Hawaii 2011

Hawaii is very special to Colby and I, as most of you know. We spent this first few years of our marriage there, and it really did become our home. While I don't miss living there, I do miss it. It had been almost 6 years since we had been there, as I was 5 months pregnant with Bailey when we moved back to California. When my mom and dad asked us where we wanted to go on a family vacation, I immediately said Hawaii!! So, 10 of us planned this trip almost a year ago, and decided to return to our Hawaii home at Turtle Bay, and try a new island for all of us, Molokai. The trip was so special. A rare treat for all of us to spend 8 days together. Here is just a snippet of our trip. I couldn't post all of the pictures, but did manage to create a good snap shot of our trip. I was not ready to come home, and I can tell you it will not be another 6 years until I go again.

The amount of luggage it takes 10 people to travel with
Cocktail hour started on the plane

I don't know how she managed to sleep on the plane

Arrival in Honolulu

Cocktails at the pool bar

Mom and dad

It was so nice to be back at our old spot

More cocktails on the lanai

Hanging out

Cocktail hour turned into a game of "penny can," but since we were in Hawaii it was "Coco-Nut"

A view from the lanai

The condo pool

Bailey in her cool shades

Me and my girl

A dip in the pool

A trip to Waimea Falls

60 % of the crew

Eli and Jaymee

Kelly and Lexy, they were recreating pictures from years ago

The kids

More of the kids

We made it to the falls

Jaymee and Raif in the waterfall pool

Bailey wasn't so sure about being so close to the fall

Yes, everyone, she is in the water

Our family

All 10 0f us at the falls

Feeding the peacocks

Dinner at Lei Lei's

Bailey and Aunt Jennifer

Jaymee, Dad and Eli

Mom, Kelly and Raif

Colby with our friends Cara and Gary

Happy boy

Raif was running around the putting green pretending the balls were his chicken eggs

Shave ice, a must!

Eli and his girls

Mmmmm!

We stopped by the turtle feeding area

Raif loves sea turtles

Play time at the pool

Bailey and grandma

On the slide Colby helped build

So fun!

For everyone.

Lexy's turn

Go Jaymee!

Raif managed to turn around and go head first!

Another family photo opp

The kiddos, again

We made it to Molokai, a view from our house

Lunch on the beach at Halawa

The beach here was beautiful

Jumping off the pool back at the house

Eli chillin'

It was aloha Friday, which only meant we had cocktails earlier, than later

That is a serious spider, right next to our pool

Retired and relaxed, ahhhh!

1, 2, 3, Jump!

Aloha Friday or Saturday, I can't remember

Spectacular sunsets

A view of our Molokai house

View from the rooms

The living room area

Front of the house

Kelly and Eli at Halawa

So fun!

Drive to Halawa

Another family photo

Morning happy face, who wouldn't be happy drinking delicious Kona coffee!

More views of the house

Race time

Dinner at Molokai Hotel

Grandma and Grandpa with their grandkids

Kelly and her girls

Molokai hot bread, oh my!

In front of the Molokai hot bread place

You have to go down a shadey alley to get the hot bread, SO worth it

Colby and I took an early morning walk down one of the most beautiful beaches

We saw tide pools, rocks, and growing Hawaiian sea salt

Another beautiful Molokai beach

How often do you get to make some of the only footprints in the sand?

One of my favorite pictures

Gorgeous sunsets

It was our last night there, what a way to end a magnificent trip

Visit to Preschool

Bailey and Raif went to a fun morning at preschool. The director volunteers at the LA Zoo and had one of her friends, she has met over the years, bring some fun animals for a special visit. I didn't get any pictures of the animals, but my most memorable part was that Raif finally got to climb up inside the play house. I have never let him before, I always told him he had to go to preschool in order to go up there. Well, since we've been telling him he's going to preschool, he asked to go up there. I made him go up to the teacher and ask her. It took him a few minutes of following her around to get up the courage, but he finally did it!

Look at me mom!
A little treat for all the kids

Reason #1 Why Raif is Starting Preschool

He needs to play with some other little dudes!

His sister was the designer and he was her make-over project.

Loss

Death is not an easy thing to come to terms with, but it's reality. As you grow older more people die. It sucks, plain and simple. This past year and half has not been an easy one. It started with a close friend of Colby losing his wife, then I lost a member of our bowling team, then I lost my grandma and Colby lost his grandma, then I lost another member of my bowling team, and now I have lost my aunt. It has been a lot. I've been to more memorials and funerals in the past year and a half that in the first 34 years of my existence. I'm not one to talk about it much, I normally just keep it inside, it's my Mo. This blog has been a bit therapeutic for me. I get to say what's on my mind, through my words.

My aunt's death was not much of a shock, she has been battling cancer for a while now, and seeing her struggle was hard to swallow. In the back of our minds we all knew it was coming. What has been shocking is seeing one of my dad's siblings gone, knowing that my cousins are going to have to bury one of their parents. Watching my grandma have to say good-bye to one of her children, knowing that she should have gone first, and not her first born. It's sad, really. No other words can describe the feeling, I'm just sad.

Tears start forming when you think of it all. And then, you are in the car with your 5 year old. Driving along, she's quiet. She's looking out the window, then we start talking about her going to ballet class. More quiet. I have not told her yet that Aunt Roxanne has died. It hadn't come up in conversation with her alone yet, so I wasn't going to worry her. She had, however, been around us grown-ups talking about it. Then, out of the blue, she asks if Aunt Roxanne died. I tell her yes. Not much gets by her. She asks why I hadn't told her. I really had no answer, other than, it hadn't come up yet. She was okay with that. More quiet. Then she says, the most healing words of all. "Well, Mommy. Aunt Roxanne is in heaven, now, with God." I tell her yes. And that was the end of the conversation.

Words of healing from a 5 year old. The only words that will really help you get through the death of a loved one, knowing they are in heaven with God.

I took this picture off of my cousin's facebook page. I'd never seen it before, but it is how I will always remember my Aunt Roxanne. Beautiful, vibrant and full of life. We will miss you dearly.

Lexy is 13!

Last night we celebrated Lexy's 13th birthday. I can't believe both of my nieces are now teenagers! We dined on flank steak and pasta with butter, per the request of the birthday girl. I also got a cake from the delicious Great Dane Bakery. If you haven't been there it's a must.

The delicious cake
The new teenager!

Boomer wanted his picture taken, I think he was waiting under the table for some cake droppings

Too much birthday fun, they both fell asleep on the couch, which never happens.

Sun Valley, Idaho Summer Trip

Colby couldn't quite find the time to go to Sun Valley this summer, so I decided to take the kids by myself this year. We met Colby's parents up there for 5 days of some nature fun.

One of the bunnies that loves to eat the grass on the property
This was the river we went tubing in last year on the property. The water was so high from the snow this year, the river was moving a bit to quickly for tubing this summer.

Charley was cutting down some trees to try and build a dam for the river.

Raif's contribution to the dam

Bailey and Raif picking some wild flowers with Grammy and Papa

On our walk to the beaver dam

Picking wild flowers

Beavers can do some serious damage to the trees

Showing us the beaver cuts in the tree

More beaver damage

Bailey swimming at the club pool

Ready for her swim

Raif in the awesome kiddy pool

Papa and Bailey goofing around

Raif's turn

I love how much grass there is, just to run around and be a kid

Wiener Dog Races

Last week, we went to the Wiener Dog Races at Los Alamitos Race Track. These are horrible pictures, but you get the idea. Our neighbors Anne and Darrel, their kids, my sister and Eli, Lexy, Rhea and Jerry all got together for a fun evening at the races. My sister and I used to go to that race track a lot with my mom and dad. We used to run around picking up every ones losing tickets. That was way back when no one actually threw them away. I think it was somehow therapeutic to throw your ticket up in the air to show you lost.

We sat right in front of where the horses first come out for their warm-ups
The daschund races

A little shoulder ride to see better

Ring-around-the rosy