~~~HAWAII ADVENTURE~~~

I am weeping as I write this post. We are home from a 10 day adventure in Hawaii with my entire family and it is snowing outside. I guess you could say that I'm a teeny bit depressed about it. We went to watch my sister Carly play soccer. She won all 4 games and even scored with a header. Go JoJo!!

Cailey, Carly, Caddy - aka: The three little girls

Madden and Marley in the airport before we left.


Arriving in Hawaii - the kids did FABULOUS on the flight!


I should have known the day we left that Madden was going to get sick. Look at those eyes!! Sure enough, day 2 he was sick as a dog and was confirmed as a SWINE FLU PATIENT! I wanted to cry. The only thing worse than a sick child is a sick child on vacation. But he surprised me. He was an amazing little guy....never complained....and still wanted to participate in all the fun.

We saw Jason Mraz in the airport....or wait, is that Bill?!?! He cracked us all up by wearing my sister Curry's hat all throughout the airport. I love this guy!

The view from our balcony at our condo


My dear children had a horrible time getting used to the time change. We were awake before 5am the first 4 mornings, had breakfast in the dark on our patio (as to not wake up the lazy butts that were still sleeping), watched the sun rise together, and played on the beach in our jammies before anyone else was even thinking of waking up.



Aunt Caddy so kindly volunteered to ride with us in our van....


but after day 5 of listening to THIS every time we went anywhere....
(someone REALLY hates her car seat)


She changed her mind and decided to ride in the "FUN BUS."


Madden jumping off "chicken rock" into the ocean at Waimea WITH the swine flu

He may have puked all over the beach after swimming to shore....and I may have caught it all on video camera!! hahah! Our family named this rock "chicken rock" after we watched this guy sit up on top for 45 minutes trying to get the guts to jump...but could never do it.
Next time buddy....next time! ;)-

Boogie boarding was by far the favorite activity


Mason took to it like a pro and caught every wave the big kids caught!
He couldn't get enough!




Watching everyone get thrashed about by the waves was pure entertainment.
Colter and Jill probably had some of the worst spills


Even little Macks joined in


We hit Ted's Bakery, Cholo's, Pearl Harbor, Matsumoto's, the LDS Temple, the Dole Plantation, the swap meet, and every beach we possibly could.




Macks couldn't stop talking about "A-WHY" (Hawaii) before we left, while we were there, and hasn't stopped since we got home. I think he may be a true Hawaiian at heart




I couldn't keep Marley on a towel at the beach if my life depended on it. She LOVED the sand...and unfortunately ate more than her fair share



Our favorite beach....Sunset Beach


Marley LOVES her Papa! They became special friends on this trip


Aunt Caddy's way of keeping the boys from fighting in the car.... a non-stop photo shoot


"Mr. Swine flu" got precedence over the babies for the stroller


Seriously...anything cuter than this? My little Macks loved to find shells


Our nightly ritual consisted of playing poker and eating Melona Bars


A BIG THANK YOU to my wonderful parents for making this trip possible.
I love you guys!!

What wonderful memories we made. You'd think 10 days with 17 people would be a little much....but not with our clan. It was pure enjoyment. We missed Cody and wished more than anything he was there with us. I like to think he was able to watch us from above and got a few good laughs out of us.

And another big thank you to my sister Caddy for being our non-stop photographer!