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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Project 12 - March 2010

I've been able to be a busy beaver the last two days and got my March layout for my Project 12 album finished. And it's not (technically - in my time zone anyway) April yet!! This is for the contest over at Scrapbook & Cards Today and also on Davinie's blog - check out both these sites as they are FULL of amazing ideas! It is based on this Becky Fleck PageMap sketch.



Just as I hope to do an Olympics album (one day) I also hope to do an album on our trip to Hawaii - which was one of the big events of March 2010. It was hard to only put in 3 pictures from our trip!! But I really had to spotlight LC's 1st birthday so the other will have to wait. Hope you like it. Thanks for stopping by!

Project 12 - February 2010

Okay, Okay, I realize it's almost April and here I am finally posting my February layout for Project 12. What can I say? February and March have been extraodinarily busy months around here! Scrapping time has taken a back seat to things like the Winter Olympics, birthdays, trips to Maui ... not to mention the usual school, kids, housework, etc. I had almost finished my special Olympic themed Project 12 layout before we left for Maui but the majority of the work on February and March's layouts were done in the past couple days. I came down with a terrible sore throat so took a couple of sick days and was actually able to scrap. It felt good! I'll post the layout for March in a separate post just to keep things orderly. You may not think it to look at my house, but I LOVE order!!

Enough chit chat, here is February's layout (based on this sketch.)


Some close ups:

The Olympics aside (I deal with THAT below), the biggest event in February for our household is the birthday of our eldest, Marley. This year she turned 6 and I thought this warranted an entire page just for her. Then to continue my idea of highlighting our girls each month, the second page is close ups of them.



I have a TON of pictures from the Olympics and hope to do an album on it (maybe an 8x8 ... someday). It was such a huge event and part of our lives for over two weeks that I thought it needed it's own layout in my Project 12 album for 2010. In future years I just know we'll look through this album and if it wasn't here we'd wonder why. When I originally thought of doing an extra layout for February I just figured I'd follow the same sketch for both. Then I had this "brilliant" idea to create the Olympic rings and fill them with pictures from the various events. Easier thought up than executed!! I am happy-ish with my layout but it needs tweaking. Not that I'm going to play with it anymore. I devoted WAY too much time to get it to where it is today to rip it all apart right now and start again!! Maybe I'll try to recreate it for my 8x8 ... maybe.

Anyway, here it is:





Hope you liked these two layouts. To check out my January 2010 layout go here. I am just about to post my March layout too so stay tuned. Thanks for reading!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Hawaii Trip - Sunsets, Whales and Waves

I know this is terribly out of order but I wanted to finish off blogging about our trip to Hawaii. I'm taking another sick day today (WICKED sore throat!) so while the two older girls are at school and the little one is napping, maybe I can get some blogging done. Maybe.

In my last posts (post #1, post #2, post #3) I got to Luau Day on Monday March 15th ... whoah, I am so far behind!! The next day Marley and Paige decided to stay behind and go to the beach/pool with Grandma and Grandpa while LC, Greg and I went exploring. We went to Paia to check out the big surf and then drove inland to the Winery. All right, get ready for some pictures!!

What do you know, Santa lives in Paia!!
The beach at Paia where there were some serious waves! Hard to tell from this picture but the waves were about 3-4 times the size of the ones we got at Kamaole 3 Beach in Kihei. LOTS of surfers and boogie boarders out the day we were there.

From Paia we went to Ho'okipa Beach Park to watch the wind surfers. The waves here were even higher! We also saw some sea turtles below but the pictures didn't turn out.
This is the view from just outside Waiakoa looking down at Kihei. The pounding tropical rain kept us from getting out at Waiakoa but it stopped in time for me to snap this pic.
Our next stop was the Tedeschi Vineyards winery at Ulupalakua Ranch. The road there was REALLY windy and I discovered that my stomach isn't as strong as it once was. I was also rapidly developing a migraine which probably didn't help the nauseau. Anyway, Greg sampled the wine (not very good according to him) while I stayed in the fresh air with LC. The picture I posted here was taken in the gardens at the winery.
Considering the windy road and how LC handled the air turbulence I was fully expecting some nastiness on the way back down, but she did great! When we got home Greg took her over to join the older two at Grandma and Grandpa's for dinner while I stayed in our apartment and tried to rid myself of the headache.

On Wednesday March 17th, LC was feverish (Marley was feeling better by now, Greg was also recovering so I guess it was just her turn with the cold) so I stayed behind while the others made the usual morning beach trek. I hoped that a quiet morning would mean she'd recover enough that Greg and I could on our scheduled Sunset Cruise with little worry. It seemed to work so after a few warm up Mai Tai's at the weekly Mai Tai day at the Kamaole Sands, we hopped into the complimentary pickup van and went off to this ship.

The Alii Nui.


The start of our "sunset". This was about as good as it got because of all the low cloud etc. Oh well, the drinks were good, the company better and the whales came out to play!



This is me at the bar getting our last Mai Tais.

As soon as Canada beat the US at Men's Hockey in the Olympics Greg said his "long sleeve, cooler weather" shirt for Hawaii was going to be his hockey jersey. So here he is flying the colours!
Greg and I had a great time on this sunset cruise. The boat was fantastic, the crew was friendly, the food (appy's - or pupu's as they are called in Hawaii) were really yummy and plentiful enough to make a meal out of, and we met some really nice folks on board. And of course the whales cavorting just meters off the side really helped cap out a brilliant evening! Or was that all the Mai Tais?!

Now we skip to Saturday. Not sure what happened to Thursday and Friday ...let's check out Greg's version (posted on Trip Advisor here - be warned, he holds no punches!) ... oh right, Thursday was windy and cold (ish) so we mostly stayed indoors and I was in a foul mood for most of Friday. Hmm ... had to happen at some point on the trip, right? Plus Paige had finally contracted the cold. Ah well!
Saturday we had booked a whale watching trip through the Pacific Whale Foundation out of Maalaea. Considering how windy it had been the previous two days (beach time had to be cut short both days due to flying sand etc) we were a bit concerned that the trip would be cancelled. But the day dawned with calmer winds so off we went with Marley. When asked if she wanted to come, Paige declared she wouldn't get on the boat, so rather than risk a last minute tantrum (a classic move for her) we just didn't book her a seat at all. She went to the beach with Grandpa and had a blast.

Marley is our little super-model-in-the-making so here she is posing (surprise, surprise) on one of the play area figures (a whale head).

Greg and Marley on board the Intrigue.

There were very few whales (grrr) but here is a picture of the Mother and Baby we spotted as we were heading back into port.

Sunday was our last day in Maui but since our plane didn't leave until 8:45PM and we didn't have to check out until noon, we went to the beach one last time. Usually the waves on our beach (Kamaole 3) were gentle. Hardly worth trying to boogie board in. Good for those that want to snorkle and good for kids paddling in the break though. Imagine our surprise when we saw 6', 8' even 10' waves crashing onto the beach that morning! Greg had a BALL boogie boarding in the wash. He wasn't dumb enough to try and go out too far in that swell!!




For one final image, how's this? LC napping in Grandpa's arms.
All together now ... awwww!!!

After cleaning up, packing up and checking out, we headed for Maalaea to spend the afternoon at the Ocean Centre, with a quick stop at the Ioa Valley, before going to the airport to fly home. Those pictures are in the other camera which I have yet to download onto my laptop so you are spared. For now!

Well, there you have it. Our trip to Hawaii. Thanks for putting up with the long posts. Hope you enjoyed them as much as I enjoyed sharing our little adventure with you.

Birthday Party Fun!

We finally managed to throw together a party to celebrate LC's 1st birthday. That sounds really bad! We LOVE our little Christine and cherish her like crazy. Unfortunately her 1st birthday fell victim to bad timing. We returned from Maui the day before she turned one, I was just not organized enough to plan her party before we left and then upon our return "stuff" kept getting in the way of sending out an email to friends and family. Fortunately we have wonderful friends and family who are able to show up at the last minute!!

Here are some highlights:

9 hungry children 7 and younger make for loud, chaotic fun!
The proud birthday girl (who actually ate the chicken, ribs and potatoes!)
The yummy (and free - thanks Thrifty's) birthday cake.
First tentative icing explorations.
NOW she's more into it!

"Hee, hee, hee! I am SO messy!!!"
All ready for her bath now!

Thanks to all who came. See you next year!!

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Spring Cleaning Extravaganza!!

No, I am not the one doing the spring cleaning (although that really needs to happen around here soon!!), one of the blogs I follow is having a huge giveaway. Samantha over at Scrapmaster's Paradise has been working hard to clean out her scrap room and is giving away a TON of scrappy goodness. Check it out here.

Spread the word too!

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Happy Birthday LC!

Our beautiful baby girl Christine Elizabeth (LC to the Days) is ONE year old today!! ONE?!?!?! Wow! That was a fast year!


Some things about LC:
She loves ...
... to get into trouble. I never had to use cabinet locks for either Marley or Paige but have them all over the place now! A curious mind is a good thing, right?
... her big sisters! Much to their enjoyment, delight and annoyance!
... her blanket (thanks Auntie Shalan!!) which goes nicely with her thumb.
... being outside, or looking out the window at the world.
... the neighbours cat and all animals. She had a ball chasing the birds in Maui!
... bath time! (and the ocean too apparantly, at least splashing in the waves on the beach.)

She dislikes ...
... anything resembling baby food. "I'm a big girl now, thank you very much!"
... being told she can't do/have something that she really, really wants. What person doesn't?
... when Mommy leaves! Sigh. I know this won't last forever but it's tough sometimes to leave a crying baby at the door just so I can go out for a run or to run errands.

She has 8 teeth now (4 up and 4 down). She needs another bang trim. She is walking around like crazy. She figured out the stairs at Paige's preschool today. She tries to climb on EVERYTHING (reminds me of stories told about me!) She is our joy, our cutie, our last. Really!

Happy 1st Birthday Sweetie. I love you so much!!

Sorry you are getting the shaft because you are daughter #3 and we arrived back from Maui yesterday and have nothing organized yet! We'll make it up to you  ... eventually. Probably once Marley and Paige have moved out and you have us to yourself for a few extra years!! I haven't taken any pictures today yet - the one above was taken at the winery on Maui. So very cute!!

Monday, March 22, 2010

Hawaii Trip - My First Luau

March 15th 2010 - We decided that since this was my first time in Hawaii (as well as the girls') we wanted to give them the experience of going to a Luau. As cheesy and commercial as they maybe have become, we wanted it! Greg agonized for months over which one to take them to - the expensive "authentic" one in Lahaina that was an hours drive away (both ways) or the less expensive (nobody's pretending ANY of them are "cheap"!), kid-friendly one a 10 minute drive away in Wailea? As much as I may have wanted the more authentic experience, my vote was for the one which had the best shot of serving food the girls would actually eat, and which happened to be a short drive (or, potentially, cab ride) away. So off we went to the Wailea Beach Marriott!

Here are Greg, the girls and Grandpa Day in the gardens. Paige was being particulary uncooperative in the picture department that night. She and Marley and Greg were out earlier in the day throwing the frisbee around and she got hit in the nose. Which immediately started bleeding profusely! Being the poor, sensitive soul that she is, she spent the rest of the trip CONVINCED that her nose was bleeding every time it even slightly ran! So here she is clutching a tissue that minutes before was pressed against her nose! Poor kid!

Marley on the other hand requested pictures of her by the beach at sunset! How can two girls be SO different?! Same gene pool! Honest!!

Part of the pre-luau fun was picking up our free shell leis and (in the girls case) getting a traditional Hawaiin tatoo. Marley got a turtle ...
... and Paige got a flower. Had to sneak this picture of it though!!
Me and the girls (and the sunset).

A beautiful Maui sunset!!

While we were taking pictures we saw this turtle just below us. He was a little stuck in a tide pool but managed to swim free pretty quickly. The girls were thrilled! I also saw a Humpback whale breach just off shore. Totally cut my wonderful MIL off mid-sentence when I saw it too!!

The Luau began ...

... the drinks were flowing (and Greg had caught Marley's cold so I had to drink for the both of us. Shucks darn!!) ...

... and when it was all over, Marley just had to get a picture with her favourite pretty ladies!

Poor Paige didn't last. She got freaked out when the first performer was lighting the torches and then watched the first few dances from the safety of Grandpa's arms. Eventually Grandma and Grandpa had to take her back to our resort as she was just too distraught. It's too bad, but considering that the last performer of the night was a (kick ass I might add) fire dancer from New Zealand (?) it was probably a good thing. The rest of us enjoyed our evening. The food was good, the location was beautiful and the performance everything we could have asked for. Marley was mesmermized! She got to learn some Hula dancing at the start of the night and used her birthday money to buy a wooden sculpture of dolphins with her name carved into it. All in all, a good time!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

Hawaii Trip - One week in

Happy St Patrick's Day! Actually it's pretty much over in my normal time zone but here in the Aloha State the green beer is still flowing! Greg and I got a date night tonight thanks to the wonderful babysitters we are travelling with (thanks Grandma and Grandpa!!) We went out sailing on a Sunset Cruise. SO much fun!! We even got to see some whales about 20' from the boat!! Unfortunately we seemed to always be on the wrong side of the boat whenever the whales decided to come in for their close ups! I haven't downloaded the pictures yet so have no idea if we got good ones or not. If so I will post them at a later date.

Here are some pictures of our trip so far ...

Our first morning - the Expedia briefing at the pool ...
... and our first evening meal together in our suite.

Day two - Marley took a sick day!
Fooling around.
Maui Tacos for lunch - yum!

Day three - the start of our usual routine. Beach in the morning ...
... "the camp" ...
... exploring sand for the first time.
In the afternoon we went into Wailea to check out the expensive shops ...
... and have an ice cream ...
... somebody LOVES frozen treats!
Usually we go to the pool in the afternoon but on Day four we went in the morning ...
... and then went to Lahaina in the afternoon. This is at a view point where we saw ...
... some whales! (I REALLY need a zoom lens!!)
In the Banyan tree in Lahaina.
With our Ululani Shaved Ices - YUM!!!
Paige took some time out from our walking explorations to catch some bubbles at Bubba Gump Shrimp. That black object on the red chair is the bubble machine - basically a good 20 or so wands attached to a rotating arm that takes them through the soap solution while being blasted with a fan. Quite ingenious really! Might have to try making something like that myself!

So that was our first 4 days here. Stay tuned for the next 4 ... including the Luau and a sunset cruise!!