Hawaii Trip

So, we're back. We had a great time. Once Michael, Lyle, Joey and LeeAnn came over we kind of hit the ground running and didn't stop. We did tons of stuff and we're TIRED (could be the time change and it could be that it seems like we've been going nonstop since we came home with Sam starting school, LAUNDRY and getting back into the swing of everything).
Here are a few pics of our time there, and a few highlights. I'm sure I'm missing stuff, but for the most part here were some highlights.

Lighthouse hike. This was a great Sunday activity... got the kiddos out of the house to burn off some energy and it was beautiful. But it was a hike (Jeanna kind of made me think it would be more like a stroll with words like "paved all the way") But it was a hike. But worth it. Very beautiful, but very scary at times. I wondered if our kiddos might tumble off some treacherous edges into the water HUNDREDS of feet below. So, this pic is of our hosts/tourguides/nurse (for when I was violently ill) and we want to thank them for how incredibly generous they were. Jeanna and Lyle were great to let us stay with them. We had a great time! Can't wait to hear where you're moving to next :)

Michael and Lyle paid to go on a shark feeding excursion. They basically got in this cage and let them float out to sea and threw bait into the water. The sharks swam around them and Michael risked a limb and reached out and touched a shark.

Of course the BEACH! Some favorites were Shark's Cove (after we calmed the kids fears that there would not be actual sharks in the water with us) Hickham Harbor beach (or the airplane beach where we could see the airplanes take off and land) and of course Hanauma Bay.

Pearl Harbor / Ford Island Tour with our personal tour guide Major Swapp. Lyle got us on an incredible tour of Ford Island and Pearl Harbor hosted by the Navy. We were able to see a lot of things that regular tourists wouldn't.
Polynesian Cultural Center - Ok, this wasn't a highlight for me. This was expensive and not worth the money if you ask me. But obviously it is for a lot of people because there were a LOT of people there. It's just not my thing. Except for these fire dancers, they were hot (wink wink - just kidding, that's a bad joke).
Shaved Ice - Ok, so I doubt that Mr. Matsumotos (sp? the name of the shaved ice place) is worth the wait in line or the increase in prices or eating it in a parking lot... but the shaved ice is good. And the kids loved their "colorful ice cream" (if you ever go... Melona is a yummy flavor).
Cousins! Sam and Kate both loved playing with their cousins.

Pineapple Ice Cream! YUM. Double Yum, since we had it twice.

Hurricane! No... wait, Tropical storm! No, wait, Tropical Depression!... Ok, just a few rainy and cloudy days

So, before I left for Hawaii my sister informed me that a hurricane was headed for Hawaii, to hit the day after we got here. It worried me a little... but not tons.
When we got here, her boys were uh... scared, no, excited for the prospects of it. People were stocking up on food/water just incase stores had sandbags by the doors.... You could tell it was the talk of the playground.. and then it got downgraded and downgraded again. So, what actually happened (from an outsiders point of view) was a bunch of rainy, cloudy, overcast days which resulted in a lot of humidity. (Jeanna's kids seemed disappointed that nothing drastic happened... what no flooding?!)
But this did not rain on our parade since I did that myself. Not long after my last post I was hit with probably the worst sickness I've had in years. Just down and in pain and achy and tired and throwing up (not too many details for the weak stomached, but enough to let you know how miserable I was) so that lasted through the days of the big storm While Jeanna was gone for things, all I could do was put movie on after movie for the kids where Sam said "I'm sick of watching TV." Poor kiddo.
So, that's why there's been no more pics about our fabulous vacation here in Hawaii. We're hoping to get out to the beach today for the first time since we've been here after the kids soccer games this morning. So hopefully things are looking up!

First Day in Hawaii!

This is just outside Jeanna's back door. Kate loves collecting the flowers that she has in her hair. They are everywhere and grow on trees, and fall off and they are on the ground. They smell GREAT. Jeanna's not here to tell me what kind of flowers they are but there is "beauty all around" around here. Flowers and trees. We went for a walk to keep the kids awake when we got here (because of the time difference) and we passed all sorts of fruit trees as we walked to feed the fish. There were mango, papaya, banana and another kind of fruit that is huge and looks like green grapefruit (again, Jeanna's not here to help with whatever it was).

At first this gave me a little anxiety to have the kids feed the fish here, because I could just see a kid accidentally pushed in. I slowly adjusted enough to take these pictures. We went to the park afterwards and came back and made dinner.

And for all of our efforts keeping my kids up late until 9:30 so that they would adjust to the time difference (which probably ended up to be near 10 after they stopped coming out for hearing scary sounds). They were up wide eyed and bushy tailed at 4 am.

We miss Daddy lots and lots. Michael usually makes Kate chocolate milk in the mornings (she's not a big breakfast eater, and she has chocolate carnation instant breakfast every morning). So, when she woke up at 4 am she said "Can you call Daddy and ask him to make my chocolate milk!"

Plane Ride...

So, we had a crazy time before we left for Hawaii so I haven't posted anything about the reunion for my side of the family (Alpine Days) but I will when we get back because we had lots of fun. The kids played with cousins for days, went to the kids rodeo, parade and fireworks. So it was busy leading up to it... but those pictures are all at home.

But the kids and I left for Hawaii (we're here now) to visit Jeanna. I was REALLY worried about the nearly 7 hour flight... but it went ok, and in all but the food issue we were prepared. Last time we were on an airplane we were fed some sort of food. We left home in the morning just after breakfast time and the plane left around lunch time and so we basically skipped lunch. So the kids were starving and they served nothing. Little packs of pretzels just didn't do it for my kids. So, I ended up buying gross food that my kids still didn't eat and therefore things got a little sticky towards the end there.

But as far as entertainment goes, there were screens in front of every seat! There were plenty of options and I wish I had no kids with me. As I browsed through all of the options I thought to myself "I would really enjoy 7 hours of just time to read/catch up on movies I haven't seen... " (LOTS of good options). But didn't get the chance. I did get in about an hour of just tv time for me when Kate fell asleep for about an hour . Sam watched Monsters vs. Aliens about 3 times (another downfall... they didn't have lots of good kids choices on the movies, but a couple of free games).

We're glad to be here and the ride back the kids will hopefully sleep and I'll get my 7 hours of tv time in :)