Hawaii- Day 3

Day 3 was another day of exploration. Chris and I both had friends that gave us a list of things to do on the big island so we set off to see some of those things.

This was Chris' favorite thing we did! It is about a mile and a half down to the black sand beach on a pretty steep trail.

It didn't take us too long to get there and it was beautiful. Pictures definitely do NOT do it justice.

Because it is so steep you have to have 4 wheel drive to get down there or walk, so it was empty.

We sat there and just watched the waves come in. They were huge.

Getting out of the valley wasn't as easy as going in! Some of the locals passed us when we were going down and they said, "1 mile down, 10 miles up". And man were they right! I am glad Chris LOVED it down there because I thought he was going to die on the way out!

We stopped for lunch at a little place called "Hulie Sue's". Thanks for recommending it Staci, it was delicious!

Our next stop was Akaka Falls.

We were glad that it wasn't nearly as far of a hike to see the falls as Waipio!

From this look out point the falls are pretty far away, but still huge. They are almost 3 times longer than Niagra Falls. Crazy!

It was a nice little stroll just taking everything in.

We tried to go to the Volcano National Park, but we couldn't see anything!

We did waste our money going in, but it was pretty funny though. There was a guy on the phone and he said, "it is like a horror movie out here. you look to the right and there is fog, to the left, fog. In front of you, fog. Behind you, FOG."

So we just kept on driving around the island.

We found another black sand beach.

The weather was pretty crazy, so we didn't stay long.

And then we continued on. It was a very long day in the car, but still fun because we made lots of stops and had so many beautiful things to look at. We went all the way around the entire island in one day!

Hawaii- Day 2

We started our second day at Hapuna Beach. We were only there for about an hour when we both looked at eachother and decided to go, we had a whole island to explore!

We didn't really have anything planned for the day so we just started driving. We kept stopping to take pictures because everything was so beautiful!

After we got some lunch we found this cute little island park. There were some kayak -ers that were there that were jumping off a bridge into the water. We watched them for a while.

And right next to Coconut Island is another garden/park. The trees in there were huge! We couldn't get over it.

By late afternoon we made it to the Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens. I think this was one of my favorite parts of the trip. Everything was so neat and we had fun exploring and messing around. They offered us umbrellas when we bought our tickets, but we declined. It started to drizzle and then all of a sudden it was pouring and we were wishing we had taken one (especially for the camera's sake)! It made for fun time though as we were running uphill in flip flops trying to get back to the car.

We stopped for fresh smoothies at a little stand and took our time driving back to our hotel. Actually we got lost looking for a restaurant that didn't exist. Good laughs though. We just settled for the Outback by our hotel. Can't got wrong there!

Hawaii- Day 1

After a very long day of travel we finally arrived in Hawaii late Sunday afternoon.

We checked into our hotel and walked the coastline from our hotel down to the pier where the sun was setting.

[Cooper turns 5]

Cooper started his special day with french toast for breakfast.

And then he got to open a couple of presents. I think Alex was just as excited about Cooper's presents as he was.

Cooper had a play date with his friend Kayden and then we went and picked up Everett for a lunch date at Mc Donald's.

It was 'Share Day' at school so Cooper got to bring his dragon. He was very excited about that and he wanted to bring brownies to school to share with his friends.

After Chloe was done at dance we went to Chuck E. Cheese to play some games.

And then we went next door to play some laser tag. It was more fun than I thought it would be!

We let Cooper pick dinner and no surprise he picked Burger King. We brought it home and had a picnic upstairs while we watched Yogi Bear.

All upon the request of our birthday boy!!

On Friday we had a family party with dinner and cupcakes and then we were off to see The Lorax.

Hope you had a super Birthday because you are Super Cooper!!

365- Week 9

What a crazy week!

I was a complete wreck trying to get ready to leave for Hawaii.

The kids were sick with the flu and I was a mess thinking that Chris and I were both going to die and leave our kids parent-less!!!

02/26/12

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02/27/12

Having lunch with my cute little man at his favorite, Burger King. I was just looking at him wondering how he could really be turning 5 in a couple days.

02/28/12

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02/29/12

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03/01/12

Happy Birthday Cooper!

Victor came over to watch Aubrey while I ran some errands. I thought she was sleeping when I left, but she wasn't. But she cuddled up with Grandpa and had a nap.

03/02/12

In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday the kids had a green eggs and ham breakfast and they could all wear Cat in the Hat hats. So much fun!

03/03/12

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Happy 5th Birthday Cooper

Oh where, oh where has the last 5 years gone?? I can NOT believe that my baby boy is 5 today! Cooper has changed so much these last couple of years. He has gone from a complete mama's boy to an independent, big boy. Cooper is still super funny and the sweetest. He and Aubrey play so well together, they are little buddies. Cooper play so well with the other kids when he has them alone. He is all their little buddies.

Five things about Coop-Coop:

1. Still LOVES Transformers. Just about every week he brings a different Transformer to school for "Share Day".
2. Cooper can ride his bike with no training wheels. He got a new bike from Santa and was so disappointed when he saw that it had training wheels. He had Chris take them off and has been rocking it since.
3. His favorite food is still meatballs and rice, but would live off of candy if he could.
4. Cooper is doing really well at school he knows almost all of his letters and has started spelling a few words.
5. He wants to do everything like Nick. I took him to get a new baseball bag and really wanted one like Nick.

Happy, Happy Birthday My BIG 5 year old boy!!

365- Week 8

02/19/12

Lucy and Aubrey. Happy 2nd birthday Lucy Ann!

02/20/12

President's Day. No school. The kids played really well together all day. There is a picture of me and my brothers and sisters at my mom's house with all of us doing a pyramid and Jordan is giving a thumbs up, so Nick wanted to do it too!

02/21/12

The kids are in bed. Chris and I have our Golden Spoon. Life is good. Even if we do look like this!

02/22/12

Nick and his cub scout buddies at the Blue and Gold banquet the other night.

02/23/12

It was super nice outside so we ran across the street to the park while Chloe was in ballet.

02/24/12

No shirt, but mom's running shoes. Silly girl!

02/25/12

Chris just waiting with Alex and Aubrey during the dance competition.