More fun with Nana and Papa

 Eric was buddy buddy with papa this past week.  So I took advantage and had Eric practice his reading one day to a willing Papa!

 Wednesday morning after taking the carpool to school we headed away from the rain and dreary weather to the dry west side of the island.  This is the lagoon right behind the Paradise Cove luau facility.  You have to get there early because there are only about 10 parking spots.  We were treated to a beautiful clear morning, nice waters, and 3 turtles that were just hanging out in the lagoon.
Papa and Eric threw the football some.

 Eric followed a turtle around and snorkeled with Nana and Papa too.

 Nana buried him in the sand.

 And he then had fun jumping on the pile of sand left over from being buried.

 He even made a friend!  Another 5 year old boy named Jaden.  He was visiting from Alaska.  They had a blast together.

 Friday morning we went to Kaena Point.  Nana and Papa love to hunt for shells and sea glass.  We found lots of great treasures and Eric had his pockets full.  Shells on one side, glass on the other.  And of course he only picked up the green glass!

 The waves were impressive and they had to retreat from the edge a few times.

 Justin trying to find the pearl!  No luck.

After our treasure hunting expedition we headed home so they could get cleaned up and packed to head back to NC.  It was a great visit and we loved having you!!

Nana and Papa are here!

Nana and papa got here Thursday night! We've had a great time doing things and just hanging out. The kids are still in school, gymnastics, and normal stuff. But we are still getting some fun things in. 

Justin, papa, and the kids went on a fishing charter. They caught a few fish, brought one home for dinner, but also saw lots of whales. 

They had a fun time on the boat!

Sunday we walked up to the Makapuu lighthouse hoping to see whales along the way. 

The boys took an adventuring detour. The girls stayed in the path. 

See them way up there?

On the way back down we were treated to several breaches of at least 2 whales!  They can make a huge splash. 

We are our picnic lunch in the car on the way over to Bellows. The rest of the afternoon was spent enjoying the beach. 

What a fun weekend!

Swingball

If you don't have this game you should!  It is so much fun.  It's a mix between tennis and tether ball.  The kids are getting really good and can honestly beat their parents.  We do win a few, but not often.  I blame it on us not having as much practice time as the kids do.  It's not uncommon that neighborhood kids are playing when we come home or while we are having dinner!

Thanks for such an awesome gift Mimi and Granddaddy!!  This one is going in the suitcase when we move.  So watch out Burlington family, you will be challenged to a few swing ball games this summer.

Split AC units

The big news on our street this past week is the installation of split ac units.  We had 4 window units for the house but now we have 8 units that also have heat.  I know none of you feel sorry for us when we claim we are freezing in the mornings.  But to us we really are super cold!  54* is SO cold in HI.  

The yard crew had to remove all the bushes on one side of our house to get access to the windows.  They filled an entire truck full of clippings!

 All the bushes and a palm tree are now gone.

 We had some of our coldest mornings before we got the units installed.  The only way we have to heat the house was the oven.  So the kids were warming their hands before breakfast one morning!!

 It took a crew of 5 work all day.  They came back the next day to paint the wood but they were all working at the end of the day.  The heat the next morning was so lovely!  I told people that it felt like Hawaii should feel!

It's taking some getting used to not having the loud window units.  I now hear so many sounds at night that I didn't before.

Super Bowl weekend

Last weekend we headed to the beach on Saturday after Caroline finished swim practice.  It was perfect (as the beaches around here typically are!).  I sat and read my book, watched the kids play, saw whales breaching, at a great cheeseburger for lunch, and just enjoyed the afternoon!

 There was another kids close to Will's age with a football.  I told Will to go ask him if he wanted to play.  So they played with the football in the surf for a good hour or more!  He never got the kids' name.

 Friends met us at the beach.  The kids had fun digging a hole.

 Then sitting in it and being buried in sand.

 That night Justin and I went to a cocktail party.  I wore a dress that my mom wore back in the early 90's!!

 Superbowl Sunday was also a relaxing day.  I taught children's church for the 1st-3rd graders (25 kids!) and then we watched the game the rest of the afternoon.  We had on blue and black for the panthers!  But I was glad Payton Manning won.

 Miles even relaxed and watched the game with us!

Pro Bowl time

The pro bowl was back in Hawaii this year.  So of course we got tickets to go. 

 Caroline was chosen to participate in the NFL play 60 event at her school.  She was so excited to get this opportunity.  The picture below was the morning of the event.

 Too bad I don't have a picture of when she came home that afternoon.  The event was cancelled 30 minutes before it was to start!  The NFL play 60 staff members went through the drills with the kids but none of the active players showed up.  Caroline was extremely disappointed!

We  rearranged the living room a few weeks ago and now there's a perfect divider between the living room and play room.  Many afternoons there are huge nerf battles using the sofa as a divider.  

 We also had a family game of Star Wars monopoly.  Which is much quicker and better than the original version.  Will and I were the blue disks, so you can easily see who won!

 We sat in traffic for 2 hours just to get to the game last Sunday.  So very not fun.

 The game was fun to watch, but Will and his best buddy Adam were even more fun to watch.  They danced, giggled, talked, cheered, did the wave, stomped their feet, knocked heads once, and just generally enjoyed themselves!

 I pulled a Crissman move and when the 4th quarter started we moved down to the lower level for better seats.  The kids that that was pretty cool.  Too bad all the action was on the other end of the field for most of the quarter.

 Hugging their friends good bye!