Category: US

After breakfast, we headed out first thing to the Spyscape museum. The museum was really cool! It had an area where we played games, some more mental and some more physical. We worked together as a team for all of them. The other part was a more traditional museum, with exhibits on deception, encryption, surveillance,…

We flew to New York, taking advantage of our Southwest companion passes and points to fly for almost nothing. We were here two years ago, so the kids felt comfortable immediatly. We stayed near Times Square. Yes, it’s loud and smelly and gritty, but it’s also right in the middle of everything, and near all…

Bill and I were once again the deans for winter camp at DeBenneville Pines. We love this camp, because it’s specifically for elementary aged kids, so all the workshops are fun for kids. The kids were excited to see old friends. There were lots of games played over the long weekend. We had plenty of…

We recently realized that although we have come to LA for a lot of things, we have never done the tourist things here. So we booked a few nights at The Shay in Culver City for a little getaway. The view from the hotel was beautiful when the sun was setting over the city. After…

We camped at O’Neill regional park with a bunch of families from Laguna Preschool. There were a lot of kids who played really well together. We brought bikes so our car was even more full than usual. Beatrice made bows and arrows that the kids enjoyed playing with. There was lots of fun with friends…

We camped at Casper’s wilderness with a few families from Tapesty. Bart and Ellen brought fat glow sticks that made for excellent light saber battles at night. The hammock was a really big hit and the kids has a ton of fun swinging in it. Parents even got in on the fun. The kids played…

We went camping Labor Day weekend with three other families at Lake Kumeyaay just north of San Diego. The kids played lots of games like baseball and bocci ball, and got along really well. We spent a lot of time at the lake, which was right by our camp site. Liam and Jason both brought…

We went camping in Big Bear the weekend that elementary camp ended so that it would be easy to pick up Liam from his first week of camp. Friends camped with us and the kids played really well together. We went to the Big Bear Discovery center and, although they no longer had some of…

We spent the weekend with the Grafs at Paso Picacho Campground near Julian. They had a really great program for the kids and some really fun things to climb on nearby. [wpvideo 5LgobWGR ] We had a lot of fun with our dear friends, telling made up stories and playing headbands. This was probably the…

This weekend we went camping near Palomar Observatory with Liam’s Cub Scout pack. The road was crazy and windy on the way up! Friday night we setup camp. Liam practiced his whittling and we saw friends from pack 321. The group site was beautiful but we were surprised to learn that the water was turned…

The whole time we were on Kauai, Willow wanted to get matching mommy and me dresses. We looked a bit there but didn’t find anything, and we looked on Oahu but had no luck. Then, this morning, on our last day on the island, we found some! She was so happy. She insisted that we…

We started out the day with snorkeling in Turtle Bay, which is a protected cove just a couple of minutes from our condo. Although it’s on the north shore, the waves are very calm even in the winter. Outside the breakwater we could see bigger waves crashing. Liam enjoyed snorkeling but Willow just wanted to…

Yesterday we said goodbye to the garden isle and took a 20 minute flight to Oahu. The difference between the islands was extreme – Kauai was so wild and natural with only very small towns. Oahu is much more populated, although there is still plenty of green. The view from our condo is lovely. We…

On Wednesday we started the day off slowly, playing in the pool and having lunch there. The kids really liked playing in the fountains at the edge of the pool. [wpvideo T4EGYQVG ] After baby’s nap, we drove to wailua to board smith’s family boats for a trip to feen grotto. We all felt that…

We took it easy on Tuesday so Liam could recover from a stomach bug (it’s not a real family vacation unless one kid throws up, after all.) We hung out at home, played games and watched movies. Then we left early so we could do some souvenir shopping in town before the luau. We went…

On Monday we went on a catamaran with Blue Dolphin charters. We started off on the south shore and went up and around along the whole na pali coast. We saw two different types of dolphins on our cruise, the pacific bottlenose and spinners. Some came so close to our boat that the kids felt…

We drove to the west side of the island yesterday to see what some call the Grand Canyon of the pacific. We were awed to see a rainbow in the canyon. The reddish earth sides of the canyon were really stunning. We stopped for lunch in pu’u ka pele picnic area, which was really green…

We had gorgeous weather yesterday. We went to Po’pui beach park to snorkel and play. It has a shallow protected cove for the kids and a reef full of fish. Liam and willow had a great time snorkeling and looking at all the fish. Grandmas underwater camera was really fun to play with. The kids…

Friday started out rainy, but we decided not to let that keep us in. We planned to snorkel but learned that the beach we were heading for was closed due to high surf. So we just explored the pier and went back home for lunch and River’s nap and time in the pool. After lunch,…

We got here on Thursday. We were greeted with beautiful and fragrant plumeria and orchid leis thanks to Sabrina. We pointed out the free roaming chickens to the kids, and someone asked if it was our first time on Kauai. We soon learned that there are chickens roaming all over the island. After a stop…