Pictures from Kauai

Pictures of our hotel and some of the beach.

Waimea Canyon

This AM we hiked about 4.5 miles along the canyon. We only saw one other person on the trail. The trail is at about 5100 ft and was cool in the 50s. Beautiful views as the trail dropped off about 4000 ft. Felt good to get back to the beach and 80 degrees.

Pictures from our hike

Kalalau Trail & Hanakapiai Falls

We arrived in Kauai last night about 6pm local time. Smooth flights and connections - even got upgraded to LAX. Woke up about 5am local time due to the 4 hr time difference. Figured since we were up we should drive to the Na Pali coast and accomplish the hike which brought us to Kauai.

The Kalalau Trail starts on the north coast of Kauai when the road stops due to the cliffs. You begin with a 2 mile hike to an isolated beach. Swimming is not encouraged due to the waves and current as the sign below illustrates - yikes! Most active people can do the trail as it is 4 miles RT. We wanted to see the falls so took the trail inward another 2 very remote miles into the rainforest. You climb up and down boulders, cross a river that gets waist deep in the rainy season and finally come to one of the wonders of the world. Right when we arrived after 3 hours of strenuous hiking the skies oped and it poured like it only does in a rainforest. We took shelter and were rewarded with a quick break in the skies. We only saw about 10 people on the entire 4 mile trail. It took a total of 5 hours to get to the beach and falls but was well worth it. Enjoy the video below. We are going out for dinner and a cold beer!

Video: decorating the tree

Christmas Trees

It takes an expert eye to tell which tree in our house is the adult's tree and which one is the kid's tree. The boys loved decorating their own tree in the loft outside of their bedrooms. Video to follow.

Not sure there is any more room on the boy's tree for any more ornaments. They plastered it pretty good.

Christmas Has Arrived at the Mayfield Adobe

We even took advantage of the record 70 degree heat on Saturday and put up the outdoor lights. In the true spirit of the season Mother Nature blessed us this AM with a dusting of snow.

Friday Night With the Wolves

Sometimes bribery is a good thing...

Only 2 months ago the nightly routine in our house with Logan consisted of screaming, crying and putting up an absolute fit over his reading and guitar work. Logan has always struggled with reading and last year participated in a before school reading group to get up to average for his age. In a moment of desperation, we bribed him with a reward program that if he read for five out of seven days a week; and played his guitar for five out of seven days we would get him a iPAD after 6 weeks. Little secret - we were going to get him one anyway :-)  IT WORKED INSTANTLY! Immediately he started finding spare time in everyday to meet his goals and 2 weeks ago he got his iPAD - now loaded with a bunch of fun apps (games); as well as apps on reading and math.
Now his reward program requires him to read and play guitar to use the iPAD - and it is still working! Last month he read almost 600 minutes! The school goal is 300 for "meets expectations" and 400 for "exceeds expectations." Today he woke up and read an entire book in just over an hour! He is turning into a reading machine and wants to go to the library to get the next book in various series. It is only November 2 and he has already read 110 minutes. And the best thing - no crying, tantrums, etc. Also need to mention his fall state-wide test scores for reading now came in just over average....progress!

At first I felt like we were being bad parents with bribery...but then a good friend had an excellent point: "adults work for bonuses and stock options at work - why shouldn't kids have incentives as well!" AMEN!

Carter's School Picture - Very Cute!



It took two tries, but Carter's Kindergarden picture turned out very cute!