Final Cabin Trip and New Family Additions

Last weekend we took the kids up the the cabin on Rimrock. Sadly, it will be our last trip because the cabin has sold. However, we do have a lot of good memories of our trips there to keep with us.

We we're hoping for some snow to go sledding, but no such luck. We woke up Saturday morning to it snowing, but it only lasted for about an hour. We went up to the sledding hill on White Pass on Sunday, but unfortunately it started raining. We decided to take a drive around Clear Lake and Rimrock . We hadn't ever driven all the way around. The rain had really slowed down so we took a walk out into Rimrock and played around for awhile. The kids loved having a snowball fight with their dad. We really enjoyed a relaxed weekend and had fun. We had a movie night with the kids, which they always enjoy.

This is Noodle. She is one of our new family pets. She was the one that was more reserved when we first saw her and now she is the friendliest lil girl. The kids are so excited to have pets again. Dan was the one who suggested we get two of them so they could keep each other company. The kids suggested four so that they could each have one, but two is already too many...lol.

This is her sister Lily (Poof). She is not feeling too well and has been throwing up. I really hope she is better in a couple of days. If not, I'll be taking her back in to have them check her over because she was perfectly healthy when we first adopted her. She went to the vet to be spayed and declawed before we could take her home and now she's kind of lethargic. Noodle had the same procedures, but she is doing well. The kids can't wait to be able to play with them, but they are actually being really patient! The house officially has more girls than boys....lol!

Hawaii

NOTE: Just so you know ahead of time, this is a pretty long post. There were so many pictures and these are just a small portion of them. I will post more pictures on my Facebook photo page if you'd like to view more of them.

It has been a few weeks since I have posted anything because we got to go on an exciting vacation to Hawaii. We got to spend two weeks there and we had such a great time. We took the boys tubing which is down an old canal which now they filter for drinking water! We went through 5 tunnels which the boys thought was really cool. The last tunnel they had you turn off you head lamps so you went through it in the dark. It was such a cool experience. The boys wanted to go again. We went tubing about a week into our trip, but the pictures are posted first because I could not get them to move down.

Ethan

The boys at the top before we got onto the tubes.

Hayden LOVED tubing!

Us with the boys before we started....

Getting into the very cold water...

Okay, this is now the beginning of our trip. This was the first time the kids got to ride on an airplane. They were very excited. We didn't tell them when we were leaving, we just picked them up from school and headed for Seattle. They were so excited when we arrived at the airport early the next morning! We had the best flight attendant on the way to Oahu. Her name was Jayne. She kept giving us large bottles of water and all the free snacks we wanted. Everyone else only got a small cup of poured water, so needless to say, we were very impressed. They must have really loved the kids! When we arrived in Oahu, the pilot stepped out and asked if the kids would like to go into the cockpit! The cockpit!!! They couldn't believe it! So they each hopped in there and they even got to wear the pilots hats and play with the controls! What a great experience for them!

The kids in front of our plane...

When we arrived in Oahu, we headed for our hotel to change so we could go to the Polynesian Cultural Center. We'll it ended up taking us almost 2 hours to find our stinkin hotel and we were using our Garmin!! We called the hotel several times to get directions because there was construction going on. It turned out our Garmin was having us turn one block before the actual street. The street wraps around, so I can see how someone could easily get lost!

When we got to the center, they said we could get in free the next day since we arrived so late, but we weren't going to be able to come back. I am so glad we made it there at least. The kids had a great time filling out their passports with stamps.

Dan and the kids tried their hand at Poi Ball.

The kids in Fiji...

The kids got to fish with little bamboo rods with a paper clip on the end using bread. Just as they had finished up using their 10 pieces of bread, I hear Dan yell and Maddie goes running out of the gazebo. Come to find out she had caught her first fish ever! As soon as she knew there was a fish on her line, she dropped it and took off! Luckily Dan was right there and caught the pole. It took quite a bit of convincing to get her back in there to even take a look at her fish! Later we went on a canoe ride and as went went by the gazebo, a duck gulped up her fish right out of the water!! The paperclip must have injured him more than we thought!

The kids at our hotel....
The next day we went to Pearl Harbor. We rode the boat out to the Arizona memorial, toured the Bowfin submarine and went onto the Missouri. Hayden just about had me in tears when he looked up and said to me out at the Arizona,"this is pretty sad." He's a pretty smart kid!

On the Bowfin....Madd looking through the binoculars...

The kids at the Arizona memorial...

Later that evening we flew into Kauai where Pa greeted us with leis at the airport. The car rental place upgraded us for free and all Dan asked was if they had a Chrysler 300 for me and they didn't so we got upgraded to an suv. We saw lots of places and things while we were there. We went to the wet and dry caves, which the kids thought were pretty neat.

We went to the Spouting Horn (where water shoots up out of the lava bed in the ocean) and watched the whales jump out of the water. It would happen so quick that it was hard to get a picture!

We went to the Kauai Coffee Plantation where we had ice cream and tasted lots of coffee.

the MACHO boys in front of the pretty flowers...lolol....

We got to spend the first day there at the beach. Dan was going to go to a golf tournament, but decided to stay at the beach, which ended up being a good thing because it was really the only nice day for about 10 days. We brought the rain with us to Hawaii. It had not rained for a long time and when we got there it decided to start, but that was okay with me because I'd rather be in warmer weather with it raining than at home in the cold raining!

The boys went coconut hunting and Dan cracked it open and Hayden drank it! Then they ripped it open and tried the coconut.

I just love this picture of all four kids in the water. I had it enlarged and turned into black and white and it turned out awesome! I can't wait to frame it and hang it up!

The water was so still that day that you could see everything on the ocean floor!

We went swimming in quite a few different pools. This one with Madd was at the Ka Eo Kai.

You'd have to enlarge this sign picture, but it tells you how far of a distance it is to the different countries like China, etc.

The kids at our condo at the Shearwater. It overlooked the ocean where you could see the whales. It was neat to see.

We took the kids to the Kilauea Lighthouse. The boys had been begging to go see it. We found a snail in the grass and played withit a bit...lol. Ethan was the only brave one of the kids to actually hold it. The whales put on quite the show for us while we were there too.

Swimming at the Shearwater...the kids liked having splashing wars. Some elderly guy that hopped into the pool to swim started a splashing war with them too! I'm glad they could entertain some of the older folk.

This pool is at the Bali Hai. They have part of their pools made with sand in the bottom like you are at the beach. The kids really loved that, especially with the fountains!
Dan joined the girls for a hula dancing class. Haylee actually did pretty well. It was quite a long class for Maddie to keep up with, but she said she had fun. Granny and I really enjoyed watching them.

This is the kids at the Kilohana plantation. Dan and I had gone to the Koloa rum tasting room. Dan ended up bringing some home. When we got home and opened up his golf case, there were two inspection notices in it. During the xrays, the department of agriculture and customs must have found the images of a bottle of rum, bottle of Mai Tai and a boxed cigar suspicious! They must have thought Dan was trying to smuggle! We got quite the laugh out of that one...lol!

At the Kilohana Plantation , we took the kids on the train ride. They got to see how all of the fruit grow and they also got to feed the pigs and goats. When the engineer layed out the raisin bread and bagels, Haylee grabbed some and took a big ol' bite out of one! I told her those were to feed the animals and the guy said "ya, don't eat them unless you want your daily dose of penicillan." She spit it out pretty quick!

This bird here is one of Hawaii's most endangered species...lolol!

...LOVE this picture of Haylee...

This is the kids before we got on the boat to go out to the Fern Grotto.

note: Hayden's matching shorts...lol...Dan thought they matched! Plaid and floral...hhhmmm?

The Fern Grotto. It use to have a big waterfall pouring over it, but now it only has a little bit of water trickling down because of the irrigation. The Ferns grow upside down on the rocks. This was all wiped out in the Hurricane of 92 and the ferns that are growing now is a small amount of what use to be there. The guide said it is slowly coming back.

Our family...

Pa with the kiddos...

Pa and Haylee....

The kids really became quite attached to Granny and Pa while we were there. They wanted to stay and Haylee said we could just keep following them and go whereever they went. :)

Haylee and Maddie were asked to join the hula dancers on the boat. The happily joined in.

This is at the Luau. It was interesting to see them dig the pig out of the ground.

After dinner, the girls went up on stage to dance for all of the Luaua goers! They are sure brave!

The crew really loved the girls. This is Maddie and Haylee with the program cast. It was a really neat show to watch!

Dan and I went ziplining one day. It was so exciting! It took me a moment before I could get myself up to running and jumping off of the ramp, but after the first one, it was so easy and fun!

The boys tooks tennis lessons with Pro Eric while they were there and they have discovered that they really like tennis. I guess I'll be signing them up for the tennis clinic this summer! :)

Super Bowl Sunday we were suppose to move to the Bali Hai. Our room was not ready so we watched the first half at the Shearwater and during halftime we moved. When we got there we found out they still had not cleaned our room. We all piled out on the deck and looked in through the door to watch it while the maids cleaned. Pa and I were both rooting for the Saints. Yay Saints!

Pa and Ethan...

Haylee and Maddie in their semi matching outfits...

Haylee and Maddie in their hula outfits. They looked so cute!

Granny and the kids...

We had a really great time in Hawaii. I am so glad we were able to spend that time with Granny and Pa. The kids really loved being there and spending that time with them too. I always loved spending time with my grandparents and those are the times that I still remember and I am so glad that our kids will have some great memories with theirs too! Thank you so much Granny and Pa for the great time and thank you for taking such good care of us!