Paddle Boarding & ATV's my favs

Mikey was the surf instructor at the resort & also awesome. Paddle boarding was definitely in my top 3 best parts of the trip, you could paddle way out past the reef & it was so clear, you could see turtles, fish & surf the waves. I got a little crazy the last night before our dinner & fell off. I went to dinner with salty wet hair, it was totally worth it.

 Kalua Ranch was also in my top 3. We rode ATV's, a nurses worst nightmare on dirt paths through the mountain/ranch. No worries we had on shower caps & helmets. It was awesome, Trav & I were at the back so we could fall back & then be speedy, we only got reprimanded 1x.

The views were unbelievable. 

The episodes of Lost & several movies including Jurassic Park, 50 first dates, Godzilla & You, Me & Depree were filmed on the Ranch

Our dinner dates

Trav & I were the tweeners & loved hanging out with Jeannie & Mike, who were 15 yrs older but partied harder than both of us couples put together. We ate at Dukes on Wakiki, a tourist trap but the food was really good.

 Chris, Travis & Mike. Jeannie got sick with a 104 temp on day 4 of our trip, so Mike joined us for a party of 5. Mike soon followed with the flu a couple days later, I felt horrible for them. On a positive note, they had to stay 4 extra days b/c they were prohibited from getting on an airplane b/c it would be a public hazard.

Manoa Waterfall Hike

Our first adventure was the Manoa Waterfall Hike

lucky bamboo

I felt like I was in a rainforest and going to see monkeys swinging by at anytime. Nope, just my husband.

Charlie our guide was a plethora of knowledge, he moved from Houston 6 yrs ago to study & could tell you everything & then some about the history, plants, animals & culture of the island. The best part is no snakes & no bugs that we noticed, makes for great hiking.

We met these fun friends who are 10 yrs younger than us the first day on our hike. She is an ICU nurse in Green Bay & he is an agent there. We bonded & hung out with them the rest of the trip. She rocked the paddle boarding, wants to open a shop & they are strongly considering moving to Hawaii after this trip. We are encouraging them  so we will have a place to stay;0

Hula night

 Our first evening we had a welcome dinner with these little 8 year old "hula sisters" performing, Monroe would have loved this.

We would always find Michael to serve us, he was the best. 

 We met this sweet Georgia couple on our flight from Dallas. We fell in love with them as well. I told her that I couldn't decide if she should be a country music singer or a television chef. Jeannie is actually a social studies teacher, breast cancer survivor & has 2 grown children, & a crazy husband who made me laugh to tears a lot.

sunset

Heaven on Earth

Aloha selfie

I have to admit, packing 4 kids to go to amazingly gracious people & a super long day on a flight that started with de-icing the plane & never de-icing my seat was not easy. This place is heaven on earth & I am so thankful to spend a week with my husband here. Celebrating 15 yrs a few months early, but probably wouldn't have been as fun to leave in June anyway. So fun to remember that we do love each other without our kids around.

Speaking of kids, parenting guilt has not left on this trip. There is a dolphin lagoon on or resort, outside our window there are 5 dolphins playing and showing off all the time. I sent the kids a video, that is almost as good right:)?

 Sunrise @ 7:10am, 11:10 our time.

 Our suite was bigger than our upstairs, if only we had some friends with us! 2 full bathrooms one included a bidet, honestly had never seen one before, but think we could use them in l&d for sure.

The service on the resort was AMAZING, we were completely pampered.

We were treated with extra chocolates our last night, we didn't buy any souvenirs but if they had these to buy, I would have bought boxes! Dark chocolate hawaiian sea salt, yum.

Raising the Bar @ Kc Coed

The level 5 girls did so AWESOME, to say the least on Saturday. Solid routines with no falls on beam or bars & lots of medals to bring home, good job ladies. Thank you Jeryka for continuing to impress me with your coaching, investment in our girls & inspiration to all of us. Their success & character is a reflection of you!

Yay, I was happy Trav got see Roe have another great meet, & he was a much better videographer than me. 

 Vault 8.75 1st place, Bars 8.9 5th place, Beam 9.55 1st place, Floor 9.15 2nd place

1st place all around out of 13 in the 9 yr old age group, not too shabby.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He1GDPYicBs&list=UUYmFxKI1bvXmA_3RlLcKB1A&feature=share

Never a dull moment

this girl was flu struck last week, need my parents to come back and deep clean please?

So sad to see my motivated one that goes to bed late and gets up early, never come out of her room for 4 days!

Xander rebounded last week and came back as a spelling bee contestant, went down on the word wren:)

He is playing for the Grizzlies they won their first game by 10 points, but have a lot of room for improvement!

Xander makes me laugh so much, I do love that he is becoming quite independent. He decided to make Granny's chocolate cake recipe from scratch for a science fair project and change up the ingredients to see what happened. I did NOTHING except make sure we had all of the ingredients & helped clean up the mess after. He got so tickled wondering why vanilla was black, he must be thinking about vanilla ice cream.

Im waiting for my asthmatic to get sick, praying he doesn't. He told me his friend Aiden had 1 fever and 2 flus last week. Don't you love this comfortable reading position?

This kid is turning a little bipolar, good thing he is so stinking cute. One moment he loves me, loves my big arm and the next I am mean, he doesn't hide his emotions for sure.

I gave Trav The Bible series for Christmas, the kids love & look forward to watching the episodes on Sunday nights. 

Kingston & I had a date at Potbelly on the Plaza on Friday, definitely a week highlight!