Eight Days til....

The tree sniffing party: Even though our Noble didn't fill the house with scent, the house was filled with cheer and I drank my share of nog. Thanks for coming Hankansens and LeGrandes, Amber and Marianne. My Christmas Cards are out of "production" and on to "shipping". Yea! If you didn't get one last year and you read this blog, we should exchange. Send me your address. noramair(at)gmail(dot)com.

I'm done looking on amazon's toy deals. I always overbuy...

Addie sang in the Harmony (school choir) concert last week.

Elf and bucket: Me and the raggedy, still in pj children would straggled to school two days a week, at 7:30am, for practices. Santa was stuck in the '50s. Addie sang and danced. I worked the props and back stage. She got the better end of the deal.

The carpool: Brenden, Jaylynn, Kacee, Addie, Isaac, and Elyse. I'm going to try to post a video to see Addie's jammin' face. All worth it now. Just watch to about the 39 second mark to see the cutest forehead ever.


James Mair and I dated last Saturday night. We started with dinner at Smashburger. $6 and $7 burgers with pricey fries to match. 3*s.

Then onto The Mormon Tabernacle Christmas Concert, where we did not have tickets. The standby line at the Tabernacle was a place to watch the concert really because no one had gotten in Thursday or Friday. So I (James stayed in line just in case) crossed the street to the Conference Center and while staying on the sidewalk, I begged for tickets by raising my hand and holding up two fingers. My bright white wool coat was very apparent to concert goers crossing from the square with tickets in hand and in about 5 minutes a nice young gentleman handed me 2. I squealed, gave the guy a hug, and dashed to find James.

The seats were smack dab in the the middle on the terrace level. The concert featured Natalie Cole and David McCullough and it was amazing. The first and last numbers, Come, O Come, and Carols in the Air, were show stoppers with unbelievable pageantry (dancers, ballet, bell ringers, & children choir). And the choir...wonderful. Natalie Cole sang the Holly and the Ivy and it's been in my head for 5 days now. I want to go again next year. But the begging is the only sure way to get tickets.

And here is an upgraded tradition. Last year we had 1 chocolate count down calender that Addie and Ben split every night. This year everyone has their own. And some nights, we forget, which leaves two for the next night.

I'm heading to 3 parties in the next 4 days. Christmas is here.

This is it folks.

The Baby was born.

Open House Invite

We got our tree tonight and it smells wonderful. To celebrate the smell and the impending snow storm, you're invited over for a cookie and a sniff. The floors will probably not be clean but I bought nog and Addie is going to help the little ones with a craft. 6-8pm December 8th. Come come come.

Hiking and Water Fun Hawaii Part 3 (can you stand one more?)

On our first full day we ended up doing about a 4 hour hike [Kalalau] along the mountainous coast of Na Pali. It was tough one but we were rewarded with the amazing beach, Hanakapiai. Worth it, ohh, my finger.... We rented a kayak for a day on the Wailua River. The water was slow and brown but the experience was tropical and relaxing. We paddled and then hiked...to secret Falls, which apparently is not really a secret. Can you see James waving? We swam around behind it and I felt adventerous. We also saw a wild pig and her piglets. This face is the the reason I love James Mair. He's hilarious. We went to this huge beach (Polihale State Park) to watch the sun set and possibly swim. A storm rolled in just as we did. The sun set was still pretty despite the grains of sand needling our legs. We did not swim.Dinner at a very overpriced "Brick Oven". Nothing like the Provo's Brick Oven but we were starving and we at the whole thing!
Hiking on the Na Pali "fingers", the big ridges that go out to sea.
This is Ke'e beach on our last night, the most calm and beautiful place in Hawaii. We swam, ate a wrap from Hot Mamma's, spied a turtle head popping out of the water, and watched the sun sink. It was heaven. James is trying not to laugh...but I insisted on the picture because the lighting was good.

A Helicopter Ride Hawaii Part 2

I'm always quick to point out the over the top nature of things; I have frugal roots and cheap tendencies. So I'm pointing out the extreme luxury of a trip to Hawaii, and now the most over the top (unbelievable) thing we've ever done...flying in a helicopter to see the parts of Kauai you can't see from a car.The "Jurassic" Falls. The Na Pali coast...are there words folks?
My words, over the top! I kind of wish I had a better camera--

Some more links for you. James used betterbidding.com's forum to find out what hotels were in the "resort" category for Kauai. Only three, The Hyatt, Sheraton, and Marriott. The forum also has a calender where bidders can post what they "won" and for how much. We thought this might be an option so we watched the bids and saw winners get rooms for around $100-110 a night. We could have done it a little cheaper but "on the beach" and "ambiance" speak when once in a life time rolls around right? We also used the forum to watch rental cars and for $15 a day, a (Ahem freshly out) compact was ours!

We bought the "Happenings" or Hawaii Entertainment book bought off Ebay. It had coupons for the Polynesian Cultural Center [two for the price of 1 show ticket], Priceline [$10 off a night] and The Dole Plantation [Pineapple Ice Cream Cone 2fer].

We used this book: The Ultimate Kauai Guide Book, Kauai Revealed. We took our library's copy but it was the 5th edition. One restaurant we tried to find was gone. Since James was driving I read the book, cover to cover. The hikes, beaches and food recommendations were right on.

James read this blog every day before we went: http://www.govisithawaii.com/ I now read it everyday since we've returned. shameless...

Paradise anyone? Hawaii Part I

I'm pretty amazed that we got to go on a trip like this. No, It's not usual daily fare for us or even an annual thing. This was happenstance that came true.

It all started more than a year ago when my seester, Vanessa, called with a proposition: would you like to trade a week of he]] for a week of heaven? Her 4 kids for a week in exchange for mine? She was planning a week long hiking trip to the Wind Rivers, pictures here,--we would just need to decide what backpacking trip we were going to do.

Later we debated: could Hawaii be an option? I'll include some links at the end but with the help of the internet (for which I'm shamefully addicted to) we jetted, enjoyed, relaxed and returned (all while avoiding the H1N1).

Oahu was nice and we did every touristy thing all in about 16 hours. Well we were up at 4:30--not quite used to the time difference. Hanauma Bay
USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl HarborA Swap Meet
The Dole PlantationThe Polynesian Cultural Center (Samoans climbing a Coconut tree)A Lu'au, (real flowers) the visitor's center at the temple that's under renovation, and the PCC's night show.

We then flew to Kauai where we stayed, get this, at the Marriott. Yes, me, at the Marriott, like it happens all the time. The Marriott on Kalapaki beach, with a 26,000 sq ft pool. Remember, we were going to go back packing... the trip was charmed...Our recently renovated room. Fresh out of compacts-- Alamo let us take a convertible. Yes, us, in a convertible, riding around Kauai, staying at the Marriott...

Kauai is green and smells and feels tropical. It's rural compared to Oahu and small enough to drive almost around it in about 2 hours.James at Poi'pu beach our first night. We weren't even thinking sunsets so when this showed up, we started planning the nights around them. We even tried surfing. Lessons would have been nice.

We used farecast.com (it's now bing) to email us of when to buy plane tickets. There were two days back in June where round trip to Oahu was $270. Shamefully addicted I tell you. I'll post more soon.

Happy Halloween

Success!

All the costumes were done by Wednesday, three days early! A new record!

Introducing: Charlie Brown,A 50's girl,Monkey Boy,And Lady.A new shift on carving pumpkins and mind you I've been married 11 years. The most resourceful James Mair can carve! He found creative and intricate templates from the internet that did not disappoint. I forgot to document--but I will next year.

We trick or treated at Grandma's house,and headed home to eat tatter tots (requested by Ben).I'm not used to the later in the year switch to day light savings time (yet--it's been three years right?) but we were ready a little after 5. When I was a kid--that was the time to be ready to leave for the maximum time allowed for a trick-or-treating candy haul. It was still warm and sunny at five! So we snapped pictures and played around with Bevan and Donna. Stuart collected for more than an hour!And everyone returned home, pumpkins heavy and so tired. Even too tired to sort. And Paige. Remember two years ago she had her sick station? This year she burned her fingers on the tatter tot pan. With tears, band aids, and Daddy she powered through.

As far as raiding the loot, I'm guilty--no Sugar Babies or Good and Plenty though. And after eating pretty lean for an up coming Hawaiian adventure, I held my candy well. I also shoveled down Marie Callendar pie, thanks to the trick or treating David Michelson aka Jedi Knight (41 years and he hasn't miss a year yet--oh except for one of the years on his mission).

It was a glorious weather day, festive holiday and perfect. How is it that my life is this good? Happy End of Fall to all.