Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Learning to do puzzles
What's wrong with this picture?
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
We're home!
Monday, October 13, 2008
Island Breeze Lu'au
Isabella and my mom learning to hula dance - bottom right corner.
Our dinner
Another group shot watching the pig being uncovered.
The royal processionOrion drinking Hawaiian punch
Sabrina dancing to the Hawaiian music
Isabella dancing
Where we're staying
This is the view from up the mountain from our house. The rental house is somwhere in those trees along the coast.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Ironman Race Day
We couldn't see the actual starting line, but we could see folks entering the water. It looked like chaos. The starting line was about 500 yards from this spot where they enter the water.
This is part of the sea wall that was lined with people. We moved onto the wall after the start. After Brett's transition we came back to the beach for quite awhile. My brother swam out into the ocean and got to swim with spinner dolphins. He says it was an experience of a lifetime.
Brett coming out of the water - he is in the middle of this picture and wearing only a swimsuit. (Most of the race participants had skin suits to swim in, so I guess Brett didn't have every piece of tri gear that he could have.) We were right there behind the swim exit. Some how I found favor with a race official. I asked her if we could get up in the bleachers; she said they were off limits, but she took us behind the fences and let us sit there until Brett came out of the water. Brett going out on his bike ride. He did not see the bike course ahead of time. At the banquet the race announcers said this is an advantage that first -timers have. Brett didn't think it was much of an advantage. He says it was the hardest bike ride he has ever done.
Our beach hang out. My mom made the banner - it hung from the porch of our rental house all week. I had our matching shirts made. The kids' say "Go Dad!" on the front. It was easy to spot them during the race in their matching shifrts.
Brett coming in from his long, hard, hot, windy bike ride.
Brett going out on the run - this was where he told us it was his hardest bike ride ever!
This was about 100 yards from the finish line. I don't have an in-focus picture of Brett at the finish line. He finished at 10:56:07 which was 6pm local and just about dusk. We'll get "official" finish line pictures later.
Kahalu'u Beach
The beach is a habitat for a handful of sea turtles. The turtles have been at the beach every time we visited and don't seem bothered by people in the least. The kids really enjoyed seeing the turtles on the beach, but got really spooked when the turtles touched them while we were swimming.
Orion and Brett snorkeling. I haven't gone snorkeling with Orion, but Brett says Orion does really well. I took Isabella out with goggles (no snorkel). Isabella saw some fish and was excited by it.
Our first afternoon in Hawaii Sabrina fell asleep on my lap at the beach. She was still adjusting to the time change and catching up on lost sleep.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Ironman Welcome Banquet
Brett and I went to the Ironman Welcome Banquet tonight. It was outside, set-up for a huge amount of people - considering there are almost 2000 race participants and their families and sponsors and families. There was a bit of a Hawaiian show with fire twirling and hula dancing. They introduced or featured a number of interesting race participants - the oldest and youngest male and female. The youngest are both 18 years old and live here in Kailua-Kona. The oldest woman is 72 years old and she is last year's winner for her age group. The oldest male is 79 years old. I told Brett that I really hope he isn't still doing Ironman races when he is 79 years old, but he has already commented to me that he feels that he won't be able to only race Kona once.
We went to a lu'au on Wednesday night and I'm hoping to post pictures from that. The pictures are on Brett's camera and I can't figure out how to get them downloaded yet.
Today (Friday) we are just laying low - Brett did a short work out this morning, we're going to the beach across the street from our house and then this afternoon we're going to the race expo where Brett will drop off his bike and all of his gear bags. My brother flies in tonight as well.
Thursday in Hawaii
Isabella, Sabrina, Hunter and Orion posing in these trees - they made a natural picture frame. Zoom in on the picture to see Hunter's face. He made this face in pictures all day.
Coconut trees were all over the park grounds.
Hunter and Sabrina exploring hermit crabs in these tidal ponds.
We played in these tidal pools for over an hour. The water was warm and it was deep enough for the kids to swim, but shallow enough for the adults to sit.