Saturday, June 9, 2012

to I-40 and beyond

On the Tuesday after Memorial Day, we borrowed my mom's car and left the windy plains of Oklahoma and headed east on I-40 on another adventure.

Yes, after a 12 hour plane trip from Hawaii, we voluntarily subjected ourselves to a 16 hour car trip with two children. The youngest of which - his only frame of reference for "road trip" involves an island that is 30 miles across.
Thankfully, my mom's Acadia has a DVD player complete with front/rear auxilary, so the boys could watch their shows and Dada and I could catch up on our This American Life podcasts.
Our little tree hugger at a random rest stop in Arkansas.
Boy, were we glad to see this sign! Can we all agree that the only good thing about Arkansas is that it gets you from Oklahoma to Tennessee? Holla.
 We made it to Nashville and were able to stay two nights with our dear friends, the Dennys. They also have 2 boys. Keaton and Noah had great fun together as babies back in the th'day even though they don't remember...


They picked up right where they left off 2 years ago.
It was so fun to watch them play like they were old friends!
We were also able to make a quick stop by our house in Nashville to meet our renters and see our new roof that we put on a month ago. So strange that Keaton remembers nothing of this house!
 In our short 36 hour stay in Nashville, we caught up with lots of friends. Somehow, I managed to take no pictures of any adults! I did however get a pic of the chips that my friend Lisa and I enjoyed on our lunch date to Amigos.
OK?
Thursday morning, we were off again through the Smoky Mountains. Next stop - South Carolina! 

Friday, June 8, 2012

Memorial Day

Every year for Memorial Day, my parents host a reunion for the Archambo side of the family. We've had to miss the past two summers! I was so happy we could be there this year! It is so fun to see all of my cousins, catch up with everyone, and see how everyone's families have grown. I'm so thankful for such great family that genuninely loves being together. The reunion gets bigger every year. This year we had 65 people! 
There's always plenty of food!
Elise made graduation cupcakes for the three graduating cousins we had this year: Jacob, Hunter, and Hannah.

Alexis and Mia. Yes, Alexis has black hair now. LONG STORY!

The annual cousins basketball game. Good thing none of those Archambo boys are competitive - HA!
Chanse, Candous, Kayla, Carson, and Hannah
I can tell from the color of his mouth that this is not his first popcicle. Brumbra!!!!
My two favorite ladies.
Dad and Uncle Ed
My cousin Paula and her sweet Brock
"Where'd y'all get y'all's dranks?"

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Kiddie Park 2012

 


The first of what I'm certain will be several trips to Kiddie Park on this trip.
I'm amazed that the same rides that I loved as a child my own children now love!  
 
My sis-in-law Nicole with nephew Easton


Anyone seen "The Muppets Movie?" This is like the "Moopets" version of Elmo. No one was fooling Marky. :-)

Monday, June 4, 2012

Oklahoma!

The boys wasted no time. They always make themselves right at home and have a blast a Brumbra and Papa's house. 
Keaton and Grandmother having fun with the iPad.
This is my nephew Adrian. Isn't he a doll? He and Mark are 41 days apart.
Adrian and Mark in the new sandbox
Mark kept going to get buckets of water from the pool to put in the sandbox. My Hawaiian boy doesn't understand playing in the sand without " wa wa!"



Friday, June 1, 2012

And we're off!



It is a seven hour flight from Honolulu to the Dallas/Fort Worth airport. 
7. HOUR. FLIGHT. 
I think Mark's expression here pretty much sums it up.
Keaton's actually pretty easy on the airplane. After about an hour of screen time, he asked for his bear and blanket and slept the rest of the flight.
 Mark (as expected) was a little more restless and a little harder to entertain. He would fall asleep for a little while, and then wake up with a start - VERY CRANKY -  and we would have to do our best to pacify him without waking the other passengers. With about 2 hours left in the flight. I finally gave up and just took him into the bathroom and let him play in the faucet for awhile. We finally made it to DFW completely exhausted but without major incident. Overall, We were very thankful for a smooth timely flight and gracious neighbor passengers. 
Dunkin Doughnuts at DFW
 We found a play area in one of the terminals, and let the kids run around and pass the time during our 4 hour layover here. 

When we boarded our flight to Tulsa, the flight attendant greeted Keaton and asked him if he'd like to meet the pilot and sit in the cockpit. Of course, Keaton was thrilled! They even gave him his own little junior flight log. I remember airlines doing stuff like this when I was a kid. Remember back when it used to be fun to fly? I was pleasantly surprised to see that they are trying to make it fun again.

14 hours after we left Hawaii, Brumbra and Papa greeted us at the Tulsa airport. We handed over both of our children, and breathed a sigh of relief that we finally made it.
Let the adventure begin.

Friday, May 18, 2012

Last Day of Playgroup

Today was our last day at playgroup. We will sure miss these friends over the summer! This was the second full year that Keaton has participated in the Kailua Christian Church playgroup. It has given both me and the boys something to look forward to every Friday for the last 2 years. I cannot say enough about how much this ministry has meant to our family! 

Thank you KCC and Auntie April! 
End of the year photo. Great fun! Great friends!
Auntie April

Monday, May 14, 2012

Mama Day

I'm so blessed that that these guys call me "Mama."  
Out of all the little boys in the the whole wide world, how did I end up with the best two?

 I spent my afternoon shopping and reading by the pool. All. By. Myself.

Then we went to dinner at Denny's. Because I had a coupon. And they serve macaroni, grapes, and french fries there. And that's the season of life we are in right now. And that's okay by me.