summer goals

This summer my goals are....

1) Get to the temple more often = every other week 

*Lucky for us it's basically in our backyard for the next 3 weeks.  

*Un-lucky for us, I found out it's closed for maintenance from July 4th - 18th.....basically most of the time we are here. 

*Lucky for me there are 2 days until it closes....and I now have back-up to help watch the kids while I steal away. 

*And lucky for me - there are 5 temples in the greater Salt Lake area that I can get to in the same amount of time it would take for me to subway over to our temple in the city.  And in Salt Lake....family which will watch the kiddos.    

What a blessing.  All of it.  

2) Enjoy family time 

As we were leaving school on our last day, a teacher stopped by to say good-bye for the summer.  She made the comment, "I'm so excited for a break, but then I think of all you parents and feel a little bad that you have your kids for the entire summer". 

I looked straight at her and came back with the quick reply, "Oh, don't feel bad...this is the time I look forward to!  I finally get my children all the time, without a schedule that we have to keep up with and time to just do what we want to do.  I love this time!"  

                                                     

And I really do.  Summer time equals magic time.  Yes there are still chores to do, piano practicing, teeth brushing, scripture reading, and bedtimes to do....but everything is at a slower summer pace.  It gets done because there isn't a need to rush to the next planned event.  We plan things because we want to - not because we have to. 

And enjoying that with family is amazing.  I absolutely love having my children around me for the summer.  

And we get to fill in with other family as well - Bryson's parents are here with us right now in Hawaii for the 4th of July weekend.  My mom will come out for the final days of our vacation here, and help me fly home with the kiddos, as Bryson will fly in next week and spend about a week here and then fly back to the city for work.  However, the kiddos and I will go to Salt Lake for another few weeks so that we can finally get family time - and lots of it!  We miss it the rest of the year in these amounts as we live out of state....but in the summer, we like to get as much family in as possible!  Cousins, aunts & uncles, close family and distant family...it's all family to us, and we love it!  

3) Live in the moment 

The phrase 'Stop and smell the flowers' is always meaningful - but in the summertime I love to remember that there is not the rush of things we have to get to.  Even today I caught myself this morning saying to the children a few times, "We need to hurry up and get going!"  I finally caught myself after the 3rd time and laughed a bit on the inside....WHY?  I didn't want to hurry.  They obviously did not want to hurry as they were enjoying playing with the dog, jumping on the trampoline, playing with toys, playing on the piano - anything at all....but NOT to hurry! 

We eventually did need to leave by a certain time so we could drive into Honolulu and run some errands and pick up Nana and Papa at the airport.  But there wasn't a need to hurry.  We got everything done, and we had a lovely time about it....by not rushing.

I want to slow down. 

Embrace each moment.  

And really enjoy living in that moment.  The sights.  The sounds.  The smells.  Realizing how fast it all goes....so to just enjoy.  

4)  Hit the beach every day! 

I suppose this is only applicable to while we are here in Hawaii - but I realized there is no reason why we can't have a beach moment every day while we are here.  We are staying in a place where there are dozens of beaches within 5-10 minutes of us....and then even more as we drive out 10-15 more minutes.  I'm fairly certain it would be at least dozens upon dozens of beaches we could visit.

Even if we don't swim, like today and on Sundays we won't, we can still take a walk and enjoy the awesomeness (has that been defined as a word yet?!) of the beach, the beauty of this island and where we are.  Whether it's a short trip or a long one....we will work to get to the beach each day we are here.

5)  Hang Loose 

Speaks for itself & my little add-in....I want to roll with the punches more.  Plan but be flexible.  And not get so uptight if things don't go as I thought or planned.  And above all else - be easy going and watch my temper.

6)  Be a builder 

I want to be sure I'm building and not wrecking or destroying anything around me.  Anything.

Another way to look at it - be sure I am positive and working towards the big picture at all times.  

Building :) 

I have another summer bucket list of things we want to do during our break from the regular routine of school and schedules.  I'll share that soon - for now, it feels good to remember that goals help us progress and become better.  And even though my goals aren't monumental, it gives some added purpose to these summer months.

And lastly - here are some pictures of the temple as we walked home from Temple Beach.  It was a beautiful evening - we had unpacked the groceries that we picked up at Costco after the airport run to get Nana & Papa....and we needed a chance to stretch our legs and to take the dog out for a walk.  We decided to walk down to the beach, and I'm so glad we did.....it was a gorgeous evening!  Only to be added to with seeing the temple lit up on this magnificent drive down this main avenue (?) here in Laie.

I love this place.

My BEST DAY ever!

This {my BEST DAY ever!} was a common phrase that I heard from the little Kahuna Bugaboo as he ran laughing about the waves and getting a fabulous ride in on his boogie board.

Although he is the one that verbalized it....and often!.....all of us felt that way as we enjoyed a few hours on the beach at one of the favorite spots that we found on our trip 2 years ago.  It is a quiet spot, where there was only a family on either side of us....and they were off by a good 20 or so feet in either way.  How often do you go to a beach and have that much space to yourself?!

We landed in Oahu late Tuesday night.  By late I mean somewhat late here (local time was 8pm) but even later was NY time which was 2:30am.  We had been traveling since 8am that morning - and had 3 legs of the trip....which was one more stop-over than I had planned on.  It was the LONGEST flight(s) I had been on.  Ever!  And yet - as anything goes, it was finally over and I realized once again, anything is possible when you know there is an end in sight.  And the end in sight just happened to be 3 weeks in Hawaii.....so it's not as if complaining was actually valid!

The two hardest parts were 1) the last leg of the flight from San Francisco to Oahu.  We were now a little tired of sitting in a small space and were getting tired.  Considering that it was bedtime back home, that was reasonable - however it's always hard to fall asleep in those airline seats and somehow Jacob and Madeleine decided to stretch out to get more comfortable...which was great for them, but made 2 hours almost unbearable for me!  I would glance at my clock and wonder how 5 minutes chunks of time could go absolutely so slow!

We finally landed ---- hooray! ---- and I called the guy that was picking us up at the airport.  This was to be the 2nd hardest part of the trip.   He and his family had been renting the home we were staying at, and he offered to pick us up at the airport so that he could keep the car for the extra day.  In theory that worked for us in planing - as it gave us the van to drive back up to the North Shore in.  In reality -- it was not such a great idea, given that you have 20/20 vision for everything that happens after the fact!

He was a funny character and we ended up needing to drive him back to his hotel over in Waikiki - and he was complaining about this trip just about every minute of that drive.  It was a long 20 minutes....on top of already a long day of traveling.  I was ready to be done!  Too bad I know had to drive back the 20 minutes, plus the 45-50 minutes it was already going to take to get home from the airport.  Sigh.  These are the times when it would be nice to have Bryson around :)

 By a miracle we made it home alive.  And really - I mean miracle.  I had gone to sleep at 5am and slept until 7am before we left for the trip....the nights before that I was averaging 3-5 hours of sleep each night.  Finishing the school year and wrapping up events had been much harder on the schedule than I had anticipated.  

Thankfully there was a point that I realized I couldn't do much more - and put everything into suitcases and walked out for the next 2 months.  The things that are most important I can still work on while on our trip - otherwise, there are things that will just have to wait until we get back.  

And when I'm sitting and looking at a view like this - I'm in no hurry to get back!! 

Thankfully on the drive home I passed by a McDonald's and dosed up on Diet Coke - something I once loved and now tolerate for such emergencies.  I then had Madeleine stay up and talk to me, and then thankfully Bryson and Jacob both woke up.  We were all exhausted, but with their voices in my head it became real that I had to stay awake and get us to the home safely.  

I have never been so tired in my life.  My eyelids were trying to close on their own - my body didn't seem tired, but my brain and eyes were obviously much more tired than I realized.  To add to already feeling like I could fall asleep in an instant, driving on a two-lane road with very little lighting on the roadway made for a really hard 40 minutes. 

Thankfully within an hour we had arrived & I was so thankful for the help my kiddos were on the drive and also that they were now awake to take their own things into the house!  Especially this girl - she is a real take charge, oldest who takes responsibility and tasks really seriously.  I love her help always - particularly during that drive.   

As in most cases, getting to a new place was a bit exciting - but thankfully by this time it was after 10pm local time, and that was about 4am back to NY time.  We were now all exhausted and ready for bed! 

It was a hilarious night of sleep!  I was woken up around 3:30am by Bryson - he'd had an accident in bed.  I changed sheets and thanked above that they had a water proof mattress cover!  I put him back in bed, only to be woken up by Jacob who was crying that he was scared and had to go to the bathroom!  I pulled him off the top bunk (why don't they have a ladder to get up on that one?!) and we visited the bathroom and then found a night-light to put into their room.  

I crawled back into bed and fell asleep exhausted.....however by 6:30am everyone was up and ready to start the day.  I suppose considering it is about noon back in NY that at least they slept that long! 

So - we started our morning by unpacking, sending the kids to play with the dog of the family that we are staying with (they are SO excited to have a dog for the 3 weeks we are here!), hit the grocery store so we can have some food.  And - the crazy part of going shopping is that 2 years ago I was shocked by the prices at this grocery store.  Now - it seems so reasonable compared to what we play at our neighborhood grocery store on the island in the city.  I've becoming hardened to NY prices....nooooooo!!!!! 

We finally packed up around 10am and went to.....

The BEACH, the BEACH --- we went to the BeAcH!!  

Although it was a bit different being the only adult and working hard to watch all 3 children - these 3 are much more comfortable and confident in the water.  Jacob holds onto his boogie-board and will walk right in fighting the waves to get out to a spot where he can catch a great one and ride back in.  Madeleine was great at helping me keep an eye on Jacob as I ran back and forth between the kiddos and worked to keep us all in a spot directly out from our towels and gear on the beach.

As much as I think everyone did a great job and can do a lot on their own in the water --- we are going today to get a life jacket for Bryson and hopefully one for Madeleine as well.  I will feel more at ease knowing they are wearing something that would help if anything came up that they couldn't handle as swimmers.  We will stand out as tourists when wearing these....but with so many stories about children who have not made it back after a summer swim, I need to have some extra insurance and security.

Other than that - we are all happy to be in a place we absolutely love and look forward to enjoying the next few days with Nana and Papa Lord who are coming into town for the long holiday weekend.  Sadly - Bryson Sr./Dad won't be joining us at the same time --- which was the original idea.  He has a project at work which is all-consuming right now, so he will be able to finally get out and visit us, but he will be arriving July 9th and staying until the 17th.  Thankfully we are going to get time with everyone...just not at the same time.

Well, at least for those coming in...because lucky me I get to spend every day with these 3 while we are here.

I'm one lucky mom --- and one lucky wife.  Thanks to Bryson let us come on this adventure - while he is still hard at work we are off playing....again feeling really lucky.  And really thankful.  

 * post clean-up after the beach.  the kids were hilarious playing with the water.....I forgot how simple pleasures like playing with a hose of water become such big things to these city-dweller kiddos :)

On a Sunday afternoon

Central Park Conservatory Gardens

We loved this place so much when the tulips and spring flowers were out, I wanted to take my mom to visit while she was in town.....because "people with extensive grounds, love others with extensive grounds" ---or something along that line from 'Emma'.  My mom has an amazing garden in her backyard, so I knew she would love these gardens.....and I was right & even more - we all loved these gardens! 

A quiet Sunday afternoon after church we drove up here to pass some time - Bryson had to go into the office to do some work after church, and I knew this would give us the perfect Sunday activity.

I love taking pictures of these three ---- I can't imagine how many rolls of film I would go through if we did not live in the digital age.  How lucky for me that we are in the time we are, and I can rattle off hundreds of photos from one day!

These are some of the favorites from our little impromptu photo shoot - my mom and were hilarious trying to get these three situated.  I noticed there was a girl behind us on a bench reading her book while we were there for the 10 minutes or so that we took the pictures.  I wonder how much she actually read or if she was more interested in the comical people watching act that we were putting on!  I felt a little bad after we left and noticed we were in a part of the park where they requested that you are extra quiet.  Big oops!

Now I can see how it might have been a tempting choice to partake of the fruit in the Garden.  Look at that face and this yummy fruit!  Wouldn't you want to take a bite?  Hmmmm.....I should have thought in the moment and had a little Sunday lesson about the Fall of Man with Jacob & his fruit as the object lesson......

Jacob told me he was trying to get the penny out of there --- oops!  I just thought he was being cute :)

Stairway to.....heaven?!  Well, almost.

We happened upon the stairway after walking out of the garden - it took us up to a little look-out point on top of a hill that overlooked one of the ponds in the park.  The view was nice, especially with the cute boys in the foreground.  They make any picture that much better....at least I think so :)

All in all - another lovely afternoon in Central Park - and particularly our favorite place of the Conservatory Garden to spend a nice Sunday afternoon.