Hawaii 2016 - Flight Day

We were at the airport by 6:30 am, everyone hauling a backpack full of their stuff so we wouldn't need to check luggage.  The kids were so determined to carry their own stuff and were helpful hauling the booster and other things. The first flight was only about 1.2 hours....a warm up flight if you will.

Feeling happy in the Phoenix airport.

The one hiccup there was that they changed our boarding area from when we landed and checked, to a different leg of the airport 20 min before we boarded.  We didn't hear announcements so we were lucky Darin checked the status on his phone, or I don't even know what would have happened.  We had time to get there and all was well, but those rushy moments are hard on us novice travelers.

Then we took off on the Hawaii flight.

My first time ever flying over an ocean!
Flying is still such a thrill for me. 

The kids were good as gold! They entertained themselves with stained glass coloring books, a tanagram game, and sharing head phones to watch America Ninja Warrior on the plane's screen. Just as Soren was getting grumpy he took a long nap. 

The hard part was getting our rental car.  1/2 wait for the shuttle, another 1/2 hour or so wait for the car after traveling all day long....and then driving through Honolulu rush hour traffic. Awful. 

We had to dig deep for that patience.

When we finally arrived I was delighted with our adorable condo!!! It was in a beautiful area off a golf course, 3 min walk to the beach, decorated bright and beachey. It was full of helpful stuff like tennis rackets, balls, beach toys, boogie boards, towels, even things like bug spray and sunscreen.
I loved the easy going nature and slowness of the North Shore, within a day Darin and I had the area figured out enough to feel comfortable driving around.  

We were exhausted, and hungry for real food so I looked up the closet restaurant I could find, one we could walk to so I didn't have to get back into the car. Lei Lei's grill needed reservations but they had a cancellation for a time in 15 min, and was a 1 min walk away.  That made for an expensive dinner at the golf course....but man it was delicious, and so beautiful.
We watched the sun set as we ate fresh fish (Darin and I ate fresh fish I think the kids had hot dogs).

We were all in awe of the views, the foliage, the birds and animals.

It was a fantastic welcome to Hawaii after a long and sometimes stressful travel day.

A week or so behind...

We just got back from vacation. I am not ready to fully deal with life, I would much rather gaze at photos all day long. That activity reminded me that I never posted a few of these random shots of life from a week or so ago.

I did take Darin to Adams Canyon. We did a double date with friends and then had a BBQ. It was fun! Glad we got to fit that in.  

This photo was from one of my solo jaunts up in the hills above my house.  I thought this tree would make a good family photo site so I wanted to document.  I grew up next to hills where I would wander and explore. I feel like a kid again when I have time to run up there.  

Darin picked up his old silversmithing hobby and I couldn't be happier!!

He made this beauty a while ago while practicing. It's a bit big for my ring finger so I should put it away as a gift for someone else but I love it so much!

He helped Miriam make some silver stacking rings for a friend's birthday.

Remember that deer that we chased out of our yard multiple times?? 

I looked out the window after the kids had left for school and saw her again.  Happy and content as can be in our yard.  If she wouldn't freak out every time we go out back, AND stop ruining our plants I would adopt her. But she can't, and won't so I chased her out again.

I saved the best for last.

Meet my new niece Hazel!

She is adorable, and so sweet.  Oh man...those huge black eyes and dimples!! I wish she liked me more, I would hold her all day long, but she usually prefers her dad...I will win her over, just you wait.

Just the Week

Ladies Hike to Adams Canyon for those who missed our summer trek. 

I have plans to take Darin on this hike before Fall is over. 

Friday I worked for my friend Kelly. She puts on huge mega events for corporations, and once and awhile she lets me help.   If the Mouse Trap truck is ever around...do stop.

Very fun to be with friends and earn a little sweet moolah.

I also met James The Mormon. 

Saturday was fix it day for Darin and I.  We spent the entire day gettin' stuff done. Miriam has come down with a cold, but the boys and I got in that promised Lagoon trip.

Spider is the new favorite ride!

It seems so much faster when it's dark.
I really thought the park would be less busy with the BYU Utah game going on...but no.... pretty dang busy.  Luckily it always thins out around 8 pm and the lines go waaay down.

We are going to need jackets next time we go which means Fall is officially here!

Labor Day Weekend

We were rewarded with Labor Day weekend after the first full week of school.  We needed it. We needed to have time to clean rooms, go over the budget, talk, and do some general "adulting" (Darin and I). Miriam needed to decompress with friends and books from the newness of jr. high, B needed alone time in his room with his stuff, and Soren needed to gear up for another week.  S is struggling the most with school at the moment, lots of tears over here.  

So mostly we just hung around the house.  We played some 5 crowns, B and D played speed chess, M had time to get organized and had a late night with a group of friends.  We cleaned, we did laundry.

We gathered up enough energy for Lagoon one evening and miracle of miracles Soren is now 45 inches tall!!  After being measured with a flat card (and having his shoes checked...so he wasn't tip toeing it) by an OCD worker at the Boomerang Bumper Cars we were so thrilled he could go! This worker had just sent some sad kids to the exit so we were sweeting bullets.

We did the Screamer and Colossus together as a whole family! Soren has been aching to go on Screamer all summer.  His lack of inches has been his heart ache, and cross to bear, so this does feel like a back to school miracle. A "tender mercy" if you will.  I told him after he powers through another week of being brave at school we can reward ourselves with Spider and Wicked so thats on the docket for this coming weekend.

Miriam made cream puffs...they get better and better each time she makes them.

Monday Darin and I made a Bagels by Bike run to Einstein Bagel for their $6 Monday deal.

Bagels for breakfast, lunch, and again for lunch today. So fun to get out on our bikes again, Fall is my favorite time to ride.

We got the kids through a few "must-do's" which wasn't a fun part of the day...especially when I lost my cool but everyone finished with ample time to play the rest of the day.

Miriam went on a hike with a friend's family while the boys had a friend over all afternoon. 

Monday night Soren got his regularly scheduled worries about school the next day.  We took a bike ride/Pokemon walk to the park to take our minds off of "impending doom" - (Soren's words not mine). It was the perfect momentary panacea.

I get pretty permissive when I feel bad for my kids having to face hard things.

Soren told us his "one joy" at school is Byron. Heartbreakingly sad, and heartbreakingly beautiful at the same time...to have a big brother with you, looking out for you, during the hard times.  My boys fight and disagree but man I think we lucked out in the brother temperament/personality mix.  I know phases come and go but so far we haven't had a phase where these boys weren't best of friends. They don't even know how lucky they are.

Home for a warm bath, cream puffs, and a chapter of Charolette's Web.
Thats how we do this life, one hard thing and then one comforting moment one after another all day long till its time for bed. 

Birthday

I knew what I wanted for my birthday a looong time ago.  The minute I saw the zip line tours in Hawaii I wanted to go...but the boys don't make the age or weight limits so it wasn't something we could do together....not to mention holy expensive. So for my birthday I treated myself to a tour, Miriam earned the $ this summer to come along, and Darin graciously will stay with the boys at the ranch.

So, I purchased and scheduled my own birthday gift a month ago. I told Darin I was doing it, and I am over-the-moon excited and happy and content about it....but it wasn't good enough for Darin and the kids.  40 is just too big of a milestone so they were sure to make it one I would remember.

Miriam snuck the birthday pillowcase on my bed.  She wanted to add this to our family traditions so she made a pillowcase this summer at her sewing class. It's nice to have a little party planner in the family.

Darin's family was in town from back East. Family that we hardly ever get to see, but so love to be with whenever possible we decided to run up North to spend the day with them.  We stopped by Pettingill's for a sweeter larger variety of peaches (Rosa, for future reference...LOVE THEM).  

and we shared some fresh peach shakes.

We listened to Snap Judgment all the way up the canyon...so interesting, and the drive was beautiful!

We had a great lunch which included 40 of these Swig cookies!

(thank you C, L, C & E!)

We all took the 16 personalities quiz, laughed, and took a trip down memory lane with a photo video Darin had put together.

When my kiddos needed some active time, I took them and Cameron's sweet dog Goose on a walk up to the new white sand park.  

We walked past tons of my birthday flowers!

The kids and I played frisbee and had handstand competitions (I even won once!) did cartwheels and made weed farms in the sand.

Darin surprised me with my own photo video, so Darin's family humored me by watching 40 years of my life go by. It's been a good 40 years...can't complain (except maybe those awkward years from 11-15...but then again they made me who I am so not too bad).

Then....the big surprise! 

This is what those rascals were working so hard on the nights before. 

40 balloons in a rainbow fedora!!

I have never seen anything like it, and keep meaning to put it up on Pinterest!

My hubby is a super creative guy, and so thoughtful of me. He would hate wearing something like this but he knows I eat it up with a spoon!

See that tuxedo cake...my favorite, and Soren declared this special day my "cheat day".  It's actually turned into my cheat dayS...but I am 40 so live it up right?!

The kids were so sweet, they pooled their money to get a gift card to my favorite place, gourmet chocolate, and I get to go pick out some trail running shoes after Darin saw what I have been hiking in all summer.  He was appalled, and got that situation fixed as quickly as possible.

He also has another surprise up his sleeve, but that is another post for another time.

Birthday Eve...

Darin took the day off on Friday so we could have some blessed alone time.

It was my turn to drive M's carpool, I helped the boys scoot to school then we took off!

We hiked the full Deuel Creek Canyon...passed the swing up to the waterfall.  It's twice the distance (more time to ourselves) and so gorgeous!

Fall is coming! We saw signs up there on the mountain.

These beautiful purple butterflies were dashing around.

It was so fun!

I took a turn on the swing on our way home...that is a good way to bring on 40.

We ran to Pei Wei for lunch before the kids came home.

The kids and Darin spent so much time getting ready for my real big day.  I had no idea what was in store for me.

And It All Begins Again...

Monday Ris came over to pick plums from my neighbor's tree. He is super generous with us. She brought her kids and we took them on our hike up Duel Creek to the swing. It's kind of a challenging hike for the littlest two but they were troopers.  They each had a few turns on the swing, they walked in the stream, caught a fish, got super dusty.  We stopped for our very last Rainbow Snow of the entire summer (we thought we had our last Rainbow Snow the weekend before hee-hee) on the way home.

 Tuesday I made everyone come home early from playing with friends so we could have family dinner and our back to school talk. 

We used the quote:

"Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage" - Anais Nin

and watched a Ted Talk about how the human bodies physical response to stress (heart beat, sweating, anxiousness) can be viewed as a GOOD thing.  More blood to the brain makes you think better, chemicals released and extra oxygen make you sharper and viewed as helpful, can help you preform better...but most importantly Oxytocin the "cuddle drug" that creates bonds between humans is released encouraging us to reach out for human connection.  So the best way to deal with stress is to talk to a friend, a loved one. It is especially healthy (for the stressed person) to reach out to someone in an act of helpfulness and service. 

Darin gave the kids the challenge of finding a way to do at least one thoughtful kind act everyday.

I told the kids about my sure-proof way to not feel awkward in a new class....go look for someone who looks more afraid than you feel...go try to make them feel more comfortable.  Boom! All the sudden you are not worried about yourself!

First Day

Miriam goes 45 min before the boys so our mornings are different this year.  She needs to be practicing by 6:30 in order to fit it in before school (which is worth the effort for our family I am not on my A game in the late afternoons).  Maybe this will change, but these first 3 days she wanted to spend more time getting ready so her mornings are kind of a rush!

Byron practices at 7:00,  7-7:30 is the roughest part of my morning...going between the three kids, but as soon as M's carpool leaves at 7:45 I turn my eagle like focus on helping to get these guys ready. I am trying to have 90% of lunches made the night before.

These guys have such nice teachers, and some cute kids in their classes.

Their school does really fun activities, and they have all the new technology that makes learning a bit more engaging....but they still don't like school.  

I want to convince them to love it...like I did (or at least I think I did, perhaps I am sugar coating memories?) but I need to remember that is not my job.  I just do my best to provide a good education, make sure they are safe, and help with homework/projects - they are going to have to learn to make themselves happy with the situation.  A good trait they will use the rest of their lives.

Soren especially does not like it, and gets kind of stressy/anxious/whiney about it.

Just another reason to break out the scooters!

A little bit of fun, relaxation, and stress relief before and after school. It's good for them, good for the environment, good for my mental state not to deal with drop off zones and too many cars + kids.

So far I have ridden my bike along with them in the mornings and picked them up half way home (away from traffic) but that will end here soon. Until the snow falls.

I wish Miriam could ride her bike but we have cello issues...still trying to figure that all out!

It's hard to see, but there is a fawn kind of living in between our yard and our neighbors.  We heard her crying a few days ago but she was with her mother and other fawns.  The fawns couldn't make it over the fence so they were all crying, but we went to bed thinking they would all find a way out since they always have in the past.  The rest of them did but this one keeps coming back.  We have even opened the gate and helped her out...but she comes back. She is back today, she woke me up at 4:30 with her crying.  First thing on my list after the kids are off to school, I am going to call animal control, or animal rescue or something to see if we can get her some help.

My birthday flowers have been popping out all month! 

Sunflowers along the highways and in vacant lots.  

Yummy tomatoes, peaches, plums...

I really do love this time of year.