Oahu & The Polynesian Cultural Center

The Turtle Bay Resort, located up on the north shore of Oahu was so nice. It was the perfect place to stay.
Perfect
At the PCC, Tom was so jealous that the employees didn't have to wear shirts and got to have tattoos. Here I am getting a little 'culture'--ever the wild child.
Here we are at the big nightly Luau. Here are the men ( because men do the majority of the cooking in Hawaii...) pulling out the pig that had been cooking in the ground all day for us. Yummy!

The Hikes of Hikes on Hawaii

Here is the trail head of the Kalalua trail that takes you up and along the Na Pali coast (west side of Kauai, which can only be reached on foot or by boat). It was amazing. We hiked down to a beach and then inland about 2 miles to a gorgeous waterfall (our favorite).
Here is a picture of Tom. Behind him you can see Ke'e beach is where the trail starts. After the hike we found water (because we ran out about half way) and then went snorkeling there.
This is the beach we hiked down to...
Here's a picture of the Na Pali coast.
And here is me with my favorite thing in Hawaii: MASUMOTO'S. Pure joy in the form of a snow cone with super fine ice, ice-cream at the bottom, and sweetened condensed milk on top. It was indescribably amazing. We were on Oahu for 2 days and we went twice (I made Tom stop on the way to the airport). We'd have to wait at least 1/2 each time because the line was out the door. I bought the t-shirt.

Mahalo

We had a lot of fun kyaking up the Wialua River and then hiking to the Hidden Falls. The water was pretty cold but it felt good after the hike.
Bliss in Paradise.
This is Tunnels Beach, which ended up being our favorite place to snorkel in Kauai. We saw turtels, seals, and tons of fish. It also had that eerie point where the reef just drops off and the ocean fads to black.
This was my favorite part about vacation. The day after our crazy 8 mile hike, I just sat on the beach and read. Lazy. This was at Poipu Beach.
One night we went for a walk on a long bike path that ran along the beach.

More Tulips

We went to see the tulips with Robert, Michelle, Reed, Amanda, and James. Ella had her own personal tour guide in Amanda, who chauffeured her around.
Here's we are by the water fountain in the secret garden.
The kids had fun splashing around--it turned out to be quite a warm day.
Giddy-up, Daddy. After quite a lot of walking, the girls took turns getting a ride from Dad.

Yipee!

Tulips at Thanksgiving Point

When the adventure starts off with a pink sprinkled doughnut, you know it's going to be beautiful.
The flowers were amazing and the spring weather was perfectly warm.

The girls had so much fun running around and seeing all the different gardens.

Aquarium with Grandma Cardon

Grandma Cardon came to town to buy a condo (very nice in South Jordan). She'll be moving out here in June. We are soooo excited to have her close. While she was here we got to go to the Sandy Aquarium. (I didn't get the pink memo...)
Everyday Ruby is more fun. She is alway so happy and love to be out doing stuff--unless of course it nap time and then all she wants is her silky and bed.
Riley, Ella's best friend, came too. Riley is the girl that LaDonn takes care of. Look, Mommy, it's NEMO! Ruby liked the sharks the most. They kept swimming right by her--such a yummy morsel. In this picture, you can see the tiger shark on the other side of the glass right by her hands. Ruby got so excited.

Friends from Cali!!!

We had such blast when some of our dear friends stopped in from California. First, the Farnsworths (Nate, Ashley, Hailey and Brook) came to stay. We all had a great time laughing and eatting yummy food.
It was too short but definately sweet to see the girls become best buddies again.
Then Lena and Lily Kubota came to stay. Timo was on a business trip, so the girls came to stay with us. Lily and Ella had some good chats.
Lily is a little doll--so cute and happy. The girls loved her. The morning after they left, Ella kept asking, "When came Lily come back to play?". Hopefully, we'll see her soon at the beach!

Grandpa and Nancy Came to Town!

The girls loved spending time with their Great-Grandpa and Grandma! I don't know how Nancy didn't get caught by my camera--she's sneaky! She made her wonderful meatball sauce and stuffed mushrooms. We had quite the feast!
Grandpa serenaded Ella...
which won him a great big kiss!
She loves her Grandpa! It was great fun to have them stay with us.

Happy Easter!

Ella was so excited this year for the big egg hunt. She loved to find an egg and then sit down to enjoy it's contents...
Here is Tom pointing out some of the hot spots before the race begins. There was also some coaching along the lines of "pick of the egg, put it in your basket and then quick try to find another one".
Now that Ruby is mobile and in to everything, Ella has become quite a concerned about her things. Here she is not so gently explaining to Ruby that this egg is 'minnnneh'. Ruby is such a good sport--she just smiles at the Ella, knowing that her time will come.


Here is Ruby going for the basket of eggs. She is pulling herself up and loves walking with help...won't be too long.

April showers bring May flowers...The Easter Bunny brought the girls some dress up flower headbands.

Dinosaurs!!!!

Today we went to the dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving point. Ella had a blast. Here she is on a giant scale--she weighs as much as a Eoraptor! (25lbs.)
Here's my own personal little raptor. Ruby loves to attack people's shoes.
They had a great big sand pit where the kids could use brushes to uncover their own dino bones. Ella stayed in there for quite a while with frequent breaks to let me dump out the sand in her boots.
The real reason dinosaurs went extinct...
Ella taking a rest on the foot of a supersaurus. These things were HUGE.

Happy Spring! a day at the park

Here are my little sun sprites.
Ella's favorite thing to do at the park is to reorganize all the wood chips.
Wheeeeee!
Ruby loves getting to do all the big girl things.
Mini-me--Ruby is definately all Tom.