Hawaiian Paradise: Day 5

Then there was today.

Oh my goodness.  That's all I can say to sum up our day today.  It was AMAZING!!! 

This morning, we headed over to Heidi and Nate's house.  Kezia, Ivy, and Elysse are very excited to see you all in June.  It was so fun to be with them today!  We headed over to Waimea Bay where the water was clear, beautiful, blue, and perfect. 

We did a little stand up paddling so Heidi could take some pictures.  She was making a new brochure for their business and needed a new picture.  We did our best, but I'm not sure we got any winners.

As I was standing there, Heidi yelled "Cheri!  Look at the dolphins!"  I turned and there were dolphins jumping out of the water way out there.  We headed in and daddy and I got on our snorkle gear and headed out toward the dolphins.  We had to swim a far far way and we thought we were almost toward them.  But then, suddenly daddy saw them behind us, really close to us!  We ducked under the water and were able to watch them swimming not far from us at all.  We followed them, watching them jump and spin above the water and swimming with them under the water.  We could even hear them clicking and squeaking under the water, which is how they talk to each other. It was so cool!  There were about 20 dolphins swimming together, including several babies.  Oh, I wish you could have seen that!  Daddy and I LOVED it.  It was like our own personal dolphin show, but the best we've ever seen!  This was definitely the highlight of the entire trip.  And who could've planned it?!

(Note: these are NOT pictures of the dolphins we saw.  Unfortunately, it was so spur of the moment that we didn't have a water camera.  So we had to get online and get pictures of spinner dolphins instead.) 

Then, we jumped off a really high rock, which was kind of scary but also really fun!  Even Kezia jumped off from the very top and Elysse jumped off from lower.  Brave girls!

We played a bit in the water with your cousins and then searched for sea shells with Ivy to bring to you. 

We went and got shave ice that was so delicious!  I got mango passionfruit and daddy got pineapple coconut.  It was great! 

For dinner, we got pizza and then talked with Heidi and Nate.  Now, we're sitting at our little house getting ready to go to bed.  We're so tired!  And sunburned...

We are excited to see you.  Can you believe its in just 4 more days?  So soon!!  We miss you and love you so much!  We are proud of you for doing so great with grandma.  Have a fantastic time!!  We love you!

Mom and Dad

Hawaiian Paradise: Day 2 (Part1)

Hi girls!

It's not even lunch time, but I wanted to tell you what we've done already today.  We got up early because the birds were singing so loudly and the sun was already up.  It was beautiful!  After breakfast, it started to rain again.  We are staying only 10 minutes from Heidi and I called her, and she said it wasn't raining where she lives.  In fact, it's supposed to rain every day here at our little house, but its not supposed to rain at all where Heidi lives.  It's strange how we can be so close to her but the weather can be so different.

Daddy and a bunch of people had to go back to the airport and grocery stores, so Grandma, Laurie, Ben, Stacey, and I stayed behind.  We decided to go for a drive down the coast in Ben's convertible (you know, the car that doesn't have a roof). 

It was BEAUTIFUL!  Do you know that Hawaii is called the Rainbow State?  There were more rainbows this morning, which we knew you would love to see. 

Sure enough, as soon as we were about 5 minutes from our little house, the rain stopped and it got about 5 degrees warmer.  We pulled over by the side of the road to get in the water.

We didn't realize it, but we had stopped at Turtle Beach.  What do you think we saw in the water? 

TURTLES!  Sea turtles!  BIG turtles!  They were as big as our table in the kitchen, if not bigger.  There were some small ones too.  So cute!  (No underwater pictures yet...but just wait for Day 4!)  We got our masks and snorkles on and got in the water with them. 

There were a lot of big waves, but under the water, we couldn't really tell.  It was so beautiful and relaxing.  We saw a few more fish, but mostly there were just turtles.  We probably saw 12 of them.  One came so close to me, I could have touched it.  But we were told it is against the law to touch them, so I made sure I didn't.  They can swim for a long time under water, but they do need to breathe air, so they have to come up to the surface to breathe.  It was fun to see their little heads popping up out of the water every once in a while. 

We stayed in the water for a long time.  But finally, we needed to go home.  I just took a shower and got my church clothes on, because we're heading over to the temple.  After that, we're going to a really cool place called the Polynesian Cultural Center where we'll see dances, men climbing coconut trees, and people throwing around sticks that are on fire.  We'll hear cool music and eat a big special dinner called a Luau.  We're really excited!  I'll tell you all about it later.

I hope you're having a FANTASTIC day!  I'm so grateful that you are my daughters and I love you so much.  Remember to wash your hair so you can be all ready for church in the morning.  Remember to wear unders under your dresses, too!  And smile!  You're such beautiful girls.  Take care of each other.  There's no better friends in your life than your sisters.  I love you!

Mom, you're the best!  I love you too!

Mommy

Hawaiian Paradise: Day 1

We just got home from 8 days in Hawaii.  It was incredible.  Braden's parents decided to take all 4 kids and their spouses to Hawaii.  All we had to pay for was food and experiences.  Unbelievable!  My mom came out here to watch Keara, Taryn, and Avery while Mazie spent the week in Phoenix with my cousin.  Everyone had a great time!  Thank you to Mom and Dad M, Mom and Dad H, and Kami & co. for making this possible!

I want to document our trip, so I'll try to post each day.  Unfortunately, the first day is the most boring, as far as pictures are concerned.  But at least it gets us started!

It was fun flying together as a group (minus one sister and brother-in-law).  When we arrived, we knew we were in paradise.  However, the first thing that greeted us was a restaurant in the airport whose logo sure looked more like "Hicken Company" than "Chicken Company".  We just had to take a picture.

Every day we were there, I wrote the girls an email, so they'd know what we were doing while we were away.  I'm just going to use those emails as my post:

Hi girls!

I wanted to tell you all about our day!  We've sure had a great one.  First, we woke up SUPER early so we could go to the airport.  Grandma, Grandpa, Laurie, and Ben picked us up and we met up with Robb and Amanda, then went to the airport.  It was a big airplane.  We got drinks, some snacks, and even an egg burrito and a muffin.  We could see lots of clouds out the windows, and when we got closer to Hawaii, we could see the ocean, waves, boats, and the islands.  It was cool!

After we landed in Hawaii, we went grocery shopping.  Did you know they have a Sam's Club and a Walmart here?  It was just like home!  They even had samples.  Then we came to the house we're staying at.  It is BEAUTIFUL! 

We can see the ocean right out our windows!  And we could just walk to the beach. 

We went to the water at a place called Shark's Cove (but there were no sharks there).  It was right down the street from our house.  We went snorkeling, which is where you put on a mask (like big goggles) and a breathing tube so you can swim under water, see what's under the water, AND breath at the same time.  We saw tons of fish and coral and sea urchins and a sea snail.  Daddy saw an eel!  Robb and Ben saw a Nemo fish (a clown fish) and we also saw a Hawaii Angel Fish which is like Gill in Finding Nemo.  It was beautiful down there and really fun!   It rained a lot while we were in the water and then there was a beautiful rainbow!

We played out there in the ocean for a long time and then came back to the house, took a shower, and had dinner.  Then, we went to a moonlight walk in a beautiful botanical garden called Waimea Valley.  We walked in the pitch black dark of the night because the moon was behind the clouds.  It was raining a lot and we got totally soaked.  We got to see a lot of flowers that bloom at night time instead of during the day.  We walked along the path until we came to a beautiful waterfall!  The moon came out from behind the clouds and lit up the whole waterfall!  It was so wonderful. 

Uncle Ben rented a convertible car, which is a car that has no roof.  That was really fun to drive in, though we got really wet when it was raining.  Now we need to go to bed because it is SO late!

We love you so much and hope you're having a great day!  We'll write you more about our day tomorrow!!

Have a wonderful time with grandma!

Mommy and Daddy

(mom...I lost my cell phone on the plane. Too bad!!)