Mahalo

Thanks to Amber and Steve for such a wonderful vacation. We loved every minute of it and the kids are already asking when we can go back. Anyone have a money tree growing in their yard that they want to share? Here are the pics from the last few days. When I got home and uploaded all my pictures, I noticed quite a layer of sea spray on the lens of my camera, hence the slightly hazy pics. Bummer!
Spencer at the Swapmeet. He and Kennady were my best shoppers. Austin, Dave and Cydnee were done in about 5 minutes the first day, so Kennady, Spencer, Grandma and I went back another day when we could take as long as we wanted. We found some real treasures!
Havyn and Cydnee Hawaiian girls
Madi, Kennady and Taylor found this cool tree at one of the beaches and then wanted to go back to that exact spot every day after that and were so bummed when we couldn't.
Spencer, Austin and Cole getting buried.
Cydnee on our snorkeling trip.
Kennady at Waikiki Beach.

Waikiki Beach
This girl loves the beach!
Amber was in charge of their ward Primary Easter activity and had a great turnout and lots of fun for the kids. I think Kennady is the only Haole in this particular race.
All the kids at Kailua beach.
Kailua again. Madi, Austin and Taylor
Dave and Austin doing a little body surfing.
We took a beautiful, albeit muddy hike to Maunawili Falls (Amber- correct me on the spelling if I'm wrong.)
Kennady at the falls.
Dave took a little spill on the way back. It rained- like monsoon type rain- on the way back down and all of us got completely soaked and muddy.
More Beach Days. Kennady and Taylor
Cole and Austin caught a bunch of crabs and fish
Havyn and Cydnee getting sand all through their hair once again and loving every minute of it.
Looks like a Toyota commercial, huh?
Austin and Madi
Steve had to go to Korea while we were there and brought all the kids back these cool socks.
The Easter Bunny found the kids clear over in Hawaii!
Instead of wild deer and elk like we see in Utah, we saw wild pigs and lot of wild chickens and roosters.
Buddhist temple we visited on our Sunday afternoon drive.
Pali Lookout.
We were so sad to come home to a blizzard and splashed out to the van in our flip flops and shorts. We'll remember this trip forever. Mahalo Amber and Steve!

Swimming with ....

Saltwater Piranhas. Not really. Out captain was trying to freak us out. But, check out those teeth!
Sharks! Way freaky, but also cool as long as they stay this far away!
Turtles.
And one up close. Those fish are cleaning off their shells.
Rays.
Dolphins. Dave, Tif, Austin and Spencer got to swim right in the middle of them and it was amazing!
So beautiful.
Lots and lots of pretty fish.What a fabulous day!

Haoles in Hawaii

Monday in Hanauma Bay. The water was so beautiful and the kids had a blast learning how to snorkel for the first time. We saw lots of beautiful fish and Dave even saw a turtle!
Although Cydnee didn't snorkel, she loved goofing around on her cool body board with the see through hole. What a great idea, huh?
Dad helping Kennady gear up.
The traditional cheesy family pic at the beach.
This is what the kids run to as soon as we get home.
Turtle Beach on Tuesday at the North Shore. This huge one was the only one on the beach, but we saw lots in the water swimming around. So cool!
Cheesy family picture at the beach take 2.
Laie Temple. It's been closed for over a year for renovations so people around here have to fly to Kona to go to a temple.
Tuesday at the Polynesian Cultural Center. Posing with our tats. Dad threatened them all that if they ever got a real one, they'd be DEAD MEAT!
Cydnee in New Zealand with the poi balls.
Kennady's woven fish in Samoa.
Canoe Pageant. I love it here!
Whose child is this anyway? You couldn't have paid any of my other kids to let a complete stranger hold them at this age, much less one of this size, but Cydnee actually WANTED to have her picture taken with him.
Fishing in Tonga.
Dave and Austin won the spear throwing competition and were awarded these beautiful leis.
Spencer is already so sad each day asking me how many days we have left and not wanting to leave. Cydnee said she wants to live here forever. It is a little bit surreal- like living a dream.

Aloha

I know. Those of you who know me well and have seen that I only blog about once every 2 months or so are going to be blown away by the fact that I'm blogging again a mere week after the last one. I have a minute at my sister-in-laws fancy computer, so I thought I'd throw up some pictures of our amazing trip thus far. Just so ya know, they are completely out of order- something that really BUGS, but I'm too lazy to cut and paste them around and I'm not sure of how to do it any easier. Bear with me.

Our niece and nephew, Cole and Havyn both had birthdays the past couple of days and look at the fancy cakes Amber made. It was so much fun to be here to celebrate.


Our "easy" hike (according to Amber) on Friday to Lanikai military pill boxes overlooking the beautiful ocean. Cydnee whined and complained the whole way up, but then was so happy with herself on the way down cuz she had done it "all by myself!"
Our hike today to Likeke Falls. It was through the rain forest and so green and dense with vegetation. (You'll notice Cydnee is my main model since the other kids are always way ahead of their slow old mom).

Our location for an attempt at whale watching this afternoon. Didn't see any, but it was beautiful and well worth it anyway. Havyn and Cydnee are having a ball together. They are only 3 weeks apart and are like two peas in a pod.

It's rare for the family to ever cooperate for a family picture, but I insisted since we have this beautiful backdrop and we had just come from church. This is outside Amber and Steve's house.
Amber made this adorable dress for Havyn. Isn't she so talented? And it sure helps when the recipient is as cute as this!
Cole picked Tiki Island for his birthday party last night where we rode bumper boats and played a round of mini golf then went to Bob's Pizza for dinner.
This is what happens when you stick your brother in his own bumper boat and let him loose with a squirt gun.

A tour of the USS Bowfin while we waited for our turn to ride to the USS Arizona in Pearl Harbor yesterday.
Is this amazing or what? We've had a little bit of rain here and there, but mostly just beautiful weather. That's the USS Arizona Memorial (white building) in the background.
Cydnee loving the beach and the sand Friday afternoon. She was the first one in the water and we could hardly get her out.
Spencer, Madi, Taylor and Kennady at Kailua beach.

First day at the beach on Thursday. That smile says it all.
Thursday afternoon again. Check out the color of that water! More pictures to come.

We've lived here how long???

So, kids that grow up in Utah are expected to know how to ski, right? We finally broke down after 7 YEARS and enrolled them (Kennady and Spencer, anyway who were off track- Austin had to stay in school) in some ski lessons. Park City has a great deal for locals for only $25, which includes a 3 hour lesson, equipment and a ski pass. Kennady wasn't too sure about the whole thing and kinda had to get talked into it, but afterwards said, "That was soooo much fun! Can we go again tomorrow?" Oh no, we've created a very expensive little monster!

There were only 2 kids in Kennady's class, so they got some great one on one instruction.

Spencer opted for snowboarding rather than skiing and did really well.

By the end of the lesson, Kennady was totally skiing. Pretty amazing how quickly kids pick things up.

Cydnee and I had a great afternoon in the sun watching all the skiiers. We found a bench in front of the National Ability Center and met several blind skiiers and 2 or 3 paraplegics. One guy had barely missed the cutoffs for the Paralympics and was so fascinating to talk to. Cydnee kept busy with her portable DVD player, lots of snacks and her snow angels in the snow.

The Best Christmas Ever

We booked tickets last May and I had been struggling to keep the exciting trip a secret. The kids opened their gifts all at the same time and found the plane ticket in the bottom of the box under the swimsuits, flipflops and leis. It took a few moments for them to "get it." One of them (I can't remember which) yelled, "We're going to HAWAII?!!!" Then another piped in with, "This is the best Christmas ever!" Poor Cydnee was the only one that couldn't grasp the concept that we had to wait until March to go. She was ready to pack her bags and hop on an airplane that day to go see Havyn. We are counting down the days now!