Lulumahu Falls Hike

A few days after Christmas we got together with the Weidas and Kristen & Ron again - this time for a hike to Lulumahu Falls. 

The hike begins in the bamboo forest

Then opens up to rolling green hills at the base of the mountain

Then the hike goes into the mountains to follow the stream up the waterfall.

Christmas Eve & Morning ~ 2015

I am making progress! It is May 21 and I am FINALLY blogging about Christmas.  If it weren't for the fact that I love printing the blog book every year, I may have given up on this--but not being one to quit things I start, here I am trying to remember details from our lives nearly 6 months ago.

We hosted Christmas Eve dinner at our house this year, trying out my culinary skills with prime rib and the traditional German Chocolate cake. Monica, Brian and their girls joined us and so did my friend from work, Charlotte and her husband. We found out the day before Christmas that one of our good friends who lived here and moved back home was going to be out here for a last minute planned trip, so Kristen and Ron joined us too!  We had a great night enjoying our Hawaii family to celebrate Christmas.

Kristin was out visiting over the holidays so we got to spend the evening with her and Ron.  My friend Charlotte and her husband also joined us for Christmas Eve dinner.  (Kristin, Monica, Steph, & Charlotte)

The Weida girls and Buelow boys :)

Waiting ever so patiently to open their gifts.

The moment they were waiting for ALL night... The present opening frenzy!

Uncle Brian shared his silly hat with Gavin

The Weida family

The keiki table... complete with Christmas coloring and games that kept them occupied all of 2 minutes :)

Enjoying their after dinner moc-tail (fruit punch, ginger ale, and orange sherbert drink my Grandmother always had in the punch bowl at Christmas)

After a great night of food, family, friends, presents, Christmas PJ's and Uncle Brian reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas," it was time to go to bed so Santa could make his way to our house.

The wee hours of Christmas morning after Santa made his delivery. He was good to the boys this year and so was their family!   As any parent can attest, there is nothing better than the excitement of children at Christmas.  Seeing their faces and excitement is the absolute best gift!  Jack Johnson wrote a Christmas song, "In the Morning,"  about this exact feeling...

And your crazy curly morning hair
Your makapiapia stare
Smiling down from the top of the stairs
You're so sweet

I swear your feet don't touch the ground
Once it starts it don't slow down
But I don't want it to

And these are the gifts we keep
And this is the morning that we breathe
And then we see
These moments are the only gifts we need

The living room stayed like this all day while they played with each new toy.

Nothing says Christmas in Hawaii more than wearing no shirt and board shorts on Christmas day :) 

Christmas (I need a) Break!

To say the time leading up to the holidays are busy is an understatement. There are just so many events and traditions to squeeze into such a short time frame, that an extra week before Christmas would be great :)  The last few days of school before the holidays kept us busy with Dylan's Christmas performance (see previous post) and Gavin's school's Songfest.  I also got to go Christmas caroling with Dylan's school and of course there are the Christmas traditions...baking cookies, making gingerbread houses, and something new we did this year- the "Polar Express" to see all the Christmas lights around Honolulu.  Oh, and did I mention that we have jobs that take up the majority of our time?  At least we have some time off over the holidays, so I can' really complain.

The 2nd grade class at Noelani singing Christmas music for the Songfest.  Gavin is the second row, second in on the left.

We opted for a gingerbread village instead of a gingerbread house this year. Although this doesn't look as "presentable" as the pre-made kits you can buy, the kids loved making their own house rather than a group-effort house.  At least all the Halloween and Christmas parade candy was useful for something.

Looks like someone didn't clean off the evidence that he was eating the decorations as he made the house :)

Gavin and his 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Watanabe, after Songfest.

Dylan and I donned our Santa hats and went Christmas caroling around Manoa Marketplace with his preschool. 

The last stop on the Christmas caroling field trip was lunch at McDonald's.

Dylan helped me make Christmas cookies for Santa

...and for the boys' wrestling team after their last practice before Christmas.

I saw this idea on Pinterest and thought it would be a fun new tradition to start.  After wrestling practice one night over Christmas Break, we surprised the boys with a trip on the "Polar Express."  They had bowls of popcorn and hot chocolate to drink, a clipboard with a Christmas Light scavenger hunt, and tickets to ride the Polar Express.  I packed it all in the car as we went to practice so we were able to surprise them when we got to the car.  They were so excited to drive around and see the lights.

The driver of the Polar Express :)

Gavin took the scavenger hunt very seriously!

The boys got bunk beds over the Christmas Break also...Dylan had long since outgrown his toddler bed/crib and it was time to upgrade to a big boy bed.  As you can see, the Polar Express wiped them out :)

The Buelow Christmas card through the years :)

Waiting to see a movie with their Christmas gift cards.

Big Hero 6 at the movies.

Dave and Busters for dinner one evening so the boys could use their Christmas gifts from Grandma.