The Kids Vacation

 I sure missed my cuties while in Hawaii.  This was our first big trip without them and first time being away for a whole week from them.  A lot goes in to planning our vacation and then where and what the kids will be doing.  Since we were going to be gone for 7 nights 8 days we thought the best thing to do was to have the kids spend half the time at Grandma and Grandpa Sups in Hayward (3 nights) and then the other half at Nana and Papa Schills in Sonora (4 nights).  The kids have only ever stayed at my parents with out us so this was the first time for them to stay at Spencer's parents house.  I was a little nervous just because I feel a little more comfortable with my parents and I know the kids feel at home with Nana and papa.  Spencer's parents really wanted to have them and Spencer was excited for our kids to bond a little with them too.  They did good at both houses and it all worked out. They spent Wednesday-Saturday morning in Hayward.  They got to go to the park, watch a lot of movies, eat pop tarts for dinner and even got to meet some cousins from Utah.
I was sad I didn't get any pictures from that part of their vacation.  Here are Aubrey's words about the first half of her time away from mommy and daddy.  Aubrey's words: "I had fun at my grandma and grandpas.  Grandpa really likes taking us to the park.  We got to go and get a happy meal at McDonald's one day.  The big cousins came over and I got to sleep on the couch next to my cousin Brooke we ate pizza that night.  The next day we went to my cousins house and baby sat Gentry.  I didn't like it that much because i was bored but then everyone came home and we had a party that night.  Brooke did my hair really pretty.  I was excited for Nana and Papa to pick us up the next day.  I was really suprised when they got their and took us to John's Incredible pizza!!"    

 Then once they got up to Sonora they went and visited great grandpa and then came home and packed for their big adventure up to Kennedy Meadows.

 I thought it was so cute that my parents planned this little gateway with them.  They got to go up and stay in cabin for 2 nights.  I'm not sure what happened on what day.  My dad sent me all these great pictures.  I'm going to have Aubrey narrate the rest of this post.

Aubrey: "Our cabin did not have any TV's.  I shared a room with Titi and Carter slept upstairs by himself.  We got to go to a little store and I got chocolate milk, I did burn my tongue but it was still yummy.

On the second day we went horse back ridding.

My horse's name was Chubs.  Papa's horse was Willie and Gaga's was Tornado.  Carter and Titi don't remember their horses name.  Since I was 7 I got to ride alone.  My horse went a little fast sometimes it was so fun!!!  We got to see a meadow and walk inside the river with the horse.  My feet didn't get wet just Chubs.

After horse back ridding we went to the store and got a treat.  I got an It's it ice cream and Cater and Papa got a soda.

We went on a hike and swimming in the lake.

I lost one of my shoes in the lake that day.  That we cooked hot dogs for dinner and played games.

Carter took these silly pictures.

It was awesome!!! After the cabin we drove back to Nana and Papa's.  Carter threw up in the car.  After getting home we got to go to Titi's house to play and have a snack.  The next day we went to the movies to see Shawn the Sheep.  It was really funny.  I loved my vacation with my family.  I missed mom and dad a lot."  

I love that my kids got this experience to be with family.  We are still hearing fun little stories about their trip.  Thank you parents for making it possible for Spencer and I to go on vacation and know that our little ones were in good hands!!  We love you!!!

Hawaii Day 8

Why do vacations have to come to an end??? Day 8 was our final day on Oahu.  I remember seeing people leaving to go home when we first arrived and now we were the couple leaving.  We were sad but also excited for all the fun we had and to see our little buddies at home. 8 Days was a perfect length I think.  We did everything we wanted to do and more and it was just getting to the point where I was really missing the kids.  Our bus for the airport wasn't picking us up until 11am so we had time to do our morning routine and enjoy the pool one last morning.  The weather all week was perfect we had lots of sun and a few showers but as I said before they were planning for a hurricane and sure enough the winds started picking up right as we were leaving so it was prefect timing to be going home.  

When we got on the bus to go home another family with older kids jumped on.  One of the sons had basketball shorts on that said Sonora (where my parents live) so that sparked up a conversation for our whole drive to the airport. 

At the airport we grabbed a little lunch and then boarded the plane.  We had another great flight.  We were having trouble with our seats not reclining at first and so the flight attendant gave us free movies and shows on our little TV's.  That was super cool! Plus we ended up getting the chairs to work half way through.  I got to watch 50 First Dates and Spencer watched Pitch Perfect.  They served us dinner and then we finally landed in Oakland at 9:30pm.  Since it only felt like 6:30pm to us and we wanted so bad to see our babies we just got our car at Spencer's parents and then headed for Sonora.  It was a 2 hour drive so we arrived up there around 1am.  It was so worth it! When we got there Aubrey woke up half way and gave us a big hug and we gave her one of her gifts, silver turtle earrings.  Carter was pretty out of it but we did give him a hug.  Deuce was so excited.  It was almost  at first he was like who are you and then he smelt my leg and went crazy it was really cute.  We then got in bed and crashed.

When we stay at my parents they have a downstairs suite that is basically our one little place with a queen bed and then a pull out sofa.  My parents had put them on the sofa bed that night so they could wake up and be with us in the morning.  At around 7am I heard their little voices saying the cutest little things like, "they are back" "I can't wait for them to wake up" "I'm so happy they are home" It was seriously the cutest!!! We woke up and held them so tight and all cuddled in bed for like an hour talking and laughing.  I didn't want to let go of them!! Then it was time to give them all the gifts we got them. 

 They were so excited and loved everything.  It was so cute because they wanted to wear all the Hawaiian gear for about 2 weeks after we got home.  Aubrey wore her lei for 3 days every where we went and Carter still wants to bring his ukulele every where we go.

 Like I said before we have mastered the Acai bowls and are enjoying them all the time.  The kids love them too.  It's nice to have one and think about our mornings on the island.

Aloha Hawaii until we meet again!! 

Hopefully sooner then later! 

Carter has already request his 7th birthday to be zip lining in Hawaii (you have to be 7 to zip there). 

Hawaii Day 7

Day 7 was our last full day in Hawaii.  We tried not to let that bother us and just enjoy our day.  We decided for our work out that morning to run the whole Waikiki strip.  By our hotel there was a sidewalk that ran parallel to the beach.  Then we had to do a little running on the sand.  At one point the sand and the ocean were very narrow and we almost got our running shoes wet.  Then the path took us through a couple hotel courtyards and then we found ourselves out on the main street, weaving through people.  It was really fun.  I was listening to my chill play list on my phone.  Over the Rainbow came on at one point and it  almost felt surreal.  We stopped to take a picture in front of the Duke Paoa Kahanamoku.  

We continued on and got all the way to the Honolulu zoo.  The bottom of diamond head was actually pretty close and we both debated going and hiking it.  That was one thing on our list we really wanted to do.  We were not prepared though.  We didn't have sun block or any water.  Also we really wanted our last day to relax so we opted to skip it and ran back to the hotel.  When we got back our Acai bowls were waiting for us!

Then we went to the water slides at our hotel.  We took the gopro and got some fun videos.  I would post them but I guess my videos are not working on the blog.  

After the slides we went and played on the beach.  Half way through our trip we found a boogie board that some one had left at the hotel and the maid said we could have it so we played on that a few of the days.  After playing that day with it we gave it to a little girl that was very excited to get and enjoy.

I loved all the different ponds at the resort.  This was really cute:

the baby ducks were playing with the koi fish.

We got to talk to the kids everyday and with modern technology like face time I really felt like we were so connected with the kids even though we were across the Pacific Ocean.  Of course I missed them like crazy and could not wait to snuggle them but I knew they were in good hands and having fun.  We had gave Aubrey my old iPhone 4s while we were gone so she could text and face time us.  I could not believe I was texting my 7 year old!! It was really fun.  I love her spelling too!

After swimming we walked over to Cheeseburger in Paradise for lunch and shared a burger.

After lunch I had made an appointment for Spencer to get a message.  I'm not one to like messages that much so I thought why not get him one and then I can go shopping :) So after lunch he went to his message and I went on the pink line double decker bus.  I was going to go the mall again but once I got on the bus Aubrey called me and so we talked and I relaxed and then got off over on the main strip and hit up H&M for some shopping.  

We then met back up at the hotel and got ready for dinner. 

We had made reservations for Benihana's that night.

It was very yummy and a great show.

Then we made it back to the ocean for our last sunset. 

We love you Hawaii and will miss you like crazy!!!!