We crammed a lot into the last month of the year.
And now, you're gonna pay for it.
Yep.
Now you're gonna have to read this looooooooong post about all the stuff we did.
It might take me the rest of the month of January just to write it all down.
And, I am not being sarcastic.
The first day of December was a Saturday and it was IV infusion time.
The first full week of December after that was pretty calm.
Just school and normal stuff.
That Friday was our neighborhood Xmas Party.
The next day, we ventured out to find us a Christmas tree.
And, lo and behold, it WASN'T RAINING.
But, it was still muddy.
Once again, the children ran off to wander the fields.
I'm not sure they understand that the point of going to cut down a Christmas tree is cutting down a Christmas tree.
They spend more time running around exploring than actually looking for a tree.
They found this giant mud puddle pond and stomped around in it for a good twenty minutes.
Ralph was jealous that they got to walk through it and he didn't.
If we let him near it, he would've plopped himself right down in it.
Having a wet dog is one thing.
Having a wet and muddy dog is quite another.
FINALLY!
A tree was selected.
Me: "Let me take a picture."
"Nice."
"Daddy! LANGUAGE!"
For the first time ever, we found a birds nest in our selected tree.
Don't worry. It was abandoned.
The kids said we HAD to get the tree because the birds nest made it that much cooler than all the other trees on the farm.
Ralph didn't care.
He just wanted to jump in the giant mud puddle pond.
Or sniff something.
Gone are the days when Huzbend has to carry the tree back to the car.
Now, the kids get all excited to do it.
This year, Mikey's hands got all sappy.
He was not happy.
He may also have been unhappy because he had to squoosh in next to his sister.
The tree is in the car next to him.
After letting the tree rest for a day in the garage, it was time to decorate.
Garland Girl really gets into her work.
There was a lot of arguing about who was going to put what ornaments on the tree this year.
I think it took twice as long because of the bickering.
Sigh.
But, they're still smiling in this picture.
So, I guess they weren't bothered by it.
Who needs Santa?!
Grandma came to town.
Grandma and I spent the day making glass fusion art projects and then we ate lunch at a fancy garden store cafe.
Here's a picture of Mikey schooling Grandma on the wonderful world of Common Core Mathematics. A crash course in the "NEW WAY" to do long division.
It was time for the first performance of the middle school drama production:
The Elf on A Shelf Must Die.
Play Summary:
Sammy and Mook's parents purchase Pip - an elf on a shelf - to report to Santa on the behavior of their children.
Sammy and Mook, sisters, want an Xbox.
Sammy overhears Pip's not-so-nice report (hint - they aren't "good" kids) to Santa.
Sammy tries to wrestle the communicator away from Pip.
Sammy accidentally breaks Pip's neck, killing him.
Sammy and Mook bring dead Pip to Benny's house.
They try to resurrect Pip with a "shot of sugar straight to the heart" (ie candy cane).
Pip comes back to life, chases Sammy and then gets pushed by Mook and dies again.
Benny calls "The Cleaner" to take care of the body.
But, he's interrupted when Benny's sister brings Buttons, Benny's elf, to spy on them.
Benny, Sammy and Mook escape and bring Pip to Walmart to exchange for a new elf.
Buttons follows and finds them at Walmart.
Benny takes on Buttons and tells Sammy and Mook to "save themselves".
Sammy and Mook enter the Walmart basement and find members of "The Resistance" that think Sammy is "The Chosen One" that will lead them in battle against the Elves (aka Nightwalkers).
Benny slays Buttons, showing his head as proof the elves can be killed (it was paper mache - it's the elf head pictured above).
An Epic Battle ensues - Elf vs. Kids
The lights dim.
Sammy and Mook's parents stop the madness by barging in.
The lights come back up and the kids are beating on elf dolls.
The parents work to convince Sammy and Mook to come home.
They've gotten a new elf, all will be forgiven and an Xbox received - if they come home right now.
Benny tries to persuade them that it's not the elves who are "The Man", but the parents.
Sammy and Mook reallllly want that Xbox and return home.
Christmas morning comes.
Xbox box is under the tree.
But, when they open the box, it's socks.
"Maybe Santa will bring an Xbox next year, kids, if you're good."
The End.
This particular evening, Katie played an extra elf.
Okay.
So, these elves are bad asses.
The Resistance (including Benny there in the Chrismas onesie) on the right are armed with brooms.
The Elves have Christmas weapons - axes, knives, swords.
Katie, there in front in red on the left, has a Christmas Halberd.
She got to whack on her friend who was playing Benny.
I know she won't like this...but she was such a cute albeit deadly elf.
The next day, Grandma and I visited a quaint little shopping center near our house.
The place has got character.
The sad news is that it's been sold to developers and when she comes back, it will no longer be here.
They decorate for the holidays and even have reindeer in attendance.
We (meaning she) shopped and then we had fancy tea with the sandwiches and little desserts and stuff.
It was yummy.
More homework time with Grandma.
Grandma's good at helping with homework.
Or, as in the case of this photo, listening to creative narratives.
The next day was full of meetings and such for me.
Emergency Prep meeting for our PTSA council, an e-prep meeting for the middle school, volunteering in Mikey's class for an hour....
So, Grandma stayed home and kept Ralph company.
That evening, Katie took the stage as Sammy, one of the leads in the play.
As an extra special surprise, I picked up one of these guys to give to her after the play along with some roses.
The planets aligned and Uncle Chris happened to be in town for a conference.
So, he stopped by to watch as well.
Showtime!
Katie is sick of hearing us talk about her performance.
She ROCKED it.
She was amazing.
The play was hilarious and the performances sold it.
The kids had been practicing this play for about two months and it showed.
I only wonder how she didn't lose her train of thought when all you could hear in the theater was Huzbend and his brother laughing LOUDLY at all the jokes (and there were a lot of them).
She deserves special recognition for that.
Sammy vs. Pip.
Pip loses.
Resurrecting Pip.
Sammy chatting up "The Cleaner".
"The less you know about me, the better," he grumbled back.
Decision time.
Xbox or liberation.
They chose Xbox.
Curtain call!
Clap. Clap. Clap. Clap.
Wipe away tears of pride so we don't embarrass Katie.
Katie was done for the evening.
She LOVED the elf, by the way.
But, that wasn't the last show.
Altogether there were 7 shows that week.
The night of her main performance, there was a double header.
She stayed to watch her friends in the following production.
While Katie and I stayed to watch her friends, the rest of the family went out to dinner.
When they returned, Uncle Chris stayed a bit longer to play some video games and VR with Mikey.
Thanks for taking the time to stop by, Uncle Chris!!
That weekend, Katie's scout elf became an official member of our family.
Hello.....Pip.
That weekend was Huzbend's company holiday party.
For the first time ever, we went.
Grandma was nice enough to volunteer to stay with the kids while we went off and had a good time.
The theme was Apres Ski.
Out of the hundreds of people that were there, I'd say there were about a half dozen people dressed to the theme.
We were two of them.
They had lots of photo ops, food, drink, DJ, dancing and activities.
They even had karaoke with a live band that played music and did back up.
Huzbend took the opportunity to belt out a little AC/DC.
After his performance, people complimented him all night long.
I think it was because they couldn't believe he got up on stage and sang like that.
Someone even bought him a congratulatory beer.
Someone even bought him a congratulatory beer.
Huzbend convinced me to sing a song.
Which I most likely will never do again.
Ugh.
Please pass this by. It's not nearly as entertaining as Huzbend's.
The party was super fun.
I'm hoping that we can go again sometime.
The rest of the weekend was chill.
We tried to pull a prank on Mikey by giving him a tater tot sundae instead of an ice cream sundae.
He doesn't like anything potato - including tater tots and french fries.
Yes. Really.
Here he is digging in.
Finally, he got past the two tons of whipped cream that were on top and picked up a tot.
He didn't say a word, but his look can be translated roughly as:
"What in the name of tarnation is this?!?"
He was a little upset until we told him that we'd replace the tots with ice cream.
Then, he shrugged his shoulders and finished off the whipped cream.
Guess he thought we expected him to eat the tater tot sundae.
Are we really that MEAN?
Grandma was leaving the next day.
So, we took her out to see some Christmas lights.
It was a bit drizzly.
This display had a bubble snow machine.
Peace!
And they had a light tunnel.
The next day, Huzbend was officially on vacation.
We drove Grandma to the airport.
Sad emoji.
Thanks so much for visiting, Grandma!
After the airport, Huzbend and I went grocery shopping together and I forced him to wrap presents.
I guess we also ate lunch together. Is that a "date"?
It was also my birthday.
I got yummy apple crisp and the BEST T-SHIRT EVER.
The last day of school before Winter Break is an opportunity for teachers to send home stuff from the beginning of the year. To do a little desk clean out.
Mikey brought this home from school.
They dissected owl pellets this fall and then took the findings and displayed them.
Digested rodent skulls.
My favorite type of rodents.
Awesomeness on construction paper.
The kids were officially on Winter Break.
We had one day before we left for a more tropical climate.
So, what did we do?
We went for a hike at a local park.
It was chilly, damp and cloudy.
Normal December weather.
Mikey took a little time out to meditate.
Hold down the fort, Pip.
We're headed to Hawai'i!
We flew into Honolulu.
It was partly sunny and about 80 degrees.
The airport has a Japanese garden themed courtyard we had to walk by to get to baggage claim.
The flight was packed and we were sitting in the back.
They actually ran outta food options for us to purchase.
Boo.
It was late afternoon when we landed and dark by the time we got to Aulani.
And let me tell you, they need to work on their signage.
There were no visible signs telling you where to enter the resort.
We took TWO wrong turns before we hit the right driveway.
Our room.
One king bed, one queen sofa sleeper.
Upon arriving at the resort, and entering into the Maka'ala Lobby, we were met with a greeter.
He said hello to us, gave everyone a welcome flower lei and or kukui nut lei, and then escorted us through the lobby to check-in.
The lobby is beautiful.
At the four corners of the main lobby space are scenic, calm tropical pool scenes behind glass.
This picture below shows your view as you walk in the front door.
You can walk right out that door you see straight ahead onto a balcony with seats.
This balcony overlooks the pool area, which is located in the center of two giant towers full of rooms.
(this is not my picture. I pilfered it from the internet.)
Here's a picture of the resort from the lagoon.
(again, not my picture.)
I kinda wish I could've wandered a bit more to take in the details.
Oh well.
Too busy!
Katie was a little excited.
We got there with just enough time to check-in, find our room, use the potty and run down to our dinner reservation.
'AMA 'AMA, is the resorts fine dining restaurant.
The restaurant itself is essentially open air and you can see and hear the ocean.
It was a nice place to finally sit and chill after a stressful day.
Flying is always stressful - even if you're headed to Hawai'i.
I'm happy to report that eating at Aulani was no different than eating at any other Disney property - except that it was a bit more expensive. And that's saying something when you're used to Disney prices.
Katie's older now and no longer orders off the kids menu. Sigh. That doesn't help with cost at all.
Just like every other Disney restaurant we eat at, if they have super expensive steak on the menu, Katie will order it.
Mikey went with pizza.
Huzbend and I had panko-encrusted chicken over "potato puree" (which is fancy talk for mashed potatoes) and roasted veggies.
Soooo good, it was.
Hey! A picture of me!
Then came dessert.
Mikey ordered a straight up ice cream sundae.
Katie was able to order an actual gluten free/nut free dessert from the menu!
She got this ultra fancy flourless chocolate cake.
And I, I had THE BEST dessert I have ever eaten.
It was amazing.
Here's what it said on the menu:
"Mocha Chantilly Cake
with Coffee Kanten, Coffee Anglaise, Macadamia Nut Nougatine
and Chocolate Gelato"
I don't know what all that means.
What I got was, like, a chocolate/coffee surprise.
There was a crunchy/hard topping - like on creme brulee - but it was made of chocolate and nuts. Once you broke through that topping, there was a dark chocolate sauce that seeped out.
Under that was chocolate/coffee mousse stuff.
And on the bottom was some crunchy cake like stuff.
AND, there was a chocolate mold encircling the whole cakey thing with chocolate gelato on the side.
They should've just called it, "Perfection on a Plate".
It felt so good to sit and eat yummy food after a long day on an airplane.
The decorations for the holidays were lovely.
Our bellies full, we headed back to the room and the kids promptly fell asleep.
The next day, we woke up early (still on PNW time), and headed to the Pearl Harbor Visitor Center.
Note to future visitors - NO BAGS are allowed in. Not even purses.
They gotta go in your car or you can rent a locker.
Huzbend ran back to the car.
Our first tour was a trip out to view the USS Arizona Memorial.
Before you get on the boat to take you out to the memorial, you watch a 20 minute movie about what happened that day.
The dock to the memorial is currently unstable, so we weren't able to get off to go inside. But, the boat took us as close as it could.
After that, we opted to do a walking tour of the USS Missouri - a battleship that hosted the signing of the peace treaty with Japan ending WWII.
It was decorated for Christmas and had big guns.
We had fun exploring the ship.
It wasn't very busy.
Katie did not like the steep stairs.
They freaked her out.
Mikey enjoyed sitting in every seat he could find.
It was getting close to noon, so we decided to head back to the resort for lunch.
We ate at the poolside lounge and then headed up to the room to get changed for the afternoon.
It was time to hit up the beach and pools.
Aulani sits in the center of a lagoon that has little to no waves.
No lifejackets needed.
It was a bit mild for Huzbends taste.
The kids got over it.
They'd swim waaaay out to the red buoy that you can see there in the background.
They spent the entire afternoon bouncing from ocean to pool and back again.
Their favorite pool was the Ka Maka Grotto - an infinity-edge pool and hot tub area.
There was another bigger pool framed by a volcano - Waikolohe Pool - that had two slides.
One was a body slide.
Guess she liked it.
And, the other was a tube slide that spit you out at the head of a lazy river.
You could use either a one person or two person tube.
I think Mikey liked the lazy river the best.
Moana said hi to us as we floated down the river.
Yep, THE Moana.
Huzbend and I called it the, "Not So Lazy River" as our kids didn't just sit in the tube and float.
They had to run through it making sure to hit every water fountain.
They defeat the purpose of the relaxing, lazy river by having an intense competition of who's in the lead.
We spent HOURS each day at the pool/lagoon.
Like, about 5 hours per day, I'd say.
This is a rare one...a photo of me AND Huzbend.
Back to the beach.
Again.
I truly believe that Katie is part mermaid.
Huzbend and Mikey spent some time building a sand fort.
But, it kept getting washed away by the mini-waves.
So, they gave up and just buried Mikey instead.
We had some dinner reservations approaching, so it was time to leave the pool/beach.
Before we headed up to the room, the kids wanted to have a Dole Whip snack.
To our dismay, the pineapple Dole Whip machine wasn't behaving.
They could only get us vanilla soft serve.
The kids were okay with that.
Mikey: "BRAIN FREEZE!!!"
Katie: "You mean to tell me you have a BRAIN in there?"
Someone was a tad bit sandy.
It was even in his ears.
Katie had me take a picture of this pretty flower we saw on the walk back to our room.
This was the view from our balcony.
We headed on down to the buffet - Makahiki - for dinner.
Outside the waiting area, they had this gingerbread display featuring Kakamora from the Moana movie.
The buffet was okay.
It in no way came close to supplanting Goofy's Kitchen - the kids all time favorite buffet.
There were no characters at the buffet this particular night.
There were plenty of dinner options for both kids.
The chef even brought out a special plate of broccoli for Katie from the kitchen.
Katie tried crab leg for the first time.
She said it tasted like seawater. Mushy, white seawater.
She didn't like it.
But, it certainly was fun to play with.
"Fascinating!"
For dessert, the kids had just one safe option.
It was prepared in the kitchen special for them.
Chocolate cake. Accessorized with Mickey, of course.
They said it was good and it certainly looked nice and chocolatey.
But, I felt guilty that I got to try bite-sized portions of pineapple cobbler, chocolate lava cake, tapioca pudding, coconut cake, s'mores tart, mango cheesecake.....
After dinner, we headed down to the beach.
The kids wanted to run around in the sand in the dark.
We parked it under this palm tree and let them have at it.
Below is a view of the lagoon at night.
The kids tried multiple times to sneak up and surprise us to no avail.
What DID surprise me is that they actually listened to us and stayed out of the water.
The moon rising over one of the Aulani towers.
The next day, up early again.
We went for a hike!
At this place.
Here's the trail map.
There were plenty of warnings to take account of:
Stay OUT the water! Bacterial infection (leptospirosis) could ensue.
Stay ON the trail! Chance of landslides.
NO swimming in the pool under the waterfall! See bacteria warning and also a chance of rockfalls.
And to be fair, it was all good advice.
A 27 year old died falling from the top of the waterfall just days before we visited.
I have to say it was awesome going for a hike in a tropical rain forest.
It was very easy to tell that we weren't in the PNW anymore.
There was one similarity - moss was everywhere.
Mikey took a break from the trail to climb around in these above-ground tree roots.
The trail itself was well maintained.
I would say it was an easy hike except for.....
...the mud.
Rainforest = lots of ooey, gooey mud.
It was easy hiking up in this mess, but much more treacherous coming down.
On the way up, we found this dude hanging out on a rock.
I had no idea what it was, so I took a picture.
At lunch, I did a little internet search and found out all about it.
When you get a chance, take a gander at the horrifying disgustingness that is the
(we named it the TriForce Worm or Shovelhead Worm).
I should've killed it.
We made it!
And some nice gentleman offered to take our picture to prove it.
After a quick snack break, we turned around to head back.
Another pretty flower photo request from Katie.
Banyan trees created this above-ground root tunnel that the trail passed through.
Right next to the tunnel, a bamboo forest had grown.
Bamboo AND hanging vines (which are really roots looking for the ground growing from the banyan trees), were too much to resist.
They each had to take multiple swings.
Neither of them ended up falling and getting a mud butt.
Did I mention it was muddy?
Fuzzy Wuzzy wuz a tree stump.
The hike was very otherworldly.
I'd have to say it was my favorite thing we did on the trip.
The hike took us about two hours to complete.
We stopped at a Mexican restaurant across the street from Aulani for lunch.
That's where I looked up hammerhead worms and almost lost my appetite.
Almost.
Yay for carnitas and refried beans!
And then, guess what we did?
POOL/BEACH.
For another five to six hours.
To begin the swimming day, we split up.
First, Katie and I visited with the koi (she wanted to see them being fed, but we were in the wrong place).
Next, we made our way over to the man-made snorkeling lagoon to swim with some fishes.
It was COOOOLLLD.
Yikes.
After our little fishie adventure, we couldn't find Mikey and Huzbend, but we did find this guy.....
I'm not sure what Huzbend and Mikey did while we were wandering.
But, I'll take a guess and say sand castle building, followed by tube slide and lazy river.
A new water based game was developed.
It was actually developed before the trip.
It's called a "SHICK fight".
As I understand it, you try to stab other people with your finger while coming up with creative names for your various "SHICKS".
I don't know.
They spent hours playing it.
Snack time!
Mickey Premium Ice Cream Bars!!
That's Katie's favorite.
That evening, we attended the KA WA'A luau on property.
KA WA'A means "the canoe".
The story is based on exploration in canoe as the foundation of Hawai'i's culture
Upon arrival, we were given shell leis and Mikey was given a Maui fishhook necklace.
Then it was obligatory photo time.
Shakas out, everyone!
We were shown to our seats and given one free drink each.
The rest we had to pay for. Boo.
Then, it was off to enjoy some pre-luau activities. Such as:
- making poi by grinding taro root
- making flower bracelets
- getting traditional temporary "kakau" (tattoos)
Mikey ended up with the symbol of the New Zealand All Blacks.
It was a leaf.
After a brief introduction, an appearance by Moana and an oli (chant), it was time to eat!
A cast member walked Huzbend through the buffet choices and Katie and Mikey both ate well.
Mikey was a little put off by some of the adult food choices - yes, there was whole roast pig.
But, he found the kid food and was all good.
A lot of mac n' cheese.
A lot of mac n' cheese.
He also ate a lot of pineapple.
Again, there wasn't anything they could have at the dessert buffet (except the fresh fruit), so some sorta brownie/cake thing was brought out for them.
Katie didn't finish hers, which was surprising.
It must've not been that yummy.
It was time for the show.
It started off with a little hula lesson led by Auntie (lady narrator of the show), Mickey and Minnie.
Katie ran on up to the front (you can see her face right behind Mikey).
Mikey wasn't sure, but then I convinced him to go on up.
After the dance, it was time to sit back and watch the remainder of the show.
The show followed the history of the area, the 'Ewa plain (current day Ko Olina - where the resort is located).
It was a very entertaining history lesson.
At the end, the storytellers told the story of Maui slowing the sun so that people (and specifically his mom) had more time to fish, gather food and do their chores.
There was lots of dramatic action and flame.
The whole luau took about three hours from start to finish.
Mikey was exhausted and got a ride back to the room.
One last full day on Oahu!
Up early once more to head on out to the North Shore to see some big waves.
We headed to Waimea Bay.
There were a few people out in the water.
Just swimmers, not surfers.
Huzbend was quite jealous.
As we were sitting on the beach, the lifeguard put up these signs.
I'm pretty sure the kids would've liked to have had a go at the waves as well.
But, they were pretty big.
Biggest we saw was maybe 8-10 feet (that's measured from the backside)?
Huzbend says that if we come back we have to stay on the North Shore so he can swim in the waves and try surfing.
The kids would definitely need life jackets.
If I let them go out in it at all.
I'm sure we'd have a fight about it.
It was a Sunday and the surfers were out in force.
There was no parking along the main street that wound along the North Shore.
I wanted to stop at a beach that was famous for having sea turtles hanging out on it.
But, all the surfers were there.
It was too crowded and there was nowhere to stop to turn around and find parking.
Bummer.
So, after a short visit, we headed back.
To get from Ko Olina to the North Shore, you have to drive through the center of the island.
Right there in the middle is the Leilehua Plateau on which are a bunch of pineapple plantations.
One of which is the Dole Plantation.
LOTS of pineapple plants.
Speaking of Dole.....
That afternoon, I FINALLY got a Dole Whip!
It melted in about .02 seconds.
That afternoon at the pool/beach we split up again.
Huzbend went with Katie to visit the fishies and froze his butt off.
He couldn't get warm the rest of the afternoon.
I hung out with Mikey.
We did the tube slide and the lazy river.
Then, I treated him to his favorite Disney snack - Mickey Premium Ice Cream Sandwich.
The day went much like all the others - beach, pool, beach, pool, beach.
The salt water and chlorine was certainly doing a number on the kids hair.
YIKES.
Huzbend was sad to leave the beach/pool.
"Do we haveta go?"
It was our second night at the buffet.
This time there were characters.
It was, according to Huzbend (who I guess keeps track of these things), the most expensive Disney meal that we have ever eaten.
A BUFFET!
Ouch.
We were the last family to get a picture with Donald before the cast member shuffled him off somewhere.
The buffet had the exact same items, but we had a chef walk us through anyways.
It was interesting because some of the information he gave us conflicted with the chef from our previous visit to the buffet. Hmmmmm.
We let the kids order fancy drinks to supplement the fact that they'd have to have that same ole Mickey chocolate cake thingie for dessert.
Huzbend and I ordered some fruity pina colada drink, which was delicious.
The first character to stop by was Stitch.
We've never seen Stitch before...I don't think.
I could be wrong.
The kids thought he was cute in his sun hat and lei.
Next up, Chip.
Chipmunkish.
They all have the same cheeks.
And then, Dale.
A Tale of Two Reactions:
Huzbend.
Trying to embarrass and/or make the kids laugh.
Mikey: "I better laugh of he'll just keep that thing on there."
"DAAAAD! Why do you keep STARING at me?!
Yes. I did eat a vegetable. Yes. I did eat my steak.
Jeez. Always about the food....."
Throughout the meal, "Uncle" told stories about the menehune - mythological little people (like pixies or brownies) who like to remain unseen and are superb craftspeople.
At one point, they had a banana parade.
I don't know.
The kids had fun and we spent a ton of money on a buffet with a banana parade.
That's all I know.
The kids and I decided to do some souvenir shopping and wander the lobby a bit since it was our last night.
On a funny side note, Aulani caters to a lot of Asian tourists. Many of the adult clothes in the gift shop were sized smaller than average. A small was REALLY small.
The only jacket that fit me ended up being a 2XL.
On each side of that main entrance were two long hallways.
They were decorated with lights for the holiday and had some big murals at either end.
Here's a close up of the chandelier in the main lobby.
It's hard to tell how big this is.
One last photo in front of one of the many tropically decorated Christmas trees before heading up to bed.
It was time to leave.
Aulani was beautiful and really fun.
The kids LOVED the pool and beach (although they wished there were waves) and we all ate pretty well besides the fact that food cost an arm and a leg.
Hopefully, we'll get to come back here again some time.
The kids wanted one last picture of them while wearing the souvenirs they purchased the night before.
It was Christmas Eve and the resort lobby was SUPER packed. There were carolers singing as we walked out.
Hawai'i was nice, but it was time to head home for Christmas.
Bye, Aulani!
It took a long time to get through security.
We had to wait for Huzbend and Mikey.
This about sums up how Mikey felt about leaving Hawai'i.
But it wasn't all bad (except for the turbulence on the plane ride home).
It was Christmas Eve!
That meant new Christmas PJ's.
We sent the kids to bed and got to work putting out presents.
Pip helped by staring at us the whole time.
"I don't want to tell you how to put the presents under the tree.....but, I'm pretty sure Santa would color coordinate them. Just sayin'."
It was CHRISTMAS!!!
I guess not everyone shared the excitement.
(He prefers Easter)
It was a scaled back version of Christmas this year.
Not as many gifts in exchange for going to Hawai'i.
And, actually, it was just about perfect.
I think we'll do this every year.
Less presents. Not go to Hawai'i.
"LOVE."
Just a little excited about the Avengers inventing kit.
Okay. This next picture needs a bit of explaining.
There's YouTube.
On it, there's a thing called "Bad Lip Reading"
They made fun of Star Wars movies a lot.
Sometimes they made up songs.
Mikey's friend Levi introduced Mikey to these videos.
He found them hilarious (Katie too).
He then proceeded to hum and sing this song for weeks and weeks and weeks....
Now, this picture will make sense.
I am not sure what she's hugging in this picture.
But, she really likes it.
A Nerf gun target.
And she really, REALLY liked this hat.
She's wanted one for years. Since first reading Lumberjanes.
She wore this hat for the next week.
Even slept in it, I think.
It fits...maybe that's not the right word.
It suits her perfectly.
Still love for the Legos.
Katie recently had to study and report on bison for a science project.
She fell in love with them and that's all we heard about for, like, a month.
Now, she's got her very own.
The rest of Christmas day was spent playing various video games and reading.
We had lasagna for dinner. It wasn't gluten free.
Huzbend made a gluten free version for Katie, but she didn't like it.
As one of their gifts, we gave the kids the traditional gluten free/nut free gingerbread house kit.
We usually make it before Christmas, but I thought it would be a good post-Christmas project to pull them away from video games and such.
The day after Christmas we spent most of the day in the car driving up towards the Canadian border.
We were going to be interviewed so that we could receive a NEXUS pass - which includes TSA Pre-Check - so that our airport security experience would be much nicer/quicker.
But, hmmm. We hadn't read the news in a while being on vacation and all.
And, they were CLOSED due to the government shutdown.
We drove about 3 hours round trip that day for nothing.
Ugh.
So, I was very happy that I saved the house for later.
It was a nice thing to remind the kids about to help make the long car ride a little more tolerable.
I'm pretty sure that each kid ate their weight in frosting and candy.
This one more guilty than the other.
(she got a bison t-shirt for x-mas as well)
Here's Katie's side.
It took her about an hour to put together.
Most of that time was probably spent eating candy.
Here's some close-ups of her detail.
A gate.
Window trim.
Shrubbery.
And, here's Mikey's side.
At first glance, you would think that this was pretty slapdash.
Haphazard maybe.
But, you would be WRONG!
Somewhere on that roof is a narwhal.
Mikey said so.
I guess it must be "modern" art.
The next day, Ralph finally came home from his "doggie vacation".
The kids were very excited for him to open his presents.
He got a squeeky Christmas tree chew toy.
He loved it.
"WAIT! What's that?!?!"
We had one more present for him.
Here he is patiently waiting for us to open it up.
It was two bags of dog treats.
He quickly forgot about his Christmas tree chew toy.
Nuthin' beats food in Ralph's world.
(and food can be interpreted many ways in his world too)
Time for a little rainy disc golf.
This course was really rugged and super muddy.
We encountered a new obstacle...a dead opossum (not pictured).
I mentioned muddy, right?
Katie had a mud disaster after Ralph pulled her down a hill trying to sniff something.
(Maybe the dead opossum?)
Then two minutes after Huzbend and I were laughing at Katie's butt and I took her picture, I took a step, slipped and landed in a puddle.
Karma.
It all comes around.
We recovered from our cold, rainy disc golf game and decided to visit a local zoo/aquarium that puts on a nice light show.
Katie liked these giant spider crabs.
Huzbend did not.
"I. WANT. ONE."
I had to take a picture of Katie trying to take a picture of the fish.
She tried for, like, five minutes.
There was a cool part of one of the aquarium buildings where the tank glass wall wrapped up over your head, so you were standing underneath the water and the fish swam over top of you.
"Uh...how thick is that glass?"
Meet a tapir.
A Malayan Tapir to be exact.
They are cute.
So says Katie.
Meet a pacing tiger.
A Sumatran tiger to be exact.
They are cute.
So says Mikey.
One of the coolest parts of this zoo was that in their Asian Forest Sanctuary - where you could find the tigers, tapirs, elephants, leopards, gibbons, etc. - the animals are rotated into the different habitats so they can explore new smells and enjoy a change of surroundings.
We watched some sea otters enjoy dinner.
And Katie communed with an arctic fox.
Katie pointed out that it looked like a Pokemon.
Mikey keeps getting taller and taller.
The zoo/aquarium officially closed at 4pm.
We found a place to sit down to wait for the lights that started at 5pm.
YIGHTS!
SPECIAL TREATS!!
Mikey had a churro.
Katie had a giant bag of cotton candy.
We spent about 45 minutes or so wandering and looking at all the lights.
It was really pretty.
That's a giant purple octopus on top of the building back there.
On New Year's Eve Day, we got the kids together for bowling.
4th graders.
7th graders.
The adults had their own lane.
Wait for it.
Wait for it.
Waaaaaiiit for it.
"YES!"
The dreaded double-finger-gun tongue-stuck-out celebration.
Katie's cheering Sofia on as Logan looks like he's thinking,
"Yeah. Okay. That was a good one. But, I'm still winning."
Ow.
I know how heavy he is.
Rental bowling shoes are a lot nicer nowadays.
I kinda like them.
Of course, after bowling they couldn't be done. Oh no.
We headed to someone else's house to let the kids play for the afternoon.
That evening, Katie headed to Sofia's house to participate in their New Year's Eve celebration.
Mikey wasn't up for it and decided to stay home.
Katie hung out with her friend, participated in a sparkling cider toast, wore silly hats, exploded confetti and streamer filled party poppers and ate 12 grapes at the stroke of midnight making a wish with each one (a Spanish tradition).
We hung out at home with Mikey, watched the Ghostbusters remake (meh) and then watched the Ball Drop in Times Square.
Then, Mikey just about instantly fell asleep on my lap.
I have a feeling our New Year's Eves will look more and more like this as the kids get older.
Sigh.
Happy New Year!
