The best winter

You should hate me. I deserve to be hated. Because really....I have had the best winter ever. First off, December. I didn't write much (anything actually) about Christmas, but it went off without a hitch. Better than without a hitch. It was busy...but for the first time since Annika was born, I felt like we got it all timed right. I finished shopping early enough, worked HARD and made sure there was lots of time to chill and love on the family. I was stressed...but not too stressed to enjoy it.

This was no easy feat - it took 3 years of Christmas turmoil to figure it out and honestly, I probably didn't figure anything out at all, our kids just got old enough and we got lucky enough to pull it off. We even spent an amazing weekend in early December up at a cabin in the snow with friends, something we hope to do every year. I completely loved Christmas this year.

On top of all that, Kyle got me a new 4runner for Christmas. He was going to surprise me with it and took great pains to pick it up on Christmas eve, even taping the garage windows with plastic so I couldn't see it hidden inside. Unfortunately I suspected everything. When he asked to go on a Christmas eve "bike ride", I said yes, only because I secretly hoped he was going to pick up my car. I even peeked out the window to see if there was a bike on his car when he left and sure enough....no bike. I was so excited, but even more excited when I drove past him in my new car as the kids & I headed out to do some chores. So much for the surprise.

About the second week of December, Kyle bought the tickets to Vietnam. (we left Jan 3rd). So off an an amazing trip for that. About the same time, Shauna, Kyle's sis, started bugging us about going to Hawaii with them in early february. At first we thought it was dumb to go so soon after vietnam, but the plane tickets went down in $, Kyle's brother agreed to go, and we realized we had enough miles on our credit card to pay for all the tickets. Sweet.

So two weeks after we got back from Vietnam, we went to Hawaii with the kids and Kyle's siblings. And Pete.

But before we look at those pictures, I have to mention what we did BETWEEN Vietnam & Hawaii. We bought ski gear for the whole family and went skiing for the first time. (Kyle had a good hook up for gear, plus Annika's friend Riley had been going and her Dad talked us into it)

Ta-Da! Our first ski day, one day before we flew to Hawaii!

Saben has been doing AWESOME.
But we did spend a lot of time in this position helping the kids up.

Skiing Saturday, hotel in Seatac on Sunday, fly to Hawaii on monday. To join up with these folks. Can you tell which one doesn't belong? I mean...isn't a sibling?
We had the best time. Our condo was a bit grotty, and stunk of stale cigarettes, but we loved Maui and it was so relaxing. We pretty much went to the beach every day, took turns watching the kids, swam, snorkeled and played in the sand. One day, Kyle went biking with some guys from one of his shops. I missed him, so I made myself a replacement.

Beach art, seriously the most fun ever, even though it took me 2 hours to make this guy who was far from perfect. The kids were scared of the waves at first, but over time they got used to them. Annika was the queen of getting sand absolutely everywhere on her body. The kids had so much fun playing with cousin Hailey, especially Annika. Cousin Charlotte spent most of her time snoozing on the beach since she is only um...4 months old? Sigh, I can't even keep track anymore.


Saben loved building in the sand. Except the structures you see were actually built by Jason & Pete. He liked digging deep holes and was working on a cave in this picture.

It was a lovely time and I am one lucky, spoiled rotten girl.