Oh my goodness, we have had so much fun in the last month or so and we are completely wiped out! We had three sets of company in just a few short weeks and loved every minute with them. By the time they all left we were all content to just stay home and do absolutely nothing. We actually just went to the beach for the first time in almost two weeks. (that's a long time for us)
One of the funnest things we did with our company is go to the Sea Life Park on the North East side of the island. We saw a dolphin and sea lion show and were able to feed (and touch, shhhhh) some sea turtles. The girls also loved watching the fish and shark in the giant aquarium and seeing the penguins. It rained on us pretty good at the sea lion show but in true Hawaiian fashion, we sat and enjoyed the show anyway. Ten minutes later we were dry.
Nana, just so you know.... yesterday Addie said, "here Mom, here's Elmo. He's a red boy." It only took a month to set in but she finally got it.

Thursday was Isabelle's birthday and we decided that since she has been talking about it for a month and obviously wants a lot of birthday attention, that we'd have a surprise party for her the night before. We invited friends over and while Justin was gone taking her out for ice cream, we hurry and set up the decorations. When she got back we had all the lights turned out and we were hiding behind the couch. As soon as she came in and saw the decorations she said, "Whaaaatttt???" and we all jumped up and yelled, "SURPRISE!!!" I think she was a little embarrassed but definitely loved the attention. We had dinner and cake with ice cream and played games. She especially loved that she got to have her real birthday the next day. It was like having TWO birthdays!
On her birthday she and I spent a few hours together doing what she wanted to do and going to lunch. I told her she could pick any restaurant she wanted and she could order anything she wanted. We ended up at McDonald's. Mmmmmmmmmmmm. After that she wanted to spend the birthday money her grandmas had sent. I think she learned a good lesson that day about how money never goes as far as you want it to.
Isabelle is a fun, sweet, and happy little girl, still pretty naive and innocent. She still loves to cuddle and have individual attention. She is very good at entertaining herself and makes us laugh every day. We love you Bella! Happy Birthday!

The girls talked Justin into taking them to the new pet store on Saturday. He caved in and bought them a small fish tank and five fish. By the time we got them home, one was dead and another was on the way. By Sunday morning we only had three surviving fish. Justin was nice though and bought two more replacements on Monday. We now have 5 new family members; Pebbles, Boo, Guppy, Frank, and Scaly.
While we were at the pet store, I took Addie over to watch the dogs being groomed. There was a nice, clean looking dog that they were blowing and brushing. They started brushing its legs and I said to Addie, "that's kinda funny, huh?" She squished up her nose and said, "that's gross!" I have to say, I agree. What a job.

Yesterday the girls and I and our friends Katie and Addalyn tried to go see the ancient temple ruins here on the island. We were all excited and prepped the girls to be respectful when we were there, and Katie was planning on teaching them all about it when we arrived. I was glad I'd have new pictures to post that weren't taken at the beach. When we got up there, we were told that the ruins were closed due to heavy rainfall a couple months ago. BUMMER! We spent the rest of the morning- guess where?- checking out a new beach we hadn't been to yet. We didn't have our suits on so we just climbed around the rocks and tried to find some fun sea life. The best thing we saw were some pretty cool crabs crawling around the black volcanic rocks. Haley found some good shells too. The lesson we learned was to always be flexible and have a plan B. (I think the B stands for beach).

Crazy busy

It's been a month or so since I updated and still don't have the time to do a good post but the last month has been full of adventure.
We went up to the North Shore one day with our friends Katie and Addy to see the
30ft. waves. On the way we were able to stop at a different beach and see the endangered monk seal and green sea turtle. They were both basking in the sun for the afternoon and some volunteers had them roped off so no one could get too close. The monk seal we saw was believed to be pregnant they told us. What a great day! Two endangered animals in one day! We've seen the turtles swimming near us but never out on the sand before. They are such beautiful and amazing animals.
This month is full of visitors (which we love and never tire of), so we'll be able to do all the fun "tourist" stuff with them. This weekend we'll be heading to Pearl Harbor and the PCC. The PCC we've been to but Pearl Harbor we havn't been able to spend much time at. We havn't had the chance to go out to any of the memorials yet so we are all looking forward to that.
The girls have been busy learning about the American Revolution- making crafts that go along with it and also starting a time line for our History lessons. We read how people used to think it was harmful to their health to bathe too often and only did so once every month. They were a little surprised about that, and I don't think Lilly thought it was too cool that they wore the same clothes day in and day out for lack of a good wardrobe. I'm sure she said a silent prayer of thanks that she was born in the days of malls and internet shopping.
Isabelle was so proud to be the first to finish her math book (she didn't realize it was the shortest), and we have been doing math work on the computer until she gets the next one.
One of the nice things about having visitors is that I call them my "student teachers" and make them teach our kids something. This week they will be learning about music from their Nana. Its such a nice break for them to have someone else teach them in a different style and about things that I wouldn't do justice to. Any "student teacher" volunteers? Book your spot now- our openings are limited

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADDALIE!

Addalie is two years old today and I can't believe the time has gone so quickly. It seems like just yesterday that we were waiting her arrival. She is so funny and such a quick learner. She loves to pretend she is a puppy or try to act scary and "get us". She loves hide and seek and to play that she is "going to Costco". Lately her favorite game is to play library. She stands all her library books up on the stairs and asks everyone if they want to "go to the li-berry" Then after we play along she says "okay, bye, c-ya!" and waves. She really is "too cute."
Lately she really enjoys drawing and writing (sometimes on the walls), I will usually help her write her name on her paper and she gets all excited and says "ADDALIE!" Because she has done this so many times, she is starting to try and write her own name. She'll draw some circles on her page, hold it up to me and say "look Mom, A-D-D!" It would be so awesome that she knew the first three letters of her name except for the fact that they ARE A-D-D. Hmmmmmm. I better hurry and teach her the rest.
We have been teaching her how to make a two with her fingers but its really hard for her to hold down the right fingers so it ends up looking different every time but its always two fingers.
She has been teaching herself to use the bathroom and will tell me she has to "go bathroom." It reminds me of a time when Susie was changing Landon's diaper and he said he didn't want a diaper, he wanted big boy pants, and she looked at him and said "LAY DOWN!!!" Sometimes its the MOM thats not ready for the potty training! I'm guilty of that this time around. I never thought I would be but its true.
We like to call Addie our little firecracker because even though she is small, she is full of surprises, laughs and energy. I also call her a velociraptor because sometimes she spreads her legs a little, hunches over a little, holds her hands up in claw like fashion and starts going after someone. She's a small little dinosaur that is scarier than it looks.
We love her so much and we are so glad she is part of our family. Her older sisters adore her and naturally she gets all the attention which she loves and expects.
Happy Birthday Addalie!!!! WE LOVE YOU!

To hike or mud wrestle..... THAT is the question

New Years Day we decided to go on a hike with the Rasmussen's. We decided the description of Maunawili Falls sounded nice and do-able, (with 6 kids under the age of 10 you have to consider these things). The review of it said that it was a nice, leisurely hike about 1 1/2 miles. Perfect.
Several minutes into the hike we realized it was a little muddier than we planned on but still didn't seem too bad and so far it was a nice and easy trail. After hiking for about a mile we ran into some hikers on their way down. Katie asked them how the rest of the hike was. They went into a huge thing about how horrible and muddy it was and how there were really tough spots where the trail was steep and they had to cross the river about six times and ...... blah, blah, blah........ The guy said, "I'm an "experienced hiker" and even I thought it was horrible." After watching him cross the river I came to the conclusion that "experienced hiker" was a loose term.
We all voted to keep going and see for ourselves how bad it really was. About a half mile later we came to a sign that told us we had 1 1/2 miles to go to the falls, (wasn't that how long it was to begin with?). We were already muddy up to our calves and the girls were having a blast so we decided to keep going. In my opinion, once you start something you have to finish it. The mud got deeper and gooier and we DID have to cross the stream several more times before we reached the top, but I hardly noticed any of that. I was watching Addie. She was holding my hand and walking all on her own and was strutting and singing and if I'd slip a little in the mud she'd ask, "otay, Mom?" I kept waiting for her to ask me to pick her up but she didn't. She kept going and going and going. At one point Justin was holding her hand, and as they reached the top of a hill she said, "I DID IT!!!" It was so cute. She was such a great example that day of attitude and how our lives are affected by the attitudes we choose. I kept thinking of the couple we met that was saying how terrible the hike was and then looking at Addie and watching this little two year old conquer what they barely could. We made it up and down- a total of about 5-6 miles, and she walked all but maybe 1/4 of a mile of it, and that was because we were trying to go faster and not because she asked to be held.
By the time we were done I told Katie if we mud wrestled we still wouldn't look any dirtier. We were covered in mud. Haley and Rachel took their shoes off and walked the last part of it because they were sinking in so much. Our pants were wet because of crossing the river so much and we were tired but all in all we had a great time. Haley said it was one of the funnest days of her life. I'm glad we didn't listen to the negative perspective of someone else and instead chose to make a positive experience of our own.
HAO'OLI MAKAHIKI HOU- HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!