play date

In addition to our four kids, we had Malu, Oakley, William, Maya, and Dax come to play at our house one day. Since the public schools had off that week for spring break, we got them all in the morning and then into the afternoon. The big boys hunted and explored in the forest and got lost! Matix and I went out to rescue them (they were only lost for about 20 minutes, but they were really happy to be found). 

Lullaby and Maya helped Dax and Sully on the swing. You can tel they are both great big sisters.

The girls had a little chocolate milk snack.

Sully and Dax spent some time climbing trees, and building with Legos.

And everyone had fun on the trampoline together. Play dates are so fun. 

Lunch was chaotic with lots of diet restrictions and preferences, but we figured it out.

The big boys spent a ton of time on the slack line and the obstacle course in the front jungle. I love that they have this awesome play area.

When it was time for everyone to go home, Oakley's big sisters came to get some plant clippings to grow in their yard. They filled up their truck and Audra was happy with what they planted at their house with it.

fire pit

At some point we will build a real fire pit, but for now, this little spot in the yard will do. We cooked hotdogs for dinner and the kids had a blast. It was the world's smallest fire, but we made do. 

cookies

I have YET to find a shamrock cookie cutter here on the Big Island, so I had to make do with piped shamrocks on top of flooded cookies again for St. Patrick's Day. 

Grandpa Chuck sent out a bunch of St. Patty's Day things for the kids, which they loved. Thanks dad!

I made a million little butterfly cookies for the kids to bring as snacks to a potluck. The colors were super bright and pretty, but especially in the sunshine!

I taught a cookie class and it was super fun. I flooded 40, and left 40 plain.  I taught two different techniques, wet on wet, and watercolor painting with food coloring (on the already flooded cookies). Everyone did well and had fun.

Solace came at the end and helped decorate the last few cookies.

Kona Trip

Our temple trip in March was a good one. March marked the second month of Paul really starting to feel a noticeable difference in his throat pain. He flew over to Oahu to see a specialist in January, and got some great info on what to do to exercise his voice and throat muscles effectively, and it really has been making a difference. His voice still gets tired easily, and pain comes when it's agitated even a little, but not as much pain, and not nearly as frequent. I am so grateful that we are seeing the light at the end of this tunnel! 

We had one extra kid with us this trip too. This is Eva, although on this trip she wanted to be called Hazel so that she and Hawken could be twins. Ha ha ha. She's nine and such a sweet girl. Her family wanted to go to the temple too, but they didn't have room enough in the car they were sharing to get to the temple, so they loaned out their extra kids for the day. I got so many compliments on my 5 well behaved children that day. Apparently, she fits right in!

After Costco for lunch, we headed to the park to play for a bit before going down to Two Step for some diving and tide pool hunting. It was a very full day.  We love these little mini vacations, all on our own island. This park is new to us, and we LOVE it! So so much fun for the kids.

After a while, Paul took the 4 big kids out snorkeling while Sully and I waited in the tide pools. He's such a fun dad, I'm glad he always wants to take the kids out on adventures.