The beach to the Snow

I am 5000 feet up an hour into to a six hour trip back to Portland with Finn playing with everyone of his trucks on the empty seat in our row. It was an adventure to get from the car to the airplane and a fitting end to an adventure in Hawaii. We have been here for the last six months and we are now heading back to a new house, new housemates and a lot of uncertainty. We spent the morning gathering toys and clothes and getting the bags packed before heading to the beach for one last play in the surf. Finn is now fearless in the water on the day when he is leaving. We was jumping into waves and body a surfing a little even having waves wash over his head as he got up and squealed with joy. While standing the whitewash saying goodbye to some great neighbors I had a Man-of-War wrap completely around my foot. I grabbed Finn and put him out of the water and then walked back in to peel off the jelly fish. It stung immediately and it took me a minute or two to get all the tentacles out. We took that as a cue to head back to the house and as we were walking back I felt the sting move up my leg. After washing off in the outdoor shower I now had a sore leg and really sore groin area. The stinging pain was bad but expected, the pain in my groin was not. Scott said the same thing happened to him when he didn’t get the tentacles off right away and that it goes away in a half hour. It didn’t go away in a half hour and it was a terrible pain. I would focus on the burning sting on my foot to take my mind away from the other pain. Laying on the ground in our room I woke Henry up form his nap with my moaning and after about an hour the pain started to go away. My foot still hurts after four hours but I can live with that. I made it the whole 6 months without getting hit and on the morning we left, as a going away present, I got a fine send off.

Finn and I are now in Clatskanie making our way through the snow and slushy streets. We walked down for coffee this afternoon and went out later in the car to visit some cousins. It is fun for us to be in the snow but for everyone here they are over it. We will go visit Papa tomorrow if we can make it out and then head to Portland later this weekend to make sure I can make it to work next week.

Fully adjusted

As great as it was to have family around for the last two months there is something to said for routine as well. We have all been sleeping in until 8 AM and getting some good naps in between. The boys seem to be fully adjusted to Hawaiian time again and enjoying having their own space to sleep. We have had some great beach time and Kate has gotten away on her own to read and have coffee with no kids. We are settling back into the day to day but still trying to enjoy each moment in the last three weeks we have here. Scott and I are going to get out for a round of golf next week and we might even make it out to the big island for a weekend exploration. We are having a really great time after some struggles early on and we know we will look back on this time and remember how great it was for us and the boys (Jake and Scott included)

This moment, here, now

With all of us up at 5:30 this morning we walked to the beach and watched the sun rise. Finn played int he sand letting the warm water run up to his feat and then running back up to where Kate and I were sitting with Henry. The boys slept great last night and we felt pretty energized to get the most out of these last three weeks together in Hawaii. My brother recently told me about how him and his wife were really content in the moment and that has encouraged me to find that for myself. That sense of being fully engaged in what is happening right here and right now and letting the future live a little out of the spotlight a bit. Like I said we are really keyed for that right now but we will see how long that lasts. Things like this need constant watering to grow.

Life Guard on Duty

Mark and Kendra got in today and my mom and dad have been here since Saturday. It has been great having them here and the boys have been so great. Henry was a little unsure of Papa at first but has come around. He had no such problem with Grandma and loved her instantly. Finn has been a snuggler with everyone. Passing around the love to whoever will take it. We have gone to the beach more in the last couple of days then we had in the last couple of months. It's great having people to visit to help get you out of the house. We went to Sunset Beach on the North Shore on Tuesday and watched some big waves riders take on 15 ft waves. I had a sense being there that it was like being at Yankee Stadium or the Boston Garden. This is an epic spot where some of the best athletes in the world are preforming at such a high level. We have plans for Peral Harbor and snorkeling and all sorts of other activities so there should be some good pictures for those of you that are into that whole thing.

Canurfing

We didn't see Obama but all the time on the beach led us to this great video. There a a couple of people out paddling around on their surfboards each day but most of them have been out in water a lot farther. This kid was going just beyond the break and then catching waves. Looks like and looks like something Mark will be doing when he comes to Visit.

We are on Obama Watch

You may have already heard that Obama is in Hawaii for a vacation with the family but did you know he is our neighbor. Well kinda kitty-corner to us. He is staying at this 10 room mansion on the beach next to the mansion at the end of our street. That one is full of secret service and local police. Our street is crawling with fuzz and Finn couldn't be happier. "That's a Police Cruiser Daddy!" "And that's another one!" "AND ANOTHER ONE!!!!" Yes Finn, there are lots of police cruisers, I see them. THis past weekend I mostly bed bound with a nasty little flu like issue so I haven't been to the beach much but today Finn and I went down there to "Build Sand Castles" and by that I mean try and see and talk to Barack Obama. I was thinking of inviting him over to watch the US men's team playing China since I know he loves the basketball but I chickened out. THe picture above is Finn playing on the beach and the house where the man is staying. You can see the police presence by the trees but no Obama. Maybe tomorrow!

One Thing

One of the things that I really love about being here is being able to head to the beach for a swim and a sit and then walking back home. I can head down there and swim for 10 minutes and be back without having to make a big effort or even take much with me. I am pale and rotund so I make quite a striking spectacle amongst the tan fit soldiers but I don't care. I have my sun screen caked on so I don't burn and I am slowly dropping some pounds, 4 since we got here, and I feel really comfortable out there. I don't feel fat like I do at work or every where else I am and it's odd because I got nothing on but my boardies. I guess there is a comfortableness here that I have and I like that, it's one of the things that I really like about being here.

Day 7

So far we have been to the beach everyday since we have been here and our mid-westerner farmer tans are turning into slightly less pale versions. There is a salt water pool at the house as well that we have been dipping in, Henry loves it, Finn not so much. I am on Day 4 of working at home and my first official day with everything working as it should. The first couple of days the phone was not working and since that is the bulk of my duties I did a lot of sitting around responding to emails in a lightening fast manor that would imply i was on top of it. I want to show that despite not being in the office I am on top of my game. Work starts at 5 AM and ends at 2 PM leaving a lot of time for fun in the sun. We have ventured into Kailua to walk around and yesterday on our walk saw Hurly from Lost. Having lived in Santa Barbara and run into our fair share of celebs we knew the drill. But it was oddly fitting to be in Hawaii for a couple of days and already run into a Lost cast member. of course I would have preferred Evangeline Lilly but you take what you get.

The boy have been sleeping a little later each day so that they now get up closer to 6:30 AM instead of 4:30. We are all in bed by 9 around here so the early hour isn't so bad. Mandy is here for a couple more days before heading back to Texas and then on to Afganistan. It has been a nice transition to see how she handles Jake so that we can keep things as routine as possible. There are a few pictures on Flickr and more coming.

Wheels up on Friday

We have white walls and mostly empty rooms again. The cycle of apartment life is completing and with most of our stuff neatly divided between parents and friends we are left with a couple of suitcases, a baby cage, and a blow up mattress. Henry is sleeping on the changing table pad and a couple of blankets and Finn’s time-out chair is a 5 gallon bucket of plain white paint. 4 more days until we take off and the excitement is definitely building. This weekend we got to say, not goodbye but “See ya later” to a number of people and with each telling and re-telling of the coming months we are getting more excited. “This time next week” is the start to many of sentences and the end usually has us on the beach with a cocktail in hand. It really is an appealing picture if you think about it.

We have found that when we tell people about our plans they react in one of two ways: “What and adventure for you” or “What an act of service”. I wonder what it says about those people that fall into the different categories. Both are true and the real yin and yang of the situation. We have this amazing adventure ahead of us, living in Hawaii, looking after three boys under the age of 3, waking up in paradise to work at 5 in the morning, and exploring a beautiful place through the eyes of a toddler. I think we are getting as much, if not more then we are putting in and though the circumstances are terrible, the opportunity is once in a lifetime for our family.

Mayger Generations

Today we went to Mayger beach to play in the water a little bit on what is supposed to be the last nice day for a bit. There is rain in the forecast for the next week so after Finn woke up from his nap we headed out. Mayger beach is a spot on the Columbia between Clatskanie and Rainer and has been hot spot for Rohl R&R for the last 50+ years. My dad grew up swimming there, my brother and I lived there for a couple of summers in my grandparents make shift shack attached to there travel trailer. There used to be a dock there that was a thriving bar/restaurant with the neighborhood post office when my dad was a kid, hollowed out and a storage place for gill nets when I was a kid, and is now gone. You can see some remains behind Finn and I in the picture. With or without the docks though the real fun is in playing in the mud, digging up clams, and watching ships heading up the river to Portland and Finn enjoyed all three of those events today.