Kauai part of Hawaii Trip

We had a wonderful time in Hawaii. No words can truly express how much fun we had and how relaxing it was. The food is always so good. I ate fresh fish almost every day. They have so many nice white fish there. Here is a little timeline of what we did. We will post some pictures after we have had a chance to sort through them.

April 30 - We flew into Lihue, Kauai in the afternoon. We got ourselves aquanited with the area that evening.

May 1 - We toured Waimea Canyon. it is a beautiful canyon and had some wonderful vistas and great hikes. We drove as far as we could on the road up the canyon, we were hoping to get a view of the Na Pali coast from the top, but the clouds were below us and blocked our view. After the drive back down we stopped in Waimea for Shave Ice. The shave ice in Hawaii is awesome. They put macadamia nut ice cream in the bottom and is delicious! After that treat we drove as far west as your are allowed and went to Polihale Beach State Park. Beautiful beach - very hot sand!!!. There was a nice protected swimming area called Queens Pond. We waded in the water, but didn't go swimming as we needed to start heading back to the room to prepare for the early morning comnig up.

May 2 - We got up very early to drive to Anini Beach where we boarded our boat for our snorkel/boat tour of the Na Pali Coast line. This is an area were some scenes from Jurassic park and lots of over movies were filmed. Kauai had lots of films shot there. The coastline is beautiful. There are several sea caves - unfortunately the swells were too high so we were not able to get inside the caves. On the way to our snorkel spot we saw a pod of dolphins. It was so exciting to see. There was even a little baby that kept bringing his head out of the water and splashing it down. A definite highlight for me! Our snorkel spot was fine. It was a little cloudy, but we still saw several fish. We noticed that here the fish were much bigger than the fish we saw last year on the Big Island. On our way back to dock we saw several sea turtles in the water, michael's cap blew off and the captian turned the boat around and they were actually able to find it - we were very surprised. Ohh, on our cruise the boat had 16 people on it, and 10 of us were from the Pacific NW. You can tell who the people are that need the sun! After the tour was done we had a snack and then went to Tunnels Beach and did more snorkeling. tunnels was a great spot to snorkel. After we were done snorkeling we both got some sunscreen in our eyes and so they were burning. we went and sat on the beach and put a towel over our head to block out the bright sun. While we were like this a bird landed on Michael's back!! Michael moved and the bird flew away, but we were laughing so hard.

May 3 - In the morning we had a hard time deciding what to do. We finally decided to see if we could go scuba diving for the first time. Some companies offer first timer guided scuba tours where they teach you the basics and then take you anywhere from 20-40 feet down. We called a company and were lucky enough to have a guide say that he would take us. Normally they have to have 4 people to go out, but he was willing to take us which was awesome. I was a little nervous - having to rely on the equipment to breathe and worrying about something not working. But I got over my fear and had a wonderful time. it was awesome!! We did 2 dives and on the 2nd dive we got to see something that is extremely rare in the coastal waters. We saw a seahorse. Seahorses in hawaii tend to stay way off coast and not come into the coastal areas. Our guide told us that most people who have lived and dived in Hawaii for most of their life have not seen a sea horse. Michael and I had a great time. Michael's ears had a little problem with the pressure, he just has to go extremely slow going down and up. We both would like to do it again in the future and might even look into getting certified. That evening we had a very yummy dinner at The Beach House Restaurant. A great way to end a great day.

May 4 - We had an adventure in ziplining. We went to Princeville Ranch Adventures and did 9 ziplines and also swam in a waterfall pool and jump off the ledge next to the waterfall. The ziplines were fun, but were not the adrenaline rush i thought it would be. I think it was because the trees were below us and so you could not actually see how far above the ground you were, but it was still a lot of fun and I am glad we did it. After the ziplining we had a snack and then did more snorkeling at Anini Beach. It is a very calm area that is protected by a large reef. It was very clear and we saw lots of fish. There were tons of baby fish that were just a little bigger then my thumbnail. They were sooo cute. We saw an octopus, and right before we were leaving we saw a green sea turtle. It was eating and just swimming around. Very cool.

May 5 - We unfortunately had to leave Kauai and fly to Honolulu for the 2nd part of our trip. We loved Kauai - very relaxed and casual. It was just our style. We look forward to going back there and having more adventures. There is so many activities you can do there - hiking, kayaking, helicpoter tours, etc.

To be continued....

Easter

Well nothing too much has been going on recently. Just regular day to day stuff. Arianna has started a new swimming class. She is in advanced swimming so she does about 45 minutes of lap swimming. They are working on teaching the kids how to alter their strokes to make them more of a racing stroke. So for backstroke they are learning how to roll their shoulders, etc. The class is really hard for her. She is the youngest by far and everyone has been in the class before -so she is getting used to not being the fastest and being at the end. But this class should really challenge her and push her and is more exercise for her. She has class on Tues/Thur. tues are busy because right after swimming we have to run to Tball. She has her first Tball game this weekend. She is enjoying learning all about baseball.

Ethan is doing well - speaking better all of the time. We got a video about letters that was a recommendation from a friend and he loves it. So it is teaching him the sounds of the letters, etc. He wants to watch it all the time and repeats what it says. he is very cute. He took a spill out our backdoor this weekend and scratched up his forehead, nose and chin and the day before he had fallen and bite the inside of his lip, so he had a rough weekend. He is still our strong little boy. he his so muscular it is crazy!

Michael and I are getting ready for our trip to hawaii. Michael has been working extremely hard for a long time now and he is in desparate need of a true break and relaxation. We are going to Kauai and Oahu. This time we plan to do more snorkeling, try a zipline and try parasailing. Of course i am looking forward to just be near a beach with warm water and hanging out at the ocean - that is where I am truly at peace. We leave on the 30th and come home on the 9th.

Well here are some pictures from easter and of ethan's face!

Birthday Surprise

Arianna on Winnie the Pooh
Arianna and Mommy on Indiana Jones

Arianna on Astro Blaster

Kara riding Big Thunder Mountain

Arianna and Mommy with Dale

Arianna and Daddy on Jumping Jellyfish

Arianna with her face painting

Arianna and Mommy riding Matterhorn

Arianna riding Big Thunder Mountain

Well this last weekend was a fun adventure. My birthday was on Friday the 20th. Up until Wed/Thur Michael had told me that we were going to the Oregon Coast for my birthday, but he would not tell me where we were staying, etc. Then the day before while i was getting ready to pack he told me the truth - so I could pack appropriately ( i had been packing warm clothing because it was going to be rainy in oregon). We decided not to tell Arianna until we got to the airport. We had decided earlier (when i still thought we were going to the coast) that we were not going to take Ethan because he would not enjoy all the driving and sitting around. We were still not going to take him to Disneyland because where we had limited time we wanted to get as much in as we could and that would have been too much for him. So Ethan stayed with grandpa and grandma. So we dropped him off on Thursday night and drove into Portland to fly out of there.

We got into CA around 2:00 and into the park around 4:00. We got some special fastpasses since it was my birthday and then that night we ate at Blue Bayou for dinner. We had a great time the whole time we were there. On Sat we went to the park at 7:30 and left at midnight. With two breaks for lunch with princesses and dinner. Sunday we had breakfast at Goofys kitchen so we got into the park at 10:30 or so and stayed until 11 pm and then flew home on Monday.

Arianna had some much fun. She was so surprised to go when we got to the airport. She was able to ride all of the adult rides this time. Her favorites were Tower of Terror, California Screaming, Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, Space Mountain, etc. Pretty much everything - the only thing she didn't like is Indiana Jones - she would ride it but would close her eyes. She loves all the rides which makes it so fun to go with her - we can go on anything. Also her big thing was that she wanted to ride whatever she could on her own. Thus if she could she wanted Michael and I to sit together and then she would get her own seat/cart. She even rode Mulholland Madness on her own as a single rider while Michael and I waited for her.

Long Time

Well, it has been a very long time since I have blogged on here. I am not even going to attempt a big recap of the last 1-2 months. Let's just say we were busy. During this time Ethan had his first hair cut, Arianna has started Girl Scouts, Michael has been busy with work, I have been busy with the kids and a moms group, and we have been having fun. Here are some pictures and I am going to try to update the blog more often.

Arianna just lost her top tooth. This is her 3rd tooth

Michael and Snoqualmie Pass ski trip with work

Arianna and Ethan at Double Bluff Beach on Whidbey Island

Michael and Ethan at Deception Pass State Park

Arianna on Valentines Day

I will add more pictures later

Finally - some pictures

Finally here are the pictures from December.

Arianna and Ethan at his birthday

Ethan's cake from Grandma Bette

Arianna and Ethan with Whiskey (Tzippi's dog)

Ethan climbing into his Santa gift

Arianna very excited about her Santa gift - Nintendo DS

Everyone playing in the snow we had

Our Christmas Tree

Arianna loves the snow

2 year stats

This is just a quick update. Ethan had is 2 year appt today. Everything is excellent.

Height - 35.5 inches 75th percentile
Weight - 33 lbs 90th percentile

He is about 2 lbs lighter than Arianna was at same age and about an inch shorter. He is doing everything he should. We are going to start potty training soon. He pretty much knows when he goes - especially poopy.

I am still working on getting the pictures posted. It keeeps having problems.

I will update more later. The kids have a Parents Night Out tomorrow. We are not sure yet what we are going to do. I have been sorting things in the house and they have been moved into the garage so we really need to clean the garage again and get things to goodwill, but i wouldn't mind going out to some place new for a little adventure! We shall see.

Michael is going to Portland on his own next weekend, to do some work and not be held up by the kids. It will be a working weekend for him. I can't believe how fast this month is going.

Arianna has her first school fieldtrip on Feb 5th. The class is going to see Goldilocks at the performing arts center. She is very excited!!!

Well need to finish dinner

Catching Up

Oh my gosh, where to start. The last few weeks have been busy. I guess first of all is the snow we had over the holidays. As most of you know I am from Montana, so I grew up in the snow. But this last snow reminded me of why I enjoy not having snow all winter long. The snow we had this year was very dry so it hung around a long time. We probably had about a total of 12 inches of snow. Arianna and the neighbor kids had a great time playing in the snow every day. She got to go sledding and everything. Ethan liked walking in the snow, but was too excited about getting snow on him. It took him a long time to want to put the snow in his hands or eat it, etc. It was fun for a while, but then we were over it and wanted it to be gone so we could get back to normal lives. Our road is on a hill and it is not plowed or sanded or anything so it can be difficult to traverse in bad weather. Luckily now the snow is mostly gone. There are still a few piles of snow in the neighborhood.

Christmas and Chanukah went very well. Ethan got a toy box from Santa and Arianna got a Nintendo DS. They also gove several other presents. Both were spoiled, but how can you help it when they have birthdays, christmas and chanukah at the same time :). The day after Christmas we drove over th Michael's parents house. We wanted to spend a few days of Chanukah with them and have Ethan's 2 year party there as well. Ethan had a great time. Michael's parents now having Tzippi's dog since she and her family move to guam. The dog's name is Whiskey and Ethan loves her.

On Sunday we went home and Arianna stayed at teh grandparents for the week. She was wanting some time away from Ethan and to get spoiled. She had a good time. Ethan really missed her. Everyday he would ask where she was and would cry for her sometimes. It was cute. We drove back to his parents on teh 2nd to pick Arianna up. She started school on the 5th.

Arianna is doing well. Growing up everyday. She is still very into her art and singing. She is doing so good on writing and spelling words. It is so amazing how fast you learn things as a kid. She is doing well in math as well. She was glad to go back to school to play with friends, but not wanting to wake up in the morning :). I keep reminding her she has more than 12 years of this :) so she better get used to it. We are planning on signing her up for T-Ball this spring. And of course she is still swimming.

Ethan is doing well also. He is getting better and talking more- although he is still nowhere near what Arianna was like at the same age. Food is still a challenge with him. Now he typically doesn't eat breakfast - he only wants milk. Then many times at home he doesn't want any snack. He just has lunch and dinner. We have found if he eats snack then he won't eat any lunch or dinner. He is also still picky - although he has eaten a few things new - He actually ate a chicken breast the other night - he has never done that before. He typically doesn't like meat - except for chicken nuggets. He will be going in for his 2 year appt in the next couple of weeks.

Michael and I are doing well. We are working on getting the house back in order and get things organized. To save on money we decided not to do a gym membership and just use our elliptical machine that we have. So I have been waking up about an hour before everyone else to work out in the morning. I still hope to swim at least every now and then, but with economy we need to make sure we use money wisely. I am also thinking about trying to do a 5k run sometime this year and trying to run the whole thing, not just walk. I have always wanted to do that, so that is a goal. I am not a runner, but I am going to try.

Well, it is time to go work out. Here are some pictures.

well, there is problems uploading the pictures so I will try again soon