BACK TO REALITY

My house is a wreck with 10 pieces of luggage halfway unpacked, I can't find the keys to the car that has been parked in the garage all summer, our grouchy neighbors are giving us grief about property lines, the washing machine is leaking water, and I was just assigned six more clients...WELCOME HOME. Above are some pictures from our last few days in Hawaii. Tuesday we went to the temple (thanks to Tanner for helping me work that out with my recommend being stolen and all). Brent and I took turns with the baby. I walked around the temple. Up behind the temple is a cemetery that was there before the Temple was built. There was a beautiful view from up there. Wednesday we went to Punchbowl. It was very interesting. We also managed to fit in Haunama Bay, Sharks Cove, and Waimea Bay one last time. The kids both jumped off the rock at Waimea. It was awesome. Sunday was the day we returned. We woke up super early and watched the sunrise from Makapuu Beach. I am SO glad we did because it was unbelievable!!! After that we went to church with our friends from the Super Kids Club at the First Assembly of God. Nick Vijicic spoke. He is a 25 year old man that was born without arms or legs. He is amazing. You should google him. His testimony is very inspiring. We love our friends there and will miss them very much. After that we went to our church. They sang Aloha Oe (Farewell to thee) to us in sacrament meeting. We will miss our friends there as well. It was a LONG day. We got home from church, packed, then headed to the airport for our 10:40 flight. I am happy to say I made it on the plane even though my ID was stolen. All I had to do was go through extra security while Max cried and cried because he was going to miss his dad. 12 very long hours later we were home! Brent got home yesterday and we are happy to have him here. Thanks to Dwight, Armi , Wade, and Angela for helping him get home. Our second van decided to break down a few hours before he was to get on the plane...so he was in quite a rush to get home. Call it Leavitt luck or the Kirkham Curse I don't know, but thanks to all of you that helped us all get home! We love and will miss you!!

NO FAIR!!!!!

Look at my little guy getting so big!!! Max has had two wiggly teeth for the past week or so. Tonight he and Emma locked themselves in the bathroom. Emma wiggled and wiggled for about an hour and out popped Max's tooth!! Right now Max and Emma are hiding it so they can play "hot and cold" with dad to find it when he gets home. Oh, and Max refuses to the tooth under his pillow because he wants to show "gwama Kokum and Wevitt" when he gets back to Idaho. He is SO excited and I am doing my best to be happy for him, but really I want to cry...why do they have to grow up so dang fast? It's NO FAIR!

Happy Days

All things must come to an end...THANKFULLY

What a crazy week!! We had the police at our apartment on two separate occasions to file two separate police reports. First, my wallet was stolen and the creep that stole it apparently decided he would declare free gas day for himself, his family, friends, and pretty much anyone with a vehicle!! We had well over $1000 fraudulent charges on our cards...all gas stations and McDonald's. Then, my phone stopped working. I could power it on and that was all. I spent last Saturday and Sunday watching texts come in, but I could't read them. It was SO frustrating. I have a new phone now, but I don't know anyones number so feel free to give me a call sometime so I can program you in!! Tuesday was spent watching my poor Max puke all day. He never had a fever so it must have been some sort of food poisoning. Wednesday night I woke up at 2:00 FREEZING, and Hawaii is not anywhere near cold in August. I had Mastitis for the third time...second time in Hawaii. Then our gate key and parking pass were stolen out of our van. Good thing it's a gated community....(all that means is someone will try to steal your pass and key so they can get in and park there too- kind of defeats the purpose). Of course in order to get a new card and pass without paying the $150 fee, we had to file a police report. Friday I went to the pool. We were kind of in a hurry to get there. I greased up the keikis with sunblock, but somehow managed to forget to put any on myself. SO, I am officially FRIED! I was so proud of the fact that I haven't been burned all summer, and here I sit, my last week to enjoy the sun in Hawaii, and I have the worst burn I have probably ever had! Wait, it gets better... Then Saturday I got a call from my bank stating one of my other accounts was overdrawn $200. The greedy gas guzzling giant strikes again with a card I had forgotten even existed...So, I get to file my third police report in Hawaii. SO, we decided to have some fun to celebrate the end of this horrible week!!!!

We started by visiting the Birthing Stones. This is the place where ancient Hawaiian royalty were born. The mother would give birth while all the chiefs watched. After the child was born, the men would take him away and raise him. This was done to protect the babies from the enemy who sought to kill them. It is hidden in the middle of a pineapple field. It was really interesting.

Next, we went to the Dole Plantation. For those of you who have not been there yet, this is the BIGGEST tourist trap in all of Oahu!! This was our third time there. We told the kids we would take them back to conquer the World's Largest Maze (well technically it isn't the largest anymore, but it was in 2001). It took us 1 hour and 15 minutes, but we did it!

After that we went to Haleiwa and had some food at Haleiwa Joe's. We figured we should probably eat somewhere local before we leave the island. It has been my personal mission since we got here to see a sea turtle. Emma and Brent saw one at Ko'Olina, but I was busy with the boys. So, we have been stopping every so often at a small beach nicknamed turtle beach because there are supposed to be lots of honus there. We hadn't seen any up until this trip! I counted 12 and they were HUGE. There were four up on the beach at one point. The bigger turtles stroll up on the beach and bask in the sun for hours at a time. One even swam up and touched Max! There was a turtle, Honey Girl that was murdered at this beach July 19th so now it is heavily monitored by volunteers. One of the volunteers said that the heaviest turtle that lives there is 250lbs. She also said that there are 23 turtles that are regulars at this beach. It is against the law to touch, feed, or even change the path of one of the sea turtles. They are so beautiful. It was great!

Then, we were off to Three Tables. This is one of our favorite beaches. It has really good snorkeling and nice waters for the kids to swim. After this beach, we went to Sunset Beach and watched the sunset. It was a beautiful end to a great day! I'm pretty sure I won't ever be ready to come home. I love it here! We have done SO many amazing things. Enjoy the photos!

FOUR NEW BABIES!!

Our house sitter called the Monday morning to let us know that Mittens looked like she had her kittens, but he had no idea where they were. My mom searched for them and finally found them in Max's closet. Mittens is the proud mother of four more kittens. Three of them are brown and the other is black with a striped face. The kids can't wait to get home and see them. I'm sure there will be many a pictures to post when we get back. SO...if any of you want or know of anyone that wants a kitten or two in about 6 or 7 weeks, let us know!

PCC

Polynesian Cultural Center

Yesterday we went back to the Polynesian Cultural Center to see some more things. Last time we went was when Noelle and her family came to pick up Skylar (I will post that one later when I get all the pics together). It doesn't open until noon so Brent couldn't come with us this time. I packed the kids up and we made a day of it. It was a lot of fun. We visited almost all of the other islands. Max LOVED Tonga where he threw a spear (We returned there three times). He was really good at it. Emma's favorite was Samoa, where they climbed a coconut tree, cracked it open, shaved the meat of the coconut, and then milked it to get the coconut milk. Everything was neat. The kids fished, weaved crafts, danced (Emma got up on stage twice to dance), sang, got tattoos, learned how to make fire from two sticks, and tasted coconut bread. I am so glad we have annual passes because we want to go back again to see more and revisit a lot of the things we saw. We also watched a really cool movie about the Coral Reef at the IMAX theater.