More Oahu

The rest of our family Hawaii time was as blissful as the first half.

Nephew E chillin' with an ice cream as big as his face:

Niece E with her Uncle C:

The ever-present kite-surfers at Kailua beach and the state park in walking distance of our house:

My amazing dad, who at age 70 was out there boogie-boarding with the rest of us:

Sis K with her baby:

One day we took a short hike to a waterfall, guided by sweet (local) family friend N.

The most hilarious part of the hike was that niece E said she wanted to find the biggest walking stick she could carry, and I jokingly found her this beast...

...which she ended up carrying on the ENTIRE hike, mostly over her shoulder like she was some sort of lumberjack, even while she carried a smaller and more manageable walking stick to actually help her hike.

Thanksgiving dinner was delicious, and especially sweet since I've been at South Pole the past two Thanksgivings and am really happy to be back with my family for the holidays this year.

WAY too soon this time is over; I'm not sure any other 10 days of my life have ever gone as quickly as these past 10 did. Wish we could just start right over again with it all.

But, time to move on to the next part of the Great Thawing Out vacation. I'll be back soon with my next missive coming to you from a place completely new to me....

Hawaii redux

Four years ago, shortly before I left Denver to resume a vagabonding life, my family took a trip to Hawaii together that was so beautiful that for months afterward I got teary just thinking about it. Maybe because I must be one of the luckiest people on the planet, this Thanksgiving found us in the exact same rental house in Kailua (Oahu) that we stayed in four years ago. Family vacation Take II.

This is my sweetly chaotic reunion with the fam after more than a year on ice. It has been completely wonderful, even if I'm a little more prone right now to getting overwhelmed by so many people and so much going on all at once after all those months of relatively quiet predictability at Pole.

In some ways it feels like no time has passed since we were last here together. But then I look at the kiddos and realize how different things are now with them. Four years past--and having 6-to-12 year-olds as part of our crew, which is fundamentally different than being on a trip with a troupe of 2-to-8 year-olds--makes for a new experience, for sure. So still sweet, though. And getting focused time with my brother and his wife (a way-too rare occurence) is always special, and seeing the familiar family dynamics in action, and, and, and--

Anyway, some shots from the first half of our time here....

The first thing the kids wanted to do as soon as we got to the house, even though dusk was falling:

Niece R is loving repeatedly marveling at how hopelessly pale I am, and we took this pic on day one as a "guess who's been at the South Pole for the past year" joke. In my defense, my sister (on the left) is also very fair. I guess not as ghostly white as I am at the moment, though neither of us will ever have the gift of turning instantly golden brown as R (second from left) did the moment we got here. Oh, and this picture apparently proves that I (next down the line) have chicken legs, to boot. Oh, well. (For the record, I HAVE gotten SOME color since this picture was taken.)

Nephew E's trip so far: Play in sand till covered head to toe. Jump in ocean to rinse. Repeat.

One night we all went into Honolulu for Chinese food and a U of Hawaii women's volleyball match (against U of Santa Barbara), which is obviously THE thing to do around here.

But then everyone got right back into the ocean.

Or in trees.

Or sand.

And the adults who are not senior citizens (or suffering from an unfortunately timed sprained ankle--sorry, bro-in-law!) took a surfing lesson in Haleiwa.

Okay. Enough for now. One more Hawaii post to come, as the days continue to fly by WAY too fast.

Happy Thanksgiving!

House at beach

Welcome to beautiful Kailua, Hawai'i! 

My mom is calling the style of the rental house "beach shabby," and it's true, it's a little worse for the humidity and wear on the inside, but hey!: it sleeps all 11 of us.... 

...and how could you say anything negative with a view out the living room window like this one?:

So this is what we're calling our backyard for this week on Oahu:

And the kids are LOVING the beach, though they're having a hard time embracing the fact that there is sand EVERYWHERE, including in places they didn't know they had. I love the little kiddo footprints next to the adult ones.

And they love the water, with the amazingness of Kailua beach making up for the fact that we're on the windier side of the island. My dad's friends who steered us toward this spot said that it was the "calmer" side of the island, which my mom interpreted to mean "less windy," though it turns out they meant "less crowded." I don't really care; I'll take it all...