Random Pictures and their Stories

Livi found a new hiding spot. Thanks Costco for the hours of fun. Cute girl is becoming so much fun all the time.

Micah painted this for the kids. It makes me happy every time I see it. The song reminds me of my Dad for some reason. That adds to the sweetness of it for me.

Our beaches got dosed with driftwood this year, and where I found a mess, Micah found inspiration. It looks awesome against the blue of the wall.

Eden got worked by a really bad strain of the flu. I've never seen any of my kids like this. She fell asleep all day long and was burning up. Poor baby.

Can you make out the scorpion? Yikes. The kids said the lolipops were good, but stopped licking as soon as it got close to the scorpion. Yuck.

Easter Fun

Easter is a favorite of mine, for all the reasons you can imagine. It gets more meaningful to me each year as I miss my Dad more and more, and grow more grateful for the eternity with my growing family I've been promised. This picture is one of the Dads at the Laie cemetary where we had the final Easter egg hunt. In the rain. Pouring rain. The kids didn't mind. Livi insisted on carrying her really really full basket all the way home.

The traditional Turtle Bay Easter party was a hit, as usual. The activities were fun, the kids were sweet and excited, and the hunt did not discapoint. We realized that it would have been smart to get the kids smaller baskets. Olivia was a natural at finding eggs and loved the game. Some of the older kids were so sweet- too sweet- and gave here some of their eggs, and even lifted her up to reach some of the harder ones. We live among some amazing and generous people.

Our family Easter tradition is to have the kids find their basket on Easter morning. This year the rabbit left hints. Livi was very confused why she couldn't find hers and we finally had to just get hers out of the diaper bin to calm her down. We had hunts with empty eggs for a month. Might have to incorperate some kind of hunt for Edens birthday party... she loooves a good hunt.

We Love Where We Live

These pictures are from Spring Break. Yeah, I've been an amazing blogger lately. It had been super rainy and stormy and the ocean had been brown for days, then this day came. We had fun at "Sand Dunes" and "Queens Pond". We love where we live and love our friends too.
*Eden is sad that Taj dumped the fish out of the bucket. He was the boy in a group of girls and had to do something to bug the girls.

She is curious about everything at the beach. She loved looking this crispy exo skeleton over and pulling it apart.

Shell hunter club. They were finding beautiful mini shells. Tiny. Perfect. Shells.

Is there such thing as Too Much Cake?

3 Cakes and 17 candles. Happy Birthday Devon!

Photo's From Lately

 These are pictures of Taj after surfing with Dad. We encourage the kids to go out often, but it usually only works with a little incentive, like junk food. My kids are such junkies. I suppose the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. They always end up having a really good time, but for some reason it takes a minute to talk them into it. They smile so big that I can see it from shore.

 Eden in her favorite swimsuit. She loves that it shows her tummy. She has a cute one, but I still think it's funny to love showing her tummy.

 Not a bad self photo. I love any picture of me with the kids... even if nobody will ever see them because of how I look. Livi is changing so much all the time. I feel the need to constantly capture these fleeting moments.

 Taj loves anything volcano. We got this kit for him on Kauai. He couldn't barely wait to build it. He would have slept with the kit if we would have let him. I love seeing my kids excited and interested.

They learned how to Hula Hoop from the best. Our 6 year old neighbor can take off and put back on his shirt while hula hooping. Way harder than I remembered. The kids worked hard and figured it out. I was cracking up at the tips they were giving each other, "you stick your butt out and in like this."

First Fun Run, and Not the Last

Rain tried to stop us. So did the early wake up call on a Saturday, but we did the Kahuku Elementary Fun Run. It was Taj's first fun run and he loved everything about it. He hopped right out of bed and once we got there he didn't stop moving. He and Amaya were racing around doing warm ups and jumping over horse poop. On the trail I had to keep him focused, especially when there were horses hanging out on our trail. At the end we ran through a ribboned finish line where some nice people cheered and made him feel super good. We left with a gift bag, water bottles, t shirts, and food. Eden wants in on it next year. Taj says he wants to do this every Saturday. I'm always so grateful to find good things the kids can be a part of. This community has blessed us so much. We love our school.

 

That Time of Year Again

It's basketball season! Things have changed since last season. The biggest change is that he likes going! Micah is Coach of the team, the Sharks, and they are an awesome group of kids. Seriously. They play hard, they are funny, they listen. Well, usually. They are only 6 years old.

The Garden Isle

Micah and I ran away for a few days to Kaua'i last week and LOVED every second. Seriously. I forgot how much fun it is to just be with Micah and do whatever we want to do.

The pictures are all thanks to Micah's phone so they don't quite capture the Kaua'i we experienced.

When we first got there we drove to Hanalei and went surfing. Together. At the same time. This is a luxury for us as parents. Hanalei point was beautiful. The wind didn't seem to touch the bay so we had glassy rights that came clean like from a wave machine. We couldn't get over the crowd, or rather, the lack of crowd. Kaua'i only has 62,000 people that live on the whole island, so crowds in the water probably don't happen much.

After cleaning up at the hotel we went to a movie at the one movie theater on the whole island. This is when we felt really spoiled and revel in how simply and quickly we could do things without the kids.

After sleeping in to 8:45 we went out for breakfast. Oh, Java Kai. I will dream of you and your fresh bagel, fruit chaser and breakfast burrito. That kept us full for our surf sess and hike to Hanakapi'ai Falls. After the hike we threw our shoes away and swam at He'e beach. Such a beautiful protected beach. This is when we started talking about things we'd love to show the kids on Kaua'i. We cleaned up like homeless people living out of a rental car and went to dinner at a Tapas restaurant. We shared some soft as butter scallops, and the best Mahi I've ever had. We were hungry, but I will be going back to Barracuda's for sure.

The hike earned us a night in the hot tub and relaxing in front of the tv until we fell asleep. Again, such a luxury! We felt so spoiled.

I feel like we wasted it when we couldn't sleep past 7:15, but we were ready to play. And eat. We were super excited to try Tutu's Soup Hale, but it closes on weekends! Nooooo! That's on my list for next trip. the Kountry Kitchen was a great replacement. Pancakes bigger than the plate with butter that looked like scoops of ice cream on there. We drove to Poipu to see what the south side had to offer. Just as beautiful. We long boarded a couple spots, watched whales and got caught in a crazy rain storm. We filled up on Puka Dogs and gelato then headed home.

Kaua'i has a place in my heart. I haven't been able to stop daydreaming about it. It was a perfect getaway. We forgot to rest and take the nap we always wish we could take, but no regrets. From the Walmart where they don't have plastic bags (go reusable bags!) and the law that says no building can be taller than the coconut trees, I love Kaua'i and look forward to the next trip.

First Tooth

It's out! It finally came out while he was watching X Men. He was just playing with it and says, "My tooth just came out!" in an excited and even surprised way. Eden keeps announcing that he has a hole in his tooth. He can't stop sticking his tongue through it and he told me he hopes the Tooth Fairy brings him a dollar. Let's hope 4 quarters will suffice.

Valentine's Day

We LOVE love. And there's a lot of love around here. Micah and I aren't really the V day celebrating type, but you know us with the kids - we'll get into holidays with them. We made them pink heart shaped pancakes, gave them valentine's (fun noodles and a little candy), and made sugar cookies. The decorating was super fun. And delicious.

Kahuku Elem does a cute sweethearts lunch where families (or just Dad's like Taj requested) go and eat lunch with their kids. Micah took them taco bell and they got to sit where ever they wanted. These are the valentine's Taj took to hand out to his class. When we picked him up he said it was his favorite day.

Micah and I weren't total bums. We did go for a Valentine's surf. Which was very fun. And our favorite kind of date.