urban garden

A group of friends and I went to see the "Urban Garden", it's hidden in plain sight in the middle of the city. There was a small hedge maze, lots of native flowers and plants, and little activity areas for the kids. They had a great time!  Trying to get a picture of all the kids was completely impossible. These were the 2 best shots. There were more than 15 kids.

This was a zen garden and if you followed the path it would loop you back and forth like a maze until you got back to the beginning again. Very cool.

Trying to get a selfie with this baby is nearly impossible. He kisses and loves on me every chance he gets. By far, my most snuggly baby.

The pizza garden was really cool. Besides looking like a pizza, there were tomatoes, basil, oregano, and other things you need for making a real pizza growing there. So clever.

It was a fun and tiring day. We ate a picnic lunch there with all the friends and then came home for naps. Wiped out!

friends

Bike boys, through and through. Paul was happy to have Johnny around for nights when he was working on his bike. Talking bikes is not my thing.

neighborhood beach

This may be my new favorite picture of Lullaby. It's just SO her. Wild and free.

This is the view of Honolulu from our side of Pearl Harbor. I love when the clouds hang down low like that and touch the mountains.

The Flores family met up with us and it became a huge party at the beach. The kids love having friends to play with all the time.

Hawken found some sea sponge and was cleaning our feet, yes please.

The kids and dads tried to build little pools in and around the rocks, and every so often a huge wave would come through and wash them out. The kids screamed with excitement each time and then hurried to rebuild everything.

old friends

Some of our favorite people came for a quick visit! Jason and Liz met us when we all lived in Dominica.  They only had 1 baby, and we only had 2. Now they live in Kansas while Jason is in residency, and they came to the big island in Hawaii for a vacation with only their littlest baby, #5, Covey. It was so awesome to see them, and remember why they are some of our absolutely favorite people ever. It was so much fun to chat and catch up. They made it so they had a layover in Oahu so we could see each other. We got them from the airport, took them out for ice cream, and walked to a beach lagoon. Short, but so sweet. We love you Freddys!

Matix's 8th birthday party!

Matix decided, fairly last minute, that he wanted a "Goosebumps" themed party. He loves all things scary, and was really excited about having a movie party, like Hawken did for his Power Rangers party. So I bought lots of movie treats, popped lots of popcorn, and decorated as scary (but NOT Halloween-y) as I could.  Dirt cake for everyone, with gummy worms, inspired by "Go Eat Worms", a Goosebumps book. Don't they look scared?!

Waiting is the hardest part of a party...

Finally the friends came and we watched Goosebumps. The kids ate treats, and played games, and sang happy birthday and opened presents. It was a fun day.

The friends took home Goosebumps books as their prizes and lots of treats. Matix had fun and was happy to finally be able to celebrate his birthday. He had to wait a few days until Saturday for his party, and that was a long week!  Happy birthday Matix man, we LOVE you. :)

Santa sighting!

Sometimes your towel becomes a cape! And that's a really fun day.

That speck, just left of center, is Paul surfing in.

And look at this! We spotted Santa, vacationing in Hawaii, obviously. He's a great surfer too, I don't know if that's a known fact or not, but I saw it myself.

babysitting

I watched the Flores girls a few days while Makenzie and Johnny got to unpacking and buying things when they first got here. Having a pool to tire the kids out without me doing a whole lot was lovely! Easiest babysitting day ever. 

And of course they all had to ride the sea turtle on the way out of the pool. They love this statue.