Oahu

We love Oahu!

We had a great spring break in Oahu. To us, Waikiki is a huge city - wonderful restaurants, shops, action packed! We stayed at the beautiful Moana Surfrider. Small pool, small beach area, but great location!

Wet And Wild

Our first day we went to Wet and Wild. I only got one picture (oops!). The water park had many cool rides. Poor Caden was about an inch too short to go on most of the big rides, which caused some tears, but he had fun anyway.

St Patricks Day

We had to check out the St Patricks Day Parade in Waikiki. Nothing to write home about but the kids had fun getting beads and pins.

After the parade we walked to Dave and Busters. The kids had so much fun! You have to remember that we don't even have a Chuck E Cheese on Maui.

Sea Life Park

Definitely a been there, done that experience. The kids enjoyed themselves but the park was pretty run down and small. Gorgeous setting though!

Waikiki Beach

The boys brought their body boards and we did get one day of a pretty big swell. They had a blast but the beach and the ocean were SO crowded!

Polynesian Cultural Center

Our favorite day! We love the PCC. It's so well taken care of, educational, fun activities for the kids, and great shows.

Never shy, all of my boys jumped at the chance to dance at the Tahiti presentation.

Chase tatooed his face in Aotearea

Agility drills

In Samoa, Chase got called on stage to drink the coconut juice - YUCK! He, of course downed the whole thing.

LOST!

We came upon the Lost set while they were filming in the jungle on day. We waited patiently for about an hour but never saw any of the actors! They were very sneaky and shuttled everyone into their trailers via blacked out vans. Still cool to see. What a huge production! Chase and I are die-hard fans.

The Black Pearl

We also went to Barbers Point Harbor to see the arrival of the Black Pearl. This is as close as we could get. Filming for the 4th Pirates of the Caribbean begins in a few months.

Basketball

The boys just finished their basketball seasons. Both of their teams lost in the semi-finals of their tournaments. But they had a great season and learned a lot. Now on to baseball for Caden and swimming for Chase. Gotta love boys and their sports! I don't know what I am going to do when all 3 of them are playing team sports!

Ritz Residences in Kapalua

Last weekend we were invited to come stay and tour the new Ritz Residence in Kapalua. We, of course, jumped on the opportunity!

The property is just stunning! Best pool/grounds of anyplace we have been on the island. We had an amazing 3 bedroom ground floor condo with amazing ocean views.

The kids had a blast! It was fun to explore the other side of the island with them. The boys jumped off black rock in Kaanapali, we ate at the Seahouse in Kapalua, walked the new 2 mile shoreline trail that goes from Napili to Fleming beach, and body boarded some great waves at DT Flemming (despite the wind).

It was a wonderful weekend and we were so thankful to be given this opportunity!

The pool had about 8 different sections that all flowed together. Caves, waterfalls, hydrotherapy tubs (IN the pool) - so many unique features!

This picture was taken from our back porch! How gorgeous is this?!

Breakfast at the Sea House in Napili. We love Napili! This spot always reminds Geoff of his family. This is where they always used to come when he was growing up.

Body boarding at DT Fleming. The boys had a blast! This is Caden catching a wave.

We Are Ready ........

As many of you have heard, the devastating earthquake in Chili has sent a tsunami our direction. We have know of the possibility of this since late last night and then the emergency alarms and evacuations started at 6:00 this morning. I am so impressed and thankful for the amount of warning we have had. There is a sense of calm. The weather is gorgeous, the ocean looks like a lake, all stores and restaurants are closed, lower roads are all closed, all beaches and public parks are closed. No one is panicked. Everyone went to their evacuation stations calmly and orderly. I am sure that no lives will be lost but am still concerned about the possible damage to our beautiful island. We went down to the beach at about 10:00 am and the waters had significantly receded. Other than that, we have seen no action ... yet. Let's hope that continues. Let me just close once again to say how proud and thankful I am to be an American, even in the islands. I feel very safe, very protected, very calm.

Bon Jovi!

Where else can you watch a private Bon Jovi concert from a hot tub? SO cool! I was missing my Ali and wishing she was with us. She has always been in love with Bon Jovi!

Livin On A Prayer

Dead or Alive

Fireworks

How Did I Get So Lucky?

My four Valentines ..... how did I get so lucky?

Oh how I love my boys. We had such a fun Valentines Day. After church we hiked Twin Falls.

It was a perfect day. Not too many people, great weather.

Chase on a rope swing. I should have videoed this so you could see how far out he swings!

To get to the rope swing, you have to jump off this. Caden was nervous at first but ended up doing it. He gets scared, not of the jump, but of the cold water below! And it IS cold!

The second falls you hike to is Twin Falls. Usually you can jump off the falls but the water wasn't deep enough so Geoff wouldn't let Chase try. We had a great Bear Grills moment where we taught the boys how to test the depth of the water with big sticks and how you can drink water that leaks through the lava rock BEHIND waterfalls. It is much purer than the water in the waterfall and ponds.

Behind Twin Falls

After our hike, we walked down to the Grand Wailea because we heard Bon Jovi was giving a private concert for a software group that had rented out the whole hotel! For those of you who know the hotel, we sat on the ledge on the hot tub above the cave and Bon Jovi played on the big grass area. We had PERFECT seats! We could see and hear everything while our kids played in the hot tub. Coolest concert EVER! Bon Jovi is incredible live. Such a great voice! The concert ended with a 10 minute firework show on the beach. Such a cool night and it was all free!

Happy Birthday, Crew!

My baby is 3! I can't believe how fast he grew up!

A few our favorite things about Crew:

1. He LOVES the water and all water activities. He is an amazing swimmer in both the pool and ocean. He goes on big waterslides by himself, can touch the bottom of an 8 ft deep pool, boogie boards in the ocean and can read and catch waves all by himself..... We are all amazed and laugh at him all the time because it is so funny to see someone so little do all the things he does.

2. Scooters, scooters, scooters! His favorites are his razor scooter with light-up wheels and his brothers spark scooters. He rips down the hill, jumps the driveway, goes on ramps (kind of). He has great balance and coordination for a little guy.

3. He is SO tough and all boy, yet he spends half his day on my lap, wants to carried, and constantly gives cuddles. I LOVE this mixture of half tough-guy half sweetheart (although he is not the lightest kid to carry around!)

4. He loves playing games on his iTouch and is really good at them. It amazes me how quickly kids can learn all the techno stuff!

5. He loves disney movies, toys, books, etc. Right now Buzz and the Monster Inc characters are his favorites. He is SO excited to go to Disneyworld in May!

Crew had a birthday full of lots of fun activities. In the morning he woke up to a decorated house, a DVD with Captain Zoom singing him a personalized birthday song, presents and pancakes.

Then we went to the beach for some boogie boarding.

We tried to go to the aquarium but got rained out so we went to see the Tooth Fairy instead (not our favorites movie). Then we had dinner in Lahaina with Dusty and Jane and played glow in the dark mini golf.

Finally, we came home for cake and ice cream! Happy Birthday, Cruiser Bruiser!

WE LOVE YOU!