Kindergarten Graduation

Celebrating kindergarten graduation. 

Here is a peak at the ceremony. The kids sang "It's A Small World" in three languages but I didn't get the whole thing on film. I do love that Jack is holding hands with his friend Rose :)

After the graduation Jack pigged out on 2 cookies and cake. Then he requested Smashburger for dinner where he ate an entire adult hamburger, only to be followed by an ice cream at Coldstone. Poor kid had such a tummy ache that night. 

Little mountain bikers

Jack and Lily are amazing on their bikes. We have been riding a lot lately and Lily is getting really good on her little Strider bike. I took them to a local mountain bike trail and they both rode it with ease. Lily was zipping down the trails and making everyone along the way take a double take. We also have a path by our house that we ride several times a week. Although Lily really wants a bike "with pedals" so I'm not sure how much longer she will be content on her strider

Hawaii! Last day and flight home

After a week in Hawaii it was finally time to head home. That morning we cleaned up our room and I had to take a picture of one little unique feature in our room: 

See that beam in the picture above? It was just at the perfect height so that in the middle of the night when we came in our room, or when Luke got up to use the bathroom, he would smack his head on it. A couple times he hit the beam so hard I was sure it would knock him out.

But this was the view from our room, so it kind of made up for the bad beam placement

We all gathered together to get some family pictures.

And then we headed to Waikiki for the day. It was an amazing beach and had great waves for body boarding

Jack had a blast out there with Luke. They caught several great waves

Even riding one all the way into shore




Lily and I relaxed on the beach and played in the sand

After a morning at the beach we headed back to a hotel to get washed up for the flight home. The kids spent some time swimming in the hotel pool and we were sure no one got a nap. Our flight home left around 8pm that night and both kids were fast asleep before the plane even left the ground! They did not wake up once during the 8 hour flight. It was the best flight ever!

They love to say goodbye to our luggage

Hawaii! Day 5

Friday morning Luke and Jack woke up early and headed out for a 3 mile walk to a nearby bakery. What amazed me the most was not that Jack walked the whole way without whining (he usually complains after a mile), but that they brought 2 dozen donuts home without even having taste on the walk home. 

This bakery had the best "chocolate croissants." Basically they were just croissants with chocolate frosting smeared all over the top. But they were delicious! 

Enjoying the morning coffee and beach view

After a week of dangerous swimming conditions for the kids, we decided to drive to a kid friendly beach for the day. We settled upon the lagune at the Disney hotel and it was amazing!

The water was very calm, but after a few scares from previous days Lily was even scared of the tiny waves. 

But she got over it once she realized this was a safe beach

They had a floating platform for the kids to play on

It was a great beach for the kids and we had a great time

Later that night we played a dice game and Lily was really into it

And then she even won!

Hawaii! Professional pictures

Hawaii! Day 4

On our fourth day of Hawaiian vacation we took another family trip to the Kualoa Ranch. Here we loaded on some busses for a tour of the ranch and to see all the movies that were filmed there

Getting ready for the bus tour

I love these trees that were in Hawaii

However, the kids did not get to enjoy the bus ride. Both of them fell asleep within 5 minutes...

Meanwhile we saw places where lots of movies were filmed

And then we were able to enjoy the scenery of turtle bay

On our way home we had to stop off at one of the many shrimp places dotted along the road

This is how Jack felt about the fried coconut shrimp:

They were much more excited to eat their shaved ice instead

Right behind the shrimp stop were the little ponds where they raised the shrimp.

Later that afternoon we hung out at the beach by our place. Jack loved going in the waves but they were so strong we had to hold on to him really tight or they would pull him straight under

Thankfully Lily was content to stay away from the waves

And play in the sand

Although Russ wasn't on dinner duty that night, he still made us some delicious guacamole

Luke, Jeff and time were on drink duty

Everyone enjoying a tasty dinner

That night we had a fun game of Texas Hold'em