Long day on the Big Island

We spent the day driving to the volcano. On the way we stopped at a black sand beach that was known to have turtles, if your lucky enough sometimes they beach themselves.
This guy was resting when we got there. We saw a bunch of his friends in the water.

The turtles are protected, so you have to keep your distance at 15 feet.

This was at the volcano, in the caldera and around the crater rim there are steam vents (which you can see in the back ground). It was a little wet today so we would stop on our way up at the vents and warm up.

Not just any cyclist....

just a 7 time Tour De France winner, Lance Armstrong. We marveled at our luck...what are the chances?

Day 8...we see our long lost luggage!

A friend we met walking on Ali'i drive in Kona

Lars and I took a little trip to a coffee plantation!

Inside each cherry is 2 coffee beans.

Sending warm thoughts of Aloha

They say our luggage is in Kona....

but we haven't seen it!
A morning game of life

A day spent snorkeling at Kahalu'u.

We rented a standard size car....checked in and it was this or a hummer!

We've had to postpone our bike ride..due to the fact that in our luggage lies helmets, pedals, shoes, and bike clothes. So instead Lars and I will celebrate 10 years with fine food and wine!

day 6...who needs luggage anyways

We had a very relaxing Christmas. We spent the morning on the North Shore, came back to the Ko Olina for some afternoon beach time, then onto downtown to see the city lights. I had fond memories of the Palace and surrounding historical buildings being lit up for the holidays and it didn't disappoint 10 years later.
We took another trip down memory lane and went to Waikiki. By the time we got there it was dark, but I wanted to show the kids my old apartment on the corner of the Ala Wai and Liliuokalani. I loved that place and never once felt scared around there (but then again I was 19 and naive), but I have to say I was a little nervous walking down there with the kids. Lars reminded me that on that corner at any given hour there was always beer, weed, and hoes to be found.
Last day at the Ko olina


North Shore


A little Holiday cheer from the Islands

Today we flew to Kona and are now settled into our condo here. We have an amazing view of the ocean so we ate dinner out on the lanai while the sun set! We are told our luggage may be here tomorrow...we'll see.

day 4 no luggage

Lo and I enjoyed a day at the beach..while the boys went to the Hawaii Bowl to watch the warriors and the fighting Irish (no pics of this event..since we are still missing the good camera).

Another day in paradise

The plan tomorrow is to spend Christmas on the North Shore, Mele Kalikimaka

day 3 no luggage

I'll make this quick. We're on day 3 with no luggage and they're really not sure where it is. Here's the thing thus far I've been fine with it..I consider myself somewhat of a minimalist. In our carry on we had A t shirt, flip flops, and sleepwear..mine fortunately being yoga caipris that are now what I wear daily! I will say its getting old.
After not being able to get a hold of baggage claim in Honolulu or Seattle Lars went to the airport. Currently trying to track it, but here is the bright light they offered ( I love Hawaiian Air) they will reimburse us up $30 per person per day.....so looks like I will be making a trip to Old Navy tomorrow to get some shorts. Not what I want to do on vacation, but it could be worse...we could still be stuck in Seattle.
On the bright side since I haven't had my running clothes, I've been swimming laps in the ocean...its not pretty but I'm getting better!

still no luggage!

But its not stopping us!

Snorkeling lesson before the Big Island (yes it is only a ft of water!)

We are here at the Ko Olina in Oahu until Friday, it is beautiful!

Keep your fingers crossed we get our luggage tomorrow!!

Luck was on our side

Thanks to this little net book I bought at Costco just before leaving, I will be able to Blog! So as most of you know there has been some "weather" issues in all of Washington state. We were set to fly out of Wenatchee at 2:50 to Seattle were going to babysit my nephew and fly to HI at 8 the next morning. By 6 pm Saturday after spending several hours at the airport tracking the plane that was to come into Wenatchee (again thanks little net book) , well it had pulled from the gate and pulled back to the gate....now from working for an airline..its never good to pull back to the gate. We drove.
Gnarly was the word I used! It seemed fitting for the conditions. The snow drifts were coming from all directions, making the visibility 0 at times. It got even worse past Easton..slow and steady, needless to stay we were so excited to have made it to my sisters at 10pm, the passes were shut down at 10!!
We got up Sunday I checked the flight status ours was delayed 11 hours! Again thanks to airline experience, I made my family get dressed and go to the airport at 6am. Was the 2ND on the stand by list for the 9 am that was on time. Note to everyone out there, when there is weather everyone is delayed, so even if a plane is 100% booked (as was this one) people are going to miss connect. We got on..so exciting to be leaving because the airport was crazy. We had to wait for 2 hours on the plane for fuel and de icing, but we are here. No luggage, and who knows when we
it will show up, but we hit Costco and are all good!
I'll send pics soon, got a wee bit of a cold and going to crash!
Thanks Mom and Dad for shuttling our car to and from the Wen airport. And thanks Du and Ian for letting us crash and bail, and picking our car up!
Aloha

Spin Class

So a few more days to Hawaii...I think I'm ready, if not I will be when I get there! So this post is a little blip on spinning. Lars and I rented bikes on the Big Island for 3 days with the plan to do 2 25-50 mile rides and ride the Iron man course which is 112 miles. This is how we are celebrating our 10 year anniversary! Lars' sister Christa is going to join us on the Big Island and watch and lounge with the little children those days.
So to get prepared, since November we have been taking part in 5 spin classes a week. Four at the WRAC and one at Black Diamond Physical Therapy, each one so different. Now if you have never tried a spin class, I encourage you to try. At the WRAC the fortunate thing is the lights are down, because although not as much of an overall workout as running, I have never sweat so much in my life! You wear only breathable clothing, and embrace it!
Tomorrow however I am going for a different work out, it finally snowed and while the trail report says its been rolled and waiting for more snow, I am going skate skiing, then by Sunday I will be swimming in the ocean!

Our House

So I thought I would put a few pics of the new house up for those that haven't seen it. I took a few pictures and the battery died, so the front of the house will come later (when I can find the charger).
Now when I say "new"...it is new to us, but the house itself was built in 1929.

Living Room

Room off kitchen (not sure what you call it)

Dining Room

Lukes Room

Logans room. I couldn't get a great picture but it is my favorite room. I wish I had a before and after pics of this one to post (when we moved in it was 4 different colors).

Snow

One week away until we leave for the land of Aloha! We actually had our first snowfall yesterday. I was beginning to wonder if it would happen before we left. Last year at this time I already had a skate lesson and was heading up to Leavenworth Thurs-Mon in an attempt to look like I knew what I was doing! I had such a wonderful winter last year, I've been eagerly awaiting our snow!
Here's the really great thing..normally November is kind of what I call an in between month, not so much this year it has been nice enough to keep biking and running outside. In fact yesterday I rode my bike to work (as I have since March), and was being snowed on when I left. I was absolutely giddy! I'm sure it was a sight to see, because by the time I got home, my coat was covered in snow, and the back of my pants including my butt was soaked and dirty, but it was GREAT!

Shout out to Luke!

Here's a little shout out to my little man Luke, who didn't want to be photographed in the "Steamers" picture. For that you've earned yourself a post! I love you man!

Steamers Christmas Card

So every year we send a picture card to nearly every department in the hospital ( you would be surprised at how many departments there actually are). Last weekend our friend Donni snapped some pics for us.
This one I thought was funny!

This is the one we used.

Notice Luke is NOT in the picture, he wanted no part of this! Lo on the other hand considers herself an employee!

Kaiser

Happy belated birthday Kaiser! He turned 2 October 18Th. In this picture he was 4 months old. Who could resist a puppy that cute!

Thanksgiving

We started Thanksgiving off with the Thanks and Giving Challenge run. My fellow brave girlfriends and I got up and ran a 12K at 8:30 that morning with the temperature all of 32 degrees! Burrr but we felt great afterwards!

The next morning Logan got up and braved the crazy shopping crowds and rang a bell for the Salvation Army with her friend Andi at Fred Meyer. After 2 hours their bucket was FULL!

Joys of Youth

A couple of weeks ago our neighbors Grant and Karrie finished raking leaves and invited Logan over to jump.

Callahan

So I am a little biased, but I think my nephew is one of THE cutest little fellas! My sis had some pics done by MKC Photography (aka the mighty talented Mary) check them out at http://albums.phanfare.com/4906518/3040579#imageID=53605194
PS if you play the slide show have your volume on.

Rally

On November 9Th Lars and I rode in the "Rally for Ed". It was a reminder to us what an amazing community we live in.

For more pictures of this great event check out www.bikewenatchee.org scroll down to bottom of the page and the guy from Wenatchee Outdoors put together a great slide show.

5 Little Facts

1. I have been a vegetarian since 2000.

2. I flew the "friendly skis'" (as a flight attendant with United)

3. On April 14th 2008 Lars and I saw the Dalai Lama and Dave Mathews in one amazing evening!

4. Luke and Lo have been to Hawaii an average of every year they've been born (this will be Lukes 11th time and Lo's 6th)

5. My new years resolution was to use the library more and buy less books...I have failed miserably

A dogs life

Sometimes Obie gives me a look and I can relate!

So glad its almost Friday, I am wiped. The hospital was a wild and crazy place this week!

Twilight

Most of you know I am an avid reader. I like to think I like a wide variety. Hence why I was open to starting a book about Vampires! I heard the hype, but knew that the series was geared towards high schoolers. All in all November 1st I started the first in a series of four by Stephanie Meyer, Twilight (keep in mind they are between 400-600 pages), last Thursday I started New Moon finished Sunday and now onto Eclipse. I am still not sure what the draw is but I can't put it down, its a very easy read, about a teenage vampire love story! The movie comes out November 21st...get reading!

Running?

So this last year was about pushing myself out of my comfort zone. Take on new challenges. And I have to say I had some very liberating moments.
The year started with some cycling goals. Lars and I wanted to do STP (Seattle to Portland). I knew endurance wise with preparation I could make that happen. The challenge for me was riding with thousands of people. So we started in February with Chilly Hilly around Bainbridge Island (highly recommend), then a 60 mile Alefest in April around Lake Wenatchee, June we did our first century ride (100 miles), and July we did STP going 150 miles the first day and staying the night in Kelso WA, finishing the last 57 miles into Portland the next morning (very fun)!
Well around April Lars started getting bored, he decided to sign us up for the 10k in the Wenatchee marathon. Not once in the last 30 years have I ever considered myself a "runner". Low and behold we did it, I'm not sure if the run was fun, but the fact that some of the lovely ladies in my life also ran, I had a blast.
In short that started something....a new goal.. the 1/2 marathon at the Oktoberfest. Thanks goodness for Julee, she signed up and I couldn't back out. We ran the whole thing together, felt great and it was gorgeous. This was my liberating moment.. a year ago I never would've thought I would be capable of it, but here we were 2 gals in our thirties running our 1st 1/2 and did it in under 2 hours (Lars also ran and finished 1hour 49 minutes)!

Julee and I at the finish!

I think we do it for the cool shirts!

The most recent run 10/22 Pumpkin Run. This was a 6k run with no timing chip, the emphasis on family and fun. It was 6k of hill after hill. I didn't know you could get so many hills in such a short distance..needless to say I was a very bitter runner. The lesson I learned was don't go by distance, look at the dang coarse! Not all was lost Luke ran a 2k and Logan ran a 1k with some friends, they enjoyed it way more than their mom!

Lo and her friends getting ready!


Before we ran (I was still happy)

Blogging

OK friends and family, after spending months reading and searching out new blogs, I have decided to enter the world of blogging. Thanks to my sis I may actually be able to do this.


Since I am months, maybe years behind in this we'll start with a visual recap of the summer.

Lars' first triathlon!


Saddlerock



On the way to Lake Colchuck.
Noteworthy: its a 10 mile hike in and out...way
to go Logan!



A visit with Claire