Aloha!

Aloha! We had the time of our lives in Kona, Hawaii! We were there April 16th-26th. It was ammmaaazzing!

 I should probably explain a little how we ended up there in the first place-- haha. Tyler's dad's uncle, who is dad is very close with has a condo in Kona, and had been trying to talk Tyler's parents into taking their kids there for years! There was no one staying there from April-June, so Bonnie will be there for 7 weeks! Each of the kids are going over for 7-10 days! We went when we did because Clara turned 2 April 28th, so we had to hurry and go before her birthday so she could fly for free! So basically it was awesome. We planned the trip like 3 weeks before we went, had a free place to stay, and a car, etc... Tyler's parents were both there the first few days, then Jeff flew back and Bonnie was with us the whole time. We were in a 3 bedroom condo so the girls had their own room and slept great, and Bonnie was able to babysit a few nights so Tyler and I could go out. It was awesome! We can't thank Rex, and Jeff & Bonnie enough! Seriously. 

 We flew from Minot to Minneapolis, then Minneapolis to LAX, then LAX to Kona! The girls actually did awesome even on the LONG day of Flying! We left Minot at 7:45am, and got to Kona at like 6pm, but that's a 5 hour earlier time difference. We were exhausted by the time we got there, but Lucy slept basically the whole first 4 hr flight, and Clara slept from LA to Kona. For the other time we had Mickey! Thank goodness for iPods!

Lucy is really the sweetest big sister! She was so sweet both flights, and really the whole trip! She takes such good care of Clara, and Clara just loves her. I love that they are the best of friends!

 We were SO excited to finally see Hawaii!

 Grandma and Grandpa were waiting for us with a beautiful lei! We went to dinner that night at their favorite Quin's, and then headed to the condo! Everyone headed to bed, but Lucy and I headed down the pool for a 'late night' swim! We had a blast, and I love hanging out with my little fish!

We had an awesome view from breakfast each morning off of the back patio!

Wednesday morning we headed out to 'Baby Beach'-- or so we called it. A little beach back through a nice neighborhood with the perfect wading pools for the kids! They were so excited to be in the water!

 I did Lucy's hair in her little pony tails again, and they stayed in the full 10 days! Wahoo. It only took me like 20 minutes to do too- totally worth it! It's so nice not to worry about doing her hair on vacation! She was SO excited to go swimming when we got back to the condo for Clara's nap!

We headed to dinner that night for Tyler's early birthday at Bubba Gumps!

Thursday was Tyler's Birthday! 28!! Cutest 28 year old I know! We stopped by the marina that morning to see Rex's boat before heading to the Hilton for the day!

 Our main reason for heading to the Hilton was so Lucy could see the Dolphins!

 We could have paid to swim with them, but Lucy is only 4! Haha, she was happy just to see them that close! 

 They have the coolest big Lagoon there and the girls had a blast swimming! We had a sea turtle swim right past us, and saw lots of fun fish!

 It was absolutely gorgeous... Dreaming of being back there!

We headed home to relax while Clara napped in her 'room' (huge walk in closet!)

Of course we had to swim again!

That night after Jeff left for the airport Bonnie watched the girls so I could take Tyler out for his birthday!

I had some amazing Fish Tacos at Humpys downtown! And if you know Hawaii you know we were WAY overdressed... it was pretty funny!

Friday morning I went for a gorgeous run and we had planned on going to the beach, but Lucy was BEGGING to go to the pool again, so off we went!

 We had a gorgeous view from the pool though!

We swam all morning and the girls both crashed all afternoon!

Tyler and I ran to Costco that day to get groceries, and we had a super relaxed day. It was awesome!

Saturday we headed to the Farmers Market! We lasted about an hour before the kids were ready for lunch and a nap- Haha, but we still had a good time and got some yummy things at the market!

We spent the afternoon wandering around downtown! We visited all the shops, and Lucy got a new hat! She was SO excited. It fits her little personality perfectly! She wore the rest of the trip pretty much! We had a yummy dinner right on the ocean that night!

We made it back just in time to see the sunset!

 I'm pretty sure this is what I looked like most of the time trying to keep these two girls from jumping in the pool! This was a cool all natural salt water pool that gets filled with the waves! It's literally as close as you could get to our hotel and is pretty cool. All the teenagers go and stand on the edge of the pool and wait for the waves to hit them back into the pool! 

That ends part one!

My cute little sister turned 17 on the 19th and had Prom the next day! Doesn't she look gorgeous? Me and Cheryl both decided she would have looked way better with a 3-barrelled up-do, but I guess this works. ;-)