Johnsons Came!

It seems that every post I post is regarding visitors. It's because when visitors aren't here, life is uneventful. School, work, chores, gymnastics, church, errands, etc. But when we have people in town, we sure do know how to live it up! And that is definitely blog worthy.

I'm going to preface this post by saying that there is no way that I can portray the incredibility factor of this trip. This post seems underwhelming to me considering how epic it was. But, I did my best without spending days writing it :)

The Johnsons came and visited us! This was the first group of guests that included kids for the boys to play with. (Lincoln and Hendrix have been here, but are still so young!) The boys were in heaven having their cousins here.

Let me back up and start at the beginning. Lisa, Quinn, Tyce, Kayla, Garrett, Lance, and Paul took ten days off and flew to Hawaii. They flew to Oahu first where they spent 48 hours at the Polynesian Cultural Center, Pearl Harbor, the beach, etc. Sean and I were lucky enough to sneak away with them! We left the boys here (Jamee Adams watched them for us!) and we had a little getaway. It was so nice! The Saturday we were there happened to be Sean's birthday, and it was really nice to get to celebrate in Oahu! We got to go on a hike with just the two of us for the better part of a day and it was so great to escape into nature for a few hours with no concerns in the world! Also, we ate lunch at an incredible Thai Food truck that I'm still salivating over. We even convinced the Johnsons to go there, and they loved it too!

We flew into Hilo on Saturday evening and seeing the kids all together was quite amazing. The boys were so overjoyed to be united! We stashed kids into all sorts of places when it came to bed time...Tyce and Paul in the laundry room, Kayla on the couch, Garrett and Lance in Brayden and Asher's room, oh and Lisa and Quinn in the classroom. It was impressive!

We had a blast while they were here and did so many fun things. The volcano, including the Rim of Craters road out to the sea arch, Lava Tree Park, Kapoho Tide Pools (twice!), Ahalanui (twice!), Punalu'u and the Bakery (yummy!), South Point (but the conditions were crazy so no one jumped), Two-Step (more on this one later), and Kua Bay (twice!).

We went to Rainbow Falls and the Boiling Pots here in Hilo but the weather was so crummy that we got out of town most days. When we were home though, the kids had a blast outside and on the trampoline, we played lots of games, made bread twice, and Lisa and I even got out for a run!

Alright, now for the fun part. Pictures!

Off to Oahu!

Reunited and it feels so good! At the "Ha! Breath of Life" show

Tyce is officially taller than me. Sad day.

Lance and Paul. It was so bright! We attempted to go snorkeling at Shark's Cove but the waves were ridiculous so we didn't get in.

At the beach right across the street from the Laie Temple

On our hike

Everett and Lisa were caught cuddling several times. Even now he still says "I wish Lisa was here so she could cuddle me."

Kilauea Iki

Sea Arch

Kilauea. We actually saw lava splashing up around the caldera. It was amazing!

Going to Costco with 9 children and three adults can only accurately be portrayed by Lisa and Quinn's faces in this picture.

Kua Bay

Tyce stayed in one spot and let the waves wash the sand around his feet. It was so funny to watch!

Asher buried himself. I think Lance helped him.

Lisa and I playing on the white sand (and black rock) beach. Can you tell I've seen a little more sun than her? ;)

Quinn and Paul getting hit by a wave

Water bending!

The sunset on our drive over the volcano was beautiful! Lisa captured this one.

Four bugs in a rug.

Kayla and Mavi

Lava Tree

Kapoho. It was cold and raining (off and on) but it was so great to be there! There was this really nice couple that saw us with our brood and invited us to use their beach front property. The tide pools outside of their house were incredible. The kids all got to see a lot, and Quinn and I got to swim with a sea turtle! When it was raining, we moved our stuff under their house since it is up on tall stilts. It was so nice of them, and such a blessing for us!

After Kapoho, we went to Ahalanui (hot pond). Everett learned to swim! I had forgotten his life jacket on accident but it was the best thing. He got in and started by dunking his head and seeing how long he could stay under, then we taught him the deadman float (the photo makes me laugh!) and before we knew it, he was kicking off of one of us and swimming a ways to another adult. It was so incredible to see! Since then, his confidence in the water is phenomenally higher!

 

We had planned weeks before Lisa got here that we'd do a long run together. I knew it was 7 miles from my house to Coconut Island and we wanted to try to run it. Yes, we lose 1,200 feet in elevation but it was the distance I was going for. We had the kids and husbands all packed and ready to go to Coconut Island for the day, and we were off! Neither of us had run for awhile, and I haven't run longer than 6 miles (and only once) since before I got pregnant with Maverick. Although I hadn't run distance, I had been running frequently. Lisa hadn't been running frequently as she's been fighting bursitis in her hips. It wasn't long before Lisa just told me "You're stressing me out because I know I'm slowing you down. Just go!" so at about 1.75 miles, I took off.

The boys were planning on leaving about a half hour after us to bring us water then meet us at the beach. I didn't see them until mile 6, and Lisa was in the car with Quinn! She had stopped about about mile 4.5 but I was so proud of her! She did such a great job. Sean asked if I wanted water but I just kept going. I was on fire! I have never ever felt that good while running...even one mile. I wasn't fatigued. I wasn't mentally weak. I wasn't at all discouraged or in pain or anything. I felt invincible...like I could go forever. I did end up stopping for a quick drink of Iskiate (think chia seed lemonade) then went off to finish my run. Once I got to Coconut Island, I ended up running the long way around Liliuokalani Gardens to add length to my run. I still was feeling so good! I would have kept going, but I stopped because I was at my destination, and my family was waiting for me. :) I ended up running 7.62 miles in 1:16:44, making my average pace a 9:40/mile.

If I could have a repeat run like that, I'd be running a half marathon in no time! I was really surprised at how minor my sore muscles were the next day or two as well. I don't know what happened, but it was definitely my favorite run I have ever done. I was so proud of myself!

I was super proud of Lisa too. She got out and ran a little bit more with me when her van caught up with me, but I don't remember her deets. I think she ran 5.5 miles though...which is the longest she's run in a really long time too! So proud of us! It definitely changed my mindset knowing that someone was on the road with me, even though we weren't next to each other. I love running with her!

We found this amazing coconut cream stuff that we bought for Pani Popo. We ended up using it for that, as well as a dozen other things. On pretzels, in abelskivers, off of a spoon, etc. It fell out of the cupboard and spilled but it was so good we didn't want it to go to waste! We had just mopped the floor so...we (Lisa, Mavi. and I) maybe grabbed some aebelskivers and had it off of the floor. I know. Disgusting. Gotta live a little!

I have attempted making bread a few times in my married life and have failed miserably each time. Lisa is my generation's bread master (as taught by our mother) and she took the time to teach me how she makes it. I didn't have wheat berries so we made white but it was sooo good. We made it twice while she was here so it could solidify in my mind and man. I'll be doing that again! (In fact, I made it again for Easter dinner at a friend's house and two loaves were gone almost instantly. I heard comments like "It's like I'm eating a cloud!" and "This is pure heaven in my mouth." So...thanks Lisa for teaching me how to be awesome!)

Punalu'u

Fuzzy but...Honu!

When we got to Two-Step, it was crowded, as always. But the coooooolest part of the WHOLE TRIP??  DOLPHINS!!! Lisa, Quinn, and Tyce got in the water right away and were out swimming amongst the coral when we heard buzz that the dolphins were out there. We tried to find them and get their attention to tell them but they were already out there. Lisa had the GoPro with her, and I was so glad! Quinn came in after a little bit and I was able to go out. Kayla also braved it and joined us so she could see the dolphins. So Lisa, Kayla, Tyce, and I were out there for a bit just swimming around with them. There were to pods...I heard about 90 dolphins total. They got really close to us. At one point I could have reached out and touched one, but I didn't. I don't know why! It was incredibly cool to see them kind of sleeping on the bottom, then all at once surface and have all of their dorsal fins gliding across the surface before going back down. It is a moment I will never forget! Most of the GoPro footage of the dolphins was video so I don't have any great pictures of the dolphins unfortunately, but I have great photos of Tycen and Kayla out there braving the deep blue!

Can you spot Tycen?

Dolphins!

(Picture from when we went to Two Step the next week with Caitlin and there were also dolphins! *Is this real life??* But I couldn't end this post without a great dolphin pic :) More in that post! PC: Sean)

Out of order but Sunset at Kua Bay. Photo Cred: Sean

We had an absolute blast with the Johnsons here. There were a few moments of frustration and times when we had to separate the kids from each other because it was just too much, but overall, it was a net gain on this trip. Everyone left fulfilled and happier because we got so much quality family time!