of my morning runs on the main drag through Hana.  Minus the palm trees, I think it looks more "North Carolina" than "Hawaii."

Bananas growing in huge clusters all over.  I hate fruit, but it fascinates me to see it growing.  Each day the hotel had a new bunch hanging in the lobby.  There was also passionfruit everywhere.  All of the restaurants included passionfruit, guava, and papaya as their fruit side dishes.  Too bad I'm not into fruit, I could have lived off of the land :)

Football Finale

Both boys finished up their flag football seasons tonight.  They each had a fabulous time playing and were lucky to end up with great coaches and teammates they enjoyed--both the new friends and the old faithfuls (for Owen).  Their teams ended up winning all of their games; they thought that was pretty cool.  I was just happy that there weren't any really cold nights--in fact it was still in the 80's when we showed up tonight.  

Acting like weirdos--terrible picture quality, bad iPhone!  Hopefully someone with a better picture will share.

This Titan ended up with a black eye tonight.  COUNTLESS questions regarding WHEN it will turn black, HOW black, HOW big, HOW long?  Go talk to your dad...

Junior Dolphins--I'm pretty sure we'll still be sitting at the football field well into the future.

Hawaii, Part 1

After a late night packing, cleaning, and organizing travel information, we left early Saturday morning for Maui.  We had not flown out of Manhattan before, but will definitely do so whenever we can in the future.  So easy!  And I'm sure we haven't even experienced the best part--a five-minute drive home. The only downside was paying for a heavy bag and somewhere between Manhattan and Maui, our suitcase met its match.  Oh well, an extra pocket.

We figured we may as well go for the fun car instead of the cheap car.  Who knows if we will ever come to Hawaii again.  It's been fun cruising around in the Mustang, but it does feel like I'm sitting on the ground.

We've had some good food since we've been here.  I'm not a seafood fan in the least, so my choices are more limited, but I feel like I went out on a limb and tried a salad with "hearts of palm."  Yes, from the palm tree.

But when it really comes down to it, I'm a simpleton and these Cheez-Its may have been the best $5 I've spent so far.

Our first hotel in Maui was the Four Seasons in Wailea.  It was amazing--the views, the amenities, the service!  We've never stayed in a hotel where it isn't even an option to park your own car, carry your own bag, or get your own ice, etc.  The workout facility was first rate and open air so you could watch the sunrise (yes, we've been up by 6:00 AM everyday, can't shake the habit).

Lots of beautiful scenery, fancy plants, and weird art :)

We left Wailea yesterday and headed to Hana via the scenic "Road to Hana."  Four hours to cover maybe 50 miles.... actually broke out the good camera so more pictures from that later.  In Hana, we met up with everyone to actually celebrate the wedding of Casey and Liz.  It's much more remote, with no TV's, air conditioning, or wi-fi in the rooms.  Now, on to the beach...

Blue & Silver

Miles has been dying to have a colored mohawk (because Jimmy from school has one).  I managed to talk him out of going to Target with me, but promised I'd call him and let him know what color hair spray they had in the Halloween section.  He chose silver and Owen chose blue.  They both wanted to keep it blue for the field trip on Monday, but Mom and Dad decided it was a weekend thing.  We did make a Dick's run with three blue-mohawked kids in mismatched clothes (and two parents who looked just as bad).  Luckily we didn't see anyone we knew.

Apple to Capital

Catching up.... a couple of weeks ago a few of us girls completed the 73.8 mile relay run from Manhattan to Topeka via Linear Trail, Highway 24, plenty of small towns, and tons of backroads.  It was a lot of fun hanging out between exchange zones and navigating the "car" path to Topeka which included some roads labeled "low maintenance" road.  We ended up 6th out of 21 teams, first for the all-girl teams--even won some stocking hats :)  Now I need to get a fall race picked out... 

View from some from one of the backroads.  Thankfully it wasn't muddy or some of the roads may have been off limits.  Kind of felt like we were in "The Amazing Race."