Lost Pines: September

Last week we joined the Wheatleys for another trip to Hyatt Lost Pines in Bastrop.  We spent three days and nights enjoying the pool, lazy river, smores, and heat.  We made a trip to Austin to see the Congress Avenue Bats, missed them due to faulty information on the Bat Hot-line, but had a good time anyway.  Rachel, Daniel, and Sean had a great time.  Sean always wanted to be where Rachel was.  I think in general Rachel was voted the funniest kid and Sean the slowest.  He always wants to take in everything around him, including trying to watch grass grow. 

UT vs. Rice

On Saturday we went to see UT play Rice at Reliant Stadium.  UT came away with the win, but did not beat the spread.  Rice, which usually plays games at its stadium on campus, had its largest "home" game since 1961, when they played LSU.  As you can tell from the pictures below, the attendees at Saturday's game were mostly UT fans.

The entertaining quote of the week was by Rice Coach David Bailiff, paraphrasing a speech JFK made on the space race at Rice Stadium in 1962: "President Kennedy said, 'Why does Rice play Texas? Not because it is easy, but because it is hard,'" Bailiff said. "I sure wish he'd said, 'Why does Rice play New MexicoState?"

If you are not familiar with it, Rice Stadium, built in 1950, has an interesting history including the JFK speech and hosting a Superbowl in 1974.

Lake Somerville

Friends and family have implored me to post again to get the Dave-Beard pictures off of the front page of the blog.  I am behind on several posts, but I will now post two from this weekend.  As I am working on this Sean is playing on the iPad.  He found the iTunes app, and while scrolling through it saw the Pink album cover (from Barbara's playlist, not mine) and exclaimed "I see Mrs. Pink!  I see Mrs. Pink! I like her song" that song being "So What."  I'll bet she does not get called Mrs. Pink very often.

Today the extended Pastalaniec family, minus Dziadziu took a trip to Lake Somerville, about two hours northwest of here.  Sean, Grandma, and Joanne spend several hours out in the lake, with brief forays made by Joe and me.  Joanne also brought a picnic lunch (courtesy of Antone's.)

Dave Shaves

View Ohio post HERE

The day we moved into our new building was 7/19/10.  I had gone 4+ months without shaving or trimming.  The weekend before the re-opening of the building Bill and I worked long hours to make possible.  I was extremely tired on opening day - which is why the pictures look more scary than just the beard should make me...

The Complete Ohio

Well, it looks like we fell off of the map after our last post.  We dove fully into our vacation in Ohio and then came back to a very busy summer.  Dave completed his administration building renovation project at ISP and then moved full bore into successfully completing the final certification audit for RC-14001 (a safety and environmental version of the ISO-9001 quality management system.  Barbara's job at Teachscape slowed down, a little bit, to human speed as they prepared to re-launch their product with the start of the school year.

Sean grew about 1.5 inches and entered a little bit of a surly stage, which he seems to be recovering from.  He had lots of fun with cousins Elissa and Dylan and relatives galore.

Pictures: HERE

We spent a week in Lakeside in a nice house by the lake that Nana and Grandpa rented.  We had 6 adults and three kids, and that was enough.  We got to spend time hanging out, as well as make day trips to Kelley's Island, Put-In Bay Island, and Cleavland for a Ross family reunion.

Lakeside OH

Wednesday morning we flew to Ohio.  After a brief stop to see Barbara's Grandmother we headed to Lakeside.  Nana and Grandpa rented a house in Lakeside for a week!  Thursday we just hung around Lakeside.  Friday we took the ferry to Kelly's Island for the afternoon.  Friday evening Nick, Heather, Elissa, and Dylan arrived by car from Houston.  Sean was very happy to have his cousin to play with.

Sean practices "bird watching" with Paco and Nana Ross' house

Sean at the kid's pool in Lakeside

Sean learns how to slide down a pole

Nana and Sean listen to Barbara's iPod

Nana and Sean on golf cart on Kelly's Island

Saturday morning breakfast at the house in Lakeside

Sean and Elissa serving ice cream in the park

Saturday - Goodbye to Hawaii

Saturday we had one last hurrah at a beach in Maui. We stayed and played all morning. We saw two smaller turtles, a yellow moray eel and pufferfish, among others, while snorkeling. In the afternoon we went to the very cool Maui Ocean Center aquarium. Their turtle, sharks, and fish exhibits were awesome. Their big tank had stingrays bigger than we had ever seen! After the aquarium we drove to the NW side of Maui while Sean took a nap. We then shopped and dined in Lahina before heading to the airport for our 10pm flight to the Mainland.

Sean P.!

Honu!

Massive Stingray

Hang Loose Everyone!

Haleakala Friday

Friday morning we woke up early and headed to Haleakala National Park.  The main part Haleakala is the summit and huge "depression" that features cinder cones and other lava formations from the last time this shield volcano erupted.  We did a couple of easy hikes and saw some fantastic views. Dave and Barb did wistfully remember the last time they were here and made the strenuous hike down into the depression.  Sean did not like the cold wind at all - earning him a new nickname "I-Don't-Wanna bird" (after myna birds)  His normal nickname on this trip has been prince nene (prince of the flightless geese.)

After a rest and lunch we headed to one of the beaches off Makena for the afternoon.  We saw two huge turtles while snorkeling as well as an eel, lots of tropical fish, and huge sea urchins.  Sean spent almost the entire time running in the surf, most of that time spent chasing sticks Dave would throw in the water.  Sean pretty much lost his fear of the surf and had a great time.  We dined at Cheeseburger Island Style and then called it quits much earlier that night - everyone was tired.

 Haleakala

 Haleakala

Cold, very windy, trail on Haleakala

 Sean in surf at Makena Beach

Sean taking a quick break from playing on the beach

Thursday in Maui

Thursday we visited a couple of beaches in south Maui: La Perouse Bay and Makena State Park.  Barb and Dave, snorkeling separately while one stayed behind with Sean, both saw a huge turtle swimming in Makena State Park - very cool.  Thursday night we hung out at in the Kannapali resort area.  There is an ocean side walk that goes through 5 or 6 resort hotels and condos.  Very cool, but not as cool as the Hilton on the Big Island.

Just Another Maui Wednesday

We started out Wednesday morning enjoying some of the beaches near the condo:  Sean dug digging into the sand at any beach.  David tried his best at snorkeling without all of his actual SCUBA/snorkel gear and saw lots of cool fish and other sea creatures.

In the early afternoon we headed out on the Hana Highway.  Beautiful for us adults, not so much for Sean.  We took a three mile hike to see the twin waterfalls.  Sean was underwhelmed.  We then stopped at the Puaakaa State Wayside for some more, minor, waterfalls. Sean was really impressed by the Waianapanapa State Park with its black beach and lava tunnel   

From the Big Island to Maui

On Tuesday we said good-bye to the Big Island and hello to Maui.  We spent the morning lounging around the resort, especially at Sean's favorite spot: the sand pool.  Early in the afternoon we headed to the airport and took a short flight to Maui.  In Maui we settled into our condo in Kamaole and walked to the beach to watch the sunset.

Barb and Sean at the one of the resort pool waterfalls

On the boat that runs through the resort

Sean double spooning ice cream at the boat dock

Sean models the latest in Hawaiian shirts on our condo patio

Waiting for sunset at Kamaole Beach Park III

Hawai'i Island Monday Resort Day

Monday we mostly stuck around the expansive Hilton Waikoloa Resort, checking out all the pools, hot tubs, water falls, and the dolphins (certified to be tuna free!)  After a quick afternoon nap we headed south to the Kialuna-Kona coast.  We stopped at three beach parks, including White Sands Beach Park and Kahalu'u Beach Park.  Sean kept begging for more sand to play in.

 Wild turkeys were an early morning surprise

 Sean eating breakfast  and checking out the yellow tang fish