Summer in April?

We have been having some AMAZING weather.  I absolutely love it and hope it stays!  We've been doing lots of bike and scooter rides, tons of yard work (almost done!), and lots of playing outside.  The top right picture is of Carson holding a ladybug.

 Rylee has enjoyed her horse lessons in the sun.  She has been riding Bosley the last few weeks.  He's been great for her confidence level.  She rides him all alone around the whole arena.

 This weekend was absolutely beautiful and really warm.  Lance got me two adirondack chairs for an early Mother's Day gift.  He painted them white for me and I bought some cute teal oversize pillows for them.  Needless to say, this was my view from the chairs for the last couple of days.  Can you believe it's sprinkler weather in April?!

 Today Lance played hooky and we took the boat out for it's maiden voyage this year.  Poor Rylee was in school so she missed out, but she had plenty of sprinkler and pool time when she got home.  Coulee tired herself out swimming and climbing the boat ladder.  Carson even went for a short swim.  As you can imagine, the water was freezing!  What a great day.  Love this life!

Math wiz

Last week Rylee called me at work all excited.  Apparently they had a contest at school to see who could finish a whole page of math problems first.  She was first AND got them all right.  She was so proud of herself!!!  She has really been into math lately.  Her school has an online math program (almost like a game) and she has been spending lots of time on it.  I hope this keeps up!!  I'm so proud of her.

The other morning I found them like this.  Rylee loves helping Carson with his letters and numbers.  He is slowly getting better.  He is not as into learning as Rylee was.  He'd rather be doing puzzles or playing legos.  He can count to 40 now (with just the tiniest bit of help) and can recognize numbers to 4.  We need to work on writing his numbers.  He is starting to be able to recognize and write letters.  He can spell his name and almost write all of the letters in his name.  I try not to stress about it, I know everyone learns at their own pace.  It is so sweet seeing them play school together!

Carson-isms

Here are just a few of my favorite things Carson says....

1.  He calls my bras and bikini tops "boobs."  As in "Mom, you better put your boobs on."  We were at Marshall's a few weeks ago and I was looking at swim suits.  There was a whole rack of bikini tops.  Carson pulls out a couple and says loudly "Mom, look at these big boobs!",  It was pretty funny.

2.  When we were in Lake Chelan a couple of months ago we called him to come back (him and Rylee were walking away from the car), he said "but I'm adventuring."

3.  Instead of saying "something" he says "sunsing."   "Mom, I need to tell you sunsing."  It's adorable!!


These are just a few of my fav's.  I'm trying to get better at writing these things down when he says them.  I may add to this list later.  =)

Spring Break in Paradise

We just returned from 8 glorious nights in Maui.  It was a wonderful trip and a fun-filled spring break.  We flew out of Bellingham for the first time since the flights were much cheaper.  What a fantastic option!  The airport was small and so much less stressful.  No lines and no need to get there 2 hours early.  We will definitely be using that option again in the future!

We had a special surprise on the plane... Kathy was our flight attendant!  So cool!  Seeing and hanging out with her made the flight go so much faster!  This pic on the right was the view from our room.  Gorgeous!

Rylee lost a bottom tooth on the plane ride.  She thinks she swallowed it.  And who knew the tooth fairy could find her in Hawaii?  She got $5 and a flower clip under her pillow. 

We were in Maui over Easter Sunday.  What better way to celebrate than an Easter egg hunt in the sun?  The kids loved it and got lots of candy and treats.  

We spent time at the pool every day.  The kids had a blast going down the water slide and diving for rings.  They even made a few friends.  Carson improved his swimming skills a lot and was swimming across the pool without his life jacket by the end of the trip.

There was a trail by the beach from our hotel that led into Kaanapali.  We walked to Dukes for dinner one night then followed the trail out to the beach to watch the sunset.

Carson took a few naps in the car (and even one by the pool one day)!  They wore themselves out during the day and were ready for bed by 7:30 every night.  

We explored Lahaina a couple of evenings.  The kids loved the Banyan tree.  We had wonderful dinners and even better snow cones at Ululani's.

We checked out Iao Valley State Park one day.  There were lots of little trails to follow that led up to the Iao needle and down to a river and little waterfalls.

After our hike we had lunch at a cute little place by the water with swings at the tables.  So fun!

Our second hike was to Twin Falls on the road to Hana.  The hike was a little over a mile each way and the kids did great!  There was so much to see and do along the way.  

At the end of the trail was this waterfall.  Beautiful!  The water was cold and I was the only one brave enough to swim under the waterfall.  After our hike we stopped in Paia town for lunch.  Such a cute little town.

More pics at the pool.  Like I said, the majority of the time was spent here.  The kids were in the water nonstop, which gave Lance and I a little time to relax and enjoy some poolside drinks!

Here are a couple pics of them coming down the water slide and one of Carson with his friend Luke.  They spent a lot of time together.

We checked out a couple of beaches too.  We started with baby beach, which has really calm waters.  A great place for the kids to practice snorkeling. 

Another night in Lahaina.

We spend our last day at Napili beach.  All I can say is AMAZING.

We saw lots of sea turtles.  The kids even snorkeled with the turtles and were able to touch them!!!  How many kids can say they did that on spring break?

We all had fun swimming in the ocean and running from the big waves.  Perfect last day.

After the beach we came back to the hotel and spent the evening with a cocktail by the pool.  What a beautiful ending to a very memorable trip.

We ate at Slappy Cakes before heading to the airport.  The kids were able to make their own pancakes at the table.  What a cool (and delicious) idea!  The flight back was uneventful and the kids did great.

We are home now and trying to catch up on sleep from the time change.  Back to school and work tomorrow.  Sad!  I wish vacation could last forever!