Ringing in 2016 in Maui

This makes our 3rd annual New Year's with the Knerrs and we couldn't be happier about it! Maui, it turns out, is fairly awesome. It was a bit harder to get there this year than Kauai was last year, maybe because we're ON THE MAINLAND now #sadface. But well worth the extra effort all the same!

Our first adventure had us rappelling down waterfalls. Yeah, we did that. Cause that's how we roll. And it was every bit as cool as it sounds. 

We got all geared up in our awesomely dorky helmets- but I think we pulled them off quite well in any case. The vests were a pain, they fit some of us better than others (ahem, Long Tall).  

First waterfall was not insanely huge, but VERY cool and fun for us beginning rappellers. Nothing quite like trying to find your footing on a slippery cliff wall while leaning way back and trusting the equipment and your guides to not let you fall, bashing your broken body all the way down the rocky cliff while your face is pelted with cold water falling from said cliff ledge. I mean, I wasn't imagining that happening at all, I'm just saying in case some  people were. You know, cause I'm empathetic like that.

Matthias managed to leave behind some skin on our first test rappel- which was incredibly muddy since it was raining AS we were walking out to begin our adventure. Obviously, I was suitably impressed. My rule about fun is you're not having it unless SOMEONE gets hurt. Usually me, so I was ok with passing the torch this time. Also, *knock on wood* I'm getting better about being less klutzy when I do *fun* things. 

Victory selfie

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Our next adventure in the trip had us doing two dives at different sites. The first was cool, lots of fish, some honu, cool coral... but the SECOND... Well shoot DANG! It is official, I am a mermaid at heart.

As we begin our descent Guy gives his shaka. We took all these on the GoPro, but several are screen captures from video, so the quality is not quite as high as the photos.

Matthias displays his glorious find... SO many treasures to find!

I found two as well- the biggest, coolest wana shells I've found EVER naturally and I left them in the rental car. I was sick over that for days. Still am, if we're being honest.

WHITE TIP REEF SHARK!!!!! Look at this guy, he is so chill. He literally did not move from this spot while we swam around him oohing and aahing in giddy scuba diver delight. Also my first shark encounter in the open ocean (aka not in a shark cage).

Just about to dive down through this arch... see all those fish in there? That never got old, swimming down through all the arches and wreckage and exploring tons of crazy formations. Ariel's Grotto, I tell you what.

Found this guy hiding as we swam through said arches... just chillin in the deep. There is something so absolutely thrilling about joining these creatures in their natural habitat, seeing what they do down here unda da sea.

Camas about to dive deeper down to explore the coral. I cherish the fact that we are able to vacation with these two. It is nonstop fun and great conversation- except when underwater, then it's fun only.

Diving through another cool arch finds still more little fishies hiding just behind the lip.

Group shot! Honu joined for this one and brought a couple buddies with. We thanked him after and got his autograph.

Back to School! (Finally)

Six weeks.

That's how much school the littles missed during the course of our move.

So their first day of school was a random Wednesday in late Sept and they may or may not have had such things as pencils, paper, backpacks, etc.... (Ok, here's my dirty little secret... This picture was their second day of school. Shhhh...)

But they got there. Nervous, uncertain, apprehensive, but they got there. I wondered how they'd all do thru the day. Xandri had a field trip to start off with.

When I left after dropping them off, Roman had been surrounded by about 6 little boys, 2-3 of whom claimed knowing him from church (so glad we went that Sunday!); Avril was deep in conversation with another girl walking down the soccer field; Xandri was hugging herself in the field trip bus line looking lonely and scared and worried.... My heart broke a little bit for that one! So naturally I was a bit worried about their day.

When they got home on the bus though, they were all smiles, full of energy and excitement and stories about their day and new friends. I loved hearing it (all at once lol) and was so relieved to hear what a good day and what new friends they made. I think living in a military town will be a good experience for them!

Three Baby Mice

We're working on respecting other's space and property. You know, like not walking into someone's house and immediately looking behind all closed doors and opening up all their cupboards to see all their stuff. Or in this case going through the big basement room and looking through Uncle Nic's stuff. 

On the other hand, this behavior may have its pros. They managed to find 3 baby mice- which I'm sure Nic is delighted to be without. 

Well, technically they found 6... but only 3 were still squeaking upon discovery. The others received a quick and painless garbage can burial. 

Grandpa wasn't really a fan of them if we're being honest. His vote was to kill em all- pronto! My sweet little animal activists were too delighted by their cuteness of course, so we made them a little cardboard graham cracker box house with grass inside for them to nest in. Then we gave them some rice and some leftover oatmeal, which they chowed down on. I even carved a little mouse water bowl out of a watermelon rind. Yep, we pulled out all the stops for Baby Mouse Hotel. 

I even promised them we could take them home and keep them as pets. 

I figured they likely wouldn't survive that long. 

They were totally enamored. Always checking on them, oo-ing and ah-ing every time they moved or ate or blinked or snuggled up with each other. They were pretty darn cute.

Unfortunately while we were playing with them outside, one scrambled around Xandri's hand and fell- pretty far and hard- to land on the sidewalk. It lay and twitched for a bit, but seemed to recover a little. We put him back in the box and tried to nurse him a bit. 

He did well with his siblings... but then they escaped (they were outside at the time, don't worry Grandpa) and he was on his own. The next morning we found him- he didn't make it thru the night. 

The kids were fairly upset... but they also moved on pretty quickly. They were happy to have played with them and happy that they were safely away from that mean Grandpa who wanted them dead! So all's well that ends well I guess... We'll see how long we last without adopting some other creature(s)!

Sunset Beach Bunkers

One thing I'm loving about staying on North Shore right now is staying on North Shore! It's seriously my favorite part of the island (ok, who are we kidding, all the parts are my favorite parts), but less accessible for us than most. You know, like make it a special weekend trip sorta thing. Maybe that has more to do with how slacktastic we've gotten about traveling though... I mean, really, it's a 45 min drive. 

But back to my point- I've always felt like there's too much to do up on North Shore that you simply can't do a day trip and consider yourself fulfilled. So there are tons of little things this week that I've always wanted to just BE up here to do... like random hikes for example.

This bunker hike was seriously cool- and the kids were, for the most part, troopers. Avril was having a rough time, she wasn't feeling well. Hence her presence in ONE picture here and that unknowingly and unwillingly!

The kids loved exploring the graffittied out bunker and were so excited to check everything out that they kept getting upset that Dad wasn't being interesting (he was on the phone taking care of moving business)

but they still managed to be plenty interesting themselves, of course. Starting with "Mom, take a picture of me!"

which turned into "Xandri, take a picture of us!"

After we thoroughly explored the bunker, we went outside to check out the crazy cool landscape- these boulders are seriously rad. Like, seriously. 

So the kids wanted to climb on them, which turned into posing. Xandri kept just standing there, not smiling. I finally showed her the pictures and said, "Xandri, is that really what you want your pictures to look like?!" 

She said, "Mom! How do you expect me to look all serious when I'm smiling?!" 

Click.

She wanted to have a TOUGH and SERIOUS shot- ergo, she was doing it on purpose- but not due to bad attitude lol. So I gave her some coaching in power posing and the serious face and I think we got what she wanted. She's so darn cute though! That's definitely a handicap when one is going for toughness.

Unless you're this guy. He's somehow managed to harness cuteness and toughness all in the same look.... my heart melts at the same time I take a step back, "Whoa, Mister, calm down... no need to get angry, sir!"

This rock formation- two large boulders resting together and creating the space below them- was claimed by Max as his home. If I were a badger I'd seriously find somewhere else to nest. 

Dad finally got off the phone and to prove to Xandri that he was adventurous and interesting began being adventurous and interesting. Wish I'd gotten a clear shot of her face in this shot, but suffice it to say all was forgiven. 

Xandri found her 'home'- definitely made me curious about our predecessors, I'll say that much!

This was the part where Max got HANGRY. The fact that we failed to bring water bottles (I will absolve myself on this point- I did instruct the kids to bring some... but like most children their age, they suffer from selective hearing. 

This was the part where I realized it really was time to start heading back. Derek and the Middles had ranged on, exploring to their adventurous little hearts' content and these two were completely falling apart. It was definitely time to start meandering back down the trail.

We headed down the trail, slowly.... and when the others realized we were leaving they freaked out and ran to catch up- which I'd known they would do- and after fielding their accusations of abandonment, I offered Derek proof of α and Ω's (you know, the Bookends) plight.... which he then took a photo of... which, naturally, needed another photo outside that. Cause that's just the way we roll. 

It's Time to Say Goodbye

We are gonna miss this gorgeous island when we move.

Yes, it's official. This is the official announcement of our impending departure from this lovely isle. It has been our home for 5 glorious years and is deeply a part of us- the people, the climate, the trees, the ocean, the hikes, the beaches... everything about this paradise has found a place in our hearts. I am so grateful for the chance we've had to raise our kids here for 5 years. 

So many good and diverse people, experiences and places- I really couldn't ask for a better place to call home. I will take forever going through all the millions (ok, maybe thousands. It seems like millions!) of pictures we've taken to document our experiences- D is definitely a bit miffed I've dropped the ball so severely on blogging! 

But come August, on we go to another new adventure, a new chapter in our lives. I'm glad it's Arizona, though- although it's ocean-less, it's still warm and will ease us gently back into seasons (the city we're moving to is at a higher elevation- about 10-15 degrees cooler than the rest of the state!). It'll be a different experience- one that I personally am hoping includes a pool and a giant Jacuzzi tub in the master bath! Oh and a dishwasher certainly wouldn't go amiss...

But no worries Hawai'i. 

We'll be back.

Girl got some AIR!

Went from kitty to dragon to puffer fish... dragon pictured here

Honing his boogie boarding skills

We don't have snowballs. We have sandballs. 

Buried alive

Transformation into snickerdoodle complete

Mummified 

Happiest mummy I've ever seen revitalized

Gonna spend as much time here as possible before we fly!

Evening on the Beach

Our favorite beach these days is on the west side- which makes for fantastic sunsets! Which also means that if we're there at the right time we also have fantastic lighting. These photos are SOOTC (straight out of the camera), completely unedited. 

Anyway, even though we hit the road later than we should have (we paid dearly in time spent in traffic- 20 min of drive time turned into an hour!), the beach was perfect- the water was warm, the sky was gorgeous, view amazing and the beach, as usual, uncrowded. 

The kids got right to work getting soaked and building sand cities.

Roman is pointing out the various important buildings in his town: the church, the temple, Tripler and our house. He later added a tree- a grapeless grape stem.

I took Mr. Max out into the water- that boy is a water baby through and through! He loves the ocean, the pool, his baths and the shower and asks for at least one of those on a daily basis. So when we get to the beach, you can bet he'll be pulling someone big out to the water to play with him. 

Aside: His favorite things these days? All of his assortment of balls (soccer, beach, basket-, volley-, etc- if it's round and it bounces it belongs to him!), his boogie board, his skateboard and anything with wheels. Oh and his bubble blower. It's shaped like a gun and has those little foam fan wheels that blow the bubbles. He uses it like a gun, plants his feet in a nice, wide stance, gives his best threatening baby glare, takes aim and blows a terrifyingly gentle breeze on his intended victim. With sound effects. End of aside.

Since the lighting was so perfect, Derek snagged the camera and started snapping away and since I was in a bikini at the beach it started to turn into a Halle Berry/Ursula Andress-esque Bond girl beach scene- which.... well, a picture's worth a thousand words.

 You gotta hand it to the kid- she's a natural photo bomb!

Xandri of course was not far behind- these girls are so fun!

I took over the camera and caught a few ponderous shots of Derek enjoying a perfect scene.

Then the real fun began- a couple had brought their little toy chihuahua puppy to the beach for the first time. She was SO tiny, it was seriously a miracle she didn't get swept into the ocean! Of course the kids all fawned all over her, it was love at first sight. Max was fascinated by a puppy so small (and shaky).

Xandri's compulsion towards all things cute kicked into high gear and I'm pretty sure in her heart she took over ownership of the little thing. 

 

And of course Roman couldn't miss out on the action. The little thing was wrapped up nice and snug and Roman stood and snuggled and talked to her so sweetly.

Even Derek couldn't resist the pull!

And the end of the day looked like this:

I love my life.