Hawaii.....

We have been back from Hawaii for a week.  What a busy week it has been.

Because we extended our spring break vacation, my girls missed three

days of school.  Overseeing their make-up work and getting them

to school early in the morning to take missed quizzes and lessons

has kept this momma extremely busy.... In addition BOTH

girls had to have teeth pulled at the dentist this week -

in preparation for braces.....boo!  Seems my girl's mouths like

to keep those baby teeth for.much.longer. than. they. are. supposed. to.

As a momma, I HATE taking my girls to have something

painful done to them, no matter how necessary.  

Ok, I intend to keep this Hawaii recap short and sweet, just the highlights......

Since retiring, my parents have spent a chunk of time every winter on the island

of Kauai, Hawaii - lucky, huh?  When we lived on the west coast when the girls were

small we would join them for a week.  However, once we left

the west coast and moved east, we just couldn't swing the cost of flights and honestly,

flying that far and for that long is not something I get excited about.

When we moved back to the west coast last spring, my parents scheduled their time

in Kauai to accomodate the girls' spring break so we could join them.  Lucky us!

Hawaii is a special place and our favorite island is Kauai - for it's simplicity,

laid-back vibe and beauty.  Truth be told, there is not that much to do on Kauai -

for some, who like busy vacations, with lots of sight seeing and activities that

might not work for you.  But us?  Well, we like beaches, pools and generally hanging 

out with each other.  Our everyday lives, right now, are so scheduled

 that a vacation without obligations, places to be and driving

in a car is just what we were looking for!

The beaches on Kauai provide lots of 'activities' - my little girl loved to beach comb, she 

found lots of coral and beautiful driftwood for me to bring home!  She also loved to

boogie board and play in the waves.

My big girl LOVED her surfing lesson and her time SUP-ing {stand up paddle boarding}.

The photo below was taken during her late afternoon surf lesson.

And of course, I had the pleasure of spending time with Kauai's most famous

green juice and fine box wine drinking adventurer - Kasey Buick!

Kasey and her family are spending an incredible year on the island and thriving

while making lemonade out of lemons!  Kasey graciously hosted our family

at Hanalei Beach {where she takes many of the beautiful photos that appear on her blog}

for an afternoon picnic, swimming, surfing and jumping off

the pier {I, sadly, declined}.  It was so fun to be able to see how the locals hang.

I will close with these thoughts......

We are fortunate to take a vacation to such a beautiful place,

I don't take that for granted for a second.  We made memories!

However, the best part of the ten days boils down to this......

spending quality time being present with my family.

I am feeling time passing too quickly{extremely uncomfortable for this self-admitted control freak}

.....I am no longer the mom with children in primary grades....my big girl will go to high

school in a year......and college in five years {gasp!!!!!!!}.  Looking back

and realizing how fast those years seemed to go only makes me all the 

more committed to being present for the coming years.

Two years ago, our family was facing job loss and the unknown

{and NOT doing very well making lemonade out of lemons, I might add}, a

year ago we were celebrating a move back 'home' but also struggling with

what that meant for our children who had already moved quite a 

bit in their short lives........

This year, I am just grateful and proud of where we are right

at this moment and being able to savor that in paradise 

was the icing on the cupcake!

*************

***The winner of some Hawaiian goodies is Julieann!  Please

email me at jillbeth@aol.com with your addy and I 

will send you all the macadamia nuts your could ever want!