It was so fun when we got to meet up with Teresa and her family on Saturday at the Polynesian Cultural Center! They'd gotten in really late Friday night so we had to wait till Saturday to see each other. I'm not very patient... but neither is Teresa apparently. As soon as they pulled into the parking lot of the PCC and saw us walking she jumped out of her car and ran to us for hugs. :) (Reminded me of my sister Mindy sprinting across the street to be the first Auntie to hold Molly when we got to Utah last summer... but I digress...) We had an AWESOME day at the PCC and as expected, Ashlyn and Toby (who are just 6 days apart in age) had a wonderful time together. Alyssa was a ball of fire and almost impossible to catch on the camera because she was always on the go. Adorable! We had a fun day and evening with them and all enjoyed the night show together. They came to church with us on Sunday and came for dinner that night. Monday was Hanauma and Teddy's before Sarah and her family left. I've already forgotten the order of our activities together the rest of the week... but I'll try LOL. I think it was Tuesday that Teresa and I took the kids to the Honolulu Zoo together and loved that. Teresa and I had an AWESOME girls night out and enjoyed the fun flick 17 Again (which made me feel very old and pathetic when I realized I was wanting to see it because of Matthew Perry, not Zac Efron. D'oh.) One night Teresa came and played with my kids so Willy and I could go out on a date. Heaven! One day Toby, Molly and I went with T, Chase and the girls to the Dole Pineapple Plantation and then showed them the way to Lani'akea Beach (Turtle Beach) so they could hopefully see some turtles... which they did! We got to see one come up out of the water onto the beach while we were there AND we got to see one head back out. It was awesome. They continued on to Waimea Falls and we headed home. But then that night we went to their resort with them and had a fun barbecue and relaxing evening all together before I had to take them to the airport the next day. Again with the major letdown when we had to say goodbye :( It had been such a fun time reconnecting and letting the cousins all play together and just plain relaxing and enjoying our time together. Wish it could have lasted even longer!
I'll toss in our family pics at the PCC here, too!
This guy has been performing at the PCC for years. Willy saw him perform 15 years ago when he came here with his mom! We ended up buying one of his painting prints for our house!
This guy was so sweet and gentle with Molly. He loved her hair... I think she was just crushing on the buff boy holding her in his arms...
Hanging out in Aotearoa...
Ashlyn and Toby were HYSTERICAL doing the Maori stick game! They'd just randomly chuck their sticks at each other whenever the impulse struck. SO funny!
Hula and games in Hawaii (I'm pretty sure Willy was just taking a picture of the old lady dancing and inadvertantly got Teresa and I in the shot... ;) )
I'm not the only Romig with a competitive edge... look at her gloating her win over my SEVEN year old... LOL
The boys' favorite part of the night show was the fire knife dance done by the guy we bought our painting from :)
Honolulu Zoo
Hanging out in their MANSION of a hotel suite. We seriously could live in that place with our whole family! It was amazing.
Saying goodbyes :(
A GREAT visit from a great family. I know if I could stay in that resort environment I wouldn't ever pick my sister's futon couch when I come to visit... but Teresa and Chase I hope you know you're ALWAYS welcome to crash on our couch if you want!
April Visitor Invasion Footnote: We didn't have a single cockroach or gecko episode in our house while family and visitors were here! For those of you who've been nervous to stay at our house when you come to visit (cough cough... DAD... cough cough) we've now got a pretty good track record going with no live* critter sightings in the house while visitors are here! So save a few bucks and bunk on our couch when you come to visit!*In an act of full disclosure, I feel I must admit that we did find one DEAD cockroach, legs up, in our bathroom while Karen was here. But it was dead! That's the way we like 'em! Three cheers for our exterminator whose magic keeps working and working and working!
Comments (4)
so awesome that you live where everyone can vacation!
is teresa your sister? i read the post quickly, but maybe you didn't mention how you're related, except that she is a Romig, too.
that pic of the poly boy holding molly is cute!
@junemama - Yep! It goes me (36) Josh (31) Mindy (29) Teresa (28) Jed (26) and Sarah (24). I think. LOL. We get older and the ages get harder for me to calculate. Teresa is the 4th of 6 kids :)
@AngRoCamp - i guess i've never paid attention to how many are in your family. i'm the same -- can't calculate my own age anymore, let alone my brothers'! haha
I seriously looked at this forever ago. I'm pretty sure I didn't comment because I was trying to think of some witty comment to my embarassing excitement over winning Brady-honestly I tried to let him win, and when it didn't happen I thought, "well, I better make the most of this." So, apparently I go from let-the-kid-win to, let-me-rub-it-in-your-face in less than a second. Lovely!
Thanks again for the fun time. We loved coming and visiting. Everything was so much fun. love ya!