It has been busy since the holidays. It seems like every weekend we have some event to go to. The 1st weekend in February was no different. On Saturday we went over to Phoenix's friend's house, Caitlin for dinner. It was such a fun night of play. I did not get any pictures of the evening, but the girls put on a dance show and the boys built a Lego set.
The following day Phoenix went to her friend, Violet's birthday party. Here is Phoenix next to one of her BFFs Kyla.
Violet's parents went all out and the party ended with a unicorn pinate. Phoenix came home with one of the unicorn's legs full of candy.
Later that day we had the Gunion's over to watch the Super Bowl and for a BBQ. They had a blast learning more about American football as they are from Australia. Here is a picture of the kids all watching for a moment in between playing a new game Phoenix received for her birthday.
On February 6th Axel left school a few minutes early to get two more teeth extracted. He had permanent teeth roots that were starting to become eroded from other permanent teeth coming in diagonally. The hope of the dentist and orthodontist is that by removing the two baby teeth the permanent teeth will "reroute" and find their way more in a downward fashion, rather than the diagonal fashion that they are currently in. The teeth will have to be watched for the next 6 months. If they don't start changing their direction then they will have to be forced down into the correct space. Axel is such a trooper and managed the whole thing quite well.
He enjoyed a soft diet for 24 hours and occupied his mind by reading, of course!
On February 7th, the first graders had a Valentine's day breakfast event. Daddy went to the Kindergarten Christmas breakfast, so I went to this years. Here Phoenix is in her favorite new hat the her great Aunt Lois and Uncle Paulie sent from Canada. She absolutely loves her pig princess hat and the awesome books she received.
We read stories together, played games and enjoyed a waffle and strawberry breakfast together.
Here she is with her home room teacher, Mrs. Wallace and her good friend Evan.
The next day, Feb. 8th we left bright and early for SFO where we departed to Honolulu, HI. We arrived just after noon and were at our hotel before 3pm. We explored Waikiki and happened to come upon an awesome Lunar New Year celebration at the mall. This was the beginning of a dragon dance that we saw.
We then got to see the Lion's dance from "beginners". They did their dance up and down from this step.
We all enjoyed watching it.
Rubix had the privilege of catching a Mandarin orange which is considered good luck.
The show ended with a Lion dance from "advanced" Kung Fu students, which was nerve racking and amazing all at once. They did their amazing dance on these poles. The Lion has two people that make up the front and back and they have to coordinate every move together on these poles. Truly amazing!
The next day we went on the Pillbox hike and then played at Lanikai beach for a few hours in the afternoon.
The kids did amazing going up the steep climb.
Here we are at the top. We were so incredibly proud of the kids.
The view was amazing.
The beach was clear and the kids has a blast playing in the sand.
They even played in the water a bit. I had come down with a cold the Wednesday before leaving and was still not feeling top notch at this point so I took pictures and rested on the beach, which was a nice treat for me.
After dinner that night we checked out a desert shop that served banana and acai ice cream. Let's say it wasn't exactly a hit, but we did have fun walking home!
The next day was a rainy day off and on so we headed to Pearl Harbor and the Aviation Museum.
This was the second hanger that housed planes from Pearl Harbor.
We even got to go inside one.
Very cool!
The best part of the day was playing inside the interactive dome. We flew like birds and flew fighter jets.
On Tuesday we went to Waimea Valley and falls. It was another day that was off on rain, but we got lucky with two downpours right before and right after our 3 hours walking through the beautiful tropical forest.
We loved the peacocks.
Here is a map of all of the great side trails that we were able to explore on our way toward the 30 foot water fall.
You can see how beautiful it was there.
Breathtaking, isn't it?
Daddy loves banana trees!
We love to climb up rocks and steps!
The waterfall.
We even got to make a ringlet or small Lei.
On the way home we stopped by the Pineapple plantation. We really wanted to do the Pineapple Maze, but it was closed because of all the rain. We decided to have some pineapple whip and ride the pineapple express.
On Wednesday we climbed Diamond head. The kids were a little disappointed in the ease of the gradual climb after having completed the Pillbox hike. Axel counted only 513 stairs, which included the way up and down. There was no view the entire way up until we got to the top, which was also a bit disappointing as the Pillbox hike gave you a view the entire way up.
The view from the top was awfully pretty though.
That afternoon/evening was more hours of beach play and watching the sun set at 6:27 pm.
Mommy and Daddy trying to take a selfie of us at Sunset.
Daddy lost his credit card and he was pretty sure it was at the Pineapple Plantation so when we drove to Manoa Falls to see it was closed we headed back to the plantation. We got extra lucky as they had Daddy's credit card in lost and found and we got to enjoy the world's largest pineapple maze.
Rubix hadn't had a formal nap the entire time, but we got lucky with all of the kids taking a quick 30 minute snooze on the way back to Waikiki.
Yes, you guessed it. Another afternoon and evening of beach play we in store for Thursday.
Rubix loved the ocean the most and did the most swimming and playing with daddy in the ocean each evening.
Phoenix and Axel love to create and thus played and build in the sand with very little swimming each day.
Thursday night we had our first meal out. We went to the mall to Mahaloha Burgers. The kids scarfed their burgers and fries and we were all so full we could hardly eat breakfast the next morning. Instead of going out to breakfast for Valentine's day like we did last year, we had breakfast at 2pm after exercising at the YMCA.
Here Phoenix has fully enjoyed the Valentine's day chocolate pancakes at Eggs and Things. I had a delicious Ahi tuna and egg breakfast and Keith had a yummy Hawaiian eggs benedict. The boys had their usual chocolate chip pancakes and scrambled eggs.
After our 2 pm "breakfast", which we deemed as Linner (for lunch and dinner), we went shopping for the first time. We found these great Hawaiian outfits and because the price was right, I got my wish of having matching outfits for the first time! It was so much fun taking pictures on the beach.
The kids stayed and played on the beach one last time.
We also watched the sun set one last time before heading in for showers.
We were all showered and ready to watch the fireworks before heading off to bed. We had a lovely time together and we discovered the kids new found maturity in adventures with hiking and exploring the great outdoors. We still have some obstacles with food and behavior, but our very hopeful in more exploring, maybe even outside our country in the next few years.
Now we are back to the grind and looking forward to school and work. I am approaching my last couple of weeks before my big exam. I will be missing in action until March 6th. After my exam we are looking forward to the boy's birthdays and some fun spring cleaning. Our next post is most likely for Rubix's birthday in mid March. Please pray that I will rely on God's strength, wisdom and peace during this very stressful time for me. I know I can do anything through Christ Jesus's strength and it is he who has opened all of these doors for me. I am learning to trust! God Bless!
