Back in March I went on a weekend getaway with Emma and my mom. We went to California to visit Dreamworks Animation and to spend some time with my mom’s brother and sister. It was the first time I have traveled with Emma and left Ian and Nora at home. It was a really special trip.

We have a family friend who works as a storyboard artist for Dreamworks. Since Emma loves art and drawing, we thought it might be fun for her to visit and see what goes into some of the animated movies. We had a great day on the campus. We got to eat lunch in the employee cafeteria and see what a day looks like for an animator. Emma really enjoyed it.

I enjoyed it too, but my favorite part of the trip was just spending time with Emma. Having her just by herself made me see how grown up she is getting. Parenting didn’t feel like work at all….it was more like hanging out with one of my friends. Spending time alone with her showed me just how much she does for herself and how independent she is becoming.

I took a few pictures of her when we went to lunch at one of my favorite lunch spots: The Beachcomber

We snapped a few photos on Christmas Eve before we headed off to church and dinner. Just thought I’d share them!

Last week we went on a little adventure to visit the Surfing Goat Dairy. My mom saw a flyer for it and she was dying to go check it out. We all really love animals and thought that it would be a fun family adventure.

We went in the afternoon so that we could help bring the goats in from the fields, help them feed the goats, and then assist with milking. After that we got to watch the cheese making process.

What an incredible place! You could tell that everyone that was there truly loved the goats and what they were doing. Even though they worked HARD! The farm is owned by an adorable German couple. They vacationed in Maui from Hamburg Germany, fell in love with Maui and decided to stay. They have been running the Surfing Goat Dairy for the past 9 years.

And the goats were so cute. They had something like 30 babies born the few days before we came. It was so cute to see the babies play. We went down to the field and watched them run and jump all over. They reminded me of puppies. I was surprised at how big they were at just a few days old. We helped herd the goats from the field up to the barn where they were going to be fed and milked.

Here they are being led into the barn and getting ready to be milked.

The goats got to eat while they were being milked. They showed us what the goats eat, and even let us try some. These goats are well taken care of! All the food they eat is suitable for people to eat too.

As we were milking the goats it started to pour rain. The workers went down to the fields to collect the babies from the rain. They put them in huge rubbermaid tubs and dragged them back to the barn. It was really cute to see a tub full of baby goats. The kids helped to towel dry them before they went into the pens in the barn.

It was a really fun afternoon. We all thoroughly enjoyed our trip to the Surfing Goat Dairy. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a fun adventure in Maui!

Another wonderful Christmas in Maui! Merry Christmas to everyone. I am so lucky to have such wonderful family and friends in my life. Love you all

Last night was the annual Christmas Mai Tai party at Kahana Village. Every year around the holidays they invite the hula girls to dance and Jeff sings and plays the guitar. This year they invited the kids to come up and dance too. I quickly ran home and got the video camera. It was dark and the video quality is not very good, but here you go.

Last night I was in charge of BBQing. Ian and I went out together. I watched the steaks cook and he roamed around exploring in the bushes. This was the beautiful sunset we got to see.

As I was putting the kids to bed tonight, Emma asked to sleep with me. My gut reaction was that I really wanted to sleep alone tonight. I’ve had one of the kids in my bed every night since I got to Maui. Tonight they all had beds elsewhere and I thought I’d sleep alone. But then I thought about it a little more and I was happy that Emma wanted to sleep with me. Before I know it, I’m sure I will be wishing she still wanted to sleep with me. When I said “yes” she was over the moon.

I stayed up editing photos for a bit before I went to bed. When I got into bed I looked over at her and I had to get up and snap a photo of her.

Isn’t this adorable?

Our annual trip to Maui has begun! I wish I could remember exactly how many years we have been spending Christmas in Maui. I know for sure that the first year was before Scott and I were married. I think it was before we got engaged, so I am thinking that it was maybe 1994? If so, this is our 15th year (we didn’t come in 2004 when I was pregnant with Ian). I’m not sure how long it has been, but I know that it is a tradition that I hope we continue for a long time.

The kids were so excited to get here this year, especially Emma! She talked about it constantly for days and days.

Our flight over was uneventful, which is always good. However, once we got to Maui it wasn’t so easy. The road to our condo is a very small and windy two lane road. There was an accident a few miles into the drive. What should have been a 45 minute drive turned into 2 hours. We ended up getting to bed about 1:30am, which translated into 4:30am our time. Luckily my kids are very adaptable and did fine. Emma and Ian slept the whole way in the car and Nora was wide awake keeping us all entertained!

The first day was a little rough. We were all exhausted. Nora got out of the pool about 12:30 and said to me “I want to go inside and take a nap.” I didn’t really believe she would do it, so I asked her “Why?” She looked at me like I had 3 heads and said “Because I am tired!” I took her in and sure enough she slept for 3 hours! Luckily for me my mom and aunt watched the other 2 kids and I got to take a nap too.

Today Emma and I spent the afternoon together shopping. It was so nice to spend some one on one time with her. She was just glowing the entire time. Every time I looked at her she was just glowing from ear to ear. I really need to make more time to do things like that with her.

I haven’t gotten my camera out yet. But I will soon! Tomorrow the kids are planning to decorate the gingerbread houses that we put together today. Maybe I’ll take some photos of that!

Our Vegas trip has been going great–but it hasn’t been what most people think of when they think of Vegas. We have hardly gambled at all and we have gone to bed early every night! Are we getting old or what? But it has been just what we wanted. Scott joked that this is the most sleep he has ever gotten on a Vegas trip. What we have been doing is a bit of shopping and lots of relaxing. I think our favorite parts of the trip have been spent in the hot tub in the late afternoon.

We did decide to go to a show while we were here. We bought tickets to Barry Manilow! We were excited to go see him. We love listening to the Barry Manilow playlist on Scott’s iPod while we sit in the hot tub at home. We thought it would be fun. Unfortunately, they canceled the show. We aren’t sure why, and I sure wish we would have found out earlier. We were loving the hot tub and neither of us wanted to get out to get ready to go. But, we knew the show would be fun. We got ready and hopped in a cab to get to the show and found out when we got in line that the show had been canceled. Darn! Maybe next time we are in Vegas

We are really enjoying the trip. We both needed the down time and the relaxation!

I have had a really nice birthday. Scott and I had a nice flight to Las Vegas. We both got upgraded so we were excited about that. Since it is my birthday, we decided to celebrate by having bloody marys. I can’t remember the last time I did that.

We got to our hotel and were pleasantly surprised to find out that our room was ready early. We got organized and then went out to lunch and shopping on the strip. We had a great lunch together at Stripburger. We had lots of laughs and good conversation. Then we went shopping and I found the biggest Forever 21 I have ever seen! It was Huge! Scott was a good sport and shopped with me all day. Before we headed back to our hotel he wanted to go to the Apple store. He surprised me again and bought me an iPad!! I have been looking at them for a few months. I am so excited to have it. I think it is going to be great to have, both for my photography business and traveling with the kids. I’m having fun playing with it.

We came to Vegas with no real plans but we are thoroughly enjoying ourselves. We have planned a few things, but mostly we are just enjoying each others company. It was a great birthday!