Change is coming

These are all over our house:

It's that time again. Time to move. We are heading back to Utah for a new job. We're not exactly sure when that will be, but in the next couple of weeks. Meanwhile, we are trying to pack up, while trying to keep the house clean, while trying to show the house while trying to live in it. Fun times!

Our Week

We've had Cub Scout Day Camp all week. No, we don't have a Cub Scout anymore, but I was asked to help, so we did. Grace always loves the Siblings class. This is the epitome of Grace - chatting 90 miles an hour and giving me the "wait a minute" finger when I want to take her picture:

One of her admirers on her back. Her leader said to me, "I love listening to Grace. She is knows who she is!"

Collin gets to be a Jr. Staff and earn Boy Scout service hours. He has been having WAY too much fun taking the garbage out . . .

And riding the garbage wagon "doing a Calvin" (as in Calvin and Hobbs riding in their wagon down steep hills):

Me, not so much fun. 30 boys hammering birdhouses at a time throughout the day and I'm saying Where's the Excedrin??

This lady is my hero though. She is about 80 (I love her wig), about 4 foot 5" and she came with her 2 grandsons because she wanted to see what they did. I hope I'm as cool of a grandma!

Livin' in the Bible Belt

Got Wii? Then you'll understand Hii.

Week in Review

This has been quite an eventful week! Grace got her hair cut "rill" short, Jon crashed on his bike and his foot stayed in the toe clip resulting in a major sprained ankle, so he's on crutches; we had a belated birthday Afternoon Tea party for Grace, Collin got his red belt in Tae Kwon Do, Jon backed into the gate in my car and the list goes on. Here are some pictures from the fun stuff. Grace invited her BFF's Leann (on G's left) and Laura. Collin was being a preteen and saying he did NOT want to go:

The girls:

Impressed by the Birthday cake:

At the end of the tea Collin said, "I could do this EVERY day!"

The new Red Belt:

Striking a pose:

Celebrating the new belt with some ice cream.

Oahu

It's funny looking at our pictures from this trip because they are half food related and the other half beach. I guess because we've been here so many times, we have our stand-bys that we always have to do and then try a few new things. We tried more new restaurants this time so maybe thats why. Here is one of our stand-bys, the real Hukilau Cafe - keeps you full all day.

And we discovered this by watching Hawaii 5-0 right before we left. Jon was beyond excited to go here. I had a stomach bug when we went so I had some udon soup, and sushi and it was the best I've ever had. It was amazing.

Scandinavian and Japanese design are the best. So simple and beautiful! (Sorry for the bad pics but Jon was embarrassed so I couldn't use a flash or let them know I was taking them!)

Here are some of the highlights of the meal. One of Morimoto's most famous dishes - his tuna tartar:

And my Peanut Bomb dessert. Chocolate mousse with a peanut mousse center.

This wasn't new for us, but we haven't been for a few years. So yummy! Afternoon tea at the Surfrider Moana.

Waimanalo beach. Beauty!

This was on the east side. We've stopped here before, but it looked like good snorkeling so we tried it out.

I admit it. I can be a wimp. I don't like the surface of the ocean much and big waves freak me out. When we went to get in, the surf was rough, so while Jon went snorkeling, I stayed on the beach and counted my fortune at having two of my favorite things to look at at the same time- beach and a lighthouse:

In between dives and snacking on fresh cut pineapple. No pictures from the dive because Jon got a GoPro camera before we left so he was video taping our dives. Highly recommend.

View of the East side from the boat.

And a try at a self portrait outside the condo at Punalu'u.

We might go there a lot, but we left with a list that we DIDN'T get to do, so I guess we'll just have to go back next year and do them!

Hawaii- Big Island

This picture above isn't actually the Big Island (Hawaii), but after a LONG and stressful day of traveling, waking up to this made it all worth wile! Jon's brother Jos lives on the Big Island, so we flew there the next day. This view made me excited to dive in a few days.

We got there in the morning, so we set off to see what the Big Island is famous for - volcanoes. This is what we saw at Kilauea:

It was a wet, cold, rainy day, but we still saw some great things on our hike - other than clouds:

Cold and wet, but happy!

And at Mauna Loa:

The next day we woke up to a gorgeous, sunny day - we should have planned better!

Waipi'o with Maui in the distance.

Akaka Falls:

Last time we went to the Big Island we were only there for one day since Jos and Dina had just had a baby, so we didn't see much and we were excited to come again. It didn't disappoint! Next stop Oahu . . .

Austin City Blues

I am a month behind, so here goes with some catching up. . . Last month we made a tour of mostly food sites in Austin with some friends of ours. He wanted to go to this famous donut shop, so that's where we started:

This was made famous on food shows because of their Texas Donuts (You know, "Everything's Bigger in Texas"), the size of . . . any guesses? This shot might be deceptive:

But this shouldn't be. It's got it's own box. The other donuts are normal Non-Texas size. The Texas is cut out with a FIVE GALLON BUCKET!! My dad would love these.

Grace announced that she had "always" wanted a cowgirl hat and since it was almost her birthday, we obliged. Here we are trying on different hats:

The next stop was the Museum of the Weird. Don't think I'd recommend that one though.

The State Capital building. Ginormous and beautiful!

A close up with the flags flying:

Still working off the donut, we went to McKinney Falls again since our friends hadn't been there. Look at that sassy cowgirl!

I thought these rock formations were so beautiful and interesting and I took about 20 pictures of all different angles. See Grace over on the right for size?

And a wet, swampy Grace after sliding in the stagnant, stinking pool - usually Collins job:

The last stop was for another famous spot - the Salt Lick BBQ restaurant. Here we are waiting for our pager to buzz. We've had one hot day this year and this was that day. (Also, Grace is steaming because her clothes were still wet and she had to wear Collin's shirt, so she wouldn't look at me):

A very tired cowgirl. (She looks like she was born to wear that hat):

The meal is served family style and they just keep refilling the dishes until you tell them to stop:

The Meat pit:

We had to work that meal off for the next week!