Hawaii 2015: Day 4

 Our day started in Kapolei for a family photo shoot. 

The setting was beautiful, and the photographer caught some great natural (and unnatural) poses. Can't wait to see how the pictures turn out.

 We then drove up the road to one of the Ko Olina lagoons for a day of swimming and snorkeling.

We met up with one of my mother's former Senior Concerns co-workers for dinner at Monkeypod Kitchen

The girls had fun with her daughter, Victoria.  

Yes, the flute made the trip to Oahu. We sacrificed the violin. 

Hawaii 2015: Day 3

Yes, I know I skipped Day 2. You can picture us snorkeling in clear, warm waters among colorful fish, if you'd like. Or, because of the rain and poor water conditions, you can picture that tripped getting cancelled and us shopping for Hawaiian outfits to wear in our Day 4 family photo shoot. Ask Amalia, it wasn't worth taking any pictures of us going from store to store for hours on end (though some of her facial expressions may have been worth capturing).

Day 3 was our trip to Pearl Harbor.

One of the first things we saw was this veteran from the attacks on Pearl Harbor. Coincidentally, my parents had met him at another event a few days earlier. The man gets around. 

After visiting the museums, we took a launch out to the Arizona Memorial.  

It was a gray, drizzly day, which somehow felt appropriate.  

The visitor center now has a 25-minute movie about the attacks, which I think made an impression on the girls. It certainly helped them better understand what I'd struggled to explain on our drive out to Pearl Harbor. 

A view of Honolulu on our drive back from Pearl Harbor. 

Hawaii 2015: Day 1

On our way to Hawaii to celebrate Grandma Carol and Grandpa Dave's 50th wedding anniversary (and Thanksgiving). With no in-flight movies, guess how long this sisterly love lasted. (Actually, I think the anticipation and excitement gave them a strong dose of positive vibes. Plus, Lily was delighted to discover POG on the flight, which she instantly fell in love with.)

 Amalia patiently waiting for our airport shuttle. 

Reunited and it feels so good. 

Hawaiian BBQ dinner at the beach. 

I hadn't been in Hawaii for more than 2 hours when I almost broke my foot by dropping a dinner plate on it. Here's a picture of our comical waiter posing for an action shot with the ice he brought for me. 

 See how relaxed the Hawaiians are, even when filling out injury reports? 

The girls' first evening in Hawaii (with Diamond Head in the distance). 

Stanford, sunsets, and slugs

So many of this season's football games have been at night that the girls haven't had a chance to attend one yet (because you don't get home until almost midnight). 

But finally, the 4:30pm Oregon start got them their Cardinal fix.  

Although the outcome wasn't what we'd hoped for, the game started off with some excitement.  

Andy and I couldn't help but talk about the time we were at the Holiday Bowl in San Diego and the Navy Seal came in way too fast in his parachute and ended up paralyzed. It was awful. Thankfully everyone landed safely this time. 

Brownies Jorja and Amalia. Trust me, the fall nut sales are WAY less popular than the spring cookie sales. 

Tidepooling at sunset in Santa Cruz.  

And then to cap off the weekend, Lily and her friend Sydney made this "interesting" video. 

Halloween Bash

As promised, here are pictures from the first-ever Pierce Halloween Extravaganza. 

The girls decorated the front yard with graves.  

 And carved pumpkins. 

 Believe it or not, most of the gourds were gone by the end of the evening--probably because we ran out of candy to hand out. A bumpy, inedible squash is better than nothing, apparently. 

 Inside, the girls set up a spooky obstacle course. 

 Which actually did see some action. 

A group shot of our kids--about 20 plus. So much fun!

 And here are some shots of the gathering. We definitely had a full house. 

Dia de los monarchs

Last night, Andy and I hosted a huge (for us) Halloween gathering with a bunch of school friends--and friends of friends at the house. Unfortunately, all of those pictures are on the other camera, so that post will have to wait, so stay tuned. In the meantime, here are some pictures from the day after. 

At the end of the party, I somehow got snookered into a sleepover with Amalia, Jorja, and Caroline. This is a picture of them this morning as we walked to a local park. See how the Halloween candy sugar has already kicked in? It was 8 a.m. 

After Jorja was picked up, we drove out to Santa Cruz to drop off Caroline and pick up Lily, who had maneuvered a sleepover with Sydney. Of course we couldn't just turn around and go home... 

Hanging out at Pleasure Point. 

Literally. 

The highlight of the day was a walk amongst the eucalyptus trees to see the migrating monarch butterflies. This video doesn't adequately capture how full the trees were. What looked like branches full of leaves were actually clumps of butterflies. It was beautiful. 

 Curran and Lily craning their necks at the monarchs. 

Makeshift seesaw.  

Exploring.