Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Our Masterpiece

This was our Family Night activity this week. And yes, we totally cheated and used a kit! :)























And the kids have both enjoyed eating it a little piece at a time.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

At least it's Something

So I know, I know, I've been a huge blog slacker. It's just that ever since we got home from vacation everything seems like a let down. I'm afraid our lives will just seem boring after that fun adventure. But we've had a pretty good November I guess.



Gideon insisted one day on making gingerbread men. Eventually we decorated them and ate them all. Now he keeps going on about doing a gingerbread house. We'll probably take the lazy way out on that one though and just buy a kit or two. I just don't feel like making the gingerbread and going through all of that again.







Travis turned 40 on November 18th. We had actually planned a small party with family and a few friends, but he ended up calling that morning and saying he wouldn't be home because they had to stay and work in Rock Springs, WY. It was a big bummer especially since we already had the cake and decorations and stuff. Well we still went out to eat and had cake like a week later, but we weren't able to have the friends and "party" that we had planned. It ended up just being us and Trav's parents.



Can you tell who picked out the birthday cake? Like 3 weeks ago when we went into order Gideon about came unglued over the Shrek cake. I was partial to the grim reaper myself, but in the end I decided to keep the peace. You have to pick your battles right?


And finally we had a quiet Thanksgiving with Trav's parents. But it was still good. We enjoyed lots of good food and a fun afternoon of playing games together. The day after Thanksgiving Travis and his parents did a little bit of Black Friday shopping while the kids and I decorated the house for Christmas. You'll notice I didn't put out any of my good villages or expensive decorations this year. Parker just has too many hands and won't leave things alone. In some ways she's into more stuff than Gideon was at that age. Anyway we made the decision to get a new tree this year and since we have very young children we decided to buy a very inexpensive one. While we were at it, we got some cheap shatterproof ornaments. I had intended to put up some of our keepsake ornaments along with the inexpensive ones, but seeing how often they hit the floor I made the executive decision just to leave anything of any kind of value in the box this year. So this is it. I know it's not much, but at least it's something and anything that's out I don't have worry about kids destroying.












*Green & Gold on the wrapping this year for those who might be curious.


Tuesday, November 1, 2011

What Happens In Hawaii...

...Stays with your forever.

I saw that saying on a post-it note and immediately thought how appropriate it is. (And not just for my sister Cami who conceived her oldest child while on vacation here.) I've been longing to come back here ever since our visit four years ago.

Today was a very low-key day. First of all we got a lot of rain. Oh it was sunny at times too, but it did rain on and off all day long. This of course meant that the waves were big and the ocean was choppy. I wouldn't have wanted to be in it, but it did look amazing! And really these photos don't do it justice at all. In person you have the full effect of the ocean breeze & the salty air and the pounding surf. I just love to drink it all in!










Because of all the rain, you had alot of water run off from the mountains which look like thin little waterfalls. Paired with the low hanging clouds the effect is really magical.







We drove into town today to the outlet malls. I was kind of wishing we hadn't brought children with us this trip because I could have spent some time and done some major shopping there. They have awesome stores! But we only went into a couple of places and then took the trolley over to get Malasadas.


The kids of course loved the trolley ride so that was a good choice!


Malasadas are a divine Portugese doughnut that's dipped in either powdered sugar (or my personal favorite) cinnamon sugar. They fill them on site with either custard, chocolate or haupia. Haupia is the best is a coconut based type of cream. They are scrumptious and it took us until the last day of our vacation to finally get some! There are bakeries that sell them, but they're just as yummy from a truck!




After our trip to town we headed back to Skye & Ryan's via the North Shore. We spent the afternoon visiting and spending time with them. We grilled some bratwurst and got our suitcases packed and ready to go. Parker, as usual got tired and cranky very early in the evening. We gave her a bottle of milk and after it got quiet, this is how we found her.

And that's kind of the perfect image to end this vacation. We've worn ourselves out. We've had such an amazing trip and I'm so very sad we're having to leave already. I'm already trying to plot in my mind how to get back here in the next year sometime. There are just more memories waiting to be made!