Walk to the Sheraton

Across the bay is the lovely Sheraton hotel, so this morning we strolled over and paid a visit.

My three boys

Kristina tries her girly shades on her brother.

Mike with his quiver.

Silly brothers.

My sweet Matthew

Battle Oreo

Judge Kristina deliberates her vote.

The winning entry: Lava Shake

I'm a bit of a stubborn mule at times, and one thing that I am stubborn about is having one week of vacation with "just" the six of us each year.  It is so easy to vacation with other families, and I LOVE to do that.  I even organize that crazy camping trip in August where we have nearly 20 families come.

But I am a bit of an introvert, and I need my "down time".  Even with my closest friends, it is hard for me to entirely relax.  Plus, I end up socializing with them, and not my kids.

Vacations are fun and all, but they are an investment of sorts, an investment of memories, family bonds, etc.  As we grow up and reflect on our childhood, I'm sure many of those reflections are of family outings and vacations.

I don't always do a good job relaxing with my kids at home when there are always dishes, laundry, and a mile-long to-do list.  But here, there is nothing to do but blow bubbles, snorkel at the beach, swim at the pool…or…

PLAY IRON CHEF!

Not sure how Caleb even knew about the show since we don't have cable, but we came up with the idea to battle Mom vs. Dad on a popular ingredient.  Caleb did a fabulous job narrating the battle, and I think this is always going to be one of our favorite family videos.


Here is the link to our first Ironman Chef episode.

Aloha and Mahalo Kelly, Katie, and Colton

It was sad to see them go, but we had so much fun with them.  Katie and Kelly and Colton head back to the mainland.

The Hilton Waikoloa

Well, really, not like being in Kona wasn't enough, but this is the first time we've had the merry band of five grandkids altogether in a place that their mom and I spent many a happy time in our own childhood.  While we never stayed at the Hilton when we were kids, we surely wanted to.  And in all fairness, so we don't seem to look like we're entirely spoiling our kids, most of the activities in Hawaii are directed to the older crowd, or cost a small fortune, so for as much as the resort offered the kids, it was *almost* a bargain.  At least that's what I tell myself.  Plus we got a steal of a deal, and stuffed 11 of us in one tiny hotel room.

We stayed two nights at the Hilton Waikoloa overlooking…drum roll please….the dolphin lagoon.  You should have seen the look on Hudson's face when he peered out the lanai to see dolphins in his back yard.

Our time was spent mostly at the pool, with the favorite fixture being the slide.  Kristina especially fell in love with that, and I think I went down it nearly 50 times with her.  To see her smile each time as she excitedly climbed up the stairs, so glad that Mommy was going with her "one more time" was simply priceless…and irresistible.

Mike also arrived just in time for our stay there, and we were so excited to have our favorite guy around.  Katie and Kelly babysat one evening while we went to Roy's Waikoloa for dinner.  What a romantic treat!

Kelly ripping down the slide.

Mommy and a happy Matt.

Katie's second pina colada.  The first one was spilt by a kid, and since she paid top dollar for it, we figured it must come with spill insurance, and fortunately, it did.

Pretty Kelly

The view from our room of the main lagoon.

Our view of the dolphin lagoon.

My darlings, Kristina and Matthew

Family picture including Katie's clan

Mi familia

Evenings at the Pool

We spent numerous evenings like this one, recovering from a long day of playing at the beach, snorkeling, whatever, just grilling our dinner at the pool and letting the kids play.  And my favorite part, the sunset.  Glorious.

A breathtaking sunset.

My beautiful sister.

Oh, so delicious!

Swimming at sunset.

Hapuna Beach

We spent the day trekking up to Hapuna Beach, our favorite stretch of white sand on the northwest part of the island. We just played and played in the sand and waves.

Doesn't get any prettier than this...

Kelly and Matt making sand blankets

Hudson and Colton finding the shade.

Caleb, post blue-raspberry shaved ice

Volcanos and Black Sand Beach

We took the kids for the first time to the volcanoes. We had a really fun time, despite the long drive. Its been years since I've been, so we had no idea what kind of volcanic activity would be there. We were surprised to see an active vent spewing steam right at the visitor center. At night, we would have been able to see glowing red.

At first, we could see nothing because it was pouring down rain like crazy. Just what us Seattleites were going for in our trip to the tropics. But within 15 minutes, it went from pouring rain to gorgeous sunshine.

On our way back we went to the Black Sand beach and saw the turtles. Fun times.

Kelly with her rain coat that Katie bought her for the deluge just 10 minutes prior.  Yes, that is an active volcano spewing steam behind her.

Matthew looking for action.

Mom and Kristina have fun taking photos at the lava tubes.

The volcano makes a lovely addition to our family portrait.

Ahhh!  There's a volcano chasing me!

Running around all I can...

Oh, she's scary!

Turtles at Black Sand Beach

Taking in the view at Black Sand Beach

Katie and Colty with the locals.

Gorgeous view at Black Sand Beach

Alohaland

Aloha!

Later on this year, Mike is going to Hawaii with his friends on a golfing trip, which sucked up a week of his vacation.  So, he could only come to Hawaii with us for one week.  But if I'm hauling these kids on a plane for that long, we're staying longer than a week.

So I traveled solo with four kids to Hawaii.  Which, even though none of you have had the privilege of having Hudson dance on your legs for hours on end, it was worse than that.  We went using our airline miles, which put our trip from Seattle to Salt Lake City to Los Angeles to Kona.  Ugh...(but fun geography lesson for Caleb.)

15 hours later, we wearily arrived in Kona and were greeted by my sister, Colton, and Kelly and Jamba Juice.  We went to Costco (which was very close by) and I thoroughly enjoyed my first few hours in Kona wandering the aisles ALONE!

Hudson and I sat across the aisle, which left me only the "evil eye" as a means of managing the older ones.

No matter how bad and long the flight was, at the end of the day, this was where I was.

I should say that Kelly, Mike's cousin, came with us for the first week of our trip (though on a different flight unfortunately).  It was such a blessing to have her there.  She helped out so much with the kids, and was really just a joy to have with us.  Her faith is so strong and her longing to learn more about Christ so powerful, it was humbling to be part of of her spiritual journey.  I'm so glad God allowed her to come with us.

Happy Valentine's Day! 15 years.

15 years from our first date, my husband spoiled me with a luscious Valentine's day dinner. We've given up on coordinating the logistics of going out to a restaurant and finding a sitter on 2/14, so we love cooking up a big spread after the kids are in bed.  Actually, Mike always cooks for me while I sip a glass of wine.  Yum!

Princess Kristina Turns 4

It was finally Kristina's turn to have a birthday party.  Since my kids only get parties every 3 years, she can't remember her last one, this was her first big one.  And since I only have on girl, this is kinda my one chance to have a little princess party.  So we pulled out all the stops and had the funnest Rapunzel birthday party we could.

We invited lots and lots of her friends…it was a total zoo with I think around 25 guests (excluding parents).  She wore a long blond braid (a gift from my friend, Sarah) with her Rapunzel nightgown and at least in her own mind, was Rapunzel for the day.

Royal Agenda

We played "Pin the nose on Flynn Ryder"

Party Favor Bags

My Princess

Showing off our long locks

Beautiful flowers, too!

My friend Sarah had also found these adorable "Kristina" confetti

Nothing like Top Pot doughnuts to raise a tower

Getting prepared to eat at the 'Snuggly Duckling"

Pascall Blow-outs

Rapunzel all the way

I made literally two dozen lanterns to hang around the room. I'm embarrassed how long this took me.

Lots of craft stuff for the kids to do

Look!  Rapunzel's braid!

Kristina with Knight #1, Colin

Kristina with Knight #2, Ethan

With Grandma and Granpa

Floating Orange Boats on Blue Jello

Blow out the candles!

Get in line!

Love the presents!