While Daddy Goes Grocery Shopping...

The way we roll...

Since Mommy does the cooking while we are on vacation...

Daddy had to go to the grocery store!

Isaiah is walking with Daddy!  I love when he holds hands!

OK - so the entire brood was walking Daddy out..

because Mommy was going to take all the kids on a picture hunt walk.

(You know...when you are looking at the scenery, but you don't want a picture of the ocean so you add your kids?)

Of course I seldom get all 4 kids together...

Here is my group!

Love the water spraying up!  There were little tidal/spray pools of water on the lava rocks..very fun!

Ashley and Isaiah were inseparable on this excursion.

I found it interesting that there was plant life among all the lava.

My 4 kids exploring...

Sister got tired of waiting for Isaiah to hurry so she just carried him.

Directing the music in his mind...

Mommy...the model...

or...not...

OK - first ~ glance at the picture...

Now, go back and really look at the picture.

What do you see?

Do you see the face of my 17 year old daughter on the body of one of my 3 year old twins?

Kinda weird huh?

I'm tricky that way!

Here is Aiden...

... and Ashley...

...and Tyler and Isaiah...

Remember ~ you're suppose to be looking at the scenery...

not the kid trying to smile, but mad at his mom because he is tired of taking pictures and doesn't want to smile anymore.

More...

Rock Climber Roth

She made it!

The kiddos and I...

Do you see that little cave to the left of Isaiah?

It is TINY...between Tyler and Isaiah..

Do you see it?

Aiden kept trying to get in it.  We wouldn't let him because Ashley and I neither one would fit.

Boy was he mad!

I so appreciate the way God has blessed my life!

Nehemiah 9:5
..."Stand up and praise the LORD your God, who is from everlasting to everlasting. " "Blessed be your glorious name, and may it be exalted above all blessing and praise.

Saturday Night Yoga

One of our resort people gave me a child yoga video for the kids to watch....

with grumpy people below me complaining about how noisy my kids walked I thought the yoga would be soothing...

It didn't work...

the yoga video had the kids jumping like kangaroos,

flying like airplanes,

running in place,

acting like an elephant...

it was not soothing nor was it quiet!  I just new it was going to be a long week!

But hey!  I discovered that two of my kids really enjoy yoga!

Awesome.

This was the sleeping arrangement for the boys...

pull out sofa bed with a couch shoved next to it.

They LOVED it!

We traveled with Tigger and the Thomas blankie...

I'm not sure life would continue if they were missing those elements.

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!