Bella, Gabe and Josiah

We decided to head up Haleakala. Well, first we stopped for coffee and snacks.  Then we went up the volcano. We weren’t sure how it would go. From the ground, the volcano went up into the clouds, but we figured that if we’re couldn’t see anything, we’d just turn around. Instead, we made it through the clouds and popped out into blue sky. The boys were excited to touch the clouds as we drove through. Gabe has turn over his obsession with catching birds, but now he takes pictures of them constantly. This was a Nene at the top of the mountain, just as we got out of the car. After we came down, we got pizza at the same place we ate at on our honeymoon. Apparently Pat remembers exactly what we ate on that trip and even what it was called. I do not understand that… But Gabe drew a great pizza picture. Then we got ice cream! We stopped by the mattress store (long story…) and then hit up Chick-Fil-A before going to bed early. We knew that we were going to have a long day there next day and we

We decided to spend the day in Paia, mostly because we had a dinner reservation that night, so it made sense. I started the day with a run because marathon training means that you get to run on vacation. Also, I wake up early. But I found some amazing sights! We got up and headed to a breakfast spot in Paia, before heading down to Baby Beach. Also, we were supposed to order two smoothies but there was a miscommunication and we only ended up with one. We’d heard it was a good spot to let the kids play in the water and it definitely was. Gabe was reading to figure out his snorkel mask, which gave him some drama, but he tried. Josy just insisted on being buried again. Apparently that’s what you do on the beach. Then we went to a Peruvian piece for lunch. We timed it perfectly as we got there just as the Argentina-Chile game was on for the Copa Americana. There were a lot of Argentina jerseys and the boys got to experience fútbal the way the rest of the world does. After lunch, we headed b

We’re in Maui!! So, my sister-in-law has a coworker whose daughter is in our town for the summer and wanted to visit her. So she asked if anyone would be interested in a house swap. Um, yes. Pat and I wanted to go back to Maui for our 10 year anniversary, but apparently doing that around Christmas is cost-preventative, which is why we went on a cruise for our anniversary. Technically we’re still celebrating 10 years of marriage, so it totally works. Anyway, they have our house for 10 days and we have Grandpa’s house in Maui. It’s a win-win for everyone! I will say that I ended up spending the last couple of weeks cleaning to get ready for them. I mean, if you’re going to vacation in someone else’s house, you probably don’t want to stare at the weird pile that’s been sitting in the dresser for the last 3 years, right? So I’ve been crazy cleaning. It’s been driving Pat crazy, but honestly, my house feels so nice and clean and it’s been really nice to be “forced” into cleaning up a bunch

 Sometimes you just need to go on a nice walk to the glacier and to play in some rocks. It’s even better if you wear a tie.

We’re headed off on an adventure, so I need to get caught up on the last few weeks before we do that… My little helper was super excited to help me and to use his kid-sized wheelbarrow. He needed to be a spy, apparently. Josy got to go to his first week of camp. He had a while well of playing in the woods and thought it was wonderful. There was a lot of ball tours month. This is the life! We went to Pat’s work picnic and the boots got to help fly a kite. Josy won a light bright, which he loved! This is a knife he came up with all by himself. I think we wore him out… We took a bike ride and found a pond. Naturally the boys had to see how many rocks they could throw. Blanket came straight out of the dryer, so he had to have a snuggle. Sometimes tball is rough. It took me awhile, but I found the glacier! Gabe made this really cool picture of the Eiffel tower on a napkin in my office and it was so cool that I didn’t want to throw it away. But then apparently water got dropped on it, so now