the benefits of jetlag

Upon returning from our vacation, we had one of the busiest weekends we've had in a long time, but none of the busyness helped to thwart our jetlag. Josh and I spent an evening at an auction and when we got home, the lulubug was crying (at about 11:45 p.m.). So we went to get her and Hunts must have heard us all laughing, (Katie was still around) so she got out of bed and came downstairs. Who wouldn't have?! It was quite the party. This picture is right after I tried to convince Josh to take us to the Courtesy Diner for a very early breakfast, since we were all hungry. He made us get back in bed by 12:30 a.m. Party pooper. But he was right. Everyone fell asleep immediately.

dim sum

So on our way to the airport to return to the mainland, we stopped for dim sum at the Ala Moana Hotel. Josh and I haven't had dim sum together since we lived in Hong Kong and it was such a treat for us to share it with Huntleigh and Katie. We ordered a bit much for only four eaters (since I don't consider my child who eats goldfish only an eater), but it was fun, nonetheless, and a great greasy treat to have right before we got on an eight-hour plane ride back to Chicago. Yum, yum dim sum.



Hunts, with her Chinese tea


Lucy, with chop stick in hand and a raisin in her mouth. A raisin is not considered dim sum, if you just weren't sure about that.

the fam

On our last night in Hawaii, we went to Roy's, this great fusion seafood restaurant that was one of the most kid-friendly, fine dining experiences we've ever had. Right after we sat down, they brought plates of snacks for the kids along with a bin full of toys for them to play with. Awesome.

Here's our small clan with the aloha bear from our good friend, Erin.


Kt and an uncooperative Hunts.


The girls.


Hunts. I just love this little imp.

hanging out at the lagoon

My children are not so keen on the ocean, so it's a good thing that our hotel had this awesome lagoon. (Josh and I aren't so keen on being in the ocean, either, so we're to blame. And why is it that Shark Week is always while we're at the ocean?!....with the exception of this week, I suppose.) We spent most of our time here. Huntleigh was so brave in the lagoon, even moreso than the pool. We loved it. I don't know what it is about children and the beach, but they just play so contentedly. And there were no bugs, which is a good thing for this sweet Hager blood. At least they stayed away from my kiddos in Hawaii.





I just love these girls.

drive to the north shore

We took a little day excursion to the north shore to see some different parts of Oahu, to hang out on some new beaches and to visit the shrimp trucks. It was a beautiful drive. The shrimp at Giovanni's were totally worth it, we had a great time at Shark's Cove and the kiddos were total troopers.

On our way to the north shore of the island.


Giovanni's shrimp truck with Hunts, the movie star.


Girls in glasses


Lucy, the child who only eats goldfish crackers.


Shark's Cove

hunts and the boys

My friend Erin came to hang out with us for the day with her boys to play at the pool and lagoon. Huntleigh loved it. She is what Josh and I like to call our "dramatic tomboy." There's enough drama in her to last a lifetime, but there's enough tomboy in her to cancel out the craziness of the drama. Hunts really does love to hang out with the boys, and she had a blast with Ethan and Jude. And after our day of fun with kiddos, Erin and I got to hang out at Haleiwa Joe's with our hubbies. Good food, good conversation, good friends. I'm so glad we were able to connect again.

Hunts in Hawaii

This was just one of those lazy Hawaiian evenings on the deck of our hotel. There's something about this picture that reminds me of my lazy summer days as a child, and I love the beautiful messiness of Huntleigh's hair.

friends

One of our favorite things to do when we travel, as a family or individually, is to connect with people. In Hawaii, we were able to connect with old friends from high school and college. Josh and I both knew Julie (far left) from junior high and Josh went to high school with both Julie and Erin (far right) and then Josh and I went to college with Erin, where she and I became good friends. There's lots of overlap there and it was fun to visit friends with whom we both have a lot of history. How wild that they are both from Saint Louis and now they just live down the street from each other in Kailua. Look out how we've multiplied, too. And two of Erin's kiddos aren't even in the picture, so we're completely outnumbered. We had an excellent leisurely afternoon at John and Julie's house, reconnecting, hanging out on the beautiful beach in their backyard, eating great food....it was perfect. Thanks to the Mosses for their warm hospitality.



(from left to right) Lucy, Jed, Nia, Hunts & Ethan


On the way back to our hotel, we stopped at Buzz's for a little snack and "the best Mai Tai's on the island" according to my dad, who is the current expert on the Mai Tai, I suppose. That's if you like 3 shots of dark rum with a splash of Mai Tai mix. I had mine modified so it would taste more like juice. You can't tell from this picture, but Katie is holding our menu, which is printed on a heavy wooden paddle. Sometimes it's hard to get everything in the frame with the 50 mm lens. Good work looking cute, Katie.


We stopped at the Pali Lookout on the way home and I'm so glad we did because the view was incredible, and hard to capture with the 50 mm. But kudos to Katie for taking such a great photo!

pearl harbor

Josh and I had the opportunity to visit Pearl Harbor while here and I'm so glad we did. I found it to be a very powerful memorial. We first took a tour of the USS Bowfin and I could have photographed these valves and wheels all day.













The top of the sunken USS Arizona sticking out of the waters behind me. Oil still seeps out of the ship, almost seventy years later.

Aloha.

Well, we made it. We took our longest flight yet with children and I am so glad we did it. We are currently enjoying our long-awaited family vacation in one of our most beautiful states. I love Hawaii. There is so much to me that is reminiscent of Hong Kong, it's quite captivating to me. We took a short flight to O'Hare and then boarded our 9 1/2 hour flight to Honolulu, hopeful that our youngest babe would just sleep for the greater part of the flight. Um, no such luck. Our fave babysitter, Katie, joined us again for this year's trip, and she sat with Huntleigh for the whole flight. The plan was to switch Lucy to Huntleigh's seat so that she could be in the car seat, but FAA regulations prevented us from doing that, so Lucy was indeed our lap child the whole time.



Monkey face here did awesome. We would go to check on her and Katie every once in a while, and they were always great. Hunts didn't take a nap the whole time, but she was a super star, thanks to Diego and fun new activity books and an awesome Katie who just loves Huntleigh to pieces. I was so proud of Huntleigh, I was practically crying when we got off the plane. Or maybe I was crying because I was delirious due to the fact that....

....this one did not sleep for more than ten minutes for our entire travel day. Not kidding. She was awake at 5 a.m. CST when we left our home sweet home and we arrived in Honolulu at 2:10 p.m. (Hawaii-Aleutian Time Zone) and we went to bed at 8 p.m. that evening, which means that Lucy was awake for almost 20 hours. No nap. No joke. She was a train wreck. So were Josh and I. This child has the most tenacious will. She is going to challenge us like nobody else. I love her so much, but if I had had a parachute and access to the airplane door, let's just say I might be vacationing by myself on some random Pacific island. Here she is all chocolate-faced and worn out.

kate

A small tribute to Kate, the dog we have that no one ever sees. When I like Kate, I call her "our dog". When I don't like her, I refer to her as "your dog" when I am talking to Josh. She really is a great dog...lots of energy, very loving, super excellent hunter, gorgeous. We do love her.

with the horse whisperer

My sister-in-law Hannah works at the stables of the Saint Louis Mounted Patrol and we took a little trip over to see her on Friday morning. Since Huntleigh overcame her fear of ponies, we thought it would be a great idea to warm her up to a little bit bigger version of a pony. Hunts did great after she warmed up.





Here she is actually laughing about feeding some grass to the horse. So cute.




Lucy, sporting the Nicole Richie look.




Zach joined us to bring in some reinforcements. (Huntleigh requested that he come, so we gave him a call while we were on our way over.)




Hannah and Lucy sharing a sweet moment. I'm so glad we went to see Hannah in her element. I mean, I'll be honest....even though I do have a dog, animals are not really my thing and horses are about as far down on the list as I can think. They totally freak me out. But I don't want my kids to see that because I want them to make their own choices about those kinds of things. When Huntleigh wasn't looking, I fed one of the horses a carrot and it scared me for a good five minutes. But I "faced my fears" too, and Hunts had a blast. I know no one more talented than Hannah when it comes to being around horses. Thanks for the tour, Hannah!

playroom preview

zoo friends

This is part of my "we heart the walkers" series. Here's the three musketeers on the zoo train.

the winged william

I had to capture this one of sweet Will on the John Deere tractor with the Tinkerbell wings on.

hunts. big lucy. will. little lucy.

wings for babes

we love the walkers

Over the past three years, we have grown really close to this family. Nate just graduated from Covenant Seminary and they are leaving us in just a few short weeks to go and plant a church in Bellingham, Washington....(which could hardly be farther away from us in the continental U.S.). There is a sweet friendship among our children, too, so we've been soaking up time with them before they go.