Kyler's Belated Birthday Celebration

Instead of a birthday party this year, Kyler and his friend Alec decided to go to Da Rush - a wave similater. You can either ride a boogey board or a small surf board. They tried both. I think this was the second or third time they've been there. I think they enjoyed it. They fell an awful lot and I know Kyler was definitely sore the next day. Kyler taking a tumble and being sucked back up and over the top.
Kyler using the surf board. Each time he started getting pulled back he would lose his balance and take a tumble.

Hey look mom I'm up!

Using the boogey board. This is a lot easier to use. He starts out on his stomach, goes to his knees and then stands up on it.

This is his friend Alec. Alec is a surfer so I think this was a little bit easier for him.

The two boys waiting for their turn - must be talking strategy.

Alec using the board.

Here is a video of both riding the surf board. Kyler goes down fast and Alec rides it a little longer. Kyler did stay up longer than this - but I guess we don't have video of it.

Easter April 4, 2010

Since General Conference was on Easter Sunday this year (which meant we didn't have to "go" to church), we, along with two other families (Alberdi's and Spiegler's) spent Easter morning together at the beach park near Keawakapu. We had a potluck brunch and an Easter egg hunt for the kids. We also tossed around some balls and some Frisbees and just enjoyed each other's company. We ended with Michelle reading the Easter story to us from the New Testament. It was a really fun morning. We came home and watched conference on TV (which we had set to record). Here are some pictures of our get together.

Everyone tossing Frisbees and footballs

Eric must be saying something important - everyone is looking at him, except Alec who decided to climb a tree.

Effie - helping her son Trey look for Easter eggs.

Dallin just found one hidden in the golf ball basket.

Lovely shot of me bending over to hide an Easter egg under the blanket.

We had some yummy food. I brought an apple coffee cake and a french toast casserole. Effie brought some homemade syrup that was delicious. Everything was good, including Michelle's breakfast casserole served with salsa and sour cream. Yummo. You know me, I'm all about the food.

More West Maui Mountains Trip

One of the hikes you can do - don't know how you would go up other than straight up. We just walked around the base and out toward the ocean.

There were more strange rock formations there too.

The last town is famous for their banana bread. We were told to stop at "Lorraine's" for the best bread. We got shave ice too. That's the other Lorraine in the picture.

This is the church in that town - it is very famous since so many people have taken pictures of it.

Richard's commentary is pretty funny. There is a giant boulder on the side of the road called the Bellstone. It is supposed to sound just like a bell if you hit it in the right spot. I tried, as you will see but with no success. It did sound hollow once, but I never heard the ringing of the bell - I guess no angels received their wings with this beating of the rock (like on It's A Wonderful Life).

West Maui Mountains Trip

Kyler and I both had Spring Break and Richard was done with his Census job so it was the first time in a long time that all three of us had a week free. We decided to pretend we just landed in Maui on vacation and we were going to do all the tourist type activities. Well life got in the way - especially since the maids never came to clean our rooms nor did the landscapers come to mow the lawn but we still did do some fun things. One of those was our trip around the West Maui Mountains. It is kind of a winding, in some places a one-lane road but it is very scenic and there are lots of things to stop and see. My sister and I had taken a tour around the mountains before but Richard and Kyler had not done it yet. I thought we had to leave way early but we left so early that by the time we got to the few shops that are there they were not even open for business yet. Oh well, I guess I'll have to do it again sometime. Following are pictures of our day trip.We hiked down to some waterfalls. There was a huge banyan tree between the two falls. You held on the roots of the tree to climb down to the second set of falls.Kyler and I on the trail

First set of falls

On our drive around we saw some really nice houses. This guy had built a full working volcano in his backyard!

After the falls we stopped at one of the look out points. It was kind of cool the way the dirt had eroded. The rocks were really just crumbly dirt. It was pretty high up - it was a really nice view