Kipu Ranch ATV Tours

Ok, so it's really hard to pinpoint a favorite part of anything when you're relaxing in paradise, but this certainly was a big highlight...so far!

Monday afternoon, we took an ATV Tour of Kipu Ranch. It started out in the flat ranch area where they raise cows. All of the free range cows we saw wandering around were primarily used for breeding. Most of their offspring are usually sent back to the mainland and sold at auction. It was nice having the flat roads to get used to the vehicles. These suckers were so cool, as you can see, 2 passenger "Rhinos", Jimmy drove and I enjoyed being a passenger and taking 200+ photos of amazing scenery and lots of shots of the back of ohana's Rhino, too!
Here we are on the ranch. If you enlarge the photo, you can see the grazing cows.

A lot of movies were filmed on Kauai, most notably Jurassic Park, Six Days and Seven Nights, and Raiders of the Lost Ark. All of which were filmed partially on the ranch and elsewhere on the island. We rode through this very dense forest and before I knew about the movie trivia, I was totally thinking "I feel like I'm on the Raiders of the Lost Ark ride at Disneyland." Turns out I was...but in real life!! Hee! This photo is just about the only non-blurry one I captured since it was dark and very bumpy. ps: if you ever do this and are prone to bug bites, don't forget the deet.

One more gorgeous view along our ride. It was 3 hours. Our niece was a maniac on that thing! It was awesome. We were having sooo much fun!

The Grand Finale! Our tour guide Tom lead us up to the ridgeline of the mountain in the previous photo. The view was spectacular! Again, lots of movie scenes shot here. If you've seen Hook, this was Neverland.

Hawaii is my Neverland. And I've found it.

Aloha

from Kauai!
It's so amazing being in an tropical island paradise. It's been so much fun and jam packed with activities so far. Especially enjoying the time with ohana ("Ohana means family and family means nobody gets left behind." Lilo, from Lilo and Stitch).
We arrived Friday afternoon and after a quick lunch at Mermaids in Kapa'a we headed back the airport to pick up our niece who island hopped from San Deigo to Maui to Oahu then finally to Kauai. 3 islands in one day, but not on purpose. Her flights got a little diverted. :)
We're staying in the north shore in the Princeville community. We have amazing ocean views and it's lush and rains a lot on this side of the island.
The view of Bali Hai from the Princeville Resort, next to the complex we're staying at. The sun sets right behind this mountain range and is breathtaking.
Our ocean view from the Lanai. Spending lots of time out there and even bbq'd Sunday night watching the sun set. Saturday afternoon we watched a hula competition in Poipu.
Shipwreck beach in Poipu. Poipu is in the south shore and doesn't rain quite as much as the north shore but it's just as lush. Jimmy and I stayed in the south shore 5 years ago.

Lots more to blog about, especially our ATV ride yesterday, but wanna send this off for now. Tried blogging yesterday but it got lost crossing the pacific and never showed up on blogger.

Kauai, here we come!

In less than 36 hours, Jimmy, his sister and I will be on a plane to Hawaii! We're meeting our niece there who is flying in from San Diego, arriving 5 minutes before we do. I'm totally excited and love travelling with them. In 2004, I went on a 12 day cruise to Alaska with my SIL, and in 2001, Jimmy and I went on a motorhome trip with our niece to Vancouver with the parentals. It's gonna be a blast. Our niece loves to take photos as much as I do so I'm sure we'll get a lot of goofy shots of us being...goofy.

I've been concentrating so much on my race that I really haven't taken the time to think about this trip. I'm a last minute packer, too, so I'm counting on Jimmy to remember everything. I have stamp club tomorrow night and won't get home till almost 10pm. I know myself well enough that I won't start packing till after I get home. I'll be too excited to sleep anyhoo! Besides, I have a 5 hour flight to sleep, right?

I think part of the reason I haven't been able to accept autumn yet is because of this trip. Hawaii is such the summer environment that my mindset is still in summer. Plus our temperatures are still in the high 70s and 80s. The Bay Area is known for its Indian summers and it often doesn’t feel like fall till the end of October - just in time for Halloween! Fall is one of my favorite seasons, it’s definitely in the top 4. Ha! I can’t say what my favorite season is because I love a lot of elements of all the seasons. But Halloween and Thanksgiving are probably my favorite holidays. Weather wise, fall and spring far exceed summer and winter. I enjoy the rain and snow, but I’d rather be boating on the lake.

Another fall tradition I love is the fall lineup. I’ve programmed TiVo to record the interesting series premiers that I’ll miss while we’re in Hawaii. The ones on my radar are Heroes, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The Class, Twenty Good Years, Jericho, Ugly Betty, The Nine, Brothers & Sisters, Men in Trees, Notes from the Underbelly and Six Degrees. And then there’s the returning shows: Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, Ghost Whisperer, Law and Order and Gilmore Girls to add to that list. TiVo will be working very hard!

We’ll be gone for 9 days. Lots of time for relaxing as well as playing. The condo we’re staying at has wifi so of course, laptops will be brought. At least 2. Along with 4 iPods, a PSP, GPS (geocaching!), 3 digital cameras, 4 cell phones and I’m sure a lot more electronic gadgets. Obviously we are not roughing it. We’re also bringing books, magazines, Sudoku puzzles, hiking shoes, bathing suits and possibly purchasing snorkel gear when we get there.

...ah...well...for those times that I had little to say, I think this post has made up for it! I was a little (!) long winded and rambled on without direction. A sign that I cannot concentrate on anything in particular because too much is flittering around in my head. I guess I succeeded in wanting to spill open more! :)

Photo taken at the Kalalau Lookout of the Na Pali Coast, July 2005.

Delicious Autumn

Children jump on piles
Of fallen leaves raked by dad
Delicious autumn

The deep golden hues
Combine with brisk cool breezes
Fall is in the air

submitted to One Deep Breath Haiku Challenge

Merci, mes amis!

Everyone has been so encouraging and thoughtful and I just wanted to let you all know how grateful I am that I've met all of you through this medium. I love how much we share with each other and how positive this environment has been for me.

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart! Bouquets of flowers for all of you!

Madretz, you just finished your first race. What are you going to do now?

"I'm going to...
Disneyland???"

hahahaha!

Whooo Hooo!!! Here I am, post race, with my supportive coach doing a celebration pose on the Mickey head icon.

I DID IT!!!

It was hard, I wish I was conditioned better, but it was so awesome running through Disneyland and having all the characters cheering us on.

What? I have a bib number on my t-shirt?? Are you serious?? ME??? Never in my lifetime would I have imagined this sight. And how cool is this...the 5k theme was Pirates of the Caribbean. Yes, that's Captain Jack Sparrow running my my chest. Phin took this photo of me at 5:48am, right before we walked over to the starting line.

2,999 other runners waiting for the race to begin.

Mickey, Minnie and their pirate pal cheered us on as we approached the starting line.
Whoo hoo! Crossing the starting line, just 3.1 more miles to go.

Running down Main Street. Actually, walking quickly down Main Street. As you can see, there are a lot of people. It was easier (and a good excuse) to walk with them rather than navigate around them. The good thing about walking was that you could take a tiny bit more time to take in the experience. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

We ran through Adventureland and guess who was cheering us on??
Captain Jack Sparrow himself!! Verry close, but not quite Johnny Depp. Sheesh, I certainly would have passed out if it were. Talk about being breathless.

Running through the castle!! Cinderella, Prince Charming and the Fairy Godmother's all cheering us on.

Running through California Adventures. These wide open spaces is where a lot of the runners left me in the dust. We ran our last mile in DCA and Phin and I crossed the finish line...eh...approximately 45 minutes after we crossed the starting line. In all of the pre-race literature, they specifically said that to receive a medal you had to complete the race with a 15 minute per mile pace and that all runners who didn't finish within that time would be picked up and brought to the finish line but I don't think they did because there were still a few hundred runners behind me.

The coveted Disneyland 5k Fun Run Medal and commemorative Pirates of the Caribbean t-shirt! These, along with my memories and the photos Phin took during the race are cherished.

9 more days

Factory farms in Oakdale, CA

It totally smelled like canned tomatoes when we drove by here.

Disney 5k

One week from today I'll be participating in my first race ever. It's only 5k, but I'm starting to get a little anxious. I've been training since the end of March so I know I won't pass out or anything, but I'm really not in the condition I wish I were in. I know I'm doing a lot of last minute "gee I should have's" and imagining a lot of "what if" scenarios. I won't be able to jog the whole thing, that was never my goal. I'll jog/walk ("wog", a word Phin's friend made up).
Here's the layout of the course: It'll be so awesome jogging thru Disneyland and California Adventures. When I look at the course map, it doesn't look that long, considering how much you walk around at Disneyland. I can't wait to run through the castle, that'll be one of the highlights. Finishing will be the other. :)

Phin sent this to me several months ago. Obviously I'm the downtrodden chunky bear and she's the encouraging sleek tiger. It's totally me and her and I LOVE IT! She usually wogged with me once a week or more. Every week I tried to go out 2-3 times and ddr* once. Tried is the operative word - I'm really good at making excuses especially when I wasn't home (which was a lot this summer), but I'm also pretty good at personal guilt being used as a motivator.

This is the trail I wogged on 90% of the time. It's a 1/2 mile from my house so it was very convenient not having to drive anywhere. My typical roundtrip wog is just under 3 miles. This week and next week, I'm doing between 3.1 to 3.3 miles and trying to do something every day till race day.

When I went out this week, I was slow. That's my biggest concern. I'm counting on adrenaline and having all the other runners there to help motivate me to keep a better pace. Plus Phin's doing the race with me so it'll be great having her encouragement throughout.

It's Disney's Inaugral year for this event, which is headlined by a half marathon that Phin and her girlfriend are doing on Sunday the 17th. In the end, I'll be so glad that I did it. Plus I'll get a cool t-shirt and a Disney medal! :)

*ddr explained in comments

Such a Boy

Submitted to Photo Friday: Boy

My only explanation is that

Aliens must have taken over my body.

I just watched the season premier of Ellen and I love the new...
(I can't believe I'm actually writing this publicly)

Justin Timberlake song: SexyBack.

Before you judge me, just go here and give it a listen first.

I'll wait...

Did you listen all the way through?
Do you need lyrics to read along with it?
We're you able to sit still?
Did your ears bleed?

Ok, now that you've listened, you're free to judge me.
I suppose I left myself open for it. Justin Timberlake. Really? Before I heard this song, I would have said that I'd wear Crocs before I'd like a Justin Timberlake song.

Just One Word

Labor Day Weekend

I love it when holiday weekends are busy but not exhausting.

We started the weekend with a birthday party.
ABowen blew out all 5 candles on her scrumptious ice cream cake. We were happy to note that the temperatures were a lot milder than her 3rd birthday. It seemed to be the topic of converstation. "Remember how HOT it was a couple of years ago?" It was great catching up with A&W Bowen's grandparents and aunt. We see them about once a year, almost always at one of the kids parties. Since Jimmy went to college with EBowen and was in our wedding, we've known the family for quite a few years and it's always a pleasure to see them again and catch up and chat.
WBowen's party wasn't actually till Sunday, but we couldn't go so in effect, we celebrated his birthday on Saturday, too.

After leaving the Bowens, we went to meet the newest little person in our circle of friends. Dad is also another one of Jimmy's friends from college.

Much later that night, around 9:15pm, Jimmy asked if I wanted to go to the Headlands. Of course, I'm not gonna turn down a spur of the moment trip into the city! We took a bunch of photos and froze our butts off (I wish!). However, James, not feeling cold enough, suggested we go to Ghirardelli Square for ice cream at 11:46pm! I will never turn down ice cream...it's my biggest weakness so if someone suggests it, I have no willpower to say no, despite the butt that didn't freeze off moments before. Surprisingly, there were at least 50 other people there squeezing in a late snack before the shoppe closed at midnight. After our snack, we tried to go to the Palace of Fine Arts for more nightime photography, but there's construction going on all around and everything was blocked off. So we headed home Saturday night/Sunday morning after a fun and busy day.

Sunday we headed to the parentals for a relaxing afternoon and dinner with them and today, Monday, we stayed close to home. I went to Michaels to spend my 50% off coupon, but that was it. The weekend also included watching "Monster" and "The Godfather II", watching over a kitty who isn't feeling well, several Su Doku puzzles and a WOG (walk/jog, about 3 miles).

Weekend Already?

Time flies. Really...is it already 10:30 on a Friday night on the first day of September?

Last weekend, which only seemed like yesterday, the Chancey's came to the cabin with us. It was the first time the twins had been on a boat and they loved it. They loved lounging in the big water tubes too, as you can see, hanging out with Jimmy and their daddy.

This weekend we're staying local. Visiting the Brewer's and their newest little baby who gleefully made her entrance this week. Also going to the Bowen's for a birthday party. ABowen just turned 5 and WBowen will be 2 very soon.

This weekend marks the unofficial end of summer. I'm not ready. I love fall, Halloween, the crispness of the air...but I feel like I'm still stuck in July so it can't possibly be fall yet. I've had a great summer, though. Spent with lots of activities and lots, LOTS of kiddies. I am Auntie Madeline and I love it.

Silverback Gorilla

Silverback gorillas are typically the strong, dominant leader of their tribe and are usually over 12 years old.

Submitted to Photo Friday: Silver