1st Day of 1st

Another school year begins for Chase. He started his first day of first grade and he was super excited. He was chomping at the bit to get started. And after the long summer wait he says he still loves school. He got a nice teacher and his friends are in his class again and he loves school lunch! I am just wanting to bottle up this love and enthusiasm for school-- I hope it lasts forever!

The Best Two Years

So Tyler is finally home! I've titled this post as the Best Two Years in reference to the movie-- however, we really did miss him and are super happy he's back! He got home the 4th after a marathon day of travel. We expected him home by noon but when he missed his connection from Houston to SLC we decided to spend time at the zoo. It was Tessa's first time there and she did not disappoint! She LOVED it! She would always just want to sit in front of whatever exhibit we were at and stare and talk to the animals. It was really cute. After the zoo we still had not gotten word when Tyler was to land so we mozied over to This Is the Place park and walked around there until the downpour. Plus it was closing time so we decided to head on over to the Gateway to waste more time. We got word he'd made the stand by flight that got him him by 7:30 so when it was time we headed to the airport to welcome him home! It was a long day but we were thrilled. I must also add that I did a lot of "I told you so's" with Randy because he was trying to schedule a work trip and thought he'd get away with a 4 o'clock flight the same day-- after I guilted him into staying-- I got to say-- "see, I told you there could be problems!" Anyway, we are sure glad he's home and he just reported yesterday in church so things should calm down for him as well!

Hawaii 5-O

Kauai!!!!

Playing at Chase's favorite beach Kalapaki-- aka the hot tub beach.

Sitting in "the hot tub"

No fear Tessa-- this was a constant for her-- always walking to the water-- we had to keep close to her!

I guess this was some new body surfing technique the boys were perfecting!

The kids watching Pirates in Grandma and Grandpas bed!

Our adults only dinner-- a really yummy restaurant called Monaco's. Super delicious and a really nice night!

Secret Falls

After Chase had a great time on the Kayak-- got to the falls and decided to have a little tantrum because I made him go swim by the waterfall which he said was too cold! Oops-- my bad-- he proceeded to have the fit for the next half hour-- oh goodie-- oh well, I guess every vacation can't be flawless!

Getting ready for the kayak excursion up the Wailua River then the hike to Secret Falls-- and yes Tessa went! She was a trooper! And I need to give a shout out to my kayak that had Chelsey and Dave N. -- we won the great kayak race-- Chelsey and Dave rowed like mad dogs and we dominated! I think I pulled my weight by singing show tunes from musicals such as Newsies and Wicked-- any singing by me will really motivate to get away from me!

Tunnels Beach

Tessa blowing bubbles-- her new found trick in Hawaii-- now not only does she dip her head in the water but she has added the bubbles! I think we have another fish on our hands-- oh goodie!

So we just returned from our Ohran family vacation. We went to the magical island of Kauai. We had an incredible time surfing, swimming, sunning, exploring, and the best of all-- bonding. These trips are the best. We just spend this amazing time together and make these incredible memories! I cherish every minute-- and that includes the disaster at the airport on the way home-- having our flight delayed for what seemed like an eternity because the door wouldn't shut-- but United airlines refused to cancel the flight and after a three hour delay (red-eye flight) we took off. Of course, missing our connection in LA we had our own version of the Ohran amazing race to see who could get home the fastest-- we got lucky and tied with Dave and Rox because we got on the first flight home going stand by-- everyone else got home different routes and at different times-- Shell and her family being eliminated from the race by arriving at 10:30pm after her 3 hour lay over in San Fran-- yep she didn't get a direct from LA to SLC.. needless to say it was an ugly night-- but we all tried to make the best of it by joking around and having fun-- that is until the flight attendants made us wake up our kids at 2 am to go have their regulated break-- umm excuse me??? Break from what? They didn't serve us one drink and frankly weren't even nice about the delay-- acting irritated when anyone would ask if they had an update-- hint ladies-- when in crisis mode put your nice crisis face on and humor the customer-- urgh-- that is when I lost it and called United headquarters to give them a piece of my mind-- some poor customer support person in India got an earful! Anyway, we made it home-- and safely-- the door didn't fly open which I thought might with every bump in the night! Oh I hate to fly especially under the threat of crashing. But no crash-- and a great trip! I just want to conclude this novel with a couple other highlights from the trip:

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  Mermaid Cafe-- the Chicken curry was spectacular!


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  Pat's taqueria-- thanks Sarah for the tip!


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  The Indian restaurant near the Pizza Hut in Kapaa-- better then Bombay!


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  Of course the POG and pineapple!


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  Our hotel pool-- nicest resort we've stayed at so far!


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  The Monk Seal we saw right on our beach! Did you know they're endangered?


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  The awesome running/ biking trail near the hotel!!!


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  Attending church in Kapaa-- so beautiful! I would love our chapel to be this pretty.


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  Misty's biking accident.


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  Randy getting strep throat! Yay!


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  Our new found friends Chris and Nicholas from Phoenix-- although practically locals-- Chris gave us some valuable tourist information that really helped enhance our trip!

I'm sure there is something I am forgetting-- if so-- I'll add for memories sake-- but, we had a wonderful time and are trying to figure out how we can get there again very soon!