Spring Break 2011

We hit Maui and Kauai this Spring Break.  The kids had a good time in between teasing each other.  They loved to bodyboard and snorkel and explore at the beach.  We were able to snorkel with turtles and see tons of great fish. Kauai's North shore was so beautiful. The kids explored a cave and Parker braved some crazy big waves.     On Kauai's South shore Camden almost got swept away by the waves but recovered by building sand castles.  On the way to the south shore we hit Jo Jo's shaved ice.  This by far best shaved ice we have found on any of the 3 islands we have been to. We have left our hearts in Kauai and hope to return soon!  :)

Ella first Meet

Here are a few pictures from Ella's first meet.  She ended up with 32.55 points out of 40. Yeah for Ella!
She ended up being in the 9 and under age group.  (even though she is only 7) She placed 4th place for that age group.   We are really proud of her. 

Anchorage, Alaska

A great view of the glacier

A moose on the side of the road

I guess this is as good as it gets when you travel with kids

Beautiful

Here are a few photos from our recent trip to Alaska.  We spent one night and loved the area north of Anchorage.  Anchorage I found to be a little depressing.  Maybe the gray skies?  The kids had a blast swimming in the pool!  Camden and Ella were doing front tucks, and diving into the deep end. I think Parker even joined in on  few of those.

Future Project Runway winner

Mariners game

Family Reunion

Pool Party- this sums up our summer!

Ella is my fashion DIVA!  She made these gloves and socks and hairpiece out of an old pair of tights. She's very creative.  Here's a picture of Camden watching a Mariners game the boys ended up with great seats.  We had our Family reunion with Ben's family at the Beach and had a lot of fun.  I debated over getting a pool but I am so glad we did! 

Road To Heaven?

For Mother's Day I went back to MAui with my friend Rachel.  We have enjoyed the friendship of the Hudgins and getting to know them better this past year.  I appreciate how Jason spent countless hours teaching Ben how to change his brakes. (which means Rachel spent countless hours watching her kids by herself)  He has also come to help with our furnace and helped us fix our car when it was leaking.  All of these things would have cost us hundreds..... and the Hudgins are so quick to serve.  So I wanted to say thank you! Even though Rachel got sick the first day and then burnt the second and on the third I was puking my guts out I hoped she had as much fun as I did.  A quick shout out was that she went snorkeling!  Even though there were some  fish with teeth swimming towards us and we could see an eel slithering on the bottom of the ocean floor  she toughed it out.  Thanks for going with me and enduring the crazy road to Hana or h- e- double hockey sticks!

A look at our Lives

Camden with his friend Noah.  Camden helped lead Blue Lightning (our previous scoreless team) to a 5 win victory.  3 of those goals were Camden's.  He played hard and even celebrated each goal with a victory dance. Parker is wrapping up his Lacrosse season.  His team beat a Bainbridge undefeated team Saturday.  Parker played hard and took a few shots and even got to play most of the fourth quarter.  Here's a look at what's been keeping us busy this past month.

Maui via the Whale route

We went to Maui via Alaska this spring break.  We debated on going to Disneyland, but Maui was cheaper.  We went with some friends and their kids and we had fun.  The kids played with each other and had a blast body boarding and snorkeling.  We went body boarding at  Kam. beach.  The kids figured out how to catch the waves.   Ella and Camden learned  to snorkel in the pool at the hotel and the next day we went into the ocean at Mile marker 14.  I was a little nervous because it is open ocean but they did great.  Ella saw a starfish and lots of fish.  Camden was excited that he saw the starfish and was proud because he peed right above the starfish.  We saw a lot of fish and I saw a HUGE tropical fish.  WE ended up going on a whale watching tour and saw about 20 whales.  It was amazing and even worth roughing the high and rolling seas.  Our plane ended up with mechanical difficulties so we got to stay an extra night in paradise.  WE flew home through California.   We had so much fun and I found some great tanning oil and after sun lotion. WE flew home with zero sunburns this time!

Aloha.... Kauai

Parker turned 11 this past Friday and we decided to surprise him with a trip to Hawaii.  It was our first time visiting the island of Kauai.  It is undeveloped and beautiful. Our flight got in late Friday and early Sa we hit Snorkel Bobs and got our snorkel gear and bodyboard for the day.  We drove down toward the southern beaches and tried to find the ideal snorkel spot. ( Later on the plane ride home we heard about the apparent "perfect" spot for snorkeling. Maybe next time..) We hit Poipu beach first and did some snorkeling.  Then Ben and Parker tried some bb on the beach.  There were too many rocks so we hopped in the car in search for a sandy boogie boarding beach.  On the way south we found the most amazing place for young children to hang out and swim. (maybe Camden and Ella can come next time) We then  drove to Kekaha beach.  This is were you see Parker and Ben body boarding.  ON our way back to Kapaa  to our hotel we stopped and found the BEST shaved ice EVER called Jo Jo's!  It beats out the North Shore's  shaved ice on Oahu.  IT had macadamia nut ice cream on the bottom.  I had a coconut shaved ice and they top it off with some sweet cream drizzled on top.  Ben said it's worth coming just for the shaved ice. Then on our way home we drove to Wailua Falls above.  This is the same falls featured in Fantasy Island.  I had hoped to hit the North  shore cause this is where South Pacific was filmed. That just means another trip will be in near future.

We had a blast!  Aloha... until we are able to meet again.

Ella's first and second meets

This MLK DAy Ella had her first official meet at the Seattle Open 2010.  I have been trying to get my kids to set goals and I figure shoot for the moon and you'll end somewhere in the stars.  She did so well.  I think I would throw up but she said she was shooting for a 39.  Which would be almost perfect 10s on everything.  Watch out Carly Patterson!  She ended up with getting 3rd place on the floor with a 7.9  and  third place on vault with a 9.0.  She ended up 6th on bars with a 7.5 and 5th on beam 7.5.  (out of 10 girls) But, my favorite heart felt moment came tonight at practice when one of her best friends did a round off back handspring by herself.  She cheered and ran and  bear hugged her to the ground.  I am happy she did so well but even prouder of the person she is inside.  I have also added a few pictures from her second meet.  She ended up with a 32 overall.  Her team got third place at this meet.

This weekend we shared a moment with Marilyn, Elvis, and James Dean

Ben is celebrating his big 30 this week and so we celebrated by soaking our pasty white skin in Palm Springs!  We were able to go with a few friends and had so much fun!  It was a dream for Ben to have a little competition swimming in the pool (even though he lost)and racing go karts(even though he lost), not to mention golf(tied with Rachel).  He is always up for a little competition. We ended up finding a hip local hotel that was like Melrose Place .  This picture shows my favorite thing done on the entire trip!  

I WANNA SOAK UP THE SUN.... even though I am getting more wrinkles. That's me finishing my own song .

I know my feet are not model perfect..... but it's my favorite action shot!  Happy b day BEN!!!

brbrbrbrbr..............TADA!!

Ever since we have had this house I have been visualizing this makeover. Here is our new flooring. Ben installed it..... yeah honey!! Now we need to do a few finish touches with some paint and doorway trim. I love it...

San Diego and Our Priceless Memories

We decided to surprise the kids with a trip to San Diego this weekend. It was in the low 70s and perfect weather. Ben and I decided that we were going to create some priceless memories. Oh, no.. right? Our trip started waking up at 3:30 am Saturday morning and catching the 6:00am flight. We were able to catch the flight and arrived in S.D. around 9am. We then took a shuttle to the hotel (in a bus with no shocks) and arrived only to find out we had 5 min. to catch the shuttle to Sea World. So we checked in our luggage and changed shoes and we were off to Sea World. We then were able to enjoy the rides and weather.We were able to see The Polar Express in 4-D. Where it snowed in the theatre and the temp. adjusted as you neared the North Pole. We were also able to see the holiday Shamu night show which is pretty amazing. We then made it back to the hotel around 7:45pm. We went to check in and then down to the rest. to eat. Ella fell asleep in the booth sitting straight up before dinner arrived. Camden fell asleep on my lap shortly after his dinner arrived. The food was great and we tucked ourselves in early for the night. The next morning we woke up and were able to swim at 8am. The pool was heated and felt pretty warm.... considering it was a little chilly outside. We then decided we had enough of the kids arguing and wanted to take the 1:30 flight home. At the airport as the plane was boarding we found out there were only middle seats available. So we opted to wait until the next flight 3 hours later. My kids again fell asleep on the airport floor and in my lap and I was able to read a book. We ended up at home 8pm Sunday night and tucked everyone in for bed. Although, we tried to create some priceless memories Ben and I both agreed we had enough of those "priceless" memories to last us a VERY long time.