Hawaii Trip 2009

My mother and father gave us a wonderful gift of taking all 8 siblings and our spouses to Hawaii for 8 days.  It was a great time and one we will never forget.  We all got to go without the kids which allowed for some real relaxing among us.  Here are some pictures from the trip. (sorry, its going to be a long post)

Us at the Airport in Hawaii.  Just six short hours on the plane and we were there.

Melissa met us from Seattle with Leis in hand.

Dadoo with the Straw Hat that Melissa brought him.

Loren on the bus from the airport to get our rental cars.  

Blainard on the bus...the craziness ensued.

Happy Alan!!

Sad Alan!  Emotions were running high on that bus to the rental cars.  We didn't know what to think.

We arrived at the Plantation Estates where we stayed and it was BEAUTIFUL!!!

Sani and Blaine in the van on the way to rent snorkel gear!! Yipee, and excited crowd.

Marianne, smiling away!

Entertaining ourselves on the trip to get the gear.  Blaine felt the need to be included.  : )

Melissa in her cute hat she bought at the snorkel gear rental place.  What a cute prego!

First full day, heading out to go snorkeling.

Jim pulled out his fishing spear and tried it out.

Next day Polynesian Cultural Center.

Dave got a snazzy, fake polynesian tattoo.

The cool Samoan tree climber guys.  AWESOME!

Us on the boat tour.

Dave and I trying to be the Tiki...and looking more like we were constipated.  : )

Ben and Melissa with their cool pineapple drinks at the Luau.

Dave's obsession with the shark tooth war hammer's begins.

Dave and I took a trip down to Honolulu.  Here is a picture of Waikiki Beach.

Dave by a cool tree in Honolulu-we ate at a cool place called Burgers in Paradise, YUMMY!

Me by a cool tree in Honolulu-we got to have a couples massage this day.  It was nice!

That night we went and snorkeled at Shark's Cove.

Dad after snorkeling.

The view at Shark's Cove as the sun was setting.

A cool statue at our stop at the Macadamia Nut Farm near where we were staying.

We went to the flea market that morning and Dave found a shark tooth war hammer necklace he could afford.  The larger war hammer's were too expensive.

He was loving it!

That evening we were chillin' with Blaine and Sani, getting ready to go check out some of Sani's old hang out spots when....

Sani

Blaine

We suddenly had to take a trip to the ER.

Dave cut his thumb deep on his shark's tooth war hammer necklace.  It was mondo sharp.  He just swept crumbs off his shirt and OUCH!!

Sani made us a Hawaiian special-Spam and Eggs, and it was yummy!  As well as Pineapple with Liki powder on it, and that was also yummy!

Here's a close up of the spam and eggs.

Next day was Pearl Harbor-here is a picture of the USS Arizona Memorial.

Here is the ship, still under the water, there's a spot just left of this that still leaks oil.  A quart of oil a day continues to leak and has since 1941.

Just under 1200 bodies are still below in the ship.  It was truly an amazing day for me to be able to see this memorial and remember those lost at Pearl Harbor.

The next day we split up.  Some went deep sea fishing and the rest of us went dolphin watching.  We wanted to swim with them, but wild dolphins don't always cooperate.  

It was beautiful though and we still saw dolphins.

Here's Dave eating some of the Ohno that they caught.  And yes its raw.  They caught two 30 lbs Ohnos and two smaller tunas.  They had a good time.

Hanging and laughing by the pool.  Emily and Jared.  Huh, what were you laughing at Emily?  Do you remember?  Cause I do...  : )

Maren and her veggies.

The next day we went to a beach next to Sani's Uncles and had a BBQ with them.  It was a beautiful beach and a fun time.

We took a nice walk on the beach together.

Next stop of the day the Byodo-In Temple in the Valley of the Temples.

Dave and I both lit some incense in front of the Buddha.

It was very beautiful and serene.  

Out of all the places we hit, we both had been looking forward to this stop and were incredibly sad we were only given a short time here.  It was rush, rush, rush this entire last day.

We made a quick stop to Poly lookout on our way to the Dole Pineapple Plantation.

Then we headed to the Airport where we said goodbye to Melissa and Ben, who headed to Seattle and we got on the plane home to Salt Lake.

And what did we find when we got home...

Our baby sitting up on his own.  Granted, only for a minute, but hey a whole minute is pretty dang good for a kid that hasn't done it before.  Man, we missed this little guy.  

Four Month Apt?

Xander just had his four month apt, even though he is almost five months old.  He turns five months old on June 10th and had his appointment today, June 1st.  What do you do?  The Dr couldn't get us in sooner.  Regardless, here are his stats:

13.5 lbs

26 inches long

45% Head

25% Weight

60% Height

So he is still a little low on the weight, but higher than average on the height, so tall and skinny.  And his head isn't that big comparatively.  He is just growing like a weed.  I snapped the above photo on my phone, so it isn't the greatest quality, but he was so cute playing with his froggy in the crib, I couldn't help myself.  He's getting so that he can actually entertain himself for a few minutes at a time at least.  We feel very lucky.  He sleeps through the night mostly.  He goes down about 9-10 pm and gets up one time for a bottle at about 4-5 am and then sleeps again at least until 7:30, sometimes later.  He is a good sleeper.  He also takes at least one nap during the day.  He laughs a lot and is a lot of fun to tickle.  He is getting his own little personality and it really getting to be fun.  He can't sit up yet, and he can't roll from his back to his stomach yet, but he is close.  We will keep working with him.  He is a very happy baby and generally in a good mood.  He really is a joy!!

Salt Wars VII

Dave and I were in charge of Salt Wars this year.  Its an annual event in Amtgard that is up to hosting 150 people or so.  We ran the event with two of our great friends, Sable and Mirrim, which I am sad to say I failed to get a good picture of either at the event.  It was difficult keeping track of the little one and still trying to get things done that were my job.  However, things ran very smooth, all of the people we had helping us were fantastic and the four day event went off without a hitch.  On top of all that wonderfulness, we also made money for the kingdom, about $1700 profit.  We were stoked.  It was a fantastic time seeing friends we only get to see once a year and others we love to hang with!  My mother-in-law even brought up two of my nephews on Saturday.  It was over at Castle Park in Provo, so not far to travel.  They enjoyed the bouncy castle and the kids quest.  That is when I got a chance to really take some photos.  Jane was kind enough to watch the baby.  Dave's new household Legion was there in full force and were a great adversary.  Here are some fun pictures from the event.

Xander Chillin' under the Trees

Mommy and Xander

The Kids Quest-Dave is the one with the skeleton chest with the shield over his head.

All the Un Dead army Legion prior to the kids quest.

Lireal and Ceowulf

Black Jack and Masquerade (aka: Ryan and Luke)

The Master Archer about the take the field.

Masquerade posing in his mighty pose!

Xander cuddled up to Grandma Maxfield

Black Jack in the Bouncy Castle.

Ceowulf armed to sword fight in battle.

Arrow in flight.

Right as the caravan battle began.

Xander entertaining Daddy and Mommy

Daddy and Xander