Blog Archive

Tuesday, January 20, 2015

Kauai, part 1...

We recently returned from an amazing week in Kauai, Hawaii to see Chris's sister, Camille, and her fiancé, Pat, get married.

I have to give our boys credit-- they have become excellent travelers.  Considering we left mom's house at 6am, we flew 5.5 hours to LA, had a 5-hour layover in LA, flew 5 hours to Honolulu, had a 1 hour layover, then flew 45 minutes into Kauai, the boys hardly complained at all.  
 While laid over in Los Angeles, we hung out at the USO for a few hours.  The boys LOVED all the free food, XBox games, TVs, and board games.  It was a perfect spot to stretch and get lunch.
Yikes… no judgement please.
This is probably only the 2nd soda he's had in his
life and neither boy finished their donuts!
We finally made it to Kauai around 11pm on Thursday night.  A huge thank you to Grandpa for picking us up so late after their long day of travel!
 Our room was just lovely… so pretty and comfortable and Camille decorated it with so many personal touches!
Since it was pitch-black when we arrived, we were all excited to wake up early and check everything out...
 What a sunrise!
The estate was huge and had more help than you can imagine (gardeners, a pool guy, a cleaning staff (who cleaned from top-to-bottom twice during our stay), a chef, a property manager, a lady who lives on site at the front of the property and basically tends to any needs/ issues you may have, just to name a few of the staff folks we met while we were vacationing there, although none of them "stayed"…)
James and Henry were so excited to see Charlie and Ian again.  Charlie and Ian are Pat's children from his first marriage and happen to be exactly our boys' ages, 10 and 7.
These boys played so well together.  We hardly saw them, except when they were hungry.  They went from pool to hot tub to beach to iPads, on repeat the entire time…

Perhaps this is the time to mention that Camille married the drummer from the super popular band, Weezer!  Pat is as down-to-earth, smart, funny, and chill as anyone I've ever met.  He's easy to like and Chris and I felt like we'd known him (and his lovely sister and brother) for many years, even though we just met at Thanksgiving.
Great shirt :) 
 I mean, really… to say these kids are "living the good life" is clearly an understatement.
 Right before hiking down to Secret Beach...
 Check out those stairs.  They were SO steep...
 … but the beach was worth it.

 Henry, Ian, James, and Charlie at Secret Beach...
 More views from the house...
 The beautiful bride...
Hanelai Bay was pretty awesome too… 
Our little nature enthusiast spent the week
finding seashells, snails, lizards, spiders.  

A slimy snail

Henry loved the big garden at the house.
He helped pick carrots and romaine for
dinner salads.
What's better than shaved ice after jumping in the waves?!
That's all for now.  Part 2 soon...




Tuesday, January 6, 2015

Christmas!

Fortunately we were able to spend a whole week up in Maryland over Christmas break which allowed us to see so many more friends and family than we usually can in a crammed weekend.  Of course Santa was the real excitement but we enjoyed all of the special other times as well…

A super fancy Rudolph found
Ralphie, our elf.  Maybe it's love!
Christmas Eve at the Midberrys...
Attempting to get a nice, still picture on Christmas Eve was probably a bridge too far.  The boys were so excited… but they turned out cute anyway!
The best gift for last… a tiny airplane
to symbolize our upcoming trip to HAWAII!!!
Christmas morning!  Looks like Santa arrived!
So pretty and quiet.  Ten seconds later, complete chaos!  :)
James loved this box of jokes,
complete with everything you remember (fake
vomit, poop, eye balls, hand buzzers)!
The boys were so sweet to one another
and even offered up the "prize gifts"
when they thought the other didn't receive.
The boys opened everything so fast, and it was still so dark, I gave up trying to get pictures...
After playing with toys and cleaning up, we went over to my Aunt Judy's to spend the afternoon.  About 40 of my cousins and aunts (and one uncle!) celebrated together.  It was great...
Santa always makes an appearance.  
Santa giving out presents...
Some of the littlest cousins...

Taking a little outdoor break...
…because then this started!  Our annual White Elephant party. Which is SO much fun!!
Some of my cousins… (and my beautiful sister, on my left in the white shirt, who is now 16 weeks pregnant!!)
…and spouses...

Day-after-Christmas dinner out.  Everyone was on their best behavior.  Soooo nice to be inching towards civilized dinners with the boys.
On Saturday, we went to our very good friends, the Joneses, new home to see them and the Shaws...
Audrey, Lily, Henry, Ella, Luke, Jack, James
Me & Monique
Me & Sherry
We had a great night together!
And finally, on the morning we left, we were able to swing by and see Aunt Lauren and Uncle James and their two boys, Tommy and Jack.
The boys always pick up right where they leave off and had a blast playing for a few hours before we got back in the car to make the trip home.  Sure wish we lived closer so they could play together all of the time.

Just two days until we leave for a trip of a lifetime… to celebrate Camille and Pat's wedding in Hawaii!

About Me

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I am a stay-at-home mom to 3 energetic, funny, sweet, and crazy boys. I married my best friend, Chris, and love our life together. The Army is sending him overseas soon so I thought this blog would be a great way for him (and the grandparents!) to keep up with our hectic life. Unfortunately the Army keeps us too far from family and most of our friends so hopefully this will help us stay connected.