We spent Thanksgiving with the Friesen side this year. The first week was filled with family fun and cousin time. The second week we surprised the girls with four days at Disneyland with Grampa & Gramma. We thoroughly enjoyed our two week vacation and always look forward to our next time together.
Our first couple of days included a stop at my favorite Cabazon dinosaurs and seeing the beautiful fall colors up at Oak Glen.
At the end of June, Matt, Cherise and the boys flew up for a week long visit and we had so much fun! It had been a couple years since our last time all together which is just too long. All five kids slept in the same room which was great and challenging all at the same time (a lot of trekking up the stairs to get them to go to sleep) 🙂
We traveled all over the place. We visited Fairhaven, played at Mindport, went to the movies, sledded on Mt. Baker, played at the creek in Lynden, and crossed the Capilano Suspension Bridge in North Vancouver. I really did not want our time to end and neither did the kids. Until next time 🙂
Todd and Ada had fun taking a surfing lesson right across the street from our condo. They got the hang of it pretty quickly for only a two hour lesson. They also got a free rental for the next morning, which was also the day of our flight home…so sad to leave.
The first few pictures were taken by the surfing school, couldn’t pass up their awesome angles.
The girls also made friends with our neighbors’ dog Nugget. He was very sweet!
A few more pictures of the beautiful beaches, cute kids, and family.
Our last big excursion with Tom & Cindy was driving up to Haleakala National Park. Along the way we stopped at a goat farm where the girls enjoyed petting and feeding a few goats.
The crater was beautiful for about 3 minutes, then the clouds rolled in and we couldn’t see a thing. It was also extremely cold and windy, so we didn’t last too long outside with the girls.
A few random phone pictures from our trip. The girls had a lot of fun with Snapchat too!
Todd and I got a couple dates while in Maui. We enjoyed walking the resort paths, playing hotel lawn games, and a long stroll on the beach 🙂
We discovered a very nice boardwalk through a nature preserve about 10 minutes away from Kihei. Later that evening we watched the sunset with Tom & Cindy.
We spent a little more time in Lahaina before heading to the beach to play. The old jail was surprisingly free and a fun spot for the kids to explore.
This was our other favorite beach for snorkeling, swimming, and exploring the beautiful resorts.
Ada also enjoyed trying out my camera, although we learned my best lens was broken and would not focus properly.
Tom and Cindy were now in Maui so we all took a drive to Iao Valley. We spent the morning at Iao Needle State Monument and hiked around for a bit. Afterwards we stopped at Kepaniwai Heritage Gardens for lunch. After lunch we discovered a narrow bridge that led to some old ruins along a forest trail.
La Casa Blanca 