Up and away to Hawaii!

Today we left the hotel at 5 a.m. and made our way to the airport.  It went smoothly and, after a five hour flight, we arrived in Kona just after 9 a.m. and had a quick process to get our bags and the rental car.  With our stomachs telling us it was lunch time, we headed to a super easy lunch, Costco!  We shared a full Costco pizza at 10:30 a.m. Yes, silly we know but it worked out well.  We then headed to a regular store to load up on groceries before making the drive to the rental house on the south end of the island.  It was roughly a 90 minute drive from the airport to the house.  

We unloaded and got things settled and explored around the house a bit.  We had to laugh at this sign because it reminded us of streets from a long-ago Alabama trip. You better know if you need the "Street" or "Place" because they cross paths.  Seems extra confusing!  

It was a windy day!  It was nice to be outside and feel a little bit more settled!  

After dinner we noticed a gecko on the patio and Olivier did some crawling to try and get it but it was just too fast for him!
 

Day of rest

Today was a day of rest!  After a slow morning of sleeping in (although that was stopped by someone knocking on the hotel room door and then disappearing) since we didn't get to bed until 1 a.m., Anna and I joined the boys and shared stories from the night before.  That included hearing about their go-kart racing!  We then chatted a bit with the girls before they headed home which was nice too since they don't live close anymore.  

For their first race, Matt got 5th, Olivier got 11th and Mason got 12th.  Then it was right back to racing and the getting the hang of it with Mason getting 3rd, Matt getting 4th and Olivier getting 8th, and all within hairs of each other!  Maybe it is a good thing a track isn't closer to us because I think it would be a regular activity!  

After having breakfast for me and Anna and lunch for the boys, we went to see the race track.  It was fun to see the track and match that with the stories they shared.  

And we were able to make a last minute connection with my dear friend Daneya and her family who live in the area and had an early dinner together.  It was really nice to see them!  And then it was time for bed early since we were going to have an early wake up the next day!
 

Taylor Swift Eras Tour!

Back on my birthday last fall we were lucky enough to be able to purchase tickets to Taylor Swift's Eras Tour and today was finally the day we got to attend!  Yesterday we painted our nails, one nail for each of her albums.  Today we drove up to Santa Clara and finished getting ready!

We were joined by my brother's wife and their two daughters.  We had our lucky #13's, friendship bracelets, and lots of glitter!  

We rode the light rail to the stadium from our hotel which worked out great!  We were also dressed to match the theme of one of her albums.  I was representing the Speak Now album which has the song "Never Grow Up" which we played for Anna many years ago and is part of the reason she became a Taylor Swift fan!  Anna was representing the Lover album which included a pink glitter heart around her eye!  

And being the transit nerd that I am, I was super excited when representatives of the transit agency got on the car and started handing out VTA friendship bracelets!  

We got into the stadium with plenty of time to spare.  We had some dinner and enjoyed the excitement!  

All five of us!  

And to start the show there is a countdown.  Boy you could feel the excitement in the stadium!  

Here is a short video of the start.  Of course I stopped before she came out.  I was there for the music after all!  So nope, I didn't take a ton of photos and videos.  But the girls sure did while singing their hearts out!  

One of the few photos I took!

And the last photo I took.  It was such a perfect moment.  The moon was full and just over the stadium, Taylor was sitting at the piano. playing and singing a song that so fit the atmosphere at that moment.  

So much that could be said but it was so amazing! 

Violin

Today we got to see some of the activities the boys have been doing this summer over the six week summer program the school district offered.  

One of the things Mason tried was violin.  And today we got to see the group perform.  Although it isn't something he wasn't to pursue further, it was nice to see him perform and learn something new.  

Here are the videos of the songs the played.

Whew! We got it done!

This week we got two projects done and boy are we happy to have them done!  It has been nice to have help along the way too!  And now we rest and get ready for what looks like a very hot week coming our way.  Fingers crossed that we keep getting the cool nights!  Relax and be like Cotton!  

 

Trying to hide

This week the warm weather did arrive and we tried our best to keep cool.  And we are working on a project in the house which makes us all a little on edge.  This was true even of the animals.  Can you spot Luna trying to hide in our bed?

It will be done soon, but as with any project, in the middle stinks!  
 

Nice easy week!

This week has been a nice easy week.  On the 4th we were all home and had no projects or things that needed to be done.  Given that, we were able to just hang out in the backyard and play games and enjoy the day.  It was really nice and a needed pause.  The weather has been nice, warm but not hot and cool in the evenings.  See, it has been nice!  

Here is hoping next week turns out the same way, despite the forecasted high temperatures late in the week.  And on a fun note, we went to see the fireworks after the local baseball team's game on Monday and as the sun was setting and we were enjoying the game and the beautiful colors from the setting sun, Anna went to take a photo of the clouds in the sky and Matt did a great job of photo bombing her photo!  Makes me laugh!  Enjoy!

 

Warm weather has arrived...at least for a couple days!

On Friday the warm weather arrived.  Or at least it seems that way to us since we had been cool for such a long time this year.  We had a bit more free time today and decided to head out of the house and have a picnic lunch out of the house.  We decided on Reservoir Canyon to see how much water the waterfall had compared to our last visit in February 2021.  It is fair to say there is a lot more!  (Prior post:  https://mattandtania.blogspot.com/2021/02/nice-week-for-being-outside.html)  

I was having fun being silly playing with scale with this photo!  Mason may be big but thankfully not that big!  

Olivier went into the cave and came out and got Mason to go back with him.  

It was a nice day!  Anna is happy to now be done with PE summer school and the boys are still enjoying their summer program.  One day back tomorrow and then we are all off on the 4th!