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.