HAWAII

I have been back from Hawaii about a week, and already want to figure a way to get back. While I was irritated that home had great weather while we were gone I am more irritated that I am home now in rain. I want me some Hawaiian sun. I may have to write/post a few days at a time. So many pictures. We (our family and some family friends who have 4 kids) flew out Friday morning for Hawaii, the Big Island and got there about noon leaving us the day to get our cars, supplies, find our resort and swim in the pool before dinner. This Island is covered in lava and not quite the Hawaiian look we (Ben and I) were expecting. Still gorgeous though. On Saturday we stuck close to home base and found a place to snorkel-I think it's called Two Step Beach. It ended up being the best beach for snorkeling but it's not really a beach. It's all lava rock right into the water.

We all tried snorkeling here. The younger ones may not have liked it as much as the adults and Ethan probably the least. He was more content to play in the tidepools. After snorkeling we headed to lunch and then went to Greenwell Farms Coffee Farm. They take you on a tour of the farm teaching you about the different steps in to take a coffee bean to a coffee drink. They also explained what makes Kona Coffee so famously yummy. There are also a lot of other fruit trees on the property so we also got information about those

The kids were all dragging their feet to go here but it ended up being a hit. We then headed to get our first shave ice of the stay. YUMMY.

Alicia makes Dinner

Alicia wanted to make dinner all by herself Sunday night. She looked through a cookbook and found a recipe she liked the looks of. But then Sunday ended up being a bad day to make a dinner, Monday was also not a good day and then Tuesday. Today she finally had time to make dinner. She has helped me in the kitchen often. She can make cookies all by herself but I have never let her make a complete dinner by herself. She did good. We all ate it and it tasted good. I will say that next time I will give her more time to complete dinner. It took her about 25 minutes to peel and cube potatoes.

Italian-Style Pepper Steak, Mashed Potatoes and Grilled Asparagus

going ons

*My sister called me today. Twice in one week! It made my day. We talked about traveling around Europe and our future visit to see her family in Germany. So many places to visit! **My kids started swim lessons on Tuesday. Alicia whined all the way there about taking time away from homework and reading. I mean seriously! She now she looks forward to it. Smiles the entire time. I meant to take my camera today and totally forgot. ***We have had Ben home for dinner every night this week. The kids stick pretty close to him once he walks in the door. After a month of him being gone when they wake up and asleep when he comes home it had been nice. ****I didn't run for 9 days last week. Sunday I had a migraine the likes I haven't had for 6 1/2 years. So I went back to running this week. My body feels good when I excercise. I just hate running in the rain and wind. It was a treat to run this week in the sun.

I am so glad that this amazing weather happened after tax season. Ben took us to Lincoln City where we all enjoyed time together and SUN.

Our favorite park anywhere is in Lincoln City on the lake. It is an old, wooden, HUGE playground so the kids get Ben to play hide and seek tag. Always good fun there.

Ethan convinced Ben to buy a kite at Costco for him but Ben had a lot more fun with it.

Tomorrow Ben is making hamburgers!

Easter Weekend

Dyeing Eggs for the first time. Wasn't ever high on my list of things to do.

Deviled egg chicksAlicia searching in the trees.
Hannah, she doesn't like to be away from her momma.
David
Alicia and Anna
Ethan running looking for that Golden Egg!And Ethan NOT getting the Golden Egg.

March 12 was Alicia's 10th birthday. She has now hit double digits! I really wanted to put balloons all over our yard ever since I had seen a house in town do it. So I went and bought 20 balloons blew them up and connected them to plastic knives.
Now I should let you know that March 12 was Monday and was probably the windiest day we have had this year. Windy. VERY WINDY. So I put one out in the yard to see how it would do. A few hours later it had lost a bit of air but was otherwise just fine.
So half an hour before Alicia came home I started putting them all out in the yard. Within minutes they were popping and flying away. For some reason I picked the time where the wind picked up and the rain started. I tried to chase the balloons down but they were flying way up in the sky and in EVERY direction. I took a fast picture when I realized they were not going to last. Pathetic picture.

I then took the last 5 balloons left and moved them to our walkway hoping they would last. When Alicia got home ONE balloon was left. Not actually what I wanted her to see.

Snow pictures

I was up early this morning. Ben woke me up to tell me there was snow at 3:30 and I never went back to sleep. Finally went to the living room so Ben could sleep. Luckily my sister (who lives in Germany and a way different time zone) called me when she saw that I was up so that helped kill boredom until my kids got up.

She asked for pictures of my house. (Well technically she complained about my blog not having pictures like her cool blog. :)) So I went out today and took some pictures for her.

So the first picture was last weeks snow coming down. This is looking out my backdoor.

The bird house hanging on the little shop is a family favorite.

A few weeks ago a birdy couple moved in. We love watching those birds. Last year the couple had chicks and it was so fun to hear them and then see them. THANK YOU to the previous owners who left the house for the occupants. This mugshot is from today. Isn't he cute! But it's looking like I need to go out and clean the poor house. Can you see the small bit of snow still hanging on to the top left of his roof?
For this picture I actually went across the street and stood in the culdesac this morning to get this shot for my sister! Too bad I hadn't gone out sooner. Now the snow looks all smushy and wet.

And this picture is taken from our dining room this morning. We have the most amazing views out this window. Beautiful sunrises.


So the last two days it has really snowed the kids have had to go to school. But the last "snow day" they had, March 1, we went out and played in our yard. Alicia made a snowman and Ethan played for a bit with our neighbor boy. Then we headed over for a couple hours to a friends house.
The kids were very disappointed to wake up this morning and hear they had school. When they finally got ready for school they decided to walk and Alicia wore her snow boots and put her school shoes in her backpack. Seems weird that she is doing that in Oregon in March