The Lewis Ohana

The Great Aloha Run.... err... Walk.

We tucked the kiddos into bed at the Booker's house Sunday night and then went home to get some sleep before the 2012 Great Aloha Run: 8.15 miles of smiles! (Ha!) Here is what it looked like at 5 am standing in the dark waiting (with like 25,000 people) to catch the bus downtown...already I'm thinking "why?! of why do I feel the need to do this every year?!" 

Next stop was a trip to the porta potty... I think ALL 25,000 had to pee one more time too.  Try not to think about the lack of hand sanitizer too much! 

We look ready to conquer the course!  Dave has been training to run it... and he ditched Brett and I as soon as we made it over the starting line. He was just a green blur in the crowd.  

We were left to work out a walking pace that wasn't too slow for a guy with long steps and too fast for a girl with stumpy legs and short steps. I think we started out with a 15-16ish minute mile, you'd have to ask him since he was the pace nazi! haha. Sara was all signed up to come with us but refused to get up and leave with Brett when the alarm went off... I guess she had repented of such sinful behavior and met up with us at the end of our street a little ways into the 4th mile.  Add a 3rd set of legs to the mix and our pace became crazy and erratic! (ask the Pace-Nazi...he was very aware!) The all too familiar feeling of the forming blisters on my feet was starting to become miserable by the 6th mile... I stopped at the porta potty and stood in line for a few blissful minutes. I never thought there would be photographic evidence but since it's already been on Facebook (look, it's being posted right then!) my blog readers may as well take a gander...

It was a very wibbly potty! I had visions of it tipping over backwards. (WORST NIGHTMARE!) A very unflattering photo I must say. (I owe you one Brett...) I can only add 5 photos per post on my phone so there will have to be a part 2 to this one...  

GAR 2

Ok, where were we? After the potty stop the trudging really began. It's those last 3 miles that are the killer I think! After the 7th mile I stopped and stabbed my blisters with a safety pin from my runners number. That helped some. Again the thoughts of WHY ON EARTH DID I SIGN UP FOR THIS ?!!? become the focus. I must have the worst feet on the planet! Seriously, why must I get blisters the size of dinner plates every time I wear sneakers?! Sheesh! We eventually made it to the finish line in 2 hours and 40 minutes. At that point I was happy to be done, later I was pretty bummed with that time. Faster than last year (with a raging kidney infection) but still, I was thinking it would be closer to 2 hours than 3. =(  

We crossed the finish line and then it started pouring rain! It didn't last long, but it felt great! People were standing by to pass out water, bananas, sweet bread, and sprite.  Our prized finishers t-shirts were waiting to be claimed and then we found Dave... who had been resting for more than an hour waiting on us. (I think I hate him.) A nice stranger snapped a picture for us and we all hobbled off to the far reaches of the parking lot to the van. 

Here is the route. I don't think my pace thingie was accurate but close enough. 

My FitBit says that I put in more than 8.15 miles that day... I guess the walk from the car to the bus, from the bus to the start line, from the finish line back to the car...gracious! That's a lot of steps! AND the hills show up as flights of stairs... 15 flights is equivalent of climbing to the top of the Statue of Liberty! 

After we made it out of the traffic jam... while watching people still coming around the corner to the finish line... breakfast was the next order of business. Koa Pancake House was pretty full of sweaty runners! We got a table and I knew that I had made a bad choice eating that bread, banana and water so soon after the race!! My stomach was churning. The guys were in line to order and I was in line for the restroom. The person in there was in no rush even after I repeatedly jiggled the door knob (to convey the urgent need...) and as I stood there feeling the clammy-get-ready-to-barf signals all I could do was grab a plastic bag (for to-go orders) from behind the counter area (an employee looked at me like I was crazy!) and get OUT now. Thankfully, there is a side door to the outside seating area... and a path around the backside of the building!! I felt bad for the people who might hear me as they ate their meal. It was awful. However, I felt so much better! 

It's all fun and games till someone barfs their guts up. I did go back inside and sit through breakfast, feeling SO much better! Back at home I took a shower and climbed into bed till about 7pm. Good thing Dave was able to take care of the kiddos! It sounded like they had a good day downstairs. I guess we will remember our final Great Aloha Run as the Barfing Year. Which was better than the Blister Year (2010) and WAAAAAY better than the Kidney Infection Year (2011) so I guess this makes it the best year yet! ;) 

Internet Woes!!

Please be patient while I get caught up here... We've been having Internet connection issues at the house so the old blog is getting dusty! I know this is sad and disturbing news... Rumor has it my lack of blogging has even led some people to take up drinking...

Yikes. You will have to check the Fosters' blog to find out when he makes it to rehab... ;)

Valentines Party

 

The girls enjoyed the Valentines Party hosted by the homeschool group today! All morning they worked hard to sign and sticker up 32 cards each to pass out. The "Party Diva" (how does one obtain this title?!) had things well organized and the crafts, games, and valentine trading went very smoothly! I signed up to help set up and serve the cookies and punch... nothing like a table full of sugar to attract the masses! Somehow we survived the stampede of thirsty kids and everyone went home with fruit punch mustaches!

In writing...

It's official. We are moving to Connecticut in July. It's really a relief to have a piece of paper that says Dave is getting OFF the Key West BEFORE they make the big move to that dreaded place called: Guam! While July is further away than April (when we *should* be transferring...) it's nice to have that sea duty finish line in sight! July will be one month shy of rolling over the 7 year mark attached to sea going submarines. If my memory is correct, shore duty is a beautiful thing! The only catch is with this shore duty comes a four letter word: COLD. (Aka Winter!!) I am not going to waste my time dreading it. But I am going to spend my remaining days (all 154ish of them, if one were counting...) of tropical paradise wisely. That means more days at the beach! And more sunset picnic dinners at the beach...eat more pineapple (preferably... At the beach!) and just generally more anything tropical! It's time to start checking things off the Hawaii to-do list!

Kevin and Lisa's big news...

Yesterday we got a call from Lisa... She's got a bun in the oven! I'm going to be an Auntie, and the girls are getting a baby cousin... Exciting news! Kelsey could not stop smiling for the rest of the day and had quite the spring in her step, her prayers had been answered. :)

Locks of Love

It's been just shy of 3 years ago that Kelsey got her hair cut (her first hair cut at that!) and she has been growing it out nice and long to donate to Locks of Love!

With long hair comes tangles! Multiply that times 3 and you can imagine how much time is devoted to brushing and detangling each day. Kelsey has been asking to get her hair cut for a while now, but it has taken a while to get the OK from her Daddy! Earlier this week he told her that she could go ahead and do it, as long as he didn't have to watch, and we didn't tell him when it was happening... AND we didn't touch Emma's hair! =) So, on his next duty day we took care of business.

So there you have it! Dave was pretty surprised when he got home from duty on Saturday! He thinks it is a very cute and stylish cut though, and we ALL are happy that Kelsey can now take care of her own hair... 1 down 2 to go. Kenzie wants to grow hers a bit longer so that 10 inches wont be shockingly short and Emma is still planning to grow hers as long as Rapunzel!

 

Who wants to make this for me?!

Pinterest.com is an evil thing! It's packed full of fabulous ideas that makes me want to rip apart our house and start from scratch! This stuffed animal zoo is just one of the many screenshots I've snapped while perusing the possibilities...

Wonder why I was even awake at 5:46 am ?! I can't recall really... I'm a strange and random sleeper so there is no explaining what I was up to.  Couldn't have been up for long though since my phone battery was only at 98% charged. ;) 

Resolution: Vitamin Routine

One of our (I should say "my" since Dave is on duty and unaware of this new plan) healthy goals for the new year is to streamline our vitamins/supplements and make it easier to faithfully take them every day. So... Enter these nifty pill cases! Each kid has a loaded case in the color of their choosing, now I can say "take your vitamins" and pow! it can be done. Dave and I have an AM and PM case.
Dang, we are gonna be healthy! Ha! ;)

The best and worst gift ever.

We got Emma these neato blocks for Christmas... only trouble is that you have to perform box-origami on each piece before it can be used! 60 blocks later... we have a living room full of fun! The yellow ones were the most vexing of all the blocks... and it just so happens that there were 36 in the package! Oy!! My poor little fingers have little cardboard cuts on them...

I foresee many good times ahead with these blocks... just in the few short hours they were out today we had all kinds of castles and hideaway built... followed by some real life Boomblox!!