Hawaii!

Sometimes things don't live up to all the hype and build-up, but our vacation to Hawaii certainly did. It was a trip of a lifetime . . . something we have been planning for over 18 months. To be able to go with my husband and my best friend was more than I could have asked for.

Here is a day by day recap:

Day 1 &2 - Travel days from hell. We got a text message while driving across Wyoming (the kids stayed with Doug's parents in Utah) that our itinerary had changed. After a frantic call to my brother who got online and figured out what was going on (all while going in and out of cell service across Wyoming), we learned that our entire flights had changed and we would not get into Maui until 10 pm instead of 7 pm. Grrr! We got up Thursday morning and headed to SLC. We were lucky enough to be able to leave our car at Doug's brother's house and got a ride. On the way to the airport, we are listening to the morning news and hear that there has been some computer glitch that affected control towers and many flights were being delayed. Seriously? We plan a trip for almost 2 years and the day we travel, there is a computer glitch? Long story short, we ended up with a very long layover at LAX because of the problems and finally got to Maui at 10 pm. My best friend, Lori and her husband, Tom had arrived at 6 pm and were already crashed out. My aunt picked us up and we went to bed after a short tour of their gorgeous house.

Day 3 - This was really Day 1 on Maui. We had a wonderful breakfast (fresh fruit on Maui is amazing!) and then just cruised the island all day, figuring out our way around. We had lunch in Lahina right on the ocean and scoped out the shops. That night, we had tickets for the Warren & Annabell magic show, which came highly recommended to us by many who have been to Maui. It was a great show, but didn't quite live up to the hype. We later learned that the main magician (Warren) was on vacation, so we had some fill ins. Still fun! Then we stopped for dessert at Kimo's for their famous Hula Pie (thanks, Brigit, for the tip--it was as yummy as you said it would be).

Day 4 - Beach day! Lori and I went for a long run along the beach path in Wailea and then we all headed to the beach. My uncle Doug took us to their fav spot that is not crowded and has some great snorkeling. Doug and Tom swam right next to and touched some giant sea turtles. They both were speechless when they came back to shore. That night, my aunt and uncle cooked for us (they are gourmet cooks) and we sat on their covered patio and just enjoyed the night.

Day 5 - Sunday was our chartered snorkeling boat trip. We boarded the boat just before 9:00 and had breakfast on the boat. The crew was so fun and entertaining. The first stop was Molokini, which is a big horseshoe-shaped rock that is visible from the coast. We snorkeled there for about an hour and saw so many amazing fish. The water is warm and clear and everytime we turned a different direction, we saw different fish. The second stop was "turtle town" where these giant sea turtles come to have their shells cleaned off by other fish. Sure enough, not two minutes after being in the water, turtles were everywhere. Tom bought an underwater camera and got some of the best shots! The turtles are so laid back and would just come right up to you as if to say hello. We had lunch on the boat and just cruised around for a while. This might have been my favorite day. Later that night, we went to the famous Mama's Fish House for dinner (the same place Oprah has charter her meals when she comes in). Super expensive, but the most amazing seafood I've ever eaten. On our way to dinner, we got a tour of some of the mountainous region of Maui. We climbed 10,000 feet before coming back down to the restaurant.

Day 6 - Oahu day. We left for the airport in the morning and caught our flight to Honolulu. Tom got a wild hair and decided it would be fun to rent a convertible for the day, so that's exactly what we did. Our first stop was Pearl Harbor. Touring that memorial was a very moving experience. Standing on top of the USS Arizona is a humbling experience. We also toured a submarine. There were no lines and we just breezed through everything there. Our next stop was North Shore. Someone told us there was a big surfing competition going on, so we decided to check it out. We first stopped for lunch at this nasty looking trailer off the side of the road. It looked a bit scary, but we had been told they had amazing shrimp. And it was! Best I've ever had. We made our way down to the beach and walked right up to catch the semi-finals and finals of this huge surfing competition. Unreal! We watched for a couple hours, then did some shopping and headed back to the airport. We got back to Maui late that night, grabbed some fish tacos and crashed.

Day 7 - Lori and I went for a run through town and then we all headed to a different beach for a few hours. That night was our traditional Hawaiian luau at Old Lahaina. It was picture perfect. We watched the sunset, the food was good, and the entertainment was wonderful.

Day 8 - Golf day! We had a tee time at 11 a.m. at the famous Wailea Emerald course. The course sits right along the coast and you have an ocean view from most of the holes. We had some good laughs and took pictures the whole time. There was a couple that teed off right ahead of us that looked so familiar. Turned out to be Newt Gingrich and his wife! Fun to be golfing among the rich and famous. After playing 18 holes and getting drenched by rain on the last 3 holes, we walked around some of the fancy resorts at Wailea. Lori and I went for a run right along the beach when we got back and then my aunt and uncle treated us to another amazing dinner on their patio Wednesday night.

Day 9 - Thanksgiving Day in Maui was a treat. My aunt and uncle's tradition is that as soon as the turkey goes in the oven, they head to the beach. So, that's exactly what we did. We went back to the "secret beach" and enjoyed a picture perfect sunny day. We did a little snorkeling, but mostly just enjoyed reading by the ocean. Doug saw an octopus and an eel while snorkeling that day. Thanksgiving dinner at the house was incredible--the best I've ever had. Staying with gourmet cooks has it's advantages for sure. We got to watch the Bronco game (my uncle is a die hard fan) and just enjoy a lazy evening.

Day 10 - We were brave and got up at 4 a.m. to go see the sunrise above Haleakala. This is a famous crater caused by a volcano many years ago. We drove up to the top and we were literally above the clouds. It was a bit foggy, but we got to see the sun come up through the clouds and it was a spectacular view. We went out to breakfast and then headed to Iao Valley, which is a rain forest. It was amazing to me that in less than an hour, you could go from an 80 degree beach to the top of a mountain and then to a rain forest. The Iao Valley was so green and lush. After that, Doug and I let Lori and Tom take a nap since they were staying one more day, but we headed to the beach for one last hurrah. We drove my uncle's scooter around and soaked up our last rays of sun. We also did some shopping and stopped at the farmer's market to buy pineapple to bring home. Can't get enough of that stuff!! We then left for the airport and had a 4 hour layover in Honolulu. Luckily, I have a former co-worker who just moved to Honolulu and she and her husband picked us up at the airport and we all went to dinner. The flight home was long and exhausting, but I was definitely ready to see my kids. There were a few happy tears for all of us, but they had an incredible week with grandma and grandpa and all their local cousins and aunts and uncles. We are so blessed to have been able to do this trip.

As hard as it was to come home, we have memories and pictures to last a lifetime!

A Wickedly fun birthday weekend!

Miss Kaiya turned 9 today. It doesn't seem possible that my little white-haired baby that is almost to double digits. She is growing up way too fast.

She stretched her birthday into days and days of fun. My family came to celebrate with us last week. Over the weekend, we went to Cinzzetti's for dinner and then she and I went to see Wicked, which she absolutely loved. She didn't budge from her seat and already knew all the songs from my CD. What a treat to have daughters to go do girls' nights out! We didn't get home until midnight and she had a big gymnastics meet the next day (her last of the season until the big state meet in December). It didn't even faze her. She had the meet of her life!

She helped me make an ice cream cake

Looking so old

A new fashion design kit

Wicked!

They started on bars and she had the highest score (a 9.40) of any girl on any event. Her beam routine was rock solid (8.70) and her floor and vault were good, too (8.80 and 8.20). She exceeded the state qualifying score by a full point this time and now has the big state meet on Dec. 12th. She has worked so hard and it was fun to see her so proud that it all paid off. She continues to be able to balance everything amazingly well.

Today, Doug was a watch D.O.G. (Dads of Great Students) at her school and got to help in both girls' classes. They get such a kick of having him be the dad helper. She brought donuts to class and then cupcakes to gymnastics practice tonight, so she has effectively stretched it into a week-long celebration.

More than anything, I am proud of the young lady she is becoming. She is so good to Kinley and I love the way she takes care of her. She walks her to and from her classroom every day and helps her take a shower every night and is very protective of her. She has lots of good friends right now and is excelling in school. It's easy to be proud parents of this girl!!

The award-winning bar routine

The ultimate roller coaster ride

I have officially submitted my application for Mother of the Year. I think I stand an excellent chance to walk away with the honor this year after this last week. It is one of those events that I just keep replaying in my mind, kicking myself for being so dumb.

Kaiya had her second to last gymnastics meet of the season on Wednesday night in Ft. Collins. She has worked so dang hard with her eye on her main goal of making it to "state". She had to score a 34.0 in the All-Around to make it and she has come so close, but just missed it a couple times. I kept telling her that it didn't matter if she made it, that it was her first year on the team, etc., etc. but, of course, she didn't really hear me.

Wednesday night was a late start day for school meaning they didn't have to be there until just before lunch. Kaiya slept in and was kind of a couch potato that morning. She's had a cold for a few days and a cough, but nothing that kept her from doing her normal stuff. It was a gorgeous day, so I had planned to walk the girls to school.

Clue #1 that something wasn't right--Kaiya begged me to drive them. I picked them up after school and Kaiya told me she was so tired, but excited for her meet. She got ready and we headed to Ft. Collins. The whole drive there, she just laid with her head resting on the window--clue #2. We got to the gym and she just didn't look right. She couldn't articulate what was wrong, but just said she was wiped out. She talked her coaches into letting her skip the warm up and decided to just do her routines cold turkey. Clue #3--about half way through the meet, I noticed that the only way she would stand is if she was hunched over (known as tripoding in medicine).

She asked me if we could say a little prayer, which we did, and I had already decided I would take her in to the doc the next day. She had an awesome meet and gave me the thumbs up before her bar routine telling me she felt fine. She finished the meet winning the bars, but it looked like she was 0.4 short of qualifying to state. She was crushed, but I was more worried about her breathing. I noticed that she was starting to work really hard to breathe--ribs sucking in, breathing really fast, etc.

The drama intensified when her coach told me that they had flashed her floor score wrong (there was a little girl who must have been dyslexic because she kept posting scores backwards). Instead of an 8.05, she had actually received an 8.50. She qualified!!! She thought she didn't make it, so when I told her the good news, she just started bawling--hunched over and all. At that point, I was thinking it was time to get her to urgent care. I got lucky that my work bag was in the car, so I listened to her lungs and she wasn't moving any air on her right side. At this point, I'm getting pretty nervous. She sat folded over in half the whole way home and I called work on the way and found out that the Children's Hospital satellite facility that is close to us only had 6 kids there, so off we went.

The doc at Children's thought the same thing I did--pneumonia (because one side of her lungs sounded so much worse than the other). We walked back for a chest x-ray and she puked all over the place and now she was white as a sheet. Within a couple minutes, the doc came back to tell me that it wasn't pneumonia but that she was in the middle of a severe asthma attack. Her lungs were so hyperinflated from air trapping that her diaphram was flat as a pancake. Doug has mild asthma as does his mom, so I wasn't shocked, but she has never had a problem before in her life.

She was admitted overnight and started on round the clock breathing treatments, oxygen and steroids. We were hoping to go home the next day, but she just took a while to rebound, so we stayed two nights. She got excellent care from the staff there (I'm the first to admit that we took advantage of her being an employee's kid) and finally got to come home on Friday afternoon. She was so cute because everyone that walked into her room got to hear her say that she qualified.

My brother, Brandon, taught Kaiya at an early age to answer the question of "Who's tougher than Kaiya?" to say, "NOBODY!". I think he nailed it when he asked her that question this time.

Looking at her x-ray, I have absolutely no idea how she got through that meet. She had no business being there. :( So, on behalf of the academy, I will politely accept my Mother of the Year award and try to move on!

Right before the meet--squatting down

Terrible picture quality, but this was her comfort position

After her floor routine

After finding out she qualified!

Matching the sheet color at Children's

Getting some needed relief!

Halloween . . . finally!

Halloween is the 2nd favorite holiday around our house, second only to Christmas. My girls usually start planning their costumes in July. They change their minds a dozen or so times and then once they get their costumes, they hang in their room in plain sight awaiting the day that they can be worn. Thankfully, they got to wear them to school on Friday AND again on Saturday night. They decided a long time ago that they wanted to be something that went together and finally came up with Dorothy and Glinda. Kinley made a pretty cute Dorothy and Kaiya sat in hot rollers for an hour to get the right amount of poof for her big hair.

School party

Cute kindergartners . . check out Elvis

Cooper decided this would be his last year trick-or-treating in the hood with the girls and he finally came up with a rapper costume that worked out pretty nice. He was a referee on Friday at school, but he decided that was too boring. It was spirit week at school the whole week and I was pretty impressed that he busted out of his shell and had me do a pigtail hairdo for crazy hair day and wore a princess crown for hat day.

I got a night out with friends for the annual Witches Night Out. It's worth it just to see the looks on peoples' faces when we all walk into a restaurant! So fun.

So glad it was a warm day and semi-warm evening. The kids have more candy than they know what to do with (much will be donated to hungry nurses at work) and Cooper loved going to a party with his friends and his first school dance on Friday night. Did I mention that he is growing up too fast?

Ready to go!

Complete with Toto in her basket

Come and get it!!