Maui, Hawaii

We are home safe and sound from Maui! It was a great trip, not the relaxing one I had hoped for, but great none the less. It was our first time actually traveling with Peyton. She did well until the plane ride home where I will say she threw a kicking fit for the majority of the 5 hour flight. O....were we glad to be on the ground after that, especially Bry who was sitting next to her :)!

The weather was perfect, the towns had a quaint personality, and the beaches and resort grounds were beautiful. Most of the sights we visited were a short drive away, which was helpful so we did not spend too much time in the car. I think Maddie was the perfect age and she spent most of her time in the water. Peyton on the other hand, I felt, was a little too young for this kind of trip and her short one year old attention span kept us on our toes and chasing her from place to place (not relaxing). We would love to head back again when Peyton is older so we can visit and spend time on the other side of the island where we can hike and see the lush green of Maui and the waterfalls.

Here are just some pictures from our time in Maui (I have about 300 and I wish I could share them all)...I miss the beauty already.

Waiting at the airport to take off... thank goodness for the fun of moving sidewalks!

I loved seeing all the beautiful colors of the plants, flowers, and trees.

We spent much of our time in the pool. Maddie was a little fish! Peyton was in and out of the water every 2 min. Hence the lack of pictures she is in. Maddie had fun swimming with Grandpa and loved being thrown in the air between Daddy and Grandpa.

We spent a couple of days visiting the town of Lahaina where we did some shopping, ate lunch, saw fireworks on 4th of July, and saw a Banyan tree that filled a city block. That was one big tree!


We saw some beautiful sunsets!

Maddie and Aunt Heather at Whaler's Village
Peyton and Grandma watching Maddie and I learn a Hula Dance and then we saw a hula show.

My favorite part of the trip was a 5 hour snorkeling trip out to Molikini Crater and to Turtle Town. We (the adults) saw fish and green sea turtles. It was so cool! A big thanks to Jan for staying with the girls!



A day at Baby Beach. This area was great for kids because there was a man made wall out in the ocean that blocked the waves. It was shallow and calm water. It was fun to swim in the warm waters and enjoy the sand! I love how chrystal clear and blue the water is!



We took a train ride on the Sugar Cane Train. It was supposed to be a 45 min. ride that turned into a little longer because on the ride back to the train station our train hit the back side of a truck that thought it could make it across the tracks...it didn't. No one was hurt and the damage looked small. We just got to sit on the train a little longer then planned.

Part of our last day was spent at Ioa State Park. It was beautiful and we were able to see a little sneak peak into what the greener side of the Island must be like. What a beautiful place!

I will leave you with a few pictures from our resort grounds. They had a great waterfall that made a picture perfect background for a few pictures. I do look forward to returning to Hawaii some day. Sorry this was such a very long blog...but it was fun to remember our days in paradise!

ALOHA!

We are off to Maui, Hawaii tomorrow morning! We are so excited (and a little bit nervous to fly with the kiddos for almost 6 hours on a plane). I am so looking forward to the warm sun, water, and RELAXING! :) I will share pictures when I get back! ALOHA!

Happy Father's Day!

Well I am considering this post better late then never. It has been crazy around here! Getting ready for a last minute garage sale with the neighbors, having a sinus infection and terrible allergies, and packing to leave for Hawaii on Monday! SO...sorry to all of the Dad's for this post being late. I did not forget you, just ran out of time to blog.

We enjoyed a GREAT Father's Day with our Dads and Grandpas! We went out to lunch at a yummy seafood restaurant with my side of the the family and then went over to Bryan's parents house for a yummy home made meal! We pretty much ate the day away.

Thank you to our wonderful Dads who have always been there for our family and love and support us everyday! Thank you to my wonderful husband who is a "Super Dad" day in and day out. We love each and every one of you all and thank you for being you! Happy Father's Day!

Here are some family pictures of our time celebrating Dads!

A Week at the Beach!

We took off to the beach for our first vacation of the Summer! It was fun like always. We had windy weather but no rain. It was sandcastle contest time, but I didn't get any pictures of them this year. It was very crowded and the pics I did try to take always had someones head or body part in the way. We did a lot of walking on the beach and to and from town, spent the day with one of Bryan's Co-workers and his great family, went on the beach and played in the sand and poked around the tide pools, went into seaside to the merry-go-round, and of course made and ate smores. My best friend Jana (from AZ) was visiting in-laws in Bend and actually decided to drive to the beach to see us. She brought her 2 boys, Brenden and Keegen. It was so great to spend a couple of days with her and the kiddos. It was just the 2 of us with the 4 kids for a couple of days. We made it through and had a lot of fun. Jana and I became "Super Mom's" when we made a GREAT fire for roasting marshmallows. We felt a real sense of pride in our fire making skills. The "big kids" were so excited to make smores together. What a fun way to kick off our summer break! Heading down to the beach.A happy camper being buried in the sand!

Keegen's first time to the beach!A fun bench to sit on.Long day!A ride on a sand bike. We all took turns pulling the kids.Our perfect fire!Roasting Marshmallows

Feeding the Seagulls in their PJs.

A "snuggle" photo

Brenden took this one...he told us to make a funny face. We had so much fun goofing around!

"Froggy!"

Today Maddie and Peyton found a little frog in their outdoor water table. Of course, Maddie named the little guy "froggy" and played with him until I made the call that we had better put him back. He was looking a little stressed.

Maddie has always been a little frog lover. She carried it all around the yard on her shoulder.

Ooo... if she only knew there was a frog on her head. Not sure she would be too happy. :)

Happy Girl!

Peyton was cracking herself up trying to jump. I thought it was so cute!

Umbrella FUN

Peyton grabbed onto Maddie's Umbrella and had so much fun with it. Pure entertainment. We played peek-a-boo and danced like we were in the rain. She was all grins!