Happy Halloween!!

We LOVE Halloween! I love Halloween! This year the kids were able to pick out their own costumes... as hard as it was for me. I love for them to be matching or theme related- but this year...no such luck. Morgan was Aurora from Sleeping Beauty and Aydin as a Star Wars guy.. of course I do not know which one... never saw the movie.
It was a great night... we went to our friends house to trick or treat and hang out. The kids went to about 15 houses and were done. The boys wanted to go back to the house and play football in the front yard and the girls wanted to play princesses inside. We even played a little rock band in the garage. I love it!! Looks like we will be getting it for Christmas this year!

Morgans carving time...

Well- tonight Morgan ate all her dinner so she was able to carve her pumpkins. Our Hawaii trip messed with my scheduling... I never wait until the night before Halloween to carve pumpkins- we dont get the chance to really enjoy them. We had to do it though and Morgan was so excited to carve her pumpkin. With Aydins help gutting it- it turned out pretty good.

Carving pumpkins

Carving pumpkins was a special event in our house... Morgan was not allowed to carve her pumpkin tonight. We told them if they did not eat their dinner they were not going to carve a pumpkin. Well... Aydin ate everything and Morgan didnt touch her food. She ended up falling asleep at the table while Aydin got started.... Looks like Morgan will be carving hers tomorrow night.

Coming home...

Our last day- what a bummer! Wish we could have stayed longer..much longer! Our trip was the best 10 days we have had in a long time. The kids were great, the weather was awesome, and the friends we went with are the best!
As we were in line to board the plane... Aydin lost his tooth. He was so excited to loose a tooth in Hawaii!
We are going to miss this place.

The RENEWAL!

What a perfect day!! Kevin and Amy had their renewal of their weeding vows... after 10 years- at the Waipio Valley lookout. After they renewed their vows we went down into the valley and took more pictures. Amy looked BEAUTIFUL! Her dress was gorgeous and looked even better against the black sand.
Steve and Kevin were a little bummed that they forgot their boards in the cars- up the valley...the waves were huge!
After we left Waipio- we went back to the house and had a party with tons of family and friends. It was a blast!

Hapuna Beach

Both Wednesday and Thursday we spent time at Hapuna beach. Wednesday night we went for sunset- which was beautiful!! It was so nice seeing a sunset again... I miss them.
Thursday we spent most of the day hanging out being beach bums. The boys found more rocks to jump of off, a cave to play in and had more fun in the water. Steve and Kevin made a huge sand castle for the kids to play in. After the kids left it to play in the water- other people on the beach were coming up to it and taking pictures by it. It was pretty funny. We then went to the blow hole... and took more pictures.

Kua Bay....

Tuesday we went to my FAVORITE beach of all time!! I was very sad to see that in the past 6 years- Hawaii is making a ton of 'growing' changes. Kua Bay once was a dirt and lava rock road where 4 wheel drive would be the only way to drive down... and now is a paved road and a public beach with showers! I couldnt believe it!!
Well- even though it was over populated...it is still my all time favorite! Beautiful as always... Aydin turned to Steve and I and said "Why cant we have beaches like this in Florida?"... I too could only dream.
Amys brother Mike, sister in law Juanita, baby Morgan, Kevins mom and all of us spent 5 hours swimming, snorkeling, laying out, eating, ect... Aydin did follow Kainoa, Mike, Kevin and Steve and did some rock jumping much to my surprise. He said this was the best part of the trip- got to love it! This was a perfect day at the beach.

Monday on the East side

Hilo- here we come...
Today Steve, the kids and I went to visit our old meeting grounds... Hilo. We had a great day!! We first went to Akaka Falls- waterfall. Aydin was so surprised to see how big the waterfall actually was. Morgan was funny- she kept saying 'WOW'. We hiked around the loop- took tons of pictures and Aydin even tried sucking the 'juice' out of ginger flowers. (Which he loved)
We then went out to Hilo, drove around a few of the places we used to hang out, where I used to live and of course the beautiful black sand beach- Richardson's. This is where Aydin tried snorkeling for the first time. He couldnt believe how many fish were so close the the shore. Of course we could not got o Hilo without visiting the Big Island Candies factory and pick up some chocolate! It was kind of fun watching the chocolates being made.
After all of this in Hilo- We met back up with Kevin, Amy, the kids and Mike (Amys awesome 'tour guide' brother). Mike took all of us to some hot ponds and to the volcano. Now- of course the volcano was not active on the only day we choose to go- but is was still fun to see the lava rocks.

Sunday Sunday

Well- today was great! I went to a part of the island I had never gone to before. We first went to a hotel beach... walked all the way down the beach, found a great spot to set up, let the kids walk down to the water- only to find out that there were jelly fish in the water.
We then packed everything up- and went to Kohala. Doug (Amys other brother) lives in Hawi next to Kohala. He took us around to some of the sights around the town. We went to the lighthouse...which was awesome. After we went to the very northeast part of the island to see a beautiful valley.
After sight seeing this... we went to the windmills. We had to break in to the field (more like climb a fence) and run down to get good pictures. On our way back up to the cars... Amy and I noticed someone coming- so we all started running. I got some good pictures of everyone running up the hill and climbing over the fence. We the got a lecture form Kainoa for trespassing. It was great!

Saturday...and Sunday morning

Today we went to celebrate Kameles 6th Birthday at the Wiakoloa Hilton. We had a blast! The Perez and Session families are awesome!! The kids had a great time in the pool and on the beach! Happy Birthday (party) to Kamele.

Hawaii here we come...

Today is the BIG day!!! We had an 11 hour flight- but it was ALL worth it!! I was able to get some great plane pictures of us landing... I was impressed with the zoom on my little camera. We got off the plane to Amys brother and wife greeting us- I got laid for the first time in Hawaii. I was so excited! After the long flight, we went to Kevins moms house for some great Hawaiian food and this was a great beginning to the rest of our stay!! Hope you enjoy the pictures of our trip!

ONE more week!!!

Only one more week!!! Next Thursday at this time we will be on our way to the wonderful island of Hawaii. I am not looking forward to that flight... however...it will all be worth it for the 10 amazing days we will be spending on the beach and with our friends.