bumper boats and putt putt

Last week was my nephew Justus's 3rd birthday!

And since Elika always likes to do fun stuff for her kids birthdays, she picked an activity we've never done before!!  Bumper boating!!

How cool is this?!  And who knew Hawaii had such a fun place to play at?
Granted, it was super the heck far away on Kaneohe Marine Corp Base...and since it was on base, there is the added headache of pre-registering and ID checks, but I must say it was worth the trouble!

And the kids all had a blast!

Here's some pics.  But by NO means all of the pictures.  

For the rest, you can take a look on our photo site.

Like always.

 The birthday boy.

Showing me how old he is now.  

 Here they are...strange to see such a place right in the middle of a residential neighborhood...but that's how military bases are, I guess.  

 Kaden, patiently waiting his turn on the boat with Daddy...

Because Mommy wasn't about to get in the boat and get sprayed with water.

 Rumi and Kela.  

 Aya and Anna.

 See what I mean about the water??

Yes, they ALL got soaking wet.

 Towards the end, I think some of the girls were less than thrilled about getting soaked.

 While Justus wasn't even looking at where he was spraying.

Soaking wet.  :)

 EVERYONE in the boats got soaking wet. 

But obviously loving every minute of it!  :)

 After boating was lunch.

 Can you believe...all these kids are cousins?

Who needs friends when you have so many cousins, right?

 Kaden is a fan of french fries.

 So is Knox.

 Kumen and his happy tummy. 

:)

 And then it was putt-putt golf time

 Luke trying to teach Jojo some putting techniques.

The gang.

 The birthday boy...and his yummy cupcakes.

Yay for a FUN afternoon!

And happy birthday to Justus Jett!!

And like I mentioned before, to look at all the pics I took from this day, check them out HERE!

circle isle on the bellanca

One of the perks of working for Hawaiian is the rich history the company has here in the islands.

In the early days of the company, they used to take passengers up on a small plane...to reassure the passengers that flying can be safe and fun!  

The plane they flew those passengers on was the Bellanca CH-300.

It was built in 1929.  And get this...it STILL FLIES!

And crazy that I am, I signed up to take the girls on a flight in the 83 year old plane.

 Here we are...ready to take off!

Since they only allow kids over the age of 5 to fly, Mitch had to stay back with Jojo and Kaden so I could fly with Kela and Anna.

 This is it!

The Bellanca.  It's 83 years old!!!

 Our pilot, Gene.

Not as old as the plane (ha ha ha...but pretty close!) 

Mitch trusted him, so I guess I did too.

And on a side note, when Mitch used to flight instruct at Flight School Hawaii, he used to teach Gene's wife to fly!  Small world, huh?

 Taxiing on the runway...we saw what looked like Air Force One!!!  

But apparently, it wasn't.

Close, though!  (would that be Air Force Two??)

 Taking off!!!

 Looking out over the airport and Ke'ehi Lagoon.

 Anna got to ride shotgun up front!!

 Magic Island & Ala Moana Beach park.  Looks so much different from up here!

 Waikiki Beach

 I'm starting to feel pretty queasy right about here...

 Above Diamond Head Crater.

 My "Trying not to freak out so my kids don't freak out" look.

I was kinda freaking out though....it got pretty bumpy!

 It was a beautiful and clear day...can you see Moloka'i?

 Passing through the Ko'olaus and over the Pali.

Very bumpy here!

 Anna's all smiles after we landed.

The girls had a BLAST!

And I did too...except for the nausea.

It was such a great experience! To get to fly in such a historical plane and look out over our beautiful island for FREE! 

The girls are already asking when they can go up again...but next time with Mitch.  :)

To look at ALL the pictures I took on the flight, take a look HERE!

kitchen reno, phase 2: painting

It was over a year ago that we started renovating our kitchen.

And when I say "renovate" it's just a loose term for painting.

Last time, we painted our cabinets white.  

Did you notice our walls are a light beige?

Yeah, not the best color combo...BUT after all the work of painting our cabinets, we needed a break!

And fast forward to this week, we finally got up the energy to bust out our painting chops once again.

This time, we tackled our walls.

 This is the before. 

 You'll notice this isn't the official "before" shot...as I forgot to take a picture before we taped and removed the light switch covers.  

Hmm...and forgot to remove one piece of artwork as well, it seems.

Oh, and the mess?  Please ignore.  That remains unchanged.

 After a mere 3 days (2 days of actual taping and painting.), here's the result.

I know what you're thinking...only 2 days of painting??  But hey, we have a small kitchen! 

Plus, we opted for a paint and primer in one.  Awesome!

We also painted the adjoining dining area as well, but it was simply TOO messy to take a picture for everyone to see.  Sorry, you'll just have to imagine it.

It isn't a drastic change...just a subtle grey color to contrast with our white cabinets and trim and black counter tops.  I like it!!  And once we can get up the energy, we will tackle the backsplash.  

Maybe next year.

oh and p.s.

Although no harm came to any child during this renovation...there did happen to be one casualty.  
Merely a set of pajamas.  
And maybe a couple strands of hair...

glow putt

Last week, we barged in on my sister's family outing and joined them for some glow in the dark putt putt golf.

It was our very first time...EVER!

I know what you're thinking... where have we been, right?

Well, needless to say, the kids had a BLAST!

See?  

Glow in the dark.

Jojo in her bright white t-shirt was hard to miss.  ;)

 As you can see by Kela's grip, my kids were novices in the game of putt putt golf...but that didn't mean they couldn't have fun anyway.

 I tried correcting Jojo's grip too many times to count...and every time, it ended up like this.

These two went around together...

 Of course.  

 While Elika had to chase this guy all around the courses....and keep him from getting putt putted over.

Or, from taking the balls away while being putt putted...

 Some glow in the dark action...Hugo is giving Kela some encouragement, I'm sure.

 After Anna's miraculous Hole-in-One!

 We broke up the kids into groups (because there were SO many kids!)

This was the older group.

Mitch managed to keep Kaden occupied for only half the time.

The rest of the time was spent keeping him from invading the course.

 ...Not always successful.

But at least he didn't run off with anyone's golf ball!

Not for lack of trying, I assure you...

The whole gang.

Yay!   We shall be back again soon!!