We have done so many fun things here, I can't decide what pictures to put on my Blog.

These pictures are all of the Luau that we went to on Tuesday night. It was at the Royal Lahaina Resort. It was so great because it was really geared toward kids.

I love this picture of Lulu and I, I think her flower is supposed to be on the other side, she got mad when the boys teased her that she was married. (Left side is taken, right side is single)

Family photo opportunity at the Luau!
This is a good candidate for the Christmas card next year. . .

I got Lei'd by Pancho in Hawaii !!!!

(I am sure that you can imagine the Pancho comments that we all endured all night)

I had to give him a HUGE kiss when he surprised me with a Lei.

The one thing Lucy wanted to do in Hawaii was drink out of a coconut. Her dream came true at the Luau when the kids all got coconut shell cups with their drinks in them!

What fun!!! Mai Tai's, Cousins and Sunsets!

Max, Sam, Will and Uncle Sean actually got up on stage to do the Hula. . .

The Hula Dancers . . .

Max and Sam with one of the cool dudes that were in the Hula show.

Lucy wanted her picture with the "Beautiful Hula Girl" as she called her. Surprisingly the boys jumped in the picture too.

The Plantation and Snorkeling

We went to this cool plantation. We took a train ride through the whole place and they showed us tons of different fruits, flowers and nuts that grow in Hawaii. They also demonstrated how to open a coconut. We ate delicious icecream in flavors like coconut, macadamia nut, guava, mango etc. We also got to see monkeys and many tropical birds. It was a fun place to take the kids to learn a lot about Hawaii.

The family on the train ride . . . yes we are tourists!

Lulu and Pancho with the coconut husk.

Max got to hold the coconut.


Later in the day, we went snorkeling. The boys loved snorkeling. They were so natural at it. We couldn't get them out of the water. I really enjoyed it too. The boys were so excited to take me out and show me all of the fish and coral they had already discovered. What a fun day, we can't wait for tomorrow. . . we are goingto a Luau!!!

Our huge group at the snorkeling beach

Papa helping Sam get set up to snorkel.

Gotta love the picture of yourself after snorkeling

Kate (sister-in-law), Heather (cousin), Allison (cousin), Me

Family photo at the plantation . . .

Our First Full Day in Maui

Max found a gecko at our pool. Sam named it Barack Obama. Then Sam found a mouse and named it "Mouse McCain" . . . random , I know!

Pancho teaching Max how to Boogie Board

Lulu LOVED running from the waves!!!


The kids played "chase the waves" for about an hour. How do kids have that much energy?

Max and Kyla built a sandcastle, our condo is right on the beach.

All of the cousins outside of our condo

Kyla, Lulu, Annie, Max, Kasey, Sam, and Will

Papa has been teaching Lulu how to swim!

Our pool right outside the door of our condo, notice the beach in the background! We have been watching whales from our window.

Traveling to Hawaii

Here we are leaving our hotel in Portland. All excited to head to the airport for our flight.

Lucy and I on the airplane. . .this was Lucy's first time on an airplane. She was so excited. She asked if we were flying yet when we were still on the tarmac and she kept telling me that she could see fish in the water as we were flying over the ocean.

The Boys LOVED the flight. It had been a few years since they had been on an airplane as well. They watched a bunch of movies and played their DS's. It is so mucheasier to fly witht em now that they are older.

Our rental car in Hawaii. . .

Sam, Lucy and Max in their new hats and sunglasses. This was their first picture in Hawaii, taken at the airport in Maui.

First Step Toward Maui

We flew out of Portland to get to Maui. Our flight was going to leave on February 14th at 10:00am so we decidedto head up to Portland the night before and spend the night at the Sheraton near PDX. We stopped at my favorite restaurant Chevy's on out way up there. It was so much fun to spend the night in a hotel, the kids loved going swimming and jumping on the beds. We are all so excited for our vacation! Tomorrow will be Lucy's first time on an airplane.

Satin Love Orchestra

Steph and Gary invited to an auction to raise money for North Eugene High School's Graduation Party. When we heard that the Satin Love Orchestra was going to be playing at it, we couldn't wait to go. Satin Love is a local band that has been playing around Eugene for about 15 years. They are so great, they play songs from the 70's and they dress up in these really funky 70's costumes. We had so much fun! We were out there dancing the night away. The guys loved it too. I didn't get any pictures of it, but they were out there cutting a rug with us! We bid on a few things at the auction, but didn't end up going home with anything (thats OK we don't want to be Marist traitors anyway). It was such a fun night though and fun to hang out with good friends.

Steph, Me, and Tina (a self portrait)

The Satin Love Orchestra playing songs like, Celebration, Play That Funky Music, The Hustle, and my favorite The Love Boat Theme . . .

We got our picture taken with a crazy guy from the band

Our "Hot Men" were trying to turn us on . . .

(trying is the key word here)

. . . and everybody was Kung Fu Fighting !!!

SuPeR BoWL 2o09

Superbowl XLIII (whatever that means) was a lot of fun. We went over to the annual party at the Hakalas. They have had a Superbowl party for most of the last 14 years and we have made it to every one. It's a tradition!

Lucy got to wear some 3-D glasses . . .Shh don't tell her they are on backwards

Ethan and Sam thought they looked like twins!

Lucia and Natalie looked so cute!

Lucia had on an adorable outfit (complete with legwarmers)

and Natalie was showing us the new PJs she bought with her birthday $$$

Max and Ben couldn't get enough of the brownies

Pancho got a bunch of 3-D glasses at Albertsons, so we all took turns wearing them to watch the special 3-D half time commercial. We had to rewind it about 4 times to let everyone see it! Thank God for TiVo!

Me, Teesh, Sheri (holding Teesh's baby) & Christy

spent most of the time talking and taking turns holding the baby. We did tune in for the commercials though!

. . . speaking of the baby! This the newest addition to our group. Chad and Leticia had Geneveive Anne on Dec. 18th, so she is about 6 weeks old now. How cute is she????

Josh set up a Big Gambling Grid for all of us to join in! Of course the parents put in all of the money and the kids ended up winning the $$$! Isn't that always how it is?

Ethan won the pot for the first quarter. He was so excited to have a fistfull of $$$ !

Cade, Max & Ben played "HOOPS" outside even though it was about 30 degrees out there.

The biggest children of all were the dad's who started a HUGE nerf gun fight . . . yes pretty much everyone in the room got hit!

What a fun day! We can't wait for next year!