Some March Pictures

Conor had his spring band concert and I didn't get to go...Josie was sick, so I had to stay home with her. Kevin went and video taped all the songs for me, so when they got home Conor and I sat and watched and he narrated for me, which I secretly thing was better then the show. There was this one part that the band did a cheer and Conor yelled out way before he was suppose to and his mistake was glaringly obvious. His only saving grace was that he was in the back and he is short, so no one was really sure who was yelling. So funny. I was dying laughing, but only after I got permission from Conor to laugh. I was very proud of how he handled the awkward situation. LET'S GO BAND!

Conor also did 5th grade basketball at Midway. He is an ultra fast scrambler I will give him that. Unfortunately his height isn't to his advantage for basketball, but he gets an A for effort and being there for the team. All the pictures are blurry, I attribute that to my poor camera skills but also because he was constantly moving, man I was tired just watching him.

This last picture is of my cute boys flying a kite. I peeked out the window to see where they were and saw them sitting on the curb and it melted my heart. Sometimes big brothers can be hero's.

-Love this cute face

-This was during a trumpet solo

-One of the few times he actually got to take a shot

-What he does best...guard his man and get under the basket

-Lincoln and Conor watching the kite

Cub Scout Graduate and Derby

Speaking of kid milestones, Conor reached a big one on Thursday.  He received his Arrow Of Light, which is basically the Eagle of Cub Scouting. The presentation of this award is neat, they paint your face with colors, with each one representing parts of the Scout motto, and they turn out the lights and give glow necklaces and make it a cool ceremony.  He graduated from Webelos with every single badge available, and last but not least he took 3rd place in the Pinewood Derby.

Conor has always enjoyed the scouting program and really excels at the activities and requirements. We are so grateful for wonderful, wonderful leaders this year, Brother and Sister Hunt, and we are so proud of Conor and his perseverance. 2 thumbs up to Conor and Daddy for the 3rd place finish in the Derby. This is our best showing yet, thank you Hobby Town for a little assistance. We also were finally able to bring home the life size Conor cardboard cutout. No one would ever give us one, and one of his leaders snagged one from a conference and we were thrilled to bring the Conor twin into our home.

-Conor pointing to his cool derby car

-Getting it ready to race

-Lincoln and Jaggger with front row spots to watch the cars whiz by

-Conor getting his many many awards

-Arrow of Light face painting

-Conor and Brother and Sister Hunt-the greatest Webelo leaders ever!

-Conor, his mini me, and all his awards.  The inland Northwest will never have a cuter face for their cub scout campaign. 

-The spoils

It's official...My baby has left the house

For months I have been trying to talk Lincoln into sitting on the toilet. He was very very against the idea. Well, one magic day...he woke up and said "I need to go potty." Who knows what made him suddenly decide it was OK, but once he decided, we were golden. He had the system figured out in no time and I can honestly say it took about 1 day and 1 accident and no more diapers at our house. YESSS!!!! Just a few days later we moved Lincoln into a big boy bed. Out with the crib and in with the big bed. We bought Josie a new bed and Lincoln got Josie's bed and there were smiles all around. The first night I tucked him into the new bed, I got a little catch in my throat, he was so proud of himself and so excited. He looked so grown up, the first of the many kid milestones, when you are so happy for them, but you know that there is no turning back and a little bit of childhood is being left behind. Time has no mercy.

-Thumbs up for the big boy bed

-No more diapers!  Big boy underwear on the head and bum.

-Josie in her loft bed, this doubles as a castle and fort and wherever their imagination goes

Sledding

One of the days the kids had off of school we decided to skip skiing and head to the local sledding hill. This was one of those days when I was cursing getting there, cursing while I was there and cursing as we were leaving. It seemed I couldn't make anyone happy and gloves were missing, hands and toes were cold, snow pants were too tight and bla bla. Oh, and can't forget a drastically low blood sugar and the emergency treats were a 10 minute walk to the car.   I was screaming inside my head "This is suppose to be fun so we are having fun whether you want to or not." Lincoln was having a very rough time of it, his feet were cold so he thought it was a good idea to just take his boots off in the snow. We finally packed it up and headed out. I tried to be a good Mom today and no one really cared. Only good thing I got from it was that I didn't feel bad when they watched a ton of TV later because I had gotten them out of the house.

-Lincoln, Conor, a Voigtlander, Kyler and Jagger.  Josie and Taj were here today, but they headed to another hill.  This was before low blood sugar and cold toes.

-Lincoln sledding like the big boys with a run and drop on your belly move

-Conor in motion.  He had a fast sled and was my best kiddo today

Day 7 - Our final day

This post is picture overload so beware.  We had a spectacular day today. It started before the sun came up for us. Today happened to be a record cold setting temperature before the sun came up, I think it was 52 degrees or something, so it was a bit brisk as we made our way to the boat launch. We boarded the redline raft and we were lucky to have only 2 other couples on the tour with us.  We went out to Molokini to snorkel and we snorkeled the front and back side, then we went to 2 other locations to snorkel.  We did whale watching along the way and saw some really neat dolphins/false killer whales.  No one knew what they were, so that was a cool rare site.  We had a wonderful morning on the ocean and saw some beautiful fish and whales.

We headed to the beach after our morning on the water and enjoyed one last relaxing afternoon soaking in some rays.  We decided to watch our last sunset at Big Beach, and beauty was our reward.  So sad to see the sunset on our vacation, but I am feeling so relaxed and refreshed and grateful after some time away from the cold and crazy life in Spokane.  Back to real life and ready for some more months of winter.    

-Sunrise Day 7, from the boat on our way to Molokini

-The mysterious dolphins/false killer whales we encountered

-The Momma and Baby whale we got to see

-Happy and blessed to be together on this awesome vacation

-I think these bright yellow fish were my favorite

-We were able to see 4 or 5 turtles and swim right next to them.  They were a lot bigger then I expected

-Snorkeling!!!

-I love that we were able to see this side of the lava fields.  We had driven out to see these from the other side, but the ocean side was incredible. 

-Kevin's selfie snorkeling picture

-This is me and I am glad the bubbles are in this picture because they looked so pretty rising to the surface, of course the picture doesn't do it justice, but it helps me remember.

-We got someone to take our picture looking out over Big Beach-thank you random person.

-What a beautiful, beautiful view

-Kevin walking the beach

-Sunset Day 7-our last sunset of the vacation

-Going, going gone...

This is what we had waiting for us at home!  We are so blessed.

Day 6

Today was blissfully relaxing, low key, warm, quiet and we had absolutely no where to be. We spent the afternoon body surfing and lounging in the sand and sun. We spent hours getting pounded by the surf and getting ground into the sand, really. I came up a few times with some missing skin that was so kindly exfoliated by the sand, and yet we kept going back for more. 

-This view just spells relaxation

-This is Kevin headed back into the ocean for another tangle with a wave

-Kevin is the one swimming with the wave

-This is the twilight view right outside out hotel

-Sunset from "our" beach Day 6

Day 5

I had to go running in the rain this morning.  I figured there are worse things I could have been doing, and I didn't mind it one bit.  When Kevin arrived we headed north so we could "participate" in history.  The surf was being recorded at the highest it has been in a decade.  The waves were 50 to 60 feet at Jaws.  Professional surfers were coming from all over the world to surf these waves, and all of Maui was headed out to watch and we were joining them.  It was pretty crazy how many people were there, we parked out car way out on the road and walked a good mile in.  The cars that did venture down had to deal with tons of walkers and narrow roads and places were so tight that cars couldn't pass each other, and then there were crazy jam ups.  Once we got there, we had to elbow for position and I was wishing I was a lot taller so I could see over some trees and people's heads.  Jaws did not disappoint though.  The waves were INCREDIBLE!  We saw a few surfers, but our favorite part was this helicopter that came in and did some crazy stunts.  The size and power of the waves were just amazing.

After we had our fill of Jaws, we headed back to Secret beach to catch our sunset.  We got there just in time to crash a wedding.  Ironically this is one of 3 weddings we witnessed this trip.  We just tiptoed past the ceremony and settled in the sand to soak in the view. 

-Our view as we were walking into see Jaws

-Some cool surfer on a Jaws wave.  The helicopter is filming.

These waves reminded me of Niagara falls

-Another surfer

-This helicopter pilot was crazy in my book.  He was tempting fate it seemed.

-I just couldn't resist this picture of the surf

-Our wedding crashing picture

-Looking back on to Secret beach-the beach is just to the left

-Sunset on Day 5