Family Is Forever

Okay so after Aulani we hopped just 2 lagoons over to the Ko Olina Marriott where Nana and Papa treated us to another amazing family holiday.  The kids are getting so much older and enjoyed so many of the activities on site and of course plenty of pool time.  We attempted to get them to the beach one day and that didn't last long.  They wanted back in the pools.  We also spent 4th of July here which makes life so easy since we can eat, play and watch fireworks all from the property without having to drive anywhere. 

The kids were so excited to meet the latest cousin Prism!

There were so many cousins they always had a playmate

Poppy and Eve had fun in the pools too

There's daily kids activities which we usually made it a point to join.  Lei making!

All the girls made a lei

One day there was a hula hoop contest too.  Everyone got to test out their skills.

The 2019 cousin shirt - a dozen cousins!  Though only 10 were in attendance this year.

Oh Poppy, it's a good thing you're so darn cute :)

They all got their name and birth order number on the back this year

Chan enjoying some fresh coconut water at the welcome ceremony

The amazing sunset view from our lanai

More crafts in the kids club room

Making messages in a bottle at the lagoon hut

The visit from Kariel is definitely a highlight for all the girls.  After this she goes in the water, tells them a story and swims with them!

The twins were in awe!

We found this floaty in the lost and found and it kept the kids so busy for the entire week.  Score!

Uncle Sterling was showing off his hidden numbers playing skills.

We attempted to take family photos and guess who didn't want to wear clothes.  Go figure!

The boys!

And the girls :)

Cousins!

Bumping butts in their 4th of July suits

More matching swimsuits

Happy hour with the siblings :)

4th of July BBQ on the lawn

Hanging with Uncle Sterling

Happy boy!

Hands up for love!  

4th of July sunset from Ko Olina

No filters needed

Fireworks from the lanai.  Some stayed on the lawn but some kids were scared of the noise so we went up, showered, and watched in our pj's.

A visit to Punchbowl to see Nana's daddy

We also found Nana's uncle on the MIA/POW wall

We dug up the flower vase first and Eve asked if we were going to dig up grandpa next.  Eek!

One more visit to Oahu cemetary to visit Nana's grandparents.

Happy summer 2019!!!

A Visit to Aulani

We went back to Ko Olina this year for our every other year family get together.  Since we were going to be on Oahu we (just our family of 6) decided to spend the first weekend at Aulani, the Disney resort in Hawaii.  The kids kept calling it "Mickey's hotel."  Since it was summer it was super packed but for the most part they enjoyed the amazing pools, lazy river and character sightings.  I was surprised at how comfortable Poppy and Eve were with them.  They weren't scared at all.  Thank goodness Nana and Papa joined us for this part of the trip though because Poppy decided that despite all the fun stuff around her, she prefers her routine at home and decided to start her "threenager" status.  She was a bear!  Her method of defiance was either screaming or taking off all her clothes so for every family pic at Aulani she was naked.  Ugh!  It's taking me awhile to sort through the pics so I'll get to the rest of the pics another night I think.  Here's just our visit to Aulani.

We took up 2 rows and the kids kept switching who sat by the window. It had been awhile since the twins had been on a plane so that was interesting.  "What do you mean we have to sit and wear our seat belt right now???"

Esme joined us later so she missed this pic.  And Poppy hadn't stripped down to her birthday suit just yet either.  Ha ha!

Mickey shaped spam musubi!  Chan loved them!

We found Moana!  She lost Pua and asked if we saw him in the lazy river and to help him out cause he's not a good swimmer.  The characters were a lot of fun

On the way back from Moana we found daddy and Mimi in the lazy river which was pretty long.  Mimi jumped out though to see Moana too and we caught her just in time.

Voyager girls!

When we took Poppy though she was post-tantrum so she wanted nothing to do with her.  Plus she's naked under the blanket.

Character breakfast at Aulani.  Table for 8 please!

Eve was in a really good mood.  She was almost angelic on this trip which might just have been in contrast to Poppy.

Minnie Mouse was so cute and tiny!

Poppy was actually happy at breakfast.  She was in awe of all the characters I think.

This is what Chan's breakfast consisted of - a ton of fruit, taro sweetbread and bacon.  Ha ha!