Hawaiian Winter Wonderland

Continuing our weekly routine of Friday morning ocean swims... Forecast was for 30+mph winds and a small craft advisory. That had me feeling a bit giddy about the challenge this morning- I was mentally prepped for nutso conditions. It was bumpy for sure, but once we were swimming it didn't seem altogether different from last week to me. We did the same swim as the last few weeks- Kalama to the buoy chain and back, which is almost a mile (each way) along the shore. Because of the way the wind blows and the slight current, the way to the buoy chain is harder... on the way back it feels more smooth. Today then whole thing felt rather routine and it didn't wear me out nearly as much as last week, which is a good sign that fitness is improving.

Moana didn't have school today, so Scott brought Moana and Maia to the beach to meet us post swim. I was really hoping to get Maia in the water but she was having no part of it.  She was darting around in the sand so fast it would make your head spin, but she wouldn't even get her paws wet. Typical runner. (Scott took a video of the whole scene and I put it on FB. Sorry a lot of it is just us laughing while the camera is pointed at the sand. Scott probably went surfing the day they taught Video-taping 101 at school. Anyway, check my FB page if you're interested in seeing it!)

Since Moana was home all day, of course she was looking for something to do. She has a bunch of girlfriends in the neighborhood, but most of them have gone to the mainland for Christmas. There were a few older boys playing in the street though (maybe 4th grade?). She had seen these boys before but hadn't officially met or played with them. Needless to say she was intimidated at the thought of approaching the group of them by herself (though she had wanted to- one has a Hoverboard and Moana has envy). I was impressed though by her initiative. She wrote them a nice note and left it were they would find it... They wrote back with a riddle and said if she could solve it she could join their club. She couldn't solve their puzzle but eventually they let her into their club anyway. Pretty cute way to make friends I suppose. I just like it that kids play out on the street in our neighborhood.

We took Maia for a jog around the college this afternoon. Happy to report I feel quite fine after that hill repeat run yesterday. Moana is getting stronger on her bike. There are 5x hills on our 2.2 mile loop and on her single speed bike she has sort of a hard time getting up them. Maia and I wait at the top of each one but today we didn't have to wait as long as we used to. Funny- Moana was riding along behind us singing about walking in a winter wonderland... Not quite a winter wonderland here, but sweet idea anyway.