Its All About The Journey

Tanyard Creek

Every season we manage to make it over to Tanyard Creek. The one place I love to go to clear my mind and spirit. The one place untouched...in it's natural state. The place were kids can run around and be free. The place that brings a big smile on my kids faces.

After, preschool we headed straight over to Tanyard Creek. Logan's very favorite special spot. He wanted to get his feet into the water but I told him "no". The little guy doesn't seem to have much sense when it comes to nature. He loves to get his hands and feet into it.

Little Miss Leah enjoying herself by throwing rocks such a tomboy. Nothing girlie about her. The girl has an arm on her. Watch out...boys. She's tough!

Of course, she's the first one to the bridge. No fear!

Best Friends and Worst Enemies

Searching for treasure...seashells and clam shells!

The loot which will eventually end in a huge fight with sissy.

Logan ended up dropping all of his shells. Leah decided it would be a good time to steal some of his. Logan was devasted. A huge fight broke out about the shells. You would of thought they were fighting over gold.

Don't ya, just love Logan's pouty face. Don't worry, we ended up going back and Logan found new seashells to collect. Oh, ya...Leah dropped all of her shells and had to go back to get even more. We left shortly after this little incident.

Slaughter Pen Jam 2009

This morning, the kids ended up waking up super early. You would of thought it was Christmas morning. The kids were up before 5:30am. The boys were so excited about going to their first ever cross country race and short track race.

I decided at the last minute to enter in the 6 mile trail run. Due to hurting my foot a couple of weeks ago. I haven't been doing to much running. I thought sure six miles is a piece of cake. Wrong...The course was so hard. I thought it was way harder than my half marathon I did a couple of weeks ago.

The Slaughter Pen Hallow trail takes place in the Ozark mountains okay maybe not like the Rockie Mountains but bill hills. We had to run back and forth slowly going up to the top of the ridge and running back down and across the cement path to the other hill on the other side. The course was confusing. One girl ended up taking the wrong path ended up running an extra three miles. Poor thing.

The course proved to be more challenging then expected. It was just awful. I wasn't as prepared as I would of liked to of been. I did trip at one point but didn't cause any major damage. Overall, it turned out to be a great run at the end. I managed to do it under one hour and seven minutes. I ended up placing in second place for my age group and received the coolest medal ever. I didn't take a picture of it but I will soon. I have a lot more details of this race but I don't care to spend to much time on it. Ask me in person if you want all the details.

Now, the boys were taking part of the kids cross country run. It was free...which I love. Landon loves to run. I'm not sooo sure about Logan but he goes along with it. Landon ran all the whole thing but Logan ended up running and walking part of it. The poor little guy ended up a little bit confused about the course but he managed to make it across the finish line. All the kids received medals for their efforts.



After, the cross country meet the boys had about two hours to practice before the bike races. The kids hadn't been to the dirt park in several months. The kids had the most found just riding their bikes on the dirt kid course. Landon wanted to practice on a more adult course. He was in tears when the guy turned him away. Landon's just going to have to wait another year. Logan was so funny. A couple of kids were running around on the course. He started to yell at them to get off of the course. He was very protective of his dirt course. Soon, it was time to stop practicing and get ready for the bike races.



Landon ended up meeting up with his friend Keegan from school. The two boys were so excited about getting together to race in the kids bike race. Landon did a great job around the first loop but the second loop ended in a huge disaster. He was riding his bike down hill and had to make sharp turn. He ended up turning to quickly and crashed. The little guy hit his handle bars. I thought at first he might of broke one of his ribs. The medics checked him but he appeared just fine. His friend Keegan went up to the official and gave him his medal. Landon was in complete tears about not being able to finish the race. He claims he never wants to ride a bike again. We will try again...Logan did great. He rode is bike in a different course. They had one kid go at a time. The judge timed all the kids. Logan went around the first time prefectly and stopped. He didn't realize he was soppose to go around one more time. Everything one yelling at him to go one more time. The little guy was so confused. He finally realized he was soppose to go one more time around. He did great. He received another medal for his bike riding skills. Overall, a wonderfull event for the family. We will be doing this each year!

MAUNAWILI FALLS TRAIL

This hike was very different from the other two hikes we did on our trip! The first two hikes were on the dry side of the island with very little vegetation. This trail took us thru the rainforest up to a swimming hole/water fall. The night before the hike it had rained all night long which meant extremely muddy trail. The hike information I found on the interent said this was an easy hike which was 1.5 miles up and back but it seemed to take us forever. Leroy wasn't too happy again with my choices in hikes. I loved it.

The nice thing about the hike was the views Ko'olaus Mountains. We were slowly making our way up into the mountains. We stop several times to just enjoy the view! I think the trail took us longer becuase we might of made a bad turn. The trail was hard to follow at times.

Once we got closer to the waterfall. We had to go down a narrow set of stairs to the bottom. We also had to cross back and forth several times across a stream. The water wasn't to cool but it was nice to be able to wash the mud off our feet.

We finally made it to the waterfall. The water was little bit on the cloudy side so we decided not to venture too far into the pool of water at the bottom of the waterfall. You're suppose to be able to jump from several places around the waterfall. We headed back down.

We decided to take another path back. We ended up coming to this really cool dead end. It looked like someone had set up camp with bamboo sticks and a rock pit for fire. Check out the slide show for pictures of Leroy standing inside the shelter. We turned around and decided to go back the same way we came in.

On the way back, we decided to take another trail back to the entrance of the hike. Leroy wasn't too sure about it but we had time to kill. We ended up in a place I think we overlooked in the first place. The hike back down went a lot faster. We came across this really old rock wall. We some how managed back to the car covered in Mosquito bites. If it wasn't for the extremely muddy trail and all the mosquitos it's actually really nice hike. So, if you're in Hawaii...it's definity a good hike for a novice unless it's been raining.

Ten For Tuesday

1. Two Halloween classroom parties, three times trick or treating, one hay ride, 4 carmel apples, and 10 walmart size bags full of candy. Three very happy kids!

2. Due to Halloween falling on Saturday, this was the first time taking all three kids trick or treating. Leah loved running up to the houses to ring the doorbell. She was very shocked when they handed her candy. She would say "mommy, that lady gave me candy" with a big smile on her face.

3. Landon being a little bit on the shy side decided to send Logan first to ring the door bell. Logan refused to talk so Landon would do all the talking. Leah of course isn't shy and didn't have any issuses trick or treating.

4. We live on the best street! The neighbor across the street gave the kids their own halloween bags filled with full size candy bars. Another neighbor gave them dollar bills, and they're even invited inside to show off their customes to an elderly couple. I was in the van but the window shades were up. I think the grandpa was in a wheelchair. Landon said they acted like they knew who they're but Landon didn't know who they were. The couple just lives down the street.

5. Finally around 8:00pm Logan claimed he was tried of trick or treating and wanted to go home. I was really surprised. The little guys were all tuckered out.

6. My biggest pet peeve is trunk or treat. It's was too easy. The kids need to go out and execrise their legs. So, I decided this year to avoid the ward t or t and just take the kids to real trick or treating. It brought back a lot of fun memories.

7. On Halloween morning, I took part of Fun Run with a bunch of sisters from church. Ever since my half marathon, I haven't been doing much running. I thought for sure I would have a really bad time but I ended up with a decent time of 28:20! I even came in second place for my age group. A big surprise. I didn't think I would place anything.

8. The boys took part of kids run. The boys were divide into two seperate groups. A younger and older group. Landon was the youngest kid in the older group. He did an awesome job. He came in fourth place. Logan ran with Leroy in the younger group and came in second place. I'm so proud of my boys.

9. This weekend the boys are taking part of Slaughter Pen Meet. The boys will be running in the kids cross country race and mtn. bike race.

10. This week I'm taking the no sugar challenge. I managed to put on a couple of pounds due to all the cookies and sweets. I'm working out twice as hard this week. I'm hoping to drop a pound or two!

Boo, Boo, Boo!

Happy Halloween

2009

p.s. Happy Birthday-Grandma Nichols!

Extreme Hiking-Again!

You would think hiking up to the lighthouse would be more than enough hiking for one day but not us. After hiking to the lighthouse we were so suppose to go snorkeling at Hanauma Bay. We decided to head down to Jumba Jucie for some fruit smoothies.

As we were headed back towards Hanauma Bay, I noticed what looked like a line going straight up the side of the crater. I thought I saw something moving up the side of the Koko Crater. I had Leroy pull the car over at the secnic point and he also confirmed what I thought. It looked like tiny creatures moving up the side of the crater but in fact it was people.

Upon, closer look we realized that people were hiking up stairs made from old railroad ties which had been abandoned long ago. The incline tram formerly used by the military to transport personnel and supplies to a lookout post on the summit. Today, the ascent to the top is popular with locals, many of who climb the 1,000 plus "steps" for a good workout. For some reason the gazillion tourists who drive by Koko Head every day are oblivious to the adventure and reward of climbing this imposing crater summit with its fantastic views.

We didn't know how to get there but we managed to go thru a subdivision that ended at a park. Several people around us were headed up to this trail and we followed behind. This trail wasn't marked.

The hike up wasn't easy...I was huffing and puffing all the way up to the top. You will see in all the pictures. I'm bright red in the face. The hike up is super hard. Straight up. The hike is so scary but the view from the top is sooooo amazing. I felt like I was on top of the world.

The hike is close to 1058 steps to the top and back down. One mile up and one mile down. It feels like ten miles at the end. My legs at the end of the hike were shaking so bad from muscle fatige. It was so bad.

Leroy and I looked back up at the bottom of the stairs and we're so impressed without selves. Leroy was ready to kill me but I know deep down he enjoyed it. I have way more stamia than he does plus he wasn't feelin that good. I'm very happy that my hubby is willing to go along with all of my crazy adventures.

Extreme Hiking-Hawaii Style

Makapu'u Point Light

After our third day on Oahu, we decided to go for a nice hike to Makapu'u Point Light house. We decided it would be fun to watch the sunrise on top of the hill looking down over the light house. This was not an easy hike. The hiking book gave this trail an easy rating but it turned out that I read the section on this trail incorrect. The first half of the trail is straight up a hill/cliff but on the way back it's a paved road. If you take the paved road up and back it's a super easy hike. I read it incorrectly and we basically made our own trail to the top.

Here's a picture of me, about half way up the hike to the top. The view is AMAZING! One wrong step, I could of ended up dead. It was super scary. Straight down sheer cliffs into the ocean. I don't recommend doing this hike unless you really like adventure.

We barely made it to the top to watch the sunrise. The view was amazing!!!!!! We could see both sides of the island.

On top of the hill were several old bunkers which were used as lookouts from the WWII time period.

I decided to take off and explore the remains of several bunkers. Very interesting.
Oh, one more thing, it's super windy at the top.

Also, do you see that crater in the background. It's called "Koko" crater. We ended up hiking up to the top of that crater after finishing this hike. Leroy thought for sure I was trying to kill him. I'm in shape and I kicked his butt on both hikes.


If you want more information on the lighthouse, click here!

On the way back, we came across all of these cameras and crews. Can you guess what tv sitcom is filming. We didn't see any actors but just the crew setting up the stage. Any thoughts???