McKibben Family Blog: March 2010

Monday, March 29, 2010

Spring Break

This past week was spring break. They actually were out of school the Thursday before for a half day, then had Friday off, plus this whole week. So, it's been fun having them home. I tried to do something fun with them throughout the week. At least one thing a day. Usually we just hang out at home (for past spring breaks), which we all like to do, but I thought we should get out this time.

Saturday, it was supposed to be nice here--sunny and about 68, so we checked the weather at the beach (Seaside) and it said it was supposed to be sunny and about 65. So we thought we'd go for it. By the time we drove the 1 1/2 there, we got out to eat some lunch and it as windy and chilly--our car temperature thing said 58 outside. So after lunch, we went and parked, still determined to get to the beach even though it was windy and chilly. Paige does not like the wind AT ALL. She was crying as soon as we got out of the car saying she didn't want to go to the beach, that she wanted to stay in the car. We all had jackets, so Garrett insisted that we walk down to the beach anyways, just to check it out. When we finally got down there, it was SO windy that there was sand blowing everywhere, Paige was SCREAMING her head off, Bella wasn't crying, but holding her hood on for dear life and trying to catch her breath. Lydia and Maggie loved it and Garrett and I were laughing hysterically at the situation. We only lasted 5, maybe 10 minutes. It really was so windy that you couldn't enjoy yourself at all. So, we headed back home. Went for a 3 hour drive for 10 minutes on the beach. Oh well, we tried! Here is the only video/picture that we got:

Monday, we just stayed home and hung out because I was still getting things put away from our vacation.

Tuesday I took them to the pool to swim. Unfortuneately, I didn't know all their rules since this is the first time I've taken them for open swim time. Technically, if they are 8 and under they can't swim without an adult in the pool with them, unless they've passed level 3 in swim lessons. Since I wasn't planning on swimming, I didn't bring my suit. So Paige wasn't allowed to swim, even though I was there watching her the whole time. Plus she could've stayed in the shallow part of the pool where she could touch the bottom. But no, they weren't about to bend the rules for me. Luckily Lydia has passed level 3 so Maggie and her could swim. I felt bad for Paige. Oh well...I let her sit on the side and stick her legs in and she "accidentally" fell in the pool a couple of times. :) After the pool we went to the library and the girls were able to pick out some books. It's been a really long time since we've been to the library, so they had fun.

Wednesday was supposed to be a fun day of going to the zoo. It was the warmest day of the week, so we thought it would be perfect. I was originally planning on going for most of the day, but then Garrett said that he could meet us there later in the day and we thought it would be best to go in one car, since we knew that parking would be awful. So, I let Bella nap, then went right to pick up Garrett at 3:30. By the time he got out of work and we drove to the zoo it was 4:15. Walked up to the ticket gate to find that the zoo had closed at 4 pm. We were so shocked that it was closed so early, considering that it stays light until like 7 'clock and that it was spring break. Neither of us had checked the times of the zoo, so I guess we paid the price for that one. We were all quite disappointed! But, we took them to the park that was by the Rose Garden and let them play there, which they enjoyed. Then we took them out to their favorite restaurant, Sweet Tomatoes. They were fine after that, but I still felt bad about them missing the zoo.

This is the funniest picture ever!

Thursday we went to Out of this World Pizza that has tubes and slides and jumphouses. We played there for 3 hours and by that time, it was getting crazy with so many kids there. We had a fun time though and Bella went down the little slide for little kids AT LEAST 100 times. She loved it!

playing in the little house in the little kids area

Loving the slide

Riding the scooter with Maggie's help

Lydia on the scooter

Paige on the bouncy slide

Lydia being a little cautious on the slide

Friday we spent most of the day getting ready to go camping. We found a spot at a KOA in Lincoln City, by the beach. It was a nice place--I've never been to a KOA. They had a really fun playground for the kids and places to ride bikes--a must for Maggie since she got a new bike for an early birthday present. Friday and Sunday it rained, but Saturday was absolutely georgeous! We played at the playground in the morning, took a picnic lunch to the beach and played in the sand for a couple of hours. (Much better than the previous Saturday). Then we came back to the campsite and hung out, sitting by the fire and reading/playing. Roasted hotdogs for dinner and had yummy s'mores. It was a really fun day!

At the playground:

I wanted a picture of Garrett on the swing, and he decided to act all goofy.

Maggie and her climbing tree

Picnic in Lincoln City

Playing in the sand

playing frisbee

enjoying a campfire

Now, here it is Monday and we're trying to get back into the schedule. It was nice and quiet all morning with just Bella and I. (Really nice to have the girls back in school!) We got out some easter stuff and read a lot of Easter books. Can't believe Easter is a week away!!

Monday, March 22, 2010

Beautiful Kaua'i

Garrett's parents, Jim and Georgia, own timeshare condos in Mexico. They usually go every year in February/March to get away from the cold Ohio winters. This year, they wanted to try somewhere new, so they traded condos and decided to go to Hawaii. Garrett's brother Josh and his family had just gone to Kaua'i in December and LOVED it, so that's where Jim and Georgia decided to go. Lucky enough for us, they invited us to come along. It was SO NICE of them, because we didn't have to pay for the hotel/condos or the rental car, since they already had one. We used mileage to get there, so didn't have to pay for airline tickets. We only had to pay for food and entertainment, so it was perfect for us!! We also paid for my mom to fly out so she could take care of the kids, but found a pretty good deal on her ticket. My mom was great with the kids and didn't have any problems! Thanks mom!

We stayed at the Bali Hai Villas in Princeville (the north end of the island). It was really nice--a two bedroom, two bathroom, full kitchen condo. It was perfect. Of course, I didn't get any pictures of it, but I found these online.

It isn't exactly the same, but this gives you an idea of where we stayed. One interesting thing about Kaua'i is that there are chickens and roosters EVERYWHERE! I guess about 20 years ago, there was the hurricane Iniki and it destroyed all the chicken farms and the chickens escaped. From then on, they roam around and are protected, plus there are no wild predators to hunt them, so they just multiplied. They were everywhere we went--outside the condos crowing at all hours; in the parking lots of stores, on the sides of the road, even way up top of the mountains. Crazy chickens! Here are a few pictures that we took of the chickens:

The north end of the island, was unfortuneatly the end that got hit with all the storms and rain, so although it wasn't bad most of the time, there was a bit of rain everyday and one day that rained ALL DAY! Most of the days though, we would wait out the rain and then head out to enjoy the rest of the sunshine. And we could also drive to the southern end of the island to escape the storms. All in all, it was a nice vacation. Here are a few of the highlights of what we did each day.

Wednesday March 10th: Fly to SanFrancisco at 6am. Our connecting flight to Honolulu was delayed 4 hours while we waited for a new plane. Garrett and I were upgraded to business class--NICE! Get to Honolulu, Garrett's parents pick us up from airport, drive to hotel and eat dinner at PF Chang's.

Thursday 11th: Fly to Lihue, Kauai and drive to condo. Go to farmer's market for fresh fruit, eat at a fish market, drive around the north end of the island. Stop at view the Kilauea Lighthouse. It's the northernmost point of the main Hawaiian islands and it was built in 1913.

Jim and Georgia

Garrett and I

View of the lighthouse

Friday 12th: Hang out at Tunnels Beach. (North end of the island--best known for it's excellent snorkeling and scuba diving. Garrett and Georgia go snorkeling. Hang out at pool and hot tub.

Saturday 13th: Today, we drove down the the southern part of the island and then drove up to see the Waimea Canyon. This is just like the Grand Canyon in Arizona, just a little smaller. The views were beautiful, though. For some reason, the dirt on Kauai is a dark red, so the dirt contrasting with the green trees and all the waterfalls makes it really beautiful! The drive up the canyon is 40 miles and it is the largest canyon in the Pacific. Waimea is also known as the Grand Canyon of the Pacific.

Sunday 14th: We spent all morning at a condo presentation to try to be persuaded to buy into their condos. We only did it to get discounts on activities, but they are so terribly boring!! Then we spent most of the afternoon on the beach and in the hottub.

I love this picture of Jim because it shows off his goofiness, but I also love the bright blue sky behind him!

View of the beach and ocean.

Monday 15th: Today was the day that it rained all day, so we spent the day shopping at a place called the Coconut Plantation. We had the best pulled-pork sandwiches! YUM! We also checked out the Opaek'a Falls in Wailua.

Tuesday 16th: Today was a beautiful day, so we spent some time at Mana Oka'inna Beach (my favorite beach) and watched all the surfers. They are so fun to watch! Then we walked through some local shops looking at souvenirs. Then we checked out Wailua Falls in Lihue. Then we went to the airport to board our terribly small 7 person prop plane to go on a tour of the island. I get sick very easily, so I was hesitant to go, but I did it! It was pretty cool for the first 30 minutes, but then the clouds started rolling in and then I started getting sick. The views were awesome--especially of the Na Pali Coast. You can only get there by air, boat or trail. But it was truly beautiful! The plane was supposed to go all around the island, but due to rain, he had to turn around. Luckily, I didn't throw-up or anything, but it took awhile to shake off the motion sick feeling. I was pretty glad when we landed!! After our plane ride, we went to see a Lu'au at Kilohana Plantation. It was awesome--the food was delicious and the show after was fantastic!

A random surfer at Mana Oka'inna Beach