More Molokai Adventures

Aloha!
Well, if I had to list my favorite things about Molokai the Sea Cliffs and Mocha Mamas would definitely make the list! We have been out to the coffee plantation too many times to mention (without being embarrased) to go get mocha mamas - yum!

And we have checked out the sea cliffs from a view point above as well as an incredible mule ride down the side of them to the leper colony on the penisula below. It was 1700 feet straight down, and the view was absolutely stunning! I will post pictures from the mule ride later.

Here we are at the top looking down at the penisula...



Sophia enjoyed seeing a "dog" at the sugar-cane museum
And the girls have really loved spending time outside playing with the sand toys...

Mahalo!

Another Day in Paradise!

Aloha!

We arrived safely in Molokai Thursday after a very looooong day of travel around 5:30pm local time. The girls did okay on the plane rides it was just a very long day trying to keep them occupied and happy in such a confined space. And we found out just prior to boarding that we could not sit together since they don't have enough oxygen masks in one row for all 4 of us... So we were sitting next to strangers on the plane. But needless to say we made it through and we are SO HAPPY to be here!!!

Our first night we arrived we made some mai tais and jumped in the ocean (yes it was dark out but we did not care!) Then we spent Friday resting in lawn chairs, playing with the kids, and getting in and out of the ocean - which is right outside the backdoor - amazing :) The house is absolutely beautiful! Here are some pictures of the backyard - WOW!!


The kids looked like they were in a band :) Pete is the lead singer and the girls are back-up singers and percusion

Me and Sophia playing in the yard
Isabella and James walking on the beach at sunrise
James got stung by a jellyfish in the evening :( He got stung on his arm, chest, hand and face - ouch! But he was fine after a few minutes and even got back in the ocean to play some more.

Christian has been making some amazing dinners - shrimp tacos and hawaiian bbq beef and we have all been doing some exploring of the island. We drove to the Halawa valley yesterday over a scary one-lane windy road through the rainforest, then spent some time watching the boys play in the ocean while Carrie and I hung out on the beach with the babies. We were completely alone at a very beautiful beach with HUGE waterfalls in the valley behind us - so cool! Then we went to the coffee plantation for a hawaiian jam fest (our fathers day suprise for the guys) then drove up to West Molokai and watched the sunset on a beautiful white sand beach - with nobody else around.

Here is everybody watching the show...

The girls were very sleepy at the end of the day but they were very happy sitting on daddys lap while he sang to them - so sweet

The beautiful hawaii sunset - reminds us of our honeymoon in Maui


Today we toured an old sugar mill, walked out to a beautiful view point looking down over the sea cliffs, then checked out the warf and did some snorkeling after the girls went to bed. James saw a sea turtle! Tomorrow morning James and I are going on a mule ride down the sea cliffs to an old leper colony - we are very excited! It looked absolutely unreal looking down from the top today! Probably the most beautiful view I have ever seen. Will post more pictures soon - Aloha!

Whew!

Well, unfortunately the next 2 days of daycare did not go so well and we have spent the last 2 weeks taking care of very sick girls :( They had fevers, runny noses, coughs, crusty eyes and even diarrhea starting after their second day in daycare....needless to say we are done with that! The nanny the girls have had since I first went back to work is going to start an in-home daycare and we are going to send the girls there instead of the wooden shoe. Maybe they just aren't old enough yet to handle one nap a day and that is why they got so sick... I really don't know but we can't make them go back again after seeing them be this sick for so long. The good news is they are FINALLY feeling better today and acting like normal babies. This is a very good thing since we are leaving on Thursday for Molokai!

On a more positive note, we have had a couple of great weekends up in Keystone lately! We went up for James birthday and got a night out without the babies (thanks mimi and papa) so we went to Old Chicago and watched the nuggets lose to the lakers in game 6 :( I made him his favorite banana cream pie for dessert. We also went up for my birthday with Bradley, Jolene, Joseph, Andrew and Mimi and Papa! It was a full house but lots of fun. We are getting better and better at riding bikes and last time I went 18-20 miles with Mimi! Woohoo!! It is just so beautiful up there we are getting addicted to going :) On my actual birthday James ordered take-out Maggianos and had a candle-lit dinner with wine waiting for me when I got home from work - what a guy! There will be more pictures soon, we recently got a new camera and still have to install software to download pictures...

First day of daycare

Well, the girls (and mommy and daddy) survived the first day at daycare today. The girls are going to The Wooden Shoe on Mondays and Wednesdays. Mimi will still watch them a few Fridays a month and James has them the Saturdays I work. It was very hard for us to drop them off this morning :( Sophia got down on the floor with a smile and started playing with the other kids right away, but poor Isabella was not a happy camper. She was crying quite a bit and holding onto my jacket with a super-grip...but the ladies there were so nice and we knew they would take good care of the girls. Talking with the daycare later in the day we found their roles reversed. Sophia had a harder time once she did not get her much needed morning nap. The poor girl usually gets a 9am nap as well as an afternoon nap, but at daycare they only do the afternoon nap so she was exhausted by lunch-time and almost falling asleep at the table, while Isabella adapted to the noise and the kids and had a good day after all. James picked the girls up after work and he said Sophia had an ear to ear grin when she saw him, and Isabella just looked up and then went back to eating her cheez-its :) They were both very happy once he picked them up and they didn't want to let go! When I got home from work of course they were in bed already, but I can't wait to spend time with my babies tomorrow and see if they still seem tired. Let's hope this whole daycare transition goes smooth for them.