Girls Weekend

I love to scrap, I love to eat, I love to hang out with my girlfriends, and I love to spend time with my daughters... so this weekend was just about perfect! Only thing that would have made it perfecter (I know, not a real word) - would have been if A. had been able to come - but she had rehearsals and couldn't go away for the weekend.

The "grown-up" girls scrap space. This was a mother-daughter weekend - so most of the young girls scrapped as well. The teen girls did homework, and played on facebook, and took naps and watched movies.

My girl E - with her laptop - supposedly doing homework - probably on facebook!

S'mores for dessert!

An incredible array of food, all weekend long - YUM.

And a toast to girlfriends - pomegranate martini's courtesy of Amy!

Cottage Sweet Cottage

Every Labour Day we head SOUTH to the Cottage in Canada! (Thus spelling Labour with a "u") Here are some of the things we do when we are there!

At the cottage - cousins snuggle - made more sweet because this cousin lives in New York, and we don't get to see him as much as we'd like!

We play games... lots of game playing! Scrabble, Take 2, Dominoes, Phase 10, and Balderdash are all staples of Labour Day weekend at the cottage!

We visit the beach on Lake Erie! We headed straight out the front door of the cottage down to the shoreline get these shots to email in for the EGL Regioanls Program - but as long as we were down there, we did a bit of a photo shoot! It helps when the subject is so beautiful!

We celebrate birthdays! All the kids chipped in to get Poppo a brand new Purple Martin House. When taking down the old one - it literally slid right off the platform as the post was lowered to the ground! It was definitely time for a new one! A took one look at the new one and said "That's not a bird house... that's a bird MANSION!"

Waldenwoods

We snuck in one last summer trip to WWoods! I didn't take many photos - but we celebrated my nephew Kyle's graduation from EMU, and we mourned the loss of J's Great Uncle J, and we celebrated my dad's 75th birthday!

Here's one of the few photos I did take over that weekend:

A, and my neice J, catching tiny minnows at the beach! We had a great time - Aunt J ran some errands and picked up the twins from camp while we hung out at the beach!

Fabulous Fowl Fourths Forever

Here are a few shots from our 27th annual family reunion this weekend in Howe, Indiana! We had a great time, and the next generation of cousins are making fast friendships!

I am so grateful that our family decided years ago, when I was still in high school, to have a family reunion each Fourth of July. I know my kids have connections to cousins that they might otherwise not have known without this annual event.

Because the kids love it so much - I'm sure that this annual event will continue for a LONG, LONG time.

Enjoy some of my fun shots of the next generation!

Photos I wish I'd gotten....

A and her cousins N, J and T sleeping out in the tent together, telling scary stories.

Wish I'd gotten video of the impromptu "sing inline" after turkey dinner.

E, driving MY cousins to the movies... too bad the movie theater turned out NOT to have the 9:40 showing that they advertised on July 4th!

A photo of me! End of the month - and no photos of me for the June 30 blog post! aack.

A photo of E the camp counselor, teaching and leading games to all the little kids.

A pic of K - because she's the ONLY one who can lead the "key game" properly!

Triathalon

The following photos were taken Sunday morning... my lifelong friend/cousin/childhood next door neighbor/mutual godparents to each other's kids.... S participated in a triathalon with her brother B. We went to cheer them on at the transitions, and provide moral support and mental encouragement! I am so proud of both of them - I can't even imagine having the stamina to complete one portion of the triathalon - let alone all three! S did the "sprint" distance, and B the "olympic" distance. B is also a veteran of an Ironman.... those distances are KILLER. They both told us that our being there to cheer them helped them continue, finish, and get better times! It was totally worth the sunburn I got!!! These are photos of each of them in each portion of the race, and at (or after) the finish!

If any of you go to the GLMM - you'll recognize S from the registration desk!! Betcha never guessed she was a scrapbooker AND a triathlete!

Maumee State Park

We camped for the first time at Maumee State Park in Ohio - we really liked the campground! The sites were very nice. Only thing that would have made it better would be water at the sites!
Although my whole family didn't camp for the weekend - we all convened on Saturday to wish my little sis J a happy 40th birthday! Here she is with her adorable kids! Don't you just love the great hat my seester M made for her to wear! We decorated as much as we could - given that the entire afternoon was a thunderstorm, and we spent it in the trailers - thank goodness we all have "rolling condos"!

We also had a special cake - Commercial plug - custom made by Cindy of "Dobo's Delights" in Picqua, Ohio! If you are in her area and you need a cake - check out her bakery in downtown Picqua!!

After a yummy dinner of assorted MEAT grilled by my BIL. (Hamburgs, Hot Dogs, Beer Brats, Chicken) and potluck sides - plus cake for dessert - E - the biggest kid - organized several games. First they all played freeze tag - and then she taught them all how to play "Red Rover"! Pretty soon it wasn't just the little kids playing "Red Rover"!!! Fun times!

Home from Hawaii

This post is way overdue - but as is the nature of a vacation taken in the middle of your busiest time of year (the classes are up on the Mega Meet site!) I have been buried alive since I got home. But not so buried that I didn't take a few photo my first day home with good intentions of blogging them.... so here they are. (I cheated and back dated the post to the date I MEANT to post it!)

Goodbye Hawaii!!! On our way out of town to the airport - we saw the most beautiful sunset of our whole trip - and no place to stop and take pictures. E says to her Dad "Is there any way we can stop and just put our feet in the ocean one last time?" So, at the last little beach inlet along Ali'i - he pulls up to the sidewalk - the girls and I hop out - run across the street and while he circles the block to come around and pick us up again - I take a few last photos of us saying goodbye to one of the best vacations we've ever taken! Aloha and Mahalo - we'll miss you Hawaii...


Oh yes.... the very next day at home - I was missing Hawaii in a REALLY BAD WAY. Notice the scenery in Hawaii and then at Home - just 2 days apart.


Then notice my FEET in Hawaii, and at Home. Those are NOT happy feet at home.



and just to prove how unhappy I was at having to put on a sweater - I took a picture of my unhappy face in the bathroom.

boo hoo.

Hawaii - Day Eight

Our last day in Hawaii - how incredibly sad!

We had to vacate our condo by 10am - but our flight doesn't leave until 9pm - so we had some time to kill - but we didn't want to get sandy with no shower to visit!

We decided to do some last minute SHOPPING! Unfortunately, as seems to be my luck when trying to visit a scrapbook store while travelling - they were closed!! (Just like in Colorado!) So, Em took my pic out front to prove I was here!

After some last minute purchases (including a new suitcase to get all our souvenir's home!) we picked mom up at the activity center (where she had hung out while we shopped - the fall yesterday messed up her back, and walking is more difficult than usual for her). We then headed to Lava Java's on the oceanfront for one last leisurely meal in the sun, watching the surf. I took these last photos from our table at the restaurant.

I sure am going to miss this place!!

Hawaii - Day Seven

We had a great day today! We took off in our rental car with the goal to circle the island! We did circle the island - but ran out of daylignt before we ran out of sights to see! That's OK - we still saw lots of awesome stuff on our adventure!

Our first stop was the black sand beach at Punalo'o. I took a pic of my feet on the black sand. It is formed by volcanic rock. Cool bonus - we came across this sea turtle sunning him/herself on the beach.

Our next stop was Volcano's National Park. We weren't able to see any of the lava flows - as the current flows are only accessible by air - and the crater rim road is closed due to sulfur fume levels. (Thus the Vog we've been experiencing - Volcano Fog). However, there were some points where we could walk and look over the crater rim (upwind of the fumes!) This is Kiluea Crater - and you can still see the steam vents venting steam. In addition to hiking a short trail along the rim - we hiked down to the Thurston Lava Tube. It was so cool to walk through the tunnel formed hundreds of years ago by lava! The stark contrasts at the volcano were stunning - the barrenness of the lava lake, the lushness of the rainforest! I took a pic of a very unusual fern that winds up and unwinds itself!

After the park - we headed to Hilo - and to Rainbow Falls... we had a little "incident" at the Falls.... apparantly my mom took it a little to literally! She tripped in the parking lot - fell, and gave herself a lovely shiner. It put a bit of a damper on the remainder of the sights for her.

After Rainbow Falls - we took some more coastal, and scenic drives through some of the rainforest.... and then stopped at Akaka Falls (that's the photo at left). They were incredible!!

Just before we lost all our daylight - we stopped at the Waipo Valley overlook - and looked down on another pristine black sand beach!

After all that driving (it was another 2 hours home in the dark after Waipo Valley) we just ordered a pizza into our room at the condo!

Hawaii - Day Six

Up bright and early this morning – and John and I and the girls headed to Kahalu’u Bay for SURFING LESSONS!

Don’t Hawaii’s newest surfer chicks look awesome? They did really well! It was so hard for John and I to find them out on the water for photos and videos. For whatever reason – A was the hardest to find! E swears that we both missed her best run, too. They had a blast! E can’t wait to surf again – A says she got enough salt water up her nose for one lifetime.

After lunch and naps, we headed to the other pool at our resort, and spent more time swimming and sunning (except the vog - volcano fog - pretty much blocked the sun this afternoon.) Dinner at Fish Hoppers closed out the day - and we're heading to bed early - tomorrow is our driving tour of the island - getting up bright and early!!

P.S. - Happy 6th Anniversary to my little bro Chazz and his wife Anne! Love you!!

Hawaii - Day Five

The resort had a “Mahalo” party this morning. We learned to make, and made our own flower leis from the beautiful and fragrant Plumeria flower. We also listened to live music, and watched some hula performances. It seems that half the activities staff here are extremely talented entertainers as well! Ali’i played the ukulele and Joy danced for us – but Joy is also the activities director – and Ali’i is the same guy who taught the girls crafts the first morning!

We also bought and made some shell jewelery from “Auntie Bubbles”. It was a crafty morning! Then, as promised – I took the girls to the pool, and we spent the afternoon swimming and sunning!

J used the resort grills and made as an awesome steak dinner, which we enjoyed on the lanai. We then all enjoyed one of the DVD’s that gramma packed for us! Family movie night in Hawaii!!

Hawaii - Day Four

Day 4 was our first full day in Kona. We slept in – since we’ve been up early every day this week! After a lazy morning – we headed down to schedule the rest of our week with the Activities staff. On our list of things to do: A luau, Surfing lessons for the girls, enjoying the resort, a tour of the island including Volcanos national park.

We scheduled the luau for tonight! The photos in the collage are from the luau at the Kimg Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel. It was an oceanfront luau – and we enjoyed the food and the show!

We saw them pull the pig from the imu (the cooking pit), and the “king” and his court sailed into the beach and processed into the luau. The show covered all of the Polynesian islands.

Hawaii - Day Three

Day Three was our day to switch Islands. While I wish we had had one more day on Oahu - we were equally as excited to go to the "Big Island" of Hawaii! We took a LIMO from the resort to the airport - big treat for the girls! (It actually cost the same as it would have to take a cab!)

We took photos as we flew out of Honolulu, and more photos as we landed at Kona. Our first impression was how DIFFERENT the Islands looked! Hawaii clearly is the youngest, and most volcanically active island. The coastline is mostly black rocks - not as much of the lush greenery of Oahu (although, we understand that when we tour the island and go to the other side to Hilo - that we'll see the lush greenery.)

We got settled into our new resort - which resembles a Polynesian village in it's architecture - very cool!! And then attended the "Welcome Party" where we all received fresh lei, and danced the hula, and had a great time! After the party, we were all hungry - and so we headed into the coastline shops at Kona, and ate dinner on the deck at Bubba Gump's - watched the sunset from our table, and watched a surfer daring the rocky coastline!

Oh - we also had a little friend on our lanai - he was green and quick - so we were lucky to get a few pics of him before he ran away!!

Having a great time! I may not get to post as regularly - we do not have internet in the room here - I have to come down to the Activities area.

Hawaii - Day Two

Day Two....
We took a tour of the North Shore and the Dole Pinapple Plantation. My mouth is still a bit raw from the amount of pineapple I ate! We took the pineapple express out into the pineapple fields.

The tour then took us up to the North Shore - and were able to get out and watch some of the awesome winter waves. Emily took this great shot of John and I with the wave breaking behind us! (See the Red Flags? They didn't stop the surfers!!)

We then stopped for some awesome farmed shrimp at a little shack by the side of the road! We also stopped at a little place where you could get coconut milk and macadamia nuts. Mom said they even had some scrapbook supplies! (I missed them)

On our way back to Honolulu - we took a mountain road that afforded us a great view of one of the many lush valleys on Oahu. I got this great shot of John and Em.

Regrettably - our tour that was supposed to end by 2pm, didn't get back until nearly 4pm - messing up the surfing lessons we had arranged for the girls at 3pm. They still had a great time at the beach, and we capped off our final night on Oahu with dinner at the Shore Bird, overlooking the ocean.

Just as we were sitting down - Dad spotted humpback whales breaching just offshore! So cool!!! I wasn't able to get any good photos though - it was too far off. We also got to watch the sunset off the beach while we were at dinner.

I had a "chick drink" and thought of all my friends! Aloha!

Tomorrow we fly to the Big Island of Hawaii for the remainder of our stay. I'll try to blog from there as well!

Hawaii - Day One

We arrived safely in Honolulu just before sunset on Saturday. It felt late to us - but Hawaii was still hopping! Airplane photos are at left!

Our resort presented us with shell lei, and we got checked into our lovely room. At left, I took a photo from one of our lanai, of the girls on our other two lanai! I also took a photo of our "ocean view" :-) - It's pretty far off, and between buildings - but we can see it!!

It's just 2 blocks from the hotel to the beach. On Sunday, our first full day here - we visited the Arizona Memorial. It is a very moving place to visit. We stood in line in the rain... luckily it was short lived. Dad enjoyed the memorial, and we took a photo of the Navy Vet next to the US Navy Rockets.

As you can see from our photos - the day was fairly overcast on Sunday - but we did have a few glimpses of the sun!

We're having a great time!