Sophia's 5th Birthday Party!

This year Sophia decided on a Tangled birthday party.  Lucky for me all my kids had special bday milestones this year, 10, 8, 5 and 12....I say that with much sarcasm.  That meant a lot of work for special birthday parties.  I guess Ben took care of Boston's so that was nice.  But Ethan's Angry Bird Party took a lot of prep work, and Sophia's was the same.  The main event of the party was the Wet Slide Bounce house.  Once that was ordered (trying to forget about the cost), there was lots of planning and creating. For decorations I bought yarn and made two huge braids with purple bows on the end.  I hung one on the front door and one on our pool gate.  I also printed off purple pennet banners with the sunburst logo from the Movie.  I also hung yellow lanterns on the outdoor ceiling fan and decorated the tables with purple table clothes.  For activities, I printed off a Tangled coloring sheets, and prepared a Pascal craft, out of party blowers, and green foam.  The kids LOVED these and using glue dots made them super easy to make!  Ben used his artistic abilities (ie projecting and tracing) to make this poster of Flynn Ryder so the kids could play, "Smack Flynn in the Head with a Frying Pan".  I copied and cut little frying pans and used the glue dots (love you glue dots) to stick on his head, blindfolded of course!   I also set up this wall, so they could draw like Tangled did on her walls!  So as you can see, I did a lot of cutting between the banner, pans, and Pascals!  For food I made chicken salad sandwiches, and had a fruit, veggie, and cheese and cracker plate.  The cheese and strawberries were the most popular item.  I think the next party I'm just sitting out cheese cubes and Strawberries! Oh these Jello boats were also a hit!  It was a hot day,(so HOT the crayons melted in the glass container), and the kids spent most of their time on the wet slide.   I let Sophia invite all her friends, thinking not all of them could make it.  Only two couldn't come!  That meant 16 kids not including  cousins, and a few siblings and neighbors.  We wrapped things up by singing Happy Birthday and serving up this cute Tangled Birthday cake and handing out ice cream cups ( my new favorite way to serve ice cream at birthday parties).  She got a lot of fun gifts, including a few duplicate Tangled Barbies.  For party favors I made these paints, and in the girls bags I also put in small hair brushes and color braided hair extension clips, and in the boys I found these cool glow in the dark swords.  I know there was something else, but my memory is going!  Sophia and her friends had a great time, making all the time and money totally worth it!

Sophia is 5!

Wow!  It's really hard to believe that Sophia is five.  I can't remember her not being in my life, but it just doesn't seem right that my youngest child is that old.   Her Birthday was the day after we got back from New York.  So instead of unpacking, I spent my time hanging streamers in her doorway.  I was awakened to her by my beside at 5:30 am.  She hadn't seen us since we left for our trip, so she was just excited to see us.  I wished her a Happy Birthday and sent her back to bed.  She had no problem falling asleep.  She slept through scripture study, and was pleased when she woke up to a day of spoiling.  I made her bed for her, and then made her a special breakfast.  After she got dressed she said, "Mom, I'm ready for my party!"   She was so disappointed that her party wasn't till the end of the week.  I told her the day was all about her.  I put everything else aside, and focused my attention on her the whole day.  (Which was hard with a suitcase full of clothes needing to be put away!).    We watched TV together, played together, and then I took her to one of her favorite lunch spots, Chick-filet.  There I bought her a shake to go with her lunch.  After lunch, we stopped by Walmart to get her dinner request, which was Alfredo Rigatoni.  I also picked up some cupcakes to share with her soccer team at practice that night.  When we got home we took a nice nap together.  Yes folks, my 5 year old still take naps!  Both of my girls did, but my boys were done with naps by 3!   After nap time was soccer practice. She was excited to share her birthday with her soccer friends.  While at soccer, I picked up a cheesecake for her birthday dinner.  My kids LOVE cheesecake.   When she got home we ate dinner, and did our family birthday tradition of going around the table and everyone saying something they love about Sophia, instead of doing our High's and Low's.  Then Sophia opened the family gifts.  Aubrie bought her a pillow pet, and the boys bought her headbands.  My Mom bought her a bathing suit and nightgown she had been wanting.  We spoiled her with lots of clothes.  Sophia can never get enough clothes!  Sophia had a great day, and she was so thankful for everything, even down to her bed being made!  I'm so grateful to have her for a daughter.  She is so kind, smart, peppy, and has a great enthusiasm for life.  She is always singing, no matter who is listening, and you might find her dancing, too.  She has such a cute sense of style.  She puts things together I would have never thought of, and 99 percent of the time they look cute.  I just look the other way the other 1 percent!  She tries  hard to do the right thing, and when she makes a mistake, she feels bad and apologizes.  She has a great love for her Grandma Beverly, and has that same ray of sunshine that my Mom and Grandma exhibited.  I know that's why people are drawn to her!  I feel privileged to be her Mother!

Easter 2012

Last Minute Church Parking Lot Easter Photo!

Tradition Continues with Easter Dinner and Egg Hunt with the Hawkins, or as Sophia says "Our Hawkins!"

Hawaii Day 6 &7

Day Six was our relaxing day.  We spent the entire day at the resort.  We first started at the beach.   The water is to cold for me, but I enjoyed laying out on the lounge chairs taking in the scenery, and nice weather.  The kids had fun with those pool squirter that I brought a long.   After some time at the beach, we made our way back to the lagoon pools.   There the kids hung out going down the slide, enjoying the hot tubs, playing tag, and eating snow cones! I went to the gift shop and bought an in inter tube that Sophia used for most of the day. (Should have bought that earlier)    I ordered lunch poolside, and we all enjoyed some yummy food.  The kids had some really good chicken strips and of course I ordeded a turkey panini, which was do delish!   After awhile the boys headed up to the room to watch sports, and the girls hung out down by the pool.   Around 3:00 we decided we better go in and get out of the sun, before our bodies become lobsters.   Later that evening we went back  to eat dinner at the resorts restaurant.  It was very pricey, but the food was amazing!  It included a salad bar, that the kids loved, and the soup of the day was lobster bisque, which was also amazing!   After dinner, we spent some time mingling with friends we had made at the resort.  We then took the kids back to the room, and then Ben and I went back to the beach and laid on some lawn chairs, to enjoy some time alone.   I'm so glad our last day was spent relaxing. The only thing that could have made it better was a spa treatment:)
Day Seven (Sunday) we just slept in and then packed up.   We thought we would stick around the resort, but we weren't really in the mood to get wet and then dress in the locker rooms.  We stopped at Target to get some snacks for the flight and then stopped for lunch. We  made a stop at Big Kahuna's pizza, again.  Well, I guess I should say, Aubrie, Ethan and I stopped there.  Ben and the others ate Hawaiian BBQ next door.  This time I tried the Spinach and tomato pizza and loved it!  Once the cheese balls were ready, everyone miraculously showed up from the other restaurant....big surprise.
After lunch we headed to the airport.  And when we got to the terminal, there were our friends we had made, ready to leave on their flight back to California.  We  exchanged information, and now we keep upu on eachother on  Facebook!  We look forward to seeing them again, next time we go to Ko Olina!    The flight back was good.  Aubrie and I read books, and the others watched movies.   We sat at the very back of the plane, which was nice being close to the bathrooms, however we were last to be served dinner, and by the time it got to us girls, the only thing left was curry pasta.  I was not too happy about that.   The turkey sandwiches should have been offered up to the little kids on the plane, before the adults, if they are going to offer such a "different" meal choice.   Luckily we brought snacks.  We got into Phoenix at midnight, and got home about 1:30.  I let the kids sleep in and checked them in at 10:30.  What an amazing trip!  The kids ranked it right up there with the cruise.  I was so happy that they liked it so much.  I'm so excited to go again!

Hawaii Day 5

Friday was another  early morning, as we had  to make it to the Movie tour at Kualoa Ranch, on the eastern side of the island. Ben and I have seen that several times when driving on that side, but never knew what it was. Someone at the hot tub told us all about it, and the fun tours they offer. They told us the Movie tour was fun. On it we were able to see where several movies were filmed, like Jurassic Park and Lost. There is one scene from 50 first dates where Drew Barrymore is driving down a road and hits Adam Sandler. I always wondered where that road was. As soon as we were on it I knew it was it, and second later the tour driver started telling us about the movie and the scene. It felt good to finally have that mystery out of the way! After the tour, Aubrie found an affordable necklace that she could put her pearl in. She was very happy about that, since the ones at the Dole plantation were hundreds of dollars. The rest of the day was saved for the North Shore.

 We drove by the Donkey Ball's Chocolate Factory for some dessert, and held on to them until we got our lunch. Which came after our stop to BYU Hawaii. We made a quick stop there. That's about all it can be, since the bookstore is so small, and there is really nothing there to buy. When I asked Boston if he wanted to go to that BYU he said, "Not really, I like the other one because its bigger." I would definitely have gone there for a semester or two! After BYU we drove by the temple and took some pictures, and then headed to another famous Shrimp Shack; Giovannis. The shrimp there was good, but the lines were long, and it was super crowded. While we were waiting, Sophia got bit by one of the cats that were hanging around. (There are a lot of cats in Hawaii. It reminded me of Rome.)  After the cat drama, we finished up lunch and headed to the North Shore. We pulled out our dessert (the chocolates) only to realize they had melted.  I guess things melt in other places besides Phoenix!  We ate what we could of them, and they were very good, despite the gooiness.

Sophias "injury"

 Our first stop at North Shore was Waimea Park.  We got there only to find out they didn't have the diving show anymore.  The kids were looking forward to that show, being divers themselves.  We left and headed back to   Sharks Cove.  This time we had snorkel gear, and the kids did a bit of exploring.  The tide was a little higher this time.  I just hung out on the sand for most of the time, while the kids explored the waters.   We then left and back tracked to the Bonzai pipeline.  This probably was my most favorite stop of the entire trip.  First the boys played football, and the girls sat by the waterline chasing the waves and watching the surfers.  When the boys came over, all the kids started getting brave and got in the water.   They got even more brave and laid down on the shore line and let the waves push them up the banks, and then drag back down.   They had SO much fun doing this.  They spent an hour doing it!   I loved just sitting there watching them.  The weather was perfect, the views were incredible, and the kids had pure fun with no fighting!

Banzai Pipeline

 After the Bonzai, we headed to Haleiwa for some more shaved ice.  This time we tried the famous Matsumoto's.  I didn't think it was any better than the first place we tried.   But it was awesome just the same.  Mmmmm, I could gain a lot of weight living in Hawaii!  After shaved ice, we headed back to the resort, but not before we made a stop at Teddy's Bigger Burger (a suggestion from Molly).  The burgers were good, but by that time I think we were all done with eating out.   After dinner we headed back to the hotel for some more time in the hot tub, before we rested up for the next day of RELAXATION!

Surprise!!! Hawaii Day 4

Thursday Morning started early, with an 8:30 visit to the USS Arizona. That was the only place Boston asked to go to on the island. I thought that was pretty cool for a boy his age. Before they ferried us over there, they have you watch a video about the boming of Pearl Harbor. I thought it was going to be a boring video, like they show at Hanauma Bay, but I actaully really enjoyed it and so did the kids. They were all paying attention (minus Sophia half way through). I learned a lot about Pearl Harbor. Aubrei studied a little about Pearl Harbor in school this year, so she knew a lot about what she learned in the video. I know I am an emotional person already, but it really was a moving experience to visit the site of the USS Arizona, and think of that day and all the lives that were lost. When we got back to the harbor we took the "Memory Walk", which had plaques with details of that day. We then took the Bowfin submarine tour. That was fun and intresting to see the inside of the submarine. Honestly I don't know how someone can live in a submarine. I was getting clausterphobic at the beginning of the tour, and the sleeping conditions looked so uncomfortable! It made me have a greater apprection for those seaman that served to protect our rights and freedoms.

After the tour, he headed back to the hotel for our time share spill. We had sat throughone 9 years ago, and almost bought one then. It was good we didn't. We are now looking foward to visiting Hawaii yearly now! After our time share presentation, we grabbed the kids and hit the pool and beach. I LOVE this hotel. The beach is perfect, and the pool area is so much fun. I had fun playing hide and go seek in the lagoons with the kids, and getting shaved ice from the pool food shack. After several hours in the sun, we headed to the hotel to get dressed for the night. Thursday night was our Waikiki night. We tried the Puka Dog (now called Hula Dog) that was featured on the Travel Channel. My friend recommended trying it. Their lemonades were super yummy, and their sauces on the dogs were so good. The buns were just to big. I felt like I was eating a big chunck of bread with a little bit of hot dog. The bun was yummy though. The bun is shaped like a cylinder wiht a hole cut out for the dog. You hold it upright, and all the sauces slide down to the bottom. I think if the bun was cut like a normal bun, it would have been a more enjoyable dog! We had to try it though for the experience, and it was worth it for that lemonade! So yummy!  By the store was a booth with a bunch of parrots.  That kept the kids entertained while we ate.  

Thursday night was our Waikiki night. We tried the Puka Dog (now called Hula Dog) that was featured on the Travel Channel. My friend recommended trying it. Their lemonades were super yummy, and their sauces on the dogs were so good. The buns were just to big. I felt like I was eating a big chunck of bread with a little bit of hot dog.  The bun was yummy though. The bun is shaped like a cylinder wiht a hole cut out for the dog. You hold it upright, and all the sauces slide down to the bottom. I think if the bun was cut like a normal bun, it would have been a more enjoyable dog! We had to try it though for the experience, and it was worth it for that lemonade! So yummy!  By the store was a booth with a bunch of parrots.  That kept the kids entertained while we ate.

  After dinner we started walking around Waikiki. We found a place that had those human hamster balls in water. The kids convinced me to do it with them. It was tiring and hot. I think I worked off my hot dog in that thing. The kids had a fun time doing that. They also had a great time watching the street performers and shopping. The found some interesting Hawaain trinkets in the flea market section of Waikiki.  They came out of the Quicksliver with something, and Boston had a good loot going, that he paid for himself, which incuded new short, shoes, t-shirt, and rash guard. The rest of them got shirts that said Hawaii on it. Better quaility than the swap meet ones!:) The kids wanted to stay and shop longer, but it was late and the drive back added another 45 mintus to our bedtime.

Surprise Hawaii....Day 3

Day Three was our Polynesian Cultural Center Day. We woke up early, hoping to hit Pearl Harbor before we headed up there, but they were already sold out of the early tickets. The lady at the counter was really nice, and reserved us tickets for the following morning, so we wouldn't have to do it online and pay the fee. We then had a few hours to kill and so we decided we would hit the Aloha Bowl Fea Market. Ben and I had gone years ago, and I didn't really like it. I really wasn't planning on it this time, but when we passed it, Aubrie begged to stop and so we did. The kids LOVED it. They all found various trinkets to waste their money on. Sophia got a few Hawaiian shirts with cats on them, Aubrie found an "I LOVE Hawaii" shirt, and bought some necklaces for her friends. She is always so thoughtful when it comes to her friends, and she always uses her own money. I bought her a bag to carry her books around between classes, and we also bought Aubrie and Sophia some luggage. They were perfect carry-ons with a Hawaiian print. I have been wanting to get them their own luggage for awhile, and the price couldn't be better. We wont have a problem ever finding their luggage, if we needed to check it, that is. The boys got some sunglasses (so did the girls) Boston got a Hawaiian mask that is now hanging in his bathroom , which goes great with the beach theme he already has in there. Ethan got some type of dragon carving. He always surprises me with things he likes. This time the Flea Market was fun. Funny how kids can do that!

After about an hour there, we headed up towards the North Shore, and made a short stop at the Dole Plantation for lunch and their yummy Pineapple Whips. They have all these pearl oyster booths set up out front, and Aubrie couldn't resist the draw of opening one up. (She takes after my Mom) She spent her own money to open one. Black is the rarest, and she spent a few minutes trying to decide what oyster to pick. (She wanted a Black so bad!) We all gathered around to see what her oyster had hiding in its shell, and low and behold the lady uncovered a BLACK pearl! Ben made a funny joke about it being a Jack Sparrow (Black Pearl, get it? haha). Aubrie was elated that she got black pearl! She called my Mom up right away to tell her all about it!

We then headed to the Polynesian Cultural Center. We got a SWEET deal on tickets. Ben spoke to one of the workers a few days earlier and she got us the employee discount, which was HUGE! I definitely felt much better about the rest of our expenses after that one was practically obliterated! The kids had a lot of fun there. Their favorite thing was trying to make fire, and the fishing station. Sophia was called up to dance during the Figi show, and after that she started to get a big head, thinking she was the Star of every show. Aubrie is a good sport with Sophia always having the spotlight. In fact, she tries to help her get picked for things now. The boys were on stage at the Samoan Family show, and had to dance on stage with coconut shells. Ben got pulled up to play the drums at the Tonga show. And we all had fun rowing the canoes. We had a lot of fun pictures to choose from at the end of the night! The food this time wasn't the best. In fact, I have to say it was pretty bad. I definitely would not go with the cheaper dinner, but I couldn't really ask for the nicer once since we were getting such a sweet deal. The Prime Rib dinner Ben and I had there last time was much better. The show definitely made up for it. It has been 9 years since I have seen that show, and I didn't start remembering it until half way through. The end of the show included fire, and is AMAZING. The kids LOVED that part. The show ended at 9:00 and we didn't get home till 10:30. Going to the Polynesian Cultural Center takes up a full day. I'm glad we did it when the kids were younger though, because I think it won't be as exciting for them when they are older. Now that's one more thing checked off our list of things to do with the kids! When we got home we were TIRED! We all crashed pretty early, knowing we had to get to Pearl Harbor EARLY the next day!

Dole Plantation for Lunch!

A BLACK PEARL!!!

Time for the Polynesian Cultural Center!

Surprise...HAWAII Day Two

Sleeping-in the first day in Hawaii never works for me. In fact, it's usually not until the 3rd or 4th day that I can sleep in. The girls and I were up by 6 and after laying around for about an hour, we finally got out of bed and got going and got the boys up to start our full day on the island. I wanted to get most of the food stops checked off, so we would have a full day at the end of the week to just hang out at the resort. We started our day at Diamond Head. Ben and I had never done that hike, and decided that would be our first stop before it got to hot. Everyone else had that idea, because when we got there we had to wait 15 minutes for a parking spot. We stocked up on some waters, and then started hiking. The kids started to complain at first, and soon the scenery took their minds off the work. Breath taking views, and hiking up stairs and through tunnels made it a fun hike for all. I also was happy to start my day with perhaps the only exercise I would get for the week!:) We finished our hike with shaved ice from a Shaved Ice Shack at the bottom. Yum!

Diamond Head

We then headed around the southeast shoreline. Right past Hanauma Bay, we stopped at the Halona Blowhole. We hiked down to it, instead of watching it from above. We hiked down to the beach that leads to the blowhole. There was a nice area of sand, if you wanted to make a beach day out of it. You had to walk over rock to get to the blowhole. There were a lot of big black crabs hiding out on the rocks. We were having fun looking for them. At one point we were all standing close to the edge of the rocks checking out the crabs. Suddenly I hear Ben and Aubrie scream and start running backwards. I didn't see the huge wave coming towards us. It soaked us and almost knocked Sophia right out of Ben's hands. Luckily Ben had just put away the video camera! It was a great memory. We then made it over to the blow hole. Right as we leaned over to look down into it, a wave came in and pushed water through it, staying water everywhere. We got that on tape! The kids really enjoyed that stop.

Our next destination was up by the temple. We were ready for lunch and heard the shrimp shacks up there were the best. We stopped at Fumi's, another "Molly suggestion" The shrimp was yummy. I got the spicy shrimp and it was the best. Everyone was eating mine. After lunch at the shrimp shack, which luckily had a hamburger for Ethan, we were headed to Ted's Bakery. They have the best chocolate pie, with a coconut layer. Sophia and Boston refused to eat at the Fumi's Shrimp Shack, so we ordered them some lunch and got a few pieces of pie to all enjoy. All the tables were full, and a gentleman with a little dog invited us to sit with him. Aubrie and I ate our pie while the others waited for their lunch. Then the guys wife and daughter showed up with a whole pie. They said it was cheaper that way, but that they weren't going home so they gave us the rest. So we all got a piece for ourselves. They were locals on Spring Break. How nice of them to not only share their table, but that awesome pie.

After stuffing ourselves, we stopped at Sharks Cove. On the way there we passed a lot of the north shore beaches. All the sudden Boston squeals and says , " EWWWW I just saw one of those butt crack swimsuits!" Glad that grosses him out! Sharks cove was fun for the kids. It a shallow cove where you can find sea life. Aubrie was in HEAVEN! She got her Rocky Point after all:) We spent a little over an hour there. Aubrie found a HUGE starfish. She was going to take it home, but after walking a short distance with it, she realized how bad it was going to stink up the car, and decided to leave it. I'm glad I wasn't the one that had to tell her to leave it! We decided that we would come back again, with snorkel gear another day, because they had so much fun.

A common pass time for Ethan in between stops!

Sophia's cat Accident!

It was getting late, and the kids had been begging to go back and swim, so we ended our day with more shaved ice at Aoki's shaved ice. Everyone raved about Matsumoto's, but Molly swore that Aoki's was just as good and not as crowded. I got mine with ice-cream on the bottom. The ice was perfect and it was all so delish. The BEST I have ever had!! The kids got ice cream instead, and they missed out. Just another reason to go back.

We finally made our way to the hotel. The kids had a blast playing tag in the Lagoon's while Ben and I soaked in the hot tub. New people kept coming in and out of the hot tub that we would strike conversations with. Before we knew it we had been in the hot tub for two hours. I was just so impressed how friendly everyone was. In a nice Resort like that, it was refreshing that people were so down to earth, and not snooty. I can't handle snootiness. Thats why I always resist joining country clubs. After we had completely pruned our bodies, we finally made it back to our villa for more cereal, and some TV. Sophia knocked out right away, and the rest of us watched Cupcake Wars and Extreme Foods (I think that's what it was called). Another great day on Oahu!