Friday...Another Day in Paradise...

Since we had spent a restless night in our rental car...

we decided that Friday was going to be a day of laziness and relaxation.

(If that is possible with three active boys!)

Off to the pool!

Aiden refused to wear anything other than his long sleeve cowboy shirt, jeans, and work boots...

you have to pick your battles...this is not one worth fighting.

Look at the grin and dimples!

This kid was LOVING the water!

Isaiah...although he was in the water...he wasn't loving it like Tyler.

That's my man!

I love him!

Mom and Sister playing with the boys...

Here Ashley and I are wrestling...the water was a bit chilly...I'm not sure who started the wrestling, but neither of us really wanted to get wet yet.

Poor Aiden...he still didn't want to change, and he didn't want Mom taking his picture!

Tyler calls this "Surfing"

Finally!  Peer pressure wore him down...or his desire to actually get into the water and play!

Isaiah was done!  He came, he swam, he wanted to sleep!

This is how we vacation...

piled together on the sofa...

watching tv!

Our First Day in Hawaii...Oh the surprise that awaited us!

After we landed (on the golf course), switched planes, landed again, found the rental car place, found our hotel, and went grocery shopping....we got down to the business of settling in!

(The golf course story...all I have to say is this..."You know you live in AZ when your 4 year old says, Oh no! We are landing in a golf course!  What is that pilot thinking?"...Yep, he saw the pristine green grass and automatically figured it must be a golf course!)

Here Isaiah (still wearing his headphones attached to nothing!) and Tyler found their bed, and the cable television.

(We don't have cable in our house...24 hour cartoons are cool!)

 Want to know what we bought at the grocery store?

Our version of Hawaiian food...because we didn't really know what Hawaiian food was...yet.)

OK - so, we later found out that Maui style tater chips are actually made by Frito Lay and not on the islands...bummer, but the Kona Mud Pie ice cream...can I say I've never seen my daughter eat so much ice cream in her life!  She went through 3 of these babies while we were there.

The Kona Hazelnut coffee...yum!  Love it!  I just found it at World Market...score!

The pineapple...not sure how many we ate while there...a lot.  I've never had pineapple so sweet...and the mangos...yum!

Our first dinner in Hawaii!

Hang Loose!

After dinner, I went for a jog with Ashley...well, kinda.  You see I struggle when jogging because my ADD kicks in BIG TIME!  I jog...see something interesting...lose jogging focus and go check it out...jog...loose focus...you get the idea?

BUT....

While we were jogging...

Daddy and the boys made toe rings with the pipe cleaners.

Why can he have a pipe cleaner toe ring and I can't get another tattoo?

Then, since Mommy didn't let Ashley have a "True Workout", Daddy went jogging with Ashley...

and Mommy took the boys for a walk...

(Ashley never felt like she worked out because she couldn't find that spot where she would run so hard and fast that she lost her breath...guess that's what happens when you train at 3500 ft then go to sea level...)

Looking for fish in the Koi Pond at our resort...

"Cheese"

You can tell from their grins...

"We're smiling because my mom is making me stand in front of this stupid plant because she thinks it's pretty, but we see the pool and we really want to go over there..."

We found a lush field...look mom, no stickers!

Walking down the pathway towards the beach...

I was even able to find a small playground.

Back to the Koi Pond...

(I told you I am easily distracted!)

Aiden checking out the cool fish!

So our fun, interesting, kinda scary news...we were in Hawaii when the tsunami hit Japan and then headed to the Hawaiian islands...

At 11:00pm Thursday night we were told we needed to evacuate the resort.  We packed our belongings, grabbed some peanut butter, jelly, bread, and bagels, snagged the pillows and blankets off the beds and loaded up our rental car.  The six of us slept in the car in the parking lot of the community college.  It was quite the adventure...

The morning after the tsunami warning...

it was 7:30am before the mayor gave the "all clear" notice.

You can see that Tyler slept well ~ he's not a pb&j kind of kid so he was VERY happy to be going back to our room. :)

This is a picture of the "Tunnel of Trees."  It is a 1 mile stretch of trees that have grown over to reach each other.  This particular picture does not do it justice...It was very cool to drive through it!

Off to begin a new day, and a new adventure.

Aloha!



The Flight

We had an eight hour flight from Phoenix to Honolulu.  I was more than a little nervous.
If you've ever actually met my children (well, the boys...) you would know why I was nervous. 

Most of my friends actually started praying for safety, understanding, and guidance weeks prior to our departure!  (I'm not kidding!  Have you met the three boys?)

During the flight, we had the option of strapping car seats into the plane or checking them.  We decided to strap them in.  Our kids are usually good travelers, and they are in their car seats often so we felt familiarity would be to our benefit.

It seems we did the right thing.  They jumped right into their seats and sat buckled up...the entire flight!  (Well, ok ~ we did let them out to go potty!)

Tyler...always (well, mostly) ready with a smile!

Love those dimples!!

Since Tyler is 4 and over 40 pounds he is not allowed to have a car seat on the plane.

No biggie since he has a booster seat, but booster seats are not

FAA approved ~ we had to check his booster seat.

He was a little wiggle worm!  I'm glad we had seats for the littles.

Aiden and Daddy

They are all smiles and ready to go!

Isaiah and Sister...

(yes, he adores his big sister)

Nope, she doesn't like to fly and she was nervous how she was going to get Isaiah to sleep during take off.

She always puts herself to sleep during take off and landing.

Don't ask me how she does it...

Ask about the Georgia trip...

Tyler and Mom

(Mom is looking a little tired and worn out...oh yeah...she only had 2 hours sleep.)

He read the safety magazine 3 times before take off...

asked specifically where the kid life vests were...

wanted to know where the rafts were...

when we would get to slide down the exit...

why there was water...

made me double check our safety belts...

had to move away from the window to watch the safety video (as if he hadn't already memorized the pamphlet!)...

tested the window shade...12 times before Mom made him stop!...

from there he moved onto the "in flight" magazines...

thank goodness they didn't have any catalogs.

That kid would have been a major shopper.

Note the blue mouth...

his headphones were not plugged into anything!

large sheet of stickers...check

crayons...check

paper...check

This kid was set...while sister slept!

Fortunately I was able to reach behind my seat to reach his stuff for him.

Aiden was not happy that Daddy slept...

I kept leaving my seat to get his toys...

candy...

water...

(see that water bottle on the left side?  They are the best!  I'll write more about them later.)

He actually got pretty good at waking his dad up.  He would tickle him in the nose or ear with the pipe cleaners.  :)  LOL.  That kid is a joker!

Aaaahhhhh......

Finally...

The Professor slept.

My kids are AWESOME travelers!

They each carried their own (age appropriately sized) backpack with toys and in flight supplies,

and

they had a pull along backpack with clothes, stuffed animals, and blankies.

(OK - I confess...they each some of my clothes in their pull alongs!)

Hawaii...Here We Come!

For many years we have been talking about going to Hawaii when Ashley turned 16.  A couple years ago, after the twins were born (and placed with us), and Tyler was living with us, Ashley said, "Guess we won't be going to Hawaii."  Tim and I talked and decided...lets just do it!  So, we saved and saved and guess what?  We are in Hawaii!

How do you travel to Hawaii with ...
a husband who hates to fly...
a 16 year old who hates to fly...
three toddlers under the age of 4 who either haven't flown or don't remember flying...
and
a mom who always overpacks...

You read A LOT of online suggestions, and ask your experienced FaceBook friends!

I was prepared...
1.  We were not checking bags.  We don't fly often enough to get the free luggage rates, and $35/bag was not in our budget.  That meant one carry on and one personal item each.  (Oh crud!  How am I going to do it?  I started panicing in October!)
2.  I researched Hawaii's car seat laws...good thing too since they are way more strict than AZ! 
3.  Got the ridiculously high rental rates to rent a car seat and decided to take our own!  It meant three bulky items to carry, but we saved $300!
4.  I packed each boy their own backpack with: stickers, paper, crayons, blanket, stuffed animal, pipe cleaners, chapstick, and a ridiculous amount of candy.

Feeling guilty for all the candy...

I mixed Craisins, cashews, and sunflower seeds with the m&ms.

Yep, pretty tricky of me.

Unfortunately, if you sat with Tim...he made you eat the nuts first!

He was less than thrilled with the giant candy bag!

Just a small sampling of what went into the candy bag...

The plane ride was 8 hours!  I wanted my kids happy.  I figured we could get them back on track when we got home.

Here is Aiden...

eating the donut that I got him for breakfast...

did I mention that I was going for "Mom of the Year"?

Tyler...my junk food aholic!  Yep, he's all smiles!

We basically took up residency in one corner of our gate area.

6 people

12 bags

3 car seats

5:am - we really didn't care!

Isaiah waiting for the plane.

So glad I washed his shoes before we left...

sheesh!  Some mom I am...

Did I mention the "Mom of the Year" thing?

Yep...

My Four Kids

with the Hawaiian Airlines Plane!

Yippee!

OK - so he's about done and we haven't taken off!

Always the awesome sister...

not sure if they were looking at pictures,

listening to music,

or reading texts.

My amazing 16 year old being patient with her little brother...

watching planes land and take off is super fun though!

The Boys...

waiting...

Off we go!....

Three of These Critters is Not Like the Others...

I'm not entirely sure when this was taken...

I found it on my camera chip.

It must have been a "Sister" day.

I love that she takes photos for me when they are being goofy.

An Afternoon At the Park

Sometimes...

the kids just need to leave their own home.

Sometimes...

mom just needs to get away from the mundane.

Sometimes...

we find ourselves at the park!

Tyler...always ready with a smile..

Isaiah...

seldom unsure of what he is doing...

probably best I don't know!

Checking out the competition on the swings...

wondering whether or not it is worth the walk over there.

This little monster was climbing UP the slide ~

not sliding DOWN the slide the way it is intended.

(Do any other moms fight this battle?)

No matter how calmly you try to referee, parenting will eventually produce bizarre behavior, and I'm not talking about the kids. Their behavior is always normal.

Bill Cosby

Fun times with new found friends!

"Beat you Tyler!"

We have a monkey among us!

With so many kids at the park that day...

it meant there was a good chance that "Tag" would be on the agenda.

Here Isaiah is sneaking around the slide to see who was near him!

Love it!

I love that we have intermittent days of sunshine between the days of rain and snow.

18 Years of Wedded Bliss...

Side note:  This post was started and suppose to be in October of 2010...It is now February of 2011...

Yes, we are still married ~ no, the weekend was not last weekend...it was 4 months ago.

Remember I said I was trying to get caught up?

Colossians 3:14

And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. (NIV)

Don't we still look 20 and 23?

OK - maybe not.

We spent our anniversary weekend in Sedona.  Tim  let me have free reign over all the plans.  I'm so lucky!

Friday night was dinner at Picazzo's Pizzaria.  If you've never had pizza there...go try it!  It is organic and gluten free (so I can eat there!), and I really like it there!  Then back to the room for endless hours of TV!  We don't have cable in our house.  If you live in Camp Verde that translates into...no reception!  We take full advantage of ignoring each other and having our own tvs (Tim in the living room ~ me in the bedroom.  We had a 1 bedroom suite)!  Not romantic...but a lot of fun.  I ended up falling asleep early!

After sleeping in on Saturday morning,  we made a quick trip to Safeway for bagels and fruit then we headed to a hike that I've been wanting to try.  Devil's Bridge.  It was an amazing hike.  So much fun! 

Back to the hotel for a quick swim while TIM MADE LUNCH FOR ME!!!  Margheritta pizza.  (Have you figured out what my favorite food is?)  More cable tv watching...reading...napping...total relaxation!

Saturday night's dinner was at Dahl & DiLuca.  Our concierge made the reservation for us.  It was heavenly!  We had a private booth with a curtain to keep us secluded from the rest of the restaurant, and they sprinkled rose petals on the table.  Very sweet.  The food was great.  Tim is ready to go back again, but after exploring the restaurant after dinner, we decided that we want to sit "in the open" next time.  The ambience is very open and friendly.

Sunday brought another hike (Bear Sign Trail)...this one was leisurely.  Very leisurely....almost boring!  Time spent with my honey is always nice though.  (Yes, I was a bad girl...I broke our tradition of trying a new church each location we visit.  Being in the beauty and splendor of God's glory both days though...I totally felt Him with us.)

Back to reality...and here's to another 18 years...