Hawaii 2012 Part Two

 What would a trip to Maui be without snorkeling at Black Rock in Ka'anapali?! Ryan chose this locale for his Bday, and we were happy to oblige. While Nat and I were snorkeling, Ryan took Bono and Zach in to meet a turtle, whom they aptly named Volkswagon ("Boltswagon" to Zach). Pretty awesome for a three year old to swim with a turtle. But even awesomer for me to be charged by said turtle. I had to do a hi-ya karate move to allow him to swim under my leg since there is a $10,000 fine for touching the endangered creatures. It was wonderful. Seeing turtles always makes snorkeling worth getting long hair wet and salty!

We then continued the celebration at Lahaina Pizza Co., the restaurant formerly known as BJs Pizza, for some delectable, thick-crusted pizza and a Pizzookie. Yum! Happy Birthday, Ryan! 

 My hair does this thing in the humidity and water. It gets all wavy and crazy. And I hate blow drying it. So for most of this trip, my long hair is a mess of frumpy, frizzy, wild, waves. I am getting too old and motherly to care about such nonsense as having smooth, orderly tresses.

 The three of us are practically triplets!! Look at my gorgeous sister, all brown and tall and blue-eyed!

 On another note, these pigtails are so cute, I could seriously EAT THEM!!!!

 My super kiddos!

 Sadly, we arrived just as the very last humpback whales said "aloha oe" to Hawaii. :((( Whale season is the absolute best. We try so hard to make it then, but our vacation time has been dictated by Corey's breaks from school, so we missed it yet again. I seriously love and miss those majestic animals.

 My superguys. Bono was not too happy. I think he wants a superman shirt.

 How does my sister look so hot and I look so ...I dunno...6 years older?!! We had so much fun together. She watched the kids while Corey and I got to do some kayaking and snorkeling together. She is the best!!

The Stevens' took us out to Tommy Bahama's, which has to have some of the very best cuisine on the island. Seriously-it is SOOO deliciously delightful. 

 Filet mignon with fingerling potatoes and asparagus? Yes, please!

 THese two little troublemakers were so cute together, when they weren't fighting over the same diecast airplane toy! Seriously, I am so glad Zach has several boy cousins his same age. Wish I could say the same for Zoey... (hint, hint, Cherlyn!!)

 I got an itch to go paddleboarding again this trip. Last time we went to Hawaii, it was just starting to get more visible. We did it, but it was pretty anticlimatic for me, for some reason. You pretty much just stand there and try not to fall down like all the other fools out there, right?! This time, we went again, and I enjoyed it much more, It's all about focusing on your center of gravity and enjoying the scenery. Corey even took Zach out for awhile, which they both really dug.

That blur in the black is me. I like the wave action Corey captured in the foreground! 

 A random trumpet fish and turtle I saw during our snorkeling and kayak trip between Mana Kai and Wailea.

Hawaii 2012 Part One

Last year I saw some super cheap tickets to Hawaii, but refrained from buying them in order to be more fiscally responsible. At first, I patted myself on the back, but I have regretted not purchasing them ever since, and vowed that the next time airfare dropped, we were going! In late January, prices finally went down again, so I bought tickets for the four of us to go to Maui and Kauai. Corey and I would have loved a little vacation on our own, but figuring out childcare was too tricky. Maybe next time!

The kids did amazingly well on the 10+ hours of flying we did to get to and from Maui.

 Thanks to Angry Birds and Mickey Mouse!

 Zoey's first experience with beach sand--she loved it!!

 Zach was obsessed with throwing sandy mud everywhere that first day.

 Don't let my whiteness blind you!

 The kids woke up at 2:40 the first morning we were there. We had gone to bed at 7:30 the night before (12:30am for us), so I suggested we drive up the Haleakala volcano to watch the sunrise. I am totally not a puker--it's only happened about 3-4 times in the past 5 years--but this drive, along with the road to Hana, is one of my pyloric triggers!! I need to remember this fact. The sunrise was lovely, but looked about the same as last time we saw it! Luckily, my stomach cooperated, but it was not a pleasant drive!

 It's hard to believe we went from 70+ to 37 degrees in two hours. 10,000 feet up will do that!

 Breathtaking!

 Look at that handsome guy! 

 We took our first small hike as a family to a rocky lookout point.

 Zach was usually good to hike awhile, then rode on his dad's shoulders for the way back. He serenaded us with "Bob the Builder" and "Elmo's World" a good portion of the trip. :)

 It kind of looks like a nuclear explosion or the Second Coming rather than a sunrise here, but kind of a cool sunbeam effect.

I carried Zoey in our Ergo carrier through all our hiking (we did quite a bit) and my back felt great. These things are worth their weight in gold. It is the best baby purchase I have made, by far.

 We stayed in a one bedroom condo less than a mile from Natalie in Kihei. It was nice, but the acoustics were terrible. Every time one person woke up, we were all up. Getting enough sleep was the biggest challenge of this trip for us. The kids were up at 6-6:30 am regardless of when then went down. I wasn't going to miss out on fun by being a Nap Nazi, though.

 Look at that hottie! Abs of steel! Natalie and Ryan are the best hosts and tour guides anyone could ask for. They always make our stay phenomenal, and are so generous and giving with offering their home, car, food, etc. They give visitors the true Hawaiian Ohana (family) experience.

 Corey playing with Zoey and Bono in the sand.

 She loved the sand. Bono took his shoe off and Zoey took a big, yummy lick of sand off the bottom of it, delighted as could be!

 I adore the drive around the secluded north part of the island. This is a quaint little village we passed through. 

The Nakalele Blowhole is one of the sights on this drive. There is about a 15 minute, moderate hike through some dirt and rocks to get there.

It sprays over 100 feet at times, as the ocean crashes and sends water spewing through an opening in the rocks. People have gotten too close and been sucked back down to their death. We enjoyed it from afar.:) 

 I don't know why this picture turned out this way, but Zach looks so beautiful here.

 I forgot the Ergo on this short hike. Not a good idea.

 Cool. Don't know how this happened either.

 There are a couple of paths to the Blowhole. I thought we were on the right one on the way back, but...suddenly it dropped off into trees.We were carrying both kids, had no food or water, were wearing flip flops, and I don't think either of us had a phone either. Not smart. It took 45 minutes to get back to the car from the detour we took. Luckily, we made it back safely, but wasted all our daylight on the mishap and drove the rest of the scenic route in darkness. Lots of life parallels can be drawn from this experience--being prepared, staying on the straight and narrow path, being a guide to your children, etc. We are glad it went okay.

 Sign stating "Park and walk at your own risk."

These are just the first few days of our trip, so there are lots more photos to come...

Texas Hail and Tornado 2012

 Dallas had some rainstorms today, but I had no idea tornadoes were in the forecast. I found out by seeing it on Yahoo News when I was checking my email- at exactly the right time, and then Corey called from school to say our suburb was right in the storm's path. Coppell was not hit with a tornado, but there was hail ranging from the size of ping pong balls to baseballs. I'm glad we have a garage and my car was in it! We are truly grateful to be safe from the terrible storm that has caused a good deal of destruction in the area. We will be raking up leaves and branches, but that is about the worst of it for us, thankfully. Our roof was replaced last year after a much milder storm. They need to know to wait til the big ones hit to go to the trouble of replacing roofs. Roof and fence repair has a lot of built-in job insurance here!

Texas Bluebonnets

There is a long-standing tradition here in Texas: Every spring, when the beautiful state flower blooms, with its bright, indigo blossoms and sweet aroma filling the air, you will see amateur photographers like me, along with seasoned professionals, planting unsuspecting children in fields of wild-blooming bluebonnets, clicking to their heart's content. Like so: 

Ahhh, spring in Texas!

Baby Steps

Lil' Miss Zoey has finally decided to step it up and try out her walking legs. This peanut is so very thoughtful that she waited until both Corey and I were present to take her first steps! She did the same with rolling over. Crawling is such a gradual thing that it doesn't really compare. Zoey stood on her own a few weeks ago, but immediately dropped to her knees once she realized what she was doing. 

She took these 5+ consecutive steps a couple of days ago, but still crawls most of the time. Once in awhile she surprises us by walking a few steps, but it'll probably take a few days or weeks until she does it full time. It makes me happy and sad. Zach was walking very early at 10.5 months, so it seems like she's been taking her time, but I am certainly not in a hurry for her to grow up! 

 She adores her binky and loves to give one to her doll. I've gotta break the habit soon, but she's been sick, so I haven't pushed it yet.

 On another subject, hamburgers are about the only food I don't have to beg Zach to finish and assist him in the feeding process. He's not super-picky, but just takes his sweet time to eat and would always stop halfway through a meal if I didn't push him to eat more. The night after I took him out for a date at Wendy's he asked, "Can I please may I go to Wendy's?" He's doubly polite! He also told me about 6 times today how beautiful I looked. He started to notice as I was straightening my hair this morning, which I rarely do. He mentioned that it made my hair look longer. He made my day!

These kids both light up the second their dad walks in the door. We have missed Coery these past few weeks and are as relieved as he is that his Part 2 Boards are over. We are ready for some fun family time together!