Hawaii 2

Day by day may be too much Hawaii blogging, so here are some highlights of the trip:

1. Snorkeling at Molokini Crater and Turtle Town. The whole family went along and loved this half day trip. The water at the crater is incredibly clear and snorkeling with sea turtles was amazing. To top it off we had a pod of dolphins follow the boat. This was a fantastic day!



2. Luau Night. We got the best seats in the house for the great luau show. I loved the whole production. Food, Drinks, Desserts, Show, it was all wonderful. My favorite part was watching my sweet daughter do the hula moves along with the pro dancers the. whole. time. She stole the show!




3. Surfing. Lance, Zander, and I took a surf lesson and had a blast. Lance wishes we had done it the first day so we could go back each day to surf more!



4. The road to Hana. This is a famous day long drive through the jungle part of Maui. The views are incredible and we got to stop and see some great sights. The black sand beach was especially cool.


5. Beach Time. The beautiful Kapalua Bay beach was right by the house we stayed in and we loved playing in the sand, collecting shells, and making awesome sand sculptures here.



6. Fabulous Meals. Didn't really take pictures of the food:)
7. Family Time. We all had a great time hanging out together, especially all the kids. We have had cousin withdrawal since we have been home!




It really was an amazing trip... can't wait to go back!

Hawaii

Soon after our Chicago trip we were off and going on our big family vacation to Maui! Lance's mom and dad will celebrate their 40th anniversary this September. To celebrate they decided to take the whole family (all 16 of us!) to Maui for ten days. It was an incredible vacation from start to finish and I still want to weep a little each morning that I am not there anymore... We did so much and took so many pictures I thought I would break things down a little day by day for some highlights.
Day 1:
We arrived and were greeted with beautiful fresh flower leis!

The drive to the house was heaven, so beautiful. We were totally amazed by the gorgeous place we got to call home for the week. Here is a little shot of the back patio.

We may have been a little jet lagged and very tired, but we were thrilled to finally be there!

Life in the Fast Lane

Yikes! It has been a long time since I have updated this poor blog. I thought May was busy, but then came June... I promised some of you updates on all our travels and adventures, so here goes:

We went to Chicago for my Uncle's wedding. Zander was the Ring Bearer and Zella was Flower Girl. It was just wonderful. My uncle married a great lady with two great kids, we are so happy to have them all as a part of our family now, and especially thrilled to see Randy so happy! It was also so fun to hang out with Nana and Papa and Uncle Mark.






Besides the wonderful wedding the kids and I also got to spend a day in Chicago. We took the train in from Midway and went to Millenium Park, the American Girl Store for the girls, and the Field Museum for the boys (and girls later on:)). It was a great day made even better when my friend Kate came to join the girls for lunch!





It was a quick, fantastic trip.

Game On!

I bought a new shirt for the playoffs this year. Here it is:


It is currently undefeated for home playoff games (when I am in attendance). Sorry to the Thunder for that Sunday game 1 against the Grizzlies when I graciously let my son attend the noon game. It won't happen again, this I promise. So- game on! I'll be there sporting my lucky shirt. Go THUNDER!!!!

Landslide

This blog is suffering big time from my inability to focus long enough to sit still and write anything down. I know I have mentioned before that an invention to translate thoughts I have while running into actual blog posts would make this a much more entertaining place to read. Since I can hardly keep up with daily life I sadly will not be the one to make that invention into a bajillion dollar payday for my family!
Some random thoughts at the end of this lovely day...
1. I am grateful the stomach bug has moved on. Zella had a vicious one this weekend. I hated to see my sweet baby so sick, but the flip side is that it made us sit still and spend some good time snuggling on the couch. I got to earn my mom stripes on mothers day, but still got breakfast in bed and a beautiful 1920's art deco necklace from my amazing and thoughtful husband. The only downside was missing the bananas foster at the family brunch, but there is always next year!
2. I have always loved music and certain songs seem to get into me and I could pretty much listen to them over and over again forever. The song "Landslide" is like that. I obviously love any version of Stevie Nicks singing this song, or really Stevie Nicks singing anything. However, I really love any and all versions I have ever heard of this song. Do you have a song like that that?
3. It is never over until time runs out on the clock. This is a lesson I have been learning from the OKC Thunder in this series against Memphis. It also goes both ways, you can make improvements or stink it up big time with whatever time you have left. Anyway, seems like a little bit of a life lesson for me as well. To remember to keep doing my best all day everyday no matter what gets thrown my way.

Saturday in the Park

We made a family trip to the Arts Festival for lunch Saturday, followed by Kaisers for shakes. Such a fun day. Here are some shots of the action...






Zan spent a lot of time doing this...

To check out the action on this:

More Rink Finds

I know it probably seems like I must go to the Rink and shop about every other day, but I swear I usually only make it over every other month. I have been twice in the last couple months and kept my string of really fun finds alive. So, here are the latest adoptees.

Fun old Lantern- $7:


Vintage Tablecloth- $10:



Garden Cart- $35:


I scouted one of these last time I was there and it was falling apart and they wanted about $50 for it. So, I felt like this was a great score and perfect for summer front porch partying! Come on over and I will mix up some drinks to serve on my new cart.

Compost 2.0

Last year I vowed to start composting and wound up with a big pile that never really got going. Epic Fail.

So, this year when I decided to start up again I went a different route. I think my biggest issue with the out in the open pile is the whole turning and aerating part. I am quite honestly not strong enough to get things properly turned. Instead of accepting defeat, I broke down and bought a compost tumbler. I was able to assemble it in about 30 minutes and it was so worth it. We are going really strong with the process now. Can't wait to see how my first batch turns out.

My other totally worth it composting purchase is this:

I got it at Williams Sonoma with a Christmas gift card... thanks Uncle Randy! It has also made a huge difference in our composting efforts. It holds food for days without getting stinky and can sit on the counter looking all cool and stainless without activating my OCD. Win-win! Get one!

Wisdom from Ferris

"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

We have been running pretty fast around here lately. It is all so much fun and great stuff. So, I have been living life and not finding time to write about it at all!
Thought I would share a few scenes from the crazy of late.

The RedBud Race:



Zella's Zoo Field trip:


Thunder Playoff Mania: This is leading to lots of late nights and sleep loss for Lance and I. And a lot of last minute babysitter scrambling. Bonus- seeing fellow Thunder maniacs from waaaay up north, the Whites. Thunder Up!



We also had an awesome week with my mom and dad in town for Easter. Zander got some quality time in the attic shooting his BB gun with Papa. The girls did lots of American Girl Doll playing:)

Can you believe I managed to not get one picture of my family together on Easter??? Classic.

Would You Wear These?

I was buying my son some Easter shoes at Target today and stumbled upon these very interesting shoes...


I know I am conservative and boring, but I saw these and thought WOWZA! They definitely make a statement... just in case this picture is hard to see- that is a black sandal with a bejeweled tiger on the strap.
What do you think? Would you wear these bad boys?

This poor blog has been neglected as life has moved from busy to straight up warp speed around here. I am hoping to do a catch up post with pics of all the action around here. (Yes, I know my mom is the only blog reader who probably cares about this:))