Maui 2013

Gram planned an awesome trip to Maui for her 60th birthday. None of us had ever been and we all had a blast! Becki and Dallas did quite a few excursions, so it was fun to hear about all their adventures. For us, it was a week of relaxing... waking up early, spending the day at the pool or the beach, and crashing early at night! The kids were on west coast time almost all week, which meant waking up at 5:30am! Nothing like peaceful walk on the beach watching the sun come up. Our flight got us in Jan 19th around 3pm. We picked up our rental car (with a free upgrade to a van! It was nice to test drive since one similar will probably be our next car), and headed to Costco to pick up dinner and some groceries for the week. After Costco we checked into our condo at Worldmark with a beautiful view in a "no view" room. Score! We went to bed pretty early since we were all exhausted from traveling and the rest of our party wasn't due to arrive until midnight. The next morning we went to a welcome breakfast where they told us about all the activities on the island (tempting, but we passed. Maybe when the kids are older). The first two days were pretty windy, so we didn't spend too much time in the pool, but we did find a great park walking distance from the condo. The next morning we took a long walk and let the kids play. On the way back, walking along the path, we saw our first of many whales. They were everywhere and since we could see them so well from land we really didn't feel the need to get in a boat and possibly capsize to get the experience! We were fine watching them from shore! You could even see the babies with their Mama's. The kids were constantly calling out "whale, I see one!!!!!". We were told whale season is Jan-march and they love to hang out near Kihei where they're protected by the 3 islands. Well, we were in the peak season for sure! Monday night (Isaiah's actual birthday) we took the family to Mama's Fish House to celebrate both Steph and Isaiah's birthday. They got place cards that said "Happy Birthday from Mama's Fish House" and a coconut ice cream dessert. The manager also brought out a beautiful lei for Steph that smelled divine! The evening was all that we expected and more. The food was outstanding and the grounds had an absolute stunning view so we took some really nice family pictures before dinner. The service was also exceptional. I was most impressed with how we got our food, each server had one plate and they all came out in mass and then disapeared like it never happened. Voila, our food was in front of us! Pretty cool! We also ran into a couple who's kids are in Ashley and Isaiah's class (they recognized the kids). Pretty random that they were on the same island, same week, and at dinner the same time on a Monday! I think the kids even saw them on the flight back. Tuesday morning we met up with Chris and Dave Rowe for breakfast. They're Steve and Steph's long time friends, who were over there the same time we were. Chris picked a great restaurant in Lahaina and afterward we walked around the shops and visited the famous banyan tree. The next day we rented snorkel gear and parked ourselves on a beach between Kihei and Lahaina. We got lucky because the snorkeling ended up being really good. Dallas and Brian found a coral reef not far from where we were at. I even got in the water to check in out and snorkeling in rough water is not one of my favorite things to do! Thursday was Becki and Dallas' departure day, so Steve and Steph took us out to a nice breakfast at "5 Palms" in Kihei for "Loco Moco" (a local dish that was on the must do list). It was situated on a beautiful beach and although the clouds looked like they were going to dump rain, it missed us and left a beautiful rainbow. Friday morning Brian and Steph went ziplining. This was something that Steph really wanted to do for her birthday and it worked out great to make a mother/son date out of it. While they were doing that Gramps spend the day with us at the beach. It was great to catch up with him too. The last night Brian and I took a 2 1/2 hour walk along the path in Wailea. We had the best time just the two of us. We saw little bits of 4 Luau's from the walking path, checked out the magnificent hotels along there, climbed up on a rock to watch huge waves crashing and saw a whale put on a show for about 15 minutes. It was just playing out in the water having a grand old time. You could hear the fin slap the water from where we were and since it was a full moon, it lit up so we could see how huge it really was. I think that was the highlight of our trip! Saturday was our departure day. Our flight left at 11am and Grammy, Grandpa and Brody were there to pick us up. It was a great welcome home, we missed them! We had such a great time and can't wait to start planning our next trip! Maybe to Disneyland next!

Foggy morning leaving Portland

All set to travel in style

Maui, here we come!

Mama's Fish House

Happy Birthday, Isaiah!

Happy Birthday, Gram!

early morning walk

Daddy's girl

beach across the street from our condo

Lahaina

The banyan tree in Lahaina

Beach where we snorkeled

Sunset

breakfast at "5 Palms" in Kehei

"Loco Moco"

Ziplining!

He's 3!

A lot of things happened to you, buddy, when you turned 3! A couple months before, you decided you were going to be a "clean boy" so you could sit at the big table with the family. After a few weeks we got rid of the high chair and you really liked feeling like a big kid at the table with us. You still leave your mark after meal time, but it won't be forever that I get to clean up those little fingerprints off the table. Another big step you took is sleeping in a big bed! We went to Ikea and you liked the bed Mama and Papa picked out for you, jumping and laying on it in the store to make sure. We brought it home and you helped take apart your crib. Then you and Papa got started right away on the construction of your new place to sleep. You guys had so much fun using your big and little tools. You were a big help to Papa! Then you got to open your new bedding... CARS! You did great in your new bed and didn't ever get out until morning. You started out calling for us when you woke up, but after Hawaii you got yourself out of bed and gave Mama a sweet "good morning" visit from then on. You're sweetness, stubbornness, and sensitivity are a huge part of who you are. All of which we've had to adjust and parent you a little different than your sister. We learn a lot from you, buddy and we're better people because you're in our lives. I know you've taught me patience! You are a strong boy and stand up for yourself (even against Mama and Papa), but you love giving hugs, kisses and lots of compliments. On occasion when I get my nails done you make sure to tell me you like my "paint nails" and I think it's so cute. You tell us every day that you love us... "Mama, I love you, Papa, I love you, Ashley, I love you, Isaiah, I love you! So sweet, never forget to always love yourself! Your patient while working on pronunciation of words that don't come easily, you color in the lines with much practice at school, your best friends are Timmy, Carter, and Melanie, and you still love learning from your big sister. Your teacher often tells me you like to hold hands with the girls and you smile when I ask you about this. You ask questions that you already know the answer to and I think you're testing our response. You can be rough and tough, but have such a loving heart. You've started a sports class and I think you're going to be a soccer player! You use your "Timm Claw (when you cross your pinky over your ring and middle finger) when you're concentrating and you like to wear your "fancy shoes". Oh, and here's your stats: WEIGHT: 30lb (35%) and HEIGHT: 3'1" (40%).

Uncle Lucas

Christmas Eve/Morning

This post is so very late! Here it is the middle of Feb and I'm just now getting around to it. Part of the reason is I was told "not to touch the computer" while Brian had a mjor project going on (the other part was, well, just not doing it). He had to find and organize all the scattered and "lost" pictures on our computer. We thought we had lost a ton of memories, but my wonderful husband recovered them all! Thank you, honey. I love looking back at old pictures, they have so many memories attached! Which brings me to memories of Christmas 2012! Steve and Steph were in town for the whole week, so it was really nice to spend time with them. Brian had the whole week off too, which was a nice break for him. I took one day off so we could go skiing and the rest was spent enjoying the season. We went to church Christmas Eve, then came home and started the prep for Santa's arrival! We opened our new Christmas pj's, set out milk and cookies for Santa, carrots for the reindeer and a special sparkly food the kids put out in the front yard so the reindeer could find our house! We almost forgot, Ashley reminded us right before bed. Christmas morning Grammy and Grandpa came over in their pj's (they had been in Bend until late the night before) and we opened ALL of our Christmas gifts. Even though we exchange names, there are a ton of gifts to open. We learned a little something from last year... we get hungry opening all those gifts, so this year we had breakfast before we dove in. Brian made the most amazing cinnamon rolls! Christmas dinner was at Grammy and Grandpa's. As always they put on a fantastic spread and was everything Christmas dinner with family should be!

Excited to open Christmas pj's

The kids must have been good this year

Pretty, Pretty Princess! She loves to dress up in her high heels and play the part. Check out her shirt, it's from Gram... go figure!

New desks from Grammy and Grandpa