Thanksgiving has come and gone and the tree just went up the other day. Things are going well in Hawaii and the weather is perfect! Who would ever want to live in the cold (sorry to all of you who are enduring sub freezing temps, snow, and arctic winds)?
The photos below are another sampling of the last month of so; certainly some wacky and amazing moments. Enjoy!
Super Dad and his side-kick Super Leif
The boy loves to bake
Wish we had a button that said "Look! I dressed myself!"
For Thanksgiving we packed up two coolers worth of food and beverages and hit the beach. We went over to one of our all time favorites, Lanikai and it was beautiful as usual. We stayed for a few hours and then made our way to the North Shore to have a picnic lunch under the Ko'Olau mountains. After that we stopped at the legendary Sunset beach to watch some big waves pounding the coast (not even close compared to what was to come in the near future); the second leg of the Vans Triple Crown of Surfing would be starting in a couple of days.
Loving Lanikai beach on Thanksgiving
Trapping mom with a rope
Love that smile!
Leif the Science Kid conducting another experiment with ice.
Belly showing beneath the Ko'olaus
Silly boy making silly faces
Leif and Dad hanging at the beach on Thanksgiving
A great way to spend Thanksgiving!
Amanda and Cory on the North Shore, photo by Leif
Sweet boy hiding
Round 2 of the Vans Triple crown of surfing: Sunset Beach
In the week that followed we started to get ready for Christmas. One day when Amanda needed some time to focus on her projects Leif and Dad went out for the day and ended up getting a "whole huge denormous pile" of balloons. If you know this boy and his fixation with balloons, you know that he was shaking with excitement as Dad blew up every single balloon. Phew!
It must be heaven
Leif also loved helping decorate the house and the Christmas tree. He has learned that he only gets to touch the "soft" or non-breakable ornaments and that is fine with him. He is also doing ok with the presents so far. Only a few were taken back to his room to be played with (still in the wrapping, though).
Finding a perfect spot for an ornament
Helping mom decorate the tree
Whoa-ho-o!! It might be chocolate!
Thank you Grandma!
Later in the week, the surf forecasts were calling for some of the biggest surf on the North Shore in 20 years. This also meant that the Quicksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau Big Wave Surf Contest (a.k.a The Eddie) was likely to go. The Eddie is only held when waves are consistently above 30 feet in face heights for the day. The last Eddie was held in 2004 but this is not to say that there have not been big enough swells, we had two near 40 feet last year, the conditions were just not ideal. This year was all but perfect. Cory took the day off from school (sorry students) and left at 4:30 in the morning so he could get a place to park. He arrived at Waimea Bay at 5:15 and only had to park 1 mile away! The beach was already packed. It was reported that over 30,000 people were at the Bay that day. Anyhow, it was a once in a life time experience for sure.
Eddie would go...and it was big!
An ominous morning
Party ride...sharing the aloha
Hazardous conditions to say the least (40+ft)! Shoots! 18 ft scares me!
The Eddie was BIG!!! 30-40+ foot waves...omg!
Kelly Slater after his near perfect 98 monster ride
The Bay will call the day...it's on!!
15 ft shore break...simply impressive
In two days Cory will be running the Honolulu Marathon (12-13-09) and pictures of his nearly lifeless corpse will follow; likely on our Christmas post. So until then, have a great holiday season!
Aloha and mele kalikimaka!!
Cory, Amanda, Leif, and "Boo"