Thanksgiving and Nobe and Krusti Come to Visit

I think it should count as a tradition now after two years, right? We were lucky once again to have Noah and Kristi and their four kids come from San Diego to visit for the last week of November. This is especially special because they were in the midst of buying a house and subsequently moving to Orange County AND Kristi is pregnant and pretty sick for those first 26 weeks or so, so she was surely miserable, but didn't let us know. We are so tickled that we still took precedence over all those other minor complications... 

Almost immediately after they arrived, Noah helped Jonah work on the traditional Thanksgiving imu (hangi for you NZ folk), or pit cooker/earth oven. We put in two turkeys this year and oops, they didn't get done in time. BUT, they still tasted delicious once they finally cooked. 

The kids got extra muddy and sandy during their visit, so we got some good use out of the outdoor tub. Po is sandwiched in age between Cubby and Bennett, so she loves the party of having these two cousins around!

Elsie is about 18 months older than Lyla, but Noah and Kristi have some tall kids and I have short ones, so these girls are pretty much twins--twin little princesses. 

Here's Noah working on the imu. It's quite the process!

Somehow, once again, no photos of the Thanksgiving dinner! What is my problem?! But, since Bennett's second birthday was the same day as Thanksgiving this year, we also did a b-day celebration with some of the Thanksgiving pineapple pie. 

We had lots of beach adventures, including this glorious Thanksgiving morning surf and stroll... 

And a couple days later we visited Boat Ramp beach, and though it was a bit overcast, we all had a good time... 

We did a day-long Lahaina side visit and got to explore the Banyan Tree forest at the mouth of Honolua Bay....

  

(Guess who didn't like being up in a tree this high...)

We caught some sweet boogie boarding waves at DT Fleming Beach... (I was SO sad to not be able to boogie board thanks to this belly... I should've taken my friend's advice and cut a big belly hole in a boogie board and gone in anyway...)

  

  

And we of course finished our Lahaina-side day with a trip to Black Rock and the Sheraton Hotel. 

Noah's going for it!

My kids CANNOT pass this Sheraton mural without posing for photos. 

All the surfing, beaching, early mornings with Cubby and Bennett, playing with My Little Ponies, and cooking wore these two stellar dads out. 

We also had many Upcountry adventures, including a Sunday evening visit to Pulehu Chapel, the first LDS Church in the Hawaiian islands...

But I don't know how those early Hawaiian pioneers enjoyed church services with little kids... talk about an echo! Every noise any kid makes reverberates immensely. BUT, it does make for some nice acoustics for singing...

We also went for some hikes and of course hit more beaches, but mostly we enjoyed having the Noah and Kristi family here. Love it so much! Hope they keep the tradition alive for years to come!

And finally, here is our Thankful Tree before it was retired to make room for Christmas decorations. We are so thankful!!