Big Island - Day 6

Today, we were away from the pool for the better part of the day. We drove around to look at some other hotels and resorts in the area, we had lunch at the Queens Shops and we did some work (and homework) on the computer. By the late afternoon, Reagan and Cole were aching to get to the pool. We hit the pool closest to our room and we closed the pool. Seriously - everyone had left, it was dark and the towel bar had been closed. Reagan and Cole didn't care - they just wanted to swim …. by themselves …. in the dark :)  Eventually, we left the pool, showered up and had dinner in our room and then they konked out.

 

Big Island - Day 5

Since we really enjoyed Hapuna Beach when we visited a couple of days ago - and since our favorite pool at the hotel is now closed - we figured we would spend the day on the beach. It is a beautiful beach - it has sand (much of this island is volcanic rock, rather than sand) and yet it has black rock. We sat next to a big wall of black rock which gave us shade when we wanted it. Cole tried to dig a hot tub type hole that he could play in, but as soon as the tide came in, he was fighting (or digging) a losing battle. He couldn't dig fast enough to keep the water out.



Reagan wanted to go into the water and, at first, didn't want to go under. Steve did his best to keep her above the surface until they both realized that it just wasn't going to happen. Then, both kids wanted to ride the waves. They both had tubes, so, they sat in their tubes and Steve held their hands. They would get hit by huge waves. I was nervous initially because those were some big waves. However, when I saw how well he held on to them, I didn't worry. Some waves hit them hard enough to take the tubes away, but Steve held on to their hands and they would always come back up. He had them securely. They went under again and again and each time, they came up with huge smiles on their faces. They were having a blast! After a while, they emerged from the water and played on the beach with their sand toys. Steve buried Cole in the sand (at Cole's request) and then we just sat and talked. After a full day of beach time, we headed back to the hotel for showers, dinner and bed. Whew - what a great day!



This is our new favorite beach on this island. Take a look (and listen):

 

Big Island - Day 4

Day 4 we were up and at 'em early once again - before 6! I got up and hit the gym while the kids played on the iPad. Again, Steve had them fed and ready by the time I returned. They headed to the pool while I got ready and then I played in the pool with them while he worked out. We found out AFTER we booked our trip that they were going to be closing the big pool after today. Ugggh! That's our favorite pool - it's the one with the secret hot tub!!! So, we figured we would get in as much pool time as possible today, before the pool closes. We swam and went down the slides. Steve hauled them around the pool and played and played with them.
 

Cole LOVES the slide. He went again and again and again. I am always amazed at how he comes down. He is backwards, upside down, up on the side of the slide or all crazy. He never is concerned, upset or anything. He is just loving being on that slide.



When Steve returned from working out, we had lunch at the market right by the big pool. Then, we walked over by the dolphin's area to have some ice cream. After a full day of pool time, we were tuckered out. We returned to our room, showered and cleaned up, had some dinner in our room and hit the sack.
 

I took the above picture and when I was looking at our pics, I remembered that I had taken a pic of Reagan and Cole at the same location during a previous trip to this resort. Here they are in March, 2010. Boy how they have grown!! I love them so much!!!

Big Island - Day 3

Up early again this morning, but we just kicked it in the room. Eventually, we got ready and left the hotel. We went church in Waimea. Mapquest said it was about 45 minutes away. Our meeting was at 11, so, we figured we would stop and check out some beaches on the way up. That way, when we returned another day, we would know where we would want to come. Our third beach was Hapuna Beach. It was great! There was a sandy beach and black lava rocks. It was gorgeous. Although we were just "checking it out", somehow Reagan and Cole were both soaked. Good thing we left in regular clothes and brought our church clothes. We stopped for lunch, changed and made it just in time for church to start. It was such a cool church building. The roof looked like a cabin or something with wood beams criss-crossing the entire roof - so cool. We met some other people from Utah who were staying at our hotel.



After church, we drove back to the hotel, changed our clothes and hit the pool. Later, Reagan wanted to take a walk with Daddy. She and Steve took off for almost an hour. They walked around the lagoon area and then by the wedding chapel and then back to the pool. Cole was content to go down the slide 20 more times while they were gone :)



Eventually, we headed inside and cleaned up (again). We grabbed dinner and then hit the sack after another beautiful day in paradise.

 

Big Island - Days 1 & 2

When the weather outside gets frightful, we head to Hawaii!!!! Our last three trips have been to O'ahu, so, this trip, we decided to return to the Big Island. We flew into Kona and stayed in Waikoloa.  We left the day after Thanksgiving and had ten whole days to soak up the sun, play in the sand and enjoy the surf. We flew out at about 11 am, so, by the time we landed, picked up our rental car, retrieved our luggage and stopped at Target for food and supplies, it was totally dark by the time we arrived at our hotel. Add to that the fact that it was almost midnight at home and we had some pretty tired kiddos. We took the tram to our room (the resort is huge - you take a tram or a gondola boat to different parts of the resort) and we hit the sack.

The next morning, we were up before 5 and figured we would just go with it. I went and worked out while the kids watched the iPads. I returned to the room just as they were having breakfast with Steve. He took them to the pool while I showered and then I joined them at the pool.



Of course we brought our snorkel gear. After our last trip, Reagan and Cole were so excited to get their own gear and they snorkeled all around the pool. Their favorite part of the pool here is the "secret" hot tub. You have to swim to get to it and you have to go through a waterfall. They love it. They also love the slides. It was so nice just to relax by the pool and enjoy the sun. As usual, Reagan and Cole went from hot tub to slide to pool to hot tub to slide to pool, etc. The pool isn't by the beach here or they would have thrown that into the mix as well :)



I stayed with Reagan and Cole by the pool while Steve worked out and then joined us for a late lunch. We ate by the dolphin tanks. This hotel has "Dolphin Quest" where you can swim with and even help train the dolphins (all for a ridiculous price). We loved being able to see the dolphins swimming and playing and being trained and fed. After lunch, we headed to the lagoon. It feeds in from the ocean so it has fish and turtles, but it is inland, so it doesn't have waves or big rocks. There is a manmade beach there and beautiful rock formations with waterfalls. Reagan and Cole took their tubes in and Cole was convinced that he could catch a fish. He and Reagan (and whatever friends joined them at that minute) scouted out fish and Cole took his sand bucket and tried time after time to catch a fish. He was shocked that they were faster than him :) He tried and tried and tried. Reagan was his trusty assistant, but really no help. After a while, they gave up and just played in the water.



After a big day, we returned to our room, showered and cleaned up, had dinner and were in bed by 7:30. Reagan and Cole were out. Again, their little bodies thought it was 10:30. If we can keep this up, maybe it won't be such a hard transition going home. What a great second day (first entire day here)!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

This was our year to celebrate Thanksgiving with the Petersens. Unfortunately, because of travels and other commitments, we didn't have as many as we usually have. Although we missed those who didn't attend, we had a great time with those who did. We met at Steve's brother's church and had a great Thanksgiving dinner. We had some college friends (of our nephew) who had nowhere else to go and they joined us. They were lots of fun. While at the church, we talked and ate and played. Cole was arm wrestling with his cousin and having so much fun. Reagan and Cole love to be with their cousins.



After dinner, we headed over to Steve's brother's home. He has a huge, beautiful home. People were on each level, playing basketball, watching movies, playing video games, playing card games and just chatting. We stayed for a bit and then headed home. We are flying out tomorrow and need to get things prepared.



We are so thankful for all that we have blessed with. This has a been a tough year and yet we must be grateful for all the tender mercies that we experienced throughout Kevin's illness and passing. We are thankful for our family, for our friends, for the Gospel and for the beautiful area that we live in. We have freedoms and safeties that are felt nowhere else in the world and, thankfully, we have the right to voice our opinion to our leaders who may be trying to lessen those freedoms. When we were visiting Rachel's church one week last summer, the Relief Society teacher asked "What if you woke up and the only blessings you had in your life were the ones that you gave thanks for yesterday?" Wow! That hit me like a ton of bricks. I try to be thankful, but there are many things that I don't verbalize my gratitude for. I am grateful that I can get an education as a woman and transact business and drive. I am aware of other countries that do not permit women to participate in commerce or education. I am grateful that I go to the mall and, for the most part, am not afraid of being bombed or blown up. There was that scare from the guy trying to blow up City Creek Center, but that is rare. This is going to sound dumb, but I took Reagan and Cole to see that cute movie The Croods about a caveman family. I am grateful that I don't have to spend my entire day trying to stay alive and trying to hunt, kill and prepare food for my family. I am so thankful for technology and how it makes my life easier and how it allows me to try to learn, grow and serve with the additional time it frees up in my life. I'm grateful for this blog which has helped me to document our family's growth and history. In essence, I am grateful for so very much and I am trying to be better at expressing it to my Heavenly Father and to those around me.

Thanksgiving Feast

At Reagan and Cole's school, they have a Thanksgiving Feast each year on the day before Thanksgiving. Basically, the catering company that brings in their hot lunch prepares a lunch with all the Thanksgiving fixings (turkey, gravy, potatoes, stuffing, roll, pumpkin pie). Our kiddos pretty much take their lunch with them every day, so we don't often do hot lunch, but for the feast? Well, you've gotta do it! Although Cole has been along for the ride on Reagan's previous feasts, this is his first year to have his own feast. They eat at different times, so, Steve ate when Cole and his friends ate and I ate when Reagan and her friends ate. We were able to sneak in a picture with Cole's teachers Mrs. Despain (aka Miss Sacha when she taught Reagan in preschool) and Ms. Olsen. Cole's class had made turkey hats - so cute! Cole has a group of friends that are girls. He has had playdates with them since preschool. He is rough and tumble with the boys, but he also plays with the girls a fair amount (it could be that I'm friends with the moms of these girls more than I'm friends with the moms of the boys...). So, we sat with some of Cole's friends and their families.



Then, Reagan's class came in and we sat with her friend Sophia and Sophia's mom. We love them too! It is so great when you love the children your children are playing with and you love the parents too! Of course we had to get a picture with Reagan's teacher Mrs. Hone (remember, she taught Reagan in Kindergarten).



The older students were serving the feast and they were dressed as pilgrims (nice touch). Plus, the lunchroom was decorated with lots of cute crafts. Each table had a boat as a centerpiece and it was a replica of the Mayflower. On the boat were sticks with pilgrim people on them and on their faces were pictures of students. It took us a while, but we finally found Reagan and Cole's pictures on pilgrim faces - cute! Also, the classes made cornucopias. We were able to find those as well. Cole's class also made a turkey and the feathers were things they were thankful for.



What a fun day at school!! After the feast, we checked Reagan and Cole out of school and headed to my parents' house to visit them. This is our year to spend Thanksgiving with the Petersen family, so, we wanted to make sure to visit Grandma and Grandpa Smith the day before Thanksgiving.

 

School Pics

I don't usually put these up on our blog, but then I thought "Why not?" This, after all, is our own little family scrapbook. So, here are our fall, school pics. Reagan and Cole are growing way, way too fast!

Maybe ....

Cole cracks me up sometimes. We were driving to soccer the other day and we saw a huge flock of geese. I pointed them out to Cole and he asked "They are flying .... west?" I answered "No, they are actually flying north." He sat for a few seconds and then asked "But aren't they supposed to be flying west?" I said "They usually fly south for the winter, but right now, they are flying north." Again, he sat for a few seconds and then he said "Well ... maybe they are just working out and then when it gets really cold, they will be ready to fly south for the winter." Yep - I'll bet that's it Cole.

Silly boy - I love him!

Indoor Soccer Begins

So, we ended our first season of Blue Knights Soccer. I was just ready to breathe after going to two practices and one game a week when we received an e-mail asking if our player wanted to play winter soccer. Steve and I discussed it and figured that since it was only once a week and since we wanted Cole to get his skills up even more and since Cole WANTS to play, we signed up. Well, the indoor facility is on the other side of the valley from us. Like seriously - take the road west to the edge of the earth and make a right. It is crazy, but we have freed up two other nights, so, we are in. Cole likes it. It is just practices now - they do drills and have scrimmages. Apparently, after the first of the year, we will start having games, but for now - once a week is great. Plus, they said this is much more casual, which is good because we travel in the winter. Anyway, Cole is enjoying being with his soccer friends and enjoying learning more. Yeah - indoor! (right?)

Happy Halloween!!!!

Our Halloween this year was different, but good. We got up early and put our costumes on to go to school. This time, I had searched the web and found the white tiger makeup that I wanted. We copied it as closely as we could and Cole looked great. Unfortunately, Reagan had no activities at school that the parents could be involved in. Cole, on the other hand, had a Halloween parade - yeah!!! He was so cute - he walked with his classmates out to the parking area. The walked up and down the area so that no matter where a parent was, he was guaranteed to see his child. Then, they lined up for a class picture. Their costumes were great (even Cole's too small white tiger outfit). He was excited to see Steve and me and we were thrilled to see him.

 

I had requested of Cole's teachers (from seriously the first week of school) that I be permitted to help with their class Halloween party. They waited until two days before Halloween to let me know, but they decided to have me help. I did the same thing I did when Reagan was in kindergarten. I went in and took a picture of the class before their Halloween parade. Then, I went and had copies of the picture printed out. Later in the day, I went back in with the prints. I had previously ordered little foam picture frames with various stickers that the children could put on them. They made these crafts for part of their little class party and they turned out SO cute! They also danced to Halloween songs and sang songs. They were adorable.

 

After leaving Cole's class, I walked to Reagan's class to see if her teacher wanted me to take a class picture of them in their costumes. She was SO appreciative. She mentioned that she had been trying all day to get another teacher to come in and take a picture of their class. She also mentioned that she still had the picture I had taken of her class when Reagan was in it. Like I said before, I did the same thing when Reagan was in kindergarten, so, for her to still have the picture was so sweet. I took some pics and headed out.

 

After school, we headed home for piano lessons and then to reapply make up and give our costumes a once over before heading out to a neighbor's house. A girl that goes to school with Reagan moved into our neighborhood. Her mother invited our family to join them for trick or treating. Reagan and this girl have had some problems, so, Reagan didn't actually want to go. I reminded her how Steve and I don't let her trick or treat to any houses that we don't know. I explained that since her friend is new in the neighborhood, she doesn't know anyone and might not be able to trick or treat since there is no one that they know. Reagan agreed to go and we headed off. There was so much food. The mother is a great cook and she had made soup, treats, sandwiches and tons of munchies.

 

We left their house to trick or treat for a while and then she asked us back to hang out for a while. By the time we were done, it was late. The public schools were out the day after Halloween, but not our school. In fact, Reagan had 3 or 4 tests the day after Halloween. Even though it was late, we did stop by Kathy and Dick's (Reagan and Cole's grandparents in the ward). Of course, they had full on gift bags for Reagan and Cole! Reagan LOVE LOVE LOVED the fashion design book that she was given and Cole couldn't wait to build the Lego set he was given. Kathy and Dick - you guys are too good to us!!! After we left their house, we had to go home - it was late for our little students.

   

I felt badly that we didn't get to go on our usual trick or treat route and see many of our friends and neighbors. In fact, we were getting texts through the night of "Where are our Petersen trick or treaters?" I've posted before about Reagan and Cole being treated so well on Halloween. Our neighbors and ward members are so kind to us, especially Dick and Kathy!! So, it was a different Halloween than we've had before, but we had fun nonetheless. We got dressed up, had our parties and headed out to trick or treat. Yep - life is pretty good. We will just have to plan next year to make SURE to see all of our trick or treating friends.

 

Halloween Decor

I think Christmas is my favorite holiday, but Halloween is a REALLY close second - at least for decoration purposes. We added a few things this year (of course) and my sis once again helped me make the magic :) I posted about our decorations for fall. We had pumpkins everywhere! When I told Steve that my sis was coming to help me put up the Halloween decorations, he said "We have like 100 pumpkins in this house - isn't Halloween pumpkins?" I laughed. When I told my sis what he had said, she replied "Oh he'll KNOW when we've put up Halloween." So funny!!!!!

 

It has now been a year that we have been changing out the decor above the cabinets in the kitchen. I'm so glad we do! It is hard work and takes a lot of time. Amber and I are up and down ladders, balancing different decorations, but it is so worth it. It totally brings together the decorations in that room.

 

Once again, I am SO into the purple of Halloween. I used to only decorate with orange and black, but to add in purple - and green! - is so fun. It just makes the other colors pop. I also love to change out the pictures in our family room for Halloween. I take out all the pics in the 10 or 12 frames in that room and put in pics of Halloweens past. It is fun to see Reagan and Cole's costumes through the years and to have pics of our family on different Halloweens.

 

We have several luminaries that we put candles in - Frankenstein, a cat, pumpkins, and haunted houses. Bath and Body Works puts out a new Haunted House each year. They have been my source for many of our decorations, but the manager in the Southtowne store told me they were moving away from decor and just focussing on candles, lotions, soaps, etc. It's true - although they had a new haunted house this year, the Southtowne store only received 2 to sell - crazy!! Luckily, I was watching online and ordered one right when they came out. I didn't see any "decorations" for Halloween in their store this year - too bad. Oh well, we'll just find somewhere else to get our decor :)

 

Just like last year, my "favorite" decorations are the Halloween trees. There is a six foot tree and two three foot trees that are black Christmas trees with purple and orange lights. Whip some ornaments on them as well as some ribbon and voila! you have a gorgeous decoration. I love to see them lit and when you drive into our circle, you can see this orange glow emanating from our house. It looks so nice!!!

 

After Halloween, I told Steve that I wanted to hit Tai Pan to see what was on the "75% off Halloween" sale. He just laughed and said "I don't know where you would put one more thing." Oh, don't you worry Steve, Amber and I will find a place. (Tee hee)

Ward Halloween Party

We had such a fun time at our Ward Halloween party. It wasn't as well attended as it has been in the past, so we missed some of our friends, but we still had a great time. Our new next door neighbor joined us so he could meet people in the neighborhood. I made tortilla soup and cupcakes (the YW were in charge of the cake walk). Each of the auxiliaries had games for the children to play and there was soup and rolls for dinner. They also had a photo booth set up with a photographer so you could take family pics; however, we were so busy doing everything else that we didn't even get to that. Steve was suckered into … er asked to participate in a skit that our former bishop did - it was pretty funny.

Reagan was a Snow Queen and Cole was a White Tiger. Oh what we went through to get Cole's costume. He knew he wanted to be a white tiger, but it took me a while to find the costume. Once I did, I ordered it online. After two and a half weeks, I received an e-mail that said "We are refunding your money, this item is out of stock." What the what!?! I don't want the money back, I want the costume. So, I found another one online, this time through Amazon - thinking it would be more reliable. Uh - maybe not. After a week, I had the same experience. They refunded my money and said the item was out of stock. Now, I needed it inside of a week for the ward party. I freaked out and contacted Amazon. They suggested I order another one through another of their suppliers. Problem was, now I would have to pay as much for shipping as I paid for the costume itself. Luckily, the Amazon rep offered to refund my shipping cost. Yeah! The costume came the next day and we were in business. One problem though, the costume was a bit too small for Cole. It said up to 6 years old, but I guess he is a big 6 because the little shoe covers were over his shins. Well, after all that we went through to get this costume, we decided just to go with it. He loved it - it didn't matter that it didn't fit perfectly. Next up was how to do his make up. I watched some videos online and we were running a bit late, so, we did the best we could.

Regardless of our costume issues, we had a great time at the party. We saw our friends, played games, won treats and prizes, ate cotton candy and danced in the dark with glow sticks. Yep - it just doesn't get better than that :)

A Dapper Young Man

I think I've posted before about Cole's fashion ideas (remember the Shaun White belt?). Well, it continues. We were getting ready to head out to our nephew's wedding reception when Cole asked if he could wear his white hat. He was referring to his Easter hat. Since it is a white fedora with navy on it, I didn't figure it would match his purple and grey. However, knowing his penchant for hats, I had ordered and just received a grey fedora. I unwrapped it and he was thrilled. He looked so dapper. At the reception, we had a fan blowing on us and we were cold. Cole was actually shivering. I gave him my black scarf and my gloves. He rocked them. He was so cute in his little hat and scarf.

He definitely has opinions on what he wants to wear and how he wants to wear it. For example, I have traditionally put him in an oxford and a sweater vest for church and dress up functions. However, for the past several months, he hasn't wanted to wear a sweater vest - he wants a jacket or suitcoat. I don't know if he is trying to match Steve or if he just likes a jacket or what. I have to respect his decision because almost everything he chooses looks great. It just cracks me up that he is so young, yet has these opinions. His most recent request is for a bow tie. I have never really liked them, but I see the YM in our ward wearing them, so they must not be totally taboo. I'll keep my eye out and we'll see if I can find one that I can live with :)

Keep up the good choices Cole - you look awesome!!!!

Cornbellys at Thanksgiving Point

Each year, Thanksgiving Point has this fall festival called Cornbellys. They have food, games, bouncy bounce, a princess area, rubber ducky races, a corn maze, and a spooky beast you can walk through. We try to hit it every year. This year, we invited the Pesci family to join us. With Joe out of town, Jennifer, Eric and Claire opted to travel south with us. We had such a fun time.



We played, we climbed, we bounced, we raced and we ate. There was one area where you could use an air gun and shoot rubber balls at another team. Well, Jen and I sent Steve in to be the "responsible" adult. Yeah - so much for that. Steve was shooting Cole in the bum, shooting Reagan in the stomach and almost shot Claire in the face. Yep, those kids thought it would be great to have him on their team, until he turned on them :)  I still think we beat the other team, but - truly - no one was safe.



After that we played with a huge pumpkin shaped balloon and raced rubber ducks. We listened to a pumpkin princess tell a story and we climbed on the huge fort made out of hay bales.



As the sun went down, it cooled down a lot. We figured it was time to call it a day. While we were walking out, Steve paid for a "bounce back pass" so we could come again at a cheaper rate. Our Cornbellys experience isn't over yet .... it's just over for today. Brrr - let's get some hot cocoa!!!

Cole's Reptile Party!!!

On the Saturday after Cole's actual birthday, we had Cole's "friend" party. We were seriously behind this year for some reason. Usually, I have Reagan and Cole's birthday parties planned well in advance, but this year, I just didn't. I realized Cole's party was coming up fast and I started to look for invitations. I quickly realized that there was no time to have them printed and mailed. So, I found a site that would design and send them as photos to the Walgreens by our gym. Check. They turned out really cute.



We decided on a reptile theme and we hired Snails and Tails to come and put on a reptile show. I was worried about the weather as the man said that they could only have the animals outside if it was warm enough for a child to be outside with a short sleeved shirt on. The weather was predicting a 60 degree high that day and I was worried. I offered heat lamps (we have them in our gazebo) or to put blankets over the cages - anything to not have to have the reptiles in the house - uggh! Well, we lucked out as it was 65 degrees that day. We were fine to be outside. It was a bit windy, but tolerable.



We had little halloween crafts for the children to do when they first arrived. Most of them just wanted to play in the yard. After we had some craft time, we decided to cut the cake. Cole and I had scouted out exactly what cake he wanted. It was a snake coiled up in grass and dirt with a burrow behind it. Well, when Steve returned from picking up the cake and I opened the box, it was a simple white cake with "Happy Birthday Cole" written on it. No snake, grass or dirt ... nothing. I was fuming and Cole was crying. I called the store and they reported that the women who took our order forgot to put the snake cake on the order form. Ugggh! Luckily, one of my friends grabbed some Halloween decorations and turned the cake into a Halloween cake. Yeah! We also had a veggie tray, cheese ball and crackers, punch and water. We opted not to get pizza, etc. since the party was from 2-4.



After we sang, blew out the candles and ate cake, the reptile guy arrived. He took the entire last hour of the party. It was a great show. He had snakes, a scorpion, a turtle, lizards and a huge, albino python. I mean HUGE!!! He involved Cole in the show and the children were allowed to touch the snakes and the lizards. They loved it. Even Shannon got into it and had a close encounter with the python.



Even though our time was over, we let Cole open presents as the parents arrived. He had a great day with friends and family .... and reptiles.