Years ago, inspired by my all-time favorite movie, Amelie, Brian and I bought a stuffed dog and took pictures of it "going on vacation" with us. (In the movie, Amelie wants to inspire her father to get out of the house so she sends his garden gnome with a flight-attendant friend all over the world. "The gnome" sends the father picture postcards in the mail.) Anyway, it was a blast finding different places to photograph our dog...and Denay got a kick out of the pictures (I emailed them to her one at a time when we got home....she also loves Amelie). So, on the last day of our Hawaiian vacation, Brian and I planned to drive from our hotel back to the North Shore for the second time that week. We had to stop by Target for some sunscreen (yes...Target! It was like finding paradise IN paradise...at least for me!) I got the idea to buy something we could photograph with our phones and email to the boys so they could "share" the day with us. We found a mini "snowboarding Domo" (that's what they call him at Target anyway...my boys called him the Chocolate Monster last year when he was featured in the store during Halloween season). We sent emails from our phones all day and took goofy pictures of Domo. I'll include some "normal" photos too, but here is:

Domo Does Hawaii (I'll post the titles and content of our messages, but keep in mind that I was writing it to make little boys laugh so it sounds a lot like Elmo's World)


Domo's Hawaiian Adventure:
This is snowboarding Domo (chocolate monster). We just met him at Target and he asked if we knew any little boys who might love him. We said that we DO, indeed, know three sweet little boys who would love a domo monster! We told him that we could take him home tomorrow, but that the boys aren't with us today in Hawaii. We said we could take him on an adventure to the North Shore and then on a plane back to the little boys. Today he is not snowboard domo, today he is surfer domo. This is domo monster in our Jeep...ready for an adventure!! Keep your eye out for more pictures today!!


Domo Enjoys the breezy jeep ride
Domo sees mountains ...but he doesn't think there is any chance of snowboarding today. Back to being surfer domo! "take me to the beach!"
Domo is Lost: Daddy drove us into some crazy residential alley...domo doesn't mind because there are pretty flowers RIGHT out the window. There are also speed bumps every 30 feet...bump...domo falls over on the dashboard of the jeep...Domo doesn't like that part so much.

Domo found a beach: Here, domo sits on a lava rock beside the ocean. We won't stay long...but he stopped to check out the waves. We saw two turtles swimming around. Daddy is going to investigate

Domo does lunch: We heard this place is great. Domo poses with a cool car outside the restaurant. He's headed in to try a mahi mahi sandwich with a Long Board beer....hey, are you old enough for beer Domo?

Domo found cool stuff! Domo wonders who might like these three kids' snorkel sets with masks, snorkels and flippers. Anyone know who might want something like that?

Domo takes a break After a long drive back from North Shore, domo relaxes on the hotel balcony and watches the waves roll in

Domo goes to the pool: Domo hangs out at the hotel pool.
Domo Waits for a Snack: I hear there are some garlic, cheese and bacon fries coming...yum!
Domo does the beach: Here's domo, checking out the hotel lagoon beach

Domo finds a sandcastle: The sun has set in Hawaii, the moon is out, but there is still time for one last dip in the ocean. Domo found a castle left on the beach. Goodnight from Hawaii! Domo can't wait to meet you tomorrow!!

Domo on the plane: Domo is on the plane ready to head home to meet his new boys!

Ok....so here are some "adult" pictures!

When we landed in Hawaii, I got a pretty cool surprise. Brian had rented us a Jeep (and it's white...just like Denay's back in college!!)

It was a courteous car...it introduced itself to us (this was on the back tire)

View from our room.

At the hotel hot tub: We actually didn't order the pineapples...all the frozen drinks come in them (bonus though because you can snack on your cup when the drink it gone)

amazing...just amazing

THIS is Boot's and Kimo's! If I were to move to Hawaii, I would have to live within walking distance of this place. The hotel valet gave us the tip to go there and OH MY GOSH...those pancakes in front of me are banana with a macadamia nut sauce on top. This food was probably the best meal I've ever had (I'm a big breakfast fanatic). Brian said he was in love....threatened to leave me for the pancakes. Sadly, this place was over an hour away from our hotel and about an hour away from our favorite destination so we only went once.

We arrived mid-afternoon on Monday. Tuesday, as we were just waking up, Brian said "let's see if we can get out of here in 10 minutes: grab your stuff...we're going for an all-day drive". We took bathing suits, our masks and snorkels (no fins...too big to pack), towels and sunscreen. That is just heaven to me: follow the road, eat good food (see picture above), see beautiful sites, take only the basics (we didn't even have a beach bag so our stuff went into a plastic bag I had in our hotel room).

Classic self-portrait :) This was taken by a little cove on a rock beach where we saw a bunch of people diving and snorkeling. We changed in the car, grabbed our masks and went looking for fish. We saw a TON of beautiful ones right there by the shore. After our swim, we crossed the street and ordered a banana & peanut butter smoothie from one of those road-side RVs where you order from the window and the kitchen is in the truck.

Once we got to the North Shore (Haleiwa), we shopped around for a while, took pictures of all the cool stuff in the town and then went for lunch. We ordered avocado on our burgers and we were just dying laughing when they came out. It was like an avocado in a bun with a side of hamburger. We couldn't even get our mouths around them!

Ok...let's talk some more about what we ate on vacation! Here is Brian at Roy's. HEAVEN! We've been to one in Chicago, but we were just loving this place! We went there twice and ate the most amazing fish (am I really surprised at the vaca weight gain!?)

Brian going diving: My ear was hurting all week and I was afraid I wouldn't be able to clear them so I (sniff sniff) did not go Scuba diving with Brian. BUT...the super cool thing was that this company's big dive boat was broken so they had to take out a tiny speed boat. They could fit 3 divers and there were only 2 that day (Brian and another man...plus the dive instructor) so they said I could ride along for free. I took my bathing suit, mask and snorkel with me just in case. At both dive spots, I got to jump in and swim at my leisure. I counted 10 big sea turtles at the first spot and swam above the divers along the second. Brian saw some amazing stuff: a white-tipped reef shark, leaf scorpion fish, an octopus, more turtles and a Hawaiian ray

The sun setting from our balcony: We watched it every night and it was SO funny because there was this one big tree, right below our room, where TONS of birds gathered every night...and they just chat up a storm. They are so noisy! We asked someone at the hotel about it and she said that's the only tree where the birds flock at night.

A life guard hut near Haleiwa on the North shore

At Motsumoto's Shave Ice. This general store has been on the main road in Haleiwa since 1951. They sell shave ice there and people line up around the outside of the building to get one.

In the toy aisle at Target!

Back in Los Angeles at Nana's house, Logan (what's with the face?!) and Aiden show off their shark tooth necklaces and snorkel gear

I had to show Aiden the proper snorkel technique. They thought it was SO funny for mommy to wear a mask (I do look just tres chic, no?)

A video of Aiden!

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks already! Our family set out for California on August 20th to help celebrate GG's ("great-grandma's") 80th birthday in Paso Robles with "my side" of the family. We had originally planned to leave on the 21st, fly into Los Angeles and then drive to our rental house, but when we discovered that the drive from LA to Paso would take over 3 hours, we decided that a four-hour flight followed by a drive that long didn't sound fun for anyone. We changed our airline tickets last minute and booked a hotel near the LA airport for Thursday night.
Our plane ride to Cali was better than expected. Sitting for 4 and 1/2 hours is hard for an adult, even harder for a 3 and 4-year-old who can actually occupy themselves for brief periods of time....and nearly impossible for poor Bray.

Here we are on the plane. Brian was a total trooper and ended up with all three boys on his side about 75% of the time. Here, Brady and Aiden are watching some Baby Einstein. Brian's headphones didn't quite fit Bray so he rolled up a little thing to keep them in place.
The hotel in Los Angeles. We had 2 rooms because we weren't sure how Brady would do sleeping in a room with everyone else. It was a funny game of musical beds all night long as the boys woke up & wanted to sleep in other places. First it was Logan and Aiden together, Brady in the other room. Then it was me and Brady, Brian in the other room. Then it was Brady, me and Aiden together, Logan in the other bed and Brian in the other room. Finally, it was me, Aiden & Brady together, Logan & Brian in the other room.
taking a ride on the luggage cart

Nana and GG picked us up from the hotel in a giant, rented, Suburban while Papa and GGpa took Nana's car to Paso. Denay and Tom drove up from San Fran and met us there. I don't know why, but I'm compelled to take pictures like this (of road signs and other pretty boring stuff....but after over 3 hours in the car, it was a celebration and I had to dig out the camera...it says "Paso Robles")

Look at this car! 3 car seats and it still comfortable fits 2 more adults in the back. The only problem is that it's quite high up off the ground.

This is the road (Circle B drive) leading up to the house we rented.

And here's the front porch! This is "The House of Lauren".

We took over the master bedroom which had a beautiful bathroom and this giant tub...perfect for washing 4 little boys! Denay did the shampooing the first night and said it was like washing a bunch of puppies.

Nana reads to Ryan and Logan

Papa brought his guitar along. He, Brian and Tom took turns entertaining us all. Looks like Brady would like daddy to stop and play ball with him.

Here is the view of the back yard from the patio door. The lawn leads to a really pretty gazebo and a duck pond.

Another photography compulsion...pictures of food! We spent a LOT of time cooking and eating at the house. Denay did some shopping before hand and then we went and got a bunch of supplies the Friday we arrived. After all that, we still had to go out 5 or 6 more times. I joked that we should only rent houses within a mile of the nearest (and largest) grocery store. This is french toast and breakfast caserole.

Ryan and Brady spent some quality cousin time together.

Feeding the ducks down by the pond. I was helping for a while and trying hard to get one piece of bread strategically placed for each duck, one at a time, while announcing (to the ducks) who should be eating it. Logan started doing the same thing saying "here white duck...this one is for you! Here black duck...your turn!"

Brady takes a break and sits for a spell after the bread was gone.

On Saturday, the town was having an olive fest with free olive oil tastings (um...yes please!!). They even had olive oil ice cream which is, amazingly, pretty good! More Brady/Ryan love at the festival. Me and my little men!!

I told my mom that I seriously never get in shots with my boys and desperately need to update my facebook picture because it's from last summer when Bray was like 8 months old! We tried a few times to get a real good one. There were a couple decent ones. Logan looks like he's being tortured though :) I'm holding Brady's foot because he wanted OFF my lap (we were sitting next to a water fountain which they all SO badly wanted to play in, but it was gated off - oh cruel world!)

We packed a picnic lunch and ate on the lawn at the festival.

What a cute little family: Tom, Ry and Denna

Sweetie pie! My boys gave Ry that shirt for his birthday along with a few kid's music CDs (the shirt has little boom boxes all over it)

Along with GG's 80th birthday milestone, we also celebrated Ryan's FIRST birthday! Brady was happy to show him how to make a mess with cake (not like Ryan needed any help that is...he did a fine job covering himself in chocolate) Another photo rarity (like me with my kids): a good sister pic!

And who has time to get a picture with your husband when you're busy chasing the kids, trying to document their every move?! That substance, in my wine glass, by the way, is not wine. It's gazpacho. We couldn't find enough bowls so Nana had the brilliant idea to use some of the wine glasses in the house (of which there were plenty....we WERE in a town with like 100 wineries)

Denay and Tom did some centerpieces for GG's celebration dinner. Brian took this cool picture of the flowers.

The beautiful matron of our family! Happy 80th birthday GG!

Sunday we flew kites outside on the lawn and then took the boys to a near-by water park. Brian and I had a flight to Hawaii, leaving from LA, the next morning at 10:45. We really didn't want to get up to make the 3 hour drive back and risk missing our flight so we left late Sunday and spent the night in yet another Marriott. Logan was pretty upset that we were leaving. He was hiding in the bedroom refusing to come out. He turned a corner though and was.....

....our most enthusiastic waver!! It's my family's habit to stand outside and wave to anyone departing until you can't see their car anymore. We left our babies in the extremely capable hands of Nana and Papa (and, for a few days, GG and GGpa) and drove off into the sunset (haha...come to think of it, the sun actually WAS setting. funny).