Sunday, January 25, 2009

Hawaii

John and my brother-in-law Mike waiting for the perfect wave
Having yummy sushi
John and Ella shopping on Front Street on Maui
John and I at the luau
Ella listening to some tunes
Ella and I relaxing
Whaler's village - Ella and John next to whale bones
The family at The Gazebo (a great restaurant)
Everyone who came to Hawaii - Matt's friend Jeff is taking the picture
Family picture on Maui
Ella loved the flowers
John, Ella and I made lei's
Playing in the sand
"Spouting Horn" on Kauai
Waterfall on Kauai
Hanging out at our condo
Ella loves Hawaii
Ella, my dad, and John loving life
John and Ella playing on the beach
In front of our place on Kauai
The kids with Grandpa and Grandma Briggs
Dean and Elysee's first plane ride
After we got to Hawaii (3 flights and 3 tired kids later)
Sunrise on Kauai
"The Lighthouse" on Kauai
We're back from Hawaii. We spent about a week in Kauai and another week in Maui. It was Ella's first time seeing the ocean and she loved it! Some of the highlights of the trip were staying at our timeshare on Kauai and having an ocean front condo, sight-seeing and exploring Kauai (it was our first time on that island), having chickens and roosters wake us up in the morning, seeing the sunrise every morning while on Kauai and seeing the sunset every evening while on Maui, having an ocean view at my parents timeshare on Maui, spending time with my family, yummy sushi, going to the Old Lahaina Luau, watching John and Ella play together in the water, and my #1 favorite thing was doing absolutely NOTHING! If we didn't feel like going out we just stayed at the condo.

Quick story - My parents didn't want any kids at the luau (just an adult evening) and John and I were stressing about trying to find a babysitter for the kids. I really didn't feel comfortable leaving the babies. The nanny service was going to be $26/hour! And we needed someone for 4 hours. At the ward on Maui we just happened to sit next to such a nice family and asked if they knew of any babysitters. They volunteered to watch the kids for us and I immediately felt comfortable with them. Anna is my age and has a little boy (Jay) Ella's age, her husband is deployed and she is staying with her parents until he gets home. So there were 3 adults to watch the kids. It was so nice to have a break from the kids and have some time with John. When we went to pick up the kids, you could tell they were happy to have us there. Anna and her parents said they didn't know how we handle that every day. When we tried to pay them, they said that they didn't want any money and just wanted to do it to give us a break!!! I just couldn't believe that this little family had so much love and compassion for us. I was honestly at a breaking point and ready to come home from the trip early, but this saved me. It's great to know that there are such sweet members who are willing to go above and beyond to help someone else.

16 comments:

The Kooky Queen--Rachel said...

Ohhhhh AWESOME pictures!!! I just *felt* warmer looking at them! Lucky duck! And the girls' sun dresses are so darling! That is such a neat story about that family that watched your kids for you, how sweet! Such good people. I'm so glad you had fun!!!

Anonymous said...

Fun! Fun! Fun! I am so jealous. It looks like you had so much fun spending time with your family.

Jadi said...

I am so jealous! Thanks for sharing all of the great pictures.

AmberLou said...

Looks like you had an amazing time in Hawaii. I absolutely love the picture of John and Ella on the beach by the waves... it is so cute! How fun to have a night at the luau all to yourselves! :) It is so fun to see pictures of your family... I miss you all so much!

Heather said...

great ideas - and glad you found a babysitter that didn't cost a fortune.

fun fun times!

Marleen said...

Looks amazing. I love Ella's sun dress. Such a cutie.

Amy said...

Looks like you guys had soooooo much fun. And . . . I'm jealous. Some day. I think you now need to take a trip to Vegas!

Xazmin said...

Wow...I'm so jealous! Those pictures are awesome! I wanted to say thanks for posting about our tutu and pixie wings on the Daisy Craft giveaway.

BrittanyW said...

Your trip to Hawaii looked like such fun! I can't even believe how brave you guys are to take all those kids to HI. I can't even imagine the airplane ride. I also can't believe you guys have twins too!!! Aren't they fun? I love it! Let's keep in touch. It's fun to see you guys are doing well.

Amy said...

You know whats funny looking at the pics I was wondering the same thing, how on earth does she do this everyday, theres kids everywhere. You're a superwoman. I'm glad you got a break, and even nicer a break in Hawaii.

The Rambler said...

Visiting from the welcomistas from SITS...

I live in Hawaii (on Oahu)so it's always a nice surprise to see someone showing off the photos of this beautiful place :)

Your family looked like you had a great time!

Hope to see you around SITS.

Steph at Problem Solvin' Mom said...

Amazing pictures - we love Hawaii, but so far haven't been brave enough to do it with kiddos. How did the flight go? Vacations with little ones can be so much WORK, huh? ;) Glad you found a wonderful family so you could go to the luau and relax a little.

Ash said...

Such absolute fun!! It has been almost 10 years since I've been to Kauai - thanks for the mini vacation. Your family is beautiful.

Welcome to SiTS!! Em

Allison said...

I love the story! Amazing people. Looks like you had a lot of fun. You are so amazingly brave to attempt this with your sweet like kids, but it sounds like it all worked out and that you had a great time. Such beautiful pictures!

Synergy Girl said...

What an adorable family you have!! I loved going to the Ward there...!! It was so vibrant and exciting! I wished it was like that here...I guess that is why it is a vacation though...Has to be different somewhere so that it isn't the same everywhere! Love your blog, so cute!!

Sapphire said...

thanks for sharing that story. going on vacation with kids is totally different from going on vacation pre-kids. I understand wanting to come home early just to get back to normalcy. Right now I am on a week vacation with my two kids but my hubby couldn't come at the last minute. ugh!
Anyhoo, that was a lot of pressure your family put on you to have an adults only evening. Gosh! But great that you found a sitter you felt comfortable with.
Welcome to SITS!!!