A Weekend of Museums

Friday night Big D had the itching to get out, but we had nothing planned. He asked me if I had any ideas, nothing was wanting to come to mind. So, to get him to come up with something, this is was my text to him...shopping and a treat! He replied shopping where? Are you kidding? I can come up with something better then that! The plan worked. So, we ended up going to the Monte L. Bean Museum of natural History. The boys love that museum, and M brought his cousin along with us. After, this was my contribution to the evening plans, we went to the BYU Creamery for banana splits. My camera had a dead battery with no back-up. So, we missed some good shots.

The next morning we headed out for breakfast at IHOP. It was lots of fun! We realized M is ready to move out of the kids menu. At least during this growth spurt he seems to be having. He ate his breakfast, most of T's eggs, and some of Dad and Mom's breakfast! When we usually leave with plenty of food to spare, M cleaned all of the plates. We made a stop at Lowes for a new shower head for the shower Nana will be using when she comes in a couple of days. Then, off to the Hutchings Museum. Again, the boys loved it. I think their favorite rooms were the mining room, which was filled with all sorts of rocks/gems..., Indian room where they beat on a big drum, ground corn into corn meal..., Wild West...they pretty much loved it all. Well, except for the jail. T was scared to death of it. We couldn't even get him to go in for a picture. It looks pretty harmless in the picture, but to the side of M there are 2 cells that are set up with manikins and like there are inmates there. I do have to say that I wasn't expecting that when I walked into it either and I jumped.

Later that night we had friends over to hang out...good times!

We Love You!

I was busy updating our blog on Valentines Day, mostly to get to this one, but started having issues with uploading pictures, so here it is a few days after Valentines...but we still love you all, EVERYDAY!

We could not believe it, cupid came to our house! It was apparent because our milk was pink, our waffles were pink, and there were pink and red balloons all over! The balloons were a big hit!

BIrthday Tribute!

Our M turned 8 on Feb. 1st! So here is my chance to share a few things I love about him...
I will have to admit, last year when he turned 7 I felt that when he turned 8 he would not be ready to make the decision to be baptised. To my surprise...he has grown a lot both physically and spiritually over the past year, and is excited about his decision to be baptised.

M has a strong desire to be good. I feel blessed to have that trait in my oldest child because he has 2 little brothers that look up to him. He is such a good example to them. His baby brother asks where he is if he is not within his eye shot. We all adore M!

M has enjoyed art, basketball, play dates, video games, traveling, riding bikes with the neighborhood kids, and his first go with scouts, this year.



He celebrated his big day with family, then had a party with some of his friends a couple days later.

We love our M more then words can say! Happy Birthday!

Hawaii 2009!

Well, I think this will be officially the post with the most pictures ever! I tried to only pick a few highlights, but this is what it ended up as. We had this picture taken at the pool at our condo.
Kona Temple
The "White Sand Beach" which I think is really called Hapuna Beach. T and M did a lot of boogie boarding and T worked hard on a sand castle. He would watch what others were building and would get ideas from them.



I am not really sure what Little D is thinking here. I was behind him and saw him laying on the sand close to the ocean. I grabbed my camera, and once I saw his face I realized he wasn't sun bathing, he was scared to death of the sound of the ocean and for some reason felt trapped. Sick that we found this pretty funny. I did comfort him right after the picture.


The Dolphins!


One of my favorite memories was the Luau. The boys loved it! We were greeted with lays, M took his off and put it in his pocket right after the girl put it on him. But, it wasn't long until he caught the spirit of the luau and he pulled it out and put it on with pride!

Learning how to do the Poi balls.

Of course the fire dancing was the high light for the boys, hands down! T stared getting really tired after chowing all the yummy food, but he perked right back up when the entertainment started.

FunTimes!



We would go to a different beach almost everyday. Aside from the lagoon (which was great snorkeling, in a small area) next to our condo, this was the best snorkeling, so we hit this beach a couple of times. One of the times there was a sea lion on the beach, and always lots of turtles.

Tropical fruit, tropical fruit, and more tropical fruit...we couldn't get enough. Not only did we love the fruit, we would love to go shopping at the farmers market to get it and lots of other fun things.
This was a fun private beach that we hiked into. There were a ton of turtles here too, and decent snorkeling. T thought he was pretty tough, and probably stayed berried in the sand half of the time we were at this beach.


The zoo. It was fun to see animals that we usually don't see at our zoo.

Can you see the smiles on their faces from this view? This bird was so fun. Her name was Zoe, she entertained us, and when we would leave she would make all sorts of loud noises until we would come back and play with her some more.

Akaka Falls
Before we hiked to the falls the boys watched this man make baskets. They were really intrigued, and the man was very entertaining. M started making thinks from fallen palm tree branches after this.

Our Condo!

T found a sea slug that he made "his pet". Every time we went to the lagoon he found it, rocked it, pet it...GROSS! But, I love this picture.
Playing at the pool.
One of our little snorkelers.
More snorkeling. M really enjoyed it! He couldn't get enough.

Volcano National Park. One of the steam vents.

Thurston Lava Tube.

Tropical Rain Forest.

The "Black Sand Beach". Again, lots of turtles, and a native that would crack open coconuts for you to drink, then open them the rest of the way to eat the coconuts.





Another beach that we went to (I don't remember the name). This was the last time we saw these glasses, they were washed into the ocean shortly after this picture. I saw them going out, butbaby was walking into some rocks that couldbe dangerous. Thought I would make sure he was safe and not the sun glasses.

Almost every morning the boys would go outside the condo and hunt for things, mainly hermit crabs. They would put new water in their little "habitat" that they made for them, and new things. They had sea urchins, star fish...
Well, this trip was a blast, but to bring some of the reality that you don't usually take pictures of because it is the parts that you don't want to remember. We had a sick little guy most of the time which made him pretty difficult half the time. This picture captures the other side that you haven't seen in all the other pictures. We did end up getting him some antibiotics, and the last couple days there he finally started feeling better. This was after a 30 minute crying spell on the way home from a hula show that we went to.
But, on a happier note, good bye Hawaii, thanks for the wonderful memories!