Olivine Pools

Friday we were all needing a day to just chill at the resort and recover from traveling

 Sarcasm reigned supreme as I asked the kids for a quick picture. Thanks dears.

 The boys goofed off and kept us entertained with their antics

And I enjoyed just sitting and doing nothing for the first time in a really really long time.

Saturday morning the boys made good use of the groceries we'd picked up and made us breakfast! 

 I went for a nice run from the resort and stopped every now and then to take a few pictures along the way.

 Love this row of palms stretching out toward the ocean on Front street.

 and this massive banyan tree that I couldn't even capture in a single shot

 I was even happier to see that same row of stretching palms on my way back to the resort. Such a gorgeous day!!

 When I got back the crew was ready for a little adventure

 Our destination just 30 minutes north of the resort was the awesome heart shaped pool with a few others you could play in as well

We weren't sure about bringing Brynne down there but decided a ride on Daddy's shoulders was the way to go.

 There were lots of fun places to jump into the pools from 

Always the daredevil Garrett was ready to go!

Both Izzy and Drew had some slips and falls just walking around checking out the pools

 Brynne let us know that this was unacceptable and she was ready to go.

 Eventually though curiosity got the better of her and she decided she wanted to check things out.

Brynne stuck by Jeff's side

And Izzy stuck mostly by mine

 The big boys checked things out and let us know the good spots to come explore

 I just couldn't get enough pictures because of how the colors popped against all that dark rock!

 Jeff helped Izzy over to this big cave so that I could snap everyone at once.

 But as cool as I thought this picture was the next two of Wes are probably my favorites from the day

 I loved this one of him looking up at me but was cracking up when he told me he wanted a womb picture.

 It's pretty dang funny if you ask me

 I loved watching my boys climbing and jumping like a bunch of 10 year olds

 and love how funny and silly they've been as we are all just hanging out together

Then all the climbing started. Wes scrambled up to salute on this rock

 So naturally Brynne insisted Jeff help her conquer the same one

 Drew  was next up the rocks.  

 This massive big kid playground was incredible to behold with all the textures and colors of the rocks set against the bright blue sea.

We loved exploring this place 

 Even Brynne was sad to leave!

Aloha!

We couldn't be more thrilled for our Hawaiian vacation!

 A best friend, matching neck pillows and a few good movies 

 A helpful big brother

 And a silly big brother

  perfect weather

 Goggles and a few water slides

A perfect setting  

and a beautiful sunset

 Maui just doesn't disappoint.

My Dumb Day

Today I pretty much failed at everything.  I had just two hours of sleep coming into today so my run was not what it should have been.  Brynne was in tears because I hadn't purchased a special 4th of July outfit for her.  She was sure this was going to be the worst 4th of July ever. I hadn't been home last night to decorate her bike for the annual parade but thought that after talking to several members of my family and letting them know where everything was they had it covered. They didn't.  She had actually wanted to decorate her Jeep but we didn't have time to clean it out. As it was we were late because we were decorating her bike.

I failed to get Drew to the church at 7:30 to help the rest of the scouts with the flag ceremony. In fact I failed to get anyone from my family to the breakfast at the church besides Brynne.  The boys would not wake up and I didn't have time to fight with them because I had a bike to decorate and a 4th of July outfit to find for miss sassy pants who actually said to me,"Well I'm not even going to be in red white and blue and I'm not going to even look like its the 4th of July and its all going to be your fault!" Awesome. At the breakfast I failed to get the right foods for Brynne and had to make multiple trips back up to the food tables.

I tried to redeem myself after the breakfast by allowing Brynne to accompany me on my Target trip to pick up food I needed for today and a few things for our camping trip.  But then I failed to keep the rest of my family happy because I took too long and they wanted to get out on the boat.  I was even more of a stickler when I refused to let anyone go out on the boat until everyone cleaned up all their junk all over the house.  I know I'm horribly mean for making them clean up after themselves. I was deliriously tired and came home and took a quick nap while my sweet husband supervised the kids and the clean up.

My family woke me up when they had finished their chores and were ready to go. I wasn't ready fast enough and needed to take a second car out to the lake.  Then Brynne was mad because I forgot to bring the right lifejacket for her. We got to the lake only to have the boat die in spite of two new batteries that we put in two weeks ago.  We spent an hour getting the boat back out of the water and charging the battery from the car.

We took so long that Brynne got too hot and was begging to just go home and my dad offered to take her. The battery on the boat only lasted long enough for one and a half groups to get a ride on the tube before dying again.

Luckily we had friends out on the lake who had jumper cables and got us charged up enough to get back to the dock.  We were so grateful, but it was such a disappointment to have had our lake trip cut so short.  A new alternator is being installed in the morning and well give it another go.

When my had dad offered to take Brynne home from the lake he also was leaving us short 3 seats for a ride home. I thought we had agreed that we would call him when we were ready to go home so he could come pick us up.  When it was time to go home we decided we'd just squish and so I didn't call him.  Alas we weren't on the same page and he thought he was supposed to come to pick us up at 6. So he came all the way back to the lake to pick us up and we were already halfway back home squished into the car like we were trying to cross the border. Total communication failure.

We were an hour late to the BBQ tonight and this had Brynne incredibly frustrated.  Jeff wasn't feeling well and stayed home.  When we got to the party I realized I had left the salad at home. Drew also realized he'd left his skateboard at home and asked me to pick it up.  Wes called with a confusion about our meat that he was going to be trying to BBQ for me until I got back with the salad and Drew's board.  I was distracted and forgot the board.  Back at the party, Garrett was frustrated because I had also forgotten to get cheese for the burgers. And I had only gotten enough burgers for him to eat two plus a few hot dogs.  Not enough food for him.  Then both boys were frustrated with me because I'd forgotten the board and they were supposed to go to a friends house.

I got Brynne dinner which she bumped and got ketchup all over her salad so I had to toss it and go back for round two. Then there was too much ketchup on her hot dog.

When I was finally allowed to get my food I decided to just eat it in the car and to run back to get Drew's board. As soon as I got back yet again to the party Garrett was frustrated because he couldn't find Drew anywhere and he was really ready to go. When we finally tracked Drew down to tell him that I got his board and he could leave with Garrett he was actually on his way back to the party with my dad and his long board.  They had driven back to the house to get Drew's board not knowing that I had already gotten it. When they couldn't find the penny board he grabbed his long board and they were finally on their way back to the party.

Garrett hadn't wanted to wait any longer when we couldn't find Drew and left about a minute before I found out he was almost back.  I called and made him come back to the party so that Drew could ride with him. There was no way I was letting Drew ride around on his skate board alone in the middle of the crazy traffic and so many people out drinking all around the stadium pre fireworks.  After explicit instructions to stick together and telling the boys that Drew was not to be riding around alone they took off, with Garett still very mad at me for making him come back for Drew.

Shortly thereafter Wes, Brynne, my mom and I started walking to the stadium for the fireworks and wouldn't you know I got a call from Drew about 20 minutes after he and Garret had left.  He had called from a friends phone because his was completely dead.  He had lost Garrett and couldn't find the house they were supposed to be going to and with no phone he couldn't get in touch with Garrett. He'd come back to the party to get an address from me.  Well now I was gone and on foot so I was not in a position to go get him and he was now missing fireworks with his friends.   Jeff ended up going and getting him to where he needed to be.  All the while we were trying to get through to our favorite place near the stadium to watch fireworks, but it was all taped off and had security so we had to walk all the way around the stadium to get there.

By the time we settled into our spot the show was just starting and I was ready to just be done with the day. I had felt like everyone had been frustrated with me or disappointed in me or just wanted me to do something more for them all day long. The fact that I'd had so little rest only made it even more overwhelming.

When the fireworks show was finally over we walked back to the party and finished up with sparklers and fireworks from the little booths that our friends had picked up.  Brynne was finally happy and sporting a blue mustache with such seriousness I couldn't stop smiling at her.

I finally had a few minutes to chat with a few friends.  I finally didn't feel like I was being pulled in a million different directions from all of my kids. By the time I came home I wasn't feeling quite so much like Oscar the grouch any more.

I am grateful for the handful of good moments that were sprinkled into today.

 It definitely won't go down as one of my best days, but still I recognize that all of these little issues that had everyone all worked up all day were what we jokingly call first world problems.  If you're going to have issues in a day these kind are the best ones to have.  You can always take a step back from them and know that it could definitely be worse. You can still see all the good around you and be grateful for the blessings in your life. Having said that, I'm not gonna lie, I'm so glad that today is done!