Hawaii

Over Spring Break, my dad remarried. So we dragged the troops out to Hawaii. Ok, truth be told, they went rather willingly! We had a really great time. We were there for 10 days, and we got to do lots of fun things. Andy even went over to Maui for a couple of days to get in some kiteboarding. The volcano is really active, spewing out lots of yucky gasses and stuff into the atmosphere, creating new weather patterns. We saw the sun for a only couple of hours each day. Initially it seemed tragic, but it allowed us to spend more time outside without worrying as much about sunburn.

We had a small adventure on our connecting flight from Honolulu to Kona. We were on the runway, accelerating, about to take off when suddenly the pilot slams on the brakes and led us of the runway. Meanwhile, Briley notices two firetrucks and an ambulance following us. Finally the pilot put us all out misery as we specualted what was wrong. He told us that a warning light had gone off and they could not take off if that light went off. After some diagnostic tests while we were still on the plane, they determined we would have to deplane and wait for another to arrive. After some more time in the airport, the new plane finally showed up and we had an uneventful connecting flight to Kona. They are watching for our new airplane.

We were able to celebrate Easter with my dad and stepmom, which was wonderful. We spend so few holidays with them, it was great just to be at their house! After the Easter part of our day, we went to my Grandpa's house to visit for a bit. He has a beautiful yard with these amazing hibiscus flowers. The girls found them and my Grandpa said they could pick a couple. Naturally, when you are in Hawaii, you put the flower behind your ear!
I have mentioned that Cameron likes to pick flowers for me. When we arrived at our condo the first night, his eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw the size of those flowers! Here we have Team Gecko. They spent many mornings hunting for geckos, and even caught a couple! My brother and his family came in a few days after us, and that was also a lot of fun to be in Hawaii with him and his family. We spent much of our time at the beach, the tidepools and the pool at our condo. The kids, Briley especially, were fascinated with the tidepools. Cameron loved the rock hopping more than the animals in the pools, but we all had fun!

Daisies

We have these wild daisy bushes behind our backyard fence. They are growing bigger every year. This year the daisies outgrew the girls! They are also spreading across the space we have back there. For a few weeks in the spring the daisies are just amazing. They come about mid March and last until the first part of May. Soon they will turn brown, Andy will cut them back, and then we will have wait until next year for their return. I look forward to it each year. The daisy bushes did give the boys an abundance of flowers to pick for me each day!

A trip to the park

When Emma has ballet, I take the other kids to the park. I decided to bring my new telephoto lens and play around. So here are a few fun shots of the kids at the park.








Briley was playing hide and seek with a friend she made at the park and apparently thought my camera would give her position away...

Logan finally conquered the rope ladder and was rather pleased with himself!

Oh, and Cameron's new nickname is Spider Monkey. I really hoped I had a few more years before he started climbing trees...

Logan goes fishing

Logan's idea of fishing in the pond is using a stick and tapping the water. I am not sure how he actually planned on catching one. Perhaps he thought he could talk one into jumping on his stick and then into his bowl. I don't know his plan, but he is adorable!