Hawaii 2011--Days 1, 2, & 3

Okay....we've been home for almost a week now so it's time I finally got to this post!!! We just had the most amazing trip to Hawaii. My hubby was head hauncho on all the Pearl Harbor festivities happening this year on O'ahu so we've known for a couple years now that he was going to be in Hawaii many times in 2011. So I told him about a year ago that I was going to fly out to Hawaii with the kids and that he could come and visit us if he wanted to:) But he of course arranged everything for us and found us the most amazing beach house to rent for the week. I invited my whole family but only my mom, dad, and a dear family friend, Lori Eighmey, could come--more room in the beach house for us:) Everyone else missed out for sure:)

Saturday night, the girls HAD to get pedis:)


So on Saturday, December 3rd, I had my marathon of piano recitals--4 back to back:) Then on Sunday, Dec. 4th, I woke up at 4:30 am to have all of my kids dressed and ready to head to the airport by 5:30 am--Chris left on Saturday so it was all up to me to get everyone moving in the right direction. Made it to the plane no problem and the 6 hour flight went wonderfully well. Here's my excited passengers:



We arrived in Hawaii and Chris met us at the airport with leis of course:) We drove right to our beach house on the northeast side of the island-- in the town of Laie which is right down the street from the temple and the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC). The house was in an awesome location. The beach was right out our backyard. Here's the house:


This was the view from our backyard--the ocean is right behind the tree:



We had the FUNNEST rope swing that the kids (and my dad) had the best time on--again...right in our backyard:)




We arrived on Sunday morning around 11:30 am. Chris stayed the day with us before he actually had to go back to work--yes, he did actually have a lot to do from Sunday-Wednesday:) There were several coconut trees right around the house. The kids were SOO excited to see REAL coconuts. Chris had to show off his coconut opening skills--he's been to the PCC a few too many times. It took him a little longer than the Samoans but he did it! He got the coconut open:)




Day One: (Monday, Dec. 5th)
So on our first morning in Hawaii, we hit the beach around 5:30 am (3 hour time difference between HI and AZ:) I thought the water would be too cold for the kids to get in but boy was I WRONG!!! Gorgeous beach and perfect water temps even at 5:30 am.





Funny story. Lori thought she was soo cool finding a big tangle of rope. She drug it out onto the beach to show us but apparently this rope hadn't been out of the ocean in a while because several fish and many crabs had adopted this rope as their reef. So as she was dragging it out, fish and crab we're falling out EVERYWHERE on the beach! We were all screaming and freaking out because we didn't want to TOUCH any of the sea creatures but they were now beached!!! So they we all were on our hands and knees swatting fish BACK into the water!!! We had a good laugh afterwards:) Way to go Lori!!! You almost wiped out an entire mini-ecosystem:)


After the beach, we drove over to the Dole Pineapple Plantation. In this picture, we are actually getting rained on--but it was one of those tropical rains that lasts for less than a minute:)


It was here that we learned all of the kid's Hawaiian names (and bought bracelets with their "new names")
Carlie--Kalie (which means gracious and with great poise)
Ethan--Ekana (which means strong and steadfast)
Maxwell--Makaweli (which means the greatest of all--yep...Max NEVER lets us forget now:)
Tatum--Kakumo (which means cheerful and full of spirit)

From here on Max decided that he wanted to permanently change his name to the Hawaiian form and refused to answer to "Max."

We rode the "Pineapple Express" which was a 20 minute train tour of the plantation.




The kids also loved feeding the humungo gold fish there:


We then spent the rest of the day shopping and then relaxing at our house:)

Day Two:
My parents and I went a did a session at the Laie temple down the street. Lori and the kids had a great time at the beach while we were away:


Ethan was walking a little ways down the beach. He came to a little place called "Alligator Cove" when he stopped suddenly because he said he felt something BREATHING on his leg!!! He looked down and right in front of him was a sunbathing sea lion!!! Probably good that I wasn't there because I might have FREAKED OUT!!! It didn't do anything to him. I guess he just picked up his head and barked at Ethan.


The sea lion stayed there ALL day! I came out to look at him several times. I was beginning to worry about him until I saw a native man walking by and I asked him if he thought the sea lion was okay or if we should call someone. He said, "Oh! That guy is there ALL the time!!! That's his favorite spot! He's completely fine." I felt much better after that. The kids then decided to name the sea lion "Dagger."

Later that afternoon we headed over to Kualoa Ranch which was an old sugar mill. The most BREATH-TAKING views there! We enjoyed walking around the area with plenty of room for the kids to run wild. They even had a little petting zoo there and just when we thought we had seen it all, the man at the petting zoo tells us to "Look up above your heads." And what would be there??? Well a goat OF COURSE!!! Apparently these are extreme mountain climbing goats as this goat was seriously about 15 ft in the air!!! He was just as happy as could be:)





We of course hit the beach again one more time before bed. So basically our schedule for the first three days:
Wake up
BEACH TIME!
Breakfast
BEACH TIME!
Do some touristy things
BEACH TIME!
Eat dinner
BEACH TIME!
Fall asleep 100% happy and EXHAUSTED:)

March Field Air Museum

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving on Thursday--tons of delicious gourmet food and FABULOUS company. We had the best time being with family--lots of laughter. We actually had the opportunity to meet a cousin of Chris' that Chris didn't even know he had. His name is David and his lives in Engelwood, CA. David is 43 years old and has a horrific yet AMAZING life story. David had been raised in several foster homes growing up--eventually running away from that too--and had lost touch with his biological family for about 35 years. He has soo much to be bitter and angry about and yet, he is amazingly kind and forgiving (SERIOUSLY horrific childhood). David leads an "alternative lifestyle" but after everything he has had to overcome in this life, I just KNOW there is a special place for him in heaven. Meeting him has impacted my life for sure and I look forwards to many more family holidays with him and his partner (70 year man who "pretends" to be straight--we had a good laugh about that...you would probably have to have been there:) Being here truly made me SOO eternally grateful for my life, my husband, my kids, and most especially the gospel. All weekend long I just tried to imagine how different my life would be without the gospel. The majority of both sides of our families are not LDS and boy...life is sure a whole lot HARDER without the clear-cut counsel of latter-day prophets. I came away from this weekend with a new determination to hold stronger to my beliefs. (And I kicking myself for NOT getting a picture of David! UGH!!!)

On Friday, the kids were a bit stir-crazy so we headed out for the "March Field Air Museum." This museum was really amazing and very "hands-on" for the the kids. We had a great time:





And just to sum up our weekend...Chris's uncle and aunt have a "Smart Car." Well OF COURSE we had to drive it!!! Every errand we gladly volunteered for just to drive this beauty:) If ONLY I could fit 4 kids in there.....

Legoland 2011

For Thanksgiving we headed out to California this year to celebrate the holiday with Chris' uncle and aunt--J.D. and Paulette. Donna drove out with us on Tuesday night because we had big plans of hitting Legoland the day before Thanksgiving. It was a PERFECT day--65-70 degrees all day--and we had a fabulous time in a not-too-crowded park. The last time we came here (about 3 years ago) the boys hadn't hit the "Lego" phase yet so they didn't appreciate all the structures as much. This time all the kids were "WOWED" but this place. The boys now want to work at Legoland when they grow up--in the construction area. How fun would it be to play with legos all day right?!

We spent the entire day there--from open to close. We did NOT bring a stroller this time and Tatum was a champ:) Ahhh...no more strollers for us:) Oh happy days:)






Carlie and I were "Matchers" on this day:)


RIDES! RIDES! RIDES!!! We actually got Ethan on a few roller coasters this time! We're slowly curing him of his "roller coaster allergy:)"

Veggie Tales!!!

The Meekers are HUGE HUGE HUGE fans of "Veggie Tales" and have been since Carlie was a baby. All of our kids have grown up watching the videos and LOVING the music--Phil Vischer and Mike Naworki (the creators) are GENIUS! Even today, in all my carpooling, the kids ALWAYS ask for "Veggie Tales"--yes...even the 6th graders in my CTA carpool:)

So anyways, I just happened to see an ad for a new Christian book store opening up right near our home and that Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber were going to be there!!! We had a million things going on today BUT we made SURE that we would be there to meet Bob and Larry!!! So here we are meeting a couple of our personal heros:) (YES!!! Chris and I were equally as excited to get our picture taken with them:)

Halloween 2011

This is only the BIGGEST holiday for the Meeker family! It's probably because our #3 kid is absolutely CRAZY about costumes and anything to do with spookiness:) To Max, everyday is Halloween and he wants to be "Jack Skellington" when he grows up. We had all our decorations out by September 15--that's as long as the kids would let me hold off:)

We had our "Spooky Town" up--that we add a new piece to every year (this year it was the train--the R.I.P Railroad:)


Pumpkins are a MUST! The kids always get first pick at their Papa Frank's pumpkin patch in NM--pumpkins are his main crop:) Not many people know that Chris is an AMAZING artist--he won several art contests in high school--and so he and the kids scour the internet searching for their PERFECT pumpkin design. Chris then pulls out a few power tools--electric saw and dremmel--and creates the most amazing works of art!!!

Pumpkin cleaning:



The Pumpkin Master (in a pink apron?!?!):


Carlie's Pumpkin:


Ethan's Pumpkin:


Max's Pumpkin:


Tatum's Pumpkin:



All 4 of dad's masterpieces:


Here's my kiddos all decked out:


Carlie: Dead Prom Queen


Ethan: Howler


Max: Wicked Jester


Tatum: a CUTE black kitty


I had a little bit of a sad realization this year....Carlie wanted to go Trick-or-Treating with her friends INSTEAD of us:( Oh well...bring on the teenage years:( All good. She went Trick-or-Treating with one of her best friends, Maddie J.B. Just look at these BEAUTIFUL girls!!!

The other 3 stuck with good ol' mom and dad:)

Tatum rode her bike from house to house:


Here's the boys with all their loot:


Suddenly Max shouts out: "HEY!!! I got a text from GOD!" And yes...sure enough, some weirdo decided to hand out these Christian/inspirational booklets instead of candy!!! I'm gonna watch out for that next year:) And what did Max's text say?
"cmndmnt 10: dnt ogle ur bff"s m8 or stuff. myob." TRANSLATION: Commandment 10:Don't oggle your best friend's mate or stuff. Mind your own business." I'm guessing this suppose to be "Don't covet your neighbor's spouse." SERIOUSLY?!?! WHO has time to create this stuff?!?! So here are my confused boys:



HAPPIEST Halloween to date:)