Our star performer

Today was the day.  Carmen's first dance recital.  She amazed us.

She has certainly come a long way.  At the beginning of the session she barely participated. 

Today, she happily went on stage.  She happily performed in front of hundreds of people. 

And, she was the only kiddo in her class waving to the audience before her number started. 

She did her dance.  She smiled.  She loved it. 

So proud of our star performer.

'Octopus' by Max

It's an interpretive piece...

Black Eye

It was bound to happen sooner or later.  A back eye. A perfectly thrown baseball by little brother directly to big sister's eye.  There were tears and shrieking.  There was ice.  And every day since then there has been Carmen checking out the new color of her eye--red and puffy, magenta, purple, blue, yellow.  A rainbow of colors.  She is on the mend and now quite excited to tell everyone what happened.  I think her new eye color will pair nicely with her ballet costume for this week's recital.  Ah, memories!

Kauai: Part 2

Week #2 brought lots more memory making moments.  A few highlights:

 

A bit hard to see, but Carmen was practicing

writing her own name in the sand.

 

Happy Birthday to me--

2 hours at the pool by myself.

 

 

Then, I had visitors.

 

 

Beautiful sunset.

 

Love the Hibiscus.

 

More beach time.  Meaning...

more digging, more collecting.

 

 

(Carmen was told she could not take the coconut home. 

She was not very happy about that)

More pineapple helped change her mood. 

 

Probably my favorite part of the trip.

Watching the kids try and body surf.

Priceless.

We were greeted by these little guys just about everywhere.

A big hit with the kiddos. 



Always impressed and in awe with this beautiful island.

 

I'm pretty sure there may be a fresh fish taco shortage due to my husband.

Fish tacos again?  Yes, almost every night.

 

Kilauea lighthouse

 

Hawaiian outfit fashion show.

Cheers to an amazing vacation.

Thanks Kauai for having us.

We look forward to coming back soon.

 

Kauai: Part 1

Can't say enough great things about this beautiful island and spending it with our family of four. 

We've been busy:

Lots of beach time--Hanalei, Tunnels, Poipu and Lydgate so far.

Both kids are loving the water and sand.

Max is the expert digger and sandcastle creator.

Carmen is the resident collector.  Yes, two buckets of 'treasures' already!

 

We've been indulging in Spina-ladas (that's Piña colada Maxy speak). 

Carmen in in love with fresh pineapple; her favorite fruit by far. 

We've been at the pool every single day. Lots of smiles from the kids and us too since we don't have to go in every single time thanks to the wonderful invention of Puddle Jumpers.

 

 

We've also done a few toursisty things--Opaekaa Falls, Spouting Horn and of course a visit to the dry cave (we told the kids it was Puff's cave). 

 

 

 

 

 

And, a little hula lesson for Carmen and myself.  It's harder than it looks!

 

 

Kids are enjoying the sight of cockadoodle doos everywhere,

along with lots of little lizards and a sea turtle sighting.

 

 

 

 

The Garden Isle is living up to its name. 

 Its rained every day but we came prepared. Tropical rain, we'll take it.

 

 

Oh, and fish tacos.  Jimmy is in heaven.  Fresh fish tacos every night. 

 

We've skipped naps and opted for more fun in the sun so we have tuckered out troops by the end of each day.  Lots of good sleep getting ready for the day's next adventure.