hike with friends

We went over to the north east side of the island with some friends for a hike. The Tupea's have big kids, that our kids just idolize, and they helped our kids during tricky parts of the hike.  It was so much fun. They taught us about some of the native plants along the hike that are used for medicine, and we showed them Shameplant, which is a sensitive plant. The landscape changed as we walked, from muddy wet jungle to dry forest.  Hawaii is amazing.

On to the dry side...

Looking down at the ground...

Looking up at the sky...

School Performance

So far, Paul has been available to come to EVERY school performance this year. It's been so nice for everyone. Here we are playing and waiting for 2nd grade to be ready. :)

Matix and Hawken had their Christmas school performance and both did so well. Matix came in BEAMING, ready to go. We didn't have good seats for his though, and so the video of him is harder to see.

After second graders were finished, the first graders came in. Hawken came in nervous, barely smiling. I had better seats and once he saw us and was settled in his spot by his friends, he was excited.

Both boys did great, and it was fun to cheer for them! This is a long video, probably only for the grandparents. But it's awfully cute! It's both boys singing both of their songs.

We caught Hawken in the hall on the way back to class with one of his besties, Hayden. Such a fun day!

pool

This was my view from the lower hot tub, as Solace perched above me, ready to pounce. We love the pools here and can never get enough of them.

funny

Hawken loves using Snapchat filters. I love going back through my phone and finding these little gems. So funny.

winter beach days

Playing on the beach just a couple days before Christmas made us really happy. You cannot beat the winter weather here. It's pretty much perfect all year long. We printed out some of these and sent them as Christmas gifts, and some picture frames with shells, corals, and driftwood glued on. So fun!

These kids! I could eat them up, I love them so. They are just so delicious!

And those clouds! No editing on this picture whatsoever. Just perfection. Beautiful Hawaiian morning perfection. (Also, that surfer in the picture is not Paul, but he was out there surfing while I was taking these pics.)

 Hawken, ever the farmer, was sad to see some of the seaweed washed up on the shore, so he rescued some and recycled this plastic he found on the beach, turning it into a safe ocean water holding container for his seaweed. He was sad when he had to release it back into the water. He wasn't sure it was ready to grow on it's own yet.

Matix was hunting for seashells for me and would write out a long acronym with a little arrow pointing to the shell and a circle around it. This one was JFBSLSM (just for beautiful sweet lovely silly mom). Sweet thing!

snowflake cookies

No two snowflakes are alike, right? Well, no two sugar cookies are alike either. See? I love having an excuse to make cookies. These ended up being for the neighbors, and kids in our cut-de-sac, and some of the receptionists at Paul's work. I added peppermint to the frosting, so they were very wintery tasting, I think so at least.

reindeer faces

We have made these treats as a family every year for several years now, but this was the first year I couldn't find those tiny chocolate doughnuts. We could find powdered doughnuts, so we had snowy white reindeer this year. Everyone worked hard and ate lots of candies during the process. 

Here are the favorite creations, just before being eaten. :)  They tasted even better than they looked.

work party

We went with Paul to his work party and ate amazing and unrecognizable food. I love the blend of cultures here on this island. Lots of Asian influence, but also lots of people from the islands in the South Pacific, so you can imagine the beautiful foods they make. So good!

Sully loved the gift opening, and all the big kids loved the games, although they didn't win anything. They had free range of Daddy's office and all the food and treat they could eat. Yes please!  Paul works with the nicest group of people. It is always nice to see them.

lost and found

We all went to our neighborhood beach to find the last remaining seashells to decorate on the grandparent picture frames. There were lots to be found. The kids swam and climbed on the rocks too. We love having this beach so close.

This tiny purple shell was SPECIAL for Alexandra, but we lost it, go figure, before we could send it to her. Sorry Alexandra, we'll do better next time.

When we got home, we realized that Solace had left his Ninja Turtle at the beach, probably washed away in the waves by then. He cried and was so upset. The next morning, I thought we should go to the beach and walk along the sand to show him that it was truly gone. But guess what I found?!

Solace was so happy to have his toy back, he even napped with it that afternoon. Sweet thing. I'm happy it turned out that way, but what are the chances?!