Hawaii

Once upon a time my wonderful in-laws treated our family to a trip to Hawaii.  We joined grandpa Steve and grandma Jackie, Auntie Kelly, Auntie Danielle and cousins Brannon, Max, Jordan and Amanda for a week of fun on the big island.  We left on Mother's day with a fairly uneventful flight, other than Kacie freaking out the second we stepped up to the door of the plane.  She was screaming, crying "scary, scary" as we took our seats.  Thankfully, Haley saved the day by telling her it wasn't scary; it was fun.  Kacie immediately stopped and said "oh ya, fun!" and was totally fine the rest of the flight!

We landed in Hawaii, greeted by the warm air and lots of green plants, trees and grass.  We are so used to living in a drought that Abby exclaimed "Can you believe it, mom?  Real grass!!!"  The only green grass we are used to seeing is fake!  We all got our rental cars and headed to Costco for lunch and groceries for the week, then it was off to our condos.  The kids were fairly done with traveling at that point, so there were some nasty words and looks, until Haley told Kacie that all the lava rock we were seeing was donkey poop.  Nothing like a toddler cheering "donkey poop" to lighten up the mood.  The rest of the car ride was one of my highlights, as they laughed and sang and shouted "donkey poop" about a thousand times!

All of our condos were in the same complex, and ours was the best (in our opinion)!  It was so stocked with everything the kids could want or need (a port-a-crib, legos, books, plastic dishes, sippy cups, balls, boogie boards, pool tools...you name it, they had it) and was so comfortable to be in.  It felt like home away from home.  One of the best parts was the big grassy area right off our lanai.  All four kids loved running around out there!

Our week was spent playing at the beach, boogie boarding, snorkeling, exploring, shopping, swimming in the beautiful pools at the condo, and watching hula shows (Kacie's favorite part).  It was a week that we will not forget, and we can't put into words how thankful we are for the gift  that it was to us.

Ready for a week in paradise:)

Hanging at the beach with grandma and grandpa

Early morning on the lanai!  Our first few mornings started around 4:30 because of the time difference!

We found a chameleon:)

left to right: Brannon, Haley, grandpa, grandma, Kacie, auntie Danielle, Abby

Checking out the tide pools in the lava rock

 

At the fancy Hilton near our condo

Real grass!!!  This was just outside our condo.

Snorkeling!

She didn't want to miss out on the snorkeling!

Abby and grandma Jackie were snorkel buddies!

One of the kids' dreams was to drink out of a coconut.  No one liked it!

Playing at the pool

Look closely at this picture...you will see A LOT of cats.  There was this tree right on the beach (see the ocean in the background) that had at least 17 (the most I counted at one time) cats living under it. 

Kacie LOVED the cats and named them all Fogo (rhymes with Togo)!

We love building dribble castles.

I don't even have words for this one!!!

I looked over at Seth to see him working on his math homework at the beach!

Abby could have boogie boarded all day every day!

When Kacie sees this picture she screams "Uncle Seth", because he was pretending to be her uncle when we took the picture!

My favorite girls in all the world:)

THANK YOU grandma and grandpa!

Snow Trip

The last time we went to the snow was about 6 years ago, so, according to the kids, we were long over-due for a trip.  Some wonderfully generous friends of ours blessed us with a weekend at their cabin in Arnold (which is an adorable town, by the way).  It was basically Seth's first time at the snow, since he was 1 1/2 the last time we went.

As soon as we started to see snow on the ground, the kids started to shriek with joy!  We pulled up to the cabin and, within seconds, they were in the little snow pile that was in the driveway (Seth was barefoot)!  We spent a little while getting settled in the cabin (which was so clean and cozy and WONDERFUL) and then headed out to do some sledding and snow playing!

Seth's barefoot-print!  That kid has an amazing tolerance for cold!

The Foosball table at the cabin was a huge hit!

Beyond thrilled to be heading to play in the snow!

Kacie was NOT a fan of the snow, so she and I ended up hanging out in the van!

Haley's first snowball (very perfectly round, of course)!

Everyone slept super good (yay!) and the next morning they were all ready to head back out into the winter wonderland around us.  Calavaras Big Trees State Park was just a few minutes up the road, and it was our destination for Saturday morning.  We went to the visitor center (if you don't go to the visitor centers at state parks, you are missing out, fyi) and then went out on the North Grove Trail, equipped with our little pamphlet to  tell us about what we were seeing.  It was amazing "hiking" through the giant Sequoia redwoods with snow covering the ground.  We even got to see some animal tracks in the snow.

Up early and ready to go!

My new favorite picture

After a fun morning of exploring the beautiful redwood forest, we took a lunch/nap break at the cabin and then headed out to do some more sledding.  We found a great snow play area and everyone had a super fun time.  The big kids loved sledding and went up and down the hill a billion times!  Kacie was still very unsure about the snow, and kept saying "no, no, no" when we tried to get her to go on a sled.  I finally just took her down on one with me (she LOVES to slide and swing and I knew she would love it) and she laughed the whole way down the hill!

Sunday we woke up and packed and cleaned up the cabin, trying to make it out in time for the service at the local church (I love visiting other churches when we are out of town).  Unfortunately, we missed the service, but we did manage to have a blast sledding for a while before heading home.  

One last, quick visit to Calavaras Big Trees State Park

How cute is this girl?!

Good-bye snow (and wet socks and puffy jackets and crying about gloves!)