Last of Hawaii...

Ahh....just looking at these pictures again make me miss Hawaii so much. The boys got to try snorkeling the last few days of our vacation. Jackson actually snorkeled right above a group of manta rays and he also held onto a sea turtles shell..how cool!




This day, I went with them and saw all sorts of cool things. It was calm water and we had a great time.







Nana and Brooke basked in the sun from the shore while my dad guided all of us with the snorkeling.








So, another day, my mom surprised us with a trip into the mountains to zipline!! It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip. Here is our group with our 2 guides.





My mom and I resting between one of our ziplines. We stopped halfway down the mountain and had lunch on this beautiful overlook and then zipped our way back down to the bottom.




I'm coming in for a landing...stand back!









Mom, look at your form!










Here's the group with all their safety gear on. We're lookin' good.








And my mom....thanks to her, we got to have this experience. This was something that she had always wanted to do and I'm so glad I got to experience this with her!

Birthday Fun

So...my birthday......I had to wait in the lobby of the ALoft until I was called up to the room. When I got off the elevator, the "paparazzi" was in my face taking pics. of me as I walked down the hall. This is what was on the outside of my door! It was my "dressing room!"
Here's the deal...the brunch bunch just found out the extent of my past acting, singing, and dancing life, hence, the whole "movie star" theme!

We ate at a restaurant called Nicola's in Plano. Sooo delish and sooo pretty! The perfect place for a girls night.

Sorry, these pics. are a little out of order...Anyways, back to the room. I'm just opening a silly card from the group.

Getting ready to open my present!!! What will it be? It was a gift certificate to Coldwater Creek Spa and some other goodies....love it!!

Kim and Kari hanging out. You can see some of the decor that Kari put together. Stars hanging everywhere and stars all over the bed which Kim crawled around on her hands and knees in the morning picking each and every one up. It was worth it!

Just getting the night started...what a great night!!

School's In!

Backpacks....check.
Lunchboxes...check.
Collared shirts...check, but with great protest.
The boys were ready to go this morning! 1st and 3rd grade! Wow!

Drew woke up with a smile on his face watching the clock so we wouldn't be late. He went right into his classroom and got to work.

OK, honestly...this is like the only semi-smile I got from Jackson. He was grumpy. That's how he acts when he's nervous...he gets a little snippy, so I tried not to say much and just give him a quick hug and send him on his way. When he got in the car, he was back to his usual self.

Jason stayed home with Brooke...she was still sleeping! She missed seeing her brothers all day long, but liked eating breakfast with just Jason and me :)

She doesn't need her brothers to get in trouble. She's trying to climb up the outside of the stairs. I'm gonna be on my toes while the boys are at school. No laying around for me....but I do look forward to her naptime :)

Classic Drew

As we were driving to Wolf Camera yesterday...."Mom, when are we going to be at Dog Camera?" He knew it was some sort of animal.....

Yesterday at lunch I heard him telling Jackson "You better eat that because my taste bugs are really wanting that!"

That boy makes me laugh!!

Hawaii, Part 2

On one of our first days in Hana, we explored some underground lava tubes. Lava had flowed there thousands of years ago and the tubes had remained unchanged. Here are Jason and the boys getting ready to head down into the lava tube.
Still at the start of the tube where we can see sunlight.

Brooke the Explorer!

This was apprently the prime picture spot!

This was also used as a fallout shelter that the owner of this land made in the 60's. He had it stocked with enough food and water for 6 weeks for himself and 15 women....hmmm......

Here's the group in a dark part of the cave. We all had flashlights, but if we turned them off, it was pitch black.

The most adventurous grandparents in the world!

We made it thru the lava tubes and they had a maze made out of these Ti plants. So, Auntie A and Drew were off!

Drew loves to be timed doing things, so we had to time him....

On our way home, we saw this stand on the side of the road that sold homemade banana bread, coconut ice cream, and all sorts of fruit. It was all fresh and organic....we ended up going back to this place almost every day to get another loaf of banana bread!

Back at the house....the boys went with Uncle Ben a couple of mornings and would sit on the rocks by the ocean to get splashed. They would come back soaked and loved it!

I caught this picture of Jackson just when a huge wave was about to spray him. I should have taken an after shot, but I ran to get out of the way!

HAWAII, Part 1

Get ready....for LOTS of pictures!! How can I not post a lot of pics. after a wonderful trip to Hawaii?!?! I will post in parts, so check back :)
We started off our trip staying in Hana, Maui for 5 days at the home of my parents friends. This is the house from the front.



The grounds of the home are breathtaking. It is an Asian themed home and the gardens are Asian as well. It was so beautiful.







This is the view looking out of the kitchen. How could you get tired of that? The ocean is literally in the backyard. The walls of the house open during the day and the breezes from the ocean cool the house. I love that sound of the waves! These pictures do not even do the grounds justice.

There's not much to do in Hana but enjoy the beauty of it, so one day we hiked thru the bamboo forest to the top of this mountain. At parts in the bamboo forest, it was almost pitch black and we could hear the "clicking" of the bamboo above us. It was surreal.

We made it to the top!! Here is our group standing at the waterfall. It was worth it!

The thing about Hana is that it is a tropical rainforest, so it rains a lot. The good thing is, it rains 3 or 4 times a day for 5 minutes and then it is completely sunny. It's bizarre. Here is what we worked on when it rained...we never finished it though!

Hana is also known for beautiful natural pools. This one is called the "Venus Pool" and the water is so clear. The boys jumped in with me and we swam to this rock with my sister. Jason had to hold Brooke....we were on the side of a cliff, so it was a little dangerous!

Another thing I loved about this home was the meditation garden. It is a walk-thru trail that they built and imported many species of palm trees in to the garden. I tried to walk thru it everyday and notice something new.

Jackson walked with me thru the garden one day and showed off his muscles on a rock!

Brooke and I in the meditation garden in front of one of the biggest aloe plants I have ever seen!

Just a cute picture of Brooke playing in the yard.

We cooked almost every night while we were there. Hana has one restaurant and we ate there the first night. Here is the gang during dinner one night :)

Another day, we went to the black sand beach where there were a ton of caves. We are getting ready to crawl out of one.


Stay tuned.....much more to come!