Mother's Day weekend Getaway

Getaway is the key word-that is exactly what I needed-just some R & R time-some time to soak up the sun-to reflect on what it is to be a mom & some time to spend with the special Mom God has blessed me with-some time to spend with other special mom's in my life-& some time relishing in the amazing children God has given Blaine & I. We really enjoyed our desert escape & are thankful for the Spencer's generosity & hospitality!

Some Like it Hot!

BPC is such a handy man to have around! He built (with is helpers) this awesome fireplace for us to enjoy! What a Guy!

Spring Fling

We had a awesome Easter!! Here's Proof!

Laundry Loser

If you must know something about me you must know that I HATE doing laundry! Indeed I would pay a large amount of money (in my dreams) for a laundry-keeper (similar to housekeeper but strictly for laundry.) This such keeper would be responsible for removal of stains-keeping the whites white, and the brights bright, for washing, drying, folding, hanging, organizing, and placing all laundered items in their appropriate place. I have a button on my dryer labeled "Wrinkle Release" and I'm not exaggerating when I say that I utilize this button repetitively on the same load. Let me explain-once a load had been dried and is ready to be folded-I instead utilize the "Wrinkle Release" button (in hopes that the laundry will remove & fold itself) to avoid the inevitable. My gas bill suffers, my spouse and children suffer, and I too suffer from this habit! I am a Laundry Loser!
Replay of my conversation with BPC this am.
Mr.-Honey do you know where all my underwear are?
Mrs.-Yes they are in the laundry basket!
Mr.-the clean clothes basket or the dirty clothes basket?
Mrs.-ummmm...
Mr.- I'm wearing chonies that I haven't worn in 5 years!
Mrs.-Be thankful your 5 year old chonies still fit!
Mr.-I guess I'm sporting Long Johns today!
Mrs. I have some undies you can borrow!
Well I must end this post as I just heard the dryer beep-"Wrinkle Release" here I come!

Note to Self

Note to Self:

Give Thanks to Lord-Shell & Chad got great news about their jobs today!

Give Thanks to Omi & Opi for spoiling me & my babies while BPC was out of town!

Give Thanks to BPC for being a great daddy and hubby!

Give Thanks for having the opportunity to Give Thanks!

BRING IT ON!

J-Bear sporting the latest mickey ears while chill axing at the park............

BPC out wheeling with the Sanctuary guys

The Cauthron crew is on the mend...Yes I declare we are finally restored to health and thus happiness. It appears we have all adjusted to the time difference since Jordyn isn't waking up from his afternoon nap requesting POG(island breakfast juice)(not sure why I did not bottle any and smuggle it on the plane ride home!) I did however bring home some pretty useful parenting skills from the Island.

"Mama Maui..." That's right the very second we got off the plane in Maui I let the kids in on a little (lie) secret-Mama Maui is a very grumpy babystitter who lives in a old run down banana shack surrounded by wild boar.

Mama Maui will kindly babysit the tourist children who misbehave while visiting the Island. This small (white lie) secret was a lifesaver on many occasions during our vacation, but it did not end there-just the other day J-bear was throwing himself a good old fashioned temper tantrum in the backseat of the car when I overheard T- dawg tell J-bear "you should stop crying or else you will have to go to Mama Yucaipa's house" suddenly the tears ceased and so did the tantrum. Genius I thought-and yes moms you may borrow this nifty idea!

Anyhow back to reality-we have had a busy past two weeks:

Danielle's (my cousin) 21st birthday party

Easter-Church to celebrate-then a easter egg hunt with family and friends

BPC was working in Utah from Mon-Wed. but he managed to squeeze in a little off-roading on Sunday afternoon with the guys from Sanctuary.

T dawg went on a hike with the scouts on Monday with Omi, Jordyn, and myself in tow.

J bear sweet talked his Omi into taking him to see her friends Mickey & Minnie yesterday.

Not sure what's in store for the weekend but BRING IT ON!

Maui continued...

Nothing like a cardboard box for fun

Merriman's Lobster & View

Black sand beach

Rainbow Eucalyptus

Well I know you have all been on the edge of your seats waiting for more juicy details of our vacation in paradise so here goes it.

Day four the whole family headed to the Maui ocean aquarium-we got to watch the shark feeding (which really got me excited to go swimming in the ocean) and feed the turtles lettuce (until we realized turtles can't digest lettuce) oops!

Day five we spent the entire day at the Ritz Carlton pool and then off to grub at the Hula Grill (yummy) for dinner-you may have noticed a theme (sun-food-pool-food-fun-food)

Day six we survived the drive to Hana-if you have never been to Hana you must go, it is amazing. Hana is the second wettest place in the world-the drive is pretty hairy (1 way roads & lots of curves) but it was well worth it-it took all day to drive to & fro, but we stopped at several sites and even did a hike through the rain forest -we stopped at the black sand beach (beware of the man of wars & jellyfish) and the seven sacred pools (something you don't see everyday) the drive ends at Charles Linden burg's final resting place. To get home you must turn around and do the entire drive again(just in case you missed a waterfall or two!)

Day seven we did some chilaxin at the pool & soaked in plenty of sun-we needed some R & R to prepare for the worlds best cuisine that evening. Mom, Dad, Blaine & I enjoyed dinner at the famous Merriman's restaurant (the kids hung out with Aunt Lele & Uncle Chadly) this restaurant is said to have one of the "best views" in the world-we had an amazing sunset-this meal was the most expensive meal I have ever indulged in $$ (scallops,lobster,filet mignon etc..) I can't forget to mention dessert-we had a "chocolate purse" this is a phyllo dough purse stuffed with chocolate souffle that melts in your mouth-it was topped with vanilla bean ice-cream-OMG!.

The following day mom & dad treated us to an adventure in the sky-we went zip-lining in kapalua!! I loved every minute of it-which is shocking since I'm scared to death of heights-but I try to remember life is short so it's time to enjoy it! We spent the evening at the "Warren & Annabelle" comedy/magic show in Lahaina- definitely a show you can't miss if you are ever visiting the Island!

The next day we went back to Lahaina (downtown Maui) to do some souvenir shopping! I think I've lost track of the days (we were in Maui for 12 days) anyhow our last evening Shell & I treated Mom & Dad (boys stayed at home with dads) to dinner at the Sea-House restaurant ( one of our faves)the view was awesome-food not so much, which was a disappointment since we used to love this place-oh well we made up for it by heading to Merriman's for dessert-they have a ocean front fire-pit where they also serve dessert ( OMG chocolate purse's)-we hung out just the original "Taylor" clan-(which does not happen very often) and enjoyed the warmth of the fire & the sound of the waves crashing against the cliffs. We dreamed of how we could become kamahainas( locals) in Maui, we decided we just need one winning lotto ticket & were there!

The last day we woke up early and had breakfast at our favorite whale watching restaurant "The Gazebo"-this place is cool-it is completely opened to the elements-birds fly in and out (and you know how I love birds-lol) and you can see whales splashing about in the ocean blue as you dine on the most delicous banana mac pancakes & fried rice. Then it was bittersweet as we caught our flight back to the mainland. Our trip was off the hook & I can't wait to go back-Aloha!

The first 3 days in Maui

We had so much fun in Maui I forgot to blog. So I will fill you in on our daily happenings while we were pretending to be kamahainas(locals). After getting settled in our Nana's great condo in Kapalua-we hit the pool and barbecued some delicious grub..we never went hungry the entire trip thanks to the parents and their Costco spree-and if you know my hubby and his healthy appetite you can imagine the bill was not cheap. Day two we headed up-country to visit our favorite banana bread lady..she makes and sells the most moist and delicious banana bread on the island-you have to get there early as they sell out daily-what a way to live huh? Check out the pic above-the bright green shack is at the top of her family owned property-this is where the magic happens-she stores the bread in warmers & when she runs low she calls her ohana(family) and they bring up another batch-they actually ride the bread up on quads cool huh? We continued on our drive around the island and stopped to enjoy world famous crab pizza at Hiliymilys(sp?), we also visited our favorite island monkeys & duckies, toured the lavender farms, and hit a winery for a tasting The detailed events may be out of chronological order as I (enjoyed the pineapple wine) left my watch in Cali!
Day three we headed for the beach at Napili Kai-the kids had a blast Bogey boarding & building sand castles. Jordyn had no fear of the ocean initially-until the wipe out! Taylor and Blaine went on a pineapple tour and got to pick their own Maui Gold Pineapples-they learned alot about the history of the island..and how to pick a great pineapple.

How to choose a delicious pineapple:

Clear the aisle in the grocery store-and roll that puppy down the isle-if it does not wobble-it's a winner-if it wobbles (quietly place it back in it's original location) no bueno!

Following the tour-Blaine and I took the boys to the 18-hole miniature golf course and had fun playing Opi's favorite sport..stay tuned for days 3-6 of our Maui escape!
Aloha Taralina

The World's Greatest Easter Bunny

We spent our Spring Break in Maui. We had an amazing time which I will tell about in detail in a later post. The purpose of this post is to say THANK-YOU DAD!! What an amazing Easter Egg! Let me explain-every since I can recall the Easter bunny(Dad) hides Easter eggs for Shell & I. When we were younger they were filled with chocolates and jellies and hidden in fairly obvious locations throughout the house-in our teenage years they were stuffed with moola and were not as obvious-when we became adults(along with our better halves) they were filled with trivia clues that are not at all obvious and are quite mind challenging-but always worth the prize. The Easter Bunny spends countless hours designing the egg hunts and loves every minute from preparation to hunting time. One year he even designed a "fear-factor" egg hunt & the participators were required to indulge in some mystery food (pigs feet & sardines) yummy! The only exception to Easter 2008 was the amazing prize! Each participant was given a egg filled with a description of an adventure of sorts-ie. Blaine's egg described a weekend getaway to Big Bear, Mom's egg suggested a dinner to Ruth-Chris Steakhouse, Shell's egg detailed a weekend in Palm Desert...but best of all my egg outlined a vacation in paradise-Maui baby!!!! However there was a twist to the hunt:

Twist: You must convince the other's that your egg is filled with the best prize without giving any information about your prize-then as a group we had to vote on which egg to choose. Now remember nobody knows what the other's egg prize is, so you aren't really sure what prize is the best..I had a pretty good idea that my prize was the topper-so I did my best to sell it to the family-I really wanted the group to choose my egg-in fact I wagered my paycheck as a guarantee to the other's that they would not be disappointed by my egg(all along praying somebody didn't have a egg filled with something better-) (then again what could be better than all expense paid trip in paradise with the one's you love)-wisely the other participants (Mom-Shell-Chad-Blaine) choose my egg and they lived happily ever after :)

I'm truly blessed to have such a awesome Dad-he has always worked so hard to not just provide for his family-but to have fun with us too!!! I'm sure times were not always easy but he would go to the ends of the earth for his girls (Mom-Shell& I.) I truly admire my Dad. He is such a humorous, brave, loving, kind, and humble character whom I am truly grateful for. Thank-you dad for your sacrifices-Thank-you for a awesome vacation!!!