Chickens! and other animals.

Everywhere we went on Kauai there were chickens. Big and little. Some mornings the rooster would wake us up. Other times you would hear them at 2:00 in the afternoon. Every beach we went to had tons of chickens. You could see them walking along side the road and there were nests along side the road. It was the funniest thing to see all those chickens every where you went. Grandma got all 3 boys a stuffed chicken to remember the trip. They loved them.

Of course there were other animals. I already talked about the ocean ones.

The other ones we saw a few of were geckos. Like this big one that was right in front of me at eye level when I got out of the car.

Or better yet the 2 geckos Mark chased down and caught in the salad spinner to take outside the first night. Then we found out they were considered good luck so we wouldn't let Mark catch Gil the Gecko. GG for short. Gil lived above the window in the kitchen. Every night when we'd be playing cards, or charades he would come out and chase bugs. We kidded a lot about who's bed Gil would be sleeping in each night, but he stuck to the kitchen and did his job of catching bugs. We all got used to seeing him after a few nights.

Tomorrow the luau.

Beach fun on Kauai

Okay so we're going backwards because I loaded the pictures backwards. Go figure.

On our last full day on Kauai we went to Ke'e beach on the far north side. I don't have a single picture of the kids swimming, but we did see 3 Hawaiian Monk Seals and since this beach is at the end of the road, literally, the coast was gorgeous.

This was also the beach where when Mark and I were walking Dylan informed Marcella he had to go potty. Of course they didn't have potties, so she told him it was a tree or the ocean, so he dropped his suit and went right there. She didn't think she had to tell him to leave his suit on and get down in the water. I kind of wish i had a picture of that.

On Thursday it was finally nice enough to go to Queens Bath. Some of us went out on the rocks and were able to catch a glimpse of some sea turtles.

There were some people swimming in one of the sections. It looked like a secluded swimming pool carved out of the lavarocks.

After hiking down to Queens Bath. Yes it was a hike down a trail. We went back to the Beach by our house. And the boys tried out Boogie Boarding. Alex actually got the hang of it after awhile. And Dylan stopped being upset after wiping out. A huge step for our little boy. By the last day at Ke'e Beach the water was fairly shallow and he was caught all the way out to where the water was at neck height. I think he's loosing his fear.

On Tuesday we went to the other end of the island all the way to the canyon look out. Pictures of that later. And then came back to Po'ipu beach on the South side of Kauai. This beach had a lava rock wall that protected a little pond. It was only about knee deep for the adults so the kids could go all the way out to the rocks.

Grandma and the boys played in the sand and built castles to knock down. There was also some football and other ball playing in the water. On the other end of the beach was a great snorkeling spot, so Brian, Marcella, Mark, and Alex got in a little more snorkeling.

Alex and Dylan loved looking out at the waves splashing into and over the rocks.

Dylan also had a blast playing in the water and having the freedom to move around as much as he wanted without anyone following him around.

On Sunday our first full day on Kauai we went to Secret Beach. It was quite a hike down to the beach, but there were very few people there and the kids loved that.

Almost everybody tried a little snorkeling. Here's grandma snorkeling for the first time. I tried it for the first time also, no pictures there though.

Mark or Uncle Brian helped Alex do some snorkeling. By the end of the trip he was really quite good at it. And of course, Brian, Marcella, and Mark did more snorkeling.

The boys enjoyed splashing around in the waves on the beach

The start of another sand castle.

More beach fun.

My disclaimer here is that I'm not 100% sure I got all of the beaches right with the day or the pictures. They all started to run together after a while. That and i never really had a very good sense of where we were going or coming from. Too many Hawaiian names that I could never pronounce in the first place. It was great though and for those of you who were worried about my skin cancer. I wore lots of sunblock and headed for the shade as often as possible. So, no burns and very little tan.

Tomorrow: the luau!

Polynesian Cultural Center

On Thursday afternoon we went to the Polynesian Cultural Center. We had a great time learning about all of the different countries and cultures. The boys made fish out of palm leaves.

Dylan did a great job with a little help from dad.


Mom, grandma and grandpa learned to Hula

Everyone tried out an ancient bowling game. Dylan loved this one. He played it over and over.

Uncle Brian got pretty good at this game. You had to catch the ball in the loop from the bottom and then the top.

I wasn't nearly so good at it.

And everyone had fun playing with the poi balls.

Alex is starting to get the hang of it. By the end of the week Brian and grandma could get both balls into one hand. We bought the boys all a set of poi balls to bring home and they have a blast practising.

The last game we learned was this stick, rhythm game. Alex made a new friend and they had fun playing together. That is until Alex took a stick in the side of his head, right by his eye. Oh well only one of many bumps and bruises from the week.

Tomorrow is beach picture day!

Our first morning in Hawaii

Now this picture isn't a very good representation. I don't know what happened to the rest of my luggage pictures. Maybe they're on mom's camera. Anyways we started out the trip with 9 suitcases, 9 carryons, a stroller and carseat. It made quite an impressive pile.

Grandma helped keep Dylan entertained on the plane. Dylan had the most trouble with his ears hurting on the 2 longest flights. The poor thing was miserable.

The view from the balcony in mom and dad's room. Check out all of those surfers. We all had rooms on the 2oth floor of the hotel. Mom and dad had the corner room so they had the view of the ocean. Wasn't it gorgeous?

The first night we admired the view from the balcony, had dinner at the hotel by the pool and went to bed. Since we left the house at 4:30 IL time (11:30 pm Hawaii time) we were all worn out, my boys especially.

The koi pond at the hotel was a ton of fun. The three boys loved checking out the fish.

The best part was the day we were there when they were feeding them.




On Thursday, our first full day on Oahu we climbed Diamond Head Crater. It is an extinct volcano. It was a huge climb for those of us not used to climbing anything. Alex took off ahead and beat all of us to the top, then came to get us, and beat us to the top again.

Doesn't he look like quite the proud kid looking down on us from above.

Here are the rest of us just starting out. We were much cooler at the beginning.

After hiking a long winding trail, 282 steps, a steep spiral staircase, tunnels and bunkers we finally made it to the top.



All of those stairs nearly did us all in. That is except for the boys who just raced right up them.


However the view from the top was absolutely spectacular!!!

Well worth every second of panting to get to the top.

WE MADE IT!

More tomorrow on our trip. I figure it'll take me at least a week to get it all on here.

Happy Memorial Day!

Well we made it home in one piece with all of our luggage! It was a long trip home so this will be a short one. I thought in honor of Memorial Day (and since we slept through the 10:00 parade this morning) I would put our pictures of Pearl Harbor up this morning. This is a pic of Alex coming down the ramp from the USS Bowfin. Alex was really excited to be on a real submarine. And we met a gentleman after getting off the Bowfin that had served on a submarine recently and were able to hear some stories of life on a sub.

Here we all are with a Marine stationed at Pearl Harbor.

Here is a picture from the shrine on the USS Arizona.

More pictures of the USS Arizona

For Alex the point where he really got it was when we saw the black tears. Drips of oil coming up from the Arizona. I'm not sure if you can see them in this picture, but that is what this is.

The reality of Memorial Day is much more powerful this day than ever before for all of our family. Also for me having been through my grandpa's pictures from when he was in WWII have also changed my view. How precious freedom is and how hard fought to gain it.

Thank you with all of our hearts for the men and women who have given their lives in that fight.

And a prayer for all of those who continue to fight.

Hawaii here we come

How is it possible that we leave tonight for Hawaii. I've been looking forward to it for so long, and it seemed like it would never come. Tonight we're heading to Chicago and tomorrow morning, very early it's off to the airport for a whole day in the air. I'm now packed and have pretty much cleaned up the house. Just a few things left to do before we hit the road. I'll be back Memorial Day weekend.

Mother's Day

For mother's day we had such a quiet day. I decided that I wasn't going to do any should, have, or ought to things. So, I did some reading and gathering up things for the trip.



I had to share my mom day presents from my boys however. So, Dylan's class made a book.


Every mom had a page that the kids did with their 4th grade buddies.

And Dylan made me a card. Look at that writing. I'm so proud of him.

Oh, and the picture is me. And I have my short big hair.

This one is the card from Alex. He is the person in the middle of the heart

Here is what my big kid has to say about me.

And my gift from Alex was this list of things that he was going to do. The bottom 2 were clean the house and give me a backrub. I got my backrub, but it was very brief and weak. The kid needs to learn how to give one if it's going to be my gift.

All in all I had a great day! And I love having gifts that the kids made me. Mark got me a pedometer and a hat to wear in Hawaii.

Mom's day lunch

ON Friday Dylan's class had a mom's day event. It was so sweet. We got to play with the kids in the classroom for a while and then we were kicked out so the kids could clean up the classroom.

When we came back in we sat down and they sat on our laps.

They had learned a couple of songs and Dylan actually sang them. Very unusual for him.

I took this picture of us in between songs.





Then we got to open our presents. A pot of handprint flowers. Isn't it beautiful?

The biggest surprise was that they had planned a lunch for us. Hot dogs and salad. What more can you ask for? It was such a nice day.



We also took advantage of the time to give the teachers the last of their teacher appreciation presents. We are so lucky to have such amazing teachers for our kids.