From Hawaii to California

It was so good to see my babies again after our trip to Hawaii. We faced-timed almost everyday and I knew they were in good hands so I was never concerned. In fact, my parents said they were really well-behaved. Michael helped take care of Mark and they all pretty much took care of themselves.

When we got back, they all wanted to go to the local waterpark so that's what we did. We were there for approximately 30 minutes when they started to get bored and ask to go home. I made them stay for a little longer because we had to pay to get in. These kids!

They played nicely for like 15 seconds.

Look at this little guy walking with a purpose.

They each got a treat - a bribe to stay a little bit longer.

He loves his big brother so much.

We also made our yearly trip to Gilroy Gardens. But first we stopped for Pho. Love these two. This little girl is my mom's favorite although she will never say it ;-)

I couldn't believe that he actually asked to be in the picture!

Aannd we are back to not wanting pictures taken.

Three of my guys.

Mark didn't want to go on many rides. In fact this and the train were the only rides he went on.

This girl!

These boys!

Oh, and he did go on this ride with Daddy.

So happy walking with Daddy

We celebrated Ben's birthday early since we were leaving on his actual birthday. I didn't get a picture of his cake, but Nicole did an awesome job decorating it - monster truck rally theme.

Cousins - minus the birthday boy.

Michael loves his baby cousins and alway wants to hold this little guy. A blurry picture, but it's the only one I have where they are both looking.

Another one of him loving on this little guy. Go Giants!

On the last full day of our trip, my brother and I took the boys to the beach. Michael had been asking to go since we got back from Hawaii. It was a pretty cool day, but they didn't care.

These guys were watching and singing songs from Moana for almost the whole trip there. It was so cute!

These two took on the ice-cold water and loved it!

The big boys threw the football around.

One of the best part of the trip was that we saw whales way out in the distance. We saw the whale spouting and then a tail flop! It was so neat.

It was such a fun day. Then my parents took us all out to dinner that night.

Love this picture - the OG grandchildren....

The two white guys in our family.

All the grand-babies.

The next day, it was time to say good-bye to everybody until next time. This little guy slept almost the whole flight home. We were gone for almost 3 weeks so it was nice to be home.

And because I love this face so much, here's a random picture.

Hawaii Part 2 - Maui

On Thursday morning, we got up early and headed out to the airport for our 30-minute flight to Maui. M was job hunting at the airport while we were waiting.

Our first stop in Maui was in Wailea. We stayed at the Fairmont. This was the Zen Garden in the lobby.

Our room wasn't ready so we took advantage of this time to get our laundry done in their laundry facility, went to lunch, came back to our room, got dressed and went to the pool. This is the gorgeous view from the lobby.

We got a convertible and took advantage of the beautiful weather. This was M driving us to lunch.

We found a great Thai food place in Kihei for dinner. Their fish special was so good. And for dessert? Shaved ice of course. We found a tiny little locally owned place in the middle of a parking lot.

The next morning we drove into Kihei for breakfast at the Kihei Cafe - our favorite place for breakfast on the island.

I love the loco moco, but I went with something different this time. M and I shared the macadamia nut French toast with coconut syrup. My mouth is watering thinking about it.

Then we got back to the resort in time for me to work all that off with a yoga class. It was the perfect morning. This was to view during yoga-so peaceful, isn't it?

Another random resort picture. The architecture reminds me of something from the Middle-East.

That night, we treated ourselves to dinner at the resort. The food was just OK. We should have gone into town for something else. I'm sure we could've found something better.

Later in that evening, we met up with our friends who happened to be vacationing here two doors down with their girls. We also saw our neighbor as we were walking around the resort. They were also staying at the Fairmont. Small world.

This was my view as a enjoyed my morning coffee in the lobby. I can't get enough of this.

After my morning coffee, we drove over to the base of Haleakala Crater to start our biking adventure.  We were taken 16,000 feet up the Crater to get dropped off so we can bike down. We did this the last time we were here without the kids and it was awesome. This time around was just as good.

In this picture, you can see to ocean on both sides of the island.

Our tour guide posed us this way.

And off we go!

We stopped a few times to take in the view - they were unbelievably beautiful.

The whole trip down took us a couple of hours, including our lunch stop in Paia. After our bike excursion, we drove about an hour to the Kapalua and checked into the Ritz Carlton - one of my favorites! This was where we stayed the first time we were in Maui together and we keep going back.

The gorgeous view from the lobby.

We hung out by the pool most of our time here.

I loved walking over to the Honolua Market every morning, grabbing some breakfast and coffee and enjoying it with this view on the balcony at the resort.

There's also a trail right by the resort that winds along the rocky coast with breathtaking views. We love walking the trail. It's one of my favorite things to do when we are there.

I also spent some time reading out on our balcony in my Pjs. So relaxing.

This is M driving us to Lahaina for dinner on our last night in Maui.

We went to dinner at this place called Mixed Plate right on the beach. We had an awesome view of the Maui sunset.

And some yummy mai tais.

Then the next day, we flew back to California. I was ready to be withy little monkeys again!