Good morning starshine. The earth says hello

Imagine.... it's 5a.m. Everyone in the Frisky house is asleep as I put on my shoes. Leilea is cuddled in a chubby pile in the corner of her crib, Kawika- a mass on the floor behind the door of his room, and that sneaky little Iwalani and John in my bed, sleeping hard, and loud, congested heads, mouths open.

Since school has started, I have been getting up at 5 and either walking with Nani or running the neighborhood and let me tell you- the world is an interesting place right before the sun comes up.

Nani and I are both pretty scared when it comes to creepy things. We're not a good team because we really freak each other out. One of the first days we went out at our new time we saw someone- a figure- moving in a way that can only be described as loping- towards us. He's a tall and thin older man.

We were like rats in a sinking ship. We scrambled to find the nearest side street and hauled it out. We evaded him for a few more days until one day we had to face him. There was nowhere to run- no side streets. As it turns out, he's a nice old man who now says hello from blocks away because he probably knows we're scared. It made me think of Home Alone when everyone thinks the old man who shovels his snow is a murderer but is really a nice old man. He really should correct his posture, though.

We've also noticed, for the past week, that the people in one of the houses near Grandma's street consistently steal the newspaper from their neighbor's driveway. This happens closer to 6a.m. I wonder what would happen if we got there before them and replaced the newspaper with a note that said, "WE KNOW WHAT YOU'VE BEEN DOING."

Finally, here's a hit to the people of the neighborhoods we walk/run through: your curtains aren't as closed as you think they are. 'Nuff said about that one.

**On a side note, I have made it to 28 minutes of straight running (my program considers 30 min to be about 3.2 miles). I am planning on doing the Race for the Cure 5K on Halloween. I may not be the fastest but it's a heck of a lot better than I could have done last year or any other year in my life for that matter.