Dance Recital

Sadie has been attending a creative movement dance class (pre-ballet) She had her recital on Saturday. She loved it and especially enjoyed watching the older girls perform real ballet on toe shoes. It really got her more excited about dancing...she was dancing the rest of the day. Even as we were shopping at Costco, there was Sadie doing her turns and leaps through the aisles.

Sadie's ballet friends

She even got to wear make-up for her performance

Sadie's dance was not choreographed...Miss Janie let the girls dance freely with a few props. I got a little video of the performance.

It's Raining It's Pouring

It really has been pouring here on Kauai, A LOT. I feel so bad for the tourists that have been here through all of it. There has been some flooding around the island. But the rain hasn't stopped the kids from having fun. Tonight they got their boogie boards out and skimboarded on all our puddles in our lawn in back...didn't get the camera out in time. These photos are from a couple of days ago.

Safety Art

That's Cole hiding under the Layton Construction hard hat and safety glasses. Cole's artwork will be in Layton's Safety Calendar this year. He got his award, hard hat, glasses, and a gift certificate at the Layton Christmas Party on Friday. Cole drew and colored a skatepark with all the skaters wearing their pads and helmets.

Our Norfolk Pine

I had a hard time deciding whether to get a Hawaiian Christmas tree also known as a Norfolk Pine or a traditional mainland Christmas tree... I finally decided on the Hawaiian tree. The Norfolk doesn't have the nice piney smell and it's a little harder to decorate, especially putting the lights on. But with Jason's, Cole's, and my friend Ronny's help...I finally got all the lights wired on and the kids were able to hang their ornaments. We are still using my mom's angel for a topper as well as some of her old ornaments. Thanks Mom! I guess Christmas can come now.

the finished products on the tree

making ornaments

Yes, We have a fireplace! ...and the night we made our ornaments it was actually cool enough, for the first time, that we all wanted a fire. It almost felt like winter with the fire, the cool air outside, and the Christmas music playing as the kids worked on their creations.

This is the only photo we got of us actually working on the ornaments. We got a bunch of pictures of past Christmases and made popsicle stick frames with the hot glue gun and then spray painted them gold and trimmed them with glitter, beads, stickers, and bells. The kids had fun and were excited to put them on our tree that we didn't have yet.

Lights on Rice Parade

One of our favorite Kauai traditions is the anual Christmas Light Parade. This year Cole got to be in it. He has been singing all season with the school show choir called the Sunshine Express. Hawaiian Style Santa?

patiently waiting before the parade started

The Sunshine Express

Cole singing with the Sunshine Express

cool lights

Zippin

We went ziplining for Jason's birthday....it was a gorgeous day and a gorgeous setting on the Princeville Ranch.

A little video footage

Birthday for the Coleman

Cole planned and organized his own birthday party this year. He wanted a few of his closest friends to come over and play a few traditional party games. The boys had a great time and were laughing hysterically most of the time. It was one of the most fun and relaxing birthday parties for me...I may put Cole in charge of all of our birthday parties from now on.

Giving Thanks In Hawaii

Thanksgiving happened to fall on Cole's Birthday this year. So we let him decide where we would have our turkey feast. It just so happened that we got invited to eat with two of Cole's friends' families. The other option...a feast with the Layton group (Jason's co-workers) It wasn't hard for Cole to decide...and the kids had an amazingly fun time having nerf gun wars in the jungle and eating pumpkin crunch.

One of the kids favorite activities is scoop netting...they are getting really good at catching some very cool sea creatures. We spent our Thanksgiving evening scoop netting by sunset and then Jason took Aidan and Sadie for a short night dive.

Brittle star, Wana, and Sea slug

cole, sadie, nainoa, brandon, shane, gabe, jenna, and aidan