Hawaii!!! Ten year anniversary trip. It was an adventure.

On our way to Hawaii, at 3:55 am. I slept 45 min. max.

We had a long layover in Vancouver, so we left the airport, and caught a train downtown.

We saw this tall tower that looked like the revolving restaurant in Winnipeg, so we decided to check it out and ended up having a nice lunch there. It was pretty awesome. I had never been to British Columbia before, so it was cool to be able to see so much in such a short time.

Landing in Kauai, Hawaii. I was pretty tired at this point, so I am not sure I fully appreciated the view at the time. Looking at the pictures, though, it was pretty.

Sunday morning on Easter we went to church. I love going to church at the different places that we travel to. It is a really good way to meet local people. Sunday afternoon we walked around some pretty gardens and a little along the coast. Rested after our long travels the day before.

At our resort.

I thought this was pretty cool. Every time a wave came in, water shot up into the air.

Chickens everywhere.

Monday we went on a Catamaran over to see the Napali coast and go snorkeling. It was beautiful. We had breakfast and lunch on the boat.

The Napali Coast

Sea turtles... kinda hard to see, but there were tons of them. We got to go snorkeling them. They would come up to us within just a few feet and look at us. It was pretty cool.

We saw tons of spinner dolphins. They were everywhere. They kept jumping out of the water. We also saw two humpback whales. The guide said it is a little late in the season to see whales, so it was kinda cool, but alas no pics of the whales.

They pulled the boat up right next to this waterfall, so that those that wanted to could cool off.

Right before we went snorkeling with the sea turtles.

Hula pie at Keoki's.

Playing tennis. We managed to get all of the balls out of the court. Yep, we rock.

Tuesday, we went zip lining. This was my favorite part of the trip. It was awesome.

Gettin ready to go.

Hubby Wubby loves these bouncy bridges. He's totally like a little kid. He bounces like a crazy man and especially enjoyed waiting for others to come on the bridge. Unfortunately for him, I warned them all before we got to the bridge. lol

Monkey man

You think Hubby Wubby was impressive. Try taking pictures upside down a few thousand feet from the ground. Yep, awesome.

Hubby Wubby being a monkey again on the zip line.

Heading to the van to go to the waterhole.

Swimming in the waterhole.

There was a little zip line into it.

Tuesday evening we went to a Luau. It was interesting. Lots of Hawaiian dancing and some cool fire dancing.

Swimming in the ocean.

Relaxing by the pool.

We went tubing down a huge irrigation ditch. There were long tunnels that we went through. We had helmets with lights on them so we could see while going through. It was pretty interesting. They used to use the ditches to water the sugar cane fields, now they just use them for tours. So you can tell who took most of the pictures. =)

I don't know what's up with that picture in the background, but we didn't take the camera with us tubing because we didn't want to get it wet so we took these back at the tubing place. It is a good thing too that we didn't bring our camera because Hubby and I had quite the water fight. =) Good fun.

There's me!

This was not in my vision of the island at all. I kind of pictured it as a remote place with little stores. It was pretty small and not that many people live there, but there was a Walmart, Costco, McDonalds, KFC, and other stuff you see everywhere.

On the the way to the Secret Falls, although they didn't seem like such a secret to me. We had to cross the river here. There's Hubby Wubby in the red shorts.

Here is the trail we were walking on. There were lots and lots of roots.

Here I am at the waterfall. It was pretty and very refreshing aka cold.

Hubby Wubby at the waterfall.

I have never ever seen so many chickens just wherever in my whole life. There were chickens everywhere on the island. And those roosters were cockadoodledoing all the time.

So on the way back to the kayaks, I broke my foot. I hopped over one of those crazy roots on the trail and somehow caught the top of my foot and I went down. Here is Matthew going to get our kayak and bring it to me, since I couldn't walk across the river or at all.

kayaking

There is my broken foot. Only the broken part was swollen at this point.

Hubby Wubby kayaking

At the hospital. Now most of my foot is swollen. It was a nice hospital. They got us in really fast and were super friendly. We just missed our massages that we had scheduled for the afternoon, but we were able to reschedule for the next day.

Hubby Wubby waiting at the hospital.

We were going to go hiking on Saturday to see some of the amazing canyons in Kawai, but since I was crippled we decided to take a helicopter ride instead.

Hubby Wubby

Here is the volcano. Half of the crater has been eroded away over the years. It rains all the time here.

This was kind of scary. We were up above the mountains here and the helicopter guy took us straight down into this canyon. It was kind of crazy.

The Napali Coast

A waterfall

There were waterfalls all over the place.

Hubby Wubby and I in the helicopter.

Here is what we came home to... yep, I just about cried. In reference to an earlier post, I didn't mean it. I didn't miss the snow. I would be perfectly happy if the snow would be gone... atleast for a while. Please. It is slippery and I'm on crutches... Thanks.

Workshop, Angel Ball, Dress of the Week, and Jamin ready for cubs

Friday a super awesome friend watched my kids for me so I could go to a workshop presented by Dr. Ross Greene, PhD who is the Associate Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. I recently read one of his books, The Explosive Child and found it quite intriguing. The book and the workshop really opened my mind to different strategies of disciplining and teaching children. He talks about a collaborative problem solving approach to help kids deal with social, emotional and behavioral challenges. If you are interested he has a website here at www.livesinthebalance.org.

Saturday night Matthew went to a fancy fundraiser for a local hospital. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but we had a really fun time. They had a silent auction and a fancy meal and an awesome band. Everyone was dancing. It was a good time.

Dress of the Week

I probably shouldn't let her play in the curtains, but...

She is just so cute when she does.

Saying "peek-a-boo"

Our princess having a bottle. She was having a moment.

Jamin ready for Cubs Wednesday evening.

The Snow is Melting and Dress of the Week

Dress of the Week

I got Tegan's hair in pigtails this week! It was so exciting! I love my little girl. =) ... and my other kids too. =)

Jamin and the cat doing some reading. =)

So lately I have been trying to get the boys to help out a bit more around the house. With four things seem to get out of hand pretty fast. So I have been encouraging them to help even if it is easier to do it myself. I figure in the long run we'll all be better off if they learn to enjoy some cooking and cleaning. They don't mind helping me in the kitchen, sweeping, wiping and setting tables, mixing stuff, helping me get ingredients. The hardest thing for me is to get them to pick up their toys. It's all a learning process I guess.

One of my best investments. The kids love our moon bouncer.

Ok, so I am kinda weird. I have been trying to tell myself all winter how much I love the snow and we have really been enjoying playing in it and stuff. I am probably the only one, but I am actually kind of sad the snow is leaving. More than leaving, suddenly in a weeks time, most of it is gone! I do not miss the insane cold, though. Well, out with the old and in with the new. Sledding and snow forts are now history(till fall). This week the kids have been splashing in puddles and getting really dirty. Neil is the only one completely in denial. He still won't give up his winter jacket for a spring one. However, he REALLY loves running through puddles and throwing rocks into them. It has proven to create much more laundry this week.

An election is coming up in Canada. Matthew is totally obsessed with all the latest political stuff lately. Everything is so different here than in the states. Here, if a majority does not agree on a budget, then there is an election. Normally elections end up being every 4 years, but lately they have been every 2. The leader of the party with the most local officials elected becomes the Prime Minister. I think it is way more complicated than that, but that's a general low down.

The river is mesmerizing right now. It is moving really fast and there are lots of logs and big chunks of ice that float by. We took a walk/bike ride yesterday to the river to get a closer look.

Jamin's completely outgrew his last bike and it faced some tragedy, so it was time for a new bike. Now that the snow and ice are off the roads, he can ride it. =)

Last year this section of road flooded, so they prepared for it this year, although it has not proven to be necessary.

You can tell the water is high when it is the same height on both sides of the lock.

Spring Break 2011- Will Be One That We Remember

Playing at our school park. Good times =)

Tegan getting ready to go down the slide.

There she goes!

Gordon going down.

Jamin playing on the snow plow mountain.

Tegan climbing up to the slide. She LOVES slides. She just keeps down over and over again.

We were playing hide-and-go-seek. Gordon was it. This is me hiding. Gordon found me pretty fast, Neil and Tegan gave me away. At least that is my excuse, and I am sticking to it. Jamin was the best at it. I couldn't find him and had to call for him to come out.

Gordon trying to ride his bike through the snow and ice. It is easier on the pavement, Gordon. =)

Jamin taking his scooter for a drive.

Another day playing in our backyard

Gordon had a birthday party at Oak Hammock Marsh, so I decided to spend time with the other kids there while Gordon was at the party. I asked Grandma Anderson if she would like to come along and she did which was awesome, and I think the kids all had a good time. One of Jamin's classmates were there with a younger sibling at the same party as Gordon, so Jamin had lots of fun playing with his friend.

Jamin coloring

Tegan playing Wildlife Plinko.

Jamin the bumble bee

Tegan's favorite thing was watching the fish.

Neil's favorite was fishing for plastic fish.

An outside view of the marsh. There was a chilly wind, so we didn't stay out too long, and there wasn't really any wildlife to see yet.

Neil sorting the blocks.

Jamin was given a project for school to choose a famous manmade structure, build a replica and write about it. Jamin chose the Golden Gate Bridge. He said he chose it because his Grandma and Grandpa Richardson have a big picture of it in their living room. It is not finished yet, but he made lots over progress over Spring Break. I'll show another picture when he is finished.

The boys being silly with oranges. =)

The boys were good about practicing the piano and...

helping out over Spring Break. Here is Gordon whipping some egg whites for waffles one morning. Jamin even washed some dishes. I should have taken a picture of that! =) Next time.

My poor little princess stood up on a chair and it fell over. She got a big gash on her chin. =( I took a picture of the gash, but I am not posting on here. It will make everyone cry. This is a picture of Tegan taking a nap at the Emergency Room. We were there for 7 1/2 hours! It was insane crazy. I don't recall ever having to wait that long before. Tegan was fairly good most of the time considering she had a gash in her chin. She is such a sweetie pie. I stayed in the room while they stitched her up and almost passed out just before they put the first needle through. I guess I suddenly turned sheet white and they made me sit down immediately, threw some oxygen on me, and told me to put my head between my legs.

Here are her stitches. She gets them out on Wednesday.

Tegan's angry face? I just thought it was cute.

Sweet Tegan

Watching General Conference. It was so exciting this year. The first session they announced that there will be a temple built here! I know it will likely take some time, but we are all totally and completely thrilled about that news. The temple we go to now is about a 6 1/2 hour drive, so it will be quite a change. Jamin was actually sad at first. He said he won't be able to visit his friend Liam and go on long drives and stay at hotels anymore. I told him it would likely be a couple years and we still would likely be able to do all those things occasionally anyway. Then he was happy too and even built a model out of cardboard of what he thought it should look like. =)