Aloha!

I apologize in advance for the number of pictures I have in this post.  I know "more isn't always better-- sometimes it's just more," but it took me so long just to narrow it down this far, and to be honest, I just want to cross this post off my to-do list.  :)  So here you go--35 pictures of our Hawaiian adventure.  (I made some of them small, so maybe those only count as half a picture?)

  

We recently returned from a Stone Family Reunion in Kona, Hawaii, on the Big Island.  My Grandparents provided the housing and we were all in charge of getting ourselves out there.  Our whole family (37 of us, I think) stayed at the Kona Plantation, which has two 8 bedroom homes, (each with their own bathroom and lanai) a pool, a tennis and basketball court, and all the fresh tropical fruit we could pick.  Above is a view of the pool and one of the houses.  It was perfect! 

We took Dallin & Daphne because they would be old enough to remember it, while Sean and Hayden stayed with our good friends, to whom we will forever be indebted!!!  

Thank you Steve and Erin--you guys are the best!  I don't really think Sean and Hayden even missed us, they had so much fun at your house.

Snorkeling in the tide pools.

Arthur teaching Dallin to snorkel.  It's kind of unnerving having your nose covered and having to breathe through that tube.  Dallin did a good job figuring it out, and Arthur was a great teacher.  Daphne didn't like the tube at all, so Arthur found a spot where she could just put her face in the water and look at some fish through the goggles.  She thought it was pretty amazing!

Our hike to Akaka Falls:

 

A little casual vine swinging.

 Beautiful Akaka Falls

The Kathy Wood Memorial 5K walk/run

Here we all are in our wackiness, getting ready to go.

I love Grammy & Grandpa sharing a kiss right there in the middle of all their crazy posterity.

Our big family Luau.

The plantation cooked a pig in the ground for us, and below, the kids are looking at the pig and balking at the tusks and teeth that are still plainly visible.  I think my Aunt Leslie actually found a tooth in her meat that night!

 

Dallin was among those chosen to learn the Tahitian hip-shakin' dance with the Polynesian dancers. This part of the evening had us all in stitches!  

We went to several beaches during our stay.  Since we don't have any beaches in New Mexico, we were just in heaven.  

 

Daphne, Dallin and Colton.

Colton is my cousin, but is the same age as Dallin, and these three had a great time playing together.

This is the village they built and they told me that it had an LDS church and a temple in it.

 

Besides day trips, we had a great time just relaxing at the plantation playing games, reading, swimming, playing tennis, riding bikes, eating delicious fruits, (starfruit, mango, pineapple, bananas, papaya, etc), and catching geckos.

 

And what family gathering would be complete without a sister "photo shoot"? (thanks Kris!)

Some of my favorite moments:

Waking up in the morning and feeling the ocean breeze through the open windows, 

Listening to the rustling of the palm trees and the sounds of the birds outside. 

Going down to the shore at the end of the day to watch the sun set.  

Sharing all of this fun with family.
You can't get much better than that.

Pinewood Derby

This was Dallin's 1st Pinewood Derby and he thought it was so fun. Dallin chose to make his car a tank. Arthur is the Cubmaster in our ward right now, so he made one too. It was a silly one with a Han Solo bobble head on top. Not very aerodynamic.

Here's Dallin painting his amazing tank.

The tank, and the bobble-head.

Dallin watching his tank race. He did pretty good!

The boys gathered around Arthur's hi-tech spread sheet that organized the races and who got first, second, third, etc.

Sean was the most excited for the Pinewood Derby of anybody, though. He asked me all day long if we were going to "the race" that evening, and even helped get shoes on Hayden when it was time to go in order to expedite the process. Now that's saying something.

The little brothers watching the races right up close.

Arthur and Dallin.

I love these boys.

Daphne's Little Gym Performance

Last semester, Daphne took a class at the Little Gym where they did half gymnastics and half dance. The dance was both tap and ballet. We loved watching Daphne perform her little dances and gymnastics skills, and she especially loved her dance costume.

Daph is a pro at the uneven bars. The cool thing about this combo class is that she could try them all out and decide what she likes best, and she said her favorite was gymnastics. So we'll probably try to find just a gymnastics class for her. But the dancing sure was cute!

gotta love their shiny tap shoes.

Daphne was having trouble getting her little tap shoes tied, so Dallin hopped down and helped her get them tied for her tap number. I love that picture.

This is the "creative movement" section. She got to do whatever she wanted all the way across the room, all by herself. Isn't she glorious? Oh, I love this girl.

At the end, they each got called up to the podium and received a participation medal which she proudly took for show and tell at school the following Friday.

I tried uploading video of her performances, but I'm having trouble getting them on. So Mom and Dad, I'll get Arthur to help me and post them later. They were pretty cute.

Field Trip to Dion's

For one of Sean's preschool field-trips we went to Dion's Pizza. I've gotta say this was my favorite field trip, because of the delicious pizza we got to eat! Yummm.

Only the actual preschoolers got to go behind the counter, and it's a good thing because we joined with the older group in our ward and once you add up the preschoolers, plus their siblings, we really had that place packed! So here's little Hayden peeking over.

He didn't much care as long as we kept the root beer coming.

Here is Sean putting on a piece of pepperoni on the pizza they got to eat later.

The fridge with all the dough balls.

They all got a Dion's t-shirt at the end of the excursion. What a fun field trip!

10 seconds too late

I came downstairs this morning to find Hayden scribbling on a brand new piano book with permanent marker. But worse, he was coloring way outside the lines and he got a good chunk of the carpet. Right in the middle of the room where no furniture will ever hide it and a rug would be conspicuous.

Does anyone know of a miracle cleanser that takes permanent marker out of carpet? I've tried Resolve and Bissel Tough Stain Remover. It's lighter, but still there.

In the meantime, I've got to find a new hiding place for the permanent markers. Clearly, Hayden found me out.

As an aside, I do have some posts coming with pictures for those of you who are tired of my wordy blogs lately. I know you're all on pins and needles to see what the fabulous Garietys have been up to. (Besides ruining perfectly good living room carpet.)