merry merry

west-side story

For Thanksgiving / my birthday, we found a week long stay at a hotel in Makaha available for a great price on Facebook - so, we booked it!  Our family has not spent too much time over there, but it seemed like an "easy" staycation.  So, we packed up all of our important gear (i.e. coffee maker, steamer, rice cooker, etc.) and moved into our week-long getaway.  

Being that it is the "west side"... we weren't sure what to expect with this place and we kept our expectations reasonably low.  Boy were we wrong - the hotel was perfect.  It was basically a one-bedroom apartment with a full (small) kitchen and a lanai that overlooked the ocean.  There was a (cold) pool and a (hot) hot tub right on the beach.  And, the snorkeling right out in front of the hotel was pretty incredible.

Our view from the lanai was so insane that we basically spent every meal out there.  And, once we were done eating, we frequency found ourselves just sitting and staring out at the ocean for minutes on end.

Gordy's cousins happened to be in town while we were holidaying, so we got to spend a few days doing cousin / family time - Gordy could not be more in love with his two older cousins :)

All in all, we were all a little sad to leave our west side hotel, but we do plan to visit it again in the future.  It was an incredibly relaxing stay and it exceeded all of our expectations.

Vaxed

Our last (and only) trip during the pandemic to Piedmont was super fun.  But, since Gordy was not eligible to get the vaccine at the time, we spent the better part of a day trying to get him covid tested within the test window and with results prior to our flight.  After that, we decided no more trips until he was vaxed.

When it was announced that the vaccine was available for kids 5-11, we were over the moon.  That being said, it is Gordy's body and we (mostly I) wanted to make sure that Gordy felt like he had a say in the matter.  So, we explained to him that if he got vaccinated, we would be able to travel again and that he could pick where we went.  His decision - get vaxed, go to the snow, and see Tutu, Pop Pop, and his cousins.  

Todd and I also got our booster at the same time as Gordy's first shot, so our entire family is full up of magnetized blood, CIA tracking devices, and most importantly - antibodies!

officially a swimmer

Due to COVID, kids are not allowed to swim in most public pools on Hawaii.  However, CORP has recently changed their policy to allow kids to lap swim if they can pass a swim test - swim freestyle 25 meters without stopping or holding onto the side / lane lines.  Gordy accepted the challenge and not only made it, but swam 5 additional laps!  Each lap took almost a minute and half, but he made it and he can now swim at CORP!

spooky surprise!

Partially due to COVID and mostly due to our desire to keep Gordy away from candy as long as possible, we've kept our Halloween celebrations pretty low key.  We usually carve a pumpkin, bake up the seeds, decorate the house, dress up in homemade costumes, and then take Gordy to 1-2 houses on our street for trick-or-treating.  Our friends are pretty good about giving him healthy snacks (i.e. mac nuts, raisins, etc.) and he's always been pretty happy with the whole thing.

This year, we still decorated the house, carved a pumpkin, and cooked up the seeds, but Gordy asked if he could trick-or-treat at more houses.  

I told him that we could ask around and see if anyone wanted to participate, but also told him not to get his hopes up since, sadly, our street never gets any trick-or-treaters.  So, last weekend, we made up notes with ribbon on them introducing Gordy and explaining that he was planning to be on the street between 6:30pm and 7pm.  We asked that if anyone wanted any scary creatures visiting their doors, they hang up the ribbon someplace visible.

Almost every day last week Gordy and I would take a stroll through the neighborhood to see if anyone had put their ribbons out.  And, each day we would walk back home with our tails between our legs feeling defeated at not finding any.  

On Halloween day, we finally struck luck!  Three houses had hung up their ribbons (1 after a gentle reminder from Gordy while he was out in his yard)!  So, we confirmed our evening plans with Gordy's best friend, Alia, and we started getting ready.  

Alia and Gordy got their costumes on (scary ghost and queen barb), had their faces painted and glitter added to their cheeks, got their buckets, scavenger hunt list and flashlights ready in hand, and then we all headed out to the street.

As we exited our driveway and turned left onto Kaiea Place, we found a glowing ghost with our ribbon tied onto it at a house that we hadn't counted before!  At the end of the driveway, we found a shark and a witch ready with a bowl of treats accompanied by a friendly cat and bird who replied "hello" to anyone who'd talk to it.  The night was off to a great and surprising start!

We hit the next few houses that had put up their ribbons early and then we decided to check out the rest of street just in case... we found that nearly half of the street was out and ready for us!  We found a dancing flamingo and chicken with disco lights and thriller music, some friends throwing sweets down from their lanai, bowls of treats set outside gates where people weren't home but wanted to support, and of course Oscar kitty.  

Without even finishing the last few houses on our street, we all headed home completely pooped with buckets overflowing.  About 45 mins later, Todd got a call from a neighbor letting us know that we'd missed one house and they were still out there waiting for us!  So, we threw costumes back on and ran to apologize.  This house was the most impressive.  They had made a poster with a message for Gordy and they had made individual goodie bags for Gordy and his friends to fish from over the fence by pulling on some twine.  It was so adorable and so sweet.  They said that this was their first trick-or-treater at this house and they were so excited to get to participate.  

Once we finished up on our street, we made our way to some of our favorite people's house (Victor and Priscilla) where they gave Gordy some homemade brownie bites with frosting ghosts on them.

After our big night's celebration, Gordy was absolutely exhausted.  In between the trick-or treating, he and Alia were wrestling and playing like crazy COVID kids who haven't seen other humans in years.  When they finally stopped, they had sweated off all their face paint and their hair was all wet and stuck to their heads.

Looking back at the night, I'm so grateful to all of our friends and neighbors for what they did.  Everyone went above and beyond what any of us had hoped for and they really made our kids' day the incredible event that it was.  Thank you to everyone for all that you did.  We love you all and we can't thank you enough!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

dolphin friends

To celebrate Nana's birthday this year, we went on a snorkel trip on the west side. We woke up super early, I popped a Dramamine, we all bundled up to stay warm for the windy ride, and we boarded our zodiac with wetsuits, goggles, etc.  

Our first stop was in a small bay where there happened to be a pod of dolphins!  So, our captain let us all slowly and calmly get into the water to see if the dolphins would be interested in us and sure enough, they came right over.  In fact, they left and then came back to check us out 4 times!  We snorkeled around for a bit there and then went to another location where all three of us saw a small reef shark!

Our captain then decided to take us out a bit away from land since we had a boat and we had time and after about 15 minutes, and a short nap for Gordy, we found a new pod of dolphins.  We motored slowly around to see if the dolphins would find us interesting and boy did they!  They were swimming around us on all sides, playing in our boat's wake, and showing off with aerials.  After awhile, they decided that they were finished and they swam away.  We realized that we were in 3,000 ft deep water, so a bunch of us all got in just see what swimming in that deep of water looked / felt like.  It was incredible!  The water was so clear and blue that it looked like it was glowing.  It was also very humbling to be such a small human is such a big place.  

After a few minutes of enjoying the emptiness, we heard squeaking noises that could only have been dolphins.  We popped our heads up and the captain was pointing out a ways saying that the dolphins were on their back and were heading straight towards us.  The next few minutes were some of the coolest that Gordy, Nana, and I have ever experienced - the dolphins came and danced/played around us for minutes.  We all watched and listened to their incredible performance, and then... they said goodbye.  

This was by far the coolest ocean animal experience I've ever had and Gordy talked about it for days afterwards.

worth the risk

It's been 2+ years since we've seen Tutu and Pop Pop in-person.  We've made and then cancelled two different trips due to covid and about a month ago, we finally decided that now was as good a time as any to risk it.  So far (we are not yet out of the window for symptoms to arise), it was worth the risk!  

We spent four full days in and around Piedmont, CA with the Sells and Feldman families and, while we are happy to be home, we all had a wonderful time.

Gordy and Pop Pop shook the lemon tree (multiple times per day due to Gordy's prompting) and they made many batches of lemonade for everyone to enjoy.

Gordy got to go to Tutu's marking room (a second hand shop) where he picked out one fun thing to take home - a science kit.

Amanda and I took Gordy and Tyler to Fairyland where the two of them bonded quickly and then giggled themselves silly in the pizza place while we waited for lunch.

We went swimming with his cousins at the pool where Gordy was able to jump off the diving board for the first time in 2+ years.  According to Gordy, this was his favorite part of the trip :)

We (and the kids) enjoyed the hot tub.

We spent breakfasts at Tutu and Pop Pop's breakfast nook consuming yummy coffee and Tutu's famous apricot jam on any and every starchy vessel available.

We went on a cool 4.5 mile hike/walk almost to the bay bridge.

All three of use enjoyed having a puppy around.

We took the kids on a real steam train in the mountains.

And, most importantly, we enjoyed some much needed family time with so many loved ones who we haven't been able to see for way too long.

We were all sad to leave, but we will not wait so long next time before a return visit.  Fingers crossed that Gordy is able to be vaccinated sooner rather than later, and three of us will feel much more comfortable about venturing out again.

Till next time Sells and Feldmans - thank you for making our trip as wonderful as it was!