Happy Birthday, Mason!

Today we celebrated Mason's 7th birthday! Actually, we celebrated all weekend long! Saturday we went to Hawaiian Waters Adventure Park. Bob and I kept saying, "Why did we wait 3 years to come here?!" It was a blast! We bought season tickets so we'll be sure to go many more times! Mason brought his friend, Isaac, from school and our good friends the Kemps met us there. We didn't take many pictures because all of us were in the water most of the time. They have water slides for two year olds all the way up to adults. As you can see Bob had to try one of the "big slides" just before we left. :)



And, just to prove that we are insane, Bob and I did a "room makeover" project even after being totally zapped by the fun and sun at the water park. I had gotten the idea in January to redo Mason's room as a surprise for his birthday. So, we put the kids to bed in our room and worked until almost 1:00 am to redecorate his room. Then, we carried him to his bed and it went just as planned. He stayed asleep and I was lucky enough to be peeking in his room this morning when he woke up. The look on his face was priceless! It was so worth staying up late peeling wallies off the wall. Those are the moments that parenting is so much fun! Here are a couple of pictures of the process.

And, the finished product.....


The shelves are yet to go up. We ran into a snag with that part and need to make another trip to Home Depot for different hardware. All in all, it came out well.
Hope you all have a great week!

Mission Diamond Head: Accomplished!

This momentus occasion actually was a week and a half ago. Many of you know that Pearl's dream to climb Diamond Head was left unfullfilled last time they were in Hawaii due to downpours of rain. Well, they made the dream a reality on April 4, 2007! YEA!!

Bob, Larry, and Pearl went while the kids and I were in school. They reported the weather conditions fabulous and the view amazing!

Here are just a few more shots of the kids at swimming lessons.

Beach Patrol, Honolulu!!

I had to blog about my 5 minutes of fame Saturday. Just as I was putting sunscreen on Mason Kenzie started screaming. She had gotten stung by a bee on her upper thigh. Well, I couldn't ever remember her getting stung before so to be safe I took her up to the lifeguard stand. Well, as I was telling him what happened this lady with a giant video camera was filming our entire conversation. She didn't tell me why so I finally asked. They were filming for a show called Beach Patrol that airs on Court TV. I guess it's like a "Cops" but about lifeguards. (Google Beach Patrol - Court TV) So, to make a long story short, I ended up filling out release pictures and being "interviewed" about what happened. They came down to where we were sitting and asked me to retell the story of her bee sting and what the lifeguard did (ice pack). He even asked, "So, what made you go to the lifeguard?" I explained that my son has a severe peanut allergy and I know how serious bee stings can be if you are allergic. Anyway, the camera lady also got some shots of Kenzie playing with Bob and Mason in the sand.
By the way, Kenzie is fine. She actually had stopped crying by the time I reached the lifeguard stand. He kept telling her how brave she was and he was very good with her.
So, the Honolulu episodes air in August sometime. We won't know if we're on until we actually watch. I'll keep you posted!!
We also saw some turtles that day and a beautiful sunset. The day before the kids dyed Easter eggs.
That's all for now! :)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter! This is the same picture I posted last time but you may not have noticed the cross up on the hill. (I didn't even notice that it was in the picture until I posted it!)It of course is the perfect reminder of Jesus' sacrifice on the cross and His glorious resurrection!
"But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by his wounds we are healed.
We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all" Isaiah 53:5-6

"But God raised Him from the dead, freeing Him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on Him." Acts 2:24

Easter is a day to celebrate Christ's victory over Satan and death! I pray you have a joyous, blessed day!

Finally, here are just a few pics of our trip to Maui. Maui is beautiful in a very peaceful, rural kind of way. The mountains and the ocean are just as majestic as here but because it's so rural you get the calm, quiet countryside along with the majesty. (If that makes any sense!)
Anyway, the pic of the kids with socks on their hands is from the morning we got up at 2:00am and drove up to Haleakala to watch the sunrise. It was beautiful to see the sun come up when you were already up 10,000 ft. But, it was freezing cold! Don't laugh but it was about 35 degrees and we were still cold with blankets wrapped around us. It was worth it though!
I'll be posting more an more. We have a lot of pictures!! :)