Lahaina and Iao State Park

The next morning, Adam took Jacob snorkeling in front of my dad's condo while we watched from the balcony.
Then I helped Gavin practice in the pool.

That evening we went up to see the famous Banyon Tree in Lahaina.

All of my boys wanted to climb it.


It was super pretty there at night.We also made a trip up to Iao State Park. This park is home to the tallest point in Maui of 2,250 feet.
It was a perfect hike for little boys... lots of rocks and streams.

Look Mom! Bananas!
We had a picnic under this shelter...
... and caught another sunset on the drive home. :)

The Road to Hana

This road is actually only 50 miles long, but with all of the twists, turns, and single bridges... it can take over three hours to get there! We never fully intended on making it to Hana, but we thought we would drive as far as we could to see all the waterfalls.

The first place we stopped was called Twin Falls, and it was a perfect hike for the boys. Mostly because the path was really well-paved and there was a pretty waterfall at the end. It was funny because Adam said all he really wanted was a waterfall going into a pool so he could swim underneath it... and we found it!!


Swimming back on daddy's shouldersHere are some other pretty waterfalls we found along the way.



We went to park at sunset to let the boys play.

Our last days

On our last days, we found some fun tidepools for the boys to explore. There were mostly fish and sea urchins, but they loved trying to "catch" them. Jacob really wanted to bring some fish home for dinner, but they were so darn fast! :)
Adam really wanted to try this wave simulator and it was so much fun! They even let us take turns boogie boarding with the boys.


While Casey was napping, I was trying to put my skills as a swim instructor to good use with Jacob.
For dinner, we decided to barbecue up on the roof of my dad's condo. It was so pretty up there, especially during the sunset!

We spent our last day on my favorite Kaanipali beach. :) Gavin went snorkeling in the ocean for the first time and loved it!! He looked at the fishies with his little bum in the air for such a long time.

There was a boy who dug this huge hole in the sand. I was super grateful because it entertained Gavin and Casey for hours.

Adam even did a little cliff jumping at Black Rock...

On this trip, I was contemplating the difference between going on vacation by ourselves and going on vacation with our boys. When we go away by ourselves, no doubt about it, it is usually chaos-free, carefree, and stress-free. Although I do love spending time alone with my husband, I always really miss my boys and wonder how they would react to the things we were seeing and doing. When we bring our boys, it is definitely more chaotic, stressful, and a lot more work. However, there is nothing like seeing the joy in their faces as they experience and appreciate the simple things. One dark night, we were walking on the beach and we all came home so sandy from running, singing, and playing together. There is something about our family being all together. It wasn't perfect for sure. There were stressful times for sure. There were a lot of magical moments too though... pictures that will be in this blog, in my head, and in my heart forever.

For all the moms I know...

I got this from MOPS and thought it was perfect for Mother's Day. The author is unknown.

We are sitting at lunch when my daughter casually mentions that she and her husband are thinking of "starting a family." "We're taking a survey," she says, half-joking. "Do you think I should have a baby?"

"It will change your life," I say, carefully keeping my tone neutral. "I know," she says, "no more sleeping in on weekends, no more spontaneous vacations." But that is not what I meant at all. I look at my daughter, trying to decide what to tell her.

I want her to know what she will never learn in childbirth classes. I want to tell her that the physical wounds of child bearing will heal, but that becoming a mother will leave her with an emotional wound so raw that she will forever be vulnerable.

I consider warning her that she will never again read a newspaper without asking "What if that had been MY child?" That every plane crash, every house fire will haunt her. That when she sees pictures of starving children, she will wonder if anything could be worse than watching your child die.

I look at her carefully manicured nails and stylish suit and think that no matter how sophisticated she is, becoming a mother will reduce her to the primitive level of a bear protecting her cub. That an urgent call of "Mom!" will cause her to drop a souffle or her best crystal without a moment's hesitation. I feel I should warn her that no matter how many years she has invested in her career, she will be professionally derailed by Motherhood.

She might arrange for childcare, but one day she will be going into an important business meeting and she will think of her baby's sweet smell. She will have to use every ounce of her discipline to keep from running home, just to make sure her baby is all right.

I want my daughter to know that everyday decisions will no longer be routine. That a five year old boy's desire to go to the men's room rather than the women's at McDonald's will become a major dilemma. That right there, in the midst of clattering trays and screaming children, issues of independence and gender identity will be weighed against the prospect that a child molester may be lurking in that restroom.

However decisive she may be at the office, she will second-guess herself constantly as a mother. Looking at my attractive daughter, I want to assure her that eventually she will shed the pounds of pregnancy, but she will never feel the same about herself. That her life, now so important, will be of less value to her once she has a child. That she would give it up in a moment to save her offspring, but will also begin to hope for more years -- not to accomplish her own dreams, but to watch her child accomplish theirs.

I want her to know that a cesarean scar or shiny stretch marks will become badges of honor. My daughter's relationship with her husband will change, but not in the way she thinks. I wish she could understand how much more you can love a man who is careful to powder the baby or who never hesitates to play with his child. I think she should know that she will fall in love with him again for reasons she would now find very unromantic.

I want to describe to my daughter the exhilaration of seeing your child learn to ride a bike. I want to capture for her the belly laugh of a baby who is touching the soft fur of a dog or a cat for the first time. I want her to taste the joy that is so real, it actually hurts.

My daughter's quizzical look makes me realize that tears have formed in my eyes. "You'll never regret it," I finally say. Then I reach across the table, squeeze my daughter's hand and offer a silent prayer for her, and for me, and for all of the mere mortal women who stumble their way into this most wonderful of callings. This blessed gift from God . . . that of being a Mother.

From the mouths of my boys

Gavin was walking by this picture on our wall and commented, "That's me with a smile face and brown underwear... and that's Casey with no pants." :)

The rest of these are from my sweet six year old.

"Mommy, I never want to get married. I just want to keep you!" This one melted my heart for sure. Then he asked me if his daddy and I were married when the dinosaurs were still here. He also had some concerns about babies coming out of my tummy. One example was, "I think it hurt really bad when they got Casey out. Good job not crying mommy!"

Casey was running around when Jacob exclaimed, "Mommy! Casey can run and walk and talk! He's ALIVE!" (We happened to be discussing a few days before about what makes something alive. :)

Jacob had to burp, so I was reminding him to say excuse me. To which he responded, "Sometimes we burp from our mouth, sometimes we burp from our bum... and that means we have to go to the bathroom!"

We always seem to go to McDonald's so Jacob was determined to give Burger King a try. I don't think he'd ever been there before! When we got there, the entire place was empty. Jacob kept looking around and finally said, "Mommy, I think this place is closed." I kept telling him that it wasn't, we were just the only ones there. So he wanted to know why we were the only ones there. I whispered in his ear, "Because everyone is at McDonalds. :)

This next excerpt is while we were driving in the car. Jacob was going on and on about things he knew about God... it went something like this.
"I love God. His first name is God, his middle name is Lord, and his last name is Father. I call him God the Lord though. I love him because he makes things and he helps us have good dreams. He never hits because he is a REALLY good boy. I will see what he looks like when I go to heaven. Now I will tell you why heaven is better than Disneyland. It's because we get a new body and it doesn't even hurt a little bit. There are a million treasures like gold, candy, and toys. Heaven will never run out of treasures. Easter is about Jesus dying on the cross. He is in heaven now. I wish I was Great Grandma Kahn and died to heaven already because it is such a great place. There are golden streets and we will have no owies."

Casey's first time-out

Our little twenty month old monkey is sure keeping us on our toes! I can't leave him alone for a second... otherwise I will find him climbing pantry shelves, standing on his chair to reach things, knocking over his brother's puzzles, or dumping bags of crackers on the floor. I don't remember Jacob and Gavin being so high maintenance at this age, but maybe I was more on top of things before having three kids. :)

Even though I still see him as my baby, I guess the time has come for some discipline. :)

The Spring Fair

It was a gorgeous day for the Spring Fair! Jacob, Gavin, and Casey were more than excited to go with their bestest girls, Kailey and Lexi. Too bad we waited in this huge line only to find out we could have walked right in with our tickets! :)


Picking up a scone first thing has quickly become a fair tradition.

This robot was the craziest, coolest thing ever. He was talking to our kiddos like he knew everything about them (mostly because he overheard my friend and I talking). I could NOT figure out how it was working because there was no way an adult could fit inside there.

Thankfully, my friend Wendi is super smart and she figured out that this guy was talking for the robot through a pretend drink/microphone. Pretty clever!

We let our kids go on all their favorite fair rides.



Since Casey wasn't yet big enough to go on the rides, his favorite parts were coloring the giant mural,



banging on the instruments,

...and petting the animals.