Boys get a haircut

 

The boys got their hair cut.

They both decided to get a mullet and I think they look great.

Some people have super strong opinions about it which is weird, but whatever. IT'S JUST HAIR PEOPLE. Let the kids do what they want.

Of course my fam. in NZ love them. People in USA are funny man. As if hair opinions really matter.

Masaru isn't super used to it yet as it's a little different for him to get used to. He's glad he got it though and it'll be great for rugby.

Celebrating Matt's birthday in the snow

 

So Matt turned 41 and wanted to celebrate it in the snow. So that's what we did. Here's the girls making themselves an igloo. They didn't finish. Cause teenage girls have great ideas then move onto the next idea when things get hard hahahaha

Takeshi and Hank had fun in the snow. They got absolutely soaked and had fun doing it. Their faces were bright red and the tubing trail was semi dangerous, but that's how they roll.

Takeshi even decided to take his jacket off. I'm getting cold just looking at him.

Here's the girls trying to stay warm. A firepit was brought up and we made lunch and hung out.

Dru took his split board up and left earlier than us and went with the guys back country skiing. He had a great time. Here he is with Dmo.

Beautiful right?

Here's the birthday boy on the left. 

It was fun to celebrate Matt and for the kids to play in some real, deep snow.

Ep. 5, kids and mates.........

Masaru has an array of mates. He has his close knit circle, he has his cuzzies and mates in Utah, he has his outer circles of bike, rugby, high school, church and snowboarding mates. He gets along with lots and lots of circles of friends both boys and girls. And with his 16th birthday coming up he'll soon have a girlfriend probably. It's worked out good for him, in the end, as he's not always with his core circle you know and so it's nice to know more people. Some groups I like more than others, but that's neither here nor there as my focus isn't to control Masaru, it's to simply guide him and have the kind of connection with him that pulls me into his thoughts, feelings and actions so that I can be one of the many influences that helps him decide what's best for him. At the end of the day, this kid needs to love himself, be invested in himself, and true to what he wants. I can help him with that.

So here he is hanging out with some of his outta circle mates.

He liked this girl for a second. He's moved on. That hoodie his mate is wearing though..............come on mate...............whatever.

And here's another cool kid by the name of Takeshi, chilling with some of his mates. Takeshi is intense and so were trying to teach him to be more chill. I dunno if its working cause Takeshi just is who he is. My children are teaching me a lot of life lessons that are hard to learn. I'm stretching and growing with every experience though and it's super good for me and for the kids I guess. Being a parent is way harder work that what I think. I'm glad Takeshi has good mates. That's everything. Takeshi and Carter, the blonde on his left our right, has known Takeshi since a fetus. I'm glad they have each other.

I also did my fifth episode on my podcast. This one is about all the places I lived over my 43 years on this earth so far. I think it helps explain things a little better so that people have a better understanding of who I am and how I know people and which stage of my life they're from. It's a shorter one this time. I'm enjoying this process and am excited for more episodes. It's been a good time.

 

Snow shoeing with Jo

 

So Jared had given us some snowshoes for Christmas and Jo and I planned a snow shoeing trip. She knew the place and I drove and we headed up there. It was a great cardio workout for me, that's for sure and my camel back tube froze so I had to drink Jo's water. Lesson learned. But we had fun. 

Here I am at a great spot.

I was afraid I'd get cold, but it was alright. I was happy with that. If I went again, I'd just bandage up by little toe and heel on my left foot. It was pretty great.

Jo and I had a great talk, while we tromped through the snow and beautiful scenery. 

We left early in the morning, around 8am and got home around 1pm. It took a solid hour and a bit to get to the spot.

Super fun. I'm glad Jo takes me out on adventures and knows her way around here.

I was doing yoga with Buck the other day, in my bedroom, and he said this. I had to pause the video and stop and write it down, it was so good. I love that he's doing classes online now for people like me, and that I get to be taught by him daily. I love yoga and I love his yoga. That's one great thing that covid brought me, was him.

Hiking or Tramping Tablerock in the snow

 So the weather had been pretty nice. It hadn't rained in a while so we thought we'd give it a go going for a hike or tramp as my brother pointed out the real word is.

We decided to do tablerock. Close to home and a fav. We also brought the kids friends with us so we could all go explore together. They always have fun and it's good for the kids to get outside. We figured it wouldn't be too muddy at all since it's been so dry this winter.

Here we are getting started. The kids were racing up the rocks and Takeshi likes to take pictures of me. I'm glad he did.

Here they all are on said rocks. Emiko likes to dress like she's in the middle of summer, always. By the end she said she couldn't feel her legs hahahahaha

Another rock to play on.

They kept finding great places to get good shots at. Dayton wanted to bring his football that he just carried around the whole time.
 

Here we are 2/3 of the way up and it's snowing. We couldn't believe it. At least it was a light snow and not rain. It was actually pretty cool, so we kept moving towards the top. There was a lady who was walking up herself. She didn't know we were behind her to start off with and was singing her lungs out. She sounded beautiful and we all loved it. But then she figured out we were behind her and she stopped singing. I think she was a little embarrassed which is sad, cause we told her to go for it. She hadn't been outside much since the pandemic and hadn't hiked tablerock for years and so had decided that today was the day for her. It was nice for us to have a chat with her and to get to know her a little. I'm glad she made it out.

I was gonna take a picture of the kids but Takeshi demanded that I was in the picture. hahahaha so here it is.

Just the boys. Dayton is really kind to Takeshi and I love that Takeshi has him as a friend. They get along really well and never fight. It's amazing to me.

Lucy and Emiko are 'friends' by default because of Takeshi and Dayton's relationship. They're in the same year at school but Emiko doesn't ask to play with her usually, but when she comes around they have a good time together which works out great. Lucy is a free spirit and fun to be around.

Another great shot of the kids.

The boys found this frozen rock.

Here's Daytons imprint on some mud of his shoe. They all thought it was pretty awesome, hence the picture. There was a patch halfway up that was pretty muddy. I think it would've been better had we gone earlier, but I don't think the snow helped. I was a little bummed we still came across some mud, but we powered through it.

Here we are at the top of the hike where the cross is. We'd made it and so the kids had decided to explore. They each had water bottles and I'd brought up some food for them. We just weren't prepared enough for how cold the girls were.

We tried to get the city in the background.

Takeshi hasn't taken this santa hat off since he 'borrowed' it from his grandmothers. I keep telling him to change it up, but he thinks it's funny, so what do you do? That face.

Someone had made this message at the top but it didn't look the best, so the kids finished it off so it could be read a little better. It says 'Jesus loves you' They thought that was pretty cool.

Here they are running around the top exploring in rocks.

Who knows where Emiko was in this one.

We raced back down and to motivate the girls I told them about the warm fireplace and the hot chocolate we had back at the house. They all did a great job and had fun. I was proud of them. I'd say it was a success. It was nice to be outside.