Monday, October 26, 2015
29 Weeks
Now you see it...
We are on schedule to put up sheetrock this week in the basement. It has taken Jeremy and I much, much longer to get to this point than we expected but at least we're there. Basements are a ton of work! Framing around every single pipe, corner, vent, and weird existing condition takes a lot of creativity. The problem is that we know what the end step is supposed to look like, but we aren't familiar enough with the rest of the project to know what the dozen steps are that need to be taken before that final product. After we finished the framing, electrical, and about half the plumbing we decided that we had learned enough. We were done. We contacted Bob, the contractor who has been helping us stay on track for the project, and have turned it over to him. He has been finishing up odds and ends for the rough inspection, which passed today, and then he'll coordinate the insulation, sheetrock, trim, and painting for us. I almost don't dare hope that the walls will go up this week because it seems like there's always one delay after another. But maybe, just maybe, I'll be able to have walls covered and lightswitches activated. What a dream to do laundry in a sawdust free environment! I'm meeting with our flooring guy tomorrow to finalize tile and carpet. That has also been very exciting and I hope it all comes together like I'm envisioning. One day soon-ish, I'll be able to move all of the toys back downstairs, Jeremy will be able to park in the garage, I'll be able to find my food storage, decorations, and baby supplies, and I'll have much less clutter in the rest of the house. It's so close I can taste it and it's driving me crazy!
Kelton loved helping. Hammering the giant spikes were his favorite part.
Looking towards the "hideaway" under the stairs, the bathroom, and the bedroom.
Looking towards the storage room.
The family room.
This is from the laundry room looking towards the laundry sink, and another storage closet.
From the back corner of the family room looking towards the stairs.
Friday, October 16, 2015
Anderson Farms field trip
I was finally able to chaperone one of my kids' field trips this year! Every time up until now that Cambrie has had a field trip I'm either not chosen as one of the parents, out of town, home with a new baby, or haven't been able to find a sitter for my other kids. Needless to say Cambrie was pretty jealous that I was able to go to the pumpkin patch with McKenzie, but I'll just have to make it up to her one day. Kenzie was thrilled. I only had three kids in my group to keep an eye on and it seemed too easy, but I wasn't complaining. Leesa and Kelton met us there so I was able to spend some time with them too.
(Austin, Ruby, and McKenzie)
It was McKenzie's first time riding the bus and she didn't love it. She had fun, but she thought it was way too noisy. It was only her class on the bus, imagine what she'd think if the bus was actually full. When we arrived we immediately sat down to eat our picnic lunches then went off to a presentation about the farm. The highlight of the trip was riding in a wagon off to the pumpkin fields to choose our pumpkins. Most of the kids went straight for the white ghost pumpkins. I'm glad we came home with a few of those because I also think they're pretty neat.
After the wagon ride we had time for one class picture and then we were done! It went way too fast, but I was glad I was able to be there with my munchkin!
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Hawaii
A couple of months ago Jeremy reached a milestone at work, $80,000 production in one month. His company rewards their docs who meet that level with a paid vacation anywhere they want. Well, Jeremy and I thought about it and decided we wanted to go to Hawaii! As we looked at the dates that worked best for us, we realized that Kona Ironman was right during our vacation window, so we decided to make it happen. Leesa graciously volunteered to watch our kids while Jeremy and I went to enjoy a little bit of tropical paradise with just the two of us. Our first day was spent in Honolulu. We hiked up Diamond Head and were really lucky that it was overcast with a cool breeze that afternoon. The view down onto the city and the beach was really pretty. We spent awhile up there just enjoying ourselves and the fact we were no longer on an airplane!
Next we drove up the canyon a bit to find the Pali look-out. As a kid I was fascinated by the strong wind up there. We could lean forward and not fall down because of how strongly it blew. The wind wasn't as strong this trip, but I promised McKenzie I would throw things so I tossed leaves over the cliff only to watch them fly backwards and hit other tourists behind us.
Bees huh? I'll be careful.
We checked into our hotel and realized that we were exhausted. It was only 7:00 but I was ready for bed. I forgot that there was a four-hour time difference and I was the party-pooper who went to sleep before the party even started on Waikiki Beach. The next morning we were up at 3:00. Well, the city was asleep at 3:00 so we waited in our hotel room until sunrise and went to find breakfast. We stopped at the restaurant next to the hotel and it was one of the best breakfasts of our trip. I ordered macadamia nut pancakes with coconut syrup. Holy cow yummy! I enjoyed my delectable feast while Jeremy found a board and went surfing.
I tried taking pictures of him surfing but it was really hard to tell where he was out there. When he came back he told me that it was not a good surf day. He didn't even get up once because of the crowds and the way the waves were breaking. I guess that means all those pictures I took of "Jeremy" surfing were really just random guys. Oh well.
After getting dressed we went to Pearl Harbor. I didn't remember much about the grounds from my previous trip there, I just remember the Arizona Memorial. I was a little surprised by how small the area was. Jeremy and I each rented an audio tour which helped a lot and I really appreciated the time we had there. The ride out to the Arizona was solemn and it was humbling to think of all the soldiers who are still giving their lives for our country.
We had just a little bit of time before we caught our flight to Kona so we drove around and took some random pictures of the island. King Kamehameha's statue.
Banyan trees.
Diamond Head from below.
We didn't arrive in Kona until about 8:30, which was way past my 10:00 Colorado bedtime. I was so disoriented that it took us awhile to even find the right rental car company, but we made it. When we were planning our trip it was too late to book any standard hotel near the race, they were completely booked, so I had to get creative. I was able to find a historic hotel up the mountain a little bit that had a lot of character. There was no one at the front desk so we had to let ourselves in and find our room with the instructions from our reservations. The floorplan of this place was so weird. It looked like the original hotel had been built and then added to over the years. We walked across an open hallway, past the community bathrooms, and down a short hall to find our room. There were two beds, a dresser, and a great view. Well, character is memorable so we settled down to sleep for our early morning at the race.
The race started at 6:25AM. From previous spectators we learned that you had to be at the bay by 5;45 or so to get a decent viewing spot. We arrived just a little late to get the front row spots, but I climbed a tree and then I had a fabulously dry, relaxing viewing area. Ironman Kona is such a large-scale race. It was inspiring and nerve-racking to watch those athletes. Jeremy and I both had pre-race jitters even though we weren't even competing! We watched the swimmers until most had exited the water and watched some of them transition to their bikes.
Everywhere we turned there were inspiring stories: the athlete with no arms, the blind athlete, the celebrities (Samwise Gamgee), and the thousands of regular joes who were able to make it this far. Just as heartbreaking were the racers who never finished the race: the gal who missed the swim cut-off time by six seconds, the man we saw turn around on his bike and bring it back to transition, the girl sitting by the hotel waiting for a taxi because apparently her race was also already over. I didn't know if I was going to be able to handle such an emotional day! We had about four hours to wait before our volunteer shift started, so we grabbed our suits and went for a swim in the bay. Jeremy and I don't have much experience swimming in open sea water, and it was different. First, the scenery was awesome. We could see the coral the whole length of our swim. Next, we really had to time our breaths so we wouldn't get swamped by the waves. And finally, Jeremy had a really hard time adjusting to the salt water, it was irritating his throat and making it hard for him to swim. I'm glad we know what we need to work on before we actually race an ocean swim. As we waited in the bay the leaders came in from the bike to transition to the run. Helicopters were following their every move and were circling the sky above us. I know it's a small thing but even being beneath the chopper feeling the air it was moving around made us feel like we were part of the race. We were only in the water for an hour, but we each received a nice sunburn during that time. Another lesson learned: take sunscreen for the race.
It was time for us to go find our volunteer shift. We had signed up to pass out medals to the finishers. We thought that we'd be right at the finish line to greet everyone and hand see all of the emotion that comes from crossing that finish line. We were a little disappointed to learn that the medals tent was tucked away in the athlete recovery area. After the racers finished they had to pass through medical, have their timing chips removed, and then make their way over to us to receive their medals and collect their morning bags. We started chatting with a nice family next to us and realized that they were also LDS, from California, and also arranged their vacation to overlap with the race. Scott, Julie Natalie and Jordan Bills. It was really nice talking with them while we waited for the athletes to arrive.
Some of the pros started trickling in. Some looked pretty pumped, but most just looked exhausted.
Slowly the age-groupers started trickling in and I realized how much I really did love my job. Being able to put that medal around their neck was awesome. One gentleman started crying because it took him 23 years to get that medal. He gave me a huge hug and was completely overwhelmed by the moment. Another racer wanted me to put his medal on as slowly as possible because he wanted to savor every moment. As soon as I put the medal on another racer he asked me to take it off because it was literally too heavy for him to carry at the moment. There were plenty of athletes who didn't speak English since it's an international race and it was really humbling to watch these athletes accomplish their goals. Our replacements came to take over our shift and I really wasn't ready to be done. I wasn't ready to leave the energy or miss seeing these athletes with exhausted smiles on their faces. So Jeremy and I made our own job. We planted ourselves right in the middle of the athlete recovery area and did whatever people asked us to do. We gave directions to the exits, the showers, and the bike recovery zone. We let athletes use our phones to call their families. We fetched medical personnel, even if they didn't realize they needed help so desperately. It was incredible.
By now we were feeling more content so we went to get ourselves some dinner and ate it along the running route. By now it was 8:00 and some of these runners were just getting started on their 26 mile run. I couldn't believe the dedication it required at that point to keep going when you knew there were at least four hours of running ahead. We wandered over to the finish line and there were more tears to be shed there! The runner who was carrying a sign for their dead loved-ones, the runners waving their country flags in excitement, the runners who had tears running down their faces because the end was finally in sight, and the older man who barely hobbled across the finish line without collapsing. It was definitely a memorable day.
Sunday both Jeremy and I felt like we had raced ourselves because our bodies were so sore. But it was pretty obvious who the actual racers were. We saw them all over the island, sunburned with hobbling steps. What an accomplishment. At church we ran into the Bills family again, they had saved seats for us. After church Jeremy and I went to see the Kona temple and ran into them again. We decided it was fate and exchanged numbers just in case we have upcoming races in the Bay area, or if they make it out to Boulder for a race of their own.
We checked out of our uniquely pink hotel and settled into the car for a road trip to the other side of the island.
Jeremy's only request was a visit to a road-side fruit vendor. We found one and picked up some star fruit and passion fruit that we munched on during our drive.
The lunch spot we found was amazing, Punalu'u Bakery. We opened the car doors and the sweet smells of pastries completely overtook us. We ate soup and sandwiches first, but that was just so we could eat some of the pastries for dessert and not feel guilty about it. We sat in a pavilion in a garden eating our food and listening to a musician play Hawaiian music on his ukulele. Needless to say, lunch took us a long time since we just didn't want to leave the relaxed atmosphere.
The Bills had told us about a great cliff diving spot on the southern tip of the island so we decided to stop and check it out. It would have been fun to jump in myself but I thought a 30 foot fall wouldn't really be a good idea for baby, so I just encouraged Jeremy to jump for me. The water was gorgeous and I was jealous I couldn't jump.
On Jeremy's first and only jump he landed a little weird and his ears really hurt so that put an end to the cliff jumping. But he swam in and out of a large blow hole for a bit and just enjoyed being in the water.
The climb out of the ocean was just as exciting as the jump in. Even though there were signs posted everywhere that cliff jumping was dangerous, someone had supplied a "solid" metal ladder to climb back up. It was only attached at the top of the cliff so the wind and waves made it swing while the swimmers climbed out. Apparently it wasn't the first ladder either as there was an older version that had fallen into the water earlier.
We drove past lava fields
and macadamia nut farms.
We stopped at black sand beaches and were lucky enough to see a couple sea turtles hanging out on shore.
Jeremy has had a crazy dream to climb a coconut tree for awhile and decided this was a good time. It was much harder than it looked. His feet and hands were really scrapped up by the time he made it to the top but he made it and knocked down his coconuts!
We drove into Volcano National Park just as it was getting dark so we didn't have time to see everything we wanted, but there was just enough daylight to hike through the Thurston Lava Tube, and then take a quick trail walk around the crater rim trail.
A wild rooster apparently didn't know how to run away from strangers and led us down the trail for about a half mile before finally figuring out how to lose us. It was pretty entertaining. It was really neat seeing the vent glowing in the dark. The locals are probably used to it, but it is pretty awe-inspiring to see a live volcano so close.
Our night ended as we found our bed and breakfast in Hilo. These accommodations looked a little more traditional as far as bed and breakfasts go. We had the back lanai to share with the two other rooms, and our bedroom was really comfortable. We went for a run in the morning up to Peepee Falls and the Boiling Pots, then showered and were served the best breakfast of our stay. The owner had made us tropical smoothies, fruit dishes with at least two fruits I had never seen before, and the most delicious chocolate scones I have ever eaten. I really wished we could have stayed there another night just for the breakfast, but alas we had more places to go and people to see.
We stopped to see Rainbow Falls and it smelled like I remember Hawaii smelling as a kid. We tracked down the flowers and learned that they were ginger blossoms that were blooming near the trail. I had told Cambrie that the air smelled like flowers before we left and so we took a couple blossoms home for her so she could experience what Hawaii smelled like for herself.
Next we headed up the coast to Akaka Falls. This was a little longer of a walk so we took it slowly, baby was feeling big, but we blended right in because of all the other athletes we saw on the trail.
Jeremy still had his coconuts he had harvested the day before in the car and we needed to find a way to open them. Jeremy decided that a guard rail on the side of the highway would work perfectly. He pounded his coconut until he was able to get it open enough to rip out pieces of meat and drink the water. It wasn't pretty and it wasn't perfect but it was still super tasty.
We left Hilo and flew back to Oahu where we upgraded our Ford Flex for a Chevy Camaro to drive up to the north shore. The stars were beautiful during our drive and I was really glad Jeremy decided to splurge for something fun for the last leg of our journey. We had such a good experience at our other two non-traditional hotels that we decided to be adventurous one more time and rent another room from airbnb. This one was a little, not, a lot different. A local surf bum greeted us at the door and walked us through the house. There was a guy sitting on the couch watching TV and Richard told us not to worry about him, he lived there. He showed us our room which was a bed with a sheet. The perks of the room included a can of bug spray next to the bed and a rotating fan he had put in there for us. Our towels were old beach towels and the bathroom was....sufficient. After Jeremy and I finished laughing about our situation I went to get ready for bed and walked out to find another lady sitting on the couch. "Are you the new guys? Can I turn off the lights?'' I had no idea who she was, just that there were apparently others sleeping there too. It was weird.
The next morning we learned that the lady and her husband and stayed there for five nights already and were having a great time. They recommended a bakery down the road for breakfast and I'm glad they did. My breakfast sandwich was really good. It was also the bus stop for the local middle school so as we ate we watched all the local kids heading to school still half asleep.
Richard had a surfboard for Jeremy to use so we decided to give Jeremy one more morning on the waves. These waves broke really poorly and it was a shallow rocky bottom for when Jeremy wiped out, so he didn't stay out there long. Instead we grabbed a paddle board and drove into Haleiwa for a paddle boarding trip up a river. It wasn't easy staying upright on those boards, but we did all right until I ran into a rock, and Jeremy hit some waves. We really weren't very good at all but were still having fun. We took our boards out into the waves and sat on them as we rode into shore. I even caught a small wave and found myself wishing I could surf properly without my belly in the way.
That afternoon we took a quick stop at the Laie Temple,
then headed to the Polynesian Cultural Center. We arrived just in time for the Canoe pageant and Jeremy was really surprised by everything. I guess I didn't do a very good job of explaining the PCC to him, because he was astounded by what there was to see.
The Samoan presentation was really fun and we were able to watch how the pros climb coconut trees.
Jeremy was even able to light a fire with two sticks. There must be some primeval urge for men to light fires.
At Fiji we entered a spear throwing competition and Jeremy ended up winning a banana leaf fish we brought home for Kelton.
Unfortunately we ran out of time to see all of the presentations because we had tickets for the luau for dinner. We were given our leis and sat down to enjoy some traditional Hawaiian food and some more cultural presentations.
One of the most memorable was the 12-year-old fire thrower. He was so young and fun to watch.
We watch some more hula dancers, a presentation of Hawaiian royalty, and sipped our mango smoothie from our pineapple. I was completely stuffed. In fact, I was bummed I had a baby in the way because I couldn't eat as much as I wanted.
The luau finished just in time for us to pick up some souvenirs for the kids and go to the night show, Ha. It was a musical featuring a young boy growing into a man and highlighted more Polynesian culture. After the show we drove back to our surf bum home. We were the "bad" roommates, we got in late every night and left at 5:00 am the next morning to catch our flight. I don't think our roommates liked our schedule very much. Oh well, another memorable trip.
Before we knew it our week long vacation was over and it was time to head home. I think a good indicator if the vacation was successful is if I'm excited to come home. I was excited to see my kids and I loved giving them their souvenirs the next morning. I made up a batch of macadamia nut pancakes with cocounut syrup, gave them their own fresh leis, black sand from the beach, their Hawaiian skirts, and shirt, and showed them their Hawaiian bedtime stories for later that night. McKenzie went to school looking like a Hawaiian princess. What a great trip!
McKenzie gave us Cinnamon Roll to keep us company on our journeys. Aloha!
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