Hawaii!

We are here!  In Hawaii!!  On Maui to be exact.  :-)  And what a HUGE, beautiful blessing it is to be here.  Dave and Lynne started planning this trip in July before any of us knew how very desperately Amy would need it.  Hand. Of. God. People.  I can see it.

We landed yesterday afternoon, but you have to hear about the week leading up to the trip.  On Tuesday night at Bible Study, I started to feel a little under the weather, slight nasal congestion and weariness.  By Wednesday morning, I knew I was sick.  Knowing we were flying Saturday morning for Maui, I prayed hard and started a crazy strict regimen of EmergenC, Cold-Eeze, and Umcka, all different homeopathic cold products that at least claim to shorten the duration and severity of the common cold.  And then I did something I RARELY do when sick.  I rested.  For two days straight.  The boys subsisted on Kashi cereal, protein bars and string cheese while I convalesced in bed, sucking zinc drops and drinking what felt like oceans of water.  They brought the school books to me in bed and we did school there.  I did no housework (and must apologize to my mother who is housesitting in a glorious sty this week).  But guess what?

IT ALL WORKED!!  I'm sitting on our lanai breathing through my nose!!  Don't get me wrong.  I took a real Sudafed this morning, but I feel immeasurably better.  Thank You, Lord!

Okay, enough of my goofiness, let's get some pictures up here and allow you to enjoy some fun and beauty.

First, you should know, our boys have been counting down to this trip for weeks now.  They started singing a Hawaii song of their invention about a month ago.  When we first shared with them about it, they were fairly confident it was going to be the best thing ever.  They were not wrong.  Since the airport all four of us have not stopped wishing each other, "Happy Hawaii!"

But right before we left I had to do this:

 Yep.  I'm a homeschooler.  Paul got the globe and a finger on both Maui and Portland for me and smiled a super cheesy grin.  Perfect.

I will say the day of travel was tough on my eldest.  Luke contracted the cold the day before we flew.  I hate that he could only take that weak sauce kids' cold medicine.  That junk does NOT work.  So, he was fairly miserable on the flight, but his life here is much improved.  How could it not be?

 Last night, despite a full day of travel and a time difference that meant it was already two hours past their regular bedtime, we walked the boys down to our beach.  They LOVED it.

 We are staying in the center set of windows in this picture.  Actually we are in the unit on the ground floor below the center set of windows.  It is perfect.  The beach is right in front of it.  You have to walk around the cliff on soft, toe-pleasing grass.  Nobody minds.

 I love these dudes.  And I am unable to express how grateful I am to Dave and Lynne for providing our family with these super sweet memories.

 We kissed right after this picture.  On the beach.  In Maui.

Okay, some details, mostly for my mom.  She loves the details.  :-)

Our kitchen:

 Our dining room:

Our living room:

The view from our lanai this morning:

Me posing in front of the view this morning:

Wanna hear how smart I am?  I knew the time difference was going to be a killer on our first few mornings.  The children who arise in the 6am hour on the west coast find themselves looking at clocks with threes at the front on Maui.  This could have been very, very bad.

With this in mind, Erik and I acquired some hand held video gaming devices for the children, along with about twelve super cheap, cheesy games.  The story behind the vetting of these games is worthy of its own post, but I'll just say that Erik bought them used during the weeks leading up to this trip.  We would then lock ourselves in our bedroom and play each one...to determine its suitability, people!  ;-)

So, how did all this shake down this morning?  Sure enough, I emerged from our bedroom at 4am local time to discover Luke sitting in the living room.  He was chewing a piece of gum which he "accidentally" put in his mouth and now had to finish chewing and spit out before going back to bed.  Okay...this kid knows the rules.  His clock does NOT say morning seven. It says middle of the night four.  Simultaneously, he's done sleeping after nearly eleven hours.  So, when I started pouring cereal for him, he was pretty amazed.   Paul must have smelled the Cheerios because he also appeared.  So the boys ate breakfast before 4:30 am, and then were handed electronic entertainment and sent blissfully to their room.

I meanwhile sat on the lanai watching the stars fade out and the sun rise.  The bird song alone was amazing, never mind the amazing view of Molokini on the horizon. Brilliant.

Paul with his electronic thing:

Luke and Erik enjoying electronics together this afternoon:

Later when the rest of the world was functioning, Erik and I ran into Kihei for Starbucks and groceries.  The boys spent time with Grandma and Grandpa at the beach, on the lanai, and on a walk.  More pictures!

Boys and binoculars:

One of the major reasons the boys love Maui - GECKO!

Some Maui beauty courtesy Lynne:

And now we are hanging at Dave and Lynne's place, four doors down, casually watching the Blazers, but mostly just enjoying each other.  Beautiful.