Kauai, As Promised

Why Don't I Live Here?
That was my first thought when stepping off the airplane in Lihue, Kauai. This place is amazing.

A few days ago I got the balance of photos from our Cousins' Kauai Trip.View from our lanai (porch)

Michelle, Allina, and I went to Kauai for 8 days at the end of July and I finally have all the photos, organized by activity into webalbums for your viewing pleasure.

Near the heart of Kauai.

I did not include the entire 2000+ shots, but there are probably many more than you are interested in looking at (except if you're either really interested or really bored).

If you want the sampler platter, here's the summary album first, which has photos from the entire trip.

(Drumroll please!)
Here's our trip by event:

Boogie Boarding Trip
We tried to boogie board a second time, even though it was pouring rain and freezing, but a guy on the beach advised against it because he had just rescued some foolhardy tourists. So, we decided against it. I would love to do it again, though.

Snorkeling
I could NOT believe how close the fish would swim to us and how many fish there were. Also, I found a $10 bill floating around in the water. I know, sweet! We snorkeled at Poi Pu and up north at Tunnels after our hike to the beach. It was amazing. At one point Michelle and I were surrounded by nearly 100 fish. It was like I was in a school of fish.

Hike to the Beach
The Napali Coast is only accessible by hiking, air, or boat. So we decided to hike down from the north to the beach. It was a 2-3 mile hike each way and it was pretty steep. We all love to exercise so we had a great time. I brought my music playing phone so we jammed out on our hike. What surprised me was how much I was sweating! Unlike Arizona, in Hawaii, when you sweat the water just stays on your skin until you feel like you stepped into a shower. When we got down to the beach, we played in the water. The ocean is warm, but the stream that runs from the mountains to the ocean was cool and refreshing. There was a native hippie-type woman on the beach with her 6 children (two breastfeeding) reading a book while her kids played in the waves. I was amazed because the signs everywhere said how dangerous the waves were, but her kids were good swimmers. They built an awesome sand castle so I took a photo. Watching her made me want to raise my kids on the beach in Hawaii.

Boat Tour of the Napali Coast
By far, my favorite part of the trip was our boat trip up the Napali Coast. We had VIP seats w/o paying VIP prices. We sat at the bow with our feet dangling near the water. The blue-green color of the water was absolutely unreal. I would love to do that again. We went in caves, under waterfalls, and got to snorkel and eat lunch on the boat. On the way back the water was choppy and the ride from the front was way better than a roller coaster. Disneyland has nothing on the Napali Coast!

Kayaking and Hike to Secret Falls
This trip was fun because we got to go to a local swimming hole, kayak around, hike over the river and through the woods, then see the most breathtaking waterfall. From my research (google, anyone?) it looks like it was 100 feet tall, but it seemed higher, especially when I was under it. In case you're wondering, I was the only cousin who was adventurous enough to swim under the falls. Totally thrilling.

Me under Secret Falls. It feels more like hail than rain!

Tour of Allerton Gardens
We heard from many people that these gardens were among the most beautiful in the world. And while we enjoyed our visit, I don't think I would go back. It was just under $50 and it took about 2 hrs to make it through (the tour guide was SUPER irritating, making canned jokes the whole time). I went hoping to photograph something especially beautiful to print on canvas for our wall as a souvenir for Mark, but he hasn't picked a photo yet. One really cool part about the Allerton Gardens is the trees that were used in the filming of Jurassic Park (also, did you know that Kauai has a film person in their goverment to cooridnate with all the people who want to shoot movies there?). Look for the unusual trees in the webalbum.


Kauai holds so many fun memories for me. I enjoyed myself tremendously, as I'm sure you'll see from the photos.
I recently talked my sister-in-law Katie into leaving her kids with us so she and her husband could go to Hawaii without children. I hope that she's glad because it would have been a lot harder (and sometimes impossible) for me to enjoy my trip with my small children. (But someday they'll be bigger then we can all go to Hawaii).

Anyway, for those of you who have never gone, I wish you could go. Unlike so many places I've been, Kauai was much better than I expected. The water was warmer, the sand was softer, the breeze was sweeter, and the air was less salty. :)

I loOoved it!

August Laughs

I'm starting a new set of posts where I list the funny things my kids have said during the month.

I remember them by writing them on that day on the calendar, and before I wipe it clean for the next month, I'll post it on my blog (hopefully with a funny photo, but I haven't been taking photos lately . . .)

Asher protests indignantly, "Get out of my little WAY!"

Also, when Asher makes a mistake and is reprimanded he interrupts with, "Don't talk to me that way!"

In the middle of his shower, Jaxon climbs out and peers around the door to see his brothers playing in the bathtub. When I ask him what he's doing he replies, "Just checkin' on my boys."

Jaxon says to Grandma and Grandpa, "I have the handsomest and prettiest daddy and mommy in the whole wide world!"

After tasting a chocolate covered raisins (a bit suspiciously) Jaxon loudly exclaims, "Congratulations! These are yummy!"

One morning while I'm trying to rush Jaxon off to school, I ask him to focus. He responds, "You make my brain not focus when I'm focusing!"

Finn, though he doesn't talk much, does make funny sounds all the time. Yesterday he was looking at a book and making a growling noise, then a squeaking noise. Mark wondered aloud, "Is that a dinosaur and a bird?" Sure enough, Mark looked at the book and on the page was a bird sitting on top of an alligator. Funny kid.

Finn wins the award for cutest saying this month. He adores his new cousin Ella, and when he sees her (or wants to see her he begs for, "Baby LaLa!"

Lastly, here is a video was taken during our family celebration of Jaxon's birthday in July.
It's Asher's first time jumping off the diving board by himself. Watch his hands twitch as he psychs himself up for the big jump.

The New Pet

Some of you may remember our disastrous mouse experience. We promised Jaxon a new pet months ago, but we finally got one that we (I) hopefully won't kill.
So, let me introduce our new Beta fish, Figaro. Jaxon named him from the pet fish in Pinnochio (which may actually be the pet cat, but that's okay).

Pardon my rant. . .

Asher's preschool teacher just called to ask if Asher is a boy or girl.

Really?

Now granted, she has never met him, but what kind of person thinks Asher is a girl name?

It's a tribe of Israel for heaven's sake.

Are you going to ask if Levi, Judah, or Benjamin are girl names?

Now, Finley I can understand. According to Baby Name Voyager, Finley is currently ranked higher for girls than for boys (although quite obscure for both, ranking 665 and 818 respectively). But, we call him Finn, or Finners, or Finny (although that's not very masculine, is it?).

But, Asher? It's just a boy name.

That's it.

Of course, why do I care? There's nothing wrong with girl names because there's nothing wrong with girls.
Yes, the feminist in me collides with the part of me who thinks people are stupid for not knowing that Asher is a boy name.

	His new smack. Tomatoes, cottage cheese, and sprinkles!

What Kind of Mother . . .

Thinks about buying triple bunks for her boys (two of whom have hemophilia?)

Me, I guess.

Oh, dear.

On Separation and Reunion

I took this photo on a hike to Secret Falls. I used my polarizing lens (thanks Nate and Sandrine) and it made the water look misty.

Last week's trip to Kauai was the first time I've ever left Mark and the kids for more than 2 or 3 days. My trip was wonderful and I hope to post more photos soon, but in the meantime, I want to reflect on what I learned about our marriage while I was gone.

In case you didn't know, I went to Kauai with my two single cousins and we spent most of our time hiking, snorkeling, and watching the waves from our lanai (porch). Through our many fabulous adventures, I learned to live in the moment, to enjoy each activity without worrying about what had just happened or what was next. Of course this was easier to do in paradise and without anyone to take care of except me, but it taught me a lesson about how much happier I felt when I was truly present.

In my absence, Mark spent time thinking about how it feels to be the one left behind, while his spouse was gone living in the moment. It was a good lesson for him and helped him realize how important it is to share experiences in marriage and to live life side-by-side. He spoke to me over the phone about how he was doing fine with taking care of the kids and the house, but that he really missed me. He knew I was doing things without him and he felt like a little piece of him was missing. From what he said, he came to understand that we both enjoy life more when we experience it together. I absolutely agreed.

Our reunion was sweet. Kisses, roses and squeals from Mark and the kids (though only the kids were squealing). At the risk of undermining his masculinity, Mark admitted to having butterflies in his stomach the night before I returned. I was pretty excited to see him, too.

The days that have followed have been better than I ever could have expected. It's like second honeymoon. Mark and I are more considerate, more loving, and much more in tune to each other. We both love it and hope that it continues for at least a few more weeks (we know it can't last forever).

So, in the end, I realized that instead of being entirely selfish, my trip to Kauai was the very best thing I could have done for my marriage. In each other's absence, we realized even more how much we loved each other. Not a bad realization to come home to.

Just Wait . . .

This is just a teaser, the best of my Kauai photos are still to come (mostly because my cousins took most of the photos of me and I don't have them yet.)

So, you'll have to settle for my sandy toes on the beach outside our condo at sunrise.

Ahh, it was heavenly.

Happy (Late) 4th!

I'm emptying out our memory cards in preparation for my trip to Hawaii tomorrow and came across our 4th of July pics.

This year we couldn't fireworks nearby, so we decided to skip it and just BBQ and swim at my parents.

On our way home, though, we passed a church and it looked like people were parking for a fireworks show, so we did the same.

We waited 45 min in the smoldering heat. Luckily, there was half a watermelon in the car and we dug up a plastic spoon from somewhere and snacked on that while waiting.
After the fireworks started, Mark and I got nervous that if it took us to long to load up we'd be stuck waiting for half an hour.

So, in the middle of the show (or probably 2/3s the way through it) we told the kids they could watch the rest from the car and just booked it out of there. We both felt a little bad, but it was awesome to have A/C after waiting that long in 110 degree weather. (Yeah, just b/c it's dark outside does NOT mean the heat has subsided.) I was even wearing my bathing suit and my hair was still wet. Jeez.

Anyway, the kids LOVED it and I'm glad we stopped. It doesn't get much better than watermelon, swimming, and fireworks on the fourth of July!

*(next up, my trip to Hawaii!)

Big Brother

Jaxon is a really sweet big brother.
Just now I went in to check on him and his brother. They were both snuggled up on Jaxon's twin bed. Asher was asleep on the pillow, Jaxon was kind of smooshed against the wall.

Jaxon was holding Asher's hand, had moved Asher's bear up by his face, and put a crown of baby toys on his head. He also gave him a kiss and "did everything to make him so happy when he wakes up."

So cute!

Top Six Things that Don't Inspire Confidence in A Babysitter

Mark and I have had pretty good luck with babysitters. Most of them are excellent, they clean the house, leave gifts for the kids, and are very attentive. But, we've had a few odd experiences, so I thought I'd pass them along. (Note, some of these babysitters we still like and use.)

Top Six Things that Don't Inspire Confidence in A Babysitter

6. The last thing you see as you leave the house is her looking down at her phone, texting. "Uh, bye." she says.

5. You get home and the house looks like it's been inhabited by chimpanzees: a bag of Doritos crumbs strewn across the floor, clothes hanging from odd places, toys that I didn't even know we had piled up everywhere.

4. The babysitter calls and asks if you have a cat because there's something scratching on the garage door. "Um, no cat, and really, you're not scared?"

3. As you leave, and when you get home, the kids are watching a movie and the babysitter is reading a book. It looks as though the kids have ruled the nest for three hours.

2. She says, "Fine." When you ask how babysitting went. Really? That's the best you can do?

The number one thing that makes you lack confidence in your babysitter is when you find her asleep on your sofa (not a big deal by itself) at 10 pm. Then, you take pictures because it's so cute and she doesn't wake up. Then you talk loudly so she'll wake up, and that doesn't work. Then you shake her and she finally wakes up, but not really. So, you take her home in a complete daze (she doesn't know who you are and won't remember it in the morning). That really makes you nervous.


Do you have any babysitting stories?

Pretty Darn Lucky

So, Mark is a pretty good husband. One of the best, actually.

Next week (exactly a week from today), he is taking 8 days off work to watch our kids while I go to Kauai with my cousins.

I'm going to be gone over Jaxon's birthday, and we'll have a family party before I leave, but Mark is going to handle Jaxon's party by himself! What a stud.

Also, I've offered to grocery shop and meal plan, but he's told me not to worry about it (perhaps he'll get some help from Mr. Ronald McDonald).

In fact, my traveling while Mark stays with the kids is actually his idea.

Isn't that awesome?

Oh, and his butt looks really good when he does his P90X workout.

Pretty much the perfect husband, aren't you, HoneyBunz?

Today's Revelation: Picky Eaters

Like a good mother, I've always insisted that my boys eat what is offered at dinner, or not eat until breakfast. They must try one bite of everything I serve. I'm not forcing them to finish all the food on their plates, as that points to later bad eating behaviors. However, I don't want them to be picky eaters, so I refuse to be a short-order cook.

So, why are my kids such bad eaters at dinner? They eat fine at their other meals, and that's when I realized that I'm a HYPOCRITE!

I am totally a short-order cook throughout the entire day.

Breakfast can be cereal and Carnation Instant Breakfast for Asher, eggs and toast for Jaxon, and yogurt and fruit for Finn.

Lunch is leftover mac and cheese for Finn, veggies and PB & J for Asher, and Turkey and Cheese sandwich for Jaxon.

And I also whip up snacks on demand, like today when Asher brought me the oatmeal tub and I made him oatmeal with apples and cinnamon on the stove.

So, when dinner comes around and mom doesn't give these little guys exactly what they want, they refuse to eat.

Who's fault is it that they're picky eaters? Geez!

Mark, I Love You, But . . .

Right now I'm eating that juicy steak I bought you for your P90X diet.

It is delicious. Hot off the grill with spices and Heinz 57 sauce.

Mmmmm. So good.

I really meant to cook it for you, but it was past it's expiration date and I didn't think it could wait six more hours for you to come home.

Please, will you forgive me?

A Window into a 6 year old's Brain

Our family was swimming at my parent's house yesterday and Jaxon says out of the blue,

"Dad, why don't you bring your money home? I know you make thousands and thousands of money, so why do you keep it all at work? If you brought it home, we could be RICH!"

Mark and I looked at each other and tried not to laugh.

Upon further questioning, Jaxon disclosed that he wanted to be rich so he could buy things.

"What kind of things would you buy?" I asked.

"You know, like a bird or something." He said.

Guess Who's Baby Hungry?

Yep, it's Jaxon.
He loves babies, SOOOOO much.

He waited two hours for Ella to wake up while we were at my mom's today. She didn't, so he didn't get to feed her a bottle (the photo was from last week). While he was disappointed, I was proud of him for not throwing a fit.

He said, "Mom, I want to see baby Ella everyday and every night. I love her so much."

When I asked him if he was ready for a baby sister, he said, "Yes!"

But, I told him that his little brothers were NOT ready for a baby sister. So, he tried to ask them himself and change their minds.

Good luck with that!

How many kids can you fit in a shower?

After playing in the sprinklers yesterday, my kids and my friend Danielle's kids piled in the shower (most wore their bathing suits).

It was a little crowded with five kids in that tiny shower.

Finn climbed out and then they came up with a little shower song.

I thought it was pretty funny so here it is.

Announcing Baby Ella

My sister Tacy was due on June 2nd, so imagine my surprise when she didn't go into labor until Friday night.

I got a call at 2:30 AM that she had checked into the hospital and I was told to bring my camera.

On my way to the hospital I heard the song, "It just some time, little girl you're in the middle of the ride, everything will be alright, everything will be just fine." I started to tear up, imagining the next few hours of childbirth awaiting Tacy, as well as her future with Ella.

Cami and I arrived at the hospital at 3 AM, after my parents and two of Tacy's friends, Esther and Michelle.

All six of us helped support Tacy through the wee hours of the morning, laboring without drugs through intense contractions.

At 7 AM, Tacy's midwife, Janice came and told Tacy she was dilated to 9 cm and then she broke Tacy's water. She promised 30 min to delivery. But it wasn't that easy.

At 7:30 Tacy started pushing in earnest, and although she tried many different positions, the baby's head wouldn't pass behind the pubic bone. She was pretty well stuck.

Thus, the pushing went on and on with Tacy yelling, "Get her out!" and "I can't do this anymore." She was in some kind of intense pain I'll never understand since I've had epidurals with all three of my babies.

I do remember the exhaustion. And boy was Tacy exhausted.

Finally, on Saturday June 13th at 9:34 AM Ella Jane came into the world. They put her right on Tacy's chest and we were all in tears because we were overcome with the miracle of this little girl.

Even right now, as I'm writing this, Jaxon's looking at the photo saying, "Boy mom, Tacy sure looks happy."

Yes, honey. She does.



Here are more photos at my webalbum.

Rough and Tumble Boys

So, if you can't tell by the new masthead and side photos of the boys:

THEY ALL HAVE MOHAWKS.

It was my sisters' and mother's idea.

But, I think they look pretty cute.
Here are some more photos from our shoot.

Scenes from a Marriage: Yesterday

Actual phone call yesterday:

Me: Honey, I've got some good news and some bad news.

Mark: Bad news first.

Me: A photo radar speeding ticket from Tempe came in the mail today.

Mark (interrupting): It was me, on my way back from the Salsa Challenge Wrap Up party. It was after we switched cars, I was driving your van.

Me (stupefied): Um, no. That was the good news, it was me in the van on my way to the same party. There's a photo.

(Then I flip through the mail more carefully and discover Mark's photo on ANOTHER SPEEDING TICKET FROM THE SAME DAY, ON THE SAME ROAD, IN THE SAME CAR.)

Me and Mark in unison: Oh, dear.

Mohawk and Swim Meet

On Friday, I gave Jaxon a MOHAWK.

He likes it because he thinks it looks like a dinosaur's spine.

And now he cares a lot about his hair.

"Mom! Finn just messed up my mohawk!"


"Mom, I want to make my hair into a mohawk!"

The plan is to keep this style for a few days or weeks, then shave it all off into a buzz.

I tried to do surfer hair with Jaxon, but it always looked ratty, and instead of looking like a surfer dude, he mostly looked like a homeless child.
























Yesterday Jaxon had his first swim meet. He did the back stroke pretty well, only he kept turning around to see if he was done. He placed 5th of 6.

Then he did the butterfly and raced against his friend, Ethan. Jaxon kept looking up and giving Ethan a thumbs up through the race. And then because he doesn't exactly know how to do the butterfly (he just mostly swam under water), he won first place, coming in a fraction of a second behind Ethan (who has great form in the butterfly).















But, it was FREESTYLE race that made the event EXCITING. (see video below, esp last 20 seconds)

It's hard to see from the video, but Jaxon starts off the race with goggle problems. Then, he starts to realize that he's behind and decides to give up because he's not winning. He goes totally non-responsive, eyes closed, floating in the water.
The crowd is yelling and getting nervous and then some random man DIVES in to SAVE my tantrum-throwing child.
When they climb out, the crowd CHEERS, and I can't figure out why.

It was crazy. I even forgot I was still filming and thought, "Oh, I probably ought to turn off the camera."
As I walked over to get Jaxon someone asked me what happened and I said, "That's just his personality."

I took Jaxon aside to talk to him and he yells at me,

"I QUIT!"

Whoever said that boys aren't as much drama as girls has never met my children.

Now You See It . . .

When I first discovered the macro setting on my camera, I set to work photographing my wedding ring.

I love my ring. I've never seen one quite like it, Mark choose it for me and gave it to me for our engagement.


The first photo is from last July, the second is from April when I was trying to figure out of the macro setting was working on the camera.

The last photo is from yesterday.

Our morning was crazy, swimming at Val Vista Lakes Clubhouse while Jaxon did swim team. Then we changed in the locker room and headed to the gym. After the gym, I showered and got ready then piled the kids in the car and headed to Finley's 18 month
checkup.

We drove by a jeweler and I instinctively glanced down at my ring and the center diamond was missing. I got that horrible feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Where did I lose it? At the gym? The pool? At home, in the car? Yesterday?

I had no idea.

So, I called Mark and he was disappointed, too. I called the gym and told them to look for it, but it's sort of like looking for a needle in a haystack.


I don't expect to find it, but I'm really, really sad it's gone.

As I looked more closely at the prongs, only 2 of them were in great shape. I'm pretty amazed it held on this long.

I wish I had taken it in for maintenance more often, but I always thought of that as frivolous, so it would look shinier.

Now I know better.
Mark says for our tenth anniversary next year, maybe I can get a new ring.

Sounds good to me.

Until then, don't be surprised to see a "replacement" bling on my finger.
Or, a tattoo. No, wait, that's Mark's idea.

Embarassing Peronal Confession #6

I have GRAY HAIR.

No, I am not joking with you. It's not just one or two. In fact, near my temples I have a little sprinkling of white hairs that my friend Amy NOTICED yesterday.

It's possible that I've had these for a while, but since I've gone back to a darker hair color they're finally noticeable.

Still, I am only 29 years old.

I'm not ready for gray hairs.