Hawaii

This is one of those times that my usual habit of not recording ANYTHING with actual photographs would have been helpful. I took over 500 pictures in Hawaii--and of course (because the scenery was amazing and my kids are so darn cute) they are (mostly) all fabulous! I know no one wants to scroll through hundreds of pictures, and I certainly don't want to sit here and upload them! But, I do actually want to remember this trip--because it was so wonderful that my usual snarky self has nothing bad to say about it! :) So, I'll try to edit the best I can and only include a sample (but...you've been warned!).

Day ONE

Day TWO

We were walking somewhere when we came upon this park...our original plans were put on hold so we could spend some a lot of time being monkeys!

At the Waikiki Aquarium--which was way cool!

 Day THREE

Pearl Harbor

Our friend, Nino, went with us...as I was looking through pictures I realized there weren't that many with him (he was behind the camera a lot--he works as a camera operator on movies--so I took advantage!). Anyway, I'm including this picture as proof that he actually WAS there! It was great to have him....he is part of the family, in a 7th child sort of way! (Just kidding!...sort of)

I added these two pictures to show everyone that my children don't have any better manners when we are on vacation...yes, that's Jesse changing into trunks right on the beach. Proud moment for me.

Joey won't be happy I included this one--but almost every picture I took of him had some serious plumber crack going on...I had to put at least one in :)

Doesn't he totally look like a surfer dude?! He could be one--that kid could balance on anything!

And THIS kid could smile through anything!

There is no way I'm old enough to have a son with shoulders that look like that.

 These next several pictures go together...I took them in rapid succession as the boys (+ dad) were jumping a wave.

Day FOUR

Thirsty?? Ewwwwww--gross!

Hard to chastise THAT face, though!

 

The boys were trying to make a giant sudoku puzzle (yeah, the geek doesn't fall far from the tree)...Lolli was trying her best to thwart their efforts! (apparently, the geekiness is too much for her)

 

My fave!!

 

"OUR" beach...can't remember the real name--but it was awesome! We ended up spending a good part of 3 days there and basically had it to ourselves. :)

I love how Lolli looks like she's walking with such a purpose in this one...probably on her way to stop her brothers from making a crossword puzzle.

Day FIVE

At the Polynesian Cultural Center

Drew and Ace were chosen to participate in a dance...this was as animated as they got. I guess there ARE some things Drew won't smile through!

 

Jason and Nino were chosen to race each other in starting a fire with a stick.

 

Nino won. Jason still doesn't want to talk about it. :)

Then they got to participate in a dance. It was as hilarious as you think it might be.

 

 Day SIX
(which also happened to be Jesse's Birthday!!)

We went to the Dole Pineapple Plantation to do the giant maze, because Drew said, "Giant mazes are like my favorite thing in the whole world!" Who knew??

I had to include this, because this is what Ace spent much of the vacation doing--playing on my phone.

Check out Jesse's face in the background! What the??

 

Jesse's b-day wouldn't be complete without a trip to Tony Romas for some ribs!

  Day SEVEN
(last day--so sad.)

We started the day by trying to get a family picture...it went as well as it usually does.

 












  I really did try to narrow it down--I promise! I apologize to the one person who spent all day scrolling through these pictures. (I'm sure most people gave up after Day two!)...if you could see all the cuteness that got left out, you would appreciate my efforts more :) And I realize that all of the sizes and centering are off--but I'm not going to bother fixing it after I've spent the better part of an afternoon uploading all of these pictures...it will have to do. :)