North Shore Drive

Today we went to the beach in the morning for a little sun, then we headed over to the North Shore as they call it here. It was amazing! Here are some pictures from the journey which describe things better then I could!

Aloha from Hawaii!

Aloha from Hawaii!

The internet in our condo is only in the common area, needless to say I haven’t been sitting down there too often. So I decided that it was time to send out some pictures and up-date on our Hawaii trip.

Steve and I had to leave Marshalltown a day early due to weather, so we stayed at a park and fly hotel in Des Moines right across from the airport. Our flight left on time the next morning, so everything worked out perfectly.

The first day here we visited the beach…..went out to eat, and made a trip to Best Buy. Steve and I forgot to pack our digital camera charger. So now we’re the owners of 2! That’s what happens when you have to pack in a few hours and get things ready to leave town a day early.

For Christmas Eve we went out to eat at this place on the beach and did some shopping. It’s too bad that nothing around here is shut down for the holidays. Poor workers!

Today we went out for breakfast at Lulu’s on the beach (very yummy!) and then hiked up Diamond Head. Tons of stairs…one of the longest 0.8 mile hikes 1 way that I’ve ever been on. Then we drove to another beach called Kailua, which was beautiful but very windy and cold. The drive over on the Pali highway was really neat. We visited the lookout which was VERY windy, as you’ll be able to check out from the picture.



Nels and Steve finished off the day with a little surfing! My dad and I were in charge of taking pictures and my main mission is to read my book and not have to deal with 5th graders or Jack. I took surfing lessons the last time I was here, so if the boys end up renting a board later this week I might have to give it a try. We’ll see what happens.



We’ve had a wonderful time so far, and have tons more things planned that we have to do before the week is over.

Jack is having fun in Iowa and from what we heard today got a ton of presents.

girls night out

On Thursday, the girls from school and I decided that we would treat ourselves to a manicure and a pedicure and a dinner out in Ames. It was SO much fun and a well needed break from the routine of life. Here are some pictures of our adventure. It's such a blessing to work with such fun people.

8 things about me...

This is from being "tagged" by Erin and April a couple weeks ago! Here are 8 things about myself. Enjoy!

1. When I was in 2nd grade I lost by cabbage patch moon boot in the snowbank at April and Erin's house and their dad (Mr.Patient) had to come rescue the boot with a ski pole.
2. To go along with the cabbage patch moon boots I also had cabbage patch ear muffs, that were the actual doll heads with hair....nice, huh? I also had a matching backpack.
3. One time in college while shopping at the Thift Shop in Cook my roommate from college (Raku) found my backpack from when I was in 3rd grade. It said, "Back off, I'm a ghostbuster" on it. It also had my name on it and said 3rd grade and then was crossed off and said 4th. Yes, she did buy it!
4. I have always traveled someplace for Christmas by plane. Most often it was Arizona to visit by dear grandpa. What special memories with all 14 of us staying in a 3 bedroom house.
5. When I was going to babysit (about 14 or so) I was in the car with the mom and she ran over one of our cats. I will never forget what that cat looked like flopping around on the ground.
6. When we lived in the UP of Michigan, I went to grad school in another time zone!
7. I was trained to be a lifeguard for the YMCA, and subbed for 2 summers at the Aquatic Center, I have since retired from that profession.
8. I was stung by a jellyfish while snorkeling in Mexico on our honeymoon...I had to follow some locals and they convinced be to take a couple pills and put some lotion on it. The only problem was I had no idea what they were saying.

last weekend (a week late!)

Last Friday night (the 7th) Steve and I enjoyed a night out to the Rockette's Christmas Spectacular! It was so neat! Steve gave me the tickets for a birthday present and even arranged the babysitter and everything, impressive, huh? At the end they had a Live Nativity scene which included not one but two camels and 2 sheep! All on stage. It was so neat to have the show end with the true meaning of Christmas. I would highly recommend for anyone to go if it ever comes to an area near you.

We enjoyed being home and not having to go anywhere for the rest of the weekend. We did our first attempt at a Christmas picture of Jack...check these out! He is facinated with the camera, so he kept wanting to walk towards it. We'll see what we end up with.

elfed

Check this out...

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1239124223

stepec christmas

We traveled to Duluth on Thursday night after school and work. We stayed at the Hampton Inn in Canal Park. I told the lady at the desk, "when you grew up in MN and now live in IA you have to stay at a place where you can see water!". It was a fun hotel and a great view of the lake, since it was FREEZING cold we really enjoyed sitting by the heater and looking out the window. We had December birthdays on Friday night, followed by Christmas this morning. It was fun to watch Jada and Jack attempt to play together. They are both very easy going so that was nice!


Here is a picture of Jack and Steve both on the computers. Jack is very fascinated with buttons, remote controls, and loves computers. He was in heaven when the hotel had a keyboard to use for some TV internet thing. It was too cute!




We started to head home today but the roads are bad here with snow and blowing snow. In Iowa they are ice covered...so we made it as far as the cities tonight (Lino Lakes) and are staying in a hotel. We are actually staying a mile or so away from the Mills family! So we're going to venture over and visit and let Jack play in house and get rid of some energy before we have a long night in the hotel room!