All About Anya

This post, ironically, is all about Anya.

She recently finished up her season of indoor soccer. She loved, and had so much fun with her teammates! I always feel like the youth sports season isn't long enough for the kids. The finally learn and start working together as a team and the season is over. Her team did really well. They are all great players bringing their own strengths to the team. Their coach did a great job in using the individual talents to enhance the team. Awesome job Red Tarantulas!

In the middle of the end of Soccer, Anya had her 11th birthday! She chose a science theme this year and wanted a volcano cake. Her birthday fell during spring break, and then right after the soccer tournaments started. We were at a soccer game or school function every night the week after spring break. So, to save mom's sanity, we decided to wait a week until her party with her friends took place.

She had a Mad Science party.

I can't take credit for all the ideas and experiments, a lot of them I got from friends and family, but it made for an awesomely fun party!

Here they are blowing up balloons with the reaction from Baking soda and vinegar.

Making flubber or "goo" from glue and Borax

( I loved the reaction from all the kids with this one. You can imagine what a bunch of girls will do when they come in contact with something slimy and stretchy! It was hilarious!!)

We made soda "fountains" with mentos and soda.

I let each of the kids have their own, small bottle of soda and pack of Mentos to use. Each kid got to decide how many mentos to use. At the end we exploded a 2 liter bottle of soda with 7 mentos. It was so much fun, but hard to capture on film!!!

The mad scientist convention of 2011 has come to close.

I think we all left with some sanity left...I hope!

Couldn't resist.

Hunter kept trying to lay and sit on the balloons, and then would roll off.

It has been a FUN, BUSY, CRAZY month!

Farewell to Beautiful Hawaiian Shores

As with most vacations, this one too had to come to an end. It was very hard to leave the beautiful weather and scenery of Hawaii. I think we saw a lot, did a lot, and made the most of our time there. With the time difference it was easy to get up early and get a jump to the day, and we usually got back in time for bed.

We did push the daylight hours to the max, trying to fit everything in. This is typically what the boys looked like each evening as we headed back to our hotel room.

We also tried to spend some time relaxing and enjoying the sea breezes on the balcony.

This is the view of Waikiki and our resort grounds from our balcony.

Anya took this photo, I think she did a very good job!

On the plane, Heading back home

The girls plugged in to the airplanes movies, eating one last treat from Hawaii. Matt had bought them each a box of dolphin shaped macadamia nut chocolates.

Awe, beautiful Hawaii. We will miss your shores, your sunsets and your welcoming countenance. Thank you for the wonderful time you gave us!

We hope to come back someday soon.

Old Hawaiian Stomping Grounds

We got a tip from some dear friends that the Submarine tour was really cool and worth doing. The boys were to young to go, and I was feeling motion sick from an earlier boat ride, so we waited it out on the dock.

Here we are waiting for the fearless sea voyagers.



Deep, Deep under the sea.



Don't colors do weird things without the sunlight.

Matt lived on Oahu almost 20 years ago for a few years. He took us around and showed us his old hang outs and where he used to live. This is his old barracks building. It was built in 1916, and is still standing. It survived the attack of Pearl Harbor, you can still see bullet holes along the edge of the roof line from that attack that have been preserved.

We also went to Matt's old ward. The Mililani 2nd Ward. He even saw some familiar faces, and we were extended an invitation to come visit and stay in Maui anytime from an old friend he served with in the scouting program.

After Church we thought visiting Pear Harbor and the USS Arizona monument would be a Sunday appropriate thing to do. It was a very humbling experience, seeing the ship and all the names on the wall. Brave men's lives and brave sacrifices were made that day decades ago.

View from up above the USS Arizona Monument

We also took a Whale watching cruise, we got a lovely view of Waikiki, Honolulu, and Diamond Head.

WE SAW A WHALE!

We saw the hump of one whale, and then later on we saw a humpback whale hovering under the surface of the ocean. Then it arched up out of the water, we got a good view of its hump and then it's tale or fluke.

SO COOL!

Snorkeling, Tide pools and good friends

One of the favorite things we did was snorkeling in Hanuama Bay. The girls had never been snorkeling before. Anya and Hannah took to it very well. Even Grandma went out for a little bit. Cora doesn't like to put her face in the water, so we rented a "looky" board. Basically it is a body board with a viewing portal in the top part. So she could just law on the board while matt swam around and look through the "window".

Hanuama Bay

Grandpa Jeppson taking boy duty. The boys loved it. They would throw something in the water and Grandpa would go get it for them. They thought this was a great game they invented.

Getting ready to snorkel

Cora on her "looky" board

We found some great tidal pools at Pakua (?) beach near Sunset beach

Hannah especially loved all the little Hermit Crabs she could find.

while there we got the chance to spend some time with some good friends of ours from Texas. It was awesome that we could meet up. We went to the beach and had dinner together a couple of times.

Hannah's BFF from Texas, reunited again!

These girls had a BLAST together. Two peas in a pod is what they are!!

What we got to witness at the end of every day!

Magical!

Waterfalls, PCC, and shaved Ice...oh my!

We did get away from the beach on occasion :)

We hiked to some waterfalls. Here is a picture of the girls at Waimea falls.
We also went to the Polynesian Cultural Center run by the L.D.S. Church. That was AWESOME! Matt played the drums in "Tonga" and won this fancy hat.

The girls fished in "Tahiti". Hannah is the only one that caught any fish...she caught two and then was able to make two wishes.

Learning to throw spears in "Tonga"

I couldn't resist matching them...!!!

What's a beautiful Hawaiian afternoon without a stop for some shaved ice.

Matsumoto's was our last stop of the day!

Spring Break Phase 2

What is a trip to Hawaii without time spent on the BEACH!

We typically ended up on the beach at some point every day we were there. Some of the beaches we went to were Waikiki, Haleiwa, Waimea Bay (not sure if I am spelling any of these names right!), Sunset Beach, and one I can't spell, but the sand was so soft it was like powdered Sugar...beautiful!

this one is not of the beach, but you can see the view from our Balconies pretty well. I posted this one on accident...:) Still it's a nice picture!

This is one of two sea turtles we saw sunbathing on the beaches. We went to Turtle beach and saw another. The night we took this picture, the bay was full of sea turtles. You could see them poking their heads up and out of the ocean at different intervals, and see their shells as they came close to the oceans surface. It was very magical!

Hunter found this hole someone had dug, he climbed in...shortly followed by Jack. They had a ball covering each other's feet with sand.

RUN CORA RUN!

Matt and Anya boogie boarding.

Dad loved following the boys around on the beach. He and Jack found this huge stick that Jack loved. He almost wouldn't let it go when it was time to leave.

This is typically what the boys looked like each night when we got back to our hotel.

We had a blast though!