Two weeks on the Big Island (Hawaii)

 

These are not in any sort of order, but we spent 2 weeks on the island of Hawaii, courtesy of the amazing Rick and Cathie (Spencer's parents). We swam, we snorkeled, we ate, we did a night dive to see Manta Rays, we saw wonderful wildlife, we toured the Volcano National Park, and we spent a lot of time relaxing. Most days we would be super active in the morning and then laze around the hotel reading and watching TV in the afternoon. We had a wonderful trip! The only casualty was that I cut my foot on our first trip to the beach and had to hobble around for some of the trip. It could have been worse. Oh, and the kids kept getting sunburns, but never bad ones. It was hard to keep up with the sunscreen! Spencer just loved being in the water, snorkeling. This trip was heavenly for him, especially since we hadn't seen his parents in two years. Thanks Rick and Cathie!

These airplane photos are from the flight out of San Jose--we barely got our wristbands before our flight closed boarding. This wristbands showed we had negative COVID tests and made our time in the Hawaii airport smooth sailing.

Camping

 Every summer we go camping to Big Sur Campground and Cabins and we love it. It's convenient, comfortable, beautiful, and we always have so much to do. We already have next year booked!

This year was memorable because I had to drive home after the first night to sign us all up for our COVID tests--we had to sign up three days before we needed the test, and to test up to three days before our next big adventure, Hawaii! I was bummed to miss part of the camping trip, but it all worked out in the end.

May

May was the busiest month I'd had in awhile! After my luxurious trip to WA, our family kept busy with end-of-school-year activities.

Audrey had her 8th grade promotion, which means in August she starts HIGH SCHOOL. 

Declan got to enjoy some fun activities in the last few weeks of 4th grade. He went back to school half days in April, and the school did a great job to end the year on a high.

He even got to dissect a squid! To be honest, I was more bummed than he was that fourth grade was distance learning, because I've seen my other two kids go through fourth grade at Forest Grove, and it is FUN. There are so many cool projects, field trips, events, and most of them didn't happen. He did get to make a volcano and watch the videos of his classmates making theirs explode, and he got to dissect the squid, at home watching the scientist's instructions on Zoom.

On Memorial Day, we finally got to go back to the Aquarium for the first time in 15-16 months. I'm so happy that they got to re-open. We had a great day exploring.

Ian earned his blue-green belt test in a very physically and mentally tough test. He didn't want to finish, but he persevered and was proud of his achievement.

On one of my walks along the beach path, I came across this cutie--I never see snails here!

One Saturday morning, Spencer and I got up early and met some friends at the tide pools for a negative tide. We saw a lot of beautiful creatures and then went out to breakfast afterwards.

My sister gave me a pie bird for my birthday and I finally got to use it for our Memorial Day pie. It was delicious! I think the bird helped pull some moisture from the filling, causing the crust to be extra flaky and it was really fun to see that little guy in there.