Luau and Lots more family shots!!

****Just added**
I have sifted through some pics and here are some of my favorites.

We went back to that beautiful beach that we got the family walking shots in an attempt to recreate a cool family pic. I think we have some really good ones but there were so many that I just made slide shows of them. Sorry for those of you who cannot view slide shows (Don and Mary) but it would have taken me forever to put the pics in collages (plus it would have cut a lot of the sides of the pictures off) or to post them individually.

Anyway, here are the slide shows. The final show shows the Luau we went to last night. It was a lot of fun with awesome entertainment.

More family pics at the beach

This slide show gets into the Luau pictures. The boys got onstage to learn the hula-- very cute!!!

We took some pics this morning at a studio they have here at the hotel (was free and we didn't really like any of them) and before the sitting I took some pictures of the kids. Mia looked so cute in her white dress-- that I saved by the way for this trip to take pictures in-- and the boys were very handsome in their Hawaiian shirts.

Im sad to say we only have two more days after today. We leave Sunday afternoon and I am sad to leave but anxious to get back into the swing of things. I do miss so many people and want to get back to checking out my blogger friends. Anyway, I will post again before we leave.

Christy :)

The Road to Hana

First off I must say how adorable my dear husband is when he is round brushing Mia's hair. Mia totally tolerates her hair being blown dry and Kevin enjoys doing it so it makes for a cute little interaction.

This is Kevin getting Mia ready for dinner at Kobe Steak House (kind of like Benihana) in Lahaina last night.

This is us at dinner last night. The kids loved the knife show the cook put on-- gotta love teppan grills.

As we were walking back from breakfast this morning one of the hotel staff members was passing out fish food to feed the Koi fish. The kids got a kick out of feeding the fish!

After breakfast this morning we had plans to take part of the Road to Hana to a bunch of cool waterfalls. The road is very windy and makes for a very sick stomach so we took it pretty easy but we got past the half way point which I believe was at about mile marker 25 or so. On our way out we stopped by a beautiful beach we had passed a few times close to our hotel. We took a few pictures.

Love the way everyone else looks but totally hate the short squat look on me-- uggg!! Oh well is is pretty cute.

Our first stop was at about mile marker 4 and it was twin water falls. There was a smoothie stand that made fresh banana bread as you entered so we had to try some-- by the way it was yummy!! As we began to walk up the trail Mia decided she was not going to walk nor be carried and began to throw a huge fit. We just stood there and watched her and smiled as the people passed by us wondering what the flailing child was doing on the ground. She finally snapped out of it and went in the water at the falls. There was a rope swing and the kids loved it!!

The Lemelins-- wow what a pretty picture (and family)-- I took it (kudos to me :)

Mia at the base of the twin falls trail before her breakdown.

Our next stop on the road to Hana was a black sandy beach that we were able to drive down to. It was just beautiful in every way and we were the only ones on the beach for a really long time-- this is when Mia napped.

Yes this was forced by me-- but it is a cute picture. I think when it was over one of them punched the other one- or something like that :)

Ethan on the beach checking out how far he threw his rock.

Owen checking out how deep the water was.

Kevin and I taking our traditional "see we were here" picture.

After the black beach our next stop was another way cool waterfall that was a bit of a cool hike away.

This waterfall by far was the coolest. It was really hidden so not many people were there and it was just amazing. It was 3 falls into a clear pool. Just amazingly beautiful!!!

We took a few family pics while there.

I think I like this one the best.

My boys!!

Sitting on a rock checking out the falls.

Mia loved climbing over all the rocks. She did really well with her water shoes on. By the way-- number one purchase for Hawaii-- WATER SHOES!!! We use them all the time!!

On the hike back up we had to walk through a bamboo field (or kind of a cliff area) so we took some cute pictures.

After that it was pretty late-- like about 5:30pm and we still had about a 45 min drive to get back to the head of the road so we decided to head out and stopped by Mamas Fish House on our way out. Hearing the name i pictured a very large Polynesian woman serving tacos on the side of the road out of her little tin roof shack-- not quite!! It was a full on like 5 star type dining restaurant. We would have loved to eat there by ourselves but not with our 3 plus Brian and Heathers 3 tired and hungry children. The kids menu prices were $20 per kid and the adult menu prices ranged from about $30 and up well over that. A bit out of our range in light of the fact that we were nasty and sweaty and had been hiking to waterfalls all day. So, after valet parking the cars we hopped back in the cars and drove to Los Amigos Mexican restaurant and had all the chips and salsa we wanted. It hit the spot and we were able to sit outside so the kids had a bit more freedom. Overall, it was a wonderful day!!!

Tomorrow is an easy day and I think we may parasail so I will post pictures as soon as I can. Hope all is well with you!!!

Hawaii Days 2 - 4

First off let me say how sorry I am for not keeping up on my blogging responsibilities. Laila and Cassie have been texting me angry messages (well kind of) and they say I must post NOW!!!! We have been going crazy with things to do. Each day we start with a wonderful buffet breakfast and then we head out for our crazy adventures. We spent the first day at the hotel but day 2 and 3 we have headed out for cool adventures.


Day 1 was fly day-- day 2 was hang around here day.

Day 3 we went to a really cool beach just up the way-- Nepali beach I think and it had cool tide pools and was just beautiful. After that we went to this place called Dragons Tooth and it is lava formations that look like you are in a dragons mouth. What was so cool about it is that it was out on this bluff and the water was splashing everywhere and you could see huge sea turtles. It was just amazing and we loved it. We then came back to the room and let Mia nap and then went to dinner and walked on the beach for quite some time. It was a beautiful day.

Today we woke up to the same cool breakfast and then headed to this blow hole up north. I just thought it was going to be a blow hole but it ended up being so much more. It was just the coolest thing and we had to walk down this huge cliff area to get there. It was a big hike but worth it. Then we went to these warm pools just north of the blow hole. The pools were totally cool and what was the coolest thing is that they were like out in the middle of the ocean so the waves were splashing up and it was kind of scary-- very cool!! Then we went to this cool snorkeling area and walked through a jungle to get there. Once we were there and in the water snorkeling it started pouring like a rain forest rain. It was so cool and it ended up only being our families out snorkeling with all out stuff by the shore getting soaked. It was very very very cool and we all felt very adventurous. That gets me to now. We are in our room and Mia is napping. The boys are next door watching a movie and Kev in in the shower. We are going to eat pizza tonight and just play it low key. Tomorrow Kevin and Brian have arranged a surprise for Heather and I (cant wait!!) and then we are just going to hang around here. We are thinking about doing a sugar cane train thing in the afternoon but we are not 100% sure. We just need a slow day.

Anyway, sorry for being a bad blogger but I will try to be more on top of it over the next few days. Enjoy the pics.

Taken at sunset right before dinner last night.

Today on the hike to the blow hole.

This morning before breakfast.

These were all pretty much day 2 when we just hung around the hotel and the beach.

These were at the cool beach we went to on day 3 with the tide pools. It was beautiful!!

This was the blow hole today and you can see us trying to look in the hole. It was so darn cool and when a big wave came it would shoot super high into the air and it would get everyone soaking wet!

More blow hole pictures. It was a crazy hike up and down but we all did well.

(by the way I would like to point out that if you are wondering why Christy keeps wearing the same dresses every day-- they are my beach cover ups. I am wearing my bathing suit under the dress and they are so comfy that I am wearing them everyday-- but not at night)

This is at those cool pools today. They are right on the ocean and the water around the pools is really rough. It is kind of scary but really cool.

I forgot to bring my camera to the jungle/ snorkel part today so sorry-- no pics of that.

That cool dragons tooth from yesterday is in Heathers camera so I will get those pics from her tomorrow. We have some totally cool pics from that stop so I will try to get those soon!!

That is about it for now. I will post soon!! Love tons, Christy :)

Maui Day 1

Well we made it!! We are in Hawaii and loving it!! I am very tired as we are 3 hours ahead of the time here so I will make this brief so I can go to bed.

The plane was fine. Mia fussed a bit but not too bad. The flight was 5 hours 20 minute and was pretty much uneventful.

When we got our rental cars and started driving we realized how hungry we were so we stopped at the famous Cheeseburgers In Paradise and had dinner/ lunch. It was very tasty and we needed the food. After dipping our feet in the ocean we headed to our hotel.

Our hotel-- The Westin in Kaanapali-- is absolutely amazing. It is in a perfect location and is just beautiful!!! The beach in phenomenal and we are just in heaven. There are water slides all over the place with 5 pools-- just amazing!! The top pictures in the above collage is our hotel lobby. It is breathtaking!!

These are some pictures in the pool as well as at the beach in front of our hotel.

So we are here. I will post again tomorrow. I'm going to bed!!!!