The 10th Day of Christmas

Sunday:
Since we'll be getting ready to get back on the airplane and head back home, I'm sure I won't have time to publish a post - so, this is a scheduled post. :)

I couldn't leave Hawaii without catching the sunset on the beach. So, I'll share it with all of you. It was just beautiful. (this was actually taken on Friday)

We leave at around 8 p.m. and get home on Monday morning. That will be the long part. And then the yucky part will be returning to the cold weather. I have absolutely LOVED this weather.

This is such a beautiful place to vacation, but as we talked to people, it is not such a fun place to actually live. Most people have to hold down several jobs to come close to making a living here. Cost of living is super expensive. If I ever get back, though, I want to go to a different island and just sit on a beach. I loved seeing all the sights we got to see, but I would love to just enjoy the scenery.

So, it's back to reality and back to getting completely behind on my blog. Hope you enjoyed following our vacation. I plan to upload a more photos to facebook sometime after I get back.

The 9th Day of Christmas

Saturday's activities:
*We hiked Diamond Head this morning in two shifts so that the guys and the big kids could go snokeling at Hanauma Bay. That is why you don't see Brian in these pictures. :) We left Panda behind - we weren't sure she could make this hike. It would have been pretty taxing for her. The bottom pictures are the view from the top looking toward Waikiki. It was just beautiful. Pictures just don't quite capture it.
*This afternoon the girls went with Gma and Gpa to the zoo while the others were snorkeling. I staying behind to clean, organize, shop and enjoy some time alone which I get so rarely at home. :) I think I'll even walk down to the beach in a bit and enjoy some more time there!

The 8th Day of Christmas

Thursday's activies:
*Slept in after being sick. But felt much better.
*Went to the Waikiki aquarium. It was really nice. Don't you love that giant clam?
*Walked back along Waikiki beach, ate lunch and rested. Heading back to the beach in a bit. Got to soak up all the sun I can. Sounds like it's going to be really cold when we return!

The 7th Day of Christmas

Thursday's activities:
*Went to the Polynesian Culture Center. Here's a picture of the 5 of us, the canoe ride, and Panda throwing a spear. I missed part of the activities because by the time we got to Samoa, I was throwing up in their plants. Rebecca and Jeanette were also sick, so we spent time in their little first aid resting station. (they had very comfortable beds) We missed the luau and the evening show and we so miserable that we didn't really care! The drive to the PCC was so much fun. We rode the bus and had a great driver who gave us a tour as we went. We had many different beach views.

The 6th Day of Christmas

Wednesday's Activities:
*Went to Pearl Harbor. Jeanette, Rebecca, Panda and I also made a side trip to the swap meet in the stadium and found some cheap t-shirts and a few other things. It's amazing to see the size of the ship. Brian and the other 2 girls also went to see the USS Bowfish Submarine. Panda was too young which is why she went to the swap meet with us.

The 5th Day of Christmas

Tuesday's activites:

*Brian had a success run at surfing - see above. He had a great time. I went to Walmart and helped get some things stocked up for our units - food, etc.
*In the afternoon, we were all tired so we let the kids rest and watch a movie and then we walked down Waikiki beach for a while.

The 4th Day of Christmas

Monday's events:
*Kevin, Jeanette, Janet and I went together to get the Kevin and Jeanette's rental van. The plan was to go to Walmart on the way back to pick up some food. We decided to take a side trip to a couple of beautiful beaches. (top two pictures) We had a hard time leaving. Those are the beaches you want to visit when you come to Hawaii. Much less busy and in a more natural setting.
*Came home and ate lunch and then we set out for Manoa Falls. It was a long bus ride via the city bus system, but we arrived and started our hike. The hike went through a rain forest on a path. The path was a lot of work to climb in certain locations. Brian's parent gave up after about half the climb. Panda made it all the way to the top - she was such a trooper. Ladybug, Butterfly and their cousin, Giraffe (she just came up with her nickname) posed for the picture above. The last picture is the top off the falls as it came down into a pool. It was really pretty.
*We ate a quick supper, showered and went to bed.

The 3rd Day of Christmas

Sunday's Events:
*Slept in - we were SOOO tired!
*Got up and ate breakfast and planned the day.
*Ate lunch in a food court. I had a Hawaiian taco salad and found pineapple salsa. MMMM - it was so delicious!
*In the afternoon we went to the beach and just played - as you can see from the photos. We had such a great time. The girls played so hard. Panda fell asleep before we could get to supper.
*We ate all together at Ihop. The girls devoured their entire meal. They love pancakes and all the beach play made them very hungry.
*Then to bed. No problem getting girls to sleep. :)

On the Second Day of Christmas

We got everyone up at 3 a.m. (I had stayed up all night) My friend came and took us to the airport at 3:45 a.m. Everything went smooth at the ticket counter. Security was ok - although they fed us through the family line and said it would be quicker - but, it was not! All the people they were patting down were sent to that line too. I felt bad as we passed them, because we got right through after waiting in line. Brian's parents and brother caught up with us.

The girls LOVED their first plane ride. The trip to Dallas was very smooth. Once in Dallas, we changed gates THREE times and made it to the 3rd gate change shortly before boarding began! Once on the plane, we waited... the plane had apparently sat too long. They had to run the engine and the let it sit so they could check the oil before we left. We departed and 8 plus hours later we arrived.

Wow! What a climate change. It was warm and humid. I LOVE it! The walkways between the gates and baggage claim are open. That was kind of interesting - can't do that where we live!

We arrived at the resort. It's so busy here. We walked down to the beach, found a Subway for supper and ate it on the beach. The kids played in the sand.

Panda said, after going down to the ocean, "Mom, the water came to me!" It was so cute.

After being up for 42 hours straight, I crashed. I'm looking forward to enjoying the sun and the warm weather! More later, hopefully including pictures!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Thankfully, even though the weather was bad, our roads were completely clear. We were able to attend church this morning. Here's a picture of the girls with our Pastor:

Testing 123

Ok 6 days to go. Trying to see if I can update the blog with my iPod touch. It's challenging to type on this tiny keypad one letter at a time but I think I can make it work. I'm just not going to write a book this way!

Panda was getting ready for bed tonight and said she wants to wear her dot to dot (polka dot) pajamas. Cute! :)

Time to see if this is going to work before I spend too much time on one fingered typing!

One Week

One week to go. And I'm just plain grumpy. And stressed. And excited, but I'm still grumpy. I have so much to do and I lost two days.

Thursday I came down with a NASTY cold and I just couldn't get moving. That was on top of Ladybug being sick the day before and Butterfly and Panda throwing up Wednesday night and Thursday early morning. So, Thursday was a wasted day.

Friday, still not breathing well, I got up, got us all around and got us to the shop to get my van's oil changed. Then I found out that there was a gash in one of my front tires and the other front tire was in terrible condition as well. So, I decided on tires to buy. Then the mechanic came out and said the back tires were also looking really bad - that really we should get all 4 tires replaced. I then realized that yes, those tires are original to the van and have 53,000 miles on them, so we are definitely due. Something else needs to be replaced while they are at it and so the bill is going to add up to around $850. Joy. By the time we got transferred into a junky (not even kidding) loaner car and then traded Brian for his van as school was getting out (not good timing) and then ran two more errands, another afternoon was shot. Grrr. And I don't get my van back until Monday afternoon because parts needed to be ordered.

I hate it when this stuff comes up at the worst time. It never fails. It makes me grumpy. But, then I am reminded to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." And already God has. We have been provided today everything that we need.

So, we will leave in a week and keep praying "Give us this day our daily bread" and rest in God and be thankful for what we have been given. And I will get over my grumpiness.

Sometimes you just have to leave it alone

Ok, I know what I should be doing. I should be cracking down on the kids and getting all their school work done. Right?

But, there are days that I just have to leave things alone for a while. The other day they all dressed alike (in purple striped shirts) and got out the Cranium Hullabaloo and their dolls and stuffed animals. They were playing the game using the dolls and animals as the players and making them do all the actions. They were working so well together and playing so nicely that I just couldn't interrupt them to do the usual schedule.

So, I waited and let them play. We got to school work much later in the day, but it still got done. I enjoyed listening to their cooperation and laughter. That, to me, is priceless.

The Countdown

I have so much to do! And I'm not talking about Christmas. Stop reading if your are not going to speak to me if I talk of warm weather, sunshine, sightseeing....

In two weeks, we will load ourselves into a pressurized metal tube and hopefully (8 hours later) land on a beautiful island.

I will do my best to try and update while we are there, BUT - if you don't hear from me - you will know that I'm am soaking up every last sun ray and bit of warmth that I can!

Some of our plans include:

*Pearl Harbor/USS Arizona

*Waikiki aquarium

*Polynesian Culture Center

*Iolani Palace

*Playing in the sand on the beach and searching for sea creatures

We'll see what else we get to.

Now, back to my to do LIST!

Just Pondering and Little Treasures

A post on one of my email groups got me thinking about all the things we do around Christmas. It also reminded me of things that I will miss.

My bassoon teacher passed away this summer and one of the things I looked forward to around Christmas was his Christmas letter. His letters were always so cute. He had pictures of his cats with cute quotes and included pictures of his grandchildren and told about his year. I'll miss that this year.

I was going through my recipes and found the recipes that I had copied with my grandma. They were some of my favorites of hers. She even wrote down some of them for me. One of my favorites was her peppernuts. She made them every year. My kids enjoyed them too. So, now I have a little treasure - my favorite recipes of hers - many written in her handwriting.