I feel like we’ve just been going going going this whole year, maybe longer! what with a new someone joining our family and then all the birthdays and guest after guest after guest and TAYLOR GETTING MARRIED and all the events that go along with that, and my goodness I’m so tired. But Hawaii was officially our last planned thing and ahhhh it feels good to be able to slow down – both on vacation and back home. Just kidding. I don’t know how to slow down. We’ve been home four days and I figure now’s as good a time as ever to sleep train Noah, potty train Luke, and redo my whole patio :D but before I officially lost my mind, we had the most lovely vacation celebrating all the things!

Can I just say how nice it is to travel with family!?! that are willing to hold AND entertain your kids!!! I don’t think I’ve ever watched a whole movie on the plane whilst traveling with them but I watched at least 3 this trip. I know. WHAT. It was a sky high miracle. And is there anything cuter than seeing your baby happily playing on someone else’s lap? :)

^^Whad and her mango. Because they don’t have them there ;)

The first morning we were there, Abbie noticed all the spoons were smiling at her :):)


I brought their sunglasses all the way across the sea but of course everyone only wanted to wear these green ditties.

It was my momma’s birthday! So naturally we celebrated in Waikiki.




I think it is humanly impossible for them to take a bad picture..



This would be a better picture if we knew those standing figures ;) Our people are the little heads bobbing way out there.

^^When there is no shade or umbrellas -_-

Poor Lukie got rolled real bad. He became a big fan of the pool after that..

Let’s just zoom in on these precious faces! HIS SMILE HIS SMILE I JUST CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF IT!!!

The REAL reason we all made this trip a priority was to celebrate my parents FORTIETH anniversary!!! So thankful for the gift of their marriage to our family <3

hehe and that is the face of a boy who keeps skipping naps in lieu of swimming all. day. long. Sweet boy.


Noah <3 I just can't with him. I took so many pictures trying to wrangle the blur of wiggly humans and this was his face in all of them with just blurs of siblings, twirling round :):)



^^Luke took this! He’s so dang cute! I can’t even believe his tiny little hand can wrap around the camera but he tries to hard and actually gets most pictures centered! My little photographers :):)

^^When you try to take a whole family photo, expect zero results.


And then there was the most dreamy fancy dinner where…

every

single

kid

fell asleep! Before we even ordered! So you betcha we ordered the tasting menu and enjoyed ourselves! The waitress even brought out extra chairs and pillows and made them little beds! And then my whole family forgot me and left me at the restaurant. I tell ya, you have kids and allofasudden you’re chopped liva ;)

My kids became little fishies on this trip! The pool was just shallow enough for Abbie to reach and she loved being without her floaties practicing her swimming. She improved so much in just a couple of days!





The goggles faces :):)


hehe he was so cute how he’d hold his nose until right when he hit the water… never did figure that one out :)


He just loved those little pods. I think he thought he was swimming too ;)

Someone gave the ocean another chance, praise the Lord!

And then the attempted naps…

You turn your back and they immediately start conspiring…

I have dreams that one day they’ll all be able to sleep in the same bed :) until then..


And then there was Father’s Day! Spent in this fashion. Always.

Abbie was so excited to see real coconuts in the trees. She’s very into where things come from so this was a big deal :)

Got to spend a day at Pearl Harbor!

My little ballistic missiles <3
I always forget how heavy those sorts of places are. You just sorta think of it as a landmark or famous place to visit but then it hits you how many people died there and what a horrible event it really was.

Abbie asked why there were flowers there and I explained to her it’s to remember those who lost their lives and to honor them. She immediately took the flower out of her hair and asked if she could leave it there for them. Heart. Melted.

We then thought it was a good idea to attempt a hike. Have you ever tried two events in one day with lil kids? It’s all sorts of fun.

These are there pre-hike faces :)

And this is at the trail head. Promises of a blissful future brewing.

Luckily we didn’t have to walk very far to see pretty.

And here are a few hundred pictures of SO MUCH GREEN!!! I couldn’t handle it! My dappled light loving heart was bursting amongst the ever present moan of CAAAAARRRYYYY MEEEEE!

Abbie keeps talking about how remember when we went on that reallllllyy long hike (I think we might have only gone for mayyybe 20 minutes) but it was certainly memorably long ;)

This was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip even if it was short. I just loved all the twists and turns and gosh it was gorgeous. Obviously these aren’t doing it justice so just believe me :]

Someone was happy to get out of his baby carrier :):)

His sweaty little head <3 it was so hot!

Aaaand post nap faces :)

We even got some rain on the way home!

And then we were off to celebrate something else probably! Maybe Tay and Josh being married for a WHOLE MONTH! There is always a reason to celebrate ;)

Hehe Abbie just barely made the cut ;)

Oh his little sleepy hands <3

You gotta watch mom – she feeds the baby all sorts of things ;)

And then sometimes you’re nursing and all of a sudden it starts pouring… so people try to cover you with small towels ;)

Some people handled the sudden downpour better than others ;)

But back to these two <3

The scariest thing about raising boys. The bringing of the bugs…

His little back :)

They finally got to eat something out of a coconut!

Oh Hawaii, you were lovely! And happy birthday momma! Happy anniversary mom and dad! Happy Father’s day, you two! Happy one monthiversary Abbe’s! And happy something to me ;)