Paradise

Yes, we were in paradise. No, not for the entire month since Thanksgiving....Geeeez, has it really been that long since I blogged?

Well, December was interesting, lots of things happened. The Christmas open house seemed to be a success, no Claudia did not get her cast off before we left for Christmas break (and let me tell you, having a cast in Hawaii sucks, not to mention the trouble it caused at the airports), Christmas programs at Church, preschool and dance classes, yadda yadda yadda.

I will post some pictures of our early Christmas celebration soon. Uh, don't make me promise on that one, okay? But the kids had a great time and loved their presents this year. I have come to the conclusion that simplifying life is good. We purchased minimal, well what I consider minimal, presents for the kids this year. And honestly, they seemed to enjoy them more this year, because they weren't hopping from one present to the next so quickly.

Anyway, on to my real plan for the next 2 weeks.....posting pictures of our vacation to Hawaii. Nothing like being in Hawaii for Christmas and New Years.

So, the background of the story is this: My brother-in-law is stationed in Hawaii, but is in Iraq for Christmas this year. So being the wonderful sister I am, and having the wonderful husband I have, we sacrificed our Christmas at home to spend it with Samantha and her 2.5 year old daughter, Kaitlin, on Oahu. Real sacrifice on our part, huh? :) And let me tell you, taking 3 planes, having to go through security twice each direction with a young child in a cast is not something I really want to have to go through again. Ever. Some airports were fine with just running her through the metal detector, then swiping for explosives. Others required multiple x-rays of her cast in addition to the metal detector and swiping for explosives. And let me tell you, you don't want to know what happens when you get a positive on the explosives test. Yes, it happened to us in Hawaii on our way back. They patted her down, took multiple more swipes of her cast, her hands, her clothes, my hands, the inside of her carry-on and her shoes. Boy. Then they grilled me on where we had been the previous couple of days before going to the airport. Where had she been playing, any playgrounds or were we around any fireworks for the New Year. Yikes.

Anyway, we arrived on Monday December 21st around dinner time, Hawaii time, which is normal bedtime for the kids. Had a quick dinner and basically crashed. The good news is that we were up bright and early the next morning between 5 & 6 AM (8 & 9 AM in NM). Our first full day was spent planning some trips, purchasing tickets etc, etc. The kids loved going to the NEX, which was decorated with a marine theme. Here is a pic in front of the escalators.


Then we spent the afternoon going out with another family to do some turtle watching on the North shore. Unfortunately I wasn't paying that much attention to the coast line there and the names (they all look the same!), so I can't even tell you where exactly we were (for future reference I spent a lot of time looking at maps of Oahu for the remainder of the vacation, yet I still couldn't place exactly where we were that first day). But Samantha's friend was nice enough to take a group picture for us.



The waves were really choppy, so we only did some wading on this first day in HI.



And this is what Duncan spent much of his vacation doing, everyday, day after day. Really.


He just liked piling up the sand and watching it get washed away. And yes, both kids and Dan were soaked by the time we were done, the waves were really big! But we have more of those pics later in the vacation. :)

Love,