Kona Village, Hawaii 2010 - Day 4

Shopping in Kona and Paniolo Dinner

This morning after breakfast we loaded into the rental cars and headed to Kona to do a little Hawaiian shopping.

Here are me and the kids next to a huge banyon tree in town.

This afternoon we met at Mark and Lynda's hale (SS4) so that we could all take some family pictures at Kona Village.

After taking a thousand pictures :) we went to the Kona Village Paniolo dinner on the lawn. A huge buffet it set out on the lawn with fabulous food including steak, lobster, ribs, baked potatoes, and a ton of fruit and dessert. Everyone sits out on the lawn enjoying their meal while listening to the Hawaiian Paniolos sing for us. (Paniolos are Hawaiian cowboys - this is a Hawaiian cowboy themed evening that pays tribute to the cowboys and ranchers that contributed to Hawaii's culture).

Kona Village, Hawaii 2010 - Day 3

Today was fabulous! This morning we got up, put on our sunscreen and swimsuits and went out to investigate the tide pools near our hale.

After fully exploring the tidal pools we headed out to have breakfast and once full it was POOL TIME!

The family pool and kid pool area near the breakfast terrace is beautiful and the kids had been torn between the beach and the pool (such a difficult decision to make) so today we decided to play in the pool all morning.

The pool seriously tired us all out and after a fabulous buffet lunch we came back to our hale for our afternoon naps. The kids both fell asleep on the deck to the lulling sound of the ocean waves crashing on lava.

While the kids were napping I got a call from Lara. Lara and Ryan had left in their rental car this morning to travel around the island to Hilo. They stopped at some of the scenic overlooks and hiked down to Akaka Falls. While they were picnicing somewhere between Kona and Hilo Ryan got down on one knee and proposed!

Lara and Ryan came walking down to our hale to show me the ring while the kiddos napped! The ring was a little too small so Lara is wearing it on her pinkie until they can get it re-sized. This picture was taken right after they got back and here they were at dinner tonight.

After nap time, we all showered and dressed for a fabulous Kona Village dinner.

Kona Village, Hawaii 2010 - Day 2

First full day at Kona Village...

We played in the ocean, stacked some rocks on the beach, ate a delicious lunch and fabulous dinner, and had fun with our family!

Our hale was beautiful... SM6 (Sand Marquesan #6). The most amazing view from our deck and we could hear the ocean loud and clear every night ~ it was so relaxing and put the kids to sleep quickly each night!

The beach was so close to our hale... just a short walk through the sand and over the lava. Couldn't really swim here but we had fun checking out the tidal pools, stacking rocks, laying in the hammock and checking out the local birds and lizards.

After playing at the beach in front of our hale, we headed down to the main beach for some awesome ocean fun!

First time in the ocean for Little Man and second for Little Miss. They both LOVED it and we were at the beach every day for a couple of hours. Everyone took a nap every day :)

Once back from the beach we all napped and then showered and got ready for dinner. The walk to dinner was always fun with the kids picking up flowers or plant stalks to play with. Little Man loved giving me or Little Miss flowers to put our my hair or "clearing the path for the girls" with a big stick that he found.

Dinner each night was wonderful. Fresh seafood, grilled chicken, or delicious beef along with the soup of the day, fresh green salad, and various appetizers. The kids meals were great as well with the common chicken nuggets and mac and cheese along with choices of pasta primavera, fresh grilled fish, and pizza. Their meals always came with fresh fruit and veggies as well.

Denver and Laurie at dinner and all of the parents at their table.

After sunset the kids danced to the Hawaiian guitar music with Gramps and Meme.

Kona Village, Hawaii 2010 - Day 1

Off to Hawaii today....

Here we are before we left for the airport - We're ready to go!

Meme reading to Little Miss and the kids watching their DVD player on the plane to Honolulu.























Here we are in the Honolulu airport and Little Miss and Nana walking through the airport on our way to catch our flight to Kona.






















Me and Little Miss walking through the Honolulu airport and Ryan and the kids on the plane to Kona!


Plane ride was smooth - kids loved flying! All in all a great travel day. The kids were fantastic - pretty much read, played their DSs, watched DVDs and played with the pipe cleaners that I brought.
Arrived in Kona Village at about 10pm our time. Dinner was quick - Little Man fell asleep at the table and Little Miss fell asleep waiting for the cart to take us to our Hale :) Long day!

A Girl's Day Out with my daughter

What an awesome day Little Miss and I had today!

First we met her Daisy Scout troop up at the Coppell Community Garden to learn a bit about what they did there and to help harvest some crops. We harvested potatoes (along with a couple of earthworms), a couple of random onions, and some carrots. It was hot but we all had a good time digging in the dirt!

After that Little Miss and I met my mom and sister at the nail salon to get our fingers and toes prepared for our upcoming vacation. Little Miss talked me into letting her get her nails and toes painted as well. The woman who did her nails was fabulous and painted the cutest flower designs on her toes and a little wispy design on her thumbs. She had so much fun at her first mani/pedi day!

After we had been pampered a bit we went to Costco with my mom to help her do some shopping. Little Miss ended up leaving with a handful of new books (for her and Little Man) and mom got me a new folding table. Thanks Mom!!

On the way home, we decided to stop at Half Price Books to quickly check and see if they had any books we needed. An hour later we left with some fun craft and sticker books for the plane ride and some other books just for fun. I'm a sucker for a great book.

To top it off we stopped at Sonic for a Cherry Limeade and an Orange Slushie.

Thanks for a fantastic mother/daughter day ~ Love you Little Miss!

I'm officially a student again

I've been debating for the last 3-4 years about what I'd like to do with myself once the kids are both in full time public school. Before I was a mom I was a 7th grade science teacher. I LOVED teaching middle school science. The kids are awesome and at the perfect age to really inspire them to love the study of science and all of the amazing things to learn about the earth, our bodies, space, how things move and work and how our world is held together. I truly do miss teaching but I do not think I'll go back to the classroom once my kids go to school.

Truth be told, I always wanted to work in the medical field. I thought about it while I was in college the first time but decided to pursue teaching instead. Well now that the kids are older and my youngest will be in Kindergarten in a year (unbelievable) I've really come to think about what I'd like to do with the rest of my life.

And last week I made my decision. I've been praying about it and Ryan and I have had many discussions and I decided that what I really want to do is to go to Nursing School.

I attended an informational meeting at a local community college a couple of months ago to determine what prerequisites I'd need, how long it would take me from start to finish, the cost, and what the schedule would look like.

Anyone who knows me knows that my first thought was the cost. Ryan and I subscribe to the Dave Ramsey philosophy of money ~ We are Debt Free and we don't take on debt so we had to start thinking about how we were going to cash flow nursing school. We are using some of our tax refund from this year to start the "Nursing School" fund and my parents have offered to cover all of my pre-requisite costs (Thank you so much Mom and Dad for such an awesome blessing!). So we will add it into our normal budget each month starting now and take any and all money that we can find and put it into the Nursing School fund. If we are very diligent and pay attention we should be able to swing it. I'm also going to look into any grants that are offered for the more mature student :)

As for pre-reqs, I think that the only classes I will need to take are Anatomy & Physiology I and II. As long as all of my other courses transfer from Texas Tech those will be the only pre-reqs that I'll need. Once I'm done with my pre-reqs, I plan on applying for the Nursing School's ADN program ~ hopefully in the Fall of 2011. It's a 2 year program and it's pretty competitive but I'm up for the challenge.

That being said - two weeks ago I applied to and was accepted to the local community college and Tuesday, June 1st at midnight I signed up for my first pre-req class - A&P I.
Starting at the end of August, I will be going to class once a week from 4:30-7:20pm followed by the lab from 7:30-9:30pm.

While I'm definitely a bit nervous about going back to school, I'm super excited to get started.