Labor Day Weekend

Friday John picked the girls up from school. That's a treat to have Dad at school! I was waiting in the car and saw them walking out all holding hands. It was so cute I had to jump out - but was a little too late. Ashlyn doesn't last too long at anything (except getting into things).

Friday night we got a babysitter and went out with Matt & Kim. We were going to see "Becoming Jane" but missed the last showing (much to the guys' dismay), so we went out for Thai food, then to Borders (have you checked out the new book "The Dangerous Book for Boys"? It's a good one, especially if you have boys) then on to ColdStone. It was such a warm night - we sat outside the Promenade and chatted until 11pm.

Saturday we took the kids to the beach. Madison wanted to learn how to surf. We got a foam board and headed out to a beach. Since we were having a major heat wave (it hit 100 here! yikes!), we were happy to escape to the beach and didn't even think about wetsuits. The water was so unbelievably freezing!!! We were not just used to Hawaii water, either. I checked out the surf report and it said the water is 60 degrees! That's way too cold for comfort, especially this time of year. So we whimped out and went home. We had chores to do, a talk and lessons to prepare anyway!

Monday we went bowling. Another hot day - it was a great activity to beat the heat. The kids loved it. Brooke even got a couple of strikes, and Christian some near-strikes. Gotta love the bumpers!

After bowling, we went swimming and barbequed at Matt & Kim's. We had a great time and are so sad they are moving to Japan!

First Day of School! 3rd Grade/1st Grade

It was so hard waking the kids up this morning, but luckily we had their clothes all laid out before we left for vacation, and Brooke's hair was curled.

The two littles probably could have slept for several more hours, especially considering Ashlyn awoke at 3am screaming with a fever of 101 (poor thing is sick today!).

Brooke is in a K/1 split. I don't know how I feel about that, but I love her teachers and Kindergarten is half day, so part of the day, she'll have a 10-1 student-teacher ratio, so that's a plus.

Then it was off to the grocery store to replenish our bare fridge and home to nap these littles. I guess I need to unpack and do laundry sometime today, too. Oh the joys of returning from vacation.

Good Bye Aloha - Day Ten

Tuesday - time to say farewell to Paradise and vacation and non-schedule, and fun. Time to pack and get back to the hustle and bustle of daily life.
I took the kids down to the pool for one last dip, then we went back, showered and packed and got ready to leave. Check-out is 10am. Isn't that insane?

The plane ride home went super smoothly! I had been concerned about it. Luckily, we were bumped up to economy-plus and had the first row, so lots of room to roam, and we all sat together. Originally, we were supposed to be separated throughout the plane. It was a completely full flight.
The kids all did wonderfully well!
The view of Honolulu/Waikiki from the plane. Good-bye!!!
I had to put curlers in Brooke's hair in the car on the way home since it was 11pm and the first day of school started in the morning!
Ashlyn and Christian crashed hard - I wish we all could have. We are all tired.

Aloha! Monday - Day Nine

This morning we got up early (John had a 7am conference call), and I took the kids down to Lagoon #1 for a fish feeding. Unfortunately, it takes too long to get 4 littles that far away, so we missed it. We'll try again tomorrow. Instead we stopped at Lagoon #2 for some snorkeling and saw many amazing fish on our own.
This is our little umbrella we parked under. So serene!!


Then, the PCC came to demonstrate some things:

Christian must take after his father and loved to bang on the drum. He maintained the beat for our dancing lesson.

The kids learned how to throw spears.

I even tried some Tahitian dance (that's the fast-moving hips one, not that I had fast moving hips yet).

My instructor - now she can dance! Amazing!! That's one great workout.

The girls learned how to make fish out of leaves. It was a lot of fun - and we didn't have to go all the way back to the North Shore to do it!

After another day of fun in the sun, we headed out to the mall to get a couple of last minute things and stopped for dinner at Farrells!! Did you even know they were still around? They were just like we remembered - the old fashioned straw hats, candy store in the front (only there was only one jar of jaw breakers), the big drum, sirens, etc. whenever anyone had a birthday. They even still have the "pig's trough". I can't say I have ever had dinner there before, in fact, I don't even know if they served dinner there when we were kids. All I remember was the ice cream and the fun. John and I had soup and salad, and we all shared ONE banana split - which I have to say was more than enough for our family of SIX - and it was only a single serving size! Geesh!

Aloha! Sunday - Day Eight

This morning we headed back over to the North Shore to attend a ward next to the Temple. We visited the Laie 7th ward, then went across the street to the Visitor's Center and Temple grounds. Such a beautiful place! It was quite warm and humid - a bit much for standing around taking pictures in the sun, but we managed a few.

I think this is the only picture we have of all of us from this whole week!

On the way home, we checked out some of the famous North Shore beaches. There aren't any waves this time of year, as they hit this side of the island in the winter. It started to rain just as we were coming up to Waimea Beach, and wouldn't let up. We were actually hoping to get a little rain this trip as the kids love to play in the rain, especially being so warm. The rain never let up, but that did not stop a determined bunch - in fact it made it all the more exciting . . . plus easier since we didn't have to worry about sunscreen. In this photo, they are standing in the parking lot, holding their new snorkling gear, super excited to check out the beach.
John was taking cover near a building, but they had no hesitation and darted for the water. . . even the baby.

We can't believe we only have one full day left! It has gone way too fast.

Aloha! Saturday - Day Seven

This morning we did tag-team to the gym. There is a really nice facility here and it felt so good to work out! I first checked out the jogging trail that goes 1.5 miles from lagoons 1-4. Absolutely spectacular!

In the afternoon, we played at the beach and rented a Flintstone-esque Sea Doo!
These things are a work-out, but loads of fun.

Here John is out in the water with the two littlest of the littles. Brooke came in for a momentary break.

At night, we went shopping for snorkel gear, got some pizza, and came back for pizza/movie night.

Aloha! Friday - Day Six

Today we did a little bit of shopping in the morning to restock sunscreen and diapers (the important things!). Then grabbed some lunch and got back at the same time as the husbands. Yeah! They're finally done with work and can now play!

We changed hotel rooms and moved to a bigger one. The kids are so excited to have their own room and bathroom. Then we went down to the pool so the dads can play and check it all out.

Ashlyn is a baby on a mission and can spent a really long time with bucket loads of water.
Brooke couldn't be happier swimming!
Now John gets to trade business lunch meetings for toddler feedings. His food is their food!

Our friends then left in the late afternoon. We are the only ones left and get to stay for four more days! Yipee! I don't know if we can ever tire of this place.