Addicted to the Wii

My girls have discovered the Wii can be a lot of fun.

We have Mario Bro. and Mario Cart and they won't

get off of it.  The other morning I even woke up and came

downstairs to find the girls were already awake and playing

Mario Cart.  Can we say addicts?  They take after their father

when it comes to gaming!

Happy Birthday To ME!

Here I was thinking I will take off work Friday March 12th

and go out to dinner with my family for my birthday.  However,

I had a most amazing birthday weekend.  My sister Kelly called

a couple days before and said, "Lets go to Maui for your birthday!"

I said..."Hell Yes lets go!"  So off we went.

We had a little drama the day we got on the plane but we

eventually found our way over to Maui.  By the time we finally got

there we were starving and decided to just head to dinner and get

some sleep because the next day we were going to have to be

up early to catch our snorkle boat out to Molokini.  We

ate dinner at one of my favorite diners in Kihei, Peggy Sues,

and then headed to the condo. 

Our friends Stephanie and Gabby came with us to Maui also.

Thursday morning we woke up early and excited to go

snorkling.  The girls haven't really been snorkling before.

I decided to take the nice boat with all the bells and whistles.

It was called the Alii Nui and it was a nice boat.  They had

towels, sunscreen, breakfast, a full lunch and everything else

you could want for your snorkle cruise. 

The girls hung out on the trampoline the whole way out to

Molokini looking down at the water.  I would have been

sick if it weren't for the medication I took before we left.

It wasn't that choppy, but it was windy.  Haley and Stephanie

were the only ones who got sick.  Poor things.

We saw whales everywhere on the way out to Molokini. 

A snorkle trip and whale watching all in one.  I have seen

tons of whales while living in Hawaii for 14 years but never

really this close.  They were right on the edge of the boat.

So AWESOME!  We loved seeing them all so much it took

about twice as long to get out to Molokini because we kept

stopping the boat to look at them.

The girls were so cute in their little wetsuits.  They didn't

do too well with the snorkle masks but they did use the

boogie board with the windows in them and their regular

goggles.  It was a lot of work with all of them and totally worth it.

Friday was my birthday and my sister Kelly and I went back

out to Molokini.  This time however, we went scuba diving.

We dove the back wall (My favorite dive ever!) and then did

another wreck dive over near turtle town off the shore of

Wailea.  It was perfect weather and we had such a fantastic

morning.  Once we got back from diving we all took showers

and went to the Maui Aquarium.  I love that aquarium and so

did the girls.  We got front row seating for the feeding of the

stingrays.  The girls had a blast.

After the aquarium we went out to Lahaina to see a Luau.

That is what we decided to do for my birthday dinner.  I am

not sure why I don't have any pictures of the luau, but at least

I got a picture of the penguins that the hotel had in their lobby.

The luau food had a lot to be desired but the show was great.

I have seen a lot of fireknife dancers in my days and they had

a really really awesome one at their show!  That is what makes it.

Saturday we wanted to go to Hana but decided against it

since the girls wouldn't do too well on that long trip in the car.

We did go up to Twin Falls though.  We hiked up and saw

the falls but only Haley and Kelly got into the water.  It was

not that warm as you can see on Kelly's face.  Haley was

so brave though.  She had to get in and swim out to the falls.

I do remember it being a little deeper and more falls when

I lived there 13 years ago.  Wow, has it been that long?

It was a totally fun day and we had a great time.

After the falls we went out to Makena and snorkled some more.

The water was much warmer and we got to see all kinds of fish.

I saw an eel, turtle, fish and more all right off the shore.  So relaxing!

The trip to Maui was amazing.  I couldn't have had more fun.

We got home Sunday afternoon around 3pm and I had to be

at work at 6pm.  I had so much fun that I was glowing from

the great trip and everyone at work kept asking me why I looked

so happy.  Thanks for that great vacation Kelly and thanks for

joining us Stephanie and Gabby.  We had a great time!

Haley's school pictures

Those are certainly Daddy's eyes!

Nurse and Caretaker...Grandma Leslie comes to town!

Aaron recently had surgery and Grandma Leslie came out

to help me take care of him and the girls.  It was a lot of work

and she knew I would need some help.  Thank you Leslie!

The girls were so happy to have someone to play with them

24 hours of the day.  She was a lifesaver with the girls and

with Aaron.  She nursed Aaron's wounds and played games

with the girls (Guess Who and I Spy about a million times over)

as well as giving baths and reading bedtime stories.  She also

helped with making dinner, dishes and the laundry. What would

we have done without you Grandma.  Much Mahalos!

One of the first things we did with Grandma Leslie was go

to Turtle Lagoon.  Along with our friends Gabby and Stephanie

we swam and played for hours.  We picked sea lettuce from

the rocks and fed the turtles.  They loved it.  They didn't even

have to work for their food that day.  We had a great day but

by the end we were all lobsters.  I should have reapplied the

sunscreen but just didn't.  What a bad mom!

Keeley is playing like a turtle.  We saw the turtle above

scoot itself up onto the sand for sun soaking and Keeley

did the same thing.  She played turtle for a long time after.

One of the days we took Grandma Leslie to see the Honolulu Zoo.

We had a great relaxing day.  I know, the zoo isn't really

relaxing, but that day was.  We walked around looking at all the

animals and just enjoyed the nice day.  The only bummer was that

we didn't get to see the lions.

Another activity we did while Grandma was here was take

a trip to the North Shore.  We drove all the way out to Sharks

Cove and decided that it wasn't safe to swim so we just took

some awesome pictures.  We stopped at Waimea Valley and

interacted with the peacocks and then headed to Haliewa to

get some pizza at Pizza Bob's (YUM!)  After pizza we had to

make a stop at Matsumotos for some shave ice.  What a perfect day.

The girls were sitting there eating their shave ice and I decided

to take a picture since they were so cute.  This Japanese tourist

came up and asked if he could take a picture of them too.  I

can't tell you how many pictures of the twins must be floating

around Japan in random people's photo albums.  Seriously!