Thursday, November 30, 2006

We're Back!

Yesterday we made the trip back from Hawaii and we were greeted by an ice storm! It was a harsh reminder that we were back in the "real world." We had such a good time with Nicole's family and are already missing them. Here are some more pictures that we weren't able to post while we were there.....

Our little beach bum! 

Noelle in the ocean with Papa Tenn. 

Noelle spending a little time in the pool with her Grandma.  

Noelle with her Aunty Ki'i. She is expecting a little girl of her own, so she got lots of practice with Noelle!  

Noelle with her Aunty Naomi and the Giraffe purse that she got her. 

Noelle playing with her Papa Tenn. 

Noelle with a pink Plumeria flower in her ear. Grandma and Papa Tenn have about 5 trees that grow these flowers on them, so we had a large supply of yellow and pink flowers for her to wear. She really didn't seem to mind them and they usually stayed in her ear for quite a while. 

Noelle helping her mom put up the Christmas lights. 

This is a baby gecko that I caught on Maui. I accidentally pulled off the tip of his tail during his struggle for freedom. 

Noelle out cold after an afternoon at the beach, if you look closely you can still see the sand in between her toes. 

Noelle doing some more exploring at Grandma and Papa Tenn's. 

Going out in the water with her dad! 

Suprisingly Noelle didn't eat very much sand, she figured out pretty quickly that it didn't taste very good. 

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Maui Invitational!

My father-in-law surprised me with tickets to the Maui Invitational. We had some pretty good seats for both games (Kentucky vs. DePaul, and a semi-final game Memphis vs. Georgia Tech) underneath one of the baskets. We even got on ESPN and ESPN2 a couple of times (probably because we're so handsome). During this game I met a member of KU's 1988 National Championship team, Kevin Pritchard, who know works in the front office for the Portland Trailblazers. 

One of ESPN's cameramen had to adjust the camera behind the backboard and no one was holding the ladder still, so Nick being the safety conscious man that he is went and extending a helping hand.  

This is John Calipari giving his big man Dorsey an earfull, sitting next to him is Rod Strickland who used to play in the NBA and is now an assistant for Memphis. 

Tempers flared during the game and there was almost a brawl, luckily the spirit of Aloha prevailed! 

This was late in the game when Georgia Tech was pulling away from Memphis. If you look in the background you can see UCLA players on the left and Kentucky players on the right getting ready to take the floor once the game was over. 

The first game that we went to was the Kentucky vs. DePaul game. This game was better than advertised as DePaul rallied and made a game of this one early in the 2nd half. I was able to call Nicole and my mom up during this game and wave to them while on national TV. What can I say...the camera loves me! 

Tubby Smith complaining about a bad call against Kentucky. 

Monday, November 20, 2006

Where's the Beach?

Noelle enjoying the water at Kailua Beach.

On Saturday we had lunch w/ a couple of Nicole's old roomates, Amber and Des. Amber's little boy just turned 1 and Simeon (who is about Noelle's size) is 2 months. It was so good to see them again and remember the old days! 

Dad and Noelle enjoying a day out in the sun. 

Noelle and daddy hanging out at the beach. 

Aunty Genoa and her band. She is a very well known traditional Hawaiian singer. 

Noelle was really cute watching and listening to Aunty Genoa, she clapped along to the music.