Hawaii!!

We were SO excited when our Hawaii trip finally arrived! I can't remember if I explained this but on our trip to California in January they switched our flights and we ended up with longer flights and a longer layover so they offered to give us $200 vouchers (each) that had to be used within the next year. 

This summer T started looking for places to go. We were thinking about going to Texas for Noni's 60th birthday but he randomly checked Hawaii (somewhere we've always wanted to go and our 20th anniversary is also coming up) and it was cheaper to go to Hawaii than to Texas! 

He found a flash deal that got us flights, after the vouchers, for $75 each! Crazy! After we told the girls Bug's boyfriend asked if he could come with us if he bought his own ticket and we said yes so there were 9 of us with Noni.

Even though we had to leave our house at 3:15AM everyone was hyped up and ready to go!

 It was really nice traveling with 9 people because we got three rows of seats and no one had to sit by strangers. T and I sat with Peaches on the first flight.

 

 

Noni, Peanut, and Lou sat together.

 

 

 

And the teenagers sat together.

 

 

We all got brief cat naps but we were definitely tired!

We had a short layover in California and got breakfast and lunch to eat later on the plane.

 

 

You can kind of see behind and to the left of us in the pic above....

 

  

 

I truly felt like I was on vacation because for the 5 hour flight Noni took the littles and we got Peanut...easy peasy. Haha. I got to read a third of my book and watch a movie! So nice! Thank you Noni! 

 

 

 

I am not a big fan of flying so going for 5 hours over nothing but water wasn't exactly fun...especially when it was bumpy for a good portion of the trip, but we were so exited when we finally saw that Hawaiian coastline!

 

 

 

 

The girls made some friends with the family between our seats and they gave us a few Maui tips since they'd been there several times.

 

 

As soon as we got our bags and headed outside we were hit with those warm Hawaiian breezes!

 

 

 It was sprinkling when we arrived but nothing major.

 

 

We originally planned to get two convertibles, not realizing they only seat 4, so we switched to a Jeep for one of the cars. I got to drive that one and it was fun zipping around in it!

The kids and T were excited about the convertible but it was definitely smaller inside than we had anticipated, haha. We ended up trading it for another Jeep a couple days later because the people in the backseat literally had no leg room. The backs of the seats in front of them were pressing against their knees. BUT they had a lot of fun driving with the top down for the two days we kept it!

 

 

 After leaving the airport we took the recommendation of friends and hit Costco and Safeway for groceries and then headed to the condo.

 

 

I took WAY too many pictures so prepare for an onslaught for the next month! :P

Funny Friday

 

Happy Friday! :)

Leftover Thursday

 I mentioned this is Lou's birthday post...we had gone to the grocery store with Noni and she and I each took one of them. They were not apart for more than 30 minutes and saw each other several times in passing, but they were so excited to see each other when we met back up at the checkout. So sweet.

 

 

Ms J took these pictures of Peanut for me at gymnastics. The bars are one of her favorites!

 

 

Our good friends the M family moved back from Montana and are now only an hour away! They invited us over for dinner one night and we were able to see their new house and the church they are pastoring. The kids played Apples to Apples after dinner. We are so happy they are back in the area!

 

 

Happy Thursday! :) 

Wordless Wednesday

 

Thanksgiving!

 We had such a great Thanksgiving with the family! The kids did a lot of hanging out and showing each other things on their phones. I've noticed that nowadays when teenagers hang out they pretty much spend the whole time showing each other reels, memes, and pictures from their phones. :P

 

The little ones still enjoy playing with actual toys!

 

 

It was fun having F along. He fit in perfectly with the family. 

 

 

They did play a little big of air hockey, pool, and Foosball!

 

 

With the two new additions we have 19! Grandma and Grandpa actually went and got a new table to make this monster! We had plenty of room and joked that the table looked like a landing strip. :)

 

 

After dinner most of them went outside to do some target practice. It was a clear day but very brisk! I stayed out just long enough to grab a couple pictures and then hightailed it back inside. 

 

 

 

Boo got one of the clay pigeons!

 

 

I guess Peanut got a chance with one of the smaller ones later, but I missed that. 

Here are the kids playing a game called Signs. I didn't really understand it but they had a lot of fun. :)

 

 

I walked by at one point and saw F playing with Lou. :)

 

 

Hard to believe she's getting so big! 

 

 

 

 

I'm glad they had this time with their cousins!

 

 On Friday most of us went shopping. Auntie N and Grandpa volunteered to stay with the kids. They had a lot of fun playing all day and we got lots of good deals!

 

 

 

The last night we were there we started hearing giggling and squealing. I went in to find the girls playing don't let the balloon hit the floor with Cousin S. :)

 

 

 

 What a wonderful Thanksgiving with the family! Thank you for hosting Grandma and Grandpa!!!

Early Christmas!

Merry Christmas! 

These pictures are from Thanksgiving weekend. Since all the grandkids were together Grandma went ahead and gave them their Christmas presents! Lou also got to open some birthday presents. She got a super soft and fuzzy sweatshirt from Auntie N and family.

 

 

She put it on and walked around telling everyone, "Touch me!"

 

 

She got Paw Patrol Chutes and Ladders from Grandma and Grandpa for Christmas! 

 

 

Auntie N and Grandma also got her a personalized Paw Patrol book where she is in an adventure story! She loves it and we've read it many times already! 

 

 

Grandpa got to open his birthday present from all of us. Some kind of tool...I'm not sure what, haha.

 

 

We got Cousin K the Barbie she wanted and Grandma got her a Barbie bunkbed set.

 

 

The three big girls all got Converse! They were super excited!

Uncle B and Auntie M got Lou this cookie baking set! She was super excited! 

 

 

They loved having an early Christmas! Thank you Grandma and Grandpa!