Happy Halloween!!!

Halloween has not been a holiday for us this year. Rather, it is a season. We started out the Falloween season with a halloween party for the girls. The Giles family had the party. Kyleigh is just between their two oldest girls, and Katelyn is the same age as their youngest. There were 17 kids, I repeat... 17 kids participating in the party. That doesn't include the babies, of which there were 2 sets of twins. Wendi is so brave. The kids had a total blast decorating haunted houses and pumpkins, doing a costume parade and playing games.



Next was the cub scout halloween pack meeting (for those of you who don't know Rusty and I are den leaders. Rusty also serves in the elders quorum presidency). Each of the boys had a game planned. Rusty and I kept things moving and did a decorate your own cupcake and make a pop up ghost card booth. It turned out really well. All of the boys enjoyed being in charge of a game and all of the families had fun.



Rusty and I went to a costume party last weekend. We had tons of fun there, too. Rusty was a washing machine, complete with dirty socks on the top. I was a dryer, complete with a picture of my own clean laundry behind the dryer door. Mike and Holly were the burger king and dairy queen.



We carved a pumpkin for family home evening on Monday. Katelyn has had a terrible rash and had already had her bath for the night, so she didn't get into it too much. Kyleigh played with the pumpkin guts until it was a smooth ball of schmooooog. She wanted to keep it in the fridge and try to bake it the next day. We made her throw it away and once again we were the meanest parents ever. What to do, what to do.



Tuesday night was trunk or treating/games/chili cook-off at the church. It started to rain before the trunk or treating so it was actually table or treating. The people in our ward are so generous. They give out chips, full size candy bars in cute bags, toys, cookies, pretzels, and handfuls of candy. It is nothing like a student ward. For trunk or treating Katelyn dressed up as a box of laundry detergent. Get it... to go with the washer and dryer. Kyleigh was cinderella. That's kind of a stretch of the imagination. Cinderella doing laundry in her ball gown? Naiya was a small fry... with the burger king and dairy queen. Holly whipped Naiya's costume up a few hours before the trunk or treating. Notice the fry's and her ketchup headband. Seriously, have you ever seen anything so cute?

GG and Gpa and Nama and Papa both sent the girls a box of Halloween fun. We have been drinking from our pumpkin cups, eating candy, playing with the halloween finger puppets, wearing fun headbands, etc. The girls get so excited when a package comes for them.


The Peterson's brought us over a fabulous plate of halloween goodies one night. There were spiders, eyeballs, and the whole nine yards. I have never gotten a plate of Halloween goodies. How fun is that!



We leave for Boise on the night of the 30th, so our celebration is not over yet.



Happy Halloween to everyone.

Golf Ball Sort

A few posts ago talked about the golf ball hike that we frequent at Kukuiolono Golf Course and Park. We continue to go on our golf ball hike and this is the second half of the hike, the golf ball sort. "The sort" is Rusty's favorite part. He likes to collect golf balls and I like to collect books. We have a mutual agreement; I am excited about the huge box of golf balls on the back porch and he is excited when I bring home ten more childrens books from the thrift store that won't fit on our bookshelf. He decides if a ball goes in the keeper box or the driving range container. Kyleigh helps daddy decide where the balls go and she and Katelyn both distribute them to their new homes. Jake chases the balls that Katelyn purposely throws on the deck, then she yells "NO AKE, NO." I count the balls as they are put in their places and then we all ooh and ahh at how many balls we found (usually around 100).

Orca Whale

Yesterday we got a call from Holly as we were eating breakfast. She told us that there was a baby Orca whale on Brenneke's beach in Poipu. We finished breakfast and jumped in the car to see the baby whale. We have seen lots of monk seals and a sea turtle on the beach, but this was quite a site. I have since learned that orca whale do not traditionally habitate the waters near Hawaii, so where this whale came from is anybody's guess. It was scratched up and being pushed back and forth by the surf. It's underside had terrible scratch marks from being dragged over rocks. Behind him in the surf were tiger sharks waiting for some dinner. He was still alive when we were there, but we later found out that they euthanized him and put him on a flatbed truck to take him to a burial spot. It was a big deal. I would say atleast 150-200 people were there when we were there. They had a traditional Hawaiian blessing on the beach for the whale. It was amazing to see the whale, but the situation was so terrible for this whale that it just made your heart go out to it.

Mischief maker

Uh Oh. No wet wipes. There was a whole box. Where did they go?

It seems someone has put them ALL in the TOILET. They then tried to flush them.

Who do you think it was?

Don't look now, she can tie her shoes!

This year, for various reasons, we are doing homeschool kindergarten. We are learning lots of things, but sometimes it is hard to quantify how much KyKy is learning. This is one absolute. She can tie her shoes!!!

Kyleigh's 5th Birthday

It's official- Kyleigh is a big five year old. I know it is a little late to be posting her birthday, as it was on August 26th, but better late than never. Kyleigh had 4 birthday parties in 3 states for her 5th birthday. The first was in Idaho with G-pa, GG, and cousins. The second in New Mexico with Nama, Papa, and cousins. The third in Hawaii with the fam (us and Mike, Holly, and Naiya). The fourth in Hawaii with her friends. Each of the parties was so fun.
At her first friend party ever we had a craft theme. The kids did a treasure hunt to find a bag craft kit. They decorated their bags. Then they followed a treasure map to find door hangers, which they decorated. We did a cupcake walk, then everyone got to decorate their own "cake." The cakes were cupcakes in star and heart shaped cupcake tins. One little girl had candy piled higher than her cupcake was tall. Kyleigh opened her presents then we filled the kids' bags with a coloring book, crayons, and stickers. We had a little time left so we did an egg relay with Holly's egg relay game, which doesn't involve real eggs. I think everyone had a good time.


KyKy with her special cupcake.

A special basket sent from GG and Gpa.

Uncle Mikey does a crazy heavy, heavy hangover. Look at KyKy smile.

At KyKy's friend party she didn't have a problem sticking with Katelyn.

A group shot with Kyleigh's friends and their specialized cupcakes.

Geckos and RATS

One of our favorite things about living in Hawaii is the gecko. Some might find it disturbing to have a little "lizard" in their house, but the gecko is not your average lizard. It is a symbol of good luck. They eat the bugs and delight the girls. Who could ask for more than that? An adult gecko is only about 3 inches long. They are night animals so we usually see them at night. For a few weeks Katelyn had a gecko that would come out at bedtime and carefully watch over her at night. She remembers the "dedo" in her prayers every night. If you ask her where the gecko is, no matter where you are, she will point up. Last night at cub scouts our friend Dawn was holding Katelyn when she was asked to say the closing prayer. Katelyn realized she was saying a prayer and started shouting, dedo, dedo, dedo. She didn't want Dawn to forget the gecko in her prayer. On our way up the stairs to take the girls to bed we found a gecko on the wall so we had a photo session with the gecko.




Uh Oh, the gecko ran up Katelyn's arm. Don't worry, she recovered quickly.

Now, on to the not so delightful part of Hawaii. The RATS! We have heard tell of the rats, even seen a few eating oranges out of our tree. We set traps on the fence and haven't had problems since, until last night. I have no pictures of the following scene, so you will have to picture it in your mind.

We were just about to go to bed. I went into the kitchen for one last thing. I hear a scurry on the other side of the bar. I think, I thought I just saw Jake in the bedroom and that doesn't really sound like Jake anyway. Then I see it, a big fat RAT. It runs under the counter and slips in behind the stove. I scream for Rusty. He comes running. I tell him what happened. He goes outside and gets one of the rat traps from the fence. I stand guard with the broom so it can't get out of the kitchen. Jake helps me. Then he is trying to decide where the rat would go. We can't leave the rat trap in front of the stove. There is a remote chance the one of the girls would set it off, and those things are huge. He pulls the stove away from the wall and doesn't see a rat. He asks, are you sure you saw a rat. I have no doubts. A 14 inch rat (from head to tail) is not my imagination. He opens the drawer underneath the stove (which thankfully has nothing in it) and stares into the eyes of the RAT. We deliberate on the situation for awhile. I call Holly, who greatly appreciates the vision, as she just saw a rat in her house for the first time this week also. O.k., it's getting intense. We get a golf club. Rusty's plan is to poke the rat up against the wall, then kill it by smashing it with a golf club. Jake and I stand guard in case the rat makes a break for it. Our job is to keep it in the kitchen, and if it gets out, run after it to see where it goes. The rat will not stay against the wall. He almost jumps onto the counter. Then he makes a break for it. I start screaming. I swat it into the kitchen once. He scurries. Rusty is batting at him with the golf club. Jake is running around trying to eat him. I am still screaming. I hit him again with the broom, and again. Still screaming. Still batting. Still running around trying to eat him. He dodges to the left and runs into the play area. He is holed up behind a bean bag chair. Or so we think. Jake and I stand guard while Rusty yanks up the bean bags. He was nowhere. Our best guess is that he escaped through a cracked screen behind the bean bags.

Maybe if he is still in the house the geckos will eat him.