Twins are born!

My big souvenirs from Hawaii was a pearl necklace. Because we bought a pearl, the shop lady gave us the opportunity to get a pearl from an oyster that hadn't been opened.


Here is our oyster.



This is the shop lady opening the oyster. It looked gross!




Here are our 'twin' pearls! The shop lady said that you don't see 2 in pearl that often.

Now . . . what to do with my twin pearls?

Hawaii Highlights

Here are some of the highlights from our vacation.



We really enjoyed the Polynesian Culture Center. We learned about 7 different Polynesian cultures, enjoyed a great dinner, and a show at the end.



This was the sunset from our sunset dinner cruise. It was so beautiful!




We sent to Pearl Harbor Church of Christ on Sunday and Bill had the opportunity to speak. Everyone here was really friendly.





On Monday we visited Pearl Harbor and several other historic sights from WW2. This was one of our favorite memorials: The four soldiers represent WW2, the Korean war, Vietnam, and today's soldier remember a fallen comrade.







Bill and me before going to a luau at our hotel. You can't tell it from here, but the grounds were so pretty.

This vacation was really nice, but I look forward to getting back to Tammie's tomorrow and spending time with Marie. But, I do think more vacations are in our future.

First Day in Hawaii

Amanda and I were waiting with baited breath for our first trip to Hawaii. We have been excited about it since we bought it at the first of the year. As we were sitting in the terminal, we saw the plane that would be taking us to Honolulu.

When we arrived on Wednesday, by the time we got our car, it was dark and I was very confused because almost all the street names are Hawaian names. Needless to say, it was a harrowing adventure getting to our hotel (you can ask for the details later if you wish). But in the sunlight of a new day, here stands our hotel right on the beach. It is a very nice lcation.

Amanda and I hiked up the Diamond head crater, a focal point of Oahu and Waikiki beach. It was harder than what some people had told us, but the view from the top was spectacular. A nice man offered to take a picture of us with Honolulu and the ocean in the back.

If you were wondering what hotel we stayed at, I took this picture that is next to our tower and it could be on a pamphlet. Very nice. And a plug for them, our first night was rocky but they more than made up for any bad feelings we have had about Honolulu the first night. They have made our stay, so far, very pleasant and relaxing.

There is a lagoon which is sepreated from the ocean to give a nice calm area to swim in. Amanda even got in the lagoon with me for a while and enjoyed it. We thought that hanging out at the lagoon every night and watching the sunset would be a great way to end the day of "hard" touristing:)

By and large, we have only been here a day and a half, but there are no second thoughts on this choice for our vacation. The only thing is that we miss Marie, but Tammie lets us talk to her and is taking excellent care of her for us.

Aloha!

March Catch-Up

Enjoy March catch-up.

In the mornings, Marie has started wrapping up her legs in her blanket and setting Nana beside her. They talk, sing and laugh together.

Marie's 2 newest favorite big girl books with 'real' pages. And we've only had to repair one torn page.

Marie has started to color and occupy herself in my craft room while I'm working on projects.

Marie loves her tea set.

She really likes having tea parties, and she invites all her friends. And she really set this up all by herself. Now, some of you might be asking why she has no pants on. Well, the answer to that question is that first she poured diet pepsi all over her pants. And second, we didn't have any more pants clean and had to wash some. I guess I was a little behind on the laundry.

February Catch Up

Well, now that I've had a couple days of R & R in Hawaii, thought I would catch up on my blogging a little bit.

Marie loves the snow, even as little as there is here. And she loves wearing her "new" coat and boots even more.

Well, we've put the high chair away and Marie has graduated to a booster seat. That means she's growing up a little! And I think this looks much more normal around our table now too.

Marie after bath. I think she knows she's a pretty cute girl.