Halloween 2010

Drew & Mya went as pirates. Ian was Obi One Kenobi & Owen went as Thomas the Train.

The Big Apple

My 5 day excursion to New York City was fabulous. My sister in-laws have gone every year for the past three years, but due to me either being pregnant, or nursing, I have never been able to go. Kenny encouraged me to go this year, saying he could handle the 4 kids, soccer games, soccer pictures, church, schedules, packing lunches, chauffeuring to and from school, homework, bath time, bottles in the night, etc......without any trouble. It didn't take more than one, "You should go and have fun," from Kenny before I said, "Thanks...I will!"


This was my 3rd time to go to New York, but my first time to go in the fall. I forgot how beautiful the leaves are as they are changing colors. The weather was perfect for walking the streets, which we did a lot!

We stayed at the Jane Hotel http://thejanenyc.com/. It was a cool hotel, one with a lot of character and history. In 1912, the survivors of the Titanic stayed at the hotel until the end of the American Inquiry into the ship's sinking.

I loved the wood work and tiling in the main entrance.


The rooms were TINY!!! We shared a community bathroom with the whole floor, which wasn't bad. I did get a shot of a European's back end, who didn't even try to cover up. I just brushed my teeth beside him and tried to keep a straight face!


We went to the Museum of Natural History where I payed $20 to get a great nap at the planetarium. After a red eye flight and walking around it was well worth the money, even if it was for only 20 minutes. > Later that night we went to the Broadway play. It was pretty funny, and I loved seeing Sean Hayes & listening to Kristin Chenoweth sing.

We went to Cafe Lalo for dessert, which is where "You've Got Mail," was filmed.

Kim, Johanna, Catherine, Connie, & Carol

Central Park was beautiful.

In my opinion, the two things New Yorkers are most addicted to are Cigarettes & Cupcakes!

We tried to stop for cupcakes here a couple of times and there was always a line outside the door.


We did find the best cupcakes ever though in a trendy little market in the Meat Packing District.

I think I averaged at least 2 cupcakes a day!

Our other days were spent shopping, only to stop to eat, then back to shopping, cupcake breaks, more shopping, eating again, & devouring more desserts!

My favorite dessert spot was Chocolate by the Bald Man Max Brenner.

We started our dinner with a chocolate milk shake appetizer!

I had a chocolate pizza, covered in marshmallows, and drizzled in peanut butter.
The chocolate was sinful!
Kim's beautiful dessert!

We spent one day bike riding all along the Hudson River. We stopped to view the Statue of Liberty and a 9/11 Memorial.

My lil' vacation was wonderful! I bought lots of clothes, ate amazing desserts, and was in the company of great family.

As always, I was definitely ready to go home and be with Kenny and the kids. I came home to four happy, well taken care of kids, and a smiling husband. The whole house was clean, the laundry was done, the dishes were all put away, not even a toy was out! Kenny said to me the next morning as I was frantically making lunches and scooting the boys out the door for school, "I had the kitchen clean before I even left to take the kids to school." I replied, "If you can do this better then maybe I should go find a full time job and You can stay home!" He smiled and said, "No thanks!'

Maui Revealed!!!

***Note To Reader***
I am finally getting around to blogging about our trip to Maui, and YES it will be long, and it will include a lot of pictures! This is my journaling and I do not want to forget anything about this trip.

Maui was absolutely amazing, something I will remember forever. I loved being able to be with Kenny and have time to spend with each other. Plus, going with my sister Carmin and her husband Matt made it even more fun. Carmin and I spent hours on the phone everyday talking about and planning this trip. We had all of our activities booked in advance and an agenda of things to do and places to go. So here it goes, a day by day account, of all of our adventures!

Day 1:
Kenny and I woke up at 4am, kissed our sleeping children goodbye, wished Aunt Carol good luck, and drove to LAX. We calmly boarded our plane. Usually we have 4 kids to fly with and it is anything but calm. We then enjoyed our 5hr plane ride to Maui! We arrived in Maui, met up with Carmin and Matt, and ventured to the Westin Ka'anapali Ocean resort. When we arrived to our resort, the whole place was lined with burning tiki torches and palm trees. The resort was completely open, so as we walked in you could see all the way out to the ocean. The view was breathtaking. After ooohing and awwwwing over our rooms, we walked along the beach, and then headed to bed early, so we would be ready for our first adventure....

Day 2:
We woke up really early for our first full day of our vacation, 2:30am to be exact! We wanted to start our vacation atop Haleakala, a massive volcano that rises 10,023 feet above Maui's coast. We were fitted in an unattractive, but warm outfit, and were driven up to the top of the volcano. We then sat in the chilly darkness and waited for the sunrise.

The first sun's rays

Since we were up there, we had to come down, so we decided to do it on bike. We rode 38 miles down a scenic, twisting, two-lane highway. Unfortunately a couple of old Japanese women in our group rode their brakes the whole time, but we still loved the rush.

My sister Carmin and I in our "fancy" bike gear.

So as our guide, a very hip, greasy, long haired, Hawaiian dude, was fitting me for my bike, he said to me, "We are going to have to put some rocks in your pockets to weigh you down!" I looked at him jokingly and said, "I have some lava rocks in the van I can use!" (Which I really did, because Carmin and I gathered them for souvenirs for our kids). He looked at me shocked and said, "You're kidding right?" Nervously I responded, "No, why?" He then brought over his Hawaiian buddy and they both told me how taking lava rocks from the volcano will bring me bad luck and that I will make the Hawaiian Gods very angry. He even told me that people who take them, mail the rocks back to them all the time, requesting their rocks be returned to the volcano. That was enough, bad luck talk for me, so I quickly grabbed my rocks and returned them to the volcano. Carmin on the other hand, well lets just say, I'm waiting for a call saying she broke her leg as she stumbled across a rock her daughters were playing with :0)

Kenny and I riding down the volcano...in style!

Day 3:

After our long bike ride, we were ready to spend the day on the ocean. We set off to sail to the island Lana'i with Trilogy Excursions. On the boat, we were served food all day long. What a great way to start the day...with homemade cinnamon rolls, fresh fruit, and Hawaiian juices.

Carmin and I soaking up the sun.

As we were sailing to Lana'i we were surrounded by a group of dolphins. There were at least fifteen swimming all around our boat! One little dolphin even put on a little show for us as he jumped up doing flips outside of the water. Three dolphins swam right in front of us. They looked as if they were pulling our boat. We had the closest view of dolphins as we leaned right over the edge. We could almost touch them they were swimming so close to us.

Unfortunately we didn't get close up photos of the dolphins because our cameras were below deck and we didn't want to miss the show. We finally grabbed a camera, and got a few picks of the dolphins in the distance.

Once we docked on Lana'i, Kenny and I prepared to go Snuba diving.

For snuba diving, you are attached to oxygen which is floating above you on a little raft. There is enough oxygen to allow you to stay underwater for 30 minutes. Weights are placed around you tummy to hold you down. We could literally walk across the ocean floor!

Kenny loves to snorkel, so this was his favorite part about the trip. We are going to get scuba certified before we go on our next vacation.

Throwing out one of many Shaka's!

Day 4:

Next we were off to go zip lining. It was quite a rush to be soaring over gulches and through the trees along the slopes of the volcano, Haleakala.

Kenny & I stopped for a little lovin on the "Indiana Jones" swinging bridge!

Later in the evening we went to the Warren & Annabelle's Magic show. We were greeted into the club, by Annabelle, who is a 150 year old ghost, and who is also a great piano player. No you can't see her, but she takes random requests from guests and as she plays, the keys move, and the pedals pump! We were then entertained by two stand up comedians and their sleight-of-hand, close up magic tricks.

Newspaper torn into pieces.....

Magically put into one piece again!

Day 5:

The Road to Hanna....

This was by far my favorite part of the trip! The road to Hana is a long, arduous drive on a route (not for the faint of heart) that zigzags over 56 one lane bridges and snakes around more than 617 hairpin curves. As you drive the view and beauty is indescribable. Below the road, is the crystal blue ocean water and above is a rugged mountain wilderness with rushing waterfalls and streams. We spent the whole entire day driving to Hana and pulling off the highway to explore the island.

This book, "Maui Revealed," was like our bible for the trip. It told us exactly how many miles to drive and what mile markers to stop at. Everyone who was on the drive to Hana was carrying this book!

Venturing off the beaten path and discovering our own way through the bamboo forest!


After a treacherous hike through the bamboo forest, we found our first waterfall!

We played in a pool of water off of mile marker 23! The water was cold but quite refreshing.

Next we stopped to explore a lava tube (cave). Luckily a tourist left their flashlight hanging at the entrance, so we used that to find our way through the maze. It was pitch black, and water was dripping down on us from the rocks above. Matt, I thought, was going to crap a pink twinkie, especially when Kenny joked about an earthquake! Kenny led the way, with each of us holding hands and following single file behind him. I felt like I was in the movie Goonies! What a Rush!!!!!

We stopped for a picnic lunch here after exploring the cave:

Matt at the black sand (rock) beach

We found another great pool of water to swim in.

Getting pelted in the head by the waterfall HURT!

How amazing of a view is this???

Carmin and Armin taking off powered hang gliding!





All of our fun adventures made for the most unforgettable vacation ever. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, Maui and cannot wait to go back again someday.

This trip would not have even been possible without the help of Aunt Carol & Grandma Summers holding down the fort back in CA. I will forever be grateful for their willingness to come and take care of our kids, so Kenny and I could spend some time together.