OLIVIA TURNS 3 and visited by Jon, Angie, and Jaylon

Wow, our little girl has turned 3. Where does the time go. She has gotten so so big. She is so happy, sweet, loving, cuddly, sensitive, sweet natured, smart, creative, curious, and smiley. She loves to make others smile and laugh. Children are amazing blessings. I just wish time would slow down a little. I did not realize that time was so speedy (just like my Mom always used to say, "you just wait until you have children of your own some day, time just flies by''), until we had our own three beautiful little time reminders. We had a birthday party for Olivia when Papa and Grandma Eiseman were here, and then we had a birthday party on her real birthday with Jon, Angie, and Jaylon at Flatbread. We started off with chocolate chip pancakes the morning of her birthday, and she opened up her presents. She got a brand new bicycle. She was so thankful for all her presents. She kept telling Uncle Jon and Aunt Angie thank you for her shoes and shirt every time she wore them. So cute. We went to the beach on her birthday, and unfortunately I (Olivia's mommy) ended up in urgent care with a torn hamstring from kitesurfing. Oh well, a shot, pain medicine, and crutches later and it didn't slow me down too much. Olivia had a great birthday anyway. Julia and Emma decorated the whole house for Olivia's birthday. It was so wonderful to have Jon, Angie and Jaylon here for her birthday. We were missing the rest of our family and friends.

May Day Celebrations

Julia and Emma both had a big production at their school for May Day or otherwise known as Lei Day. Besides dancing and festivities, they had a lei making contest. (A little tidbit: the Hawaiian lei was introduced to the islands by early Polynesian voyagers from Tahiti). May 1st has become a special day designated to celebrate and recognize the custom of giving and receiving leis in Hawaii. It was first presented by the poet Don Blanding in 1927. It is a huge event here in Hawaii, and all the schools have a special presentation to honor this day.
Here are some pictures of the girls performing their dances.

Ah, Paradise!!!

KITESURFING GIRLS



Wow, where to start. It has been a long time since I have updated this blog. The girls had spring break shortly after Emma's birthday, and we headed off to Santa Cruz for 2 weeks to visit family, friends, ski, and enjoy our old town.

Since getting back to Maui, the girls have been finding new ways to entertain themselves. Here are some samplings of their fun mischief: the two wanna be kitesurfers, Julia enjoying her riding lesson on the beaches of Maui, and Julia and Daddy getting some quality guitar hero stand off time together.

Here are 6 wild and crazy girls having a fun dress-up session.


The Thomas Family Vacation

The Thomas Family came to visit us in the beginning of May. Cinco de Mayo, in fact, was the day they got here. We started off going to Pinatas Mexican to celebrate. The kids had a great time together, especially little Cameron and Olivia. Their conversations they had were adorable.
They stayed with us for 5 days and then they went to Kihei for a few days. We went down and stayed with them one night. Lynette and the kids then moved back to our house for a few more days while Chris stayed in Paia and worked during the day. The highlight of their trip was going on a Lanai snorkel and dolphin trip. The day was absolutely amazing. It was the calmest day with the glassiest, clearest water we have ever seen. The visibility in the water was as far as the eye could see. The girls did awesome snorkeling. Olivia, unfortunately, doesn't call it korkeling anymore. We also had a lot of fun on the water slide off the boat.













We then ended up staying the rest of the day at black rock beach in Kanaapali, playing at the sheraton pool and beach, and eating at Hula Grill. We ran into our friends Bonnie and Ian there and ended up having dinner with them and watching the incredible sunset. Thanks, Chris and Lynette, for the awesome boat ride. We had a great time.

Emma's 6th Birthday

Yes, Emma turned 6 years old. We can't believe it. She is growing too fast and time escapes before we know it. She is such a fun, loving, giddy, sweet, sharing, spirited, passionate, smart little girl. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful daughter.
We had a fun birthday day. It started with her waking up to find a brand new bicycle sitting in the living room. We then took cupcakes to her class where her class proceeded to sing to her a birthday song 2 times with a group hug to top it off. We then had a birthday party at giggle hill park. Her theme was strawberries, and she had all red decorations with a strawberry pinata that Grandma Candy let her pick out and got for her. We then went to Ruby's that night for dinner with Grandma and Papa. A very good birthday day indeed. We were missing all her friends and family in Santa Cruz though.

More Friends

1 day after Laura and the kids went home, Michelle, Tom, Pearson, and Colette came to stay with us for a few days. It was so good to see friends from the girls old school. We all had so much fun catching up with each other. We had fun playing with them at the beach. Olivia loved to entertain Michelle. Thanks Michelle for being so gracious and playing and entertaining our baby girl; she loved every minute of it. We enjoyed having you guys. Colette filled us in on all the happenings at Main Street. Julia and Pearson sure had fun wrestling around (WWF for kids anyone).

Family Fun/Kid Crazy

Our next visitors, 2 weeks later, were Auntie Laura, Matty, Alli, Papa, and Grandma. We had lots of fun at the beach surfing, stand up paddling, whale watching, playing at the miniature golf course, hiking to Twin Falls and swinging on the rope swing into the water fall, swimming under the waterfalls, and playing here at our house. We all had so much fun....


















The day we went to the beach to do some stand up paddling, we saw the most amazing site. Brian got to experience it first hand. Yes, that is Brian right next to a baby and mommy humpback whale. He said he was able to smell the breath of the baby whale and see the barnacles up close. He also said the baby whale came up and looked at him. They came right up next to him while he was paddling. AMAZING!!

Humpback Facts: These whales travel to the Hawaiian islands from Alaska around December through March to breed and have their babies. The adult whales can weigh up to 40 tons and get as long as 50 feet (the size of a large school bus). They do not eat while in the Hawaiian waters. Mothers lose about 20,000 pounds from feeding their babies while here (only because their breast milk is 50% fat, vs. humans is about 4%). Baby whales gain about 4 pounds an hour. Wow!!

Friends Fun

Wow, it has been a while since I have done an update. So here it us. We had our first friends, Dana and Phil and boys (yeah, we know who loves us), come and stay with us in the middle of January, right after Dave and Alli went back home. We started off at the Westin for a wonderful four days of relaxing, playing on the water slide, pirate ship, and taking professional family photos at the beach. We then went snorkeling at La Peruse Bay where Dana and I saw a 3 foot barracuda, stand up paddling with just the adults for an all day excursion, hiked twin falls, whale watching cruise, and the Zeips did a lot of other explorations on this island. We had a wonderful time and can't wait for next year!!
Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you, when we were at the Westin, the girls and Owen were able to try out snuba in the pool. They absolutely loved it.