Mahalo

November was a lovely blur of homeschooling, garage sales (they do them year round here!), and lots and lots of beach time!

We also found a great house that we are trying to buy, but for another month or so we are still in our cute little rental. Our landlady is the nicest, most fun lady ever. The kids love her and she lets them come help her with her jam company. One morning she taught them to make cinnamon rolls. Mmmmmm.

On good mornings, the kids get up early and get their homeschooling and piano practice done by noon so that we can go do something like go to the park or library or beach. Then at 5pm, we head back here so the kids can go to swim team, which is every day for an hour. (Even if she’s been surfing and boogie boarding all day, Ana still swims like a maniac for the whole hour. Cam more easily tuckers out, but he’s getting stronger.) Then we come home and have dinner and send the kids to bed.

Po gets up early at 6:30-7 every day and eats non-stop until she takes her morning nap from 10-Noon. Then she takes an afternoon nap either at home or in the car for 2-3 hours.  She goes to bed right after dinner at 7-7:30.

Elsie’s the only one without a schedule. We try to get her to practice reading or coloring during the mornings, but the other three kids require a lot of supervision, so Elsie just has to fend for herself. During swim team, I usually take her to the park, but sometimes she just has to sit in the car because Po is asleep. We are excited to move to a more cozy neighborhood where we will hopefully have some other kids around for her to play with. We’ve been doing some Joy School with her individually, but we’d love to get a group going here on Maui if we can. Next semester will be her last before kindergarten, so I really better get going on that…

We’ve loved having such a lax schedule, and we’ve tried to use it to enjoy the simple surprises of life, like this double orange—gorgeous.

Po has been getting more and more interested in efficient ways of destroying the whole house. Here she is attacking Ana’s new favorite toy, an American Girl doll.

Speaking of the American Girl dolls, Ana just woke up one morning and wanted a doll. She’s read all the books and checks out the American Girl magazine from the library, but she’s hasn’t been interested in dolls since she was two. Well, she woke up, decided she wanted one, found one on Craigslist that a lady was selling, tracked the lady down and harassed her with emails, set up a time to go get the doll, gave us directions, counted out her money, and then we went there and she negotiated the purchase and got the lady to give her a good price on some accessories too. I was still puzzled that she wanted a doll, and she had already bought one. Anyway, now she divides her obsession between American Girl, horses, making money, and surfing (more on that later).

Thanksgiving with the Cobines

We were so thrilled to have our good good friends from Saint George come all the way to Maui to spend Thanksgiving with us. We also got a visit from them the day after Thanksgiving last year, so I guess they knew what they were in for… except that we didn’t have new baby piglets to play with or farm-fresh turkey leftovers, but we made up for it with lots of sunshine and warmth, which we didn’t provide last year at all.

Anyway, Cam was glad to reunite with his buddy Hadley, and we only really heard from them when it was time to eat or sleep. They’ve been friends since they were three, so they just blend together like no time has passed.

Also, my step-brother Max came over from Oahu where he is studying at BYU-Hawaii. My kids loved hanging on and playing checkers with Max. He was great fun to have around!

The Cobines rented a house up in the mountains and it was perfect. It had a big kitchen and lots of sleeping space, so they were nice a comfortable up there. We used the kitchen to cook Thanksgiving dinner since our kitchen accommodates one and our table sits four. We went to the beach every day, spending each day on a different side of the island. The first day we were in the Kihei area.

And on Thanksgiving we were on the North Shore and Ho’okipa… where we saw about a dozen turtles in the surf!

Everytime you looked in the curl of a wave, a turtle was there swimming around. I even saw one almost get hit by a surf board. It was gnarly.

Not the best photo, I know, but I wanted to remember how Elsie never hangs out with her own family at the beach. She always looks for a family or group that looks like they are having lots of fun and they might have a mom who is more willing to play in the waves with her than I am…. then she zones in and acts extra cute at first so they will adopt her for the day, then she becomes more and more demanding as the day goes by. When I see that look of desperation on the mom’s face as Elsie is wrapped around her neck in the waves, I usually step in and make Elsie rejoin her real family.

Eventually we made it back up to the house for a delicious and sublime Thanksgiving meal made by Amy. Mmmmmm. I would single out one dish, but it was all perfect. She is a true master.

Friday was the last day with the Cobines, so we went to the Lahaina side of the island so they could show us their favorite beach. But first we stopped at one of our favorites so the kids could try some surfing.
Cam and Hadley just practiced diving into the waves.

Po has FINALLY stopped eating sand by the handful. She’s got other problems to worry about now….

Ana hasn’t caught too many big waves, but she is getting really good at paddling and getting up on some good sized pushers. She’ll spend hours out there and it makes me worry that she’ll get addicted before we know it. But I have to say, her hair was made to be on the beach...so we may just have to go with it.

After some car troubles, we finally made it to the Cobine’s favorite beach at Kapalua. It was a gorgeous beach and the sunset was spectacular.

I know, I know. I am one lucky girl.
Ana wants me to point out that this photo makes him look like a giant carrying an old lady by the head.

If Elsie overcomes her balance issues, she may love surfing too. For now, though, we’ll keep her on shore.

AHH! Babies falling from the sky!

Sadly the Cobines had to leave on Friday night, but they were on their way to Waikiki for a week, so I didn’t feel too sorry for them. Max had to leave Saturday afternoon after we took him up to the top of Haleakala so he could experience icy cold temperatures while still in Hawaii. He also was going back to Oahu, so I didn’t feel too sorry for him either.

We are so THANKFUL for friends and family and for this beautiful earth! Happy Thanksgiving!