Our Summer has officially begun...

Yesterday we went out, and we were out for the whole day!  It was great!  We started by heading to Kualoa Ranch for the 2011 XTERRA Freedom Fest 10K Off-Road run.  The run is a loop around the Kualoa Valley (seen below) that is not only gorgeous but is also the filming location of Jurassic Park, LOST and Hawaii 5-0, among others.  This is the third year that the Freedom Fest 10K has been going and although I missed last year I was there for the opening run in 2009.  It was A LOT of fun!

This is a shot of the valley from the starting line.  It was a beautiful sunny day and the run up and through the valley (tough, yes very tough) was MEGA fun!

Ruby, Tyson and Andrea came with me this year and while I ran the 10K they sat and enjoyed live music and the ambiance of race-day fun.  Tyson was being very silly.

Ruby just relaxing while they wait for me to finish the race.

Ruby took this photo all by herself!  It shows the entire Kualoa Valley.

Ruby also caught this photo of mom and Tyson being very silly.

Finally coming across the finish line. I ran the race in 1 hour 18 minutes - only 5 minutes longer than my last run in 2009.  I haven't been training for this so it was nice to know I got close to my original race time.

What an awesome run!  

Tyson couldn't wait to give a kiss to the finisher!

After the race we headed up to the north shore and stopped at McDonalds in Laie for some fries.  Tyson said the Ronald McDonald was his dad and he didn't want to leave him at the McDonalds when we left.

Ruby taking another shot, she's getting pretty good with the camera...

This waterfall is IN THE McDonalds in Laie!  Nice atmosphere!

We then headed up to Haleiwa and got some Shave Ice at Aoki's...  unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of that, but on the way back we stopped at Hukilau Beach and played for a bit.  Ruby and Tyson LOVED the waves crashing in and (sometimes) knocking them over.

It was very cute to see them play together in the surf!

Here's Ani covered up from the sun - she's still recovering from a bad cold... :(

Sometimes these kids play so well together it amazes us!

Finally dad went out and played in the surf with them too.  Tyson learned to Duck-Dive and especially loved jumping over the waves.  We had so much fun!

We stopped at Windward Mall in Kaneohe where there is a kiddy play-place next to a pet store...  to say the least the kids love playing there.  Tyson is driving a double-decker bus here.

It may not be the same as a Merri-Go-Round at the county fair but it'll have to do here in Hawaii.  The kids got a big thrill going around in tiny circles for 3 minutes.  They're so easy to please...

So cute!  Love that smile!  Only in Hawaii would you find kids wearing jackets in July!

We had so much fun yesterday that it was like a mini-vacation for us!  Can't wait to do it again!