Hawaii-the blog post

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Let's begin this story on Friday March 5, 2010. We had all the bags packed and everyone was ready to go to their destinations. Samuel went to Tracy's house and Abby and Erin went to Lori's house. Samuel's plan was to go see a motorcycle show with Bradley and Andrew and the girls were going with the twins to Kid's Market! Let me just say, the girls were very excited. Samuel.....not so much. He knew this was the beginning of his week away from Mommy and Daddy. Dave and I left for Hawaii on Saturday morning. One of the many blessings of having a big family is lots of people who love your children and will keep them for a WEEK! Between Mama and Daddy, Tracy, Lori, and Giny.......my children were well taken care of. Oh...and Tracy kept Charlie the dog. That is a whole blog post in itself.(more on that later)



So we flew out of Atlanta at 1:30, had a 2 hour layover in Los Angeles, then it was over the Pacific Ocean to Beautiful Honolulu Hawaii. We landed in HI at 9:30pm. We were greeted with beautiful lei's, grabbed our luggage and headed to the hotel. We were tired. It had been a long day. We got a good nights sleep and were ready to begin our adventure.







SUNDAY



We walked to our daily breakfast buffet where Dave ate lots of fresh pineapple. The fruit was yummy! The band and choir practiced for their Monday performance. Sunday afternoon we walked to a local park and enjoyed a concert by the Royal Hawaiian Orchestra. It was really good, even though we had to stand in the rain :( We spent the rest of the afternoon at the beach and ate dinner at Planet Hollywood. We ended this day with a shopping trip to the International Marketplace. Let me tell you.....I am NOT a good bargainer!!!! Dave would not let me pay full price for anything! I would probably pay what they ask and give them a tip!! We did get some nice things...for less than the asking price I might add :) After this it was back to the hotel for some ZZZZZZZZ.







MONDAY



BREAKFAST at the hotel. This was a big day. It was the day the students performed at Pearl Harbor. WOW. It was amazing getting to go to the memorial. I realized how little I know about my countries history. So I have some reading to do! After our time at Pearl Harbor, we went on a Tour of the city of Honolulu. We saw the State capital (interesting building), Iolani Palace, and the King Kamehameha Statue. Our tour guides were great. They gave us some great information about the people and the city as we drove. We went to the AlaMoanoa Center (the mall) that night for dinner and more shopping. I ate at a place called Yummy's. It was Korean food. I liked it. Dave always keeps with what he knows...he had Chinese. We walked around the mall, window shopping, and had some yummy cookies and coffee in a cute little coffee shop. Another packed full of fun day!







TUESDAY



Today we head to the North Shore tour. We saw some beautiful beaches and we even saw the location where the show "Lost" was filmed. We passed the Dole pineapple plantation and visited the Haleiwa Town surfing village. This was about an hour drive from our hotel. Then we headed over to the Polynesian Cultural Center. This was one of my favorite things.So much history here. Again...I knew so little. This is where we got Samuel the coconut he wanted. We visited the different villages. I love, love, love the dances.









WEDNESDAY



We traveled to Hanauma Bay for snorkeling today. It was a crater that over time was washed away and formed a beautiful beach. OK! This is not my thing. I had several panic attacks in the water. I cut my leg and ankle on the reef. I really freaked out when i saw fish. Dave loved it!! We are like night and day. Even though I did not enjoy the snorkeling, I did enjoy the beach. We ate dinner that night at Jimmy Buffets. We met Don Ho's widow while we were there. If you are like me, you don't know who Don Ho is. He was like the Elvis Presley of Hawaii. After dinner we went to the Society of Seven show. THIS WAS AWESOME!!!!! These seven guys sang and played every instrument you can think of. Definitely one of my favorite things we did!







THURSDAY





I climbed Diamond Head Crater!!!!! Dave did too. The view was breathtaking. It was a tough hike for me.....well the end was. It was so worth the climb. After the hike we had some of the best shaved ice ever! The we loaded the bus and headed for the catamaran. We missed the whales by two weeks, so we didn't get to see any whales, but we did have a great ride out in the ocean. Very relaxing. Dave didn't love it. Again, we are so different. We spent the evening at a Luau. Dave got to hula on stage, it was great! He is actually a good dancer. By the time we got back to the hotel.....I was completely EXHAUSTED!!!!









FRIDAY





Last day! Mixed feelings. Ready to see my babies, but gonna miss Hawaii. We did some shopping at the International Marketplace and had lunch at Lulu's. We boarded the bus for the airport at 3:00. Our flight was supposed to leave at 6pm but was delayed until 8pm. 10 hours later we arrived in Atlanta. It was cold when we got off the plane.....we knew we were home.









I talked to my kiddos everyday. Sometimes several times a day. Samo had a hard week. He is a little attached to his mommy. By the time we got home on Saturday, they were all so glad to see us. We all slept in our room Saturday night. It was a great trip, but it is good to be home.

ALOHA

Let the countdown begin!

Two days until our trip to HAWAII.

all packed.

can't wait.

Snow......Alabama Style

Well, it finally snowed. The schools were closed, so Dave got to spend the whole day with us. It was beautiful outside. I kept telling the kids we were in Narnia tonight. Our yard looks like we just stepped out of the wardrobe right into Narnia. All the beautiful snow covering the trees and the ground. I got some good pictures of the kids playing and of what the yard looked like covered in white. Who knows when we will see this much snow again.

Tonight we went to the University for a piano festival. Anna Magdalena Bach told the story of her husband Johann Sebastian Bach. Well, it was a lady dressed up like her telling the story, but I assume you know that since they lived in the 17th century. It was wonderful. She told the story of his life and played his music on the piano. She told of how late in his life he lost his sight. He got it back for 10 days and during that time he wrote his last hymn. I think it was called "Before Thy Throne O God I stand". It was a beautiful song. I'm searching for the words so I can post them . I would love for us to sing it at church also.

Our drive home was a slippery one. I think the roads are actually closed. That's what happens when we get 2 inches of snow, the roads and the schools close down. All in all today was a good day. A happy snow day!!! Alabama style.

happy new year......just a little late

Well my blogging has been lacking for a while. I got in a weird funk around September last year....and I'm still working my out of it. I would start to blog and just quit with nothing to show for it. I started this blog as somewhat of a journal slash scrapbook. So much for those few months...I've got alot of catching up to do (with the scrap booking part, that is). So where do I begin? I think I'll just start with January, where the new year begins. What a month this has been. We have had just about every sickness you can think of. It started on January 6th with Dave. He had a sinus infection. Then Samuel, Erin, and Abby came down with a stomach virus....Dave and I both followed shortly afterwards. Then Samuel had Pneumonia, Abby had a sinus infection, Erin had the swine flu....all the while I was having a really bad cold. We all were just about well, when I got another stomach virus. To say the least we are ready for some warm weather!!! Ready to get out of this house and feel some sunshine on my face!

School is going really well. There is just always alot to do! I never feel adequate to teach math. At this point I can still do the math (4th grade). I'm sure we will need a tutor in a few years. Dave is teaching Latin to the girls. He says they are doing really well. I can tell it's helping them with their English work also. Even on the hard days, I still love homeschooling.

OK....something fun. Dave and I are going to Hawaii. YAY!!!!! I am so excited. Well, I am getting excited. We are going with the band and choir students. I've been checking out what to take, what the temp will be, stuff like that. It is like 80 degrees there all year long. How cool is that? I'm sure I'll have more to say about that later. :)

Christmas Pictures

December is always a busy month. This year has been no different. We are DONE with school as of today. Hurray!!! I know I am more excited than the kids. We will start back on January 6th. We had Abby;s piano recital last Saturday and the kids Christmas choir program on Sunday. They all did so well. We are ready for Christmas. The presents are wrapped, we have firewood, hot chocolate, lots of good creamer for the coffee and cookies......isn't that everything. James Spann even eluded to a chance of some white stuff on Christmas day. How fun would that be? Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Samo is 7 Today!!!

Wow. Seven years old. I can hardly believe my baby is 7 today. He has really grown up over the past year. His r's are a little more easy to understand :( He still loves swords and shields and fighting the battle. He plays well by himself. He loves playing with action figures and building with legos. Every night he says "Mommy, will you lay with me?" and most of the time I do.....just for a minute. He loves his Daddy. He hardly ever lets Dave leave without running to the door to give him a hug. He has started reading really well this semester. He still loves for me to read to him. He loves playing soccer and wants to play football next year. He has aspirations of being a drummer........he drums on everything. He gets his rhythm from Dave......that's a good thing! He likes to skate in the kitchen and ride his bike on the street. He asks alot of questions. His little mind is always going. He is starting to understand salvation. Some of his questions are hard to answer.

Dave and I were quite surprised when we found out we were expecting Samuel. But oh what would we do without him. He has brought so much to our little family. He is such a sweet little boy. He should be up in a little while. He asked for pancakes for breakfast. Then he's going to help me bake a chocolate cake with sprinkle icing. Then, being the disciplined (no laughing please) Mommy that I am, we are going to do our school work. You should have heard the protest when he realized we would be having school on his birthday. We took him out for his bday Friday night and he got a Nintendo DS. He has not stopped playing it. He has told me a bunch of times how much he loves his new DS. I love that little boy! So happy birthday to my baby boy.

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

You can feel it in the air. The cool temperature. Leaves falling. The smell of a fire in the fireplace, cooked apples, warm cider. The anticipation of the holidays to come. My birthday. ..... :) So many reasons why this is my favorite time of the year. I even like to turn back the clock and lose the hour or so of sunlight. I know that's weird..huh. This really is the most wonderful time of the year....makes me want to sing :)

We are having a great school year. Abby is still taking piano and begging Dave to teach her to play the trumpet. Erin is now taking violin lessons, which she loves. Samo wants to be a drummer.....

All three played soccer this fall. Three different teams. We won't be doing that again. Too many different directions. Next time at least two have to be on the same team! Samuel's team won the area tournament. We were so proud!

I am sooooo looking forward to the holidays. I love getting to spend time with family and traveling and shopping and the good food and.........you get the picture. I am going to try to keep this blog updated more often for all of my many readers...haha...jk. We are off to a soccer team party at CC's Pizza. Fun Fun Fun!