Sledding with Daddy

This weekend we all went sledding. This was a much more sucessful trip than my solo attempt. It was bearly freezing, there was lots of snow, and the best part was that Daddy was able to come with us. Yippee!

Victoria has a snowboard she wanted to try (she is a natural!! She did VERY well!) and we found a little sled that Naomi can easily carry up the hill, and slide down the hill by herself. It also does not hurt that it is pink!

Olivia was adorable and had fun scooting down the hill. She would bum-scoot to the bottom of the hill and then get up, turn around, and cry for us to carry her back up. Then Daddy would jump on his sled and 'rescue' her. She thought that was terrific!

Of course we also brought the 'family sled' and had fun trying different ways we could all fit on that! When we were done we went home and had some hot chocolate. Victoria declared that it was the 'best day ever!'. I have to agree that days like this are what make life wonderful!!!

Decorating Bliss.

Naomi and Victoria had a great time decorating thier gingerbread! Victoria got the last gingerbread house, but that was okay because Naomi wanted to do a gingerbread man anyway. Thank goodness she is not too picky!

We went to the local grocery store where they were having an free event for the kids. Our kids ate a lot of candy and also decorated to their hearts content. We all had a lot of fun! The best part was eating the creations- all the girls agreed on that!

There is a first time for everything!

This is Olivia's first attempt at decorating a gingerbread cookie! The local grocery store had a decorating morning and we decided to go. It was a lot of fun and it was free!! You cannot beat that!

She ate more candy than she stuck on her cookie (Daddy helped her with most of the actual decorating), but eating the candy is all part of the fun. Olivia thought that decorating cookies was a lot of fun, and delicious too!!

Gingerbread!

Victoria goes to a wonderful school. They are always doing fun things to help the kids learn and understand concepts.

They also decorate gingerbread houses annually! What a feat! We are talking about 200 or so kids all in the gym (siblings were invited to partake in the festivities!), all in grades 1-3, all decorating houses! We had al lot a fun and managed to get most of the candy onto the house instead of in our stomaches!

The school has kept the houses to decorate the halls and Victoria was quite dissapointed that she had to wait almost a week before she could take her house home- and eat it!!

Decorating Sugar Cookies!

Talk about your sugar high! Sugar cookies with layers of icing! Delicious and enough calories to last at least one day each! They were delicious! The girls were so excited to decorate cookies. I made a huge batch and Oma, Victoria, Naomi and Daddy helped me decorate them all. Olivia just sat and ate the icing off the top of her cookies and then demanded refills!

We really had a lot of fun. The original plan was to give some away, but they did not last long. I still cannot believe we ate them all. The picture of the tray of cookies is not even half of them!

Little cutie!

Here is our sweet Naomi sitting right in front of the Christmas tree- where she always wants to be! One night they even asked to sleep in the living room. How can a Mom say no? Can you see the ornament in her hand? The guilty look on her face? She just got busted AGAIN playing with the ornaments....

Decorating the Tree

This year we needed a new tree. Our old tree was a bit of a Charley Brown tree and was rapidly becoming more and more so. It was almost 15 years old and shedding a lot of its fake needles.

But what really 'broke the camels back' was that it spontaneously started falling over last year. One day I was sitting in the living room, reading. Slowly the tree just fell over, ornaments and all-sending ornaments flying all over the floor- yipes! When it fell it jack-knifed itself in the stand and while I tried to straiten it out again I inadvertently sent many other ornaments flying all over the room. I did manage to get it strait again, but it was never the same. I kept falling over all season and it was a relief to finally take it down.

So, this year I went out and found the perfect LED lit tree (my kids like the tree on 24/7 and I do not have to be such a scrooge with an LED tree!). When I got it home I set it up so James could see it-then I was going to take it down. Unfortunately the kids saw and we just had to decorate it! What a mistake!

The kids, Naomi in particular, cannot leave the ornaments alone- no matter how many times we remind them that they are not toys. I have lost count at how many have been broken (thankfully Crazy Glue can fix almost anything). They are now all banned from the living room and I am back to being a Scrooge again....

Growing up I always heard stories about how my Mom's family did not put up their tree until Christmas Eve. I always thought that was crazy. Now I understand!

Fun and Frozen!

I got brave last weekend and decided to take the girls sledding! The forecast was for -10 with sunshine. I was excited- we had just had a huge load of snow!

I should have known better! The sun never shone and the temperature was at least -25 because of the wind!! We spent half an hour bundling up, driving there and then stayed for about 20 minutes until Olivia was so cold she was just screaming! At first Olivia had a great time and really enjoyed having Victoria pull her on the sled to the hill. It did not last long...

Victoria and Naomi were warm enough- they were running up the hill and sliding down. It took me a few minutes to convince them it was time to go.

Olivia did not calm down until we were home, undressed and she had a warm cup of hot chocolate in front of her!

Victoria the ballerina

Victoria is ballet right now and loves it- which is a HUGE contrast to last year when I took her literally kicking and screaming (I pulled her out that day!).

She is very good and coordinated. It is fun to watch her get ready for the Christmas show that they are putting on! I can hardly wait to see the final show!

Our last stop...

The last thing we did before we went to the airport was visit Iao State Park. The Iao needle is there and it stands out in the middle of the valley and is dripping with vegetation. It was beautiful. It was also the spot where the final battle between the rival tribes and resulted in the unification of all the islands under one king. Historically it is a very significant site.

They also had a traditional garden and this great building!

Up at the top of the crater.

On our last day we went up to the top of the crater. It was amazing how high it was (elevation wise). We were above the clouds (it was too bad that it was so cloudy or we could have seen the other islands). We were able to learn all about volcanoes and see all the different lava flows and little craters that created the island of Maui.

One of the things we got to see was a silversword. They live for about 7-15 years, grow about 8 feet tall and then bloom once and die! They are extremely fragile and only grow at the top of the Maui and Hawaii craters. They were beautiful!

Wa'anapanapa State Park

While we were in Hawaii I loved to try and pronounce all the Hawaiian names. This park was absolutely incredible! It had it all- a lava tube (you can see James at the entrance and then the view out the other side into the ocean), a blow hole, amazing lava formations and a lava bridge. The beach was a black sand beach and it was powder-fine. What an amazing area.

Do you like the Muu'muu that I bought while I was there? It was soooo comfortable.

Work for your lunch.

On our way back from the park we passed this little fruit stand, that apparently was also known locally for its' smoothies. Can you see the bike inside? Well, there is no electricity here so the only way to make a smoothie is to create your own power- each and every person who orders a smoothie has to pedal the bike to power the blender until the smoothie is done. What a brilliant idea! James and I are thinking of setting one of those up to our TV (then it will not be as enticing for the kids!)

Water falls and falling rocks

The destination of our hike was an incredibly high waterfall. It was the first of the series of waterfalls and it was breathtaking. It was so high!

When we arrived there were a few other tourists standing near the bottom and looking up the cliff at the waterfall. James jumped right into the pool at the bottom and swam to where the falls hit the pool. It was quite loud there, but the pool was relatively shallow and warm and the water cascading down the mountain (actually it is the crater of the volcano) was just enough to create a stunning waterfall, but not too much that the water was very harsh or sending up a huge spray.

As I was admiring the waterfall and watching my dear husband swimming (surrounded by at least 10 other people) a HUGE rock fell and landed in the middle of us. We all scattered and most ran back, and away from the cliff face. I was motioning and yelling at James that we had to go and he was motioning and yelling that he wanted me to take a picture (he was sitting there wondering why I was taking so long to take a picture and I was freaking out that he was still in the water and that he had to get out NOW! Neither of us could hear what the other was saying, although James was wondering why I was the only one left- where did everyone else go?). I quickly took pictures so he would get out of the water and then we both beat a hasty retreat behind the sign we read and disregarded on the way in!

Bamboo forests- magical...

Just past the Banyan tree was a bamboo forest. It was incredible! The bamboo must have been 30 feet tall and when the wind blew they would knock into each other and create a natural windchime. It was amazing.

They were such a beautiful green and in the heart of the forest it got quite dark, even though it was mid-day. It also became quite thick and very quiet!

Ofcourse, the bamboo is not native, but it was one of the most beautiful things we saw there. It was amazing that they were so slender and yet so tall.