Finally decided 1. skip the final few weeks before we left (baked lots of goodies, went to lots of Christmas gatherings, had a little family Christmas so we didn't have to lug presents on the plane etc)and 2. break the trip down into parts. No particular stopping points, just go at it until I have to stop. Try to put up a new "part" each day, or every other day, or something along those lines. So here's part 1....
EARLY morning Dec. 8th drove through a blizzard to drop Junior and Kalei off to the airport. SCARIEST experience ever, pretty sure I aged a good 10 years on that drive. But off they went and despite the fact she'd been up ALL night the night before with a fever (no worries she cut 6 teeth in the time we were there)thanks to Cheetos and a lot of entertainment on Daddy's end, Kalei enjoyed her first airplane ride.
And in no time at all they were relaxing and enjoying a beautiful winter's day in Hawaii.
Meanwhile, back in blizzardy Provo, I dropped the boys off at preschool, picked up a rental car, came home and loaded er up. Picked the boys up from school, finalized things at home (aka procrastinated until the storm was far out of sites) then we were on the open road, destination VEGAS (we had frequent flyer's with Hawaiian Air and that was the closet place they flew from).
Luckily we had some wonderful friends who let us stay in their very fun house (the downstairs is a little boy haven complete with a mini basketball court) for the night. Despite the fact the boys had talked about our trip daily for the past year, they wanted to stay at the house for "just one more day". Alas we were there long enough to get some wiggles out and crash. Awoke the next day at 4:30 am and were on the open road again to catch our 9:00 flight.
The boys favorite part of the whole trip was the bus ride from the rental place to the terminals.
As we were waiting to board the fun began. Tavita started complaining his ear was hurting. Great! I had sent the Tylenol with Junior in case Kalei started feeling yucky. Now I had Mr. Ear Infection Prone complaining of a sore ear. Of course about 2 hours into the flight Tavita was in tears because his ear was hurting so much and he was getting a fever (meanwhile Brayden was done with traveling and WAY to anxious to get to Hawaii and I had 2 kids in tears) I asked the flight attendant for some Tylenol but apparently it's a HUGE ordeal for them to administer drugs of any kind. He offered to start the emergency procedure (it involved notifying the pilot, calling a doctor, filling out paperwork blah blah blah) because he felt so bad for Tavita. I told him to give it some time and I'd try to put them to sleep. Luckily I was FINALLY able to get him and Brayden both like this
It didn't last near long enough in my book but at least gave them and me some sort of a break. Oh, as for Tavita's ear, I get the mother of the year award. I was really dragging my feet about taking him to a doctor (we have great coverage as long as we're in network with Intermountain which is only in Utah and Idaho outside it's pretty useless unless it's a major tragedy). Was trying some earache relief drops and some garlic oil. Decided to take him in the next morning but it was too late. In the end he wound up with a ruptured ear drum, was at the doctors, on antibiotics and ear drops and was out of the water for a chunk of the trip (toward the end we cheated with ear plugs)
Anyway after a VERY long and whiny trip (luckily they were very polite to others and whined for my ears only) we at last were enjoying the view they ask to see all the time when they web cam with Grandma and Grandpa
The boys were there long enough to drop their luggage, pull out their suits and change then they were off and running. Here's a series of pictures from our first trip to "Grandma's Beach" aka Clissolds Beach.
Brayden and Vita playing with their cousin Jenson
Kalei's first time at the beach, wasn't sure what to think of it
Tavita trying to tip toe through the coral (they were TERRIFIED of eels because Uncle Jonathan got his toe chomped on by one a few months back)
Little Beach Bum action
Little blurry but Brayden as always had NO FEAR of the water. This kid would live in the ocean if he could. Became quite the accomplished swimmer while we were there.
LeiLei starting to feel a little braver and stood up in the water
In the end, she decided she liked sand best
Boys on the other hand didn't want to leave the water, even when it was getting dark.
Meanwhile, Junior and Jenson where busy hunting down some dinner
The next day Ryan went and grew up on us and graduated from college.
Brayden giving Uncle Ryan a lei (made of Reeses of course, he knows his uncle)
Group pic
Twinners
All the traveling finally caught up with Tavita
Just wanted to show off Brayden's photog skills. He LOVES to take pictures
Congrats Grad!!! (another piece of Brayden's work)
After graduation, we wound up where else but...THE BEACH (no worries we were there EVERYDAY but Sunday, the wedding and one or two others).
Junior relaxing, enjoying the fact he's here instead of in the 2 feet of snow Provo was being hit with at that time
Lei Lei got buried
The boys had chicken fights (their standing on a log
Vita played for awhile then his ear started buggin him, then he went back out again. That is why I was so slow to take him in. One minute he was saying his ear hurt, the next he was off playing like there was nothing going on. He's too tough for his own good
When uncles are around, you get to go out to the deep blue sea (actually by the end of the trip they were going out farther all on their own)
Going on a log ride
Well, that about does me in. I'll have to save the rest for another time. I know I only covered 2 days and no, there won't be 15 more post like this. Most days were just spent lazing around on the beach and I don't know one day to the next. In fact,
for some reason when I uploaded the pics from one of our cameras it scrambled them up so can't guarantee if they're in order or the right day but at least we know what beach.
Few updates on what else has been going on:
-Bowzer chewed up the carpet on our top step while we were gone (he had someone visiting him ever 2-3 hours but was still lonely)
-I'm no longer in the primary presidency. I now teach 13(9 are boys) lively 12 and 13year-olds Sunday School. To say we have a mix of some strong personalities is an understatement. By the end of the year there'll be 17 of them. It's crazy, it's loud but we have fun and believe or not manage to get a gospel message.
-The boys are no longer in preschool, doing it at home instead. It's been going pretty well. For some reason they are filled with a desire to call me Ms. Sam (apparently it's a very good preschool teacher name, at least that's what they say). We do real educational stuff like have science lessons on hot and cold and the effects it has on different things. Like butter melts faster then marshmallows because marshmallows are more solid. And if you mix them together it makes a great coating for rice krispies. Then if you get them cold it turns into something you can cut and eat. We also got some counting in there counting out 40 marshmallows, 4 T of butter and 6 c of rice krispies.
We do other lessons too but the rice kripsy treat ones are the kind they talk about. It amazes me how they have related it to so many other things as well. Guess they learned something.
-The boys are now doing Tae Kwan Do instead (we now pay $60 a month instead of $290 a good trade). They love it and we love the entertainment of watching them do their moves
-Kalei has decided she knows how to use a toilet. She has yet to actually use it but she refuses to wear a diaper for hours at a time and says "ShiShi" over and over again while she sits on her little toilet. Carries it with her every where she goes. Also loves to say "stinky" when she's left a present in her diaper. Is OBSESSED with "babies" and "shoes" and talks about them often. Loves to eat "gawkgoos" (crackers) and "nannies" (bananas)
