Early December

Dearest Colt and Jackson,

December has been a nice balance of chaotic and calm.  We started by attending Highland Village's tree lighting ceremony on Wednesday the 4th.

 

What we didn't know is that 24 hours later the entire city would be shut down!  An ice storm came in and, thanks to temperatures that stayed below freezing, took forever to melt!  School was cancelled on Friday the 6th and Monday the 9th!  We spent a lot of time cuddled at home together.  It was relaxing and fun!

The front yard:

 

The back yard:

 

Of course, you two wanted to bundle up and play!

  

By Monday, we were all a little stir crazy from being in the house for so long so we ventured to the Gaylord for their annual festivities.  It seems that folks were still a little freaked by the road conditions so we had the place practically to ourselves!!!

 

Colt, I promise you did enjoy yourself ; )

 

We spent a little time exploring the beautifully decorated hotel afterwards.  

Again, Colt, you weren't in a smiley mood:

 

So, Jax, you tried to remedy that:

 

We all resumed our normal schedules on Tuesday but we're hoping that wasn't the last of the winter weather....because any additional cancelled school days don't have to be made up!  ::fingers crossed::

Two weeks ago...(Part 4/4)

Dearest Boys,

Saturday, the 30th, was our day to get to know Oahu.  We loaded a tour bus bright and early that morning and tried to take in as much as we could as we went from spot to spot.

 

We visited the cutest macadamia nut farm where they let you crack open, sample, and buy delicious macadamia nuts. 

 

It was in the middle of paradise:

 

Next stop:  goofing off at Mokoliʻi ("Chinaman's Hat").

 

Finally, we made it to North Shore!  Gorgeous beach, beautiful water, and talented surfers...

 

The waves were serious!

 

After a lunch of fresh shrimp, we visited Laniakea Beach.  While the water was far from pretty (it was filled with algae), sea turtles were in abundance!  We attempted to snorkel with them but I ended up settling for just hanging with them in the sand.

 

 

 

Our final stop was the Dole Plantation.  We walked through the pineapple crops and had some pineapple ice cream.

 

After our day of exploring, we were ready to crash! 

We went out for sushi for dinner and then took in the sunset.

 

 

A storm blew in sometime while we were sleeping and we woke up to grey skies and a steady rain.  We were supposed to visit Pearl Harbor but we knew it wouldn't be open.  So our final day of vacation turned out to be the most relaxing of them all.  We stayed in the hotel room all day reading books, watching movies, and looking through all of the video footage from Uncle Mike's GoPro.  We stopped every now and then to go to breakfast, lunch, and dinner but that was it.  Before we knew it, it was time to head to the airport for our 11p.m. flight.  We weren't on the plane long before we both fell asleep but, before we did that, we acknowledged how grateful we were for the vacation and how excited we were to get home to see YOU! 

 

 

2 weeks ago...(Part 3/4)

Dearest Boys,

After one of our longest nights of sleep EVER (told you we were exhausted!), we woke up slowly on Thursday morning.  I went for another run, this time only stopping once to learn about this statue  (Duke Paoa Kahanamoku, a Hawaiian Olympic gold medalist). 

 

Then Uncle Mike & Aunt Jess came over so that we could Skype with y'all to say Happy Thanksgiving!

 

 

A good chunk of our day was then spent on Waikiki Beach.

 

 

While our underwater camera stunk at taking pictures, I did want to capture a shot of Diamond Head...can you see it in the background?

 

After exposing ourselves to far too much sun, we cleaned up and headed to the strip for shopping and dinner.

 

 

 

 

We knew Friday was another early morning so we called Thursday an early night...

 

Friday morning was THE day - the reason for the entire trip - the day of Andy & Suzanne's vow renewal!  As the best man, Daddy had to get up and leave early.  Mike, Jess, and I followed behind a few minutes later and drove to a beautiful secluded beach where a small ceremony was performed.

 

The reception was at our hotel at a great restaurant called Tiki's.

 

Their photographer was sweet enough to take a shot of Andy's side of the "family" (all friends) at the reception.

 

We then returned to the ocean for a few more hours of fun in the sun, this time sans camera.

 

That night, we went out with "everyone" (6 couples) to an amazing steak house (Hy's, if you're ever in Honolulu!) for dinner.  For some reason, I didn't take a single picture of our animated table.?.? (Do you have any pics, Mike?  Jess?  Andy?  Suzanne??)

 

Sorry I started slacking in the picture taking category --- just trust us when I say we were having a GREAT time!

 

 

Two weeks ago...(Part 2/4)

Dearest Boys,

We got very little rest on Tuesday night because we had to be awake at 3:30AM on Wednesday morning to head back to the airport!  If that makes us sound crazy - blame Uncle Mike!  He had this bucket list idea to see an active volcano up close and found an excursion that accomplished that dream via helicopter.  Only issue is that said helicopter operates from another island!  So, we took a 5a.m. flight to Kona (The Big Island - Hawaii) and found our helicopter.

 

I sat by Uncle Mike and some hilarious conversations ensued between those headsets!

 

Flying over the island was breathtaking.  Our pilot, Marco, was full of information about all that we saw!  Here, you can see where the lava flowed right into the ocean.

 

 

He took us right on top of Kilauea, an active volcano that has been erupting continuously since 1983!

 

He flew us from Kona to Hilo, where we met up with a zipline group.

 

 

To say that your dad faced his fear of heights is an understatement!

 

 

The various ziplines provided us with remarkable views!

 

Afterwards, we got back on the helicopter and explored the north side of the island.  I never got tired of seeing these waterfalls!

 

Once we were back at Kona, the guys played with some lava rocks before we boarded our plane and went back to Oahu.

 

This day ranks up there as not only one of the best days ever but also one of the most exhausting!

2 weeks ago... (Part 1/4)

Dearest Boys,

Two weeks ago we boarded a plane for Honolulu and left you in the capable hands of Grandpa & Grandma (who flew all the way down here with Hailey just to stay with y'all so Daddy & I could take this trip!).

It takes 8 hours to fly to Honolulu from Dallas but we kept busy with books, movies, snacks, and naps.  Since it was my first time to fly first-class, I had to have your dad snap a picture of me at dinner time!

 

 

We arrived at our hotel after dark with just enough time to unpack and visit with Uncle Mike & Aunt Jess before bed...but I did think it was nice of the island to welcome us with fireworks ; )

 

We caught our first glimpse of paradise on Tuesday morning and I had a hard time not staying on that balcony all day!

 

 

Daddy made plans to go ATVing with the boys so I took some time for myself to go for a run along the beach.

 

I walked more than I ran though because I kept stopping to admire the views!

 

Later, Jess and I hit the strip for some shopping and lunch.

After the boys came back from their ATV adventure, we all cleaned up for a luau. 

 

The entertainment and food were great but we were exhausted by the end of it because it was 10:00 in Hawaii, which meant it was 2AM on Texas time!

 

Aloha!