out of order

I have so many pictures. I'm just having a really hard time filtering through them and deciding what to put on here! I'm sure at this point, everyone has lost interest, but I will eventually do it anyway and you will be like "Oh yeah! They went to Hawaii!"

Some of the good and bad parts of our trip:

The great- watching this old white dude take pictures of his little Asian wife frolicking in the tide. He was a proud, proud man.

The horrible- watching our plane leave the island:

about to take off

going...

going....

gone. sniff sniff.

The best- coming home to these crazy little munchkins and watching them get excited over all the touristy crap we bought them.

What I miss- seeing a rainbow literally every single day.

Disturbia

Looking for a gymnast picture for a school project. These are a couple that I found that really shook me up. Which one disturbs you more? Let's vote.





1.

2.

Just a teaser...

I promise we really did go to Hawaii! I have just been insanely busy playing catch-up since we got home. I haven't exactly had the time to sit down and spend the crazy amount of time that it takes to upload all these pictures and videos!!!

Aaaaaand- I still don't have the time. But I will take a moment to share some things I learned during my visit to Waikiki:

*Lots of thick brown hair does not prevent one's scalp from getting seriously sunburned (and subsequently filling said thick brown hair with giant flakes of peeling skin....yum).

*No matter how much I hate my body right now, there are way worse ones tromping across the beach in string bikinis.

*Everything in the world should be flavored with fresh pineapple. Seriously. I put it in my coke, on my foods, in my water, in my mouth. I love it.

*Even though my kids drain my of every ounce of emotional and physical energy, I reaaaally miss them when I'm away from them.

*Convertibles are so fun...until you have to brush your hair for 30 minutes afterward. Plus I almost fell asleep twice while driving- I guess the breeze relaxes me a little too much.

*I like to hold my husband's hand.

*Even if you pay lots of money to stay in a super nice resort, you ultimately have no control over the water temperature in your shower.

*Hawaii is the ideal place to be a bum. This was the "cloaked marauder" that we passed several times throughout the week. I considered paying her to let me take her picture- she was SUPER creepy...in an awesome way- but I settled for capturing her while she napped @ the bus stop.

*When you wander around in a swimsuit all day, there is some inevitable chafing. Come on...I'm sure I'm not the only one who's experienced this.

*There's a reason I've never had room service. That reason is an additional $12 'room service charge' and an added 17% gratuity to the already outrageous price of $8 for a bowl of oatmeal. I don't know if my math is right, but I'm pretty sure that comes out to like $75 for breakfast mush.

*When you go to a vacation spot like Hawaii, there are people from all over the world and they are all on different time zones....which means you can plan to hear those heavy, metal, fire-safe doors slamming at all hours of the night..and day.

*I don't hate the beach as much as I thought I did....especially when I'm not dragging sandy, whiny kids along.



I think the Polynesian Cultural Center was the coolest part of our trip- I LOVED the show at the end of the night. It just felt like such an "authentic" Hawaiian experience. I wanted to record every moment of it, but this was definitely my favorite part. I just loved that there was this beautiful singing accented by an occasional screech. And the men are dancing with big, joyous movements while the women are smooth and controlled and beautiful. I even get chills watching this crappy recording of it! I'll try to get more pictures up soon!!!!

Lazy Hag

Hazel's getting so good lately at sounding out words and figuring out how they are spelled. Apparently my name is a bit difficult, though. Before Nathan corrected her "hug and kiss" portion of this family portrait, it said "hag and kiss." Soooo- it looked a lot like my label said "Lazy hag." I see what you think of me, Hazel. Thanks.

help a brotha out...

I need as many suggestions as you can give me. I need to think of something creative to put in my kids' lunches that doesn't involve sandwiches or lunchables. I already thought of soup- I'm going to start that one as soon as it's under 100 degrees outside.
Any other ideas?!?!?!

There's a hair in my bed

Let me just sing my husband's praises for a minute here. I have the best husband. He is such a hard worker. He is beautiful. He is passionate and sensitive. He is the first person I want to tell everything to. Nobody can make me laugh like he does. He is patient beyond belief. He does more for me and the kids than most husbands I know. He is so above and beyond what I deserve!

That being said, sometimes I get sooo grossed out by him. Is this just me? Living with a man is so disgusting. I could list all kinds of things...don't get me started. But the worst is his curly hair. I LOVE my husband's thick, dark, curly hair. The problem is, finding little black curly hairs everywhere can be kind of disturbing. You never know if they came from his head...or other places. I pulled the sheets off our bed to wash them today, and there were HUNDREDS of little, black, curly hairs on his side...all pushed down to the foot of the bed. ?????

Am I the only one who has these issues?

Guilty Pleasures

In one short month, I will be here. I can hardly believe it. Nathan and I have never been....well...anywhere. I told him I am totally counting this as our first "out of the country" adventure together. It counts, okay?





I don't even know what to think. It totally hasn't sunk in. I have looked at the pictures and listened as Nathan tells me of volcano tours, and surf lessons,but all I am thinking about is cleaning the house, shopping trips to find the right kind of clothes, cleaning out my car, shopping for groceries, organizing all the kids' activities, and GUILT!!!!! I don't mean the regular kind of mom guilt. This is worse than I have ever felt. I can't believe we are leaving our kids for an entire week. They have never been away from both of us like this. We are leaving them with amazing friends who I know will treat them as their own, but it doesn't help my guilt even the tiniest bit. I get stomach pains thinking about it. My kids are pretty old. Are they going to remember this and resent me for it forever?! They both felt very betrayed when they found out we were taking such an awesome trip without them...



WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME!?



I should be jumping for joy! No 2 am wake-up calls from Hazel. No homework. No fighting traffic @ the school. No fights over who is touching who or who did something the fastest or who is going to sit where. No yelling, no headaches, no crying, no whining....



The problem is, this also means no sweet little kisses. No listening to Hazel rattle off the entire day's events in 2 minutes. No wrapping my arms around those warm little bodies and sneaking in a good bum squeeze whenever I want. No hearing Owen's overly mature insights. I won't get to see their excited little faces for a whole week.



Will they be okay?



Will I be okay?



I literally get choked up thinking about it. I guess skype will become my best friend.