warning: uber-long post

This past week, my good friend, Rachel flew in with her 2 little girls for a bit of R&R. Without her husband! When can I get a vacation like that?!

(But without the kids, too...)

Just kidding. Sort of.

Anyway...she stayed with us for a very busy and fun-packed 4 days.

Here's what we did.

We took advantage of the warmer weather to hit the pool in our townhome complex. Little Alice took to the water like a fish!

While Jolee pretty much stayed by the stairs...when she managed to actually get in the pool. Which was probably only about 10% of the time. She's my beach girl. Haven't quite sold her on the whole "pool" concept just yet.

Anna, of course, loves swimming.

Here's Lucy with her mama.

Then, we ate some yummy food.

If you can't tell, that's spaghetti sauce all over Alice.

I mean, Zippy's spaghetti is quite good!

Of course, we can't forget the beach.

Here we are at Ala Moana beach park.

Here's Jolee trying to run away...

And, here's Jolee pretending to be me...

A very nice stranger gave us this boogie board as he was leaving for the airport!

Which was a good thing since on this particular day, I forgot to pack EVERYTHING! How can you go to the beach without any sand toys or boogie boards?!

Friendly vacationer saved our day!

It really was a nice day....

Look! Jolee almost fell out of her suit! ha ha ha...

I'm guessing this was around the time that Alice "did her business" in her suit. It was funny. But only because it wasn't me. LOL...!

Sorry Rachel...

End of first day at beach.

After a hot day outdoors...we cooled off with some fro-yo.

Lucy seemed to like her watermelon with gummy bears.

Mmmm! And healthy, too!

(right? I mean, it IS yogurt!)

We dragged Rachel and her girls to Anna's weekly preschool class.

Even in the rain, Mrs. Neil (Anna's teacher) didn't want to cancel the outdoor class...so we huddled together...

Ran through an obstacle course...

"fished" some bath toys....


And on the bear hunt...

Happened upon a couple of cute and cuddly bears!

Then...we hit the beach again.

This time on the North Shore.
Doesn't it look cold?

It was! And windy, too!

But of course, the kids didn't mind.
Probably because I didn't forget the beach toys this time.

Or the boogie boards!

We stayed for a short hour or so only...but it was enough.

End of beach day #2.

At home...munching on some Trader Joe's
"Jo-Jo's" cookies.

Thanks for all the yummy TJ's snacks you brought, Rach!

I blame the extra pounds I gained this week on you. :)

The day before we said "Aloha Oe" to our friends...Mitch graciously watched ALL FIVE of our combined kids so Rachel and I could hike Diamond Head. And then walk back the 2 miles to Airi's house where the kids and Mitch were waiting.

Whew! It felt great to get out there...but dang, I felt old!

Then...with only hours left of their trip, we ventured out to the beach one last time. And since I forgot my camera...the only shot I got was this.

But I think it captured our feelings that day perfectly!

It was sunny and hot! And we had a blast!

Of course, since no one can leave Hawaii without first having at least one bowl of shave ice...we took them to our favorite joint, the Ice Garden.

Jolee enjoying her rainbow shave ice.

Or, what's left of it...

We sure had fun with you all!

Aloha Oe, and come back soon!!

To check out some more pictures we took...and believe me, there's TONS more...take a look here!

mother's day weekend

Usually for Mother's Day, we get together with all my family here in Hawaii and have a huge pot-luck gathering.

This year was no different.

Except we had it on Saturday instead of Sunday.

And it was a BBQ.

Mitch took me out to dinner on Friday night with the girls so we could celebrate with "just us."

But I didn't take any pictures there...since we had ALL the girls with us.

I mean, is it even considered a celebration dinner with the kids?

Apparently it is.

Anyhoo-back to our BBQ.

Will you look at these coals? I just had to take a picture...there's a "K" on them! For the Kingsford Charcoal that we used...I thought it was pretty fancy of them.

And clever, too, considering they're getting free advertising now with me posting it on my blog and all...

(Maybe I should seek royalties...)

Before dinner, we did a little jumping on the trampoline.

Not to mention a bit of wrestling.


And some loungin' about.

And after all that yummy BBQ chicken and steak...dessert was root beer floats (not pictured because I scarfed it down in 30 seconds flat!) and brownies.

Then on Sunday, some good friends came over for a Sendai Mission reunion dinner. Well...just two Sendai RM's and two members of the Koriyama branch, but you get the idea.

What great fun it was to sit back and reminisce!

Me with Yuko (who was here on a belated honeymoon) and Emiri (who will soon be heading off on a mission of her own!)

The girls.

Playing so nicely together...

Happy Mother's Day!

sun, sand and pork rinds!

Ha ha ha...

So my girls like fried pork skins.

What's wrong with that?

They like the beach, too!

Why not put two likes together?!

We enjoyed a HOT day at the beach this past May Day.

It was SUPER crowded...but the sun was so hot and the water was so warm!

We didn't even notice the crowds!

(*well, except for Daddy...who had to fight for parking! )

Jolee "painting" sand on Kela's legs.

Playing in the little "cove" that Daddy helped dig.

Come on, summer!!