Kauai Trip

BARKING SANDS

We had a great trip to Kauai...here is the beach cottage we stayed at...it was so cute and QUIET!! It was so nice to get away from the craziness of Honolulu.

We sat and watched the whales from our beach house every night...

WAIMEA CANYON

This place was AMAZING!! Unbelievable views as you can see!!

WAILUA FALLS

Another amazing view...this waterfall was pretty cool!

POIPU BEACH

This was a really fun beach in Kauai...excellent snorkeling, lots of surfing, and nice calm waters for the lil ones! It is also a hotspot for sea turtles as you can see from the pics below!!

Sam and Jack had a blast playing in the water with G-ma Vickie and Aunt Aimee!

Sam named the turtle "Timmy":) Timmy swam right up onto the beach and took a little snooze, then he went back into the ocean for a little swim then came back on shore for another snooze! Mommy and daddy hurried up and got their snorkel gear on when Timmy was headed back in the ocean and they were able to snorkel right along side Timmy - it was amazing! We were swimming inches from Timmy in the water!!!

KIPU FALLS SAFARI

This was an all day adventure...7 hours of kayaking, hiking and ziplining! It was so much fun and we were totally exhausted at the end of the day!!

Daddy was looking pretty good in his harness:)

Here are pics of our two ziplines we did, the first one was 800 ft and the second one was 1800 ft. It was the scariest thing I've ever done jumping off the platform but one you were mid-air it was beyond amazing!

Hanging out at the swimming hole was lots of fun...we ziplined into water, jumped off a 50 ft platform into the water..the only down side was the water was FREEZING!! It had rained a lot in the mountains so the water was ice cold!!

Our safari tour was on the same ranch where they filmed Jurassic Park....it was beautiful!! They also shot scenes from Indiana Jones on this ranch as well!!

Kelly's Zipline

Eric's Zipline!

Lots of Visitors!!!

We had sooooo much fun when G-ma Vickie, Aunt Aimee, Cousin Kensie and her friend Kate came to visit!! It was an action packed two weeks, we saw lots of sights, hit up all the beaches, went to a luau, parasailed, shopped, and even got the chance to go island hopping to Kauai...it was so nice having lots of extra hands to help out with the boys. The boys and mommy loved all the extra attention!! We are really missing them and were so sad to see them go back to Iowa...the house has been pretty lonely since they left:( Hopefully they will visit us again:)

Thanks guys for everything - we really appreciated you coming to visit us, it meant alot and we had the best time with you all - love you:)

Parasailing

It was a little frightening hanging 800 ft. in the air with only one little knot connecting you to the boat below you!! It was pretty amazing way up there - thanks Kensie and Kate for giving us an excuse to parasail! And thanks G-ma Vickie for watching the boys so we could go!!

Mommy and daddy flying high:)

Cousin Kensie and Kate ready for take-off!

Paradise Cove Luau

It's nice having visitors because it makes you get out and do fun things you normally wouldn't go out and do!! We really enjoyed our time at the luau - the Mai Tais were excellent!! Everyone looked so cute all decked out in their flowers.

Mmmmm - probably the best drink ever:) Mai Tais are mommy's new favorite! Good thing we had daddy to keep us in line!

The sunset was beautiful..

North Shore

We had to spend one day at the North Shore. We hit up Sunset Beach to see some waves - then went to Sharks Cove to do a little swimming. Sam had a blast climbing around on all the rocks. It was a little choppy out so we didn't do any snorkeling.

Jack always falls asleep at the beach - I think it is the sound of the ocean waves.

Sam hangin with his ladies:)

Jack loved splashing around in the water - they are both pretty fearless of the water which scares mommy, I think we need to get signed up for some swimming lessons!

Ko' Olina Lagoons

This was our first time at the lagoons and we were pretty impressed. It is a great place to take the kids - the water was so calm and crystal clear! They had a great time swimming around and digging in the sand.

Sam had a blast with Aunt Aimee - she was his favorite swimmin' buddy!

Hanauma Bay

This was a great day - we were able to spent the whole day here! Mommy was able to convince everyone to try out snorkeling! G-ma Vickie was a trooper and after about 20 minutes of encouraging her to put her face in the water she did it and there was no stopping her after that:) Sam even got in on the action!

The boys love chillin' at the beach!

Sam and his swimmin' buddy:)

No one got to rest too much - It took mommy, G-ma, Aimee and both girls to keep up with the boys!

It is always fun cleaning Sam up after a day at the beach! Jack on the other hand manages to stay fairly clean!

Diamond Head

I was sooooo proud of G-ma, Aimee and the girls for making it to the top!! They only complained a teeny bit:) I think the views made up for all the sweat and tears!

Happy Easter

The Easter Bunny was very kind to Sam and Jack this year. It was a great Easter, even better was we got to spend it with G-ma Vickie, Aunt Aimee, Cousin Kensie and her friend Kate!

Sam really got into the Easter egg hunt! He would run to an egg, pick it up, eat what was inside then move on to the next:) Mommy had to do a little coaching about how he would get more candy if he picked up all the eggs then ate the candy! Jack was a pro at finding eggs - I think he had just as many as Sambo! (Don't you just love the plumeria in Jack's hair! The plumeria tree in our yard started blooming again and I just couldn't resist) :)

We're Back!!!

It's been so long since we have blogged - it has been kind of a crazy month...I have so many pictures to post so it may take a few days to get all caught up:)

It was a big day yesterday (April 25th) - Sam pooped in the potty for the first time! We have been working really hard the past two weeks on potty training and he is doing pretty good....we still have our fair share of accidents but for the most part as long as I remember to take him pee every 30 minutes or so he stays dry. Don't get me wrong it is still lots of fun to pee on the floor, on the rug, in the chair..... :)

Jack was feeling left out so Sam was nice enought to share some undies with him:)

This was a great accomplishment for mommy, quite impressive huh! - and yes I used every block:)

Bye-Bye Binkys!!!

WE DID IT!!! We actually got rid of the binkys!! I dreaded the day we had to take away Sam's binkys but believe it or not it was pretty painless for all us us! We have been working on becoming a Big Boy - after conquering the big boy bed we decided it was time to get rid of the binkys - and we were getting tired of Uncle Mark constantly nagging us about taking Sam's binkys away:) So with G-ma Vickie's visit quickly approaching we decided that Sam probably needed to throw his binkys away in order for her to come....he must really love you G-ma Vickie because he took all his binkys to the trash can and threw them away!!! He thought nothing of it and went on playing then about an hour later he went to the trash can to get his binkys, but Daddy had taken the trash out and the binkys were gone...the look on Sam's face was so pitiful - he didn't cry or fuss he had the look of what the heck did I do:( Mommy went to bed with him that night and told him stories and he went right to sleep and didn't even fuss...the next day he maybe mentioned them two or three times...the next day maye once or twice and now he asks for them maybe once a day!! We went to the store and bought some new animals to sleep with instead of binkys so I think that has helped too! I truely believe had Eric or I taken them from him it would have been a whole different story but since he was the once that threw them away..he had to be okay with it! So now the only thing left on the big boy list is potty training!!