fun times with the griffins

Right before Spring Break, we had the pleasure of (finally!) meeting an old friend of Mitch's from way back in his teenage (and maybe pre-teen?) years.  Mitch hadn't seen Jason and his family for many years, and for the rest of us, it was our very first meeting of the Griffins.  Although you wouldn't have guessed it from all the emails and facebook posts we've exchanged over the years!

Anyhoo, the Griffin family came and visited the islands for a week and we got to hang out with them quite a lot & crash their family vacation.  Hope they didn't mind!

First stop was taking them tidepooling at our very favorite spot for fishing and hermit crab-hunting.

Our resident fish-catcher, Anna, was still in school so it was just me and Jolee and Kaden.  No fish were caught this day (bummer!) but Jolee showed Alex and Levi how to snag some hermit crabs!

As you can see in the picture, the boys were a tad squeamish & merely pointed out the crabs for Jolee to grab.  They, however, did not touch any themselves.  Ha!

Next stop was the beach.  We took them to our favorite beach for little kiddies.  Hope they didn't mind the wave-less waters of Ala Moana...but it's our go-to beach for the non-swimmers.  

 And since this was after school got out for the girls, they got to join in on the fun. 

 Mitch and Jason, finally getting to catch up after almost 10 years (not to mention several kids later)!

 Kaden found this little toy truck on the beach.  

 Anna and Ryan are both 6 years old ...and only 1 week apart in age.

Hmm...wouldn't know it to look at them, eh?

Eating dinner at Diamond Head Grill.

Another one of our favorites. :)

(not pictured was the giant cockroaches scaling the walls next to us...that the kids just found FASCINATING!  Welcome to Hawaii, guys!)

One great benefit to having friends come visit is that we get to pretend to be tourists with them!!

So, today we invaded their afternoon at the Dole Plantation. :)

It's quite amazing the things we "locals" miss out on simply because it's always there!  Makes me feel like I should go out and be a tourist more often!

This was during the giant Pineapple Garden Maze at the Dole Plantation.

Supposedly the largest pineapple maze in the world!

Though seriously...how many pineapple mazes could there possibly be in the world, right?

 It was hot and actually quite difficult navigating our way through and in and out of the tall hedges...but we managed to locate all the required stops eventually.  I think it took us exactly one hour!  Not too shabby!  

Here Jolee is marking her card with the stencil while Lucy is patiently waiting her turn.

 After the maze, we rode the train that took us all around the Pineapple plantation!

A little educational sight-seeing tour!

By this point, all our kids were in LOVE with the Griffins!  They were nearly inseparable!

 See Jolee's arm around Levi's?  

Did I mention we LOVE the Griffins?

Don't mind my photo bomb...I thought this was so stinkin' cute!

And then their last night, we had a bbq out at Waikiki.

Awww....so sad to see them go!

 But before that, we had to take them to eat some shave ice!

I really wanted to take them to Shimazu's so Jason could have his Halo Halo (he served his mission in the Philippines) but since they were closed, Waiola's it was.  Which is super yummy shave ice as well, so no real loss there, I guess.  And it was definitely a hit with the Griffins as well!

 And then after shave ice it was time for some malasadas.  

Leonard's, of course.

Yea, it was super sad to say goodbye...our kids made such great friends that week! 

Probably can't tell, but Lucy is over a year YOUNGER than Jolee!  Ha! 

 (My kids are so tiny!)

Aloha Oe, Griffin Ohana!

Hopefully we can get together and play again soon!!

a bit of cousin-ly competition

When cousins get together, this is often what ensues.

They are growing up SO fast...we find ourselves checking to see exactly HOW FAST they are growing.

And who is growing faster than the other.  he he

 Obviously Luke wins this round.

Despite Jolee weighing more at birth (by 2 oz, but still...) Luke's always been the bigger one of these two.

 And even though Kela's 7 months older, it looks like Hugo's started to catch up...and maybe even surpass Kela in size.  

We're not exactly sure what kind of competition this is...but as the evening progressed, so did these two's antics.  Ha ha ha...we sure do love living so close to our cousins!!

great season pink pandas!

Anna's soccer season was over before we knew it!

She was very fortunate to be on a strong team, with lots of talented players this season.  

Of course it's nice to win a lot of games (they were undefeated), but more than anything, I enjoyed watching Anna progress on the field and make new friends and gain confidence in herself.

Here's the end of season potluck and awards ceremony.  Many of her teammates were repeats from last season, and so she had lots of fun with her friends.  

Here's some random pics from the season...

Despite her size (she's the smallest on the team), she's actually pretty aggressive and isn't afraid to get right in between and in front of the opposing players.  

We were so proud of her and really enjoyed watching her on the field!

 She has really improved her dribbling this season!

 You cannot tell, but this is actually her "goal shot."

This may look like a goal shot, but it's not.  

The ball was already crossing the line before she kicked it in.  :)

Anna and her coach R.J.

Way to end a great season!!

Good job, Anna!

hawaiian snowman

The bad news: our freezer is broken!

The good news:  the girls can make little snowmen and snowballs with all the frost I managed to scrape off the back of the freezer!

Even better news:  It was only for a day.

Sears repair guy came over in the afternoon and fixed it with a simple little part and it was a relatively inexpensive ordeal. 

Yay for not needing to buy a new fridge!

And yay for our little Hawaiian snowman!

tidepooling

Yes, another tidepooling day.

It doesn't matter how many pictures I take of hermit crabs in the palm of my hand...I still find it fascinating to watch them come out of their little shells and crawl around!

 My kids LOVE going tidepooling.  And even more when it's with their cousins!
Today was just Kumen...and they had lots of fun catching fish and hermit crabs galore!

We sure do love low tide!!

To me, this is what Hawaii living is all about!!  

Enjoying nature and its beauty...and then returning it back into the ocean for another day.  :)

karate girl

Anna has been asking us (begging us, really) to start Karate classes for MONTHS!

I kept brushing it off, thinking it was a phase (and too much Power Rangers on Netflix), but she kept insisting, so we decided to enroll her.

 I found a great dojo real close by and after trying it out earlier in the week, she officially started classes today.  She LOVES it!

I came early to pick her up and caught her practicing her high blocks.  

She looks so cute in her little do-gi!  And since she seems to really enjoy it, I'm glad I enrolled her.

I truly believe martial arts are a great way for kids to learn discipline and balance and get some physical exercise!  So excited for her progression in Karate!  

Ganbare Anna!  

Osu!  

let's go fly a kite...

The girls got a kite for Christmas...and we've been putting off actually taking it out for months.

But finally, the wind was just right and so we decided to take it out for a whirl.

 Here's Kela trying to get it to fly!

The kids took turns chasing it and trying to catch it.  Unfortunately, the wind was kind of fickle this afternoon so they actually managed to catch it quite a few times. 

I think I got the most exercise running back and forth, trying to get it to take flight...but it was a beautiful afternoon and watching that kite soar was something quite exhilarating to watch!