Hawaii vs. Fresno State

With no professional sports teams in Hawaii, University of Hawaii sports is everything around here. Always helps to have a winning team too. Yooper decided at the beginning of the season that he had to bring Tanner to a game this year and bought tickets. The game he choose was going to be pretty late in pregnancy for me so he just got two tickets and made it a father-son evening. Tanner had a great time taking in the atmosphere and launching dozens of paper airplanes at the Fresno fans below from the upper deck. Not quite the same atmosphere as Family Night at Lambeau but certainly worth the trip to Aloha Stadium. Final score - Hawaii Warriors - 37, Fresno State - 30.

MONSOON!!!

Wet weekend is one way to sum it up. It was quite nuts actually. We noticed on Friday night that there was a system moving in but really underestimated just how much rain would fall. In total, the storm dropped over a foot of rain at our house (Thanks to our super dorky but but totally fun weather station Yooper put up a few weeks ago). We even had real thunder and lighting most of the night both Saturday and Sunday nights. For those who aren't too familiar with Hawaiian weather, while it rains often and fairly plentifully on the the windward side, thunder and lighting NEVER happens. Until last night, I've heard one, very weak clap of thunder in the entire year here so far.

The best was waking up this morning and checking the news online. Here's my favorite story:

Loud thunder, heavy rain, blinding lightning reported

A rainstorm that spread over O'ahu began to intensify about 12:45 a.m.

Motorists on the H-1 Freeway said traffic was reduced to a crawl through Pearl City at about 12:20 a.m. as a result of extremely heavy downpours.

One motorist described the rain as "some of the heaviest I've ever been in."

Another newsroom caller reported "an incredible lightning show" taking place off O'ahu's Windward Coast at about 12:30 a.m.

Police received a call from someone in Central O'ahu about 11:45 p.m. complaining about loud booms, possibly from illegal aerial fireworks.

It was quickly determined the noise was being generated by loud thunder claps. (HonoluluAdvertiser.com)

You know thunderstorms are rare when people actually think that thunder is fireworks. Other stories included boulders crashing into homes in rock fall zones, power outages (very rare here). Kona enjoyed it though. The downspouts make excellent water fountains.

Trick-or-treating

The big evening started off in a downpour. Lots of rain, even by windward standards. We were a little worried about the main event getting washed out but decided to get some pizza for dinner and wait it out. After a 45 minute rain delay, things seemed to clear up so we made a run for it. We walked to Olomana, the neighborhood across the street, for our trick-or-treating date with Alanna and her family. Alanna is in Tanner's class, a total cutie and really seems to have him smitten :) We managed to cover quite a bit of ground and it was nice to hang out with Alanna's parents and their friends. Pretty night actually. First time ever Trick-or-treating in a tank top and warm weather. Got to love that. The rain held off until just after the last house on the route. Perfect timing. I managed to snap off this pic of Tanner and Alanna just as the sprinkles started back up then Tanner and I sped home as fast as my waddling legs could go. :)

In the meantime, out of respect for our cold climate roots, Yooper fired up the big copper fire bowl in the driveway at home, lit the pumpkins, prepared a cooler of beer and sat outside to hand out candy. The fire REALLY confused the locals. Most common comment was "what are you cooking?" He got a good laugh from the confusion. His favorite was a couple who came by with their son.

Kid - Why do you have a fire?
Yooper - Because where I grew up, you needed snow boots to trick-or-treat.
Mom - YES! Exactly! Me too!

Apparently they then stuck around for some small talk of colder times before pressing on. Funny stuff. Successful evening overall. TONS of candy and happy kids.

Crazy Hair Day

Halloween at Maunawili Elementary was crazy hair day. I think they were trying to avoid an awkward day of unruly costumes. Probably wise thinking. Anyway, Tanner decided he wanted a mohawk but his hair was both too long and too fine to support the doo. This was the best I could do with what I had available. Pretty silly but he was okay with it and it actually lasted the day much to my amazement.

Carving Pumpkins

As always, pumpkin carving was far more intense in our house than most. Yooper simply can't be satisfied with the standard smiley face or scary grimace in a pumpkin. It's got to be much more complicated than that. Considering it's about as artistic as he gets, I let him go nuts. This year wasn't quite the completely overboard all night affair given that we were carving on a Tuesday night. He was only up until midnight. :)

Eagle Ray

I finally managed to get some decent shots of a Spotted Eagle Ray out at the island. Usually they spook very easily and by the time I manage to fish out my camera, they are long gone. This guy either didn't see me or is braver than most. They are about two feet from wing tip to wing tip and are incredibly graceful as with most rays. Isn't he cute?

Blue Angels

A few weeks ago, the Blue Angles made an appearance here on Oahu. Super cool because they were at the Marine base here in Kaneohe which meant all practices and shows were right over our house. Tanner said that the whole school came pouring outside during their first fly over because of the noise. Anyone who has been to an air show of this sort knows exactly what I'm talking about. This was my first time so I was fairly surprised at the tricks, the noise, and the overall spectacle of it all.

Better yet for me was my new camera which was an early Christmas gift from my mom. Finally have a digital SLR to take some REALLY nice pictures with. For the show I was set it on "Sports Mode" with continuous shooting. Got some awesome shots :)

Another Newfie Picnic at Magnum's

Pretty much the same routine as last time although our mutt was much better behaved this time. That definitely made it a good day. The afternoon was nice. A swim in the ocean for the dogs, a talk on animal first aid, and a pot luck with tons of good food. I felt a bit bad for leaving early but the Packer Game was a priority. Big surprise. I'll try and get some pics of the house next time.

Sunday afternoon at Lanikai Beach

112 Reasons to go on Maternity leave ASAP...

They decided the parking lot out at Coconut island needed a COMPLETE replacement which means no parking for anyone. So now, everyone is required to park at the Mall, take a shuttle to the gate on Lilipuna Rd., walk down 112 stairs, then out to the end of the pier for the boat ride to the lighthouse on Coconut Island. Next for me is the half mile hike from the lighthouse to the Point lab. I've decided that getting to work is no longer a commute, it's an expedition. That's the easy part though. Try that in reverse when you're going UP 112 stairs 8+ months pregnant.